President Obama urges reform of US financial system

By Ernest Rauthschild

The US president has said that the US economy is back from the brink, even as he called for more reform of the financial sector.

Barack Obama's comments come one year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the US triggered an economic crisis which rippled across the world.

Now Obama has criticised financial institutions for failing to act on their words. Al Jazeera's Nick Spicer reports.

The many faces of the double agent CIA bomber

By Ernest Rauthschild

US intelligence sources say a Jordanian double agent who attacked CIA operatives in Afghanistan last week, had provided high-quality intelligence leading to the deaths of several al-Qaeda leaders.

Hammam Khalil al-Balawi blew himself up at a US base in Khost province, killing seven CIA agents and a Jordanian Intelligence official.

More details are emerging about al-Balawi's life, including how he went by the name of Hammam Khalil Mohammed, and how he assumed the online persona of Abu Dujana al-Khorasani - an outspoken opponent of US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan who was described as one of the top five jihadists on the web.

Mobile Bulletin Up To The Moment News

By Ernest Rauthschild


Taiwan's last sword-maker

By Ernest Rauthschild

Once considered divine, the centuries-old craft of sword-making in Taiwan is dying.

But one individual is doing his best to keep the ancient tradition alive.

Al Jazeera's Steve Chao travelled to the town of Cheding to meet the country's last professional sword-maker, who at 65, hopes to find a "worthy apprentice" to pass his legacy on to.

Riz Khan - White Power USA

By Ernest Rauthschild

With the election of the Barack Obama, a failing economy and anti-immigrant sentiment on the rise, some activists are calling it the perfect storm for recruitment by racist organisations.

Supremacist groups are reportedly targeting soldiers returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as trying to become part of 'mainstream' conservatism by organising around the successful 'Tea Party' movement.

Analysts discuss Obama's plan on US security

By Ernest Rauthschild

Saying a failure to connect and understand critical intelligence led to the attempted airline bombing in Detroit on Christmas Day, Barack Obama, the US president, has ordered changes in security measures.

In a national address, he said the country's security was ultimately his responsibility, as he unveiled a series of steps to better collect and analyse intelligence in the wake of the botched plot.

Al Jazeera's Ghida Fakhry talks to PJ Crowley, a spokesperson for the US state department, and Jack Rice, a former CIA agent and field operations officer, on Obama's measures.

Nigerians deny radicalising suspect

By Ernest Rauthschild

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, is facing charges of trying to murder 290 people on board a US-bound passenger plane that he attempted to blow up on Christmas Day.

But in Nigeria, acquaintances say they cannot believe he is at the centre of such an incident.

For many who knew him, they say Abdulmutallab became radicalised when he left the country to study in Yemen and they strongly reject any links between his actions and his childhood upbringing in Nigeria.

Al Jazeera's Nazanin Sadri reports.

US accused of plotting to occupy Yemen

By Ernest Rauthschild

The United States has classified Abdul Majeed Zandani, a prominent Yemeni religious leader, as a "specially designate global terrorist" for alleged ties to al-Qaeda.

Others accuse Zandani of stoking anti-American feeling and inspiring a new generation of suicide bombers.
But Zandani says the growing interest in activities in Yemen is part of a plot to occupy the country.

Al Jazeera's Mohammed Vall reports from Yemen.

Inside Story - Is the CIA effective?

By Ernest Rauthschild

The reputation of U.S. military intelligence is in tatters after al-Qaeda inflicted a devastating blow on the CIA in Afghanistan.
This week seven Americans working for the CIA were killed in a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan. The deceased bomber is now alleged to have been a double agent, working for al-Qaeda as well as the CIA. Jordananian intelligence have disputed this, however.

So is Washington loosing the intelligence war there? And why? And how would that impact its ongoing military operations?

Lions, Dragons and Masons

By Ernest Rauthschild

Synchronistic look at Wizard of Oz, Stargate and Fantasia Curious how lions and dragons are associated with each other in myths because many peoples worldwide claim to be descendants of Dragons. The mixing of the two emblems can even be seen on the coat of arms of the British Royal Family.

SPREAD THE WORD this is a must see, about the CFR

By Ernest Rauthschild

SPREAD THE WORD FAR AND WIDE. WRITE AND CALL ALL OF YOUR REPRESENTATIVES AND TELL THEM TO STOP THIS MADNESS

The Real I.D. Act requires that all americans get a national I.D. card outfitted with a Radio Frequency Identification Chip (RFID) by 2009, beginning May 2008.

Halliburton subsidiary KBR has been contracted by the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers to build detention centers for "an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs".
what "new programs" do they have in mind???
If you vote for one of these candidates you will be giving up your and your childens freedom To elect one of these canidates is to elect an unaccountable, governing body to "guide" our nation into one world government.

Abraham Lincoln: The Pressure for Emancipation

By Ernest Rauthschild

The first in a series of nine documentary files, produced by the Lincoln Institute discussing the issues surrounding the drafting of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Glenn Beck DESTROYS Richard Blumenthal

By Ernest Rauthschild

Glenn Beck stumps Richard Blumenthal with the law.

Two blue moons in a row,one New Year’s Eve in the West and one on New Year’s day in the East

By Ernest Rauthschild

2009年12月21日に複数の国からシャーマンなどが集まり、フィリピンの聖なる湖で儀式を行った。その日はとても酷い雨が降っていた。しかし儀式が始まった瞬間その真上だけ雨が上がり青空になった。そしてその青空の真ん中から新月が見えた。その周りは全て雨が降っていた。

その後とても不思議で縁起の良いことが年末から元旦にかけて起きた。欧米では12月31日にブルームーンが観測された。ブルームーンとは同じ月に二回の満月があるという意味であり、2.5年に一回起きる縁起の良い現象だそうだ。一年の最後の日に満月が観測されるのは大体20年に一度。そして2009年の最後の日は欧米でブルームーン、アジアでは2010年の最初の日に連続ブルームーンが見られたのは極めて稀である。数百もしくは数千年に一度しかない出来事であろう。2010年の最初の数分間東京の空の真上でブルームーンが見えた。私は論理と科学の教育を受けたが、そんなことより「虎」の年である2010年がとても縁起の良い始まりをしたとしか思えない。

また複数の信頼出来る国内外の情報によると、とても良い知らせが近いうちに発表される。早くて今月中だという。実際に起きるまでは半信半疑でいるが、ここまで楽観的な気持ちになったのは久しぶりだ。全ての人類にとって幸多い素晴らしい年になりますように!


TRANSLATION

On December 21st 2009, a group of shamans held a ceremony by a lake in the Philippines. Whatever the case, there was heavy rain and thick cloud cover as the group headed to the lake for a ceremony to mark a change in how Western civilization behaves. When we arrived at the lake suddenly an area of blue sky appeared immediately above us. All around there was still heavy cloud cover and rain. However, directly over our heads, in the middle of the circle of blue sky there was a new moon. Then on New Year’s Eve, the world experienced an unheralded but precious event, a blue moon on New Year’s eve in the West and a second blue moon on New Year’s Day in Asia. A blue moon means a second full moon in one month. A full moon on New Year’s Eve happens only once in every two decades or so. Two blue moons in a row at the turn of the decade and the year has probably not happened for centuries or longer. Thus, although I have been trained in science and skepticism, I believe we have had a very auspicious beginning to 2010, the Year of the Tiger.


CONCLUSION

Furthermore, multiple reliable sources both in Asia and the West are reporting major happy changes happening soon, possibly this week or this month. We are more hopeful than we have been in a long time but, we will believe it when we see it.

Black Seminole: Did you know that the Seminole never signed a Treaty with the United States

By Ernest Rauthschild

You mentioned earlier the tribe called Washitaw Moor. Was this a Native American tribe and where are they now?

The Washitaw were direct descendants of the Olmecs who mixed in with the Malian Moors. The name "Washitaw" comes from the Washita River which flows along Northwest Texas and Oklahoma to the Red River, where the Cheyenne Native Americans lived with the Chawasha, meaning "Racoon People" . The Washo were a tribe of Negroids who lived above the New Orleans Bayou and were of Tunican linguistic stock. The name "Washitaw" is a derivative of the term "Ouachita" or what is now "Wichita". The term is a Choctaw term which means "Big Arbor" which represented the Grass thatched arbor homes that the people lived in.

The Washitaw was originally from lower Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama (named after Nubian-Sudanese Ali Baba). The tribe was officially named "Wichita" by the U.S. Government in the Camp Holmes Treaty of 1835. This tribe were unmistakably a Negroid tribe! The Wichita were also known as "Paniwassaha" or by the French "Panioussa" which means "Black Pawnee." French traders from Illinois called them "Pani Pique" which means "Tattooed Pawnee."
 
The Washitaw or "Racoon People" were called Racoons because of their black faces. When describing the Washitaw, the French describes the blacks who lived in large grass houses. The Washitaw called themselves "Kitikitish" which is an interpretation of "Raccoon Eyed." The term was later shortened to "Coon" which became a term used in reference to blacks in America. The Washitaw were an offshoot of the Pawnee Confederation. When the Moors came to America, they mixed in with the Washitaw Native Americans and became known as "Washo."
 
So the Washitaw Moors are the so-called "Lost" tribe of Indians that are spoken of in the history books? Yes! They are the hidden tribe that were the descendants of the Olmecs and Toltecs of Mexico. The Washitaw tribe are also the ancestors to such tribes as Pawnee, Osage, Creek, Seminole, Cherokee, Catawba, Comanche, Nez Perce, Tuscarora, Gingaskin, Mattaponi, Powhatten, Micmac, Lumbi, Mandan, Blackfoot, Natchez, Chickasaw, and many more tribes.
 
Were the Black Indians ever sold into slavery?

The misconception is that Black Indians were never taken into slavery. This is not the case. Black Indians were also captured and sold into slavery along with their African cousins. The land of the Black Indians were taken. Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Illinois, Florida, Delaware, Tennessee, Kansas, Iowa, Indiana all belonged to the Washitaw Moors. The land was invaded by the French and British. The women were sold as sex slaves and the men were sold into slavery as "Negros." The U.S. Government even persuaded the red Indian tribes to own slaves. The Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, and Chickasaw tribes all agreed to slave holding of black Indians and Africans. The only tribe to resist the idea of slavery was the Seminole tribe. The Seminoles rejected the idea because they were the descendants of African explorers who settled in Florida and mixed with Muskogee refugees who had mixed in with the Spanish. They called themselves "Runaways." These black Seminoles who settled in the swampy terrain of Florida established cultivation methods that were identical to that of the methods of Sierre Leone in Africa. Georgia slave holders were soon invading Florida looking for runaway slaves and were soon met with opposition with Seminoles.

The Seminoles tried to live a peaceful life in their own territory but Georgia militias were preparing to raid Florida looking for African slaves (many whom had already sought refuge with the Seminoles and blended in perfectly since both Africans and Seminoles were black.) The Seminoles, African runaways, and the Spanish all aligned with each other to fight off the slave holders. In 1739 slave fugitives in St. Augustine built a fort to protect themselves and the British. Black Seminoles led the coalition against slavery in the North. Black Seminoles even planted "spies" posing as African slaves being sold by Creeks to the British just to gather information. Eventually the red Seminoles began to join the resistance. This is when the U.S. Government became worried. The government never anticipated the well working relationship between the reds and blacks. Georgia slave holders soon realized that the Seminole Nation could put an end to slavery. This caused the first Seminole War. Seminoles struck U.S. slave plantations. When the St. Augustine blacks joined in the Seminole raids were destructive and the Seminoles could not be stopped. General Andrew Jackson of the U.S. Military vowed to wipe out the Seminoles. The Seminoles took control of a British fortress and re-named it "Fort Negro" which was manned by black Seminole officers. The Seminole army consisted of 300 Seminole men in which only 34 were red Indians.

African slaves began to join the army the Seminoles seemed indestructible. With General Andrew Jackson's rank on the line, he gathered U.S. troops, Marines and sought the assistance of 500 Creek Indians. Jackson's orders were to kill the Seminoles, blow up the fort and restore the Africans to their rightful owners. A war erupted after the Seminoles refused surrender and a cannon ball was fired into the Fort Negro's ammunition barracks which blew up the fort. In the ruins, 270 Seminoles were dead, 64 were fatally wounded and the leader of the Seminole resistance, Garcia was captured alive and then executed. General Jackson kept this incident a secret from the public for 20 years because Jackson never had an official declaration of war signed, therefore it was considered murder, not war. However, this massacre was only the beginning of the Seminole resistance and was only the first of three Seminole wars that would carry on for years. The remaining black Seminoles relocated to the Tampa Bay area where they nursed their wounds and prepared for the next battle. The Seminoles this time joined forced with Chief Billy Bowlegs. Without the U.S. Congress knowledge, Andrew Jackson went on a rampage throughout Florida burning black Seminole villages of Fowltown. When James Monroe took the U.S. Presidency in 1817, Jackson proposed a secret plan to take Florida from the Seminoles who at the time owned certain territories of Florida.

Jackson soon captured Pensacola and without a declaration of war, Florida passed into U.S. hands! Another state owned by blacks that the U.S. captured. Since Florida was officially Spanish territory, the U.S. paid Spain $5 million for Florida, making Jackson's illegal seizure appear as a real estate purchase. The U.S. then tried to separate the black and red Seminoles by trying to convince the Seminole leader King Hatchy to turn over anyone who had black skin. King Hatchy replied that he would use force if any government tried to pass through the Seminole territory and he would not hand over any black Seminoles. To disrupt racial alliance between blacks and reds, the U.S. promoted slavery among the Seminoles and tried to convince them that the other "Indian" nations were also interested in slavery. The Seminoles rejected. The U.S. then sent in wealthy Creek Indians who owned slaves to persuade their tribal cousin the red Seminoles to become slave holders. Whites and Creek Indians were encouraged to raid black Seminole villages for slaves. Free Seminole men, women, and children were carried off and sold in southern slave markets as "Negros." Many black Seminoles relocated further into the swamps and became known as "Maroon." Other black Seminoles agreed to be taken into slavery as long as they were able to own their own cattle, horses, hogs, and were treated like family rather than like their African cousins.

These black Seminoles had equal liberty with whites. These Seminoles were not considered slaves but they were considered Seminoles who maintained their African names, dressed in fine Seminole clothing, and turbans. The remaining Seminoles migrated to Mexico for 20 years and others migrated to Texas and mixed in with the black tribes of the Washitaw.

By Ernest Rauthschild

By Ernest Rauthschild


Uses $100 Dollar Bill Toilet Paper .....!

By Ernest Rauthschild

Do you wish you were rich enough to flush money down the toilet? Now you can with this authentic looking $100 bill toilet paper.

If you want to show your contempt for currency and feel that the dollar is devalued, you can use it to wipe your bottom on and express your true feelings about the state of the financial system!

Consisting of 100% genuine completely fake hundred dollar bills this is an ideal gift for anyone that spends all their time daydreaming of riches or complaining about the credit crunch!

Jr Deputy Accountant: 46 States Could Face Bankruptcy in FY09/FY10

By Ernest Rauthschild

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, California isn't the only state in fiscal hot water. In fact, 46 states could find themselves bankrupt and destitute by the end of fiscal year 2010.

States are currently at the mid-point of fiscal year 2009 — which started July 1 in most states — and are in the process of preparing their budgets for the next year. Over half the states had already cut spending, used reserves, or raised revenues in order to adopt a balanced budget for the current fiscal year — which started July 1 in most states. Now, their budgets have fallen out of balance again. New gaps of $51 billion (over 10% of state budgets) have opened up in the budgets of at least 42 states plus the District of Columbia. These budget gaps are in addition to the $48 billion shortfalls that these and other states faced as they adopted their budgets for the current fiscal year, bringing total gaps for the year to 15 percent of budgets.

The states fiscal problems are continuing into the next two years. At least 45 states have looked ahead and anticipate deficits for fiscal year 2010 and beyond. These gaps total almost $94 billion — 16 percent of budgets — for the 36 states that have estimated the size of these gaps and are likely to grow as gaps are re-estimated in the next few months.

TABLE 1:
STATES WITH MID-YEAR FY2009 BUDGET GAPS

Size of Gap
Percent of FY2009 General Fund
Alabama
$1.1 billion
12.7%
Alaska
$360 million
6.8%
Arizona
$1.6 billion
15.9%
California
$13.7 billion
13.6%
Colorado
$604 million
7.7%
Connecticut
$1.7 billion
10.1%
District of Columbia
$258 million
4.1%
Delaware
$226 million
6.2%
Florida
$2.3 billion
9.0%
Georgia
$2.2 billion
10.3%
Hawaii
$232 million
4.0%
Idaho
$218 million
7.4%
Illinois
$4.2 billion
14.8%
Indiana
$1.1 billion
8.0%
Iowa
$134 million
2.1%
Kansas
$186 million
2.9%
Kentucky
$456 million
4.9%
Louisiana
$341 million
3.7%
Maine
$140 million
4.6%
Maryland
$691 million
4.6%
Massachusetts
$2.4 billion
8.4%
Michigan
$200 million
0.9%
Minnesota
$426 million
2.5%
Mississippi
$175 million
3.4%
Missouri
$342 million
3.8%
Nevada
$536 million
7.3%
New Hampshire
$50 million
1.6%
New Jersey
$2.1 billion
6.5%
New Mexico
$454 million
7.5%
New York
$1.7 billion
3.0%
North Carolina
$2.0 billion
9.3%
Ohio
$1.2 billion
4.2%
Oregon
$442 million
6.6%
Pennsylvania
$2.3 billion
8.1%
Rhode Island
$372 million
11.4%
South Carolina
$871 million
12.7%
South Dakota
$27 million
2.2%
Tennessee
$884 million
7.8%
Utah
$620 million
10.4%
Vermont
$66 million
5.4%
Virginia
$1.1 billion
6.7%
Washington
$509 million
3.4%
Wisconsin
$594 million
4.2%
TOTAL
$51.1 billion
10.5%
Note: An entry of “DK” in Size of Gap means that an estimate of the size of the projected gap in that state is not yet available.

Again, I'm no mathlete but those numbers look slightly frightening.

Some states have not been affected by the economic downturn but the number is dwindling. There are a number of reasons why. Some mineral-rich states — such as New Mexico, Alaska, and Montana — saw revenue growth as a result of high oil prices. However, the recent decline in oil prices has begun to affect revenues in some of these states. The economies of a handful of other states have so far been less affected by the national economic problems.

In states facing budget gaps, the consequences sometimes are severe — for residents as well as the economy. Unlike the federal government, states cannot run deficits when the economy turns down; they must cut expenditures, raise taxes, or draw down reserve funds to balance their budgets. As the current fiscal year ends and states plan for next year, budget difficulties are leading some 40 states to reduce or propose reductions in services to their residents, including some of their most vulnerable families and individuals.
And the verdict? States are on their own on this one. The federal government has its own printing press, what do the states have?

Not a damn thing, obviously.

House prices face decade of 'sobriety'

By Ernest Rauthschild

The last decade has led to a polarisation of rich and poor, as well as a dramatic shift in house building from detached houses to flats, research by Savills for The Daily Telegraph shows.

These factors risk being exacerbated by a "relative sobriety" in mortgage lending as banks recover from the financial crisis and the mortgage market faces stricter regulation, such as the abolition of self-certified mortgages.

House prices end decade 117pc higher According to the upmarket estate agent, while inflation-adjusted house prices grew 68pc in the Noughties, prices will grow just 40pc in the next decade. This compares with -14pc in the 1990s, 43pc in the 1980s and 49pc in the 1970s.

"The Noughties will be remembered as a decade of polarisation – its legacy a residential market split, possibly irrevocable, between the equity haves and have-nots," Lucian Cook, director, Savills residential research, said.

The complications left by the last decade have emerged from the largest growth in house prices on record.

Pembrokeshire in Wales enjoyed the largest gain of 212pc during the Noughties, with the South East surprisingly lagging behind. In London, only Newham, one of the capital's poorest areas, featured in the top 10 risers.

The geographical variations were primarily for two reasons: first, some regions were playing catch-up on price rises in the South East during the late 1990s, and, second, the rise of the second-home buyers drove price growth in costal and popular holiday destinations.

Overall, the gains in the market were driven by low interest rates and strong wage growth up to 2005, and the increasing availability of mortgages in the run-up to 2007.

However, the substantial growth and impact of the financial crisis on mortgage lending, means that accessibility to home-ownership has been eroded.

Savills data shows that the deposit for a first-time buyer has risen from roughly 20pc of income in 2000 to almost 100pc by the end of 2009 – putting the equity-rich and prime regions in position to lead the market ahead of areas with high unemployment.

"A highly localised market recovery is now inevitable with a ripple effect rolling out from the prime markets of London and the South East," said Mr Cook.

A further burden is the masses of flats left by the Noughties. Changes in planning rules, the rise of buy-to-let, and the search for swifter returns from housebuilders mean the last 10 years were characterised by a rise in the number of flats being built at the expense of detached and semi-detached homes.

"The buy-to-let boom was driven by the bubble in easy and cheap credit," Liam Bailey of Knight Frank says. "It unfortunately led to the rise of the speculator led urban development and all those tiny one and two bedroom flats."

From 2000 to 2008 the proportion of newly-built homes that were flats rose from just over 15pc to almost 50pc. In contrast, detached housing fell from 45pc to less than 15pc.

This trend increased the supply of new homes and meant that over the last 10 years, old houses grew in value more than new houses.

For the new decade, the consequences could be more severe, with new buy-to-let mortgages stamped out by lenders following financial crisis and therefore a key source of demand removed. Mr Cook believes this could lead to a rise in the private rental sector as cash-rich institutions snap up the flats in bulk and potential homebuyers are forced to consider renting because of problems securing finance.

He added: "There is likely to be an increasing investment market driven by cash rich portfolio investors who diversify into build to let, shared ownership and niche residential sectors, the first wave of which has been student housing."

Twitter bans 370 'obvious' passwords

By Ernest Rauthschild

The micro-blogging service rejects certain passwords when new users sign up if it thinks they are too easy to guess. However, bloggers recently discovered that the list of banned passwords is embedded in the source code of the page itself.

Banned terms include commonly chosen generic passwords, such as “123456”, “password” and “password1”, as well as car names (“porsche”, “ferrari”) and football teams (“Chelsea”, “arsenal”).

No need for a smoking ban in pubs when market forces could provide a choice

Man in Guatemala arrested for Twitter messagesPerhaps predictably for a website popular with technology fans, science fiction terms figure in the list too. “THX1138”, the title of the first feature film directed by George Lucas of Star Wars fame, is banned, as is “NCC1701” – the registry number of Star Trek’s starship Enterprise – and “trustno1”, which was Fox Mulder’s password in The X-Files.

Research has shown that people are often all too predictable when it comes to choosing passwords. In research published earlier this year, insurer CPP found that nearly half of Britons use the same password to login to their banking, shopping and social networking sites. The research also found that one in five people use their pets’ names for their passwords, while one in eight use memorable dates, such as birthdays, and one in ten use their children’s names.

Security experts advise that a strong password should consist of letters, numbers and even punctuation symbols. They should be changed regularly and you should not use the same password for all your online services.