DCP Alok Kumar

Guest post by AZIZ BURNEY, Editor, Rashtriya Sahara (Urdu), Delhi

It is a truth universally acknowledged that anything viewed from various angles presents various shapes. It is also a fact that your angle of view determines to a large extent the picture registered by your brain. An askew angle of view is bound to distort the picture. Reality defies comprehension without proper perspective. To date, we have not been able to understand what kind of picture the Delhi police is trying to draw in order to explain the incidents of September 19 as they happened.

There can be only three possibilities about the 'encounter': (1) it was planned and could not be properly executed; (2) it was a I recce' that tamed into a premature clash due to someone's misplaced enthusiasm (3) it was a hurriedly planned exercise under orders to "do something, anything, about the Delhi blasts to appease the angry opposition parties and save the honour and position of the minister held responsible. Since the police, or any other authority for that matter, shall never acknowledge the third possibility which can only emerge from a fair and thorough enquiry, we take up the first two possibilities to one of which the police will have to stick once and for all.

The very first version (and how self-congratulatory it was) given out by the police was that they had successfully "worked out" the case after 'painstaking' investigations. This would mean that the raid at L-18 was planned in advance after the police had finally determined the identities of "terrorists" and their respective roles in Delhi blasts. However, after serious questions were raised about the manner in which the two boys were brutally killed and one of their important and highly decorated officers lost his life (there is now a mystery shrouding the death of Inspector Sharma as well) the police did a turnaround and said that it was basically a recce (reconnaissance) undertaken to take stock of the situation and determine and confirm the identities of the suspects. The subject, in its present shape, requires a very detailed probe and analysis. But the pivotal point for our discussion today is the presence on the spot at the material time of a senior police officer, namely. Alok Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police posted in the Special Operations cell of Delhi Police. Now, a DCP is a Class-I officer of Govt. of India. In the official hierarchy, the position of a class-I officer is that of an official representative and spokesperson of the government. In certain postings all class-I officers, be they from administrative or police services, enjoy even judicial powers. A DCP, posted anywhere as a police officer, is considered to be the head of his branch or section. He is responsible in every way for all officers and men under his command and even routine matters and day to day working of his unit requires his sanction and approval. Seen in this light, the presence of DCP Alok Kumar outside L-18 on September 19, 2008 bespeaks a well-organized, well-orchestrated and well-supervised operation to achieve one of the three above-mentioned possibilities.

As a general rule, senior officers are not supposed to accompany the raiding parties unless the nature of operation is so sensitive as to necessitate their presence for various reasons ranging from answerability to public and/or government to ensuring the success of the operation for a political exigency due to immense public pressure which was the case at the time. In this scenario, DCP ALOK KUMAR IS PERSONALLY, OFFICIALLY AND TOTALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE INCIDENTS OF SEPTEMBER 19, 2008 IN GENERAL AND FOR THE AVOIDABLE, UNFORTUNATE AND UNTIMELY DEATH OF INSPECTOR SHARMA IN PARTICULAR.

And DCP Alok Kumar has not been questioned by anyone, far less by the electronic media, a section of which has made such a song and dance about the 'eyewitness' account of head constable Balwant Rana who was admitted to a 'trauma' center of a reputed govt. hospital for a laceration on his right arm while the fatally wounded Inspector Sharma was taken to an ill equipped charitable hospital despite the fact that two state of the art specialty hospitals viz. Escorts and Apollo were respectively two and seven minutes away. We have collected some vitally important material regarding the background and the manner in which Inspector Sharma was injured and taken to hospital and it will be brought forth after a few more facts are verified. For now, we pose the following questions, which have to be answered considering the presence of Alok Kumar on the scene:

1. Alok Kumar was not only the senior-most officer on the spot but the official head of the unit as well; and yet SI Dharmendra communicated with Inspector Sharma. Why?

2. Since he was personally supervising the raid, why did he allow Inspector Sharma to confront the perceived terrorists without having a bulletproof vest on?

3. If it was a mere recce why was he standing in full public view with a drawn gun in hand?

4. Where was he when there was exchange of fire allegedly on the fourth floor?

5. Did he follow Inspector Sharma and head constable Balwant Rana into the building?

6. Why didn't he help his injured inspector or accompany him to the hospital?

7. Why has he not come forward to give a firsthand account of the entire incident?

8. The police initially rejoiced and proclaimed that the raid had been successful and the case had been worked out, and yet the name of Alok Kumar was nowhere mentioned. Why? Was he on a different kind of mission?

Answers to these questions will go a long way in clearing the air of doubts and give credit where credit is due. It is not an insoluble mystery and viewed from a correct perspective things will fall into proper places and all the pieces of jigsaw will fit together to form a logical picture. But let the police decide this way or that. Was it a recce or a planned raid?

Contact: burneyazizburney at hotmail dot com

A month ago, I wrote about how I'm one of the few people who know Walt Monegan is without having to read a news story or a Wikipedia entry on Sarah Palin.

Now he's become one of the most talked-about individuals in the 2008 presidential campaign -- and his profile was never bigger than it was on Friday, despite the fact that he's an accomplished and nationally respected trailblazer in the treatment of people with mental illness.

An Alaska ethics inquiry found on Friday that Gov. Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate, abused her authority by pressuring subordinates -- most notably Monegan, whom Palin appointed to be public safety commissioner -- to fire a state trooper involved in a feud with her family. The finding cast a cloud over John McCain's controversial choice of running mate for the Nov. 4 election, according to Reuters.

For Monegan, however, it was "vindication." "It sounds like they've validated my belief and opinions. And that tells me I'm not totally out in left field,'' Monegan was quoted as saying in an Associated Press story.

But some would argue that it was also long overdue recognition for a man whose prior accomplishments would barely get anything more than a feature story in the Anchorage Daily News.

He's considered a trailblazer in the mental health community because, as chief of the Anchorage Police Department, Monegan and his staff were teaching its officers how to deal with a mental health crisis, and serving as a model for other police departments in the country -- such as Memphis -- who were doing similar things.

I interviewed Monegan for 90 minutes in February 2005 when I was one of six people in the nation who received a Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellowship to write about mental health issues. I chose the judicial treatment of mental health as a topic -- and mental health experts and police departments throughout the country all gave me similar advice.

One after the other, they pointed me in two directions -- Memphis, and Walt Monegan.

I chose Alaska because ...

Continue reading.

Isn't that what we want to separate truth from fiction? Here's something tangible to sink your teeth into. Consider while watching the video: Obama would have slapped Berg with a slander suit if  it didn't have some merit.

The Berg lawsuit was covered in previous posts here:
Part 1 http://willnevergiveup.wordpress.com/2008/08/24/barry-soetoro/
Part 2 http://willnevergiveup.wordpress.com/2008/10/05/lawsuit/
Part 3 http://willnevergiveup.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/lawsuit3/
Part 4 http://willnevergiveup.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/lawsuit4/

Or you can go straight to the source here.

Other posts of interest: (I couldn't MAKE THESE THINGS UP if I tried)

Nigerial website promoting Obama for presidential election http://obamanigeria.org

My post regarding Nigerian website
http://willnevergiveup.wordpress.com/2008/08/31/httpobamanigeriaorg/

Three Videos: Obama campaigning for cousin in Kenya, grade school children singing Obama song and secondary school children in paramilitary garb singing Obama
http://willnevergiveup.wordpress.com/2008/10/08/odinga/

Partial index of other interesting Obama posts here

There is, however, one area where we tend to lose sight of our world's balanced ecosystem:  the eclectic.

Orderly people stress order, they preach it, teach and demand it.  In fact orderliness becomes their god-ling, dictating everything they do.  Whereas the improvisational turn from those addicted to the tried and true in disgust, ignoring all pleas or commands to fall in line to live on their own terms.  The habitual people find improvisation to be as undisciplined and scary as the improvisational find their counterparts' rituals and ruts.  The importance of discipline, however, cannot be ignored by either side of the equation because all life must educate itself in some form to an operational procedure.

The flamboyant gives life much of its pizazz and circus feel.  I don't enjoy those who are all show and no substance, but I do enjoy a grand show with lots of twists and turns in it.  Yet even the most improvisational comic has spent years honing their skills of observation and response/reaction in order to become great at their craft.  In other words they worked at the discipline of their improvisation in order to make it seem effortless, though much work went into the making of this effortlessness.

It seems strange to me now that the uniform would suppress the flamboyant and the flamboyant would ridicule the uniform.  Both have their function in society; both serve a purpose for which we couldn't get the counterpart to do well.  Government must be made of bureaucrats and showboats.  It's vital that we have the liberals and conservatives all in one melting pot so that no one is oppressed or ignored or exiled.  Without the soup being made of all types, our world becomes bland.

I would argue that we desparately need the showy, show-off and liberal person to balance the straight-laced, private and conservative person for the sheer fact that most of us live somewhere in between.  The mixture of what dominates or even if one does is important to individuality.  Our biggest challenge is how to allow for both sides without the suppression or domination of either.

No, the flamboyant, improvisational and eclectic flavor our world with its zing, the steady, ritualistic and predictable give us the foundation.  Without both, we lose our wholeness as humanity.

I've heard the insinuations of voting based on race on all the talk shows and on TV, and I guess I'm more naive than I thought I was, but I like to give more credit to people than that... you know, the notion that anyone would vote for a person based on the color of their skin rather than the political positions they take on the issues - it's just ludicrous.

Now I don't normally listen to Howard Stern - my sensitive nature just can't take all those F-bombs and filthy innuendo - so naturally when I heard a You Tube audio clip from a Howard Stern show yesterday, I was in total shock. Not because of the filthy language, but because of the implications of how many people may actually be voting based on race.

After the clip, I literally had trouble breathing so profound was my dismay. I never would have believed it had I not heard it...

And now - the clip. Get your inhalers and oxygen tanks out if you've got them. You're going to need them in about half a minute.

See what I mean? C'Mon people... get a clue!

Over the past months, I have reflected upon my "obsession" with the US elections and have come to a conclusion. I am honestly amazed at the idea that some college students took the year off to volunteer for their candidate and follow their campaign. Supporters raise funds for their candidates and donate money for the cause. Debates are thoroughly scrutinized and dissected. Artists make art to express their support. I may be naive in being fascinated by this but this kind of thing just does not happen in the Philippines. Just because there is probably no one in government and public office worth that kind of support.

We Filipinos don't even care that much about upcoming 2010 Presidential elections because we can resigned to the so-called fate that our country will be forever run by corrupt people who hoard all the wealth and power for themselves. We don't believe in the power of the vote - at least, I don't - when I know it can be bought. I can't help but think: what's the point?

But looking at the US Elections, despite the drama, I am so wishing that some Filipino leader would instill a kind of passion in Filipino voters that we will begin to care again. I hope that a leader will rise who deserves my utmost support. I pray for the day when the voice of the people can be heard not only in rallies, demonstrations and letters to the editors - but in clean, honest elections as well.

And I hope that isn't just wishful thinking.

***

It's no secret that I'm rooting for Barack Obama - though I do have my qualms about him. But if you do love Obama and you love art. These two sites are worth checking out:

http://designforobama.org/

http://www.30reasons.org/

... the first rule of Washington budgeting is that money spent on the Department of Defense doesn’t actually count as money. I think that’s in the Blue Dog Charter, a poster on the wall in Fred Hiatt’s office, and somewhere in the Declaration of Independence.

See? With that out of the way, it's clear that we've really got nothing to worry about.

P.S. On a serious note, my wife and I watched Why We Fight this past weekend, and it's really good.

P.P.S. On another serious note, check out how Bob Barr's spending proposals will impact the federal budget, as compared to John McCain's and Barack Obama's (pre-bailout!) ones. Once again, though, I'm not sure if these numbers were drawn up under the standard misapprehension about the "costs" of defense spending; if they were, the National Taxpayers Union stands corrected.

Just eleven days ago, Congress passed a highly contested $800 billion bailout package, requiring the president to seek Congressional approval to obtain any more taxpaying dollars to buy troubled assets. Today - already, our president asked for an additional $100 billion. He acts like it's just Monopoly money and we can just print more!

But it is exactly like Monopoly money, and they do just print more.

In the real world on Connecticut Avenue and Main Street, the real cost of doing so is devastating.

While the FED, associated banks and the government are busy burning up the printing presses (figuratively, of course - they don't have to physically create money to inject cash) to pump new cash into the system at record levels, they are taxing the HELL out of the American people. Only, that cost hasn't yet hit the wallets of hard-working citizens who are temporarily thrilled by the spectacle of lowering gas prices (gas was still MUCH cheaper only six years ago - I remember running $.99/gallon gas specials as a store manager for Kroger). This tax is hidden and creeps in under the radar. In the coming weeks and months, however, I predict hyperinflation - the likes of which we've not seen before as a nation.

All of this is ensured because of the FED's continued irresponsible handling of our nation's money supply. The proverbial pigeons will come home to roost, and when they do - the proverbial poop will fly.

This all begins to make sense when one realizes that the purpose of the FED is not to preserve the wealth of individual Americans, but to ensure the perpetual debt of each and every American to a financial system of control.

The below article, aptly titled, "U.S. Pulls the Trigger" is the latest from CNNMoney.com. Because of the insanity of our financial system (as set up since 1913) and the men behind the curtain, these attempts to "bolster" the economy by cash injection of hundreds of billions of dollars will only result in a gun-shot wound to the head of America.

The FED is not injecting any wealth into the system, only more debt. It is your debt. It is my debt. It is the debt of unborn generations who aren't even being given the choice and will be born into indentured slavery to this system. The "liquidity" the FED keeps pumping into the system is only making our money worth less. A substantial increase in the money supply without a corresponding increase in the production of goods and services will cause an inflationary bubble wherein the cost of living will skyrocket.

And there is no increase in production of goods and services - hundreds of thousands of Americans are without jobs and the unemployment rate is climbing each week. More businesses are failing, bankruptcies and foreclosures are on the rise. Businesses in the service sector are shutting their doors, forcing their employees on the streets. Banks and investment firms are dealing with closures and layoffs. Major landmark American manufacturers like GE, Ford and Chrysler are having tremendous issues. There isn't much left of the American manufacturing industry - it's all been outsourced to China, India and other foreign nations.Meanwhile, colleges and universities are reporting record numbers of enrollees and soon to be graduates. This is a formula for disaster. And I won't even mention the "derivative death-star" looming out there, which will annhilate everything (credit default swaps and other derivatives total in the quadrillion).

And should we even mention the ever-growing cost of running our fat, bloated, voraciously hungry beast of a government? The costs of our socialized education and welfare programs alone are staggering, and for what? To produce brainwashed, dumbed-down, apathetic, complacent Americans who want to suck on the tit of government and feel better about life, while laughing at the idiots on cable television?

THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IS NOT TO BE OUR MOTHER AND TAKE CARE OF US.

People need to grow up and develop a lot more self-reliance. We need to stop relying upon government to be our nursemaid and protector. THAT'S why we're in the mess we're in today.

We can continue to sink our heads in the sand and hide from the problem. And when the whole thing comes crashing down, I suspect we'll run straight for the comforting arms of government who will be waiting with more and more levels of control.

Or, we can stand up now, look at the problem we've created and work to correct it. It won't be easy, and it won't be changed without conflict and resolutions. But we owe it to ourselves, our children, the unborn children of America and the world, to get a hold on this beast now.

We need to start with the money strings.

**********************

U.S. pulls the trigger
Government to pump billions into banks, expand deposit and loan guarantees.

By Chris Isidore, CNNMoney.com senior writer
Last Updated: October 14, 2008: 9:55 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The federal government on Tuesday announced an extraordinary and historic investment in the nation's banks - the biggest bet ever made with taxpayer dollars on the U.S. financial system.

As a start, the Treasury will pump $250 billion into financial institutions. Nine of the nation's largest banks have already agreed to take the capital and in return will give preferred shares to taxpayers and limit on executive pay. It is widely expected that half of the $250 billion will go to those nine banks.

"This is an essential short-term measure to assure the viability of American's banking system," Bush said in comments outside the White House. "These measures are not intended to take over the free market, but to preserve it."

In addition, the president made a formal request for an additional $100 billion to help out financial institutions. Congress authorized up to $700 billion as part of the financial system bailout enacted on Oct. 3, but it required the president to certify the need for any amount above the initial $250 billion.

The government can use the additional $100 billion to buy troubled assets held by firms or to make additional capital infusions into banks.

The president also announced insurance on all deposits in non-interest bearing bank accounts, a move that should calm businesses worried because their payroll and checking accounts exceed the limits backed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. And the government will also back most new bank debt - a change designed to spur more lending between banks.

The package represents the government's most extensive attempt yet to unfreeze frozen credit markets. The aim is to give banks the confidence to make loans to one another and their customers and help provide the economy the source of funds it needs to operate.

The move was something that the Bush administration and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson resisted even as the crisis in the nation's financial system mounted over the last month.

"Government owning a stake in any private U.S. company is objectionable to most Americans - me included," Paulson said. "Yet the alternative of leaving businesses and consumers without access to financing is totally unacceptable."

The previously announced plan to simply buy the bad mortgage debts held by major banks and Wall Street firms had done little to assure investors or get financial institutions providing the loans necessary to keep the U.S. economy functioning.

U.S. stocks had their worst week in history last week, and most measures showed lending by financial institutions remained frozen despite moves by the Federal Reserve to pump potentially trillions of new dollars into the system.

So over the weekend, the administration decided to use the authority under the $700 billion Wall Street bailout package passed earlier this month to make the direct investment. The moves followed a similar plan announced last week in Great Britain. European governments had been moving the same way.

Bush acknowledged that the United States was following steps already taken in Europe. He said that is the best way to address the concerns of U.S. consumers and business leaders.

"I recognize that the action leaders are taking here in Washington and European capitals are distant from those concerns, but they are designed to benefit the American people by stabilizing the overall financial system and helping the economy recover," he said.

The reports of the broad details of the plan had sparked the biggest jump in stocks in history on Monday, and that rally continued in Asian and European markets early Tuesday. U.S. stocks were also sharply higher in early trading following the announcement.

After Bush's announcement, Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair appeared together to endorse the plan.

"Today, there is a lack of confidence in our financial system - a lack of confidence that must be conquered because it poses an enormous threat to our economy," Paulson said. "Investors are unwilling to lend to banks, and healthy banks are unwilling to lend to each other and to consumers and businesses."

Paulson stressed that some of the banks accepting government investment are healthy, but that the infusion of capital will allow them to increase their lending.

For his part, Bernanke said these steps were notable because the government is not waiting for banks to become insolvent before they act.

"Waiting too long to act has usually led to much greater direct costs of the intervention itself and, more importantly, magnified the painful effects of financial turmoil on households and businesses," Bernanke said in prepared remarks.

And Bernanke cautioned that while he was confident the plan is the best course to follow to get the economy functioning again, it does not automatically end the troubles facing the economy.

"I am not suggesting the way forward will be easy," Bernanke said.

Bair said that the United Steps had to follow steps taken in Europe or else they would have been on an uneven playing field. And regulators' work is not done, she added.

"All of us are prepared to do whatever it takes to fix whatever problems arise and to work with Wall Street and Main Street to unclog the financial system," said Bair.

First Published: October 14, 2008: 8:14 AM ET

Related Posts:

What does it mean when the Fed "injects" or "pumps" money into the system?

Why Did Bailout Pass? + Word of the Day: Extortion

Bailout is Law!

Bailout Passes House; House Vote Results

FED Bolsters Liquidity by Printing More Money; Hyper-inflation is Your New Permanent Houseguest

$700B Bailout Plan: The "most abusive and piggish, fascist scheme" ever proposed

I suppose it is in their nature these poor souls.  Television pundits giving an honest thought are as rare as Sahara snow.  Unless there is political capital to be made by exposing how bad something really is,  they have an overreaching tendency to downplay everything.  Including how you and I are being screwed.

By nature I am a historian and not a prophet.  On this though I will venture to say that we will look back at 2008 as a disaster on nearly all fronts.  Nearly all because the one area that was supposed to be the worst, Iraq, has turned out to be the least newsworthy.  Politically and economically though nothing positive can be gleaned from all this.  Neither party has given us a serious choice.  You will have to hold your nose to vote either way.  Economically we have seen the end result of an orgy of leveraged buying and spending for a decade or more.  Stock up on rum, you are going to need it.

When someone asked me what stocks they should buy my response was "ATF".  They asked what that was and I said, "Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms."  Not the government agency, the manufacturers.  They asked why those and I said, "Because they never go out of style, especially not in hard times."

The markets may rally for a while, though few are predicting full recovery soon.  Things have not yet hit main street in the way they might in the near future.  Most of us have yet to feel the full brunt of this storm.

The great question remains though, who and how?  Who will pay for this and how?  And when?  Some freakishly out of place souls on business networks have had the wherewithal to ask these questions.  The typical response from current and former Treasury and Federal Reserve functionaries is that "we need the bailout, we have to free up credit, we had to do something, we were facing a meltdown".  None of them answers the questions of who will pay for this or when or how.  They change the subject.

It appears as though the "fix" to this crisis is of the same nature as the business practices that got us into it.  Those are to borrow the money or inflate it to spend now on all the goodies and worry about paying it later or just write it off.  It is like asking the man who robbed you to act as your attorney when you sue him.

Anyone with children, or anyone who knows someone young had better take the opportuity now to drill into their heads the concept of living within their means.  This does not mean never go in debt.  It does mean always having the means to pay off that debt completely and timely.  Future generations and those who are still a decade or more from retirement now are going to foot this bill one way or another.  Tightening our finances and getting our ship ready for a long nor'easter right now is the best means of getting through this.

von Rum

http://www.mapleleafweb.com/features/2008-election-campaign-political-party-platforms

See you at the polls!

JonnyBasement

Although I have sworn off ever watching FOX NEWS again, I will happily switch over late on election night just to have the pleasure of watching Bill O'Reilly cry on camera after Obama wins. I might even tape it so I can watch it on future days when I am down and need a good laugh.

Hip, trendy, and deliberately contra-Religious Right, the argument typically takes this form:

Abortion is a single-issue.
Single-issue politics is naive and wrong.
Therefore we should not vote based upon the abortion issue.

A severe problem for this argument lies in its assumption that single-issue politics is indeed wrong. Though combating slavery was unpopular in his day, William Wilberforce chose to devote the majority of his time, energy, and resources to passionately and successfully fight this one issue. Hardly a human being would claim that Wilberforce was politically irresponsible due to his functionally single-issue politics. Single-issue politics is not necessarily wrong; in fact, as Wilberforce's moral victory displayed, it can be a wise course of action. Therefore, this argument fails.

Moreover, it has become popular in the young evangelical community to "dethrone" the fight against abortion by trying to broaden what it means to be pro-life. For instance, many will claim that if a voter is primarily or even strongly concerned with the issue of abortion, then she can't possibly be equally concerned for the poor and the downtrodden. If she isn't equally concerned with the poor and the downtrodden, then she is not fully pro-life. Such uncritical disciples of the new left will sometimes adjust the argument by replacing the “poor and downtrodden” with "war". This anti-war version claims that those who oppose abortion but fail to oppose war are not fully pro-life. (my emphasis)

Sarah goes on to quite effectively dismantle the new left's "fully pro-life" argument. Click here to read the whole thing. Especially check out the comments.

The global economy is in a free fall. It is the Tower of Babel knocked over by the hand of God. How did we get here? We are here because we rejected God’s law and God’s order to embrace the Society of Satan. We rejected God’s law over politics, war and economics because we, with Adam and Eve, want to be like God, to determine good and evil for ourselves. We didn’t want God to tell us that our laws were evil, our banking system was evil, preemptive strike warfare is evil, the United Nations and NATO are evil. After all, what does God know? We have our own gods now in Washington DC and New York. They predestine our future for us so God can go back to sleep, except God isn’t asleep.

Just like Adam and Eve in the garden, politicians like Barney Frank and others are evading responsibility for the economic crisis. They blame the markets and not their own “divine” regulations which is the real cause. When you see yourself as a god, how can you fail? There is no right and wrong for a god. They are above that.

The central planners bear no risk for their decisions and poor planning. Alan Greenspan is not being punished for inflating us into these bubbles. Jimmy Carter’s home is not being taken away for forcing the banks to lend to unqualified, credit shaky people because to do so was claimed to be racism. McCain, Obama, Clintons, Bush, Frank, Dodd, Pelosi, Wall Street CEO’s who jumped with multi-million dollar parachutes, none of these are paying the price, yet. Eventually, they will face God’s judgment, either in this life or the one to come.

Genesis 11:4 And they said, Come, let us build us a city and a tower whose top reaches into the sky, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the whole earth.

5And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.

6And the Lord said, Behold, they are one people and they have ^[a]all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do, and now nothing they have imagined they can do will be impossible for them.

7Come, let Us go down and there confound (mix up, confuse) their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

8So the Lord scattered them abroad from that place upon the face of the whole earth, and they gave up building the city.

9Therefore the name of it was called Babel--because there the Lord confounded the language of all the earth; and from that place the Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of the whole earth. (The Amplified Bible)

“Men may deny God’s sovereignty, but they cannot stop believing in sovereignty; they merely transfer it to man or the State. Total law and planning, i.e., predestination, is inescapable; denied to God, it is simply transferred to the scientific socialist State, which predestines or totally governs and plans all things. If deity be denied to the God of Scripture, it merely reappears in man or the State. And if the Church ceases proclaiming the Gospel, then religion does not perish; it reappears as politics or economics, and salvation continues to be offered to inescapably religious man.” R. J. Rushdoony, Genesis, p. 103

We live in a society that has become increasingly satanic as the secular State plans our lives for us from cradle to grave. The State seeks to predestine and control every aspect to what foods we are allowed to eat (FDA), communications (FCC and eavesdropped by NSA), education, welfare, taxation, medicine, economy, employment, foreign aid, and much more. This is a manifestation of the Tower of Babel.

America, since Lincoln, has become Babylon. Lincoln ended the old covenant form of federal government that was subject to Biblical law and replaced it with a centralized, socialist government and the end of freedom. Babylon is the society of Satan. Its foundation is sand, man’s fiat word. In fact, as the stock market is proof of, it is quicksand.

Matthew 7: 24"Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.

25"And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.

26"Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

27"The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell--and great was its fall." (The New American Standard Version)

Fractional reserve banking is rooted in witchcraft alchemists who attempted to design a potion that would turn ordinary base metals into gold; in essence, something for nothing. Our banking and economic systems are religious systems, but anti-Christ to the core. It’s foundation is theft. Steal from one group of people, the producers, and give to another group, the politically connected wasters and non-producers.

The national government stole you money and gave it to the bankers. They lied and told you this was to help you. It won’t. it was to help them. You and I have been defrauded. “Although those who hunger for power are small in numbers, it’s easy to entice the masses into believing that government can provide for everyone’s needs and safety.” (Ron Paul, the Freedom Report, Sept. 2008)

The bailout was for losers, the non-producers. Lehman Brothers became a non-producer; so did Wachovia, Indy Mac Bank and AIG. The Federal Reserve Bank and the national government swindled the American people to keep many of the losers afloat. Socialism is a system of losers because Babylon is a false religion that will always experience God’s judgment.

The Tower of Babel is religious. It is the worship of the State or statism. It believes in ad hoc law or rule, created at the moment to fit the situation without the restraint of eternal law. It manifests with a proliferation of imperialistic bureaucracies and bureaucrats. It believes in the divinity of the central planners and that salvation is primarily political. This is true of all tyrannies that receive popular support.

The people want their messiah to fix their problems by a fiat word. They want a divine State because they have no faith in a Creator God and reject His law. The people have looked to kings, Caesars, parliaments, councils, Lenin, Stalin and Hitler to give them political and economic salvation. God decapitalized them all. In the U. S., we have deified Lincoln, John Kennedy and now Barak Obama is offered as a political savior.

What these men and their political orders have in common is a hatred for God’s law and His Kingdom. Their supporters reject personal responsibility. They and their supporters want to eat even if they don’t work. They don’t want to be responsible to save and invest wisely for their retirement, so they choose a political order that promises Social Security, Medicare, and now pay for their drugs as well. Saving for prosperity is difficult. They want to spend themselves to prosperity. Like the alchemists, they want economic magic.

Now that the Tower of Babel is falling on Wall Street, investors are shaken in their faith in Babylon. The same old plan of injecting fiat currency and more debt into the system did not bring the stock market up again as the central planners had envisioned. Instead, it experienced a historic drop. Plus, the majority of Americans did not support the bailout.

It doesn’t matter though because Bush, the Republican, and Democrat leaders coerced Congress to pass it and ignore their constituents back home. Faith in Babylon is dying. We must once and for all reject the idea that the elite few are capable to magically create safety and prosperity for the masses. That is socialism and it has always failed in history.

Yesterday, October 13, 2008, the stock market experienced another historic event; a surge of 936 for the Dow. This follows a pattern similar to that of the Great Depression. There will be ups and downs but essentially, the slave economy of socialism is collapsing just as the Berlin Wall fell. We need to rebuild the economy and all of life upon a foundation of God’s law that prohibits theft, even theft by a majority vote.

This nation prospered because it was founded by Christians who subjected all of their lives, private and public, to God’s law. Andrew Jackson stated that, “The Bible is the rock upon which the Republic rests.” If we are to recapitalize our economy, we must repent of our national sins and return to that rock.

John 19:12As a result of this Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried out saying, "If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar."

13Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.

14Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour And he said to the Jews, "Behold, your King!"

15So they cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar." (The New American Version)

God has brought judgment to the Tower of Babel. What will the nations choose as their substitute; the City of God or a new tower? America is about to choose a new president, but the real question is, who will America choose as king and who’s law will America follow, Jesus Christ or the Babylonians? To continue to choose Keynesian, socialist economics is to reject Christ and His claim over us.

Will we choose to repent, return to God’s law and hold our elected officials accountable to God’s law, or will we trust the State to be divine and create ad hoc regulations that will strangle the economy even more so we will reap even greater destruction and judgment?

Bruce Townsend

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The 2008 financial crisis started long before 2008.  It started when people began to pay $5 for a cup of coffee and when we started to pay $1 million for a $100,000 home.  It started when banks began loaning money to people who stood a good chance of being unable to repay the loan.  It started when the U.S. took on the role of the worlds police force without any means of paying for such exploits.  It started when the U.S. started down the road of becoming the world largest debtor nation.

The U.S. can fix the problems it faces, although it will be a long and expensive road to get there.  All the issues that crop up in each campaign season just seem to last just about as long as the campaigns themselves and then they are ignored for four more years.  We started hearing about energy independance back in 1973, little has changed since then.  Health care as an issues has been around for as long as anyone can remember.  Social Security has been an issue since the 70s.  We lurch from one war to the next and each time we see the costs mount and our nations presige diminish.  Poverty hasn't really changed, politics only seem to become more divisive, the crooks on Wall Street are basically the same as they have always been.  Our society needs to commit to solving these problems before they simply undermine everything we value.

First, we need to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Our enemy is spending a few million dollars a year, we're spending hundreds of billions of dollars every year.  At that kind of ratio, they can outlast us and John McCain or Barak Obama can make all the plans they want, but it won't change the math.  The Soviet Union fell because we could afford to out spend them, the same holds in reverse for us in Iraq and Afghanistan.  With our spending several orders of magnitude higher than the enemy, they will ultimately prevail and we will be left bankrupt.

I've said it before, energy is really our most pressing issue and it is a partial solution to the financial crisis.  The cost of changing our energy infrastructure from fossil fuels to renewable energy provides the opportunity to create millions of new jobs, will jump start all sorts of industries and spur trillions in tangible and profitable investment.

Drug companies are making insane profits, health care costs are off the charts, and our value for each dollar invested in our health is lower than most other countries.  We need to change the entire system, eliminate the waste, cut back on the most expensive areas to provide more and better coverage for the overwhelming majority of patients.  We need to increase preventative care, target the excesses such as salaries of adminstrators, CEOs, and insurance company profits, etc.

We've all heard people rant about executive compensation often being in the tens of millions.  Simply caping executive salaries and reforming tort laws that pay out immense sums and limiting profits would address the issue in a big way, even before addressing the actual health care itself.  I'm no fan of a government run anything, but if the insurance companies insist on being so greedy, then maybe the unthinkable is all that we are left with.  As it stands, we are being bled to death by these costs.  Within a few years, 20% of GDP will be spent on health care alone.  That's way too high.

The American people tend to lose focus quickly.  Six months ago the most pressing issue on everyone's mind was oil.  Before that we all had this vague feeling that global warming should be a big concern and we've all known that energy was a big issue ever since the gas lines in the early seventies.  Now that we're faced with an immense financial crisis, it seems clear to most people that the environment and energy aren't so important, yet they are.  If we destroy the planet we live on or oil stops flowing or the lights go out; the economy will shut down in short order.  As I said before, everything is linked.  Energy, the economy, real estate, the stock market, the environment, inflation, jobs, etc.  Central to all of this is energy.  We saw it in the 70s, we've fought wars over energy, and we know the penalty for ignoring it, so we can't afford to ignore it any longer.

Based on this video, it's no wonder the rest of the world thinks Americans are stupid.  It might be edited but it certainly proved a point as the answers are none-the-less idiotic and embarrassing. The entire world is full of stupid people who just have no idea what's going on.   The entire world is also filled with bright, intelligent people who actually know where the Eiffel tower is and are educated enough to make the right decision in the voting booth. 

It is scary thinking that some of these stupid people will be voting in less than a month for our next President.  It is these same stupid people who pay taxes though, aren't they?  They raise families, work, shop, and vote.  I wonder if these are the quality of people ACORN sought out to register?  ACORN did manage to register Mickey Mouse after all and did it all on the stupid taxpayer's dime.  Just watch how fast Obama distances himself from ACORN now.

These same passerby American masses are being led to the voting booth by their TV sets and what the media has to say.  One web site http://www.untwistedvortex.com/2007/03/18/freakin-stupid-americans/ refers to Americans as Sheeples, " (people that act like sheep) who believe everything they're told by a religion, a government, or the mass media."

Statements like.....If your a Catholic you should vote McCain.  Baptists should go for Obama. Are you black? Vote Obama.  White people go for McCain.  Poor for Obama, and rich folks for McCain.  (we are all a little poorer since Sept 1, eh?)  Conservatives for McCain. Liberals for Obama.  I like Rush so I am voting McCain.  No wait-I like Sean Hannity who favors McCain but then again I really like Alan Colmes so I'll vote for Obama.  Stupid labels and stupid people who are led to believe what they are told from people they have supposedly come trust and like, their God, their government, their TV sets.....Sheeples, indeed.

Comments on the net offer intelligent reasons to vote for McCain like  I like John McCain because he has balls and on McCain/Palin. when he dies and she becomes president we can finally have someone hot to put on our money )from Amy Robinson's Web logs http://amyrobinson.wordpress.com/ survey on who are you going to vote for and why.  I guess those answers are silly but at least some stupid Americans have a sense of humor.

"Our population is being dumbed down, literally, with Madonna, wedding cakes, crazy dogs doing tricks, people getting shot and then killing some other dude.  How can we compete as a nation when CNN, that fawning imbecile, and the other purveyors fill our heads with trivia dredged from People magazine, TMZ, YouTube, or the local police blotter? ?"  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/19/125148/65 

There are indeed a lot of reasons not to continue the Republican Regime in the Presidency, but the real reasons to vote for McCain outweigh the reasons to not vote for Obama.  Maligned questions from the last debate give little content as to who you might consider voting for.  On looks and appearances Obama has mass appeal, but the intellectualized content of his message of "spreading the wealth around" is getting lost on most Americans who have no idea the definition of socialism and its impact on democracy.  I wonder if people even know the difference?  

Tonight brings us another debate, this one brought to you by Budweiser, formally a USA conglomerate.  {my acronym for Budweiser---Because you deserve what every individual should enjoy regularly.]   This Final Face Off debate will hopefully have more information than fluff but that probably won't happen.  From the San Francisco news http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/13/ED1T13G6CH.DTL  Apparently, there is a confidential agreement between presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama that is 31 pages of rules and regulations as to how things will proceed and perhaps what is off limits to talk about.  Sadly, whatever the limits are, its secret contents are secret, and have not been released.  Whatever the contents and guidelines are, they certainly influence a major aspect of the debate for the upcoming election.  There will be catchy phrases and trust me, vote for me smiles but we already know, little of what those of us with some intelligence really want to hear will not be spoken about tonight. 

Most of the reports have Obama as winning already. In the UK the Guardian Newspaper's Headline says "Looks good for Obama so Prepare for Defeat "- http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2008/oct/14/uselections2008-barackobama "A 72-year-old with skin cancer, a bad temper and a hockey mum waiting a heartbeat away on the bench, now that's frightening."   Bloomberg says" -Obama is likely to pick up 364 Electoral College votes, far surpassing the 270 needed to claim the presidency, by winning battleground states including Virginia, Ohio, Florida, and Colorado, online traders say. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=anBlDxpbPJpA&refer=home .  http://www.pollster.com/ has Obama 320 to 155 for McCain. 

Polls aside, Obama's character is suspect.  An article from the Washington Post and featured on the Philly dot com  http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/30881014.html goes on to say "But associations are important. They provide a significant insight into character. They are particularly relevant in relation to a potential president as new, unknown, opaque and self-contained as Obama. With the economy overshadowing everything, it may be too late politically to be raising this issue. But that does not make it, as conventional wisdom holds, in any way illegitimate."   McCain's campaign camp in his "play nice" demeanor has not brought his less than reputable associations from The Reverend Jeremiah Wright to unrepentant Ayers.  WHY NOT? 

On mere stupidity alone, "That One" might actually get elected POTUS.

I don't think many people believed them when they said it might.

The amount of money that is being tossed around in Washington is mind blowing. I have a hard time parting with $5 for lunch—let alone comprehending the impact between billions and trillions. And I don't think those in Washington do either. From my novice economic research, I can only conclude that printing more money or increasing more debt is bad. Simple deduction, right? The government is only thinking about how to fix things now, and not even considering what problems those "fixes" will cause in the future. I read a good article that Ron Paul wrote discussing the debt and inflation increase.

He says, "Debt financing has begun in earnest, as the national debt has increased $600 billion over the past three weeks, and most of that increase came even before the $700 billion bailout bill was passed. I fully expect that trend to continue in the near future and would not be surprised if we see another debt-limit increase slipped into another economic stimulus package that might be passed before the new year. Now that our foreign creditors are less willing to purchase our debt, what debt we cannot sell to foreigners will be monetized through the Federal Reserve, resulting in increased inflation."

As people were saying before the bailout passed, this debt will come back around to bite us in the ass.

Paul concludes, "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."

And this stimulus package? What a bunch of BS. Didn't we just have a stimulus package six months ago that apparently did nothing for the economy?

Source: news.yahoo.com

If we were seeing this in Mugabe's despotic regime, or any one of the other non-democratic governments in Africa, Asia or South America, we would not be surprised. It wouldn't make the back pages of the newspapers.

But here, in the UK?

Many people look at me askance when I say that I would prefer to live in Kenya than here. Why? At least, we expect the legislators to be money-grabbing, power-hungry and corrupt. If they are not, that is a bonus.

In the country of the Mother of Parliaments, I expect, nay, I insist upon a higher level of rule. I expect the people who tell me what to do and how to do it (if this is really necessary) to be squeaky clean. Not only squeaky clean, but to be seen to be squeaky clean - not a shadow of doubt about their squeaky cleanness. After all, that is what they expect of us, isn't it?

I know this is a tall order. In any barrel, there will be a few rotten apples. But I expect them to be thrown out - for good. I do not expect them to be re-introduced at a later date - twice.

After all, a rotten apple only becoems more rotten with time, surely?