Saturday Night Cinema Classic

It's a Wonderful Life
1946 - Directed by Frank Capra
Starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore

In the grand scheme of things, Mr. Potter,
I'd say you're nothing but a scurvy little spider.

Well, it fell under 30 degrees here last night. Therefore I am officially allowed to start watching this film as many times as I damn well please from now through January 2009



Can't you understand what's happening here?
Don't you see what's happening?

A toast! A toast to Papa Dollar and to Mama Dollar, and if you want the old Building and Loan to stay in business, you better have a family real quick.

To my big brother George,
the richest man in town.

EU Counterterrorism Coordinator: Hezbollah is not on terror list

QUEEN ~ Death on Two Legs

EU: Hezbollah is not on EU terror list

The European Union's counterterrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerckhove says Lebanon's Hezbollah is not on the list of terror groups. Gilles de Kerckhove said the EU would not put Hezbollah on the list of terror groups because several member states, including France, oppose such a move.

The EU official made the comment in a seminar on 'Terrorism and Europe' organized at the European Parliament in Brussels. Some of the members of the European Union's Parliament launched a campaign this week to have Hezbollah listed as a terrorist organization by the 27-member bloc. A coalition of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) circulated a "written declaration" on Tuesday seeking to have Hezbollah added to the EU terror list.

De Kerckhove asserted that Hezbollah is represented in the government of Lebanon and it has representatives in Parliament and holds one seat in the Cabinet. "It plays a role on the Lebanese political scene and several countries think that this could bring them closer to the democratic process," he added.

Currently, among the 27 EU member states, only the UK and Netherlands are in favor of adding Hezbollah to the EU list of terror which would freeze the group's Europe-held financial assets. De Kerckhove said that he believes the main threat "is coming from Al-Qaeda" and not from Hezbollah. The group has representatives in Parliament and holds one seat in the Cabinet. It also participates in municipal government and undertakes many social development projects.

The group was responsible for much of the reconstruction work that took place in the South, Beirut's southern suburbs and the Bekaa Valley after the 33-day July war. Hezbollah's Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said Tuesday at a gathering in Beirut, the resistance movement's power is at Lebanon's service so that it can withstand aggressions by enemies.

"Resistance feels a sense of duty towards the Lebanon strength; this sheer sense of duty has enabled the movement to achieve great victories against those who intend to harm the Lebanon strength"

When Missing Links Collide

Apocalyptica ~ Worlds Collide
Set against scenes from"Spartacus"

Hadron Collider forced to halt by magnet failure

LHC Shut Down After a Ton of Liquid Helium Leaks into Tunnel

I AM SPARTACUS!

Desmond Tutu: "The world silenced its criticism of Israel because of lingering Holocaust guilt"

Al Qaeda's annual September 11 propaganda video surfaced today, delayed eight days by a concerted US effort to block it

The Video

Germany Arrests 2 Suspected in Terror Plot

Abbas: Failure to reach peace will 'change parameters of debate'
Sounds like a threat to me, and furthermore why TF is the WSJ publishing Op-Eds by Abbas?

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned on Friday that if Israel and the Palestinians fail to reach a peace accord soon, "the parameters of the debate are apt to shift dramatically."
In an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal, Abbas said he agrees with Israeli leaders who insist that Jerusalem cannot be physically divided. He does believe, however, that "the city itself can be shared as the capital of two states - east for Palestine and west for Israel."

"I would rather live in the dark ages under the Taleban than be subservient to any foreign power."

The unexpected comment comes from an urbane, sophisticated and, I had always thought, Westernised Pashtun lawyer.

Sri Lanka Battles Tamil "Rebels" in Land, Air and Sea Attacks

Turks Get Their Nuke On

EU "Enlargement Chief" (no I am not kidding): Georgia crisis fortifies importance of Turkey

In the waning days of the conflict between Russia and Georgia last month, politicians in Turkey focused elsewhere -- on Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, Central Asian players in regional energy markets

Erdogan, Zapatero break fast together

Left: Zappy Dhimmhead sports his peace scarf surrounded by some very gay looking young friends

MAY 2008: Ukraine fears Gazprom’s Black Sea expansion

Russia against new U.N. measures on Iran Naturally - (not that UN measures mean dick in the first place....)

America moves quickly to democratic-socialist state

"Europe struggles not to gloat over Washington’s resorting to state intervention"

Paulson, Communist, Bond Over Vultures
Ya just can't make this shit up

In a recent interview with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood website Amlolammah, and reported by the BBC Middle East Monitoring Service, the Council on American-Islamic Relations' (CAIR), Executive Director Nihad Awad reflected on "interfaith dialogue," the Bush administration, the upcoming presidential election, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Egyptian police detain 31 Muslim Brotherhood members

The Brain in McCain under strain about Spain

McCain Considers Zapatero A "NATO Ally"

McCain Reverses Stance, Supports Bailout

Pelosi & Kerry own LOTS of AIG stock

Blair: "I was shocked by Iraq chaos."
Well at least someone got their "shock & awe"

Somali "Rebels" Shell Airport as UN Peacekeepers Ignore Flight `Ban'

Ugandan "Lord's Resistance Army" attacks military base in southern Sudan
Roman Catholic priests in the region say the rebels abducted more than 50 children and burned down houses.

Fidel Castro Bestowed South African Solidarity Award

South African President Mbeki to quit

World Bank clears $700 million loan for Mozambique

Mozambique - Oil and Gas: Petroleum and Petroleum Products

Mozambique: Mozambique to receive US$455 million for 2009 budget

The state-run Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers(RCF) has kicked off its plan to invest over Rs 6,000 crore ($1.3 billion) in Mozambique

World Bank Moves to Help Leasing Companies in Central Africa

World Bank's IFC taps into "green revolution"

International Fight at U.N.'s $5 Billion Anti-Poverty Agency Over Secrecy

Oil rose for a third day on Friday, towards $99 a barrel, on growing U.S. and Nigerian supply concerns even as the dollar jumped on an emerging U.S. government plan for a comprehensive solution to the financial crisis.

Military-Industrial Complex Speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961

Barry Gray
Soundtrack music for "The Thunderbirds"
"Sun Probe Collision Course"

Sherab Zangpo: Liberator of Kidnapped Peace

Golgol Bordello ~ Not a Crime


Freeing the words that have been kidnapped: "PEACE"

by Sherab Zangpo

In the rant about the “Olympic” Games that I recently published, I have mentioned a word venerated by the Tradition:

Peace. Shalom, Shanti.

I will not need to write an historical essay to prove that the word “peace” has been loaded with enough ideology and lies to make of it the main example of how the Tradition has been betrayed and forgotten.

From the subversives who talk of “peace” when they really mean “end of the Free World and of the free market economy” to the demons (hitler, the iranian president) howling about their “peaceful” intentions and to the international organizations (Society of the Nations, U.N., etc.) with their ideologies of progress but realpolitik of appeasement toward any demon, we have seen and heard enough to make us very skeptical about this sacred word.But it is a word we sorely need. We must find a way to understand it again, without falling into the nihilistic-ideological trap of pseudo-concepts and pseudo-oppositions like “inner peace” vs. “world peace” and other similar vacuities.

Peace is the result of anchoring our lives in the dimension of the Truth, it derives from the Knowledge of the Sacred Truth, it mothers a new individual, able to live in the Light of the Love of God (let the ambiguity of the genitive stay).

In other words, Peace - like everything else that is worth knowing (and worth walking the Way to arrive to know) - is and can only be the result of true enlightenment. No, the supporters of XVIII century’s ideologies need not apply, I have said “true”: I mean Revelation, Satori, Vision, Grace, Bodhi…( or whatever other traditional name of the true enlightenment you might know).

Peacefully the Revelation comes (it is said, “when the disciple is ready the Master will show himself”) and it is said that the Enlightened will look peacefully at all the different Roads leading to the top of the Mountain of Truth and will recognize that they are all good (that is, the worldly diatribes have vanished).

Recognizing God as the True Nature of every“thing”, the Enlightened, it is said, will at first cry immense tears for all who are lost in their delusions, then he will laugh roaringly at the same delusions and will know true Peace.

Before the present age of nihilistic despair and before the transformation of “art” in a sub-cult of the nothing dedicated to the veneration of ugliness, art of all times has found in Peace the deepest inspiration for wonderful masterworks: think about the whirlwind of the ecstasy of Saint Teresa of Avila in the famous statue by Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini…the Russian icons, the Buddha of Kamakura…the list would be very, very long…

From the height and the depth of this Peace, peace can rain down and flow unto the world, and the pan-hellenic truce of the Olympic Games was just that: the whole of Greece bowing its head and celebrating a colossal Thanksgiving with the joy of the games.

All that is surely something very different from the arrogant whitewashing of the sacred blood of Freedom that had been shed in Tiananmen square, and very different from the cold distraction of a world ready to play in China the game of hypocrisy (and ready to fake a collective amnesia, the same amnesia of Moscow 1980 and of Berlin 1936 - yes, the concentration camps were already open for devil’s business, they were.)

Today the world doesn’t want to know about true Peace, doesn’t want to listen to the Tradition.

And as usual, when the Truth is betrayed, ideologies bloom : everybody speaks about “peace” but while Shalom (Peace, Shanti) teaches to the individual to anchor his/her life in the dimension of the Infinite Truth, nihilism instead has done everything possible to disconnect the individual from his/her root in the Truth and has created a new common sense whose dogma is that everything had its “origin” in the nothing. And if the sheer nothing is the “origin” of Life and of the Universe, everything has lost any meaning and there is no Truth.In this fog of ideologies, the ignorant nihilists apply directly and immediately TO THE WORLD the metaphysical Truth that is implied in the doctrine of Peace: the Vision of the Good becomes the lie that “everybody” is good.

The result can only be catastrophic.Consistently with such nihilistic ignorance, the miserable puppets posing as “statesmen” on the political scene ALWAYS confuse “peace” with appeasement: if true Peace is the deepest and the highest level of Sacred Knowledge, ignorance of it reveals these individuals as utterly weak and unable of moral distinctions. And from this stems the great success of all the demons in the last one hundred years: the lenins , the stalins, the polpots, the hitlers and the mussolinis and now the osamas and ahmadinejads, they have all been helped and facilitated by a “culture” that has lost its nerve and slumbers in the blind faith that the nothing is the essence of everything.
Never the blathering about “peace” has been as common as it is today, and never could the monsters and the demons massacre masses of human beings as immense as today.

Moreover, any political position rooted in serious moral principles is immediately labeled as “warmongering” by the masters of the nihilist matrix that orients (actually…disorients) the public opinion, and the appeasers look for “dialogue” with the demons, that is: with the true warmongers… who can of course see through this attitude, can detect weakness, and proceed to kill more…

True Peace has to be learned in the long voyage from ignorance to Knowledge, the teachers of nihilism instead deem to have nothing to learn. And they end up with learning to decline in the plural the word “Holocaust”…

Golgol Bordello ~ Not a Crime
Album Cut

WFRL: No Sanctuary!

QUEENSRYCHE
NO SANCTUARY 1984

Oh, can't you see the lies in front of you
Your journey ends so far
And still the distance
Spins round and round you

Now you cry - give me sanctuary
You scream but no one listens
Again you cry - give me sanctuary

Until the end I'll fight and die
To be free
Oh! No sanctuary

The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Maureen O'Hara & Charles Laughton
Director: William Dieterle ~ 1939

Missing Links: Nasdrovia, Comrades!

Ray Anthony ~ Theme from Dragnet

Paulson to speak at 10:30 today:

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke proposed moving troubled assets from the balance sheets of American financial companies into a new institution.

Congressional leaders who met with Paulson and Bernanke late yesterday in Washington said they aim to pass legislation soon. The initiative is aimed at removing the devalued mortgage- linked assets at the root of the worst credit crisis since the Great Depression. Today, the Treasury announced a $50 billion program to insure the holdings of money-market mutual funds for a year.

The effort is a recognition that Paulson's and Bernanke's earlier efforts failed to revive financial and housing markets. The government took over American International Group Inc., Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the past 12 days, a period when Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy and Americans pulled a record $89 billion from money-market funds.

SNIP!

Democrats respond to Paulson plan:

Speaking to reporters after congressional leaders met with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Dodd said he expected Treasury details "sometime over the weekend" and that "based on a bicameral bipartisan basis we will react to it."

But Dodd added that it also could take the Fed and Treasury slightly longer to provide Congress with details and noted his committee is holding a hearing on Tuesday, with the new proposal likely being the main topic.

Dodd added: "I have no idea what it will look like at this point. I can't tell you numbers, volume. This is a very serious moment."

Asked whether he approved of the direction Paulson and Bernanke appeared to be headed with their plan, Dodd offered no specifics. But he said: "You've got to deal with the housing foreclosure issue. I've said that for two straight years on an hourly basis. I think there's finally some recognition of that."

Obama supports US economic recovery efforts
NATURALLY!

FLASHBACK: Monday, Apr. 24, 1972:
Moscow Wants a Deal

AS U.S. Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz left Moscow last week after an unprecedented 90-minute talk with Soviet Party Leader Leonid Brezhnev, he characterized the conversation as "warm, frank and friendly." For once those diplomatic clichés seemed apt. With President Nixon's visit scarcely a month away, Brezhnev, who never before has talked so long with an American official, was making a major gesture of cordiality toward the U.S. He also was emphasizing Moscow's desire for a big increase in trade with the U.S.—a desire that Washington shares.

Butz later predicted that the Soviets might buy as much as $200 million worth of American wheat and feed grains every year for the next decade. That puffy prediction was bound to please American farmers—but how would the Russians raise the money? Butz suggested to Brezhnev that the Soviet Union might consider paying for the grains by exporting its surplus of Siberian natural gas to the U.S. It was, of course, too early to agree on a deal that would cost at least $5 billion for plants, pipelines and ships, with most of the cost borne by the Russians. Nonetheless, Butz left behind a team of experts who are negotiating the terms of a big grain deal, which may be signed, along with an agreement limiting anti-ballistic missiles, during Nixon's visit beginning May 22.

Buying Spree. The U.S. needs to catch up with other non-Communist nations, which find the Soviet Union an expanding and often profitable market. Hoping to modernize outmoded industries, the Russians have bought scores of modern plants and equipment abroad: synthetic-fiber factories from Britain, chemical factories from Japan, and $250 million in equipment from Italy's Fiat for an auto plant, which is now turning out nearly 1,000 cars a day. West Germany last year sold $460 million worth of goods to the Soviets, followed by Japan ($375 million) and Italy and France (each nearly $300 million). But U.S. exports to Russia were only $160 million.

This could be greatly increased because Russian experts profess a preference for U.S. technology, and they are fascinated by the prospect of dealing with powerful American corporations. Moscow is especially keen to buy U.S. oil-drilling and refining processes, chemical plants, automated machine tools, food-packing equipment, and road-building machinery. The Kremlin would like—and will probably get—help from American firms in setting up the long-delayed Kama heavy truck factory. Pittsburgh's Swindell-Dressier Co. has won a $10 million contract for designing the arc furnaces for the plant.

There is progress on some other fronts. Collins Radio has landed a contract to install navigation and communication equipment on every Russian Yak-40 jetliner that is sold in non-Communist countries; the deal is worth $150,000 a plane. Joy Manufacturing Co. has sold several million dollars worth of the latest automated mining equipment. ITT will send a team to Moscow this month to discuss what it might do for the Soviets' underdeveloped communication systems. The Brunswick Corp. is even equipping a 24-lane bowling alley in Moscow.

One big obstacle to trade is that the Russians have had little to market in the U.S.—only $56 million worth last year. Unfortunately their manufactured goods are generally shoddy and not in much demand, even in the East bloc. But Moscow would like to sell jetliners (including the supersonic Tu-144), wristwatches, cameras, pharmaceutical supplies, medical instruments—and the natural gas that Butz bubbled about. Soviet experts have conferred with men from Tenneco and Texas Eastern Transmission about shipping Siberian gas to the U.S. It could be pipelined to Murmansk, liquefied and shipped to the U.S. East Coast in special tankers.

First, however, fundamental issues between the two nations must be resolved. Many of them are hangovers from cold war days when the U.S. believed that trade could aid Communist war-making potential. But the Communists developed a tremendous potential anyhow, and most diplomats now argue that greater trade may help ease political tensions. Among the issues:

LEND-LEASE DEBTS. The Soviets have yet to pay back the first kopeck on the U.S.'s $10.8 billion lend-lease aid provided during World War II. The real issue centers around payment for "civilian" goods, which accounted for one-quarter of the total. The Russians must at least partly clear up this default before Nixon can offer them Government-backed U.S. Export-Import Bank loans. The lend-lease talks were broken off in 1960 but, at Soviet request, talks have just been resumed in Washington. The U.S. has offered to settle for $800 million, but it wants hard Western currency. The Russians are willing to make a payment of $300 million and want it to be in rubles or raw materials. Prospects for a compromise soon seem good.

CREDIT TERMS. On the grain deals, the Soviets seek ten-year credits at an interest rate of 2 or 3% v. the prevailing average U.S. rate of 6%. The Russians are unlikely to get specially low interest rates, but Butz hinted that if they offer to make really big purchases in the U.S., Washington might devise a combination Government-private credit for five to seven years.

M.F.N. STATUS. The Soviets are eager to get back the "most favored nation" trading status with the U.S., which they lost in the cold war. M.F.N. status would cut the tariffs by 50% or more on some Soviet exports. So far the U.S. has granted M.F.N. standing to only two Communist countries, Poland and Yugoslavia. Washington would be wise to extend M.F.N. treatment to all of Eastern Europe, including the Soviet Union, to tear down trade barriers.

Above all, the U.S. must get rid of its old concept that trade is a cold war weapon. It makes no sense to continue to forbid U.S. companies to sell computers and other sophisticated equipment to the Communist countries when the Communists can buy the same sort of equipment through other Western sources. Similarly, it is self-defeating for U.S. businessmen to be forced to fill out reams of questionnaires and licensing applications for trade with Russia when such delays result in lost sales. Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing was a recent victim of U.S. bureaucracy. Though it developed magnetic tape, it lost a substantial sale to the Russians because its export license remained mired for so long in Washington offices that the Soviets took their business to 3M's imitators in Western Europe.

Leningrad ~ Leningrad Cowboys

TODAY:
Morgan Stanley is in talks with a number of potential partners led by US regional bank Wachovia and Chinese sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation (CIC)

2007: Chevron to Partner with CNPC on Major Gas Project in China

SEPTEMBER 4 2008: China's CNPC signs $3-billion deal to develop Iraqi oil field

CNPC and Gazprom entered into a strategic partnership in October 2004

2007:

The “new seven sisters,” or the most influential energy companies from countries outside the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, have been identified by the Financial Times in consultation with numerous industry executives. They are Saudi Aramco, Russia’s Gazprom, CNPC of China, NIOC of Iran, Venezuela’s PDVSA, Brazil’s Petrobras and Petronas of Malaysia.

SEPTEMBER 2008: China link guarantees Russia oil exports

Konecranes Climbs Most in 12 Years on Goldman Upgrade:

Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Konecranes Oyj, which makes one tenth of the world's cranes, rose the most in 12 years in Helsinki trading after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. upgraded it to ``buy'' from ``neutral.''

SEPTEMBER 2 2008:

Mr Tuomas Saastamoinen sales and marketing director, port cranes at Konecranes said that "The Russian market is one of the world's fastest-growing markets. This order and previous orders from St Petersburg and Baltic ports over recent months confirms our leading position in the area."

"CRANES" magazine, 2002: Russian Revival!

MAY 2008:

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called on his government to speed up plans for a high-tech national champion specialising in building the vessels and rigs Russia needs to tap its offshore energy deposits.

MAY 2008:

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko accused US natural gas and oil firm Vanco Energy International of secretly planning to sell sensitive Black Sea gas drilling rights to Russian gas monopoly Gazprom.

TWO VANCO - RELATED COMPANIES:

CHEVRON
HALIBURTON


MAY 2008: U.S. criticises Ukraine over Vanco energy deal

JUNE 2008:

The continuing Ukrainian-Russian war of words took on a new twist on June 13, when the Russian Foreign Ministry accused Ukraine of acting jointly with unnamed foreign companies to develop oil and gas fields illegally off the Crimean coast of the Black Sea shelf, claiming that the legal status of the territory had not yet been determined (Interfax, June 13).

"The Russian side,” according to a commentary distributed by the Russian Foreign Ministry on June 13, “is drawing attention to the fact that the said areas are the subject of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine on the delimitation of the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea waters. In this connection, we believe that the above-mentioned activity is of an unlawful character and should be ceased" (Interfax, June 13).

The Russian side specified that this activity was taking place in an area named the Structure of Subbotyne and the Rising of Pallas. A source in the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry told Interfax that the Russian claims were “absurd.” "The Subbotyne maritime oil field is located on the territory of the Ukrainian part of the Black Sea shelf, and the prospecting area of Pallas, which is really located both in Russian and Ukrainian territories, is not being developed by anybody," the source told Interfax.

The off-shore drilling conflict appeared to be connected to the dispute between the U.S. energy company Vanco and the Ukrainian government, which lifted Vanco’s license to drill for oil and gas in the Black Sea shelf in the vicinity of the territory being disputed by Russia.

The government of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko claimed that Vanco had broken the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) by assigning the drilling license it held to an off-shore subsidiary company registered in the British Virgin Islands called Vanco Prykerchynsky.

Tymoshenko stated that the agreements that were concluded with Vanco in 2007 were not transparent, and she accused President Viktor Yushchenko of lobbying for Vanco’s interests. Yushchenko flatly denied the accusation and called on Tymoshenko to review her decision on Vanco. Meanwhile, Vanco has threatened to sue the Ukrainian government (EDM, May 21).

Remember that Russia very quietly and quite effectively took over the Ukraine just the other day.....

...And threatened Poland via the EU, who like hot water and heat:

Europe's competition chief promised on Tuesday she would give urgent consideration to whether new Polish plans to rescue its historic Baltic shipyards meet European Union state aid rules. If Brussels rejects the plans, three Polish shipyards -- including the Gdansk yard where the pro-democracy Solidarity movement was born -- will have to repay aid totalling more than 2.3 billion euros ($3.22 billion), forcing them into bankruptcy.

Soviet Fashion Show
Wendy's Commercial - Early 1980's

WFRL: What time is it?

Jive Five ~ What Time is it?

No one knows about that day or hour,
not even the angels in heaven,
not even the Son,
but only the Father who sent him.
~ Matthew 24:36

Waiter, there's a banker in my soup...

IT'S A COOKBOOK!!!!

El Predicto Sez: Next thing to be Nationalized? Oil & Energy Companies

After that? Railroads, Airlines, Aerospace Corps, Tech Co's, Auto & Steel Manufacturers & Farms

It ain't rocket science, it's history ... NATIONALIZATION

JUNE 2008: Another Democrat calls for Nationalizing Oil Refinery Industry

2005: Automakers Are Lining Up Aid, But Just Don't Call It a Bailout

SEPTEMBER 7, 2008: Detroit's sputtering Big Three turn to Washington for help

AUGUST 2008: The Great American Bailout: Costs, Repercussions and the End of U.S. Financial Domination

AUDIO: The long history of federal and corporate bailouts

Creative Destruction

Bank of America, Merrill Bailout Disguised as Buyout?

PLEASE, FORGIVE HIS ENGLISH:

After World War Two, under the soviet army occupation and a large collaborationism from the impoverished and free stated people, Romania became Republic of the People and the National Bank of Romania was nationalized, becoming Bank of the State. On the mean time, the whole banking system was nationalized were interrupted the links with western capitalist countries. In Romania under soviet influence became to be put on practice the economy and social organization from the Soviet Union.

From World War Two to 1990 the Bank of the State had absolute control on the financial flow and accumulated all of the banking operation. In ‘70s and ‘80s, for more than two decades, in the multilateral developed socialist society, in Romania existed yet, only 4 banks, like The Romanian Bank of Foreign Trade, The Bank of Agriculture and Food Industry , The Investment Bank and the House of Savings and Securities(CEC), all of them public companies, strictly controlled by the Bank of the State.

The activity in this commercial banks was one of routine, predictable planned, without too much thrills. Only one of this ones, the House of Savings and Securities assumed the savings of the people, the offer of financial products being really low, rudimentary, the period of time to make a deposit was initially win for one year long, later for win six months, and the interest rate was symbolic, somewhere between( 0.5-3%) without much fluctuation.

The Lonely Shepherd ~ Traditional Romanian Song
Gheorghe Zamfir**, Pan Flute ~ Arrangement: James Last

The other commercial banks were working with public companies only, companies from industry , agriculture, only the Romanian Bank of Foreign Trade was involved in import-export financial activities. For the people, at the time, a so called crediting was possible only by the mean of the Reciprocal Aid Houses, organized on economic activity branches. The reform begins at the end of 1990, one year after the December 1989 revolution, being projected a banking system on two levels:

- on the first level, the Bank of State was been reorganized, being renamed the National Bank of Romania , and for commercial activities of the ex-Bank of the State till that moment, was been established the Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR).

- on the second level, by Government Decision, the former 3 public banks: the Romanian Bank of Foreign Trade, the Bank of Agriculture and Food Industry, the Investment Bank were transformed in commercial banks with public capital, diversifying its activities.
On the mean time from 1990 till 1992 were been established new private commercial banks, on the 31/1990 law basis, a special banking law wasn’t yet available.

Only at the end of 1991, the law 33/1991 regulates the banking activities for commercial banks, and the law 34/1991 approves an status for the NBR, about two years after the December ’89 revolution. The declared objectives of the NBR were mostly:
1- the stability of the Romanian currency LEU
and
2- the stability of the staple products and services.

Soon in ‘90s by speculating the legislative and authority emptiness, the corruption of the state administration and the lack of experience of the majority of people concerning the market economy, almost everything was possible for the unscrupulous.

The passing from the socialist society with predictable and planified economy and banking to the western open market economy made evident soon after 1990s, the lack of strategy in the NBR management and in the Romanian banking system, mostly from 1990 to 2000, comparing with the west-European or American banking, towards we were heading for, in words but thanks to the competitive market economy, this countries were evolving continuously, after World War Two and they’re still advanced now.

**Zamfir is a rabid proponent of the fascistic nationalist-communist ideology of "protochronism" developed during the Ceausescu period. According to "protochronism", Romania is the cradle, the origin of all world civilisation, and Romanian is the language from which all other languages in the world derive (Latin, for example, derives from Romanian, not the other way around!). According to the protochronists, Romanians invented everything from writing to the wheel. Protochronism (and Zamfir) is closely linked to the recently deceased billionaire Romanian emigre businessman Iosif Constantin Dragan, who was deeply involved in the anti-Semitic Iron Guard movement. Dragan's nationalism also led him to collaborate with the Ceausescu regime.

Tom Waits

Brother Can You Spare a Dime?

Consequently, the "battle for the mind" must be a central feature of future NATO actions

PSYOP links
do not think for one second that none of this applies to "us", or that we are exempt or immune to these tactics.

Today, Psychological Operations are a vital part of the broad range of U.S. political, military, economic and ideological activities used by the U.S. government to secure national objectives. The mission of providing Psychological Operations for the U.S. Military today rests with the U.S. Army's Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina

57 Ways To Weave Your Cover!

Lunch Special: Missing Links Zooffle

The Scorpions ~ The Zoo
US Festival ~ 1983

The Schizos are right - The Commies really ARE trying to poison us (and our little dogs too)

Norway's top lawmaker meets senior Chinese military officer on bilateral ties

NATO to assist UN, EU in Kosovo's tense north

UN Board Backs Serbia’s Kosovo Court Bid

Mandated vaccinations for new US residents

Bush Praises Muslim Americans

Bush late last night canceled trips to Alabama and Florida, with the White House saying the president would stay in Washington today to focus on the crisis in the nation's financial markets

Ex-Cheney aide: Bush won't hit Iran

The World As We Know It Is Going Under

Chad's Resource curse, World Banks' "boondoggle"

In the Awwwww, Too Fuckin' Bad Department:

Amiri Capital, the Olivant-backed Islamic asset management company, said the collapse of U.S. bank Lehman Brothers had forced it to delay its planned sharia fund of hedge funds.

A Pig Flies in Crooklyn: Tutu urges UN body to show concern for Israelis

President Mubarak and King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa, King of Bahrain held summit talks in Cairo last night during which they discussed reconciliation among Palestinian factions, enhancing the joint Arab action and bilateral relations

COLLAPSE OF EMPIRE:

Hassan Nafaa, secretary-general of the Arab Thought Forum, plots the demise of the Project for the New American Century

Hamas, Islamic Jihad beef up security around leaders fearing Israeli assassination bid

Gregorian chants based on Jewish music

Meet the new Nimrod, same as the old Nimrod:

Ms Livni favours a quick peace deal with the Palestinians
OY TO THE WORLD!


Tzipi Livni ~ By Condoleezza Rice
I kid you not.

"And for Tzipi and me, it is now the focus of our work together"

Remarks With Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni
Secretary Condoleezza Rice Inbal Hotel Jerusalem August 26, 2008

The 'Tipping Point' of Palestinian Inversion towards the Two State Solution?

Anti-Judaism conference in Germany
Muslim turnspeak at it's finest, even though the MFers really are all Nazis and would LOVE to hold that conference too

NOVEMBER 2007: Israeli-Palestinian agreement possible by end of 2008, Solana says

Tzipi and Solana, November 2007:

Russia Arming Iran and Venezuela

Iran Arming Taliban

IAEA: Iran tried to refit missile for nuke

IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER VISITS GEORGIA


Iraq, CNP, & the politics of Chaching:

The announcement last month that the government of Iraq had inked a deal with the China National Petroleum Corporation to develop oil fields in Southern Iraq sparked criticism of US policy to allow this to take place. Democrats were quick to jump on the Bush Administration for allowing Iraq to sell their oil to China, while the United States is still engaged in helping the Iraqi government establish a democratic state.

The same Democrats who were once decrying, "NO WAR FOR OIL" are now demanding that the United States extract oil for Iraq in return for their freedom. But, the sad fact is, the Iraqis were more than willing to sell their oil to American companies, and admit those countries into Iraq to rebuild their infrastructure -- but those efforts were thwarted by Congressional Democrats in the US.

When it was announced in June that Iraq was set to allow Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, Total and Chevron no-bid contracts to rebuild and expand Iraqi oilfields and eventually drill for additional oil, Congressional Democrats stepped in. The contracts were expected to bring in more than $3 billion to American corporations. When it became known that the US government was aiding the Iraqi government in structuring these contracts -- Democrats cried foul!

Three Senate Democrats, Chuck Schumer D-NY, John Kerry D-MA and Clair McCaskell D-WA all wrote a letter to the US State Department demanding that the US hold off on allowing any Iraqi oil agreements until Iraq had passed a hydrocarbon law.

They demanded that no additional infrastructure development be started until Iraq passed laws for............. GLOBAL WARMING!

Lehman Brothers Close Ties to Gore, Hansen and Carbon Trading

Probing the DNA Sequence of SpongeBob SquarePants

5.0 in Southern Iran

6.1 in East Timor

4.7 in India

Mother Theresa nuns attacked by Hindus

"We blew her to pieces"
Winter Soldier Redux

LAND OF DEATH

The Scorpions ~ The Zoo
Album Cut

We eat the night
We drink the time
We make our dreams come true
And hungry eyes
Are passing by
On streets we call the zoo

Atonement & Holiness

For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone,
declares the Sovereign LORD.
Repent and live!
Ezekiel 18:32

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.
So be earnest, and repent
Revelation 3:19

Scorpions ~ Crying Days

I am a voice of one calling : "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.
Isaiah 40:3

John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.' "
John 1:23

Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
Revelation 2:16

YOM KIPPUR guide at chabad.org: Atonement & Holiness

YOM KIPPUR is the holiest day of the Jewish year, and provides prophetic insight regarding the coming of Mashiach, the restoration of national Israel, and the final judgment of the world. It is also a day that reveals the High-Priestly work of the Mashiach Yeshua as Kohen Gadol (High Priest) after the order of Malki-Tzedek (Hebrews 5:10, 6:20).

The biblical name for the day of Atonement is Yom Kippurim, meaning “the day of covering, canceling, pardon, reconciling.” Yom Kippur was the only time when the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies and call upon the Name of YHVH to offer blood sacrifice for the sins of the people. This “life for a life” principle is the foundation of the sacrificial system and marked the great day of intercession made by the High Priest on behalf of Israel.

In Rabbinic Judaism, Yom Kippur marks the climax of the ten day period of repentance called the Days of Awe or yamim nora’im. In the Hebrew calendar, Erev Yom Kippur begins at nightfall on Tishri 9 and continues 25 hours through the next day until nightfall. It is a day marked by complete fasting, prayer, and additional synagogue services.

According to the Jewish sages, it was on Tishri 10 that Moses came down from Sinai bearing the second set of tablets, after God had forgiven Israel for worshipping the Golden Calf. This explains why Orthodox Jews begin the season of Teshuvah beginning with Elul 1 and continue through to Tishri 10 -- for the 40 days that Moses was upon the mountain receiving the second set of tablets.

Yom Kippur 2008 is on Thursday, the 9th of October.

READ IT ALL

"Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Call out to every kind of bird and all the wild animals: 'Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrifice I am preparing for you, the great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood.
Ezekiel 39:17

'The days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. 'In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line; he will do what is just and right in the land.In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.

For this is what the LORD says: 'David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, nor will the priests, who are Levites, ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.' "

The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: "This is what the LORD says: 'If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, then my covenant with David my servant—and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me—can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars of the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.' "
Jeremiah 33, 14 ~ 22

Kol Nidre prayer sung on Yom Kippur Eve
Cantorial soloist Rowna Sutin
Rodef Shalom Congregation, Pittsburgh

God said to Moses, "I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites:
'I AM has sent me to you.'
Exodus 3:14

Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies— make straight your way before me
Psalm 5:8

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:6

Bones, Thug & Harmony Order My Steps

This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.
Isaiah 30:15

"The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins," declares the LORD
Isaiah 59:20

O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.
Jeremiah 5:3

I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, saying, "What have I done?" Each pursues his own course like a horse charging into battle.
Jeremiah 8:6

Therefore this is what the LORD says: "If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them.
Jeremiah 15:19

and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.
Jeremiah 18:8

After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.
Jeremiah 31:19

Recently you repented and did what is right in my sight: Each of you proclaimed freedom to his countrymen. You even made a covenant before me in the house that bears my Name.
Jeremiah 34:15

Will they not return to Egypt and will not Assyria rule over them because they refuse to repent?
Hosea 11:5

From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
Matthew 4:17

They went out and preached that people should repent.
Mark 6:12

I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Luke 5:32

and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem
Luke 24:47

First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds
Acts 26:20

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death
2 Corinthians 7:10

Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place
Revelation 2:5

Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you
Revelation 3:3

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world
1 John 2:2

Should God then reward you on your terms, when you refuse to repent? You must decide, not I; so tell me what you know.
Job 34:33