BendBubble2: "Gotcha!", -- media

Sunday, November 9, 2008

"Gotcha!", -- media

Well, we got confirmation of exactly what I said would happen in last weeks post, regarding our Bought And Paid For Whorehouse City Council:

What do new faces mean for Bend City Council?

(City Councilor Jim) Clinton said he expects much of the council’s business to carry on as usual but worries the three incoming councilors might have a shared support for particular industries.

In total, Eckman, Eager and Green received more than $38,500 in campaign contributions from Central Oregonians for Affordable Housing, the political action committee run by the Central Oregon Builders Association. The three candidates received a total of $14,050 from the Central Oregon Association of Realtors, the group for which Greene serves as president.

“I think there’s a danger signal that three of the new people were massively, disproportionately supported by the development industry — that’s something to watch for,” Clinton said. “We hope they’ll have a broader perspective beyond that.”

It goes on to have the usual denials from each of these Bought & Paid For Whores. Big Surprise.

So, we can pretty much expect More Of The Same. Such as pandering to builders with such great ideas as Attacking Bend's Mega-Glut Of Homes By Eliminating SDC Charges, and other such mindlessness. I guess I shouldn't forget the $4.3MM revenue shortfall at City Hall. And the layoffs.

We don't need policemen, firemen, or roads! We need New Houses! Right?

Yes, yes. Selling out our city to RE interests is just proving to be all kinds of smart. And here we've done it again.

So what else happened during the recent election? Oh right! We elected a black dude!

Like I said in the comments, this thing could go in quite a few directions. The worst is what I call The Jesse Jackson Reverse Lynch Mob route, where black men on meth, driving 120mph through a school zone with their kids in the bed of the pickup, who decide, "Hey, this is because I'm BLACK! I ain't doin' nothing wrong!", and so they start shooting.

Or White Dudes in Cadillacs are pulled over and thrown to the ground & is given a Rodney King, ie "A White Rodney".

This is the lowest, basest, most vile thing on Earth, and it's exhibited by all Black Leaders, and 99.999% of all Liberals: REVERSE RACISM. Like putting the word "Reverse" in there somehow gets rid of the RACISM. No. It doesn't. Just makes it a vicious cycle.

OK, this is where it could go, and if JJ Jackson has his way, this is where we're headed.

OK, read again KNEE JERK, SELF-HATING LIBERALS: I HOPE NOT. OK?

This is where I HOPE & PRAY it goes: I hope Obama serves as a model for blacks. I hope he SAVES them from decades of VICTIM-MENTALITY BULLSHIT that has been spewed by HATERS like Jackson for decades. I hope Obama KILLS the WHITE OPPRESSOR MYTH that bigots like Jesse Pedophile Jackson has spread his WHOLE LIFE for his own personal profit, and nothing else.

THAT is what I hope.

But this guy is up against entrenched forces that have a RACE-FUELED HATE AGENDA, and they see this guy as their "In" to getting WHATEVER they want. And they are going to PUSH, CAJOLE, THREATEN or whatever else they have to do to take over his position & turn him into a puppet. I pray to God Obama doesn't get Lewinskied by these fuckers.

I am pulling for the guy. I want to believe that POSITIVE CHANGE is coming. I AM thrilled there is a black dude replacing the insular, inbred bullshit we've had to put up with for 8 years. OK... 240 years. I just hope this guy can fulfill the promise by taking The High Road, when there is overwhelming pressure to take the Low.

OK, moving on....

I've noticed a trend that's been around quite a while, and I've commented on it several times, but recently I've noticed it's in Almost Every Single Negative Economic Piece in Cent OR media. I have in fact seen it already this morning. Here is the snippet, and see if you can spot the "odd" passage:

GM, Ford woes impact Bend car dealerships

The sputtering economy is clogging the engine that runs this industry. Auto sales are at a 25-year low and still falling.

Dealerships in Bend say sales are down significantly, following the national trend.

"Following the national trend".

"We're just like everywhere else, right? We're not immune. How could we have escaped such an overwhelming force?"

The other fairly obvious statement is along the lines of, "How could we have possibly known this was going to happen?"

The Bulletin runs stories ad nauseum FILLED with these 2 statements by City leaders. You WILL NOT see these sorts of statements in any other self-respecting news organization, anywhere. Why?

Because NO WHERE is local government, local media, and a dominating local industry so incestuously intertwined. RE interests BOUGHT & PAID FOR our local city council, as City Councilor Jim Clinton stated. RE interests donated a multi-million dollar property to the local newspaper. NO WHERE will you find such RIDICULOUSLY biased news reporting as you will find in Bend, Oregon. NO WHERE.

THAT is why you find virtually ALL news pieces FILLED, sometimes very subtley, with odd statements about the BLAMELESSNESS of local government for the current financial debacle. And if you've been out, that debacle is the rapid bankrupting of this town that is 100% INEVITABLE.

We are being conditioned for it. That's what these statements are: They are bracing us for the train wreck they KNOW is coming. We're in Layoff Round #3 at City Hall. They are NOW telling us they KNEW it was coming in September! But after the first 2 rounds, King proclaimed, "This is it, we're done." Of course, a 100% LIE.

Just keep your eye out for this sort of thing:

"We're suffering just like everyone else."

Translation: We have to TELL YOU that we are suffering just like everyone else, because for 10 years we have told you that we WILL NOT SUFFER, EVER, because we Bendites are Gods Chosen People. Plus this statement cushions the inevitable blow of Bankruptcy that WE ALONE have pushed us into.

"How could we have known this was going to happen?"

Translation: We are headed towards bankruptcy, and we MUST find a way to HOLD OURSELVES BLAMELESS for the cataclysmic implosion of city finances that WE ALONE are responsible for.

If you want to see ONE EXAMPLE of the ENLESS BOONDOGGLES we as taxpayers have funded, just go to Bend2030. Here's an excerpt of just what Bend2030 is STRAIGHT from the homepage:

Bend 2030 is a private non-profit 501 (c) 3 organization, independant from the City of Bend.

Ummmm, yes. Yes, Timmy. "independant". They are INDEPENDANT from the city of Bend, as well as a decent spell checker.

Click on the Bend2030 "Action Plan & Progress Report". Their original action plan was published in Dec 2006, and they recently put out a Bend2030 Progress Report. Some excerpts of EXACTLY what has been accomplished with our taxpayer funds over the past 2 years:

With respect to the Modal Connectivity Plan (yes, BIG WORDS & MYSTIFYING TITLES fill this thing):

"...a Recreation Assets Committee... is identifying opportunities for recreation and connection in Central Oregon."

Holy Shit! They've fired up the old RAC and are vigorously IDENTIFYING CONNECTION OPPORTUNITIES! Pardon me Sir! I stand corrected! Bend2030 is on the EVER-INCREASING "CONNECTION" problem we've got going! Whew! What a relief.

Regarding the Mirror Pond Vision (these fuckers do a lot of VISIONING):

"Bend2030 is in discussion with stakeholders about facilitating community forums concerning Mirror Pond."

Ummmm. What? So the sum total of your PROGRESS with respect to the MIRROR POND VISION is that you have... talked.... to..... people.... about.... it. Ah ha.

With respect to The Green Print Plan (no, I do NOT know what The Green Print Plan is, as it is not defined ANYWHERE. But it has the word GREEN in it, so it must be wonderful):

"The need for a Green Print Plan was initially identified in the Bend 2030 Vision. Trust for Public Lands requested support from several partners including Bend2030 to make the plan a reality. TPL is close to raising the funds needed to support the plan."

Seriously, that's all there is. Green Print Plan is 100% undefined. But the fuckers did decide we needed it. And the PROGRESS made by Bend2030 is that SOMEONE ELSE has started asking THEM for money, and the other party has not yet achieved their fund raising goal.

OK, when someone asks me for a progress report of MY LIFE, I don't blow out a story about how the local Girl Scouts have STARTED SELLING ME FUCKING COOKIES, BUT THEY HAVE NOT YET ACHIEVED THEIR GOAL. OK, that is NOT an accomplishment.

OK, but enough soft-hearted BULLSHIT. The Bend2030 is Dead Fucking Serious, and has some MAJOR INVOLVEMENT in Real Community Issues, such as BAT & The Redmond Airport, Gat Damn It!

Regarding BAT Expansion:

"Bend2030 has approved a resolution in support of the November ballot measure."

Holy Shitballs! They've APPROVED A RESOLUTION! I think all readers should know the IMPORTANCE of this SEMINAL EVENT. I also approved a similar RESOLUTION when I was taking crap this morning. Believe me, that shit does not happen every morning. Sometimes I will go a week and only approve 3-4 resolutions when taking a dump.

Regarding Redmond Airport Expansion:

"Bend2030 continues to support construction on the Redmond Airport terminal expansion which is underway, and expected to be completed by 2010."

Whoa! They SUPPORT construction of the Redmond terminal! FUCK ME! So... the construction of the terminal is UNDERWAY. And Bend2030 CONTINUES to support this construction. Which is underway. It's already going.

Ummmm... I'm just curious what sort of "resources" Bend2030 has CONTRIBUTED to this vast effort of SUPPORTING THIS CONSTRUCTION? How many vast LEGIONS of people are TASKED with SUPPORTING this terminal expansion?

Funny, but this DOES NOT sound like PROGRESS to me. It sounds like a bunch of fuckwads patting themselves on the back for doing NOTHING. Here's how they describe themselves:

"Bend 2030 is made up of 18 very passionate and deeply committed volunteer board members who are dedicated community leaders representing a wide-spectrum of backgrounds and neighborhoods from the community."

"Passionate and committed"? Huh. "Wide spectrum of backgrounds and neighborhoods"? Really? OK. Let's name some board members:

Linda Johnson - Bend City Councilor
Peter Gramlich - Bend City Councilor
Erik King - Bend City Manager
Brian Shetterly - City of Bend Planning

Yeah. It's real fucking diverse. Like most of Bend organizations, Bend2030 is a taxpayer funded boondoggle-circle-jerk that does NOTHING except increase the INFLUENCE PEDDLING POWER of BOUGHT & PAID FOR WHORES of the local RE industry. That's all.

Yeah. It's DIVERSE. How many black motherfuckers are on Bend2030's Board? How many EAST SIIIIIEEEEEDERS? How many CITIZENS NOT in City or LOCAL GOVERNMENT? By my count? ONE.

"Diverse" to these fuckers means that they got BOUGHT by COAR AND COBA! Holy SHIT!

"WE LIKE BOTH KINDS OF MUSIC, COUNTRY AND WESTERN!"

And we have spent close to $1,000,000 on this. And what have we got?

Real kick ass FAQ's on VISIONING:

Q: What is community "visioning"?
A: Visioning is a planning process that can help a community create a shared vision for its future.

Q: What is a vision?
A: Think of a vision as a community's preferred "destination" - where it would like to be in the long-term future.

Fuck me. "What is a vision?". We've paid these fuckers a million dollars for answering THAT? We're dead. Here's my FUCKING QUESTION:

"Can you define, or go 2 fucking seconds, WITHOUT USING THE WORD "VISION", "VISIONING", or some derivation of THAT FUCKING WORD?"

So what did our recent election accomplish?

Well, we did manage to Throw The Bums Out. But they were replaced by Newer, More Fucked Up Bums. And these BUMS have, and will continue to work SOLELY for the local RE interests. Think WAIVED SDC CHARGES to "solve" the local "RE PROBLEM". These fuckers are SO MYOPIC, they can't even fathom a solution that does not DIRECTLY BENEFIT their PIMPS (ie HOLLERN).

Go to the Bend2030.com website. And just prepare to be amazed at the WASTE of it all. BIG WORDS. COMPLICATED "VISIONS". Lots' of PROGRESS.

Until you really start reading. And realize they have done NOTHING. Not a single fucking thing. So where is the MILLION DOLLARS? WHERE?

Right. Boondoggle. A bunch of back-slapper, old boy network, bought & paid for WHORES sucking the cock of local Real Estate. All paid for BY US.

Welcome to MOTHERFUCKING BEND, OREGON.

Addendum! Visit Bend's Newest Hilarious Blog:

Bend Sux

671 comments:

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IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: A good post by bruce, just missed...

bruce said...

Sinking prices, tough choices
Local homebuilders are left with unattractive options

To use builder Greg MacDowall’s words, the current real estate market is “just goofy.”

“Our prices, they can’t be lower. I had one offer a week ago and I dropped my prices to right at or slightly below cost, and they offered me $20,000 lower,” MacDowall said.

Given the number of homes on the market in Bend — a 14-month supply, according to a report last week from Bratton Appraisal Group — and short sales that are driving down prices, builders such as MacDowall are faced with the prospect of selling their homes for a loss. An alternative is to wait for the market to rebound, but the debt service on the underlying property makes such a long-term solution unfeasible for most.

For builders and developers who bought property during the market’s rise but weren’t able to build houses and sell them before the market’s decline, the current state of real estate is making for some difficult choices.

MacDowall, who is a partner in the 35-lot South Briar development on Parrell Road in southeast Bend, could try to build his way out of his predicament, but for that to work, he said he’d have to sell his homes for cost. That’s hardly attractive, but it would free him of the project.

“If I sold a house at cost to compete with the short sales, so there was no profit to me and I could sell and recoup the money I have in the land, I could get the heck out of there,” MacDowall said.

So far, MacDowall has built two homes in South Briar and both are for sale. He said they are loaded with amenities, from knotty alder cabinets, granite countertops, stone fireplaces and finished garages.

“You are able to buy a house now with the amenities of a $600,000 home that is closer in price to $200,000,” he said.

But MacDowall is running into another problem, said Wendy Adkisson, principal broker at The Garner Group in Bend. Adkisson said buyers are leery of buying homes in developments with more dirt than houses.

“It makes people nervous,” Adkisson said. “They are afraid they are going to buy the one and only home and the development won’t be built out.”

When builders build several homes at once, it gives buyers confidence that the development will take shape as intended, she said. But funding the construction of homes that might sit for a while before selling is not an easy proposition either, given the tightening of credit. Furthermore, if the developer’s carrying costs for the land are too high and the homes aren’t priced right, the homes won’t sell, Adkisson said.

In such cases, Adkisson said, the best thing to do is leave the property to the bank.

“We have been advising our builders to walk away,” Adkisson said. “They can write off the loss and free up their borrowing power to buy more land at today’s prices, so that to me seems like the right thing, not to build something no one can afford because of the land.”

Developer Ken Powell of Cascade Capital Partners in Bend has a situation similar to MacDowall. Powell and his group purchased property in 2002 along Parrell Road south of South Briar. It took the company roughly five years to cut through the red tape holding up the development of what would eventually become the 42-lot Badger Forest subdivision, and by then, the market began to soften.

Two homes have been built.

“This is a subdivision that has gone through a tremendous amount of pain in the last two years,” Powell said,

Lot prices that were once valued at $130,000 are now closer to $30,000, he said. Because of planning and engineering delays, and pauses for winter and then the downturn in the real estate market, Powell said he’s faced with tremendous losses if he tries to build his way out. He has sold one of the two homes in Badger Forest, but it cost him.

“The net proceeds were $135,000 and it cost me $213,000 to build, so I lost $80,000,” Powell said.

Powell said short sales are driving down home prices in Bend because most banks are willing to accept 60 cents on the dollar for distressed properties. With that sort of downward pressure, it’s almost impossible to compete, he said.

Powell would like to build his way out of the problem and believes he can — but only if his bank agrees to “take a haircut” on its loan, he said. If that were to happen, and banks stopped accepting short sales, “buyers come in, and you start to get inventory going in and people start realizing, ‘This is a place I can live.’”

Mike Donaca, a commercial loan officer at Umpqua Bank who’s based in Bend, said the last thing banks want is to take back collateral. But every deal is different, he said, and when it comes to commercial projects, banks want to find ways to make them successful.

“The best solution typically is to find a way to get the project back on plan,” Donaca said. “The best thing to do is get the banker involved right off the bat because as time progresses, fewer options are available.”

The good news about price declines, Powell said, is that they will lure buyers, particularly young families and first-time buyers with good credit who are untainted by foreclosures.

Those who railed against skyrocketing home prices during the market’s run-up also should be pleased, he said.

“In the end, they got what they wanted: affordable housing in Bend,” Powell said.

Sorry, but they are still on fantasy land. Five or six times median income is not affordable historically

November 9, 2008 9:09 AM; November 9, 2008 at 9:37 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: Powell would like to build his way out of the problem and believes he can..

Recall my IRRATIONAL post on the builder reaction to the MEGA GLUT of homes locally would be TO BUILD MORE HOMES.

Our local Amateur Economists dismissed this as ridiculous, since it made NO SENSE to continue BUILDING AT A LOSS.

READ THE PIECE: Nothing but builders & bankers IN THE HOLE determined to DIG THEIR WAY OUT.; November 9, 2008 at 9:40 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: Fucker LOSES $80,000 per home and he's going to BUILD HIS WAY OUT.

Awesome. And he actually used the phrase.; November 9, 2008 at 9:42 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: Butter is lazy, and cruel, and will probably let it run to 1,000 just for the fuck.

So many half truths, so little time...; November 9, 2008 at 9:52 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: “It makes people nervous,” Adkisson said. “They are afraid they are going to buy the one and only home and the development won’t be built out.”

Yeah, people generally have an aversion for PAYING to live in METH ACRES, while all others are SQUATTING.; November 9, 2008 at 9:53 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: The good news about price declines, Powell said, is that they will lure buyers, particularly young families and first-time buyers with good credit who are untainted by foreclosures.

Yeah, I figure ALL 6 of those YOUNG FAMILIES WITH PERFECT CREDIT will come-a runnin' to Bend Oregon.

Stupid Dumbfuck. There are MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of YOUNG FAMILIES that will NEVER, EVER be able to buy a house, cuz they are on the road to RENTAL HELL. And there ain't no OFF RAMPS.

Jeez... when will these idiots figure out the game has changed? Selling to someone with GOOD CREDIT simply ensures you WILL NEVER SELL. Drop the price ALL YOU WANT. Still won't sell.

Lot prices that were once valued at $130,000 are now closer to $30,000...

Duh. The fucker said it himself, and he STILL doesn't get it. Ain't about price... anyone who CAN get it, don't want it, and anyone who DOES want it, CAN'T GET IT.; November 9, 2008 at 9:58 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: Those who railed against skyrocketing home prices during the market’s run-up also should be pleased, he said.

“In the end, they got what they wanted: affordable housing in Bend,” Powell said.

Oh, yeah. Right. Me, I am THRILLED.

We're going into a local decade long depression, and I have just made out like a BANDIT. Dumbshit.

This fucker just ascribes his own schadenfreude glee to others, and assume all the parties IN THE RIGHT on this issue are just happy as hell.

No. No, actually I am ENRAGED that exactly the actions that got us into this mess, are being perpetuated at an EVEN FASTER RATE THAN BEFORE.

Again, I do not believe I will EVER OWN HERE, because this is STILL the #2 OVERVALUED market in the country, and current policies ABSOLUTELY ENSURE that housing will LOSE MONEY beyond the end of any reasonable holding period I might have.

And nothing will save us. Nada.; November 9, 2008 at 10:04 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: And maybe it's not clear by my post, but...

Idiotic taxpayer funded boondoggles like Bend2030 aren't just passive ripoffs that don't really affect you & me. They are MINDLESS SHITHOLES OF WASTE that DIRECTLY RESULT in layoffs & reductions of City Services.

EVERY SINGLE PERSON who is losing their city job should LOOK DIRECTLY AT EVERY Bend2030 Board Member and ask, "WHY?"

Ask why the fuck you had to lose your job, be it fireman, policeman, or whatever, so that we might all bask in the warm munificence of HORSESHIT like Bend2030?

Bend2030, and many other ill-conceived ripoffs just like it, are WHY YOU ARE UNEMPLOYED.; November 9, 2008 at 10:18 AM
Bend Economy Man said...: I think there is still a lot of delusion out there. I wonder where these folks get their money to carry these properties. Just looked at Craigslist and it looks like the going price for a Westside 1000-sq-ft millworker shack is $300K and the going price for Eastside Siberian 1500-sq-ft tract home is $200K. Those prices seem really high for 4Q 2008 - what are these folks smoking?

I think that those prices for the small, entry-level houses should be $150-175K for the Westside and $125-$150K for the Eastside and you're not going to see a lot of sales above those levels. I think that anything selling for over $500K is going to be a mansion. A pure affordability issue.; November 9, 2008 at 10:29 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: The Shallowest Generation

The Baby Boom Generation will never be mistaken for the Greatest Generation that survived the Great Depression and defeated evil in a World War that killed 72 million people. I hate to tell you Boomers, but putting a yellow ribbon on the back of your $50,000 SUV is not sacrifice.

Our claim to fame is living way beyond our means for the last three decades, to the point where we have virtually bankrupted our capitalist system. Baby Boomers have been occupying the White House for the last sixteen years. The majority of Congress is Baby Boomers. The CEOs and top executives of Wall Street firms are Baby Boomers. The media is dominated by Baby Boom executives and on-air stars. We have no one to blame but ourselves for the current predicament. Blaming Franklin Roosevelt or Lyndon Johnson for our dire situation is a cop out. Baby Boomers had the time, power, and ability to change our course. We have chosen to leave the heavy lifting to future generations in order to live the good life today.

Of course, not all Baby Boomers are shallow, greedy, and corrupt. Mostly Boomers with power and wealth fall into this category. There were 76 million Baby Boomers born between 1946 and 1963. They now make up 28% of the U.S. population. Their impact on America is undeniable. The defining events of their generation have been the Kennedy assassination, Vietnam, Kent State, Woodstock, the 1st man on the moon, and now the collapse of our Ponzi scheme financial system. They rebelled against their parents, protested the Vietnam War, and settled down in 2,300 square foot cookie cutter McMansions with perfectly manicured lawns, in mall infested suburbia. They have raised overscheduled spoiled children, moved up the corporate ladder by pushing paper rather than making things, lived above their means in order to keep up with their neighbors, bought whatever they wanted using debt, and never worried about the future. Over optimism, unrealistic assumptions, selfishness and conspicuous consumption have been their defining characteristics.

Boomers are currently in their prime earning and spending years. A Baby Boomer turns 50 years old every 7 seconds. The older Boomers had a fantastic run from 1989 through 2004. Median net worth for those between the ages of 55 and 59 rose 97% over 15 years to $249,700 in 2004. Median income rose 52%. The younger generation between the ages of 35 and 39 saw their median net worth fall 28% to $48,940. Their median income dropped 10% over the same 15 year period. It is clear that all Baby Boomers are not created equal. Based on calculations made by the Federal Reserve, at least 50% of Boomers will not have a happy retirement. The bottom 30% will reach the age of 65 with net worth of less than $100,000. They will try to subsist in poverty, dependent upon social security and part time Wal-Mart jobs until they die penniless. The top 30% will retire to lives of luxury and leisure. The middle 40% will muddle through with social security payments the only thing keeping them from an old age in poverty.

We have become a have and have not society. Our economy favors education, entrepreneurship, and creativity. Those benefitting from a good education will make dramatically more money than the uneducated laborers. The top 20% of households make 12.5 times the lowest 20% of households. This ratio was 7 to 1 in 1982. The top 1% of households make 20% of all the income in the U.S., the highest rate since 1928. Does this statistic portend a decade long depression? The difference between now and 1928 is the huge household debt burden of Americans. This usage of debt by the poor has masked the gap between haves and have nots for the last 20 years.

As I drive to work every day in my fully paid for 2002 CRV with 110,000 miles, I have plenty of time to observe my surroundings. Sitting in traffic on the Schuylkill Expressway, I have noticed that the number of luxury Mercedes, BMW, Cadillac and Lexus vehicles seems out of proportion to the number of wealthy people in the Philadelphia population.

When I see an older gentleman, wearing a suit, driving one of these automobiles, I assume that he is a wealthy executive who has put in his time and rewarded himself with a luxury vehicle. But, most of these vehicles are being driven by Joe the Plumber types. As I take a shortcut through some of the more depressed areas of West Philadelphia, I see people talking on their Apple (AAPL) iPhones, Direct TV satellite dishes attached to dilapidated row homes, and Cadillac Escalades & Mercedes parked on the mean streets. This is not exactly the world that Henry Fonda’s character, Tom Joad, described in The Grapes of Wrath:

I'll be all around in the dark - I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look - wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready, and when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise and livin' in the houses they build - I'll be there, too.

When I see “poor” people appearing to live a more luxurious life than myself, I don’t feel jealous. The thought that goes through my head is: Which banks or finance companies were foolish enough to loan these people the money to live this lifestyle? These foolish financial institutions will never get their loans repaid. What does bother me is that the Bush-Paulson-Pelosi Bailout of Stupid Banks will use my taxes to buy these bad loans from the foolish banks.

So, who is the fool in this scenario? The “poor” person got to drive a Cadillac Escalade for a period of time, the foolish banks got bailed out, the bank CEOs took home $30 million, and I lived within my means and footed the bill for the reckless actions of others. It appears that the fools are the Americans who lived their lives according to the rules. The anger is building. I don’t think the politicians running this country realize what true anger looks like. They are used to Americans being herded along like passive sheep.

I’ve heard many Republican ideologues blame the current crisis on the people who took the subprime loans for home purchases. I’ve also heard many Democratic ideologues blame the crisis on the regulators. The ideologues are wrong, as usual. If a poor person has no home, no vehicle, and no prospects; then a bank tells them that they can buy a $300,000 home, drive a $55,000 Mercedes SUV, and live like people on TV; why wouldn’t they say yes? What is their downside? If you have nothing and “The Man” offers you the American Dream, you’d actually be foolish to say no. Now that they have lost the home in foreclosure and the repo man has taken the Mercedes, they are exactly where they were a few years ago with no home, no vehicle and no prospects.

The regulators were certainly asleep at the wheel. They did not enforce existing rules, foolishly waived leverage rules for the biggest investment banks, and believed that the banks would regulate themselves. They were wrong, but they never made a single loan. The commercial banks, investment banks, auto finance companies, and credit card companies made the ridiculous loans to people who could never pay them back in the search for short term profits. Greedy Wall Street executives created an artificial market for the loans in order to generate billions in fees so they could enrich themselves through stock options and obscene bonuses. They spent their false riches on $2 million NYC penthouses, $100,000 Porsche 911s, and $5 million beachfront estates in the Hamptons. Based on the estimated $2 trillion of losses that our banks have generated, the CEOs certainly deserved annual pay 500 times as high as the average worker. There is no way an “average” worker could possibly be talented enough to lose $2 trillion. You would need to be truly extraordinary to lose that much.

The brutal necessary lesson that should have been learned is that if you loan money to people who can’t pay you back, your bank will go bankrupt. The “poor” people who made a bad decision in buying homes and cars they couldn’t afford have lost those homes and cars. The banks made a bad business decision in making those loans. The taxpayer was not involved in these business transactions. This is where Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke and George Bush, formerly free market capitalists, decided to commit our grandchildren’s money to bailing out the horribly run financial institutions.

Our government has chosen to allow these banks off the hook for their bad business decisions at the expense of taxpayers. Rewarding bad decisions and bad behavior will lead to more bad decisions and more bad behavior. The government has made a dreadful decision that will haunt our country for generations. Now the Federal Reserve has lowered interest rates to 1% again. This is where this horrible nightmare started. The massive printing of currency throughout the world will ultimately lead to a hyperinflationary bust. The law of unintended consequences can be devastating.

Early in the 1st Reagan administration, Americans saved 12% of their income and household debt as a percentage of GDP was 63%. In 1980, the oldest Baby Boomers turned 34. They entered their prime earnings and spending years. This is when something went haywire with our great country. Deficit spending became fashionable for government, corporations and individuals. Dick “deficits don’t matter” Cheney was probably in his glory as the country ran up deficits of money, morals, and brains. The Boomers and our government chose to try and borrow and spend their way to prosperity. As we now know, Mr. Cheney’s advice about deficits not mattering was about as good as his belief that you can fire a shotgun in any direction without implications. The Boomer generation has freely made choices over the last quarter century that has brought us to the brink of a second Great Depression.

During the current Bush administration, Americans’ savings rate actually went below zero, while household debt as a percentage of GDP soared above 130%, a doubling in 25 years. These figures prove that the apparent prosperity of the last 25 years was an illusion. Beginning in 1982, Baby Boomers chose to take the easy road. Saving, investing and living within your means were cast aside as “Old School”. Boomers were handed a better future through the blood, sweat and tears of the “Greatest Generation”. Through their hubris, they’ve squandered that better future, the future of their children and imperiled our entire capitalist system. Between 1989 and 2007, credit-card debt soared from $238 billion to $937 billion, a 300% increase. Household liabilities that are in delinquency or default totaled $775 billion at the end of June, according to CreditForecast.com data. This is equal to 7.5% of all U.S. household debt, up from 3% just two years ago.

In the last five years, our live-for-today Boomers sucked over $3 trillion of equity out of their homes to fund their selfish lifestyles. At the end of June, there were 2.72 million mortgage loans in default at an annualized rate. For all of 2008, defaults will hit 3 million, up from approximately 1.5 million in 2007, and 1 million in 2006.

What “essentials” do the Boomers invest all this borrowed money in every year? The U.S. Census bureau provides the answers:

* $200 billion on furniture, appliances ($1,900 per household annually)
* $400 billion on vehicle purchases ($3,800 per household annually)
* $425 billion at restaurants ($4,000 per household annually)
* $9 billion at Starbucks (SBUX) ($85 per household annually)
* $250 billion on clothing ($2,400 per household annually)
* $100 billion on electronics ($950 per household annually)
* $60 billion on lottery tickets ($600 per household annually)
* $100 billion at gambling casinos ($950 per household annually)
* $60 billion on alcohol ($600 per household annually)
* $40 billion on smoking ($400 per household annually)
* $32 billion on spectator sports ($300 per household annually)
* $150 billion on entertainment ($1,400 per household annually)
* $100 billion on education ($950 per household annually)
* $300 billion to charity ($2,900 per household annually)

The priorities of our Boomer led society are clearly born out in the above figures. We spend more eating out than we give to charity. We spend as much on big screen TVs and stereos as we do on education. This may explain why 37 million (12.5%) of all Americans live in poverty and our high school students trail the students of 25 other countries (including Latvia) in science and math knowledge. Our school system processes many more clueless morons who don’t know the candidates for President, versus intelligent, thoughtful, hard working, driven young people. The $160 billion spent on gambling is indicative of the get rich quick without hard work attitude of the Boomer generation. Even worse, households with income under $13,000 spend, on average, $645 a year on lottery tickets, about 9 percent of all their income. Our government feeds this addiction by siphoning off billions in taxes from these gambling revenues to redistribute as they see fit.

What the data proves is that Boomers love to shop and eat, whether they have the money or not. The top 100 retailers in the U.S. have 250,000 stores that generated $1.7 trillion of sales last year. How could America function without 31,000 McDonalds, 35,000 KFCs, Taco Bells, & Pizza Huts, 15,000 Starbucks, 7,000 Wal-Marts, 2,000 Home Depots, 4,000 K-Marts/Sears, and 8,000 Blockbusters? There are 91,000 shopping centers in the United States. The Advertising industry spends $275 billion per year to convince you to spend money you don’t have for things you don’t need. This generation lacks self control, morals, a work ethic, and savings ethic. Based on the recent actions of our government and corporate leaders, we seem to lack any ethics at all. It is immoral for the Boomer generation to run up $53 trillion in unfunded future liabilities in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to leave as our gift to future generations, while we live it up today. Optimists like to point out that Europe and Japan have much worse unfunded liability problems than the U.S. That is like taking pride in being the best looking horse at the glue factory. In the end, we’ll all still be glue.

The 25 year Boomer borrowing and spending binge is coming to an end. The hangover will be really bad. The Federal Reserve and Treasury are trying to keep the frat party going, but everyone is passed out on the floor. The Case Shiller housing data shows that the 20 largest cities have experienced an average 20% decline in price from their peaks. The futures index predicts a further 10% to 15% loss in value. There are 75 million owned homes in the U.S. One in six, or 12 million homeowners, owe more than the house is worth. With further expected losses, 20 million homeowners will eventually be underwater on their mortgage. In California, where home price declines will be 40% to 50%, half the homeowners in the State will owe more than the house is worth.

If you are one of these homeowners and can afford the mortgage payment, time will eventually bail you out. If you can’t afford the mortgage payment, you should lose the house to someone who can make the payment. This is the failure side of the creative destruction that is true capitalism. If the government steps in to subsidize and eliminate failure, the system will ultimately collapse.

Part two of the great Boomer credit contraction will be the collapse of credit card companies who have mailed out 27 billion credit card offers in the last five years. They are now reaping what they have sown. As Boomers could no longer borrow from their homes, they switched to credit cards to make mortgage payments and car payments. That well is running dry. The losses to card companies will make the losses in 2000 to 2002 seem like good times. Losses in the 1st half of 2008 soared to $21 billion. Losses are expected to total $55 billion in the next year and a half. This brings me to the latest outrage perpetrated upon the U.S. citizens by Hank Paulson and his Treasury cronies.

The credit card industry, which collects 23% interest and $12 billion in late fees from consumers, is lining up to get their piece of the $700 billion bank handout. Capital One (COF) has just received a $3.6 billion injection from the American taxpayer, one week after projecting that their write-offs will be $7.2 billion in the next twelve months. This will allow them to send another million offers to more people who shouldn’t have a credit card. Why not? The taxpayer will pay, if the losses are too high. Why aren’t the pundits on CNBC outraged at this misuse of taxpayer money? Would the bankruptcy of Capital One hurt our country in any way?

The Great American Empire has begun its long slow decline. It may take a few generations to reach its nadir, but the poor decisions already made and crucial decisions postponed in the last 25 years by our Boomer dominated leadership has put our country on a path to a declining standard of living. The U.S. is like a punch drunk ex-champion boxer who still thinks he has what it takes, but is living off his old press clippings. He lived the good life, got fat and didn’t do the hard work required of a champion. A slew of young brash fighters are itching to take him down. It is just a matter of time.

In our heyday during the 1950s, manufacturing accounted for 25% of GDP. In 1980 it was still 22% of GDP. Today it is 12% of GDP. By 2010 it will be under 10% of GDP. Our Government bureaucracy, which contributes nothing to the advancement of our society, now is a larger portion of GDP than manufacturing. Services such as banking, retail sales, transportation, and health care now account for two-thirds of the value of U.S. GDP. We have become a nation of bureaucratic paper pushers. Past U.S. generations invented the airplane; invented the automobile; discovered penicillin; and built the Interstate highway system. The Baby Boom generation has invented credit default swaps; mortgage backed securities; the fast food drive thru window; discovered the cure for erectile dysfunction; and built bridges to nowhere. No wonder we’re in so much trouble.

Now that I have laid out our bleak future, I can tell you that, like Dickens’ Christmas Carol, this is only a vision of what might be. There is time to change our course before our ship wrecks on a jagged reef. David M. Walker, former Comptroller of the United States, at a recent Fiscal Wake Up Tour at the University of Pennsylvania, described what has been happening in this country for the last 25 years in one word – laggardship. The last six months have been a perfect example of laggardship. Our leaders have floundered from crisis to crisis, overreacting and blustering rather than leading. True leaders are proactive, not reactive. After not addressing our energy policy for decades, as soon as oil reached $140 a barrel, Congress lurched into action so their constituents would think they were leading. As our financial system has imploded, government “leaders” have flailed about with one rescue package after another and Congress looks for scapegoats. Meddling, tinkering, and non-enforcement of rules by Congress and other government bureaucracies caused the crisis that they are reacting to. Government creates the problems and then assumes even more power over our lives with their ridiculous “solutions”.

No one in Washington has shown an ounce of leadership in decades. True leadership requires strength of character, clear vision to see the future as it is, the bravery to make unpopular decisions, and the honesty to tell the public the unvarnished truth based on the facts.

The facts are: we have a $10.5 trillion national debt; $53 trillion of unfunded liabilities; a military empire that has U.S. troops in 117 countries and has spent $700 billion on a pre-emptive war that has killed over 4,000 Americans; a $60 billion trade deficit; an annual budget deficit that will exceed $1 trillion in the next year; a crumbling infrastructure with 156,000 structurally deficient bridges; almost total dependence on foreign oil; and an educational system that is failing miserably. We can not fund guns, butter, banks and now car companies without collapsing our system.

I truly hope that President Obama can rise to the occasion and become a true statesman and leader. David Walker lays out our dilemma:

The regular order in Washington is broken. We must move beyond crisis management approaches and start to address some of the key fiscal and other challenges facing this country if we want our future to be better than our past. Our fiscal time bomb is ticking, and the time for action is now!

Ultimately, it is up to the Baby Boom generation to change our country’s course. The oldest Boomer is 62 years old and the youngest 45 years old. It is time for Boomers to take a hard look in the mirror and rethink their priorities. It is time to cast aside the $88,000 Range Rovers, $1,200 Jimmy Choo boots, $5,000 Rolex watches and daily double lattes at Starbucks. It is time to live within your means, distinguish between needs and wants, reduce debt, save 10% of your income, make sure your kids get a good education, not try and keep up with the Joneses, show compassion for your fellow man, and possibly pay more taxes and get less benefits, for the good of the country. We must support true leaders like [former Comptroller General] David Walker and get rid of the old time corrupted politicians who want to keep the status quo. Texas Congressman Ron Paul gives the blunt truth that a true leader is willing to give:

Our government has lived beyond its means for decades. We now face a crucial juncture, at which we determine whether to continue down the path of debt, inflation, and government intervention or choose to return to the economics of the free market, which have been ignored for almost a century. Increased debt leads to higher taxes on future generations, while increased inflation diminishes the purchasing power of American families and destroys the dollar. No society has ever been achieved prosperity through indebtedness or inflation, and the United States is no exception. We cannot afford to continue our current policies of monetary expansion and unending bailouts. Unless we return to sound monetary policy, sharply reduce government expenditures, and realize that the government cannot act as a lender of last resort, we will drive our economy to ruin.

The Baby Boom generation has one last chance to change the course of U.S. history, keep us from wrecking in a storm of debt on the approaching jagged reef and shed the title of “Shallowest Generation”.; November 9, 2008 at 10:30 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: I think there is still a lot of delusion out there.

No kidding. I know a couple who paid $299K in 2005 for a nasty little place on 1 ac (from Cali, of course), and they are today blithely asking almost $500K.

They fully expect to make 66% for owning this home for 3 years. And rest assured this is a REDUCTION from their thinking of an easy DOUBLE.

The idea that their house is actually worth LESS than what they paid is so ridiculous, they & THEIR REALTOR won't even consider it.

Head in the sand. This place is OVERFLOWING with these Pollyanna types.; November 9, 2008 at 10:34 AM
Bend Economy Man said...: about Bend 2030 and all the other local ripoffs: it's getting harder and harder to feel sorry for the local Joe Sixpack who hasn't heeded any of our alarms and keeps voting more builder marketing jerks into local government.

I'm actually starting to respect the Bend government people who manage to pull off million-dollar scams like Bend 2030, in plain sight, with no consequences. At least they have brains and know how to "get theirs."; November 9, 2008 at 10:35 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: BEM, haven't you heard? We're Gods Chosen Ones.

Never Lower Your Price. Ever.

And if you DO get an offer, that's a sign you're NOT ASKING ENOUGH. And raise that price, quick.

This IS Bend, after all.; November 9, 2008 at 10:36 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: the local Joe Sixpack...

Palin Economy Man?; November 9, 2008 at 10:37 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: Palin Economy Man?

Retracted. That was an extremely low blow.; November 9, 2008 at 10:40 AM
tim said...: Check out the busted SW meth heads...

http://www.ktvz.com/Global/story.asp?S=9309257&nav=menu578_1

Yes. You've seen them before...

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/brainiac/supe4new.jpg; November 9, 2008 at 10:59 AM
tim said...: >>I think that anything selling for over $500K is going to be a mansion. A pure affordability issue.

My rules for a half million dollar house:

1) An acre, at least.
2) A private pond. That's A POND, not a puddle with giant goldfish in it.
3) A moat and drawbridge.

What people are trying to sell for $500k is just plain ridiculous.

Those $500k houses? They are really $300k houses. On a good day.; November 9, 2008 at 11:05 AM
Quimby said...: Damn, didn't see Butter's new post. Here's what I wrote on the last thread of comments before seeing the most recent:

Local homebuilders are left with unattractive options

Man, this article pisses me off on so many levels. This builder is shocked at the possibility of taking a loss on a bubble house. MY GOD....the UNTHINKABLE. I hope he took the 20K loss deal that was offered cuz it isn't going to get any better dumbass.

Best to pass the loss off to the "Bank". Whenever you hear people talking about passing losses off to "the bank", remember, "the bank" is now YOU, the taxpayer - forced participant to the numerous unspeakable bailout packages.

The idea of a builder losing money?? Who would have guessed?

And yes Bruce, I love the last line....affordable housing is here at last!!! $300K for a home, hahahahahahahahaha!; November 9, 2008 at 11:06 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: I see a sort of funny parallel between Bend and the recent busted merger between Yahoo & Microsoft.

Microsoft made a $33/sh bid for Yahoo earlier this year. Now, most companies play coy in an attempt to get a higher bid, which they did get.

Then Yahoo began to drink their own Kool-Aid and started to think their shit didn't stink.

WRONG.

MSFT abandoned the bid, and YHOO has subsequently gone into the toilet, dropping about 2/3rds of it's value.

Steve Ballmer poured salt on the wound in copious amounts:

"We made an offer, we made another offer, and it was clear that Yahoo didn't want to sell the business to us and we moved on," Ballmer said. "We are not interested in going back and re-looking at an acquisition. I don't know why they would be either, frankly. They turned us down at $33 a share."

This is Bend. Our shit don't stink, and whenever we get a reasonable offer, we turn it down flat, triple our price, and tell the suitor to fuck off.

This is how we'll lose it all, same way Yahoo went into the shitter. YHOO AIN'T ALL THAT. They're an also-ran, middling piece of crap, JUST LIKE BEND.

But, unfortunately, Bend Media has mezmerized us into forever thinking we are Gods Chosen Ones. We'll Pay For That. By going 100% BROKE ASS BROKE.; November 9, 2008 at 11:09 AM
Quimby said...: Oh, and I saw on the Tuesday Local section page of the bull that the City HAS hired the (one) lawyer. A southern Cali lawyer named Mary Winters. Wow, a $400K budget, she must be getting some fat dough from the citizens of Bend.; November 9, 2008 at 11:15 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: Those $500k houses? They are really $300k houses. On a good day.

I have visitors in from out-O-town. While driving around, I have to point out certain RE abominations. Like the Euro-Lux foreclosure-crappers next to Newport Market. Their reaction:

"Those are houses?"

About all the million-dollar "craftsmans":

"Those just look cheap."

Not even 2 years, and half of Bend is out of style. Or not recognizable as "stylish".; November 9, 2008 at 11:16 AM
Quimby said...: BEM & Butter,

Isn't a lot of the price dropping resistance due to the fact that they'd rather let it go to the bank and have the bank take a bath than them lose money?

Now, the bank is us, US Taxpayers, forcibly participating in bailouts.

US Taxpayers are taking the losses before the owners (and riskers) will.; November 9, 2008 at 11:26 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: BEM & Butter

Sorry, I find that funny.

Now, the bank is us, US Taxpayers, forcibly participating in bailouts.

US Taxpayers are taking the losses before the owners (and riskers) will.

Exactly! Exactly!

This is what is so infuriating about this "bailout". Not a single homeowner is going to benefit, at least not nearly on the ENORMOUS SCALE that bankers & other "risk takers" will.

"Risk takers"... what a load of shit.

Everyone talks about privatizing gains and socializing losses. Bullshit.

This phrase ONLY APPLIES TO THE RICH. The poor are still losing their asses.

I just can't phathom what is going to become of this country when the distribution of wealth is so skewed that the bottom 90% can barely survive.

Hmmm... I guess it'll be just like Bend.; November 9, 2008 at 11:32 AM
tim said...: Builder in the paper lost $80k on his sale. Why would he want any more sales? Yeah, let the bank take them.; November 9, 2008 at 11:32 AM
Bend Economy Man said...: According to The Bulletin's article, New city attorney Mary Winters has lived in Bend for 2 years. According to the website of the Washington State Bar Association, in February 2008 she reported that she was working for the Seattle firm of Harris Mericle & Wakayama.

As a matter of fact, at this very moment Mary Winters is still listed on the website of the Seattle firm as an employee (http://www.hmwlaw.com/atty/winters.html).

It seems like it would be tricky to "live" in Bend for 2 years while working for a Seattle law firm and practicing as a Washington lawyer.; November 9, 2008 at 11:35 AM
tim said...: "I just can't phathom what is going to become of this country when the distribution of wealth is so skewed that the bottom 90% can barely survive."

Exactly. So let John Edwards skip one $400 haircut and use that money to let 20 guys get $20 haircuts so they can find jobs. Everyone wins.; November 9, 2008 at 11:35 AM
Anonymous said...: >>It seems like it would be tricky to "live" in Bend for 2 years while working for a Seattle law firm and practicing as a Washington lawyer.

Maybe. I recently met a lawyer who lives in Portland, OR and works in Boston. Takes a lot of commuting and even more telecommuting.; November 9, 2008 at 11:41 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: That "Shallowest Generation" piece I post above is good, and the graphs on the actual site are great.

San Fran has LOST $287K from it's peak price, The Largest Loss of any City in the USA.

Sorry to burst the bubble of all the SF Believers. San Fran is going into the crapper.; November 9, 2008 at 11:42 AM
tim said...: >>Sorry to burst the bubble of all the SF Believers. San Fran is going into the crapper.

Three words: Google hiring freeze.

That tells you everything. Tech companies down there are shedding kids like crazy.; November 9, 2008 at 12:05 PM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: Ahhhh... The New Bend Sux blog has arrived!

Our mission here at Bend Sux is threefold:

First, to counter all the public relations bullshit about Bend spewed out by the chamber of commerce, the tourism industry, the real estate industry and the local media.

Second, to discourage people who are thinking about moving to Bend from taking that fatal step by letting them know that, despite all the public relations bullshit, Bend actually sucks.

Third, to give support, comfort and solace to Bend citizens who have known in their guts for a long time that Bend sucks but have been afraid to admit it and/or say it. Yes, our brothers and sisters, Bend really, truly DOES suck.; November 9, 2008 at 12:22 PM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: OK, it arrived in Late Aug.

But still.

I hope the guy continues to post. There's so much in Bend that SUCKS, he's got a green field for material.; November 9, 2008 at 12:24 PM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: I was just over at BendBB (anon proxy!!!), and noticed that rdc, BendBB and some dude named Jack Elliott just lambast AND THEN DELETE the posts of anyone who isn't BEYOND GIDDY about Bend's future.

I just don't get it. Whale on 'em, sure. But delete posts? It's like these 3 guys are in a circle-jerk clusterfuck of self-congratulations about how great Bend is. All Bad News is shuffled off the site, with admonishments for ever thinking or posting negatives AGAIN.

Who is this Jack Elliott guy? He doesn't even sound real. I'm actually starting to believe the idea that BendBB was started as "legit" source for RE opinion... but it's morphed into a Propaganda Bitch Site for Bend RE.

Complete with Invisible Man. They whomp the hell out of Guest posts, but by God, if you REGISTER, all of a sudden YOU MUST BE REAL!!! That's some deranged shit, there.

Love,

Becky Breeze; November 9, 2008 at 12:32 PM
LavaBear said...: "Powell said short sales are driving down home prices in Bend because most banks are willing to accept 60 cents on the dollar for distressed properties. With that sort of downward pressure, it’s almost impossible to compete, he said."

I'm just curious how the reporter could possibly keep a straight face as he was jotting down the quote.

I really, really want to ask Super Genius Powell what he thinks they should do?; November 9, 2008 at 1:04 PM
Anonymous said...: I'm actually starting to believe the idea that BendBB was started as "legit" source for RE opinion... but it's morphed into a Propaganda Bitch Site for Bend RE.

Kinda like this site....

It used to be something.... but now it is just a cum bucket for Bruce and his gay lover HBruce to shoot their wads into.

I left this site weeks ago, just stopped by to make sure it still sucks.

And it does... suck.... badly.; November 9, 2008 at 1:33 PM
Anonymous said...: "And it does... suck.... badly."

Hello Mr. or Mrs. Realtor. Thanks for visiting!

We're hoping that in a year or two you'll sell a house and you'll be less cranky.

Best wishes, the blog guys; November 9, 2008 at 2:19 PM
Anonymous said...: blog guys?

Lemme guess, Bruce I and Bruce II ?
Too gay lovers with nothing better to do.

PS:
And no, I am not a real estate agent, lender or even a speculator. Nor a builder or sub contractor.; November 9, 2008 at 2:30 PM
LavaBear said...: >>>And it does... suck.... badly.

No shit. My theory is that at times it sucks so fucking bad that it actually doesn't suck. That's the beauty of it.; November 9, 2008 at 2:42 PM
Bewert said...: Re: Lemme guess, Bruce I and Bruce II ?

Never, ever posted anonymousely. Unlike yourself. Grow a pair.; November 9, 2008 at 3:02 PM
Bewert said...: For those of you who actually voted for McCain, and wanted more of this, a special moment.

In honor of the builders taking over the Bend City Council.; November 9, 2008 at 3:16 PM
Bewert said...: Re: Bruce, you should shut the fuck up and actually finish that 10,000 page Exec Session complaint....

Yep.; November 9, 2008 at 3:20 PM
Anonymous said...: I guess I shouldn't forget the $4.3MM revenue shortfall at City Hall.

*

Funny that figure $4.3M that is exactly how the city will spend on the SUTERRA SDC infrastructure.

Funny how $4.3M is missing, and $4.3M just got sent to Knife-River on behalf of Suterra.; November 9, 2008 at 3:48 PM
Anonymous said...: It seems like it would be tricky to "live" in Bend for 2 years while working for a Seattle law firm and practicing as a Washington lawyer.

*

A tele-commuting lawyer is actually quite common, as long as they're licensed for that State they can do their shit anywhere.; November 9, 2008 at 3:52 PM
Anonymous said...: BP = Dumbshit. Can't finish the 10,000 page Exec complaint. Can't because then nobody could ever hate the pussy, since he would actually do what he said he would do. That would max out the pussy love. But no.

Grow a pair, or stfu and do what you said you were going to 12 months ago.

Grow a pair and get a job, instead of leaching off your man-wife working at the bike shop to keep your bloging lifestyle alive and well.

Grow a pair ... that is your infatuation, since you only have a pussy and no balls.

Pussy.; November 9, 2008 at 3:53 PM
Anonymous said...: Then there is ZIO-CON Stewart Resnick of ROLL INTL CORP, that owns Suterra LLC, Bend, OR, ...

Small world, and this is the reason that nobody can talk about Suterra in Bend, cuz you don't talk about about ZIO-CONS ( right-wing jews ).; November 9, 2008 at 3:59 PM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: No shit. My theory is that at times it sucks so fucking bad that it actually doesn't suck. That's the beauty of it.

It's like Viral Fuckin Herpes. Everyone comes for a little taste, then they get ta scatchin', pretty soon it's a motherfuckin open wound of blogular goodness.; November 9, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Anonymous said...: A southern Cali lawyer named Mary Winters. Wow, a $400K budget, she must be getting some fat dough from the citizens of Bend.

*

I thought the FUCKING PUSSY told us this had been FROZEN.

PUSSY WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU WORKING FOR??; November 9, 2008 at 4:01 PM
Anonymous said...: PUSSY, They posted both of these as an INCREASE $2.3M went to the general fund, as an increase, and $2.3M went to the JR-BURA fund as a increase. There was NO decrease anywhere. All the expenses of JR-BURA are booked a deferred SDC's ( as an asset ).

Read the fucking PDF pussy, INCREASE for all. The books all balance on the positive. The money spent at JR-BURA is debt, and city-hall is using the $2.3M cash from Suterra to pay the bills.

General Fund Increase Decrease

Resources:
Juniper Ridge Suterra Proceeds 2,300,000 $

Requirements:
Expenditure Appropriations 2,300,000 $

To authorize revenues and increase appropriations related to Juniper Ridge Suterra proceeds. Proceeds will be transferred from the General Fund to the Juniper Ridge Construction Fund.

Source doc: www.juniper-ridge.info/BEND CC Resolution_Suppl_Budget_in_GF_for_Suterra_102208.pdf; November 9, 2008 at 4:06 PM
Anonymous said...: www.deschutes.org/electionresults/

It's dishonest for the Source to print that Obama won in Deschutes County, the fact is McCain won in Deschutes County, as shown below, or if you visit the above site. Why would the Source want it readers to believe that Bend voted for Obama?? When in fact the majority voted for McCain-Palin??

Uncertified Results
Last Updated: 11/05/08 General Election RUN TIME:12:05 PM November 4, 2008
52 of 52 Precincts Counted
Voter Turnout: 79,914 of 92,483 (86.41%)

United States President & Vice President
Vote for 1
Ralph Nader 699 (0.88%)
Cynthia McKinney 127 (0.16%)
Current Race Leader John McCain 38,918 (49%)
Bob Barr 303 (0.38%)
Chuck Baldwin 259 (0.33%)
Barack Obama 38,612 (48.62%)
WRITE-IN 501 (0.63%); November 9, 2008 at 4:42 PM
Anonymous said...: Mr Geithner, 47, is a protégé of Mr Summers and still attends summer tennis camp with his old Treasury boss.

He is seen by critics as too close to Wall Street and to current Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, whom he has advised throughout the current crisis.

*

Change, Hope? Prepare to get fucked.; November 9, 2008 at 4:46 PM
Anonymous said...: Here's how the events unfolded:

Friday, Sept. 12: The trading week ends with the fate of 158-year-old Lehman Brothers in grave doubt. Its stock had fallen sharply due to fears over its financial condition. Paulson, Bernanke, and New York Fed President Tim Geithner begin a series of meetings in Lower Manhattan with top bankers in an effort to engineer a bailout of Lehman, which had bet heavily in the subprime mortgage market. Two possible buyers emerge: Britain's Barclays (BCS) and Bank of America.; November 9, 2008 at 4:48 PM
Anonymous said...: Meet the New Sheriff of Wall Street
Finance
by Django Gold

The third figure of the triumvirate currently scrambling to keep America’s financial sector afloat might be lesser known than the other two, but not for long.

While Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr., and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke have been the frontmen of the unprecedented bailout effort for Wall Street, Timothy Geithner, chief executive of the new New York branch of the Federal Reserve, has been no less effective. Geithner played a lead role in engineering the sale of Bear Stearns to JPMorgan Chase, the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the $85 billion rescue of AIG.

He first came to prominence in 1997 as the International Monetary Fund crisis tore across Asia, and threatened to decimate the world economy. Just 36 at the time, he was sent by then-President Clinton to negotiate a rescue package for the beleaguered Asian economies, sealing his reputation for dealmaking and economic know-how.

But Geithner’s impressive career started well before working under the Clinton administration. He was first tapped by Henry Kissinger’s consulting firm in 1985, before joining the Treasury in 1988, where he worked under three presidential administrations and five different Treasury secretaries. He took the head post at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 2003.; November 9, 2008 at 4:50 PM
Anonymous said...: Mr. Geithner, 47, played a pivotal role in the decision to let Lehman die and to bail out A.I.G. A 20-year public servant, he has never worked in the financial sector. Some analysts say that has left him reliant on Wall Street chiefs to guide his thinking and that Goldman alumni have figured prominently in his ascent.; November 9, 2008 at 4:52 PM
Anonymous said...: The Guys From ‘Government Sachs’

JULIE CRESWELL and BEN WHITE

THIS summer, when the Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., sought help navigating the Wall Street meltdown, he turned to his old firm, Goldman Sachs, snagging a handful of former bankers and other experts in corporate restructurings.
Photo illustration by The New York Times
Treasury faces, from left: Steve Shafran (formerly of Goldman), Kendrick Wilson III (ditto), Henry Paulson Jr. (you guessed it), Edward Forst (yep) and Neel Kashkari (see a trend?).

In September, after the government bailed out the American International Group, the faltering insurance giant, for $85 billion, Mr. Paulson helped select a director from Goldman’s own board to lead A.I.G.

And earlier this month, when Mr. Paulson needed someone to oversee the government’s proposed $700 billion bailout fund, he again recruited someone with a Goldman pedigree, giving the post to a 35-year-old former investment banker who, before coming to the Treasury Department, had little background in housing finance.

Indeed, Goldman’s presence in the department and around the federal response to the financial crisis is so ubiquitous that other bankers and competitors have given the star-studded firm a new nickname: Government Sachs.

The power and influence that Goldman wields at the nexus of politics and finance is no accident. Long regarded as the savviest and most admired firm among the ranks — now decimated — of Wall Street investment banks, it has a history and culture of encouraging its partners to take leadership roles in public service.

It is a widely held view within the bank that no matter how much money you pile up, you are not a true Goldman star until you make your mark in the political sphere. While Goldman sees this as little more than giving back to the financial world, outside executives and analysts wonder about potential conflicts of interest presented by the firm’s unique perch.

They note that decisions that Mr. Paulson and other Goldman alumni make at Treasury directly affect the firm’s own fortunes. They also question why Goldman, which with other firms may have helped fuel the financial crisis through the use of exotic securities, has such a strong hand in trying to resolve the problem.

The very scale of the financial calamity and the historic government response to it have spawned a host of other questions about Goldman’s role.

Analysts wonder why Mr. Paulson hasn’t hired more individuals from other banks to limit the appearance that the Treasury Department has become a de facto Goldman division. Others ask whose interests Mr. Paulson and his coterie of former Goldman executives have in mind: those overseeing tottering financial services firms, or average homeowners squeezed by the crisis?

Still others question whether Goldman alumni leading the federal bailout have the breadth and depth of experience needed to tackle financial problems of such complexity — and whether Mr. Paulson has cast his net widely enough to ensure that innovative responses are pursued.

“He’s brought on people who have the same life experiences and ideologies as he does,” said William K. Black, an associate professor of law and economics at the University of Missouri and counsel to the Federal Home Loan Bank Board during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. “These people were trained by Paulson, evaluated by Paulson so their mind-set is not just shaped in generalized group think — it’s specific Paulson group think.”

Not so fast, say Goldman’s supporters. They vehemently dismiss suggestions that Mr. Paulson’s team would elevate Goldman’s interests above those of other banks, homeowners and taxpayers. Such chatter, they say, is a paranoid theory peddled, almost always anonymously, by less successful rivals. Just add black helicopters, they joke.

“There is no conspiracy,” said Donald C. Langevoort, a law professor at Georgetown University. “Clearly if time were not a problem, you would have a committee of independent people vetting all of the potential conflicts, responding to questions whether someone ought to be involved with a particular aspect or project or not because of relationships with a former firm — but those things do take time and can’t be imposed in an emergency situation.”

In fact, Goldman’s admirers say, the firm’s ranks should be praised, not criticized, for taking a leadership role in the crisis.

“There are people at Goldman Sachs making no money, living at hotels, trying to save the financial world,” said Jes Staley, the head of JPMorgan Chase’s asset management division. “To indict Goldman Sachs for the people helping out Washington is wrong.”

Goldman concurs. “We’re proud of our alumni, but frankly, when they work in the public sector, their presence is more of a negative than a positive for us in terms of winning business,” said Lucas Van Praag, a spokesman for Goldman. “There is no mileage for them in giving Goldman Sachs the corporate equivalent of most-favored-nation status.”

MR. PAULSON himself landed atop Treasury because of a Goldman tie. Joshua B. Bolten, a former Goldman executive and President Bush’s chief of staff, helped recruit him to the post in 2006.

Some analysts say that given the pressures Mr. Paulson faced creating a SWAT team to address the financial crisis, it was only natural for him to turn to his former firm for a capable battery.

And if there is one thing Goldman has, it is an imposing army of top-of-their-class, up-before-dawn über-achievers. The most prominent former Goldman banker now working for Mr. Paulson at Treasury is also perhaps the most unlikely.

Neel T. Kashkari arrived in Washington in 2006 after spending two years as a low-level technology investment banker for Goldman in San Francisco, where he advised start-up computer security companies. Before joining Goldman, Mr. Kashkari, who has two engineering degrees in addition to an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, worked on satellite projects for TRW, the space company that now belongs to Northrop Grumman.

He was originally appointed to oversee a $700 billion fund that Mr. Paulson orchestrated to buy toxic and complex bank assets, but the role evolved as his boss decided to invest taxpayer money directly in troubled financial institutions.

Mr. Kashkari, who met Mr. Paulson only briefly before going to the Treasury Department, is also in charge of selecting the staff to run the bailout program. One of his early picks was Reuben Jeffrey, a former Goldman executive, to serve as interim chief investment officer.

Mr. Kashkari is considered highly intelligent and talented. He has also been Mr. Paulson’s right-hand man — and constant public shadow — during the financial crisis.

He played a main role in the emergency sale of Bear Stearns to JPMorgan Chase in March, sitting in a Park Avenue conference room as details of the acquisition were hammered out. He often exited the room to funnel information to Mr. Paulson about the progress.

Despite Mr. Kashkari’s talents in deal-making, there are widespread questions about whether he has the experience or expertise to manage such a project.

“Mr. Kashkari may be the most brilliant, talented person in the United States, but the optics of putting a 35-year-old Paulson protégé in charge of what, at least at one point, was supposed to be the most important part of the recovery effort are just very damaging,” said Michael Greenberger, a University of Maryland law professor and a former senior official with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

“The American people are fed up with Wall Street, and there are plenty of people around who could have been brought in here to offer broader judgment on these problems,” Mr. Greenberger added. “All wisdom about financial matters does not reside on Wall Street.”

Mr. Kashkari won’t directly manage the bailout fund. More than 200 firms submitted bids to oversee pieces of the program, and Treasury has winnowed the list to fewer than 10 and could announce the results as early as this week. Goldman submitted a bid but offered to provide its services gratis.

While Mr. Kashkari is playing a prominent public role, other Goldman alumni dominate Mr. Paulson’s inner sanctum.

The A-team includes Dan Jester, a former strategic officer for Goldman who has been involved in most of Treasury’s recent initiatives, especially the government takeover of the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Mr. Jester has also been central to the effort to inject capital into banks, a list that includes Goldman.

Another central player is Steve Shafran, who grew close to Mr. Paulson in the 1990s while working in Goldman’s private equity business in Asia. Initially focused on student loan problems, Mr. Shafran quickly became involved in Treasury’s initiative to guarantee money market funds, among other things.

Mr. Shafran, who retired from Goldman in 2000, had settled with his family in Ketchum, Idaho, where he joined the city council. Baird Gourlay, the council president, said he had spoken a couple of times with Mr. Shafran since he returned to Washington last year.

“He was initially working on the student loan part of the problem,” Mr. Gourlay said. “But as things started falling apart, he said Paulson was relying on him more and more.”

The Treasury Department said Mr. Shafran and the other former Goldman executives were unavailable for comment.

Other prominent former Goldman executives now at Treasury include Kendrick R. Wilson III, a seasoned adviser to chief executives of the nation’s biggest banks. Mr. Wilson, an unpaid adviser, mainly spends his time working his ample contact list of bank chiefs to apprise them of possible Treasury plans and gauge reaction.

Another Goldman veteran, Edward C. Forst, served briefly as an adviser to Mr. Paulson on setting up the bailout fund but has since left to return to his post as executive vice president of Harvard. Robert K. Steel, a former vice chairman at Goldman, was tapped to look at ways to shore up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Mr. Steel left Treasury to become chief executive of Wachovia this summer before the government took over the entities.

Treasury officials acknowledge that former Goldman executives have played an enormous role in responding to the current crisis. But they also note that many other top Treasury Department officials with no ties to Goldman are doing significant work, often without notice. This group includes David G. Nason, a senior adviser to Mr. Paulson and a former Securities and Exchange Commission official.

Robert F. Hoyt, general counsel at Treasury, has also worked around the clock in recent weeks to make sure the department’s unprecedented moves pass legal muster. Michele Davis is a Capitol Hill veteran and Treasury policy director. None of them are Goldmanites.

“Secretary Paulson has a deep bench of seasoned financial policy experts with varied experience,” said Jennifer Zuccarelli, a spokeswoman for the Treasury. “Bringing additional expertise to bear at times like these is clearly in the taxpayers’ and the U.S. economy’s best interests.”

While many Wall Streeters have made the trek to Washington, there is no question that the axis of power at the Treasury Department tilts toward Goldman. That has led some to assume that the interests of the bank, and Wall Street more broadly, are the first priority. There is also the question of whether the department’s actions benefit the personal finances of the former Goldman executives and their friends.

“To the extent that they have a portfolio or blind trust that holds Goldman Sachs stock, they have conflicts,” said James K. Galbraith, a professor of government and business relations at the University of Texas. “To the extent that they have ties and alumni loyalty or friendships with people that are still there, they have potential conflicts.”

Mr. Paulson, Mr. Kashkari and Mr. Shafran no longer own any Goldman shares. It is unclear whether Mr. Jester or Mr. Wilson does because, according to the Treasury Department, they were hired as contractors and are not required to disclose their financial holdings.

For every naysayer, meanwhile, there is also a Goldman defender who says the bank’s alumni are doing what they have done since the days when Sidney Weinberg ran the bank in the 1930s and urged his bankers to give generously to charities and volunteer for public service.

“I give Hank credit for attracting so many talented people. None of these guys need to do this,” said Barry Volpert, a managing director at Crestview Partners and a former co-chief operating officer of Goldman’s private equity business. “They’re not getting paid. They’re killing themselves. They haven’t seen their families for months. The idea that there’s some sort of cabal or conflict here is nonsense.”

In fact, say some Goldman executives, the perception of a conflict of interest has actually cost them opportunities in the crisis. For instance, Goldman wasn’t allowed to examine the books of Bear Stearns when regulators were orchestrating an emergency sale of the faltering investment bank.

THIS summer, as he fought for the survival of Lehman Brothers, Richard S. Fuld Jr., its chief executive, made a final plea to regulators to turn his investment bank into a bank holding company, which would allow it to receive constant access to federal funding.

Timothy F. Geithner, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, told him no, according to a former Lehman executive who requested anonymity because of continuing investigations of the firm’s demise. Its options exhausted, Lehman filed for bankruptcy in mid-September.

One week later, Goldman and Morgan Stanley were designated bank holding companies.

“That was our idea three months ago, and they wouldn’t let us do it,” said a former senior Lehman executive who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly. “But when Goldman got in trouble, they did it right away. No one could believe it.”

The New York Fed, which declined to comment, has become, after Treasury, the favorite target for Goldman conspiracy theorists. As the most powerful regional member of the Federal Reserve system, and based in the nation’s financial capital, it has been a driving force in efforts to shore up the flailing financial system.

Mr. Geithner, 47, played a pivotal role in the decision to let Lehman die and to bail out A.I.G. A 20-year public servant, he has never worked in the financial sector. Some analysts say that has left him reliant on Wall Street chiefs to guide his thinking and that Goldman alumni have figured prominently in his ascent.

After working at the New York consulting firm Kissinger Associates, Mr. Geithner landed at the Treasury Department in 1988, eventually catching the eye of Robert E. Rubin, Goldman’s former co-chairman. Mr. Rubin, who became Treasury secretary in 1995, kept Mr. Geithner at his side through several international meltdowns, including the Russian credit crisis in the late 1990s.

Mr. Rubin, now senior counselor at Citigroup, declined to comment.

A few years later, in 2003, Mr. Geithner was named president of the New York Fed. Leading the search committee was Pete G. Peterson, the former head of Lehman Brothers and the senior chairman of the private equity firm Blackstone. Among those on an outside advisory committee were the former Fed chairman Paul A. Volcker; the former A.I.G. chief executive Maurice R. Greenberg; and John C. Whitehead, a former co-chairman of Goldman.

The board of the New York Fed is led by Stephen Friedman, a former chairman of Goldman. He is a “Class C” director, meaning that he was appointed by the board to represent the public.

Mr. Friedman, who wears many hats, including that of chairman of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, did not return calls for comment.

During his tenure, Mr. Geithner has turned to Goldman in filling important positions or to handle special projects. He hired a former Goldman economist, William C. Dudley, to oversee the New York Fed unit that buys and sells government securities. He also tapped E. Gerald Corrigan, a well-regarded Goldman managing director and former New York Fed president, to reconvene a group to analyze risk on Wall Street.

Some people say that all of these Goldman ties to the New York Fed are simply too close for comfort. “It’s grotesque,” said Christopher Whalen, a managing partner at Institutional Risk Analytics and a critic of the Fed. “And it’s done without apology.”

A person familiar with Mr. Geithner’s thinking who was not authorized to speak publicly said that there was “no secret handshake” between the New York Fed and Goldman, describing such speculation as a conspiracy theory.

Furthermore, others say, it makes sense that Goldman would have a presence in organizations like the New York Fed.

“This is a very small, close-knit world. The fact that all of the major financial services firms, investment banking firms are in New York City means that when work is to be done, you’re going to be dealing with one of these guys,” said Mr. Langevoort at Georgetown. “The work of selecting the head of the New York Fed or a blue-ribbon commission — any of that sort of work — is going to involve a standard cast of characters.”

Being inside may not curry special favor anyway, some people note. Even though Mr. Fuld served on the board of the New York Fed, his proximity to federal power didn’t spare Lehman from bankruptcy.

But when bankruptcy loomed for A.I.G. — a collapse regulators feared would take down the entire financial system — federal officials found themselves once again turning to someone who had a Goldman connection. Once the government decided to grant A.I.G., the largest insurance company, an $85 billion lifeline (which has since grown to about $122 billion) to prevent a collapse, regulators, including Mr. Paulson and Mr. Geithner, wanted new executive blood at the top.

They picked Edward M. Liddy, the former C.E.O. of the insurer Allstate. Mr. Liddy had been a Goldman director since 2003 — he resigned after taking the A.I.G. job — and was chairman of the audit committee. (Another former Goldman executive, Suzanne Nora Johnson, was named to the A.I.G. board this summer.)

Like many Wall Street firms, Goldman also had financial ties to A.I.G. It was the insurer’s largest trading partner, with exposure to $20 billion in credit derivatives, and could have faced losses had A.I.G. collapsed. Goldman has said repeatedly that its exposure to A.I.G. was “immaterial” and that the $20 billion was hedged so completely that it would have insulated the firm from significant losses.

As the financial crisis has taken on a more global cast in recent weeks, Mr. Paulson has sat across the table from former Goldman colleagues, including Robert B. Zoellick, now president of the World Bank; Mario Draghi, president of the international group of regulators called the Financial Stability Forum; and Mark J. Carney, the governor of the Bank of Canada.

BUT Mr. Paulson’s home team is still what draws the most scrutiny.

“Paulson put Goldman people into these positions at Treasury because these are the people he knows and there are no constraints on him not to do so,” Mr. Whalen says. “The appearance of conflict of interest is everywhere, and that used to be enough. However, we’ve decided to dispense with the basic principles of checks and balances and our ethical standards in times of crisis.”

Ultimately, analysts say, the actions of Mr. Paulson and his alumni club may come under more study.

“I suspect the conduct of Goldman Sachs and other bankers in the rescue will be a background theme, if not a highlighted theme, as Congress decides how much regulation, how much control and frankly, how punitive to be with respect to the financial services industry,” said Mr. Langevoort at Georgetown. “The settling up is going to come in Congress next spring.”; November 9, 2008 at 4:53 PM
Anonymous said...: For Immediate Release: November 6, 2008

New study reveals more violations of the law by CDFA

Environmental groups, citizen advocates react to results of environmental monitoring during aerial spraying for Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM)

Santa Cruz, CA. (November 6, 2008) Just a few days before the one-year anniversary of the aerial spraying for Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) in Santa Cruz, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) released a report by the Department for Pesticide Regulations (DPR) about the results of environmental monitoring during pesticide applications in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.

While CDFA claims that this study proves the safety of the chemicals used, environmental groups and citizen advocates say that statement is misleading and point out fundamental shortcomings of the report. Rather, they argue, the report reveals another breach of the law by CDFA as it states that considerable drift occurred during aerial spraying in 2007. The study also confirms observations made by affected residents of inconsistencies in the dosage of the pesticides, creating whole clusters of illness. Detailed reactions follow.

1. The study is inadequate in determining toxicity of the chemicals sprayed, as it takes into account only the active ingredient of the pesticides, a synthetic pheromone. The so-called inert ingredients are not being examined, although those ingredients are of great concern. Some inert ingredients have established carcinogenic, mutagenic, and reproductive toxicities, others are toxic to aquatic species.

Says Santa Cruz resident Paulina Borsook “This report persists CDFA’s disingenuous practice of looking at the most benign components of the spray only and then calling the whole product ‘safe’. The agency’s behavior is completely irresponsible. CDFA continues to put families, pets, wildlife and fragile ecosystems at risk, and insults those that already have been hurt.”

Quote: “The Check Mate products also contain several inert ingredients, but these were not monitored.” (p. 2)

2. While deficient in determining toxicity of the spray, the new study conducted by DPR, reveals evidence of further abuses of the law by CDFA. The report states that pesticide drift was measured as far as 3.3 miles outside of the spray zone. This is a clear violation of section 12972 in the California Agriculture Code: “The use of any pesticide by any person shall be in such a manner as to prevent substantial drift to nontarget areas.”

Quote: “Drift of the product was detected at considerable distance from the application boundary, 3.97 ug/ft2 (1.15 percent of the target application rate) at 17,400 feet in one instance.” ( p. 12)

Says Soquel resident Isabelle Jenniches “I live outside the spray zone, but we could feel and smell the spray. My husband and I had red eyes, dry mouths, and accelerated heart rates for days. My neighbor suffered a terrible asthma attack, the first in years. It is a well-known fact that airborne pesticides can drift for miles. This dangerous practice has to stop for good!”

During aerial spray operations last year, the pilots were to leave buffer zones around waterways and along the ocean. The now confirmed pesticide drift rendered these buffer zones meaningless. Storm run-off made things worse: after the spraying a thick yellow foam was observed in the water. Surfers reported the worst red tide in 40 years, which may have been fueled by phosphates and surfactants in the spray.

Says Frank Egger, president of the North Coast River Alliance “When I saw the photographs of thick yellow foam in the ocean after spraying, I knew that our waters had been contaminated. We now have proof of this. This is an outrageous violation of both state and federal laws and further puts endangered species such as steelhead trout and Coho salmon in jeopardy.”

3. The study also finds that pesticide capsules were not evenly distributed within the carrier substance (water), leading to inconsistent deposition rates of the spray. This may explain why some entire families became very ill when neighbors across the street did not. One property received a much larger exposure to chemicals than the other.

Quote: “The tank sample results showed a large amount of variability between samples for the same treatment and even within analysis of a single sample. […]The cause of the variability could be due to several factors. It was noticed that the microcapsules tend to separate out of the mixture quickly and require constant mixing.” (pp. 9 & 10)

The deposition study by the Department of Pesticide Regulations can be found at the CDFA website http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/PDEP/lbam/pdfs/docs/deposition_study.pdf

###

For Immediate Release: November 6, 2008

Six-pack tests inadequate say health advocates

Acute toxicity tests on pesticides to combat the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM)
leave residents unconvinced of their safety

Santa Cruz, CA (November 6, 2008) In a second study, results of the so-called six-pack tests that examined the acute toxicity of four pesticide product to eradicate the Light Brown Apple Moth were released Tuesday. The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) hailed the study as proof of the products’ safety, while health advocates identify crucial inadequacies.

No long-term toxicity testing was included in either the newly released study nor in previous studies by the Department for Pesticide Regulation (DPR) and the Office for Health Hazard Assessments (OEHHA). Acute toxicity testing does not take into account that cancer and other illnesses often take years to appear. What's more, time-release pesticides, intended to be re-applied year after year, will keep the environment permanently saturated.

According to Roy Upton, LBAM Liaison for Citizens for Health “Nothing about the safety of the many pesticides used in the LBAM eradication program has been honestly represented by the agencies. Pesticides do not belong in our children's playgrounds or our homes. This program has to stop.”

Upton is co-author of a petition to reclassify the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM). The petition presents commanding scientific evidence that the moth does not endanger native ecosystems or crops. This petition has been submitted to the United States Department of Food and Agriculture (USDA) by Congressman Sam Farr (D-Carmel). It is accompanied with numerous endorsements by state legislators and esteemed entomologists.

The six-pack tests also did not assess the specific pesticide delivery system
used in the Fall of 2007 in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties: tiny plastic capsules, small enough to be breathed into the deep lung where they cannot be expelled, were rained down on Monterey Bay communities. The American Lung Association defines these tiny plastic capsules as "particulate pollution" capable of causing death. Following the spraying several children suffered first-time asthma attacks, including at least two children who nearly died from respiratory failure.

Mike Lynberg is a Pacific Grove businessman who helped collect illness complaints after the spraying in the Monterey and Santa Cruz areas last fall. He recently released an expanded report listing 802 cases of severe headaches, asthma, body rashes, eye and throat irritation, dizziness, nausea and fatigue.

Says Lynberg "State agencies have done only a cursory investigation of the many illnesses, and they've added insult to injury by not interviewing a single patient or doctor. The hundreds of illness complaints we know about are likely just the tip of the iceberg because the state did not have an adequate monitoring system in place following the crop dusting of our schools, playgrounds and homes with pesticides."

Lynberg notes that the report's conclusion on page 13 admits that state agencies ‘cannot exclude the possibility that one or more ingredients in the LBAM product could cause an allergic response in sensitive individuals.'

Also, he observes that the state's report concedes that animal studies cannot adequately predict how chemicals will affect people, in part because only a few animals are tested, for very short periods of time, while hundreds of thousands of people were aerial sprayed and exposed to chemicals in the air for days and weeks.

Two medical doctors testified during hearings in the California state assembly that people's symptoms were consistent with the known toxins in the spray. Dr. Lawrence Rose M.D. M.P.H., a recently retired senior Public Medical Officer for the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal-OSHA), wrote a paper on the health effects of the LBAM spray which came to the same conclusion.

In his paper, Dr. Rose says: “These short term complaint symptoms are consistent with known toxicology scientific information of the ingredients of Checkmate (the pesticide sprayed in 2007). These ingredients include irritants, sensitizers, nervous system disrupters, endocrine disruption, allergens, and hypersensitivity induction. Long term health effects are also of concern due to the known induced mutations and suspected cancer risks of constituent chemicals.”

Dr. Rose’s paper Marin Pesticide Spraying Health Hazard Alert can be downloaded at
http://www.stopthespray.org/resources/health/RoseHealthHazardReport.pdf

The executive summary of the petition to reclassify LBAM can be found at
http://forum.stopthespray.org/download/file.php?id=651

The toxicology study is posted at
http://www.oehha.ca.gov/pesticides/pdf/LBAMConsensus110308.pdf

###; November 9, 2008 at 4:56 PM
Anonymous said...: Mr. Geithner, 47, played a pivotal role in the decision to let Lehman die and to bail out A.I.G. A 20-year public servant, he has never worked in the financial sector. Some analysts say that has left him reliant on Wall Street chiefs to guide his thinking and that Goldman alumni have figured prominently in his ascent.

*

Giethner ( ZIOCON ) created the collapse of LEHMAN, which caused McCain to plummet, which made OREO win.

Then OREO gives the treasury to Giethner.

Who would have guessed.

The entire SEP/OCT collapse-mania, was engineered by Giethner.; November 9, 2008 at 4:59 PM
Anonymous said...: Mr. Geithner, 47, played a pivotal role in the decision to let Lehman die and to bail out A.I.G. A 20-year public servant, he has never worked in the financial sector. Some analysts say that has left him reliant on Wall Street chiefs to guide his thinking and that Goldman alumni have figured prominently in his ascent.

*

He has Kissinger's CUM in his ass, and Bernanke's CUM in his mouth, what more do you need?

Anybody that doesn't think this election was engineered is a fucking BENDER.; November 9, 2008 at 5:12 PM
Anonymous said...: Just heard Bill Friedman died from a very reliable source; November 9, 2008 at 7:12 PM
Bewert said...: Re: I thought the FUCKING PUSSY told us this had been FROZEN.

It was. Or so the BULL stated. Hiring freeze and all.

Hey, I don't work for the city and am not part of the Council.; November 9, 2008 at 7:21 PM
Bewert said...: Re: Friedman

KTVZ confirms: Bend councilor, ex-mayor Bill Friedman dies

Served on council for 11 years, as mayor for four

From KTVZ.COM news sources

Bend City Councilor Bill Friedman, who served as mayor during some of the most rapid growth in the city's history, died Sunday afternoon at St. Charles Medical Center-Bend, more than a week after complications arose following back surgery. He was 72.

Friedman often expressed pride at many of the city's accomplishments and came from a transit management background to support several controversial transportation projects, from the Bend Parkway to the Bill Healy Bridge and the creation of Bend Area Transit.

His humor showed through many a time, such as donning a Dr. Seuss 'Cat in the Hat' striped hat at a debate over the Southern River Crossing, to read a fanciful Seuss-style tale about the bridge and the key role it would play for Bend motorists.

A long-time colleague, former mayor and city councilor Oran Teater, told news partner KBND radio Friedman will be very much missed by many who knew him.

"Bill was a guy who genuinely loved his community and genuinely loved being a councilor and giving back to the community," Teater said.

"He once told me he couldn't imagine not having a job as a city councilor," Teater said. "He just loved it, lived for it. So I admired him for that."

"He was also a guy I didn't always agree with. I mean, we didn't agree on a variety of issues politically, but we were always friends. It's one of these things where, we might have a tough city council meeting but go out and have a glass of wine afterward."

"I think he was a wonderful fellow. He gave back much more than he took from the community, I'll tell you that for sure."

---

Following is a statement issued by the family, and a biographical background provided by a family spokeswoman:

Bill Friedman died at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend on Sunday afternoon, Nov. 9, 2008. The cause of death was complications from back surgery. He remained hospitalized in critical condition until his death. He was 72 years old.

The family wishes to thank the community for their support during this difficult time. Details about services will be released as soon they are finalized. In the meantime, they ask that friends and family continue to post their memories of Bill and support for the family on www.caringbridge.com/visit/billfriedman. This has been a tremendous source of comfort during the past difficult days.

Bill was a small business owner, long-time city councilor and former mayor of Bend. He is survived by his wife Shoshana, and four grown children. They wish to thank everyone for their concern, but ask that the media and public continue to respect their privacy.

---

Bill Friedman

Bill Friedman began his service with the City of Bend in 1996 on the Budget Committee. He was appointed to the Bend City Council in August of 1997 filling a vacancy created by departing Councilman Brian Chitwood. He was subsequently elected to the Council in 1998. During his eleven years of service, he was Mayor for four years, in 2001 and 2002 and another term in 2005 and 2006.

City Council assignments included the Central Oregon Area Committee on Transportation (COACT); the Metropolitan Planning Organization; the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council; Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council, the Traffic Safety Committee, the Deschutes County Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee, and the National League of Cities Transportation Committee. He also served on the Bend Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors from June 1997 through June 2001. He was also a very active member of the Small Business Council.

During Bill's tenure with the City of Bend, the population grew from approximately 25,000 to nearly 78,000 and saw the completion of many projects. He had a particular interest in transportation and economic development efforts. Additional accomplishments included his participation in:

• Development of roundabouts for intersection improvements
• The annexation of the original urban growth boundary into the city limits
• Adoption of the Transportation System Plan
• The Southern River Crossing, now known as the Bill Healy Memorial Bridge
• Development of the Sister City program
• Development and implementation of the Westside Consortium agreements that ended a de facto building moratorium on Bend's Westside
• Completion of the Bend Parkway
• Building five fire stations, a fire training facility and the update of the complete fire fleet
• The implementation and completion of the urban renewal program in Downtown Bend
• Bend Municipal Airport improvements including a new Fixed Base Operator's facility, infrastructure extension for water and sewer to the airport, economic development expansion, and runway expansions
• The creation of the nationally recognized FireFree program
• Bend Police facilities construction and expansion on SE 15th Street
• The initiation and continuation of community surveys and other citizen input efforts
• Development of a public transit system and upgrade of the Dial-A-Ride program
• City assistance in the development of the Bend Senior Center

Bill was Vice-President and co-owner with his wife, Shoshana, of Cascade Bookkeeping in Bend, which was voted "One of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in Oregon" by Oregon Business Magazine multiple years. He later created Cascade Business Group with business partner Linda Johnson. He was also instructor (unpaid) at the COCC Small Business Development Center.

Bill's previous public service in other communities where he lived included serving as a member and Chair of the City Planning Commission of Richmond Heights, Missouri and President of Half Moon Bay, California Fire District.

Bill held a Bachelor of Science from Louisiana State University; Masters in Education from University of Missouri at St. Louis; and a Masters in Business Administration from Southern Illinois University.

That sucks. He didn't look very sickly in any way.; November 9, 2008 at 7:24 PM
Quimby said...: Had a chukar hunting buddy's grandpa die recently from complications from a freakin' HIP surgery. MRSA?

Damn....don't go under the knife or you might not make it back!

Rest in Peace Mr. Friedman; November 9, 2008 at 8:09 PM
tim said...: Sorry to hear that. Best wishes to his family.; November 9, 2008 at 8:11 PM
Anonymous said...: INTERESTING FACTS

* Martial law is defined as: military rule or authority imposed on a civilian population when the civil authorities cannot maintain law and order, as in a time of war or during an emergency.
* Bush turned the USA into a Nazi dictatorship through executive orders.
* Executive Order 10995: All communications media are to be seized by the Federal Government. Radio, TV, newspapers, CB, Ham, telephones, and the internet will be under federal control. Hence, the First Amendment will be suspended indefinitely.
* Executive Order 10997: All electrical power, fuels, and all minerals well be seized by the federal government.
* Executive Order 10998: All food resources, farms and farm equipment will be seized by the government. You will not be allowed to hoard food since this is regulated.
* Executive Order 10999: All modes of transportation will go into government control. Any vehicle can be seized.
* Executive Order 11000: All civilians can be used for work under federal supervision.
* Executive Order 11490: Establishes presidential control over all US citizens, businesses, and churches in time of "emergency."
* Executive Order 12919: Directs various Cabinet officials to be constantly ready to take over virtually all aspects of the US economy during a State of National Emergency at the direction of the president.
* Executive Order 13010: Directs FEMA to take control over all government agencies in time of emergency. FEMA is under control of executive branch of the government.
* Executive Order 12656: "ASSIGNMENT OF EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS RESPONSIBILITIES", "A national emergency is any occurrence, including natural disaster, military attack, technological emergency, or other emergency that seriously degrades or seriously threatens the national security of the United States. Policy for national security emergency preparedness shall be established by the President." This order includes federal takeover of all local law enforcement agencies, wage and price controls, prohibits you from moving assets in or out of the United States, creates a draft, controls all travel in and out of the United States, and much more.
* Martial law can be declared due to natural disasters, Y2k Crisis, Stock Market crash, no electricity, riots, biological attack, .... anything leading to the breakdown of law and order.

SURVIVING MARTIAL LAW

* Prepare before any declaration of martial law by becoming self reliant. You may become subject to a bureaucratic system and be prepared to stay one step ahead of it which is easy to do if you are prepared and in a position to be self reliant. You may also face mob rule, chaos, panic, or a complete breakdown in law and order. Surival situations may be easier to handle in rural areas than urban.
* Avoid areas of marital law. Can be imposed due to natural disasters or man caused events. Important to have a retreat or place in a rural area away from populated areas.
* Create alliances with like minded neighbors or community members that share your views. Team work and numbers may help your situation.
* Become transparent in the sense that you do not draw attention to yourself or your family. For instance, do not tell people that you are storing food just store food. Be prepared to render assistance to neighbors if need be. You never know when you will need them.
* Remain calm! Do not panic.
* Avoid areas of civil unrest if possible. If caught in civil unrest take appropriate action.
* Get informed and stay informed. Understand martial law can be a temporary crisis or an extended one. In extreme cases the shape of a whole nation can change.
* Declaration of martial law means your rights are suspended and it is government by decree. Your constitutional rights may no longer apply. This could mean a state of National Emergency.
* People can be arrested and imprisoned indefinitely without charges.
* Freedom of speech and freedom of assembly can be suspended, and censorship of the media imposed.
* Gun ownership will also come under severe attack during marital law. We could see house to house searches by the military or National Guard looking for guns and seizing any they find along with stored food.
* Take a stand on issues and make a choice that fits your beliefs and the situation. Do you believe as Patrick Henry, "Give me liberty or give me death?" Realize you may have some hard choices to make. Understand you may have to sacrifice your principles on trivial matters or take a hard stand. Always remember that you may have to come back and fight another day.; November 9, 2008 at 8:14 PM
Anonymous said...: Quim,

Never go under the knife, yes, most of the time.

BUT never go to a surgeon in BEND, BEND leads the nation in un-needed surgerys. St Charles is the worst, Bend has the hight per-capita back surgery and knee in the nation, and it ain't because we're a city of jocks.

Bend has the highest population of surgeons with not enough work, wrt St Charles, lack of competition.

Get a second opinion, and go to PDX.; November 9, 2008 at 8:16 PM
Anonymous said...: Iranian Leader In Secret Meet With Obama At US Military Stronghold In Hawaii

By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subs

Russian Military Intelligence reports to Prime Minister Putin today are stating that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has joined US Senator Barack Obama in Hawaii at an emergency conference ordered by America’s Top Generals in their effort to avert World War III and the collapse of the United States by the fascist forces within its own government it is currently battling.

As we had reported earlier in our October 23rd report “Obama Summoned To US Military Stronghold In Hawaii By Top Generals”, the presumed next President of United States is currently incommunicado in Hawaii under the cover of his grandmother being ill. President Ahmadinejad is, likewise, incommunicado under the cover of ‘failing health’ as he has suddenly cancelled all personal appearances.

According to these reports, the initial meeting between Obama and Ahmadinejad, and their Top Military Officers, was ‘tense’ but appeared to be beating back the planed fascist coup in the United States with the Iranian condition of being recognized by the US being met with the White House announcing last evening the resumption of diplomatic ties, and as we can read as reported by the Seattle Times News Service:

“The Bush administration will announce in mid-November, after the presidential election, that it intends to establish the first U.S. diplomatic presence in Iran since the 1979-81 hostage crisis, according to senior Bush administration officials.”

The American anti-fascist forces now headed by Senator Obama also appear to have had their main first condition met that President Ahmadinejad will step aside and not run for another term of office, which he appears to have agreed to, and as we can read as reported by the JTA News Service:

“A series of cancelled appearances have led to speculation that the Iranian president's health is failing. The situation may force Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to drop out of elections scheduled for 2009, according to a report on the Iranian Web site Shahab.”

American fascist forces, however, were quick to strike back against these moves against them by first ordering a US media blackout on the resumption of diplomatic ties with Iran released by White House stationed US Military Officers (which, thankfully, the Seattle Times News Service has refused to agree to) and then swiftly imposing sanctions on Russia and China for their support of Iran, and to which Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov blasted as being ‘inadmissible’.

Driving these desperate actions by Americas Top Generals are how close they are to seeing their Nation destroyed upon the alter of what the United States fascist forces call their ‘New World Order’, and which they stand virtually alone against not only their political elite but also several of their own intelligence agencies, and as we had previously reported on in our October 20th report “Israel To Fall As US Says This Will Be Their ‘Last President’”.

Also, and as we had reported on in our October 22nd report “Top US Generals Flee To EU And Russia In Last Attempt To Stop World War”, both Russian and European Special Forces units are continuing their attacks against these fascist forces planned nuclear attacks upon Europe’s main cities by the destruction of their core base in Austria and the downing of an Italian Military helicopter yesterday over France believed to be carrying a number of suitcase-type nuclear weapons.

The BBC is also reporting that British nuclear and biological warfare forces are continuing to be deployed around their Nation too.

It is also important to note, these reports continue, that Iran’s Supreme Leader is supporting these ongoing negotiations but has also issued a more serious warning should they not be successful, and as we can read as reported by the JTA News Service:

“Iran will target Israel if there is a U.S. attack on the Islamic state’s nuclear facilities, a senior Iranian official said. Dr. Seyed Safavi, an adviser to supreme leader Ali Khamenei, revealed the change in policy to foreign diplomats two weeks ago in London, according to a report Wednesday in the Israeli daily Ha'aretz.”

Most surprising, however, of all of these events is the near complete denial of the American people to this titanic struggle taking place in their very midst, and upon which their lives and future depends. This is brought into even more stark relief as this is the second coup attempt they have faced in the past 75 years, and which, coincidentally, also took place during a time of great economic turmoil, and as we can read:

“The Business Plot (also the Plot Against FDR and the White House Putsch) was a political conspiracy in 1933 wherein wealthy businessmen and corporations plotted a coup d’état to overthrow United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1934, the Business Plot was publicly revealed by retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler testifying to the McCormack-Dickstein Congressional Committee. [1] In his testimony, Butler claimed that a group of men had approached him as part of a plot to overthrow Roosevelt in a military coup. One of the alleged plotters, Gerald MacGuire, vehemently denied any such plot. In their final report, the Congressional committee supported Butler's allegations of the existence of the plot, but no prosecutions or further investigations followed, and the matter was mostly forgotten.”

As our mission is to present to these American people the true news of the events now occurring, and that will plunge them into a chaos they have never seen the likes of, they can rest assured that this time around this struggle against them will not be forgotten, at least by us.; November 9, 2008 at 8:20 PM
Anonymous said...: "Since 9/11, and seemingly without the notice of most Americans, the federal government has assumed the authority to institute martial law, arrest a wide swath of dissidents (citizen and noncitizen alike), and detain people without legal or constitutional recourse in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants in the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs." write Lewis Seiler and former Congressman Dan Hamburg of the watchdog group Voice of the Environment, Inc.

Voice of the Environment's mission is to educate the public regarding the transfer of public trust assets into private, mostly corporate, hands.

The article continues:

Beginning in 1999, the government has entered into a series of single-bid contracts with Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) to build detention camps at undisclosed locations within the United States. The government has also contracted with several companies to build thousands of railcars, some reportedly equipped with shackles, ostensibly to transport detainees.

According to diplomat and author Peter Dale Scott, the KBR contract is part of a Homeland Security plan titled ENDGAME, which sets as its goal the removal of "all removable aliens" and "potential terrorists."

(Article continues below)

Seiler and Hamburg also warn of the alarming and numerous freedom killing pieces of legislation that have been passed recently, dovetailing with the build up of infrastructure of tyranny inside the US.

We have previously highlighted the shocking details behind this shining example of modern day corporate fascism.

The issue gained national attention two years ago when it was announced that Kellogg, Brown and Root had been awarded a $385 million dollar contract by Homeland Security to construct detention and processing facilities in the event of a national emergency.

The language of the preamble to the agreement veils the program with talk of temporary migrant holding centers, but it is made clear that the camps will also be used "as the development of a plan to react to a national emergency."

Following the story, first given wide attention by Prisonplanet.com, the Alternet website put together an alarming report that collated all the latest information on plans to initiate internment of political subversives and Muslims after the next major terror attack in the US.

The article highlighted the disturbing comments of Sen. Lindsey Graham, who encouraged torture supporting then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to target, "Fifth Columnists" Americans who show disloyalty and sympathize with "the enemy," whoever that enemy may be.

It is important to stress that the historical precedent mirrors exactly what the Halliburton camp deal outlines. Oliver North's Reagan era Rex 84 plan proposed rounding up 400,000 refugees, under FEMA, in the event of "uncontrolled population movements" over the Mexican border into the United States.

The real agenda, just as it is with Halliburton's gulags, was to use the cover of rounding up immigrants and illegal aliens as a smokescreen for targeting political dissidents. From 1967 to 1971 the FBI kept a list of persons to be rounded up as subversive, dubbed the "ADEX" list.

According to author Naomi Wolf, the National Counterterrorism Center today holds the names of roughly 775,000 "terror suspects" with the number increasing by 20,000 per month.

Discussions of federal concentration camps are no longer the rhetoric of paranoid Internet conspiracy theorists, they are mainstream news.

Halliburton, through their KBR subsidiary, is the same company that built most of the major new detention camps in Iraq and Afghanistan. KBR have been embroiled in a human sex slave trade that their representatives have lobbied to continue.

We have a company that has been handed a contract to build prison camps in America that is engaged in trafficking young girls and women. Can this horror movie get any more frightening? Sadly, yes.

A much discussed and circulated report, the Pentagon's Civilian Inmate Labor Program, has recently been updated and the revision details a "template for developing agreements" between the Army and corrections facilities for the use of civilian inmate labor on Army installations."

The plan is clearly to swallow up disenfranchised groups like prisoners, immigrants and Muslims at first and then extend the policy to include 'Fifth Columnists,' otherwise known as anyone who disagrees with the government or exercises their Constitutional rights.

Respected author Peter Dale Scott speculated that the "detention centers could be used to detain American citizens if the Bush administration were to declare martial law."

Daniel Ellsberg, former Special Assistant to Assistant Secretary of Defense, called the plan, "preparation for a roundup after the next 9/11 for Mid-Easterners, Muslims and possibly dissenters. They've already done this on a smaller scale, with the 'special registration' detentions of immigrant men from Muslim countries, and with Guantanamo."

George Bush has declared himself to be dictator and to have supreme power over and above the limitations of the US Constitution. Bush administration officials like Alberto Gonzales have declared Bush to be "above the law." White House advisors are openly discussing the legality of crushing a child's testicles as part of the war on terror. Preparation for the internment of thousands of Americans who are 'disloyal' in times of emergency are afoot.

Under the enemy combatant designation anyone at the behest of the US government, even if they are a US citizen, can be kidnapped and placed in an internment facility forever without trial. Jose Padilla, an American citizen, spent over four years in a Navy brig before being brought to trial.

In 2002, FEMA sought bids from major real estate and engineering firms to construct giant internment facilities in the case of a chemical, biological or nuclear attack or a natural disaster.

Okanogan County Commissioner Dave Schulz went public three years ago with his contention that his county was set to be a location for one of the camps.

Furthermore, in May 2006, we exposed the existence of a nationwide FEMA program which is training Pastors and other religious representatives to become secret police enforcers who teach their congregations to "obey the government" in preparation for the implementation of martial law, property and firearm seizures, mass vaccination programs and forced relocation.

A whistleblower who was secretly enrolled into the program told us that the feds were clandestinely recruiting religious leaders to help implement Homeland Security directives in anticipation of a potential bio-terrorist attack, any natural disaster or a nationally declared emergency.

The first directive was for Pastors to preach to their congregations Romans 13, the often taken out of context bible passage that was used by Hitler to hoodwink Christians into supporting him, in order to teach them to "obey the government" when martial law is declared.

It was related to the Pastors that quarantines, martial law and forced relocation were a problem for state authorities when enforcing federal mandates due to the "cowboy mentality" of citizens standing up for their property and second amendment rights as well as farmers defending their crops and livestock from seizure.

It was stressed that the Pastors needed to preach subservience to the authorities ahead of time in preparation for the round-ups and to make it clear to the congregation that "this is for their own good."

Pastors were told that they would be backed up by law enforcement in controlling uncooperative individuals and that they would even lead SWAT teams in attempting to quell resistance.

Though some doubted the accuracy of this report at the time due to its fundamentally disturbing implications, the story was later confirmed by a KSLA 12 news report, in which participating clergy and officials admitted to the existence of the program.; November 9, 2008 at 8:23 PM
Anonymous said...: Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) reports from the floor of the House that the Republicans have been cut out of the process and called unpatriotic for not blindly supporting the fraudulent bailout. He says the only debate has been about what talking points to use on the American people. The most ominous revelation is when he claims the Speaker has declared martial law.

“I have been thrown out of more meetings in this capital in the last 24 hours than I ever thought possible, as a duly elected representative of 825,000 citizens of north Texas.” Said Congressman Burgess.

Burgess asks the Speaker of the House to post the bailout bill on the internet for at least 24 hours instead of passing the largest piece of legislation in US financial history in the “dark of night.”

The most frightening part of Rep. Burgess’ one-minute floor speech is when he says, “Mr. Speaker I understand we are under Martial Law as declared by the speaker last night.”; November 9, 2008 at 8:28 PM
Anonymous said...: OREO to make transistion to OR-BOMB-EO by Jan of 2009.

***

Recently some ominous statements by two very big political insiders has been making the buzz on certain blogs. It turns out that both Colin Powell and Senator Joe Biden have publicly stated that Obama will see a major international crisis early on in his presidency. According to Biden this crisis will test Obama's "mettle," and according to Powell, will "come along in the 21st or 22nd of January that we don’t even know about right now."

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yeswecan.gif

With these bizarre statements by two establishment insiders one can understand why the blogs are buzzing with rumor and innuendo. Many are wondering if we are getting advance warnings about another 9/11 or perhaps a global financial meltdown?

The comment about testing the mettle of Obama came from future VP and "War on Terror" snake-oil salesman Joe Biden, who neglected to say how this "crisis" will test him in his role as future VP. Here's his comment at an October 19, 2008, 25K, Seattle fundraiser:

"Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

You must read this transcript to get the full nebulous scope of the crisis coming our way. Biden, the consummate political insider, knows some "generated" crisis is coming and he implores the audience to just go along with the unpopular decisions that Obama (and he) will have to make:

"I've forgotten more about foreign policy than most of my colleagues know, so I'm not being falsely humble with you. I think I can be value added, but this guy has it. This guy has it. But he's gonna need your help. Because I promise you, you all are gonna be sitting here a year from now going 'oh my God, why are they there in the polls, why is the polling so down, why is this thing so tough? We're gonna have to make some incredibly tough decisions in the first two years. So I'm asking you now, I'm asking you now, be prepared to stick with us. Remember the faith you had at this point because you're going to have to reinforce us."

This call to faith gets even stranger when Biden gets biblical with a strange reference to Obama as a messiah figure: "Let's not be, for those of a different faith remember St. Peter denied Christ thrice, you know? We don't need anybody denying us, this is gonna be tough."

No denying that Joe catches himself and admits he said too much. "I probably shouldn't have said all this because it dawned on me that the press is here."

Say it ain't so, Joe.

On the same day that Biden made his ominous forecast, Colin Powell also claimed on Meet the Press that a "crisis" is on the way and even gave specific dates: January 21st or 22nd of 2009, the day after the Bush administration is scheduled to leave the White House.

Powell: "I would start with talking to the American people and talking to the world, and conveying a new image of American leadership, a new image of America’s role in the world.

The problems will always be there, and there’s going to be a crisis come along in the 21st or 22nd of January that we don’t even know about right now." Meet the Press transcript

What's is more telling about these comments is not immediately obvious to the causal observer: it is not the debate about whether or not Powell and Biden have committed Fraudian slips, or were trying to warn the American people about some new imminent attack -- both Biden and Powell have resigned themselves to this inevitability and have accepted it because it is being dictated by more powerful people than themselves, people they work for who are entrenched in the top echelons of the state. The real message is that Obama will be tested to see if he will uphold the mandates of this elite while mollifying the mob.

Contrary to popular opinion, the President of the United States of America does not actually run the state on its deepest level, which would explain why no major contender for the presidency would ever seriously look into 9/11 or, most recently, challenge the 800 billion dollar bankers bail out. To do so would be political suicide.

In Peter Dale Scott latest book "The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire and the Future of America," he writes of a cabal which he collectively terms the "deep state," which is highly secretive and has increasingly committed itself to global dominance at any price. State department officials and even Presidents have been powerless to stop these covert operatives as they are entrenched in the most powerful segments of the state, and, according to Scott, their career success is based on their commitment to worst-case scenarios, or a "paranoid style in American politics." He argues that the paranoid bureaucratic style of the deep state, undisciplined by the wisdom of the public state, was a major cause of 9/11 and is a formula for more 9/11s. It helped create al Qaeda and the circumstances which unleashed al Qaeda against the United States.

Scott continues: "I have observed that bureaucratic debate where power is involved tends to favor paranoid or worst-case analyses, especially those that justify budget and bureaucratic growth. Today's bureaucratic paranoia has indeed been institutionalized by what has been popularized as Vice President Cheney's "one percent doctrine": "Even if there's a just a one percent chance of the unimaginable coming due, act as if it is a certainty....This doctrine is a license for untrammeled expansion of the secret deep state."

This one percent doctrine has allowed the deep state to become even more powerful and secretive and it has used fear and threats to get its way time and time again. It can certainly use the universal boogieman al Qaeda, a global financial crisis, or a plague to expand it's empire even further. With Obama's presidency the deep state may have bought itself more time and the legitimacy it sorely needed. Although the Bush administration allowed this cabal to expand dramatically in the last 8 years, today Bush's unpopularity is a liability for them. A fresh, popular, messiah-type figure that Americans trust is a perfect foil for the real operatives that run the government.

So, what is this crisis that Obama is going to be tested on? Will he be expected to calm the world down after some devastating plague breaks out? Will he be expected to look sincerely and passionately in the camera to implore the citizens of the world that their best hope for survival is to take the government's new vaccine? Will he sign the executive order calling for mass quarantining of people in Halliburton prison camps? Will he go along with the Pentagon and declare martial law when massive protests erupt on the streets over Israel's preemptive nuclear attack on Iran, or a massive run on the banks? Will he utilize Blackwater and other military contractors to subdue the citizenry in the event of a natural or man-made disaster like New Orleans after Katrina? And, most importantly, will he ignore the real culprits of a major crime for his own political expediency?

This last one will tell more about his character than anything else.; November 9, 2008 at 8:36 PM
Anonymous said...: WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED??

Obama to re-instate the Draft?
November 9, 2008

By JB Williams

Obama is touting an armed "national civilian security force" to rival the U.S. military and mandatory "community service" for all children. Obama's paid "digital brown-shirts" dominated the internet throughout the 2008 election cycle silencing or countering all anti-Obama news stories, often before they even came out, resulting in the election of a man people know literally nothing about.

A sense of civic duty and voluntary civil service has always been a good American idea. Involuntary service forced at gun-point, is something quite different.

Obama has no personal military, intelligence or security experience and his "community service" experience is limited to ACORN, Annenberg and Woods Fund "community organizing" of the Black Panther thugery sort. Obama mentors like Saul Alinsky and William Ayers, taught him all that he knows about civic duty.

But Obama knows something his voters don't!

As he marches his 63 million mindless minions into unbridled Marxism, it will become impossible to man the U.S. Military through conventional voluntary means. Young American patriots have always been willing to volunteer to risk life and limb for freedom and liberty, but what about for Marxism?

How many young Americans will volunteer to put their lives on the line for Obama's global socialism? American soldiers have fought and died to spread freedom and end Marxism all over the world. Now they are going to fight and die to defend it here at home?

There was a mass exodus of military personnel at all levels under Clinton, because young men and women trained in the time honored tradition of God and Country, freedom and liberty, would not take orders from a Commander-in-Chief that wrote about how he "loathed the military" as he dodged military service by taking classes at Oxford during Vietnam.

You can only imagine the military reaction to an Arab Commander-in-Chief while soldiers are dying in an ongoing war against radical Arab Islam. You can imagine how many "God and Country" freedom fighters will take orders from a man who has spent his life in a consistent effort to destroy the same constitutional republic that soldiers volunteer to defend.

Democrats to reduce Military Spending by 25%

Democrats now in full control of all branches of government propose reducing the size and power of the U.S. Military by at least 25%, while the nation is at war. More after we retreat from that war...

Once we refuse to fight tyranny and terror abroad, and "change" America to tyrannical One World socialism at home, they are right. A military sworn to uphold, protect and defend the Constitution they aim to dismantle, is counter-productive to the cause. The new mass exodus of true patriots will be welcomed by the new administration.

Hence, the need for a new "brown-shirt" civilian security force to exact Martial Law on an immoral poverty stricken society, operating at the Command of the new "Black House," as Obama supporters like to refer to it.

Our all volunteer forces are sworn to defend the Constitution and the people against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. The new National Security Force will instead be sworn to support and defend Obama's administration as it works to effect the kind of "change" that is a direct attack on the Constitution and the people. Not a small difference...

Re-instating the Draft

For all practical purposes, voluntary military service will end on January 20, 2009, unless Obama fails to answer the Supreme Court's demand for a birth certificate by December 1st, leaving the Electoral College unable to certify the Nov. 4th election on December 13th.

Americans won't volunteer their lives in defense of Marxism. People in the military now, will not re-up. They didn't sign up to defend Marxism. They signed up to defend freedom. The nation just voted against freedom.

The increased threat of homeland terror attacks inherent with the withdrawal from the fields of battle abroad will drive a need for better security at home. As patriots will not volunteer, they will have to be drafted, forced into service, either in Obama's new military - fighting in defense of international socialism now, - or as a member of Obama's new National Civilian Security Service, aka "brown-shirts."

The collapse of America's financial system, a direct result of past Democrat economic policies consistent with liberals Cloward-Piven Strategy, will cause civil unrest in all major cities across the nation and Obama knows it, even if his voters don't.

But, unrest in the streets will be easier to control with the use of mandatory community service, ACORN style of course. People can't resist if they are forced to support the cause via mandatory civil service.

The all volunteer military will soon be gone, replaced by Obama's "brown-shirt" military, forced to serve via a draft, making it a crime not to serve.

Re-education Camps

People unwilling to serve in the new Marxist government under the mandatory draft must be re-educated. We have seen Obama supporters across the country become belligerent towards anyone willing to disagree. There will be no tolerance for those mounting an insurgency against Obama's Marxism. The mob has spoken and the rest must accept it!

You were labeled a "racist" if you failed to march in lockstep behind the Obama campaign. Biden told you that you were "unpatriotic" if you resist their right to confiscate more of your hard-earned property, for the greater common good. You will be a "traitor" if you refuse to be drafted into Obama's national community organizing effort.

You must be punished and you must be taught a lesson! You must get your thinking right and that's why the "Fairness Doctrine" will be used to silence "Redneck Talk Radio." The aim is not to get their message out. It's already out... That's how they got 63 million voters. The aim is to silence dissenting views and Obama just announced his "Fairness Doctrine" head of the FCC, life-long leftist lawyer Henry Rivera.

This is the New America

According to Obama, this is all for your own good. You failed at individual freedom and he was elected to mandate a greater common good.

Obama will come after your property and your guns. Then he will draft your children into his new civic services community. He will replace an all voluntary military loyal to the people and their constitution with a National Security Force loyal to "change."

63 million Americans wanted "change." But they never stopped to ask what kind of change Obama had in mind. They will learn soon enough, the hard way.... as change is a comin'!

And so is the second American Civil War....; November 9, 2008 at 8:39 PM
Anonymous said...: When it comes right down to it, the American people don't know anything about Obama except he's a great speaker. They have no idea what he has in mind. None of us do.

Hell of a situation. Interesting times.; November 9, 2008 at 8:46 PM
Bewert said...: RE: * Avoid areas of marital law.

Try telling my wife that...; November 9, 2008 at 8:47 PM
Anonymous said...: OBMAMA WILL MOVE TO THE RIGHT OF BUSH BY JAN20-2008

Governing America
Obama should move to the right
Marco Vicenzino
Monday, November 10, 2008

In winning over 50 percent of the popular vote, President-elect Barack Obama can claim a popular mandate, but in order to unify the nation and its position abroad he must govern from the center of the American political spectrum. Doing so will not be easy, as Americans remain divided on many foreign policy concerns and pressure to live up to huge international expectations grows.

Overall, the 2008 election was void of real debate on foreign policy, with both candidates offering more rhetoric than substance. U.S. foreign policy now requires more realism and results and less rhetoric. The world today is marked by newly emerging geographical centers of power, particularly in the developing world, coupled by the rise of non-state actors (such as NGOs, multinational corporations, and terrorist groups) and newly emerging non-geographical centers of power, particularly virtual centers of power, such as the realm of cyberspace. Multitasking in a multicentric world remains an absolute priority.

The comparisons between JFK and Mr. Obama are inevitable, but the times are completely different. Today's threats are not just conventional but asymmetric and non-traditional. Few disagree on the need to upgrade America's image abroad but expectations may prove unrealistic, at least for the immediate future. Mr. Obama's international honeymoon is unlikely to last long and America's foreign policy challenges will, if anything, only grow more complex.

A key question throughout the campaign was Mr. Obama's preparedness in dealing with critical foreign policy challenges, but the status quo begs a broader question, that is, whether America possesses a foreign policy establishment able to deal with the challenges of the 21st century. Much of it still remains grounded in Cold War mode, and many of its elite struggle to grasp contemporary realities. The Manichean black-and-white, us-versus-them approach is surprisingly prevalent across the political spectrum, much more than most would like to admit.

In the foreign policy realm, it is essential that President-elect Obama directly engage the American public and bridge the widening gap between elected officials and citizens. He must explain America's challenges analytically and not just rhetorically. For too long, politicians and media have underestimated the appetite and ability of ordinary Americans to participate in the foreign policy process.

Simply put, it is time to move beyond campaign mode and encounter the foreign policy realities and challenges head on.

This month's G-20 summit to address the global economic crisis in Washington must provide the president-elect with an opportunity to seize the diplomatic initiative two months before his inauguration. Ultimately, the extent of the president-elect's participation in the summit is determined by Mr. Bush. The demands and dangers of the global economic crisis require statesmanship. Mr. Bush must rise above the political fray and allow Mr. Obama a significant role and necessary visibility.

It is essential for the president-elect to consolidate and nurture existing relationships, particularly with European allies, and cultivate greater ties with new strategic partners, especially the emerging powers of the developing world. Forging better relations with states such as Turkey in the broader Middle East, Brazil in Latin America, South Africa and Nigeria in sub-Saharan Africa, will strengthen U.S. interests abroad and are likely to leave a less visible footprint.

Afghanistan not only requires a greater and more efficient allocation of U.S. and allied resources and troops, but convincing European publics of the importance of the international mission. No matter how committed certain European leaders may be, they are limited in what they can deliver without greater public support. Mr. Obama must use his new diplomatic capital and goodwill to convince all European leaders and, more importantly, European publics to commit to a long-term presence in Afghanistan.

With respect to Iran, much depends upon the results of Iran's presidential election in June and the willingness of the supreme leader to engage in serious talks to reduce tensions and reach an accord, perhaps a comprehensive agreement, that will include the nuclear issue. In Iraq, realities on the ground will ultimately determine if and when reduction of troops takes place. Reduction must be based on rational and pragmatic decision-making, together with U.S. military leaders and the Iraqi government, and must not be determined by political convenience and ideological conviction in the United States.

Mr. Obama is inheriting leadership of a global power with immense internal and external challenges. He must seize this historic opportunity as president of all Americans, and with all Americans, to confront these challenges in a spirit of cooperation at home and collaboration abroad.; November 9, 2008 at 8:55 PM
Bewert said...: You want to know what the fuck Obama is thinking?

Start here: http://change.gov/

Not some fucking idiot on something called Right Side News for Americans.

What kind of dumb fuck/fucking idiot would even post such stupid ass bullshit?

Get a fucking clue.; November 9, 2008 at 8:55 PM
Anonymous said...: When it comes right down to it, the American people don't know anything about Obama except he's a great speaker. They have no idea what he has in mind. None of us do.

Hell of a situation. Interesting times.

*

It's all out there.

Our PUSSY say's Bend people don't know anything about anything. Bend didn't know. Bend doesn't know.

Bend doesn't want to know.

Bend will be safe, but as Marge says, when the trucks quit coming, you better have your beans, bullets, bread, butter, ... stashed.; November 9, 2008 at 8:58 PM
Anonymous said...: War in middle east expanding, and Obama will 'stay the course'.

Gates justified the attack on Syria and legitimized threats of unilateral U.S. military strikes on states as well as organizations. He also made veiled threats against what he called "rising and resurgent powers" such as Russia and China, and "rogue states" such as Iran and North Korea, while laying out plans to expand the already enormous U.S. arsenal of nuclear weaponry.

Several of President-elect Barack Obama’s advisors have suggested that Gates may stay on as Secretary of Defense under an Obama administration—a strong indication that the candidate of "change" may stay the course after all.; November 9, 2008 at 9:01 PM
Bewert said...: Yeah, this is a great fucking source of info, the Right Side News: "You must be logged in to a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet."

That is fucking rich. You can't even comment anonymousely.; November 9, 2008 at 9:01 PM
Anonymous said...: Report: Obama Sends Advisor Malley to Cozy Up to Egypt and Syria

by Gil Ronen

(IsraelNN.com) According to a report on Middle East Newsline, President-elect Barack Obama has dispatched his "senior foreign policy adviser", Robert Malley to Egypt and Syria to outline Obama's policy on the Middle East.

Malley reportedly relayed a promise from Obama that the United States would seek to enhance relations with Cairo and reconcile differences with Damascus.

"The tenor of the messages was that the Obama administration would take into greater account Egyptian and Syrian interests," an aide to Malley was quoted as saying. The aide said Obama plans to launch a U.S. diplomatic initiative toward Syria. Malley met both Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad "to explain Obama's agenda for the Middle East."

F-16s for Egypt
Aides to Malley also said that Obama told Mubarak that the United States would maintain military and civilian aid and sell advanced F-16 aircraft to Cairo. Egypt has not ordered F-16s in nearly a decade.

Malley was an advisor to President Bill Clinton and played an active role in the Camp David summit with Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat. He later published an article in which he laid some of the blame for the failure of those talks on Israel's doorstep.

International Crisis Group
In May 2008, Malley said in an interview that he had been in regular contact with Hamas, as part of his work for a conflict resolution think-tank called the International Crisis Group. This aroused ire and concern in pro-Israel circles, and prompted a spokesman for Obama to say that “Rob Malley has, like hundreds of other experts, provided informal advice to the campaign in the past. He has no formal role in the campaign and he will not play any role in the future.”

One of the sponsors of the International Crisis Group is billionaire George Soros, who sits on its board and its executive committee. Other members of the board include former United States National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and former general Wesley Clark, who called US support for Israel during the Second Lebanon War a "serious mistake" and said that "New York money people" - a phrase interpreted by many as a reference to Jews - were pushing the United States towards a confrontation with Iran.; November 9, 2008 at 9:04 PM
Bewert said...: Re: Bend doesn't want to know

That's the comment of the day.

Regarding Obama and Gates--let's give it a couple of weeks. Obama has shown much less of a proclivity to unleash the Predators than the current administration. We shall soon see if his actions follow on his words.; November 9, 2008 at 9:04 PM
Anonymous said...: Here's a good perspective by a 'jewish liberal' on his concern that Nazi's afraid of Obama may have a point!!

***

When's the first train to the re-education camp?
Add a Comment
November 9, 9:21 PM
by J.D. Tuccille, Civil Liberties Examiner

Lady Liberty Cracked by Julio Aguilera
"Lady Liberty Cracked" by Julio Aguilera
When antisemites slip into my site among the decent people to post comments on my columns warning, in all-caps, that our first non-lily-white president is a secret totalitarian with plans to establish the Fourth Reich on American soil, I know that we've entered into a strange new world. Barack Obama must be a scary guy if he can get the Nazis shivering in their jackboots.

Speaking as a man married to a Jewish woman, who has mezuzahs affixed to his home's doorways and who is raising his son to be secular, but knowledgeable of both Jewish and Christian traditions, all I can say to the kosher-phobic visitors is: Shalom, y'all!

That's not to say there aren't reasons to be concerned about the new president. As I've written, I'm worried about Obama's apparent interest in compelled service to the state. And his obvious hostlity to the only recently formally recognized right to bear arms is a very real potential threat to freedom. Obama also rode to office on a platform of populist economics that suggests a dangerously heavy hand on regulation and a protectionist trade policy that could ruin this country.

But I'm not fond of the indifference his predecessor, President George W. Bush, displayed to due process, privacy and limits on executive power. And Bush was less a protector of free markets than a practitioner of crony capitalism whose administration was both enthusiastic and inept at business regulation.

If we're entering into an era of elitist collectivism, it's only after eight years of thuggish authoritarianism. It's too early to know whether the new order will be less bad than what went before.

At this time, before he's taken the oath of office, Barack Obama has the potential to do either good or evil once he assumes power. He has a good record on reproductive rights and due process, an interest in at least moderating the worst abuses of drug prohibition, and at least a mixed history on privacy. I'm not hopeful, but we will have to wait and see whether President Obama's tenure in office is a net boon or bust for liberty.

But amidst the apocalyptic warnings of the death of the republic that have become traditional before and after every election, it's easy to forget that the recent history of this country hasn't exactly been an unbroken march to the re-education camps. Even as liberty has waned in some areas, it's also waxed in important ways.

Veronique de Rugy, of George Mason University's Mercatus Center, has an important article in the current issue of Reason (not yet online), asking, "Are You Better Off Than You Were 40 Years Ago?" That's a time frame of interest to me because, 40 years ago, I was exactly the same age my son is now.

So is the world my son is has entered better or worse than the one in which I toddled? It's hardly a decisive verdict, but de Rugy points out:

Looking at the whole social picture, it's hard to tell blacks, Jews, gays and women that they are less free today than they were in 1968. As a woman, I can enter and leave the work world freely, whether I have kids or not. I can get an abortion, file for divorce, enter into a lesbian relationship, marry a black guy, or have several lovers, all without worrying about legal consequences (or being drummed out of polite society). While some restrictions persist, the breakdown of social barriers, many of them formerly enforced by government edict , has done much to increase my freedom and that of other once-restricted groups.

Indeed, in a year in which we mourn the passage of three state constitutional amendments banning recognition of same-sex marriage, it's worth remembering that laws against simple homosexual conduct were upheld as recently as 1986. And not only was the right to terminate pregnancies an unsettled matter in 1968, but protections for the right to simply use condoms and birth control pills were only three years old.

And as we fear the muzzling of political voices on radio and TV by renewed censorship, lets not forget that the content-controlling Fairness Doctrine was black-letter law 40 years ago. Government officials happily gagged critics in the broadcast media back then, and there was no Internet or satellite radio to provide an alternative.

Heller finally recognized the right to bear arms as an individual right this year, but a restrictive gun control law clamped down tighly on firearms manufacturers, sellers and owners in 1968.

And while I warn of the incoming administration's obvious interest in mandating national civilian service, a military draft sent many unwilling young men to their deaths in 1968.

Economic liberty was equally constrained in some areas. Veronique de Rugy points out, "The deregulation of the airline, telecom, and trucking industries in the 1970s, and the marginal tax rate cuts and control of inflation in the '80s, contributed to the widespread prosperity of the '90s."

No doubt. In an era when politicians are again beginning to whine about the supposed evils of markets that function with minimal input from ... well .. politicians, it's easy to forget just how horribly controlled and utterly unresponsive to consumers some industries were not so long ago. Writing for the Hoover Institution, John Robson, one-time chairman of the Civil Aviation Board reminds us:

The CAB held extensive and elaborately staged hearings on nearly every single request regarding routes or prices, including requests by existing and new carriers to start additional service between two given cities. Those hearings were often predictably scripted in their outcome. More often than not, requests to establish new routes were denied or approved with restrictions. Further, the process was expensive and time consuming; it took the CAB eight years to give Continental Airlines permission to fly between San Diego and Denver.

Yes, in some important ways, we are more free now than we were 40 years ago.

But not in all ways. The tentacles of the state reach far and wide. We are more thoroughly searched, recorded in databases and monitored than ever before in history. Bar owners in many places can't allow their customers to smoke, the war on drugs has resulted in militarized police forces conducting sometimes-lethal midnight raids on the homes of people suspected of selling or simply using intoxicants the government doesn't like, food ingredients and menu listings are micro-managed to an increasingly bizarre degree, and an always-growing government has more resources than ever to devote to pursuing and punishing infractions it simply let slide out of necessity in years past.

The world into which my son enters is, in many ways, more free and tolerant, but in others it is more closely regulated and controlled.

So while I don't want to play the role of monotonous doom-sayer in a world that offers both good and bad, I see no reason to make life easy for politicians such as Barack Obama, even when he has yet to take office and establish a track record. Frankly, if somebody want to exercise the power of the ATF, CIA, DEA, FBI, IRS and the U.S. military, among other wonderfully lethal agencies, I see no reason to subject him or her to anything less than an hourly scrutiny of proctological thoroughness. Don't like it? Go back to a productive job in the private sector.

That's especially true when I spend the week following the election playing ideological whack-a-mole with the president-elect's IT staff, linking to pages on the new chief executive's Change.gov Website for the purposes of criticizing policies outlined there, only to find the language on those pages revised in significant ways or removed entirely after I publish.

Not only do I wonder if the new guy is being a bit disingenuous about his proposed policies, I also start wondering if a spotlight of attention is all that's necessary to trim the man's sails when it comes to control-freakery. Frankly, if all it takes to defeat bad ideas is to stay up late and write more columns, I'll make an extra pot of coffee and highlight every intrusive proposal I can find.

Overall, I don't fear stormtroopers in the streets. What I worry about is a gradual upset in the balance -- less deregulation and repealed legislation, and more social workers, regulators and tax collectors. I'm concerned that, one law and executive order after another, the world in which my son grows up will get a little more constrained, a little less free, and a little more dominated by government officials who substitute their values and judgments for the preferences of millions of Americans who have the right to make their own way in the world.

But as much as I worry, it's almost worthwhile to see bigots in an anxious sweat over the the possibility of an oppressive regime controlled by somebody other than themselves.; November 9, 2008 at 9:11 PM
Anonymous said...: Sarah Palin Endorses Alaska Toilet Seat Law

Bend Bulletin (c) Bend, Oregon
by Frank Costa

Under the new Alakan law toilet seats would have to remain down like this.

Still feeling flush with power, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is pressuring the Alaska legislature to pass a law requiring all male household members to put the toilet seat down after using.

Since the invention of the modern flush toilet by male inventor Thomas Crapper in 1882, women have complained that the toilet seat is decidedly 'male friendly' and requires extra effort for a woman to use.

"We have suffered under the tyranny of men for too long!" Palin addressed the legislature. "How many women have to fall in and be humiliated before this law can be passed? How many times must we put the seat down ourselves?"

Women all over the world cheered Palin for promoting passage of the new law. Not all men were as enthusiastic about the requirement.

"I've been hearing this crap my whole life", said Wasilla bartender Josh Calderon. "How much effort does it take to put the seat down themselves? She won't put it back up for me!"

Former Montana Gov. Judy Martz, a Republican, cheered Palin's initiative. "Finally we have a woman who will address real women's issues!" she stated.

Under the new law, any man who leaves the toilet seat up once could be given either a verbal reprimand or a $25 fine. A second violation would result in a $50 fine. Three violations or higher could result in a $500 fine per violation and/or 6 months in jail.

Alaska lawmakers were attempting to draft a compromise measure which, in dual sex households, would require both a toilet with a permanent seat and a urinal and/or a bidet that would be strictly for female use.

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger claims that if the law passes in Alaska it would set a dangerous precedent for other states to follow suit. "Let my wife put the freaking seat down herself", the macho governor declared.; November 9, 2008 at 9:13 PM
Anonymous said...: Here’s something even more depressing: What if Biden is hinting that Obama would indeed get us involved militarily at Israel’s side — or anywhere else, for that matter. In other words, if Obama were to step up and do the right thing, and put America in the middle of another war — would that be what he wants to brace the base for?

What’s depressing about that? Well, in a fundamentally moral country — or political party — such an action should make his poll numbers shoot
up.

Another theory: Recruitment is apparently falling off sharply within the last month or so. I have heard, anecdotally, that new recruits are waiting out the election, since most of them have no desire to serve in the kind of toothless military they see under a President Obama. Is Joe Biden warning us that Obama may need to reinstate the draft to make up for a sudden plunge in volunteers? Who knows? I wonder what the Obama Youth Vote would think if that comes to pass.; November 9, 2008 at 9:19 PM
Anonymous said...: It's dishonest for the Source to print that Obama won in Deschutes County, the fact is McCain won in Deschutes County, as shown below, or if you visit the above site. Why would the Source want it readers to believe that Bend voted for Obama?? When in fact the majority voted for McCain-Palin??

*****

how is 49% a majority?

what do you know about the numbers for Bend when only the numbers for the county as a whole have been released?

it's dishonest of you to post what you posted.; November 9, 2008 at 9:31 PM
Anonymous said...: Is BEND OREGON really NOT responsible for Suterra Checkmate??

Zyklon B

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Empty poison gas canisters, found by the Allies at the end of World War II.
This article is about the cyanide-based insecticide used during the Holocaust. For the Norwegian black metal band, see Zyklon-B (band).

Zyklon B (IPA: [tsykloːn ˈbeː], also spelled Cyclon B or English Cyclone B) was the trade name of a cyanide-based insecticide infamous for its use by Nazi Germany against Jews and other minorites in the gas chambers of extermination camps during the Holocaust.

It consisted of hydrogen cyanide (prussic acid, Blausäure in German, hence B), a stabilizer, and a warning odorant that were impregnated onto various substrates, typically small absorbent pellets, fibre discs, or diatomaceous earth. Zyklon B was stored in airtight containers; when exposed to air, the material released gaseous hydrogen cyanide (HCN).; November 9, 2008 at 9:38 PM
Anonymous said...: Use on humans
A Soviet soldier posed at Majdanek, holding the cover of the vents through which Zyklon B was poured. London press, October 1944.

From 1929 onwards the U.S. used Zyklon B to disinfect the freight trains and clothes of Mexican immigrants entering the US.[2] Farm Securities Administration photographer Marion Post Wolcott recorded the use of cyanide gas and zyklon by the Public Health Service at the New Orleans Quarantine Station during the 1930s.[3]

[edit] Use by Nazi Germany

See also: The Holocaust

The pesticide was used by Nazi Germany as a chemical weapon to poison prisoners in the gas chambers of the largest extermination camp, Auschwitz Birkenau, and also at Majdanek, one of the Operation Reinhard camps. At the other extermination camps, engine exhaust was used in the gas chambers. Many of the victims were Jews and the Zyklon B gas became a central symbol of the Holocaust.

Zyklon B was used in the concentration camps initially for delousing to control typhus. The chemical used in the gas chambers was deliberately made without the warning odorant.[4]

In January or February 1940, 250 Gypsy children from Brno in the Buchenwald concentration camp were used as guinea pigs for testing the Zyklon B gas.[5] On September 3, 1941, around 600 Soviet prisoners of war and 250 sick Polish prisoners were gassed with Zyklon B at Auschwitz camp I; this was the first experiment with the gas at Auschwitz. The experiments lasted more than 20 hours.; November 9, 2008 at 9:40 PM
Anonymous said...: It appears that historically Bend will be responsible.

***

Post-Holocaust legacy

After the war, two directors of Testa – Bruno Tesch and Karl Weinbacher – were tried by a British military court and were executed for their part in supplying the chemical.

The use of the word Zyklon (German for cyclone) continues to prompt angry reactions from Jewish groups. In 2002, both Bosch Siemens Hausgeräte and Umbro were forced to withdraw from attempts to use or trademark the term for their products.[10]; November 9, 2008 at 9:42 PM
Anonymous said...: The number's posted in the Source, aren't even the correct numbers. Go to the deschutes county election site.

The source doesn't say 'bend' they deschutes county, and they say that Obama beat Palin, he didn't.

More people voted for Palin than Obama in Deschutes County.

The majority ( winners ) in Deschutes voted for Palin.

In Oregon we call over 50% a double-majority.; November 9, 2008 at 9:48 PM
Anonymous said...: MORE PEOPLE in Deschutes county voted for PALIN than OBAMA.

END OF FUCKING STORY. NOW MAKE THE SOURCE REPORT THE TRUTH.

www.deschutes.org/electionresults/

It's dishonest for the Source to print that Obama won in Deschutes County, the fact is McCain won in Deschutes County, as shown below, or if you visit the above site. Why would the Source want it readers to believe that Bend voted for Obama?? When in fact the majority voted for McCain-Palin??

Uncertified Results
Last Updated: 11/05/08 General Election RUN TIME:12:05 PM November 4, 2008
52 of 52 Precincts Counted
Voter Turnout: 79,914 of 92,483 (86.41%)

United States President & Vice President
Vote for 1
Ralph Nader 699 (0.88%)
Cynthia McKinney 127 (0.16%)
Current Race Leader John McCain 38,918 (49%)
Bob Barr 303 (0.38%)
Chuck Baldwin 259 (0.33%)
Barack Obama 38,612 (48.62%); November 9, 2008 at 9:50 PM
Anonymous said...: Post-Holocaust legacy

After the war, two directors of Testa – Bruno Tesch and Karl Weinbacher – were tried by a British military court and were executed for their part in supplying the chemical.

*

Post-Bend/Calif Legacy

After Bush-Cheney California courts tried Bend citizens and they were executed for producing the toxic Suterra CheckMate.; November 9, 2008 at 9:52 PM
Anonymous said...: The winning majority of voters in Deschutes County voted for CAIN-Palin.

Just a simple fact of the region.; November 9, 2008 at 9:54 PM
Anonymous said...: Did you know that each aerial application of Checkmate OLR-F and Checkmate LBAM-F costs approximately $3.5 million and that $3 million is paid directly to the manufacturer Suterra, LLC of Bend, Oregon?; November 9, 2008 at 9:57 PM
Bewert said...: The second comment on that When's the first train to the re-education camp? comment:

Mary: Lets look at this view point. I saw a video a few weeks ago. It was an enterveiw with a man that was an undercover agent from the FBI,he sat in meatings with the Weatherman group. He said that they wanted to put 25 millian people who aposed them in camps to reeducate them, and if they wouldn't comform to their side, they would eliminate them. I believe that Obama and his people want to use these young people to enforce police action upon those that do not want to be conformed. This is the begining of the New World Order. It could mean that we are looking at the false messiah that will rise up to take over the world. God said, that even HIs elite can be decieved by this man. History shows us: Stalin,Hitler,Mao,Polpot. What is different from these people? They all work from the same book, and it is not the BIBLE. For those that knows the bible, given the conditions in the world today it is easy to see the hand of the antichrist.
November 9, 9:50 PM

Yep, I'm putting my trust in that reality.; November 9, 2008 at 9:58 PM
Anonymous said...: Thousands Exposed to Poison by Government's Aerial Spraying

Rami Nagel

* Governor Schwarzenegger Backs Aerial Biochemical Spraying That Harms Children
* Chemical Additives - Are They Slowly Killing Our Children?
* USDA Forces Farmers to Grow Monsanto Frankenfood
* Government Won't Protect You: FEMA Knew Of Toxic Gas In Trailers
* Speak Out Against Aspartame

NewsTarget - Sometimes bad dreams do come true. My bad dream was that the government issued quarantine, and forced everybody to be vaccinated for some fake disease. In my dream, I took my family, and fled to the hills to avoid being vaccinated.

Now, nine months later, this dream has come true. In an emergency, I relinquished my rental contract and moved my pregnant partner and three and a half year old daughter out of Santa Cruz, CA, to avoid being exposed to potentially deadly chemicals.

The chemicals, known by their trade names as Checkmate OLR-F and Checkmate LBAM-F, have been sprayed via state owned airplanes in September and October in Monterey County California. These same aerial chemicals, despite their known health risks, were sprayed on two nights (11-8, 11-9) over the people of Santa Cruz County. The purpose of this spray is to control the mating habits of the light brown apple moth (LBAM). The reason the moth needs to be controlled is due to the possibility of 100 million dollars of damage (Realize that this figure is not a fact, but based on a government guess).

Government's Pesticide Experiment Program

The California Department of Food and Agriculture's own doctor acknowledges, in court documents, that aerial application of this chemical has not been tested. Let me repeat this so you understand, chemicals are being sprayed on young children, nursing mother's, people with asthma, lung problems, heart problems, the elderly, the disabled, the homeless and the chemically sensitive - and this chemical formulation has NEVER been tested on even a piece of dirt, let alone, humans. The newly designed Faroes Statement, the consensus of over 200 scientists, calls for a precautionary approach with respect to exposure of fetuses and children to environmental toxins. The consensus is that exposure of fetuses or children to chemicals can cause increased susceptibility to disease and disability later in life. In addition, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has specific directives and codes that state that they should not experiment with pesticides on pregnant women, or infants. It is a fact, since this aerial pesticide has not been proven to control the moth's mating habits and has not been proven safe to animals or humans, that this is an experiment.

In Monterey, approximately 100,000 residents were exposed to untested chemicals to control the mating habits of less than 750 moths. In Santa Cruz County, over 100,000 residents will be exposed between 11/06/07 – 11/09/07 to untested chemicals to control the mating habits of less than 9,000 moths. This is not a one time application, but will continue monthly beginning again in February, for nine months, and then repeated for up to a total of three years. Again, this program designed to eradicate the moth at best will only control the moth's mating habits; it will not eliminate the moth. At worst, the program will be ineffective, cost tax payers millions of dollars, and cause permanent disability to residents and their pets. All this harm is over a little moth that has yet to cause even $1 of damage in California.

Did you know that each aerial application of Checkmate OLR-F and Checkmate LBAM-F costs approximately $3.5 million and that $3 million is paid directly to the manufacturer Suterra, LLC of Bend, Oregon?

The projected expense of this eradication "attempt" will cost tax payers over $70 million dollars just to spray Monterey and Santa Cruz counties the proposed 9 times. These monthly sprays are already scheduled for next year to begin in March. The California Department of Food and Agriculture has created a map which shows the spray area to grow and encompass various portions of the entire San Francisco Bay Area, click on the Central Coast (www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/PDEP/lbam/maps.html) . The United States EPA has authorized an emergency permit which could allow the CDFA to aerially spray the state of California until the year 2010. This Light Brown Apple Moth Eradication could cost California tax payers more than $500 million dollars when all is said and done, which is five times the projected amount of losses to the agricultural industry if the moth were to infest the state. Ridiculous and frivolous spending on untested, unproven and toxic methods of "attempted" pest eradication are unacceptable actions taken by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California Department of Food and Agriculture. This is not a state plan, but is a plan that is sponsored, endorsed, and largely funded by the EPA and the USDA.

Documented and Undocumented Pesticide Damage to Humans

While the moth may cause an estimated $100 million of crop damage, one cannot put a price tag on the damage that Checkmate's chemicals cause to humans. In Monterey County, the first county in California to be sprayed with Checkmate OLR-F and Checkmate LBAM-F, documented affidavits show that citizens got sick, ill or suffered life threatening reactions to the toxic spray. One infant in the City of Monterey nearly died from inhalation of the experimental biochemical, and now has permanent lung damage. Dozens of women in cities throughout the Monterey Peninsula are reporting problems with their reproductive systems after exposure to the pesticide, including: sudden, severe and irregular menstrual cycles, extreme cases of tender and swollen breasts, and the recurrence of menopause symptoms in older women. Other side effects of both Checkmate OLR-F and Checkmate LBAM-F include: asthma and sudden breathing difficulties, chest pain, vomiting, lethargy, fatigue, and extreme mood swings. Some people have coughed up blood and have gotten bloody noses from Checkmate exposure.

If you are familiar with chemical exposure, then there is something to note which is of great alarm. If you have ever smelled paint, bleach, or something toxic like that, it takes a significant and potent amount of the chemical to make one sick. It is not typical that such small and minute amounts of chemicals can cause such severe damage as described above. The explanation for the severe side effects, is that the chemicals are in miniature balls of volatile plastic called microcapsules; thus chemicals can be introduced deeply into the body through swallowing or inhalation of the micro-sized particles. It is as if this "agricultural" product acted more like a drug on humans, than as a pesticide on moths.

Thousands of residents, including myself, have undocumented pesticide damage. I lived forty miles from the October-Monterey spray zone, and on the last day of aerial spraying, my entire family became ill. My daughter vomited. I had severe intestinal distress and could not eat for several days. I felt nervous and anxious, as if I had the caffeine equivalent of 10 cups of coffee. And for the first time in my life, I had yellow/red colored urine (I am now mostly recovered). I did not link these symptoms to pesticide exposure until days later upon talking and hearing about dozens of other Santa Cruz residents who were experiencing the same or similar symptoms, on or near the same day. Their symptoms included severe vomiting and yellow/red colored urine. Recently I learned that this exposure may not have been from pesticide drift, but a rogue plane releasing chemicals where it was not supposed to. Witnesses have recently linked the red color to the Checkmate formulations, seeing small red droplets where the Checkmate has contacted metallic objects.

The questions I ask myself are: What type of chemical, in such small doses, causes such profound harm? Why does a chemical claimed to be harmless to humans by the EPA, the CDFA and Governor Schwarzenegger have a significant and severe effect on the female reproductive system?

Microcapsules = Microwarfare

The aerial application of Checkmate OLR-F and Checkmate LBAM-F is designed out of the concept of miniature plastic sphere-like particles, generally the same size as the width of a human hair. They are called microcapsules. Each capsule is a biologically "loaded gun" due to its own chemical make-up and that of the pheromones held inside. Research indicates that the capsules are likely made out of a urea-formaldehyde polymer, the industry standard. This is an extremely volatile plastic which, under UV rays, degrades over a time period estimated to be anywhere from 30-70 days. These "agricultural" microcapsules have never been tested safe for humans. Thus, the life of these microcapsules inside our bodies is truly unknown as are the health risks of inhaling or swallowing them. Preliminary research on the microcapsules have revealed that they are made of a new technology, and that the large capsules are made up of a cluster of smaller 3-4 micron size capsules - a size of capsule that can be deadly to humans over the long term.

Many of the chemicals used to make the Checkmate OLR-F and Checkmate LBAM-F products have been deemed harmful for human consumption, like butelated hydroxyl tolune (BHT). For example: on the label for BHT it says (in big letters) "Do not inhale this product. Dangerous to respiratory health." The symptoms documented by Monterey County residents can be directly correlated to the warning labels of BHT, and several other chemicals. BHT, is also known as DBPC, a dangerous pesticide known to cause sterility in men. Recently, Dole Food Company lost a lawsuit in which Nicaraguan Banana farmers were exposed to DBPC. In pending lawsuits, thousands of South American Farmers are claiming that they were harmed by exposure to DBPC.

Within these microcapsules is an endocrine disrupter which attaches itself to estrogen receptors and forces the activation and constant production of estrogen to occur in the human body. This happens for men, women and children. This chemical is called 2 hydroxy 4n octyloxybenzophenone. The warnings surrounding the exposure to this toxic chemical can be directly correlated to the documented symptoms of women living within the spray zone in Monterey County. These are health concerns which CANNOT be overlooked or swept under the carpet. The entire state of California and its residents are at risk for severe short term reactions to this aerial spraying. The projected long term effects of exposure to Checkmate OLR-F and Checkmate LBAM-F are unknown, undocumented and until now - not even a thought in the minds of those who are authorizing the spraying, and manufacturing the chemical.

In addition to the horrible documented health effects of coming into contact with Checkmate OLR-F and Checkmate LBAM-F, there is a great chance that it will not even prove to be an effective investment. The EPA's own documents state that such a microcapsule cannot successfully release pheromone, and that "The studies show that only a small proportion of the microcapsules actually release any pheromone or only a portion of the total pheromone loaded into the capsule is capable of ever being released." Science and competent intelligence does not seem to be the methodology of this spray program; in light of such statements made, the technology cannot work.

The EPA masks their "emergency approval" of Checkmate OLR-F and Checkmate LBAM-F behind the assertion that the pheromones in the products are safe. They then make the scientific leap and pronounce the entire pesticide is safe to be sprayed on residential neighborhoods, schools and water ways. This arrogant assertion by the CDFA and the EPA comes, again, without ANY LEGITIMATE TESTING. Under the "emergency exemption" (also known as Section 18), regulations allow the EPA to disregard the important 3% of "inert" ingredients. The "emergency exemption" allows this disregard even though many of those ingredients are not even inert, and are actually part of the "active" ingredients. The EPA then reaches the conclusion, "EPA believes use of these pheromone products, including aerial application over residential areas, presents negligible risks to human health and the environment." This is another case of ridiculous, frivolous and blatant disregard for human health by Governor Schwarzenegger, the CDFA and the EPA.

In addition to the aerial application which focuses on the agriculture industry, microcapsules are used in medical and military technology. In medical technology, microcapsules are used to time-release drugs into the body. The medical capsules are made out of a bio-compatible material that the body can easily absorb. In military technology, they can be used for chemical shields, or for experimental "non-lethal" weapons (That means the weapon does not cause immediate death). These thoughts do not leave one with a pleasant taste about how these microcapsules are being used in our neighborhoods and communities.

The over 30 billion microcapsules sprayed over Monterey County last month are not bio-compatible; and yet children are playing in them, dogs are rolling around in them, and people are inhaling them. And the state continues to spray more communities as I write this.

Like pollen, the miniature capsules can float in the air and they can stick to surfaces people touch. Imagine hundreds of synthetic microscopic plastic balls floating in the environment and then entering your nose, mouth, eyes and ears. Is this safe? What happens when those minuscule plastic balls are inhaled? We know what happens. They get lodged in your lungs, you cough profusely to expel them, and you go into respiratory distress. Some Monterey County residents report asthma attacks increasing, others report coughing so hard and for such long durations that they cough up blood. One healthy adult male in the sprayed Salinas area, who jogs five miles daily, now has developed asthma since the last two aerial sprays. For the first time in his life, he must use an inhaler to help him breathe. The local doctor he sees is out of inhaler samples, he's given them all away.

These and other serious side effects associated with the aerial application of Checkmate OLR-F and Checkmate LBAM-F are being captured by citizen groups daily. Local doctors are refusing to document that their patients' symptoms have any relation to the aerial spraying. One doctor even told his patient (who was very ill from the spraying) that he would have to consult with this lawyer before discussing the matter further. An attorney representing the CDFA declared to a judge in Monterey County superior court during a hearing where a local environmental organization was suing the CDFA to stop the aerial spraying, that the CDFA has no intention on monitoring or following up on any of the health concerns or complaints that have been or will be filed in association with this aerial application. This is another blatant disregard for the health and well being of citizens. The CDFA can pay $3.5 million dollars to spray the residents of Monterey County, but cannot and will not spend a penny to assure citizens and residents that their health is of consequence to this program. This is repulsive! This is a crime!; November 9, 2008 at 9:59 PM
Anonymous said...: Yep, I'm putting my trust in that reality.

*

You gotta admit BP, this shit is rich.; November 9, 2008 at 10:01 PM
Bewert said...: Re: From 1929 onwards the U.S. used Zyklon B to disinfect the freight trains and clothes of Mexican immigrants entering the US

How fucking hard is it to link? Are you dumb? I know you're not. So fucking link shit. It's easy: my BS.

Why make us Google your BS? It's fucking lame.; November 9, 2008 at 10:05 PM
Anonymous said...: BP,

On another NOTE, last time a DEM admin came into power, within a few months a JANET-RENO BITCH, burned dozens of children alive.

The fucking christians have always made good candles ask any roman.

When was the last time the DEM government burned a kluster of pussy children? Never happened.

So yes, pussy these religious nut cases are afraid, very afraid.

But probably more afraid of what you so sow, so shall ye reap.

All these fucking christians supported BUSH, and his middle east killing, and now they no longer have their BUSH,

They're afraid.

Just like HOMER is afraid the niggers are going to roam through streets looking for honkeys.; November 9, 2008 at 10:05 PM
Anonymous said...: How fucking hard is it to link? Are you dumb? I know you're not. So fucking link shit. It's easy: my BS.

*

BP don't you know I don't believe in linking?? I believe in source printing, cuz fucking links have a tendency to dissapear, cuz most of the world is ran by BEBB's.; November 9, 2008 at 10:07 PM
Anonymous said...: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zyklon_B

jeebus pussy, its a wiki, whats your fucking problem?

Then search for US; November 9, 2008 at 10:08 PM
Bewert said...: BTW, here is the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zyklon_B

It's kind of wierd, as it states "Zyklon B was originally developed as a cyanide-based insecticide..."

And Lou said her MIT-trained biochemist husband noted that cyanide based substances were part of the "inert" substances in the LBAM spraying in Cali.; November 9, 2008 at 10:09 PM
Anonymous said...: Re: From 1929 onwards the U.S. used Zyklon B to disinfect the freight trains and clothes of Mexican immigrants entering the US

How fucking hard is it to link? Are you dumb? I know you're not. So fucking link shit. It's easy:

*

Pussy do I have to link the fucking obvious?? Learn to use the tools, and learn to ask the question "WHY"

I know you don't care.; November 9, 2008 at 10:10 PM
Anonymous said...: It's kind of wierd, as it states "Zyklon B was originally developed as a cyanide-based insecticide..."

And Lou said her MIT-trained biochemist husband noted that cyanide based substances were part of the "inert" substances in the LBAM spraying in Cali.

*

Yes, PUSSY this is why NAZI dunc calls us nuts, and says that broken clocks are correct twice a day.

This is why BEND will not discuss this fucking issue.

BP we are fucking NAZI's, BEND is Nazi, HOLLERN is NAZI.

Read "Shirer's - rise and fall of the third Reich", many nazi jews worked for hitler, and got rich. Stewart Resnick of cali owns Suterra, richest man in the state, and one of the richest Jews in the world, he didn't get rich selling bottled water from Fiji.; November 9, 2008 at 10:14 PM
Bewert said...: Re: Just like HOMER is afraid the niggers are going to roam through streets looking for honkeys.

Judging from what I saw in the Rite-Aid parking lot earlier tonight, it's the Mexicans vs. the Honkies.

"How about you learn what it feels like to get a burrito shoved up your ass!" says the 5-6 Mex to the 6-5 white guy.; November 9, 2008 at 10:22 PM
Anonymous said...: "More people voted for Palin than Obama in Deschutes County."

Yes but more people voted against McCain/Palin (51%) in Deschutes County than voted for them (49%).

"In Oregon we call over 50% a double-majority."

I thought Oregon used English. In the English language, "majority" means over 50%. 49%, by definition, is not a majority. No way around that. McCain won a plurality in the county, not a majority.; November 9, 2008 at 10:29 PM
Quimby said...: Mt. Bachelor users' views mixed on 'Free Ski' shift

To hell with bringing canned goods that will actually go directly to the people who need help the most, bring CASH ($25) instead so we can pay the salaries of our "non-profit" employees & directors!!!!! Fucking brilliant. I wonder which 10 will be chosen to share in the booty?
I bet $3 bucks out of $25 makes it to the people in true need.

Not that I give one shit about skiing or Bachelor, in fact I've said here many times that if I ever move somewhere, it will be as far from a ski area as possible. Ski towns are asshole magnets.; November 9, 2008 at 10:29 PM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: Bend city councilor Friedman dies at 72

Former mayor remembered for consensus building, humor

By Erin Golden / The Bulletin
Published: November 10. 2008 4:00AM PST
Bill Friedman -

Bill Friedman

Bend City Council member and former Mayor Bill Friedman died Sunday afternoon at St. Charles Bend, more than a week after he suffered complications during back surgery.

Friedman, 72, served on the council for more than a decade, helping to guide the city through a major population boom and through several major projects, including initial development at Juniper Ridge, the completion of the Bend Parkway and the downtown urban renewal district, and expansion of the city’s airport, police, fire and transit services. Fellow council members said Friedman often provided a moderate voice on divisive issues, and used his humor and intelligence to help guide the city forward.

In addition to his work in public service, Friedman was a successful businessman, serving as vice president of Cascade Bookkeeping, which he ran for several years with his wife, Shoshana. More recently, Friedman started Cascade Business Group with fellow Councilor Linda Johnson, who said Sunday that Friedman will be impossible to replace as both a business partner and council member.

“Bill had this way of sort of wading into any difficult or tense situation, and just speaking in a way that brought people together,” she said. “It’s one of the gifts of his I think I’ll miss most.”

Friedman is survived by his wife and four grown children. A statement released by the family Sunday asked for privacy and included thanks for the outpouring of community support over the last few days. The family did not release any additional information about the specific circumstances that led to Friedman’s death or about plans for a memorial service. Friedman had previous health issues; two years ago, he took a short break from the council when he underwent quadruple coronary bypass surgery.

Cascade Healthcare Community spokeswoman Janette Sherman said Sunday that hospital officials’ thoughts were with Friedman’s family but did not comment further on his death or his stay at St. Charles. Sherman said she could not confirm where Friedman’s surgery took place because of patient privacy regulations.

Friedman was appointed to the council to fill a vacant seat in 1997 and retained the position in an election a year later. He was re-elected twice, in 2002 and 2006, and twice served as Bend’s mayor, from 2001 to 2002 and again from 2005 to 2006.

Mayor Bruce Abernethy said Friedman was often a consensus builder for past councils that were sharply divided over growth issues. Friedman found some critics in his support for major road projects, including the extension of the Bill Healy Memorial Bridge across the Deschutes River in south Bend and the expansion of 27th Street, but Abernethy said Friedman often used humor to help ease tensions between council members.

“He was really creative, able to think outside the box with new ideas, new players,” Abernethy said. “He was very courageous as far as willing to speak his mind. He ruffled some feathers sometimes, but he thought things through and was a great council member.”

As a member of the City Council, Friedman served on and worked with several groups and committees, including the Bend Metropolitan Planning Organization, the Central Oregon Area Committee on Transportation, the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council and the National League of Cities Transportation Committee.

Councilor Mark Capell said Friedman was a wealth of information on a variety of subjects and particularly enjoyed transportation-related work.

“If anything came up with regard to roads, Bill was the guy to go to,” Capell said. “He knew more about roads and financing on roads, and dealing with the Oregon Department of Transportation and other organizations than anybody. We’ve got a big pair of shoes to fill in the transportation department.”

Abernethy said Friedman was also an important voice on social issues, ranging from affordable housing to accessibility improvements.

Before he came to Bend, Friedman served as the chairman of the city planning commission in Richmond Heights, Mo., and was the president of the Half Moon Bay, Calif., Fire District. Friedman held a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University, a master’s degree in education from the University of Missouri at St. Louis and a master’s degree in business administration from Southern Illinois University.

Friedman also worked as a transit manager for several years before moving to Bend.

With so many years of experience in public service, Friedman was able to sort through complex problems and come up with sensible solutions, said Councilor Chris Telfer.

“With all the years he had on the council, he knew how to take an issue and break it down into something that was manageable,” she said.

Abernethy said he’s not sure yet if the council will appoint a new member to take Friedman’s seat or hold a special election. His term would have ended in 2010.

Council members said filling the seat will be a challenge for even the most capable of politicians, and particularly difficult at a time when the council is set to undergo major change. Three new members were elected last week, and a fourth will be appointed in January to fill the seat vacated by Telfer, who is leaving to join the State Senate.

“It’s like when a team loses its leader, it’s most experienced person, the voice of wisdom and reason,” said Councilor Peter Gramlich. “It’s up to all of us — we will have to step it up in Bill’s absence, but we can’t hope to fill those shoes. There’s only one Bill Friedman.”; November 10, 2008 at 6:54 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: Abernethy said he’s not sure yet if the council will appoint a new member to take Friedman’s seat or hold a special election. His term would have ended in 2010.

They will appoint one of their own. No election.; November 10, 2008 at 6:57 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: Judging from what I saw in the Rite-Aid parking lot earlier tonight, it's the Mexicans vs. the Honkies.

That's a meth deal gone bad. Only time Whitey come within a country mile of a mekker.; November 10, 2008 at 6:59 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: Bend City Council member and former Mayor Bill Friedman died Sunday afternoon at St. Charles Bend, more than a week after he suffered complications during back surgery.

Cripes, what a bitch. Guy goes in for back surgery and ends up dead.

Poor bastard.; November 10, 2008 at 7:01 AM
tim said...: A "double-majority" is when enough people vote to make the election count.

Measure 47 introduced the double majority to Oregon, requiring that at least 50% of registered voters vote for a tax increase to pass.

I think the idea was that we didn't want taxes sneaking through in funky off-year elections.; November 10, 2008 at 7:22 AM
Anonymous said...: Cripes, what a bitch. Guy goes in for back surgery and ends up dead.

*

Bend is the worst in the country for this, what's really crazy is they have to kill on of their own, and then you think they'll address the 'problem' in BEND?? There are no problems in Bend.

My medical insurance friends for years have told me that Bend is #1 for unnecessary surgery in the country.; November 10, 2008 at 7:31 AM
Anonymous said...: They will appoint one of their own. No election.

*

So many un-employed REHO's, ...

It's AberPussy, butter, aber-pussy.; November 10, 2008 at 7:32 AM
Anonymous said...: Ski towns are asshole magnets.

*

The legal term is "Repuglican's".

Anybody that will spend over $100/day just to be seen at bar in pajama's with goggles and over sized hats has too much money, and too little brains.

Repuglicans.; November 10, 2008 at 7:35 AM
Anonymous said...: Re: From 1929 onwards the U.S. used Zyklon B to disinfect the freight trains and clothes of Mexican immigrants entering the US

*

But what did they do with the bodies of the mexicans??; November 10, 2008 at 7:38 AM
Anonymous said...: The 'majority' of people who voted in the election for Deschutes County voted for Cain-Palin.

Fact.

In 2000, 2004, and 2008. BEND is PUG, always has always will.

Assholes? Yes.

Waltzing around in SUV's with big tit's & big dick's ( thanks st-charles ), and ski-outfits, and cigars up their ass.

Welcome to Bend.; November 10, 2008 at 7:41 AM
Anonymous said...: Let's not forget that Mayor Friedman has been under incredible stress since this summer.

Running the BEND condo HOA racket.

Being the point-man for the INN@7thMTN condo lawsuit fiasco.

Being the protector of the 'vote' for the inn@7th condo HOA assn's suing each other ( pape & non-pape ).

Having been elected council, but actually being mayor into perpetuity cuz aber-pussy is a nitwit ( caver to quote marge ).

YOU take all the above, and then put someone @ st-charles for surgery, you be fucked.

Can't call this one suicide, but HONESTLY the stress, and ALL these surgerys in Bend are UN-NEEDED, thus in effect it was a death sentence.

McDonald ER doc of st-charles killed himself, ... people jumping out of windows to get out of the place.; November 10, 2008 at 7:56 AM
Anonymous said...: I think the idea was that we didn't want taxes sneaking through in funky off-year elections.

*

Fucking ASSHOLES wanted it both ways, to call a plurality a majority on occasion of and vice-versa,

Now they're own fucking mythology is catching up with them.

The important thing is that on average 2% of pugs didn't bother to vote, and in this area it may have been as high as 5%.

Once the PUG's realized that Cain wasn't going to bring back the bubble, there was no reason to vote.

Most of the people falling into the BEND ECON Sewer are PUG's, too high a burn-rate. Let's do hope that in the ensuing years we economically cleanse ourselves and that Pug's are the minority in BEND.; November 10, 2008 at 8:00 AM
Bewert said...: Re:
Obama has no personal military, intelligence or security experience and his "community service" experience is limited to ACORN, Annenberg and Woods Fund "community organizing" of the Black Panther thugery sort. Obama mentors like Saul Alinsky and William Ayers, taught him all that he knows about civic duty.

Who is the fucking moron who posts this crap? A black guy just took out a Clinton and the best the Repugs had to offer. That is a fucking stunning accomplishment.

And that's the best you can do?

""community organizing" of the Black Panther thugery sort."

At least post shit by people that can fucking spell. That way you know they have at least a room temp IQ and know how to use spell check.; November 10, 2008 at 8:03 AM
Anonymous said...: The only reason I keep bringing up the PUG win in Deschutes, is that the SORE has published this week that OBAMA won, and the number's they posted aren't the county's true numbers.

The SORE wants its readers to believe that BEND is a DEM town, the BULL wants its readers to believe that Bend is a PUG town. The two papers both controlled by the same INTEREST, are trying to create their own 'reality' for their readers.

The SORE wants the tourist to BELIEVE that the majority of BEND voted for OBAMA, when in fact they didn't.

This is some sick fucking shit.

This is the essential problem with the BEND media, they don't even care about the truth, they just pull numbers out of their ass to prove their assertion.; November 10, 2008 at 8:04 AM
Anonymous said...: Judging from what I saw in the Rite-Aid parking lot earlier tonight, it's the Mexicans vs. the Honkies.

*

I was downtown last night. Your pita-slut had nobody.

The few restaurants that had people, those people were Mexicans.

The mexicans I know in Bend are working over 12hr/day, 7 days a week, and they have money albeit tired.

Whitey ain't got no money, whitey ( white area trash ), ain't willing to work 16hrs/day, 7-days a week. Most mexicans in Bend got money. Most white trash in Bend roaming the streets are trying to steal shit to pay for meth.

Whitey will start robbing the Mexicans, as they tend to either hold their money, or send it home.

In BEND, the mexican is now the 'Bend Nouveau Riche'; November 10, 2008 at 8:10 AM
Anonymous said...: Obama has no personal military, intelligence or security experience and his "community service" experience is limited to ACORN, Annenberg and Woods Fund "community organizing" of the Black Panther thugery sort. Obama mentors like Saul Alinsky and William Ayers, taught him all that he knows about civic duty.

*

Pussy YOUR MISSING THE FUCKING POINT. I don't care much about 'ayers', but SAUL ALINKSY is like the greatest left-wing jew of all time. My first book on radical thought was Alinsky's "rules for radicals".

Alinsky is the intellectual opposition of the McCarthy years, IMHO this shit is of the highest honor if be true, Ayers is a fucking college professor.

BP look at this way Alinsky & Ayers are used as 'negatives' because they're intellectuals. The people who write this shit, want PALIN.

The real fucking issue here is that the PUG's can only sell ignorance, and drop name(s) of intellectuals to their morons who then later parrot those name(s), but most people have no fucking idea of the significance of those names.

I have not read Ayers, but I have read tons of Alinsky's book, if it be true that Alinsky 'mentored OREO' that to be is of the highest honor, that said I think Alinsky would have passed away while OREO was teen-ager.

"OREO was taught all he knows about civic duty by Alinsky", ... JEEBUS fucking xmas ALINSKY wrote the fucking book on civic-duty, this is pure fucking MORONIC politics. Targeted to those know have never read a fucking book in their life.

***

BP, YOU KNOW what ALINKSY said in 1940 that pissed people off?? HE said ... "That blacks and whites all wanted the same thing, a home, a job, and a safe place to raise their children, that essentially everyone wanted the same thing".

That statement got McCarthy to label Alinsky a COMMUNIST.; November 10, 2008 at 8:19 AM
Bewert said...: Re: The important thing is that on average 2% of pugs didn't bother to vote, and in this area it may have been as high as 5%.

Yep, only 86%+ of county residents voted. The repugs stayed home.

You idiots are arguing over splitting hairs. You want to know about Bend, go ask the fucking country for returns by precinct.; November 10, 2008 at 8:21 AM
Anonymous said...: Obama mentors like Saul Alinsky and William Ayers, taught him all that he knows about civic duty.

*

Jeebus xmas, what a dumb fucking statement this like saying. ...

"All Buster knows about Physics is what Einstein and Feynman taught him."

These statements while they sound great on the radio when coming from O'Reilly or Limbaugh, what they really show you is how fucking DUMB the pug's are.

I can't remember the name of this technique in politics, but there is a famous case where a PUG said "My opponent is a Thesbian(actor)", He kept repeating that, and while true the litte pug's of course thought it meant lesbian. There are lots of words like this that have a socially accepted means in the positive, but ignorant people confuse them with the negative.

Using 'Alinksy' a negative is 100% mcCarthy-ism.; November 10, 2008 at 8:26 AM
Anonymous said...: Yep, only 86%+ of county residents voted. The repugs stayed home.

*

BP where did you get that figure, typically in most elections 1/2 the people who can vote do vote, and 1/2 them show up.

Now your telling us that almost 90% of those who could vote did vote??

Pleeze.

BP has obviously drunk so much DEM kool-aide has brain is fucked, and even though his team LOST in county hell even TELFER PUG BITCH won by a land-slide, and MERKLES just barely won by a razor. But in BEND its PURE PUG.; November 10, 2008 at 8:30 AM
Anonymous said...: BP says that almost 90% of 'county residents' voted, BP PUT your fucking straw into your brains.

COUNTY says ...

52 of 52 Precincts Counted
Voter Turnout: 79,914 of 92,483 (86.41%)

86% of registered voters turned in their fucking ballot BP, that ain't residents. Shit a child is a resident, and an illegal alien.

There are OVER 150k folks in Deschutes County. 79k voted,

BP, 86% of eligible 'registered' voters voted, and the majority voted for PALIN.; November 10, 2008 at 8:35 AM
Anonymous said...: 60% of PUG voters in the area voted for TELFER PUG BITCH, an ORYGUN 'super majority' ( double-majority ).

Maren Lundgren (DEM) 28,221 (40.18%)
Current Race Leader Chris Telfer (REP) 41,891 (59.64%)
WRITE-IN 128 (0.18%)

Total: 70,240
Over Votes:
Under Votes: 8,182; November 10, 2008 at 8:38 AM
Anonymous said...: A black guy just took out a Clinton and the best the Repugs had to offer.

*

Most people didn't want HRC.

The PUG's didn't have a good candidate, MORMRON, and a few nut cases.

Everybody knew that BUSH had fucked up, and that in general 2008 would be tossed to the DEM's, the plan is that 2010 be PUG come-back.

The money is all gone, and that is what its about for Pug's.

The black-guy won by default, cuz he wasn't HRC.; November 10, 2008 at 8:47 AM
Anonymous said...: Bruce, the elections over. Your guy won. Show some restraint. Stop responding. You're so fucking easy to goad.; November 10, 2008 at 9:42 AM
Bewert said...: Yeah, Alinsky pointed out the obvious and was lambasted for it.

In this era, substitute "Palestinians" for "blacks" and it will happen to you, too.; November 10, 2008 at 10:08 AM
Bewert said...: Re: You're so fucking easy to goad.

I'm trying, really :); November 10, 2008 at 10:09 AM
Anonymous said...: Bruce, the elections over. Your guy won. Show some restraint. Stop responding. You're so fucking easy to goad.

*

Your not getting the point. Bruce's TEAM-DEM are declaring themselves the 'winners' here in Bend ( Deschutes ), but the fact is they got there fucking asses kicked.

BEND is pug, and bruces team ( hbm,bp,dunc(?)) are trying to declare themselves winners.

Somebody has to tell them it ain't so.

Yes, on the national level DEM's won BIG, but here in BEND, the PUG majority carried the day, cuz PUG-THINK is SHIT-DEEP in BEND.; November 10, 2008 at 12:33 PM
Anonymous said...: "The SORE wants the tourist to BELIEVE that the majority of BEND voted for OBAMA, when in fact they didn't."

where are you getting your numbers from? i have seen no numbers released for just the city of bend--i have only seen county numbers. no one knows how bend voted, as far as i can tell. give us your source please and if you don't have one just let us know that you are making things up.

"BP, 86% of eligible 'registered' voters voted, and the majority voted for PALIN."

incorrect. a majority (51%) voted against mccain/palin. you are making things up that are simple to disprove.; November 10, 2008 at 12:39 PM
Anonymous said...: Yeah, Alinsky pointed out the obvious and was lambasted for it.

*

No PUSSY, its way more evil than that. Alinksy was punished for pointing out that "blacks, & jews, ... were human, that their needs are the same as whites", ...

The entire tenet of McCarthy-ism then and now was that blacks&jews weren't human that blacks only thought 24/7 about fucking white human, that jews sat around eating human flesh.

Alinsky taught that everybody was the same, that the black-man wanted a home, a job, and a safe place to raise his kids every bit as much as a white working man. You say this is obvious but to a Limbaugh listener then and now this is a mental dis-connect, as you know now and then whitey is taught that all 'niggers' are lazy and on welfare, and don't give a fuck about their kids.

This is how today both Zio-Cons & Neo-Cons justify killing Arab children, cuz their own parents don't care about them.

This is how Gonzales under team-BUSH justified the crushing of testicals of children to coerce information. There is a rumor that under the current 'martial-law' executive orders that 'crushing-testicals' has been approved for obtaining information from the parents of domestic 'terrorists'.

Alinksy is & was an enemy of the State as you can't have enemy unless that enemy was non-human. Alinsky taught that all humanity is human. Fucking Communist, at the same time that PUG's ( McCarthy-ist's ) were teaching that the only 'good commie' was a dead commie.; November 10, 2008 at 12:40 PM
Anonymous said...: I'm quite confused why BP's team wants to create the 'myth' on the SORE and else where that they won in BEND.

To me its essential that remind people, and rub the shit in their face that BEND is still and will continue to be PUG shit-hole.

BEND SUX cuz its PUG, BEND SUX cuz its PUG majority. This must be rubbed in the face of all of BEND.; November 10, 2008 at 12:41 PM
Anonymous said...: The entire tenet of McCarthy-ism then and now was that blacks&jews weren't human that blacks only thought 24/7 about fucking white human, that jews sat around eating human flesh.

*

Whoops - "That black only think about FUCK WHITING WOMEN", the greatest fucking fear on earth of the white man, cuz white men have small dicks, and once a white woman goes black, she never goes back, cuz black men have rythym.; November 10, 2008 at 12:44 PM
Anonymous said...: where are you getting your numbers from?

*

FUCK YOU.

This issue the SORE printed that OREO won in DESCHUTES-COUNTY.

http://www.deschutes.org/electionresults/

The ASSERTION and numbers printed in the SORE are flat wrong. NOTHING about BEND, the "SORE asserts" that OREO won in Deschutes, he did NOT, the SOURCE printed fraudulent numbers, some will say oh, they used the numbers from early tuesday, not true the SORE came out on thusday. The final numbers are from midnight Nov 4, well before the printing of the SORE.

WHY IN THE FUCK DOES THE SORE HAVE TO PRINT A LIE??

WHY DOES THE SORE HAVE TO TELL ITS READERS THAT OREO WON IN DESCHUTES CO??; November 10, 2008 at 12:48 PM
Anonymous said...: Like below from the SORE written by HBM last wednesday, note above the final tally from deschutes co election was tues @ midnight. Every single thing on the SORE says OREO carried DESCHUTES CO, HE DID NOT!!!!

***
http://www.tsweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3508&Itemid=71
***

2. Random Wanderings on the Morning After
(Blogs/The Wandering Eye)
...hing about this election to The Eye is how blue Deschutes County turned out to be. Not only did Barack Obama carry this once-reliably Republican stronghold, but Democrat Judy Stiegler edged out two-...
Wednesday, 05 November 2008; November 10, 2008 at 12:52 PM
Anonymous said...: There was NO fucking 'progressive' mandate in Deschutes CO.

OREO is NOT a progressive, he is bought and paid for status-quo.

In Deschutes CO, PALIN-CAIN WON!!; November 10, 2008 at 12:53 PM
Anonymous said...: Below is another day-after story, and note the above #'s from county were the day before. Note that here again in the SORE HBM is saying that OREO carried DESCHUTES CO, "HE DID NOT"

WHY ARE THEY LYING TO THE PEOPLE OF BEND????????

http://www.tsweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3488&Itemid=71

Random Wanderings on the Morning
Written by H. Bruce Miller
Wednesday, 05 November 2008

The most surprising thing about this election to The Eye is how blue Deschutes County turned out to be.

Not only did Barack Obama carry this once-reliably Republican stronghold, but Democrat Judy Stiegler edged out two-term incumbent Republican Chuck Burley for the Oregon House District 54 seat, and Democrat Alan Unger opened a can of whup-ass on veteran Republican County Commissioner Mike Daly. That means a Democrat will sit on the county commission for the first time since the early 1990s.; November 10, 2008 at 12:55 PM
Anonymous said...: Not only did Barack Obama carry this once-reliably Republican stronghold, - THE SOURCE

*

OREO did not CARRY this PUG stronghole, OREO got his assed KICK.

WHY ARE THEY LYING??; November 10, 2008 at 12:56 PM
Anonymous said...: where are you getting your numbers from?

*

FUCK YOU.

This issue the SORE printed that OREO won in DESCHUTES-COUNTY.

http://www.deschutes.org/electionresults/

The SORE printed numbers they pulled out of their ass.

The Deschutes CO http://www.deschutes.org/electionresults/
is the authoritative source, NOT the SORE.

The fuckign DEM's here, want us to believe that the SORE is the source.; November 10, 2008 at 12:58 PM
Anonymous said...: I mean this is the PROBLEM with BEND.

The FUCKING SORE & BULL say shit, shit that is a COMPLETE fucking lie, and a week later they still stand by their lie.

BEND is totally fucking fucked.; November 10, 2008 at 12:59 PM
Anonymous said...: Ominious Parallels Between Nazi Poison Gas and Calif Pesticide Spraying
by Pesticide History
Monday Nov 10th, 2008 1:07 PM
Is BEND OREGON really NOT responsible for Suterra Checkmate??

The Nazi's used Zyklon B form IG FARBIN to terminate the lives of millions of Jews in gas chambers, after the war the manufacturers were tried and executed.

The Nazi's used Zyklon B a pesticide with a similar formulation to that used by Suterra LLC, of Bend Oregon.

Zyklon B

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Empty poison gas canisters, found by the Allies at the end of World War II.
This article is about the cyanide-based insecticide used during the Holocaust. For the Norwegian black metal band, see Zyklon-B (band).

Zyklon B (IPA: [tsykloːn ˈbeː], also spelled Cyclon B or English Cyclone B) was the trade name of a cyanide-based insecticide infamous for its use by Nazi Germany against Jews and other minorites in the gas chambers of extermination camps during the Holocaust.

It consisted of hydrogen cyanide (prussic acid, Blausäure in German, hence B), a stabilizer, and a warning odorant that were impregnated onto various substrates, typically small absorbent pellets, fibre discs, or diatomaceous earth. Zyklon B was stored in airtight containers; when exposed to air, the material released gaseous hydrogen cyanide (HCN).

Use on humans
A Soviet soldier posed at Majdanek, holding the cover of the vents through which Zyklon B was poured. London press, October 1944.

From 1929 onwards the U.S. used Zyklon B to disinfect the freight trains and clothes of Mexican immigrants entering the US.[2]

Farm Securities Administration photographer Marion Post Wolcott recorded the use of cyanide gas and zyklon by the Public Health Service at the New Orleans Quarantine Station during the 1930s.[3]

[edit] Use by Nazi Germany

See also: The Holocaust

The pesticide was used by Nazi Germany as a chemical weapon to poison prisoners in the gas chambers of the largest extermination camp, Auschwitz Birkenau, and also at Majdanek, one of the Operation Reinhard camps. At the other extermination camps, engine exhaust was used in the gas chambers. Many of the victims were Jews and the Zyklon B gas became a central symbol of the Holocaust.

Zyklon B was used in the concentration camps initially for delousing to control typhus. The chemical used in the gas chambers was deliberately made without the warning odorant.[4]

In January or February 1940, 250 Gypsy children from Brno in the Buchenwald concentration camp were used as guinea pigs for testing the Zyklon B gas.[5] On September 3, 1941, around 600 Soviet prisoners of war and 250 sick Polish prisoners were gassed with Zyklon B at Auschwitz camp I; this was the first experiment with the gas at Auschwitz. The experiments lasted more than 20 hours.; November 10, 2008 at 1:18 PM
Anonymous said...: Well BP, the SORE has removed all the factual information from their last week article on Suterra, now nothing stands. There are ten comments this AM, and now four.

Just like BEBB the SORE tailors everything to their reality, or should I say their realator-ity.; November 10, 2008 at 1:21 PM
Anonymous said...: the source's election numbers are now wrong, they were early returns that later turned around. McCain beat Obama in the county. the source should update its numbers--they jumped the gun by publishing incomplete returns.

the person saying that McCain won in Bend may be wrong and may be right--we have no idea because there are no numbers available. that person is making things up.

McCain won a plurality in the county by the narrowest of margins (300 votes) but he still won a plurality so he won. Fact: no one won a majority in the county.

No one knows anything about how the election went in bend so all statements about that topic are bogus nonsense. Does anyone know if city numbers will ever be released?; November 10, 2008 at 1:27 PM
Anonymous said...: McCain won a plurality in the county by the narrowest of margins (300 votes) but he still won a plurality so he won. Fact: no one won a majority in the county.

*

McCain WON in Deschutes CO, even if it was by ONE VOTE he would won, and he did win, why is so fucking hard to admit he won??

300 is a bigger number than one.

All of the SORE printed and electronic storys were from wednesday, the posted election results are from tues @ midnight.

It's like right NOW mcCain won by 300 votes!!!! Yet, the SORE calls OREO the winner.

IT AIN'T SO, OREO LOST.; November 10, 2008 at 1:33 PM
Anonymous said...: BP, or someone else please post the new court rulings at the SORE.

***

CDFA Found Guilty of breaking the Law in the 2 Counties that were aerial sprayed in 2007! They are criminals! Who will now go to Jail?

Monterey Lawsuit -5/12/2008 Judge O'farrell ruled in favor of HOPE's Lawsuit. Zero Crop Damage, CDFA go home and complete an EIR. CDFA violated the law! "Judge halts moth spray in Monterey County" by SF Gate

A Monterey County Superior Court judge has ruled that the state must halt pheromone spraying for the invasive light brown apple moth until an environmental report is complete.

Judge Burdick rules in favor of Santa Cruz County/ City Lawsuit on 4/28/08 - CDFA go home and complete an EIR!,; November 10, 2008 at 1:34 PM
Anonymous said...: Fact: no one won a majority in the county.

*

That's funny HBM, cuz if OREO had one by one vote your paper would have published that OREO won a progressive-mandate!!!!!!!

If fact that is what you did report, but now your at least admitting that McCain won in Deschtues CO, we're making progress.; November 10, 2008 at 1:36 PM
Bewert said...: Re: election pissing match

Just talked to county clerks office, results by precinct will be available after the election is certified on or before Nov. 24. I'll swing by and pick them up, and we'll see just how pug the City of Bend is.

I'm betting an ale that Bend went for Obama.; November 10, 2008 at 1:53 PM
Anonymous said...: In Bend, a town of small dick PUG's, a 'simple majority' is said to be a candidate who wins by 300 votes.

Get fucking over HBM.

A majority, also known as a simple majority in the U.S., is a subset of a group that is more than half of the entire group. This should not be confused with a plurality, which is a subset having the largest number of parts. A plurality is not necessarily a majority, as the largest subset may be less than half of the entire group. In British English, majority and plurality are often used as synonyms; it can also refer to the margin of vote separating the first-place finisher from the second-place finisher, so that a candidate who wins by 1000 votes may be said to have received "a majority of 1000 votes". The term absolute majority is used to indicate more than fifty percent of the vote.[1]; November 10, 2008 at 1:54 PM
Anonymous said...: I'm betting an ale that Bend went for Obama.

*

I'll be a condom that BEND went PUG.

Lastly, this debate WAS ALWAYS about 'deschutes co', it was the SORE that said OREO won a 'progressive mandate' in Deschutes CO, talking about BEND is a strawman.; November 10, 2008 at 1:55 PM
Anonymous said...: BP,

If you bored and want to change the subject based on old data you can get.

What were the votes for BUSH in 97701, ... for 2000 & 2004?? Comparing that to 2008, is what would be interesting wrt BEND.; November 10, 2008 at 1:57 PM
Anonymous said...: "I'm betting an ale that Bend went for Obama."

i would think that in order for obama to get within 300 of mccain in the county as a whole, obama almost certainly did very well in the city of bend. where else in the county could he pile up such numbers?; November 10, 2008 at 1:58 PM
Anonymous said...: Back to the SORE's assertion that Deschutes CO, gave OREO a 'progressive mandate', what the fuck does that mean? I'll try to define MANDATE, OREO STYLE, its starts with RahmBO, the least Progressive DEM in Congress.

***

America and the World are ex static over Obama’s win over McCain, and the end of Republican arrogance.

We are all hopping that Obama will usher in a new way to bring America back into the World Community, and throw aside Bush’s legacy of World Dominance, and the First Strike mentality.

Obama's appointment of a new Chief of Staff, Mr. Rahm Emanuel is disturbing.

Rahm Emanuel is not only a poor choice for Obama's Chief of Staff; he's one of the least progressive picks he could have made.

Rahm Emanuel is closely aligned with Israel making it questionable that Obama is going to have a balanced policy towards the Middle East.

While he may have decent views on abortion, tax policy, and social security, Emanuel's broader vision is more of the same: war and corporate dominance.

Emanuel’s appointment in this key position does not bode well for "A New Day, with an open and balanced attitude to the World.

I thought that Obama was opposed to war, and cared for the middle and lower classes who’s share of the pie has gotten smaller and smaller?

Obama needs to deal with the worst abuses of the Bush Administration.

He needs to restore the Constitution, and the rule of law.

He needs to end the Criminal Invasion and Occupation of Iraq.

He needs to focus on ending the War in Afghanistan.

The reason for the attack on Afghanistan is false; 9/11 was an inside job, and a False Flag operation.

He needs to have a major review of the 9/11 attack.

He needs to stop the aggressive nature of America’s attitude to he World.

He needs to close the US prison in Cuba.; November 10, 2008 at 2:02 PM
Anonymous said...: where else in the county could he pile up such numbers?

*

Contrary to popular MYTH, the 'country' here is hobby farming yuppy's growing desert rocks, on their 5 acres, with a mcMansion.

The white trash PUG shit eaters that live in trailers and VOTE pug, live in the city's apartments, and trailer parks.; November 10, 2008 at 2:03 PM
Anonymous said...: "A majority, also known as a simple majority in the U.S., is a subset of a group that is more than half of the entire group."

49% is not more than half; November 10, 2008 at 2:05 PM
Anonymous said...: Like 'Sisters' the in town 'good ol boyz' are fucking PUGS.

But all the idiots that bought those over-priced hobby farms, are fucking yuppy liberals with too much money. Ditto for Metolius.

The days of white-trash PUG's owning hobby-farms is fucking over.

The older conservative folks are in Bends older hoods.

Most of those PUGS who voted for PALIN are up in those STD's in Shevlin, or out east of 27th.

I don't even consider BEND to be anything but 1mi radius of deschutes brewpub, thus if & when PUSSY gets the data we need to focus by zip-code, and we need to go back to 2000 & 2004 and study how the FUCKING PUGS of BEND voted in the past by hood, cuz not much has changed since 2004.

Lastly, we know that the MAJORITY of assholes (pugs) that moved here (BEND) since 2004 were cali's running from niggers & mexicans.
BEND is lily white, and racist, and PUG.

Then there are all the fucking 'gated communitys' of BEND, you know they're fucking PUG.; November 10, 2008 at 2:08 PM
Anonymous said...: A candidate who wins by 300 votes may be said to have received "a majority of 300 votes". The term absolute majority is used to indicate more than fifty percent of the vote.[1]

In ORYGUN we call the 'absolute majority' a double-majority, or super-majority.

Palin won OBAMA by 300 votes in Deschutes CO, PALIN won the majority.; November 10, 2008 at 2:11 PM
Anonymous said...: Deschutes CO won an Obama Progressive Mandate. - HBM ( The SORE )

Americans are Idiots

Since when do we have the vote after Help America Vote Act 2002? Since when is Obama a worker? Does it matter that Obama is a republican in all his votes except for ONE against torture and that almost none of his appealing rhetoric, and there was plenty that was very Reaganesque or Bush(shrub)-esque, matches his pro-zionist, pro-military, pro-corporate, pro-globalization, pro-occupation, pro-slash and burn of worker rights ACTIONS via his VOTES in Congress as a Senator. Americans of the U.S. are idiots. Revolution does NOT ever in all history come from the top. Most of you are absolutely brainwashed, which is why Obama was installed and it worked.

Oh, some other ranty commentary, we're allowed to do that in real democracies--even as unwritten rules, since when has the United States ever been a "democracy". Winner, money, and majority take all are NOT democracy. Socialism is democracy, direct representation is democracy, instant run-off voting is democracy, diverse parties are democracy, mandatory political participation, very short term limits, pay that matches the worker living wages is democracy. No corporate money at all is democracy. Decentralized media ownership and control is democracy. Democracy is not at all about leaders or celebrities--not in the slightest--not ever. You're mostly very bamboozled and this fake election and the pathetic responses of the masses are even more disappointing than I imagined these might be.

If you think Nancy Pelosi, worth well over $100M and therefore NOT a worker, is disappointing, you've not seen anything yet.

Cheers,; November 10, 2008 at 2:14 PM
Anonymous said...: So, WHO THE FUCK HERE thinks that OBAMA is a 'progressive'???

Just today the PUSSY was bitching cuz some right-wing fuckhead poster said that Saul Alinsky had mentored OREO. Which was supposed to be an insult,

The fact is ALINSKY did NOT mentor OREO, cuz ALINSKY is a 'progressive', and the OREO is owned by BIG-MONEY.; November 10, 2008 at 2:27 PM
Anonymous said...: Revolution does NOT ever in all history come from the top. Most of you are absolutely brainwashed, which is why Obama was installed and it worked.; November 10, 2008 at 2:30 PM
Anonymous said...: In Bend, OR the left & right is 100% manufactured.

The Source pretends to be left-wing,

The Bulletin pretends to be right-wing,

The Source tells its readers they won.

The Bulletin tells its readers they won.

The real estate developers own all the media.

Everyone is happy.; November 10, 2008 at 2:32 PM
Anonymous said...: A candidate who wins by 300 votes may be said to have received "a majority of 300 votes". The term absolute majority is used to indicate more than fifty percent of the vote.[1] - wiki

In ORYGUN we call the 'absolute majority' a double-majority, or super-majority.

Palin won OBAMA by 300 votes in Deschutes CO, PALIN won the majority.; November 10, 2008 at 2:41 PM
Bewert said...: Boy, somebody has their drink on early today.

Got a really fucking boring and uncomfortable JRMB meeting to monitor. I'll let you all know if anything interesting happens.; November 10, 2008 at 2:42 PM
Anonymous said...: HBM (KUNT PUG KUNT) say's that OBAMA brings us a progressive mandate to BEND!!

Barak Obama is NOT a Progressive Democrat...

I keep saying it. He's just like Senator Clinton. He's just like all the old triangulating Democrats, the ones who just confirmed Bush's Attorney General, who voted to give the President the power to go to war with Iran despite knowing what we do from the Iraq debacle and this administration's history of lies.

He skips out of votes for important, campaign breaking issues like a coward and he voted for the Peru FTA agreement, just like Clinton, an agreement that would starve American workers.

He's the same exact thing. A corporate politician. He is sounding more and more like a Republican every day.

He's part of the problem.

Of course we can't trust our corporate News outlets to help. We can't even get a different perspective in news in this country.

So instead we get a full hour of Obama on Meet the Press where he back pedals and triangulates and fudges about his stances, trying his best to set himself apart from Senator Clinton, instead, sounding exactly like her. His answers showed his ability to say the right thing when it is politically expedient.

He's not a progressive Democrat.

He's echoing the Republican lie about Social Security. It's has become the centerpiece of his campaign. Why?

On so many issues, he's saying one thing and doing another. He cranks up progressive rhetoric when he needs to and then turns around and assures his corporate backers that he's not going to make changes that would help the average American that might affect their bottom line.

He talks about the war in Iraq and impending war of lie with Iran as if they are happening in a vacuum.

And yet nothing about Vets and the rising rate of PTSD from this war of choice.

Nothing.

Molly Ivins once wrote, "There are three ways to judge a politician: (1) Check his record, (2) check his record and (3) check his record."

She told us this about "Compassionate Conservative" George W. Bush. After spending six years covering him and comparing his words to his record, her prediction that he would be a disastrous president were eerily accurate.

Today we have to do the same with Obama, with Clinton, with all of the candidates. Check the record. See what they have done.

I'm pretty sick of the talk of Obama as another RFK. I've heard RFK's speeches. I've read his words, seen what he wanted to do. Obama is no RFK. He's trying too hard to be liked by the insiders in Washington, DC to be another RFK. Stop making the comparison.; November 10, 2008 at 2:51 PM
Anonymous said...: Got a really fucking boring and uncomfortable JRMB meeting to monitor. I'll let you all know if anything interesting happens.

*

Try to ask a fucking question.

ASK them "WHY" BP, ask them "WHY".

Be a REAL fucking reporter.

Ask them 'WHY' they do everything thing they do.; November 10, 2008 at 2:52 PM
Anonymous said...: Boy, somebody has their drink on early today.

*

No, that doesn't happen until 5pm, tonight is happy hour at Deschutes.

I really get pissed about all the fucking lies at the SOURCE, and how they delete everything just like BEBB.

How they create their own fucking reality.; November 10, 2008 at 2:54 PM
Anonymous said...: Why FUCK with the SORE??

Well cuz they claim to be something they are NOT.

At least the BULL is what it is, they had the balls to come out for PALIN, and they got out the vote, the best they could.

The SORE on the other hand, has to fucking tell lies after the fact.

Every fucking story in the SORE is written by HBM to create an illusion that there are anti-PUG's in BEND.

Bend is PUG-TOWN, pure & simple, and the BULL knows that.

The SORE wants to create the illusion, that BEND is a great place, that it has an alternative paper, ...

Like HOMER prints in this weeks blog "BEND SUX". All the kids know this.

There are NO fucking real liberals in BEND.

It's all parasites whether they be PUG or DEM.

The SORE continues to create the illusion of 'PROGRESSIVE', that BEND now has a 'PROGRESSIVE MANDATE'.

To do what?? Expand the UGB?? To build apartments at NWXC??

To make Bend the best 'poison gas' center since Hitlers IG-FARBEN that made all the poison gas back in WWII???

The SORE drives me nuts, cuz they're full of shit.

The BULL is essentially serving out shit on a platter, but at least they're serving what people want to eat.

The SORE is just two people, Aaron Switzer selling 'events', and advertising, and HBM writing crap about how 'progressive is Bend'.

Like city council meetings here, I never hear anybody who is 'progressive' speak in this town, other than the land-watch guy, so is a lawyer. He gets paid!!! That is BEND's only opposition to development.; November 10, 2008 at 3:03 PM
Anonymous said...: Molly Ivins once wrote, "There are three ways to judge a politician: (1) Check his record, (2) check his record and (3) check his record."

*

OREO's record is one of a self serving, opportunistic, calculating coward.; November 10, 2008 at 3:07 PM
Anonymous said...: Revolution does NOT ever in all history come from the top. Most of you are absolutely brainwashed, which is why Obama was installed and it worked.

*

The OREO will re-institute the draft, and all your children will die.

Progressive.; November 10, 2008 at 3:15 PM
Anonymous said...: Nuremberg Trials: Big Pharma's Crimes Against Humanity
Saturday, October 18, 2008 by: Gabriel Donohoe (see all articles by this author

(NaturalNews) After World War Two, scores of suspected Nazi war criminals were prosecuted by the Allies in the Palace of Justice in the city of Nuremberg, the birth-place of the Nazi Party. The defendants were drawn not just from the military, but also from medical, judicial, administrative, industrial, and other sectors of the German war machine.

Among the industrial prisoners charged with crimes against humanity were 24 managers of IG Farben, an organization without whom, according to U.S. Chief Prosecutor Telford Taylor, the Second World War would not have been possible.

In 1925, IG Farben, Interessengemeinschaft Farben, (Association of Common Interests), became a powerful cartel of German chemical and pharmaceutical companies such as Bayer (the aspirin manufacturer), BASF, AGFA, and Hoechst (now known as Aventis.) By 1933, the IG Farben group had become the largest chemical and pharmaceutical corporation in the world. And even today, although it doesn’t use the name IG Farben, its companies remain the most powerful transnationals on the planet in pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and agro-chemicals.

The IG Farben cartel was crucial to the Nazi war effort by supplying synthetic fuel, rubber, and other chemicals. They also manufactured Zyklon-B, the nerve gas used to kill millions at the concentration camps of Auschwitz, Birkenau and elsewhere. The cartel, later known as the Devil’s Chemists, used unwilling inmates of the concentration camps as slave labourers and guinea pigs to test chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and vaccines. Tens of thousands died, and those who became too ill to be of any use were murdered in the gas chambers.

IG Farben worked closely with the Nazi regime and the SS and were perhaps the most important dynamic in driving the Nazi war machine, donating some 80 million Reichsmarks in return for chemical, pharmaceutical and petrochemical industries seized from occupied countries. Yet they could not have gotten to a position of such power without huge investment from John D. Rockefeller and his Standard Oil Company. Together with Rockefeller they set up a company called Standard IG Farben.

Although he knew it would be used for war purposes, Rockefeller was able to organize a shipment of 500 tons of tetraethyl lead to IG Farben in 1938 which the Luftwaffe needed for aviation fuel. Amazingly, a year later, with war about to break out, he supplied them with up to 20 million dollars of tetraethyl lead which directly enabled Hitler to start the War by attacking Poland and France.

Even as late as 1942 he supplied the Nazis with oil diverted through Switzerland and refuelled German submarines in the Channel Islands. When charged under the “Trading With The Enemy” Act, Rockefeller got away with a ‘slap on the wrist’ (5,000 dollar fine) when President Roosevelt abruptly halted the investigation at the behest of the War Department. (The unpatriotic Rockefeller had threatened to stop supplying the U.S. with crucial supplies of war-time oil.)

IG Farben went on to build the largest industrial complex in Europe at Auschwitz to manufacture chemicals and explosives for the German war effort. The venture was financed by Deutsche Bank to the tune of almost one billion Reichsmarks. This complex, known as IG Auschwitz, covered some 24 square kilometers including the Auschwitz concentration camp from which it drew on a huge pool of slave labour. IG Farben directors were instrumental in turning this huge complex into the largest extermination camp in human history.

On a number of occasions, when orders were given by the Allies to bomb the complex, Rockefeller used his influence through John J. McCloy, Assistant Secretary of War (who was a former legal counselor to IG Farben), to cancel the bombing raids, much to the chagrin of some of the Allied commanders. Furthermore, not one bomb fell on IG Farben’s Headquarters back in Germany, at Frankfurt. Astounding, at a time when German industrial cities were widely bombed and pulverized, including Frankfurt itself.

At the Nuremberg Trials, 24 of the IG Farben directors and other industrialists were charged with genocide, slavery, and other crimes against humanity. Many of these unscrupulous villains would later play a key role in reinstating several IG Farben companies as huge players in the pharmaceutical/chemical industry not only in Germany but also throughout Europe and the United States. And several of these former Nazis would be pivotal in devising a pan-European trade association which has now evolved into the European Union.

Dr. Fritz ter Meer, a director of IG Farben who was directly involved in developing the nerve gas, Zyklon-B, which killed millions of Jews, was sentenced to seven years in prison but was released after four years through the intervention of Rockefeller and J.J. McCloy, then U.S. High Commissioner for Germany. An unrepentant Fritz ter Meer, guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity, returned to work in Bayer where he served as Chairman for more than 10 years, until 1961.

This same ter Meer, a convicted Nazi war criminal, went on to become one of the initiators of the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 1962, an organization that was nurtured by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and latterly the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Codex Alimentarius, supposedly set up to protect the health of consumers and ensure fair practices in the food trade, is in reality extremely hostile to the world’s vitamin, supplement, and natural food industries and seems determined to destroy them. Codex is controlled by Big Pharma whose only raison d’être is to promote disease and sell more pharmaceuticals.

Karl Wurster, chairman of the IG Farben company, Degesch, which manufactured the Zyklon-B nerve gas, was charged as a war criminal but was somehow acquitted. He later served as CEO of BASF of 13 years, until 1974.

Hans Globke co-authored the anti-Jewish Nuremberg Race Laws and was responsible for writing the new laws of the Greater European Reich in Nazi-occupied countries. After the War, Globke became a minister in Chancellor Konrad Adenauer’s government and served from 1949 to 1963. He was free of any parliamentary supervision and controlled the Secret Service. He was also directly involved in plotting with the oil and drug cartel on how to take over and control European markets within the newly constructed European Economic Community (EEC), fore-runner of the current European Union (EU).

Walter Hallstein was a prominent Nazi law professor who stated in 1939: One of the most important laws (in occupied European countries) is the ‘Protection Law of German Blood and Honor’. This Nazi “blood and honor” lawyer was instrumental in creating the European Union’s basic structure and became the first head of the European Commission, an executive body adroitly designed to rule Europe without any interference from democratic control. This absence of democracy is quite evident in Brussels especially today. In 1957, Chancellor Adenauer and Hallstein signed the first European Treaty in Rome.

[Much of the information here on IG Farben has come from Dr. Matthias Rath, a tireless campaigner for health freedom and the scourge of Big Pharma. Dr. Rath, under the Freedom of Information Act, has managed to obtain tens of thousands of IG Farben documents from the War Crimes Tribunal that had been kept secret for six decades and has posted them on his website. See (www.profit-over-life.org) , also (http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/) . These are incredible sites –- you’ll spend hours there! Check out articles on Codex Alimentarius, the Pharmaceutical Industry, and Dr. Rath’s series of Open Letters to the New York Times.]

The domination by the pharmaceutical industry of current medical practice and their insidious influence on government legislation is a direct legacy of IG Farben and the Nazi war criminals who ran the original cartel.

Crimes are still being committed today on such a massive scale that millions of people have died since World War Two and millions more are being poisoned daily by these monsters. It is impossible in this short article to list all the horrendous criminality of Big Pharma, Big Food, Big Biotech, and their political henchmen but the following paragraphs provide some examples of the death and mayhem they cause.

In a recent report authored by Dr. Gary Null, Dr. Carolyn Dean, et al, (http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2004/mar...) some 780,000 Americans are killed by their doctors or by the medical system each year. 106,000 of these die from properly prescribed medicine in properly prescribed doses and over two million people are hospitalised because of adverse effects from taking these FDA-approved prescription drugs.

The directors of the companies who manufacture these drugs well know the harm they cause but do all they can to keep such adverse information from the public. These gangsters are driven by greed and profit; they couldn’t care less about people’s health or their lives. A good example is the scandal of Vioxx, a drug that was kept on the market even though it was known to cause heart attacks. Vioxx is believed to have killed between 50,000 and 70,000 people. Other dangerous drugs include Baycol, Bextra, Celebrex, and the list goes on...

Big Pharma is involved in rigging drug trials, ghostwriting the reports of “independent” researchers, bribing politicians, doctors, and scientists, and hiding reports unfavourable to their drugs. One particularly nasty example of collusion that appeared recently on NaturalNews.com was the case of Dr. Biederman of Harvard University who advocated mind-altering drugs for children while being secretly paid off 1.6 million dollars from the drug companies, (http://www.naturalnews.com/023408.html) .

And to maintain their markets, Big Pharma is very active in suppressing vitamins, minerals, and natural health foods. They also suppress any information on natural health and are energetically assisted in this by their friends in the FDA and other government bodies. They are helped by colluding politicians who push through legislation to favour big corporations and they remain unchallenged by mainstream media who have a deeper affinity for advertising revenue than for people’s health.

Big Food poisons us with chemical additives, preservatives, colourings, flavourings, trans fats and other harmful ingredients. The effects of these deadly additives are well known and documented; aspartame, MSG, sodium benzoate, potassium bromate, sodium nitrite, and thousands more. It’s no wonder most of us are sick, and we’re getting sicker.

Governments turn a blind eye to crimes of toxicity and actively promote the dumping of fluoride and chlorine in our water, the use of mercury in vaccines and in dentistry, and to a host of other criminal acts committed in the pretext of advancing public health.

Again with government complicity, Big Biotech poisons us with Genetically Modified crops in a plot to own the patents to the very food that’s nourished us for hundreds of thousands of years. GM crops pose one of the greatest threats to our health and survival on this planet. No one really knows what effects this frankenfood will have on us or future generations. GM food is currently suspected as a cause of Morgellon’s Disease.

And what kind of a warped, evil mind would invent a “terminator” seed that is designed to become sterile when the plants are harvested so that the farmer is forced to buy more seeds from these already mega-rich corporations. What if these terminator seeds infiltrated the crops across the world?

The activities of Big Pharma, Big Food, and Big Biotech are well known to subscribers of NaturalNews.com and can be found by the Search facility on this website.

Now it is time to say, “Enough!”

This unmitigated evil must end. Those responsible must be stopped and made to answer for their crimes. We need to revisit Nuremberg and finish the job that was begun there some 60 years ago.

I propose compiling a record of all the people from the above-mentioned industries, mass media, politics, government regulation bodies, finance, and from wherever appropriate, and entering them in a register along with their observed crimes against humanity. This register would be presented as a prosecution document when the day of reckoning comes. These individuals are acting against the health interests of the people of this planet and must be dealt with accordingly.

When a name and a crime goes on the list, that person should be put on notice so that they can’t say they were unaware of their crime or that they were just “following orders”. This will also give them a chance to repudiate their crime and to join the ranks of the promoters of natural health and freedom of choice.

This book of records might become known as “The Nuremberg List” and widely publicized so that it quickly enters the public consciousness. Soon, the very mention of “The Nuremberg List” -- unlike "Schindler's List" which offered hope and salvation -- would instill fear of liability and punishment into those who persist in poisoning their fellow man. Perhaps a respected organization like Natural News might agree to compiling such a list.

Dr. Matthias Rath has already started things rolling by instigating proceedings against some of these corporate criminals. In June, 2003, Dr. Rath’s Foundation lodged formal charges against those special interests behind the pharmaceutical ‘business with disease’ at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, the Nederlands. The ICC is the premier world court for cases of genocide and other crimes against humanity.

Dr. Rath said, “We are convinced that one day soon these charges will form the basis for an international tribunal at the ICC that will shadow the scope of the Nuremberg Pharma Tribunal of 1947/48.”

Among those charged are George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Dick Cheyney, Donald Rumsfeld, and other members of the Republican administration. Also cited are executives of the pharma/chemical/oil industries, mainstream media, financial institutions, and other culpable people. See more details here: (http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/The_...) .

Dr. Rath should be congratulated for his efforts and assisted in every way possible.

Let this be the beginning of the end for corporate tyranny and let good health and fair play prevail on this beautiful but defiled planet of ours.; November 10, 2008 at 3:40 PM
Anonymous said...: German maker of Zyklon B to fund UK Shoah seminar
BP,
You'll LOVE THIS, tire-factorys (les-schwab) were closely related to the manufacturer of Zyklon-B.

***

From The Jewish Chronicle
Marcus Dysch
October 20, 2008
Zyklon_B_Container[1].JPG

The Imperial War Museum has been criticised for allowing a German company connected to the Nazi death camps to fund a major international conference.

The three-day "Beyond Camps and Forced Labour" seminar, due to be held in London in January, will bring together academics studying the effects of Nazi atrocities on survivors.

But Holocaust survivor and academic Michael Pinto-Duschinsky said it was immoral for the museum to accept funding from Degussa, whose original parent company, Degesch, was involved in the production of the Zyklon B gas used to kill Jews.

It also extracted and smelted gold teeth from camp victims.

But a museum spokeswoman said accepting the funding, whose figure is unknown, was "entirely legitimate".

Organisers of the conference include Jewish historian David Cesarani and Suzanne Bardgett, who oversees the museum's permanent Holocaust exhibition.

In 2004, Degussa was forced to pull out of a contract to provide graffiti-proofing chemicals for Berlin's Holocaust memorial.

And in 1998 the company agreed to make payments to Auschwitz survivors who worked as slave labourers in a tyre factory it ran during the war.

Further funding for the "Beyond Camps and Forced Labour" conference is being provided by the German and Polish embassies, the Austrian Cultural Forum, and the London-based German Historical Institute.
Calling on the museum to return the money, Dr Pinto-Duschinsky said: "Important questions of public policy and of community relations arise from this. I agree with the members of the Berlin Holocaust Memorial who felt that it is unsuitable, not to say ghoulish, to accept funding from the profits of the manufacture of Zyklon B or of smelted tooth gold for Holocaust exhibition or memorial purposes."

A museum spokeswoman said: "It is entirely legitimate for a small proportion of the overall funding to come from a modern-day corporation which has looked critically at its own past.

"The 2009 conference is a follow-up to two successful conferences which took place in 2003 and 2006."
Evonik Industries, Degussa's current parent company, said it accepted responsibility for events in its past and wanted to support the conference, to raise awareness that "the Holocaust did not end with the liberation of those who survived" and has had a severe impact on subsequent generations.; November 10, 2008 at 3:47 PM
Anonymous said...: Juniper Ridge is not an area 51, it's a housing and commercial development.....you sir should do your research.

* juniper-ridge-info.blogspot.com

Juniper Ridge is RAN by our own Ron Garzini. Garzini is most famous for building prisons all over the country.

Garzini is so famous that Michael Parenti calls Garzini "The NUMBER ONE prison booster in the USA"

Juniper Ridge is area-51, because its purpose has long been planned to be a martial-law relocation camp.

It is no accident that when HITLER produced Zykon-B, that the same company produced tires. Today at Juniper Ridge there are going to be two industrys. Pesticide ( Zyklon-B), and tires. ( http://www.thejc.com/node/7153 )

The real issue facing the bay area, is WILL OBAMA shut this BUSH-CHENEY operation down, or will they continue to manufacture pesticide, that will be sprayed on California.

It is NO accident that the number one US leader in bio-encapsulated biowarfare chemicals, is located next to a tire manufacturing leader, and being all coordinated by the number one prison booster in the USA.

HITLER had slaves, the future of the US will be convict labor, and thus we call Juniper-Ridge, our own AREA-51.; November 10, 2008 at 3:56 PM
Anonymous said...: BP,

You know who Saul Alinsky is right??

Do you know who Michael Parenti is??

He's probably the number living Progressive in the country.

He called Garzini "The number one prison booster in the USA".

That is some heavy shit, and a hell of endorsement for Garzini.

*

Tires & Pesticides: Who would have guessed???

http://www.thejc.com/node/7153; November 10, 2008 at 3:57 PM
Anonymous said...: The BUSH family of course is tightly linked to IG Farben.

***

On a number of occasions, when orders were given by the Allies to bomb the complex, Rockefeller used his influence through John J. McCloy, Assistant Secretary of War (who was a former legal counselor to IG Farben), to cancel the bombing raids, much to the chagrin of some of the Allied commanders. Furthermore, not one bomb fell on IG Farben’s Headquarters back in Germany, at Frankfurt. Astounding, at a time when German industrial cities were widely bombed and pulverized, including Frankfurt itself.; November 10, 2008 at 4:02 PM
Anonymous said...: The main issue here is that its quite historically clear.

That the towns that support the manufacturing of poison to be used on their fellow humanity, will eventually pay the price.

Bend, Oregon: We're talking to you!; November 10, 2008 at 4:06 PM
Anonymous said...: Bend developer faces $13M lawsuit
By Jeff McDonald / The Bulletin

LibertyBank has sued the developer of the former Bend Trap Club property for more than $13 million, most of which was for loans made in April 2006 to purchase and develop the property.

Don Bauhofer, Terrence A. Donofrio and Stephen J. Robertson, three shareholders in Pennbrook Homes Inc., are named in the suit filed in Deschutes County Circuit Court Oct. 7.

Pennbrook Homes, which is in the process of dissolving, is a division of The Pennbrook Co., a property-management company in Bend and Redmond. The Pennbrook Co. also has developed commercial projects, including the Nolan Town Center in west Redmond and The Design Center in south Redmond off U.S. Highway 97. Bauhofer also is a partner in Arrowood Development LLC, which is co-developing Tetherow resort west of Bend.

Included in the $13 million in loans, the company borrowed $456,626 to build single-family residences around Central Oregon, which it has been unable to sell due to the collapse of the real estate market, Bauhofer said.

LibertyBank’s suit against Pennbrook Homes says the company took out a $10.8 million loan in April 2006 and a $1.6 million loan in October 2006 that have not been repaid.

The former trap club property in southeast Bend had been approved for 220 homes, Bauhofer said. The company has since canceled plans to develop the property and a large “For Sale” sign went up in September.

“By the time (the site) was completed (for homes), the market had collapsed,” Bauhofer said. “There was a lot of development out there and a lot of us were building to precede sales. The value of the land dropped and the developers who were leveraged were not in the position to carry it.”

Donofrio and Robertson could not be reached for comment.

Andrew Parks, an attorney for Eugene-based Arnold Gallagher Saydack Percell Roberts & Potter, the firm representing LibertyBank, declined to comment.

A pretrial hearing on the case is scheduled Feb. 4 in Deschutes County Circuit Court.

The trap club project also was affected by an environmental cleanup process that resulted in a $7.2 million Pennbrook lawsuit filed in August against the trap club’s former owners and two consultants who were hired to assess the environmental quality of the site. Cleanup cost nearly $5 million more than originally anticipated, according to the suit.

Pennbrook’s case against the trap club is scheduled for a pretrial hearing Jan. 5 in Deschutes County Circuit Court.

Jeff McDonald can be reached at 541-383-0323 or at jmcdonald@bendbulletin.com.; November 10, 2008 at 4:13 PM
tim said...: >>In ORYGUN we call the 'absolute majority' a double-majority,

You do. The rest of us in Oregon reserve the term "double majority" for a vote that passes in an election where at least half the electorate participates in the vote.

I have never heard anyone use "double majority" to mean "absolute majority" or "supermajority."; November 10, 2008 at 4:39 PM
Anonymous said...: You are too self absorbed in politics and I think you should be looking at how to save your asses in the coming couple of years. The Bend politicos are a very lost cause for the immediate future. You have all said it's BK time. So there it is, so what, no one here is going to change that. I am more worried about what I will eat than who might feed me. When Israel plugs Iran's ass with a big one you will begin to learn of the big Obama test and how far our politicos will go to quite the sheeple of this great country. I need to stop posting as I have said too much on too many subjects already. Paranoia sets in at this time. Good luck if you don't have necessary stores of staples. It may be a while before we need them, but we will need them.
Adios amigos.; November 10, 2008 at 4:57 PM
Anonymous said...: The real issue facing the bay area, is WILL OBAMA shut this BUSH-CHENEY operation down, or will they continue to manufacture pesticide, that will be sprayed on California.

*

I don't think so. Nancy Pelosi is one of the richest women in Cali, and did nothing to stop the spraying.

The owner of the bio-weapon plant is Stewart Resnick, the richest cali, and #1 campaign contributor in the State to the DEM Party.

Chance of anyone changing anything?

ZERO; November 10, 2008 at 5:00 PM
Anonymous said...: Progressive 'Change/Hope' Mandate

BUSH surrounded himself with Neo-Cons.

OBAMA will surround himself with ZIO-CONS.

We in Bend Oregon, call this 'change'.

Hope?? That's where you 'hope' they never spray Suterra Checkmate on Bend.; November 10, 2008 at 5:01 PM
Anonymous said...: Good luck if you don't have necessary stores of staples.

*

If you bother to read the above BUSH executive orders, you'll see that Marges advocation of storing beans, butter, bullets, and bibles is considered 'hoarding' and thus a crime.

When the Martial Law mounty's go door-to-door, they'll be looking for guns, food, cash, fuel, and gold.

The real issue is how well do you hide your food??

LASTLY I'LL JUST SAY ONE THING TO YOU PATHETIC CUNTS WHO SAY YOU MUST RUN AND HIDE UNDER A ROCK.

SHIT ONLY HAPPENS WHEN GOOD PEOPLE SIT ON THEIR FUCKING ASS AND HIDE.

LIKE the MOVIE "V" for Vendetta, a fascist state can only turn around when people turn off their TV and go outside and make a collective fuss.

Waiting for an OREO to fix your problems?? Only in fucking Bend.; November 10, 2008 at 5:05 PM
Anonymous said...: Israel will NOT NUKE IRAN, the US will do it for them, with the OREO as a cover.

We'll continue to bomb and destroy shit at will all over the middle east and world, and someday somebody will fucking go insane and do another 911, and that is when the USA will blame IRAN, like BUSH blamed IRAQ.

It's coming. When?? It's not clear.

Remember all these wars cost money, and the CHINESE is going to quit paying for them.

Watch Suterra's technology closer, nobody wants to NUKE the world and have 1,000 year 1/2 life of radio-active glow.

Far better to spray with selective bio-encapsulated poisons, and they wait 3-6 months for the iso-cyanate encapulation to dissolve the lungs, and you have a complete fucking black-plague and 100% deniability.

This is how it will play, and this is why Bend is so important.

Lastly, Bend is now like Hanford, we're protected and isolated, the Homeland security goons will not fuck the town that makes their poison.

Bend, the Best place to be in twenty years.; November 10, 2008 at 5:10 PM
Anonymous said...: You are too self absorbed in politics and I think you should be looking at how to save your asses in the coming couple of years.

*

This is how the Nazi's systematically went from town to town, and wiped out everyone,

Everyone hid and assumed it was the other guy going for a relocation.

Then one day they came for them, it was too late, nobody left to stand up for you.

This fucking town called BEND, with guys like DUNC and all the other CUNTS like homer, afraid of their own shadow, ... You all make the PUSSY look like a man.; November 10, 2008 at 5:12 PM
Anonymous said...: "In ORYGUN we call the 'absolute majority' a double-majority, or super-majority.

Palin won OBAMA by 300 votes in Deschutes CO, PALIN won the majority."

________________

utter made-up nonsense. a double majority election is for property tax increases, not candidates, where the requirement is that 1) a majority of registered voters turn out and 2) the referendum passes by a majority. in both instances the word "majority" is specifically defined in the law to mean greater than 50%.

McCain did not win a majority. i'm sorry that you are disappointed by this but there is nothing further to say about it because the written law is crystal clear.; November 10, 2008 at 5:20 PM
Anonymous said...: >>The real issue is how well do you hide your food??<<

Well stored.

>>This fucking town called BEND, with guys like DUNC and all the other CUNTS like homer, afraid of their own shadow, ... You all make the PUSSY look like a man.<<

BP is a man compared to those that don't have a clue what may happen with Martial Law. Katrina is only a small bit of what can happen when a citizen is unarmed by those that portend to be your protectors. Paranoid? No. Pragmatic? Yes. Utilitarian...Big YES. We all need some fixin and I wish you all LUCK if you haven't prepared.

>>; November 10, 2008 at 5:36 PM
Anonymous said...: Mike, I can't find specifics on results, but this is registered voters as of Nov 1.

http://www.deschutes.org/go/government/departments/county-clerk/elections/statistics-and-maps

Deschutes County:
32827 Dem, 35827 pug, 19024 NA, plus small amounts in other parties.

City of Bend:
17025 Dem, 15081 pug, 9236 NA, and all the other parties.

The county went pug, barely. With higher concentration of dems in the city I would bet Bend went for Obama.; November 10, 2008 at 5:42 PM
Anonymous said...: Douche-bag Bruce-Pussy, why don't you throw you lame-ass-hat into the ring when they appoint a successor to Mr. Bill (may he RIP)?

Bruce Ewert for council. Mr. Bill got appointed first, then ran for re-election. So can the Pussy.

Regarding Mr Bill, I am sorry to see him pass. And just a few days after Randy Pape.

Both were in a lawsuit by that idiot abortion doctor from the Inn of the 7th Mtn.

What ever happen about that lawsuit? Did the Abortion Dr Bours ever get the courts to overturn the vote and put him in charge of the Inn? Nope. $250K in layers fees pissed down the toilet, just because the dumb Dr. can't count the votes. What an idiot. What a waste of time and money. The Pape's settled with that idiot Abortion Dr. Bours, and are getting 99% of what they wanted in the first place (what was rightfully theirs, since they spent it from their own pocket).

Whatever, Abortion Dr., whatever.; November 10, 2008 at 6:05 PM
Bewert said...: Re: Inn of the 7th lawsuit

I'll go look it up during lunch when I have the grand jury session to lead on Thursday. I'm kind of curious as well.

Re: Nancy Pelosi is one of the richest women in Cali, and did nothing to stop the spraying.

And most powerful. Extremely telling.

Re: the problem of media perspective

It exists right here in Bend.

Re: BP is a man

Yep.

Now let's talk about the most interesting thing I learned at the JRMB meeting: although Suterra has finished its pad, there is still not a SIGNED Purchase and Sale Agreement. Although I was provided with one with the signature of one Craig Cooper, SVP of Suterra.

So why hasn't Eric signed it for the city?

Something I was pointedly not privy to, as myself and another public person, Gina, who had printed off my JR blog, were summarily booted from the meeting as an Exec Session was called. Gina was funny--"They seem to know who you are." Yep, they do.

There seems to be an undercurrent of concern over the Suterra project. It's coming out of the blue towards me.

I'm kind of pro-jobs, and as long as things are monitored and ensured safe, manufacture what you want. Although others may not feel that way.

But getting back to that PSA--it's definitely going to be the subject of some pointed questions tomorrow.

Like "Eric, why didn't you sign it?"

Something smells here.; November 10, 2008 at 7:13 PM
Bewert said...: New post up on my JR blog.; November 10, 2008 at 7:56 PM
LavaBear said...: And now for something completely different...

Meredith Whitney; November 10, 2008 at 8:22 PM
Anonymous said...: Blogger bruce said...

New post up on my JR blog.

&

Thanks BP, you the man.; November 10, 2008 at 8:31 PM
Bewert said...: This was on Bloomberg earlier, and now I can't find it:

Fed Defies Transparency Aim in Refusal to Disclose (Update2)

Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return.

``The collateral is not being adequately disclosed, and that's a big problem,'' said Dan Fuss, vice chairman of Boston- based Loomis Sayles & Co., where he co-manages $17 billion in bonds. ``In a liquid market, this wouldn't matter, but we're not. The market is very nervous and very thin.''

Bloomberg News has requested details of the Fed lending under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and filed a federal lawsuit Nov. 7 seeking to force disclosure.

The Fed made the loans under terms of 11 programs, eight of them created in the past 15 months, in the midst of the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression.

``It's your money; it's not the Fed's money,'' said billionaire Ted Forstmann, senior partner of Forstmann Little & Co. in New York. ``Of course there should be transparency.''

Treasury, Fed, Obama

Federal Reserve spokeswoman Michelle Smith declined to comment on the loans or the Bloomberg lawsuit. Treasury spokeswoman Michele Davis didn't respond to a phone call and an e-mail seeking comment.

President-elect Barack Obama's economic adviser, Jason Furman, also didn't respond to an e-mail and a phone call seeking comment from Obama. In a Sept. 22 campaign speech, Obama promised to ``make our government open and transparent so that anyone can ensure that our business is the people's business.''

The Fed's lending is significant because the central bank has stepped into a rescue role that was also the purpose of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, bailout plan -- without safeguards put into the TARP legislation by Congress.

Total Fed lending topped $2 trillion for the first time last week and has risen by 140 percent, or $1.172 trillion, in the seven weeks since Fed governors relaxed the collateral standards on Sept. 14. The difference includes a $788 billion increase in loans to banks through the Fed and $474 billion in other lending, mostly through the central bank's purchase of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bonds.

Sept. 14 Decision

Before Sept. 14, the Fed accepted mostly top-rated government and asset-backed securities as collateral. After that date, the central bank widened standards to accept other kinds of securities, some with lower ratings. The Fed collects interest on all its loans.

The plan to purchase distressed securities through TARP called for buying at the ``lowest price that the secretary (of the Treasury) determines to be consistent with the purposes of this Act,'' according to the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, the law that covers TARP.

The legislation didn't require any specific method for the purchases beyond saying mechanisms such as auctions or reverse auctions should be used ``when appropriate.'' In a reverse auction, bidders offer to sell securities at successively lower prices, helping to ensure that the Fed would pay less. The measure also included a five-member oversight board that includes Paulson and Bernanke.

At a Sept. 23 Senate Banking Committee hearing in Washington, Paulson called for transparency in the purchase of distressed assets under the TARP program.

`We Need Transparency'

``We need oversight,'' Paulson told lawmakers. ``We need protection. We need transparency. I want it. We all want it.''

At a joint House-Senate hearing the next day, Bernanke also stressed the importance of openness in the program. ``Transparency is a big issue,'' he said.

The Fed lent cash and government bonds to banks, which gave the Fed collateral in the form of equities and debt, including subprime and structured securities such as collateralized debt obligations, according to the Fed Web site. The borrowers have included the now-bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Banks oppose any release of information because it might signal weakness and spur short-selling or a run by depositors, said Scott Talbott, senior vice president of government affairs for the Financial Services Roundtable, a Washington trade group.

Frank Backs Fed

``You have to balance the need for transparency with protecting the public interest,'' Talbott said. ``Taxpayers have a right to know where their tax dollars are going, but one piece of information standing alone could undermine public confidence in the system.''

The nation's biggest banks, Citigroup, Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, declined to comment on whether they have borrowed money from the Fed. They received $120 billion in capital from the TARP, which was signed into law Oct. 3.

In an interview Nov. 6, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said the Fed's disclosure is sufficient and that the risk the central bank is taking on is appropriate in the current economic climate. Frank said he has discussed the program with Timothy F. Geithner, president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a possible candidate to succeed Paulson as Treasury secretary.

``I talk to Geithner and he was pretty sure that they're OK,'' said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat. ``If the risk is that the Fed takes a little bit of a haircut, well that's regrettable.'' Such losses would be acceptable, he said, if the program helps revive the economy.

`Unclog the Market'

Frank said the Fed shouldn't reveal the assets it holds or how it values them because of ``delicacy with respect to pricing.'' He said such disclosure would ``give people clues to what your pricing is and what they might be able to sell us and what your estimates are.'' He wouldn't say why he thought that information would be problematic.

Revealing how the Fed values collateral could help thaw frozen credit markets, said Ron D'Vari, chief executive officer of NewOak Capital LLC in New York and the former head of structured finance at BlackRock Inc.

``I'd love to hear the methodology, how the Fed priced the assets,'' D'Vari said. ``That would unclog the market very quickly.''

TARP's $700 billion so far is being used to buy preferred shares in banks to shore up their capital. The program was originally intended to hold banks' troubled assets while markets were frozen.

AIG Lending

The Bloomberg lawsuit argues that the collateral lists ``are central to understanding and assessing the government's response to the most cataclysmic financial crisis in America since the Great Depression.''

The Fed has lent at least $81 billion to American International Group Inc., the world's largest insurer, so that it can pay obligations to banks. AIG today said it received an expanded government rescue package valued at more than $150 billion.

The central bank is also responsible for losses on a $26.8 billion portfolio guaranteed after Bear Stearns Cos. was bought by JPMorgan.

``As a taxpayer, it is absolutely important that we know how they're lending money and who they're lending it to,'' said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Arlington, Virginia- based Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Ratings Cuts

Ultimately, the Fed will have to remove some securities held as collateral from some programs because the central bank's rules call for instruments rated below investment grade to be taken back by the borrower and marked down in value. Losses on those assets could then be written off, partly through the capital recently injected into those banks by the Treasury.

Moody's Investors Service alone has cut its ratings on 926 mortgage-backed securities worth $42 billion to junk from investment grade since Sept. 14, making them ineligible for collateral on some Fed loans.

The Fed's collateral ``absolutely should be made public,'' said Mark Cuban, an activist investor, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks professional basketball team and the creator of the Web site BailoutSleuth.com, which focuses on the secrecy shrouding the Fed's moves.

The Bloomberg lawsuit is Bloomberg LP v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 08-CV-9595, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Pittman in New York at mpittman@bloomberg.net; Bob Ivry in New York at bivry@bloomberg.net; Alison Fitzgerald in Washington at afitzgerald2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 10, 2008 15:08 EST

Kind of odd it totally disappeared, soi I'll save it here. I work on several different PC's most days, and happened to leave the window with this open on one of them.; November 10, 2008 at 8:39 PM
Bewert said...: Mark Cuban is an aquaintance of mine, so I'll see what more I can find out as well.; November 10, 2008 at 8:40 PM
Anonymous said...: Both were in a lawsuit by that idiot abortion doctor from the Inn of the 7th Mtn.

*

Now that is some heavy shit, I hope all in the coming week can chew on the above statement.

That 'idiot abortion dr' who lives in the valley, and is the ONLY FUCKING progressive in the State of ORYGUN. ... Well given that the PUG bitches of Bend are having conniptions about him is telling.

Stay tuned, and watch the show.; November 10, 2008 at 8:41 PM
Anonymous said...: President-elect Barack Obama's economic adviser, Jason Furman, also didn't respond to an e-mail and a phone call seeking comment from Obama. In a Sept. 22 campaign speech, Obama promised to ``make our government open and transparent so that anyone can ensure that our business is the people's business.''

*

OBAMA's treasuy Sec is running the show since spring of 2008 from NY FED RES, and you expect what?; November 10, 2008 at 8:43 PM
Anonymous said...: Did the Abortion Dr Bours ever get the courts to overturn the vote and put him in charge of the Inn?

*

Dr Bours, has seen 100's of young girls in his years of medicine physically made barren by botched illegal abortions.

Dr Bours is an Orygun Progressive and a gentle man, what this has to do with PAPE fucking BEND condo owners in the ass is questionable. Legal abortions protect children. Chilren FUCK get over it.

Simply pulling up the abortion card shows that PAPE is trying to rally the biggest hair-lip moron troops in eastern Orygun.

Good Luck, at least you have HBM to fight for you.

YOUR FUCKED.; November 10, 2008 at 8:47 PM
Anonymous said...: A candidate who wins by 300 votes may be said to have received "a majority of 300 votes". The term absolute majority is used to indicate more than fifty percent of the vote.[1]

In ORYGUN we call the 'absolute majority' a double-majority, or super-majority.

Palin won OBAMA by 300 votes in Deschutes CO, PALIN won the majority.; November 10, 2008 at 8:51 PM
Anonymous said...: I left Deschutes early tonight, everyone was talking about a guy name 'butter' that was giving $1 head at the D&D.

I got mine, but didn't out of there until ten minutes after 6pm, sheeet almost bed time;

Something about Bend slowing down and tough times, sex is sex I say.; November 10, 2008 at 8:54 PM
Anonymous said...: "President-elect Barack Obama's economic adviser"

we don't have a president-elect yet. we will have one on december 15 when the electors of the electoral college elect a president. under the constitution, no one else has the power to elect a president.; November 10, 2008 at 8:55 PM
MDHN09 said...: Palin won OBAMA by 300 votes in Deschutes CO, PALIN won the majority

that would be the cali bangers in in double denial....

the funny thing is the repugs taht think limos are the only cali bangers; November 10, 2008 at 9:03 PM
Anonymous said...: Bush-Obama Meeting: Hard Dick's and Hand Sanitizer
FOXNews - Nov 9, 2008
President Bush and President-elect Barack Obama are set to hold their first post-erection meeting Monday at the White House. ...

Ex-Prez Bush "I heard that black had big dicks, but fuck!!!"; November 10, 2008 at 9:46 PM
Anonymous said...: I hate to SHIT on Bend's fucking 'HBM' parade, but there is a very large lawsuit against the OREO, and if he doesn't prove that he has a US Birth-Cert by Dec 15, 2008, then the entire election is null&void.

This might surprise ALL, but the OREO, can't seem to be able to prove he was 'Born' in the USA.

A little matter with the US Constitution, and something about US prez, must being US Born.; November 10, 2008 at 9:48 PM

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