CVS Demonstrates Your Future Under Obamacare

Personal Liberty Digest
Bob Livingston
March 30, 2013



CVS Demonstrates Your Future Under Obamacare
UPI FILE
The consequences of the big lie that is Obamacare and the U.S. deathcare system continue to come to light. From layoffs to hour reductions to business closures to companies being dragged into court over abortion and contraceptive coverage todoctor shortages to rising deathcare costs, Obamacare is a building disaster of rising premiums, doctor shortages and rationing death panels. Now, legal drug pusher CVS Caremark pharmacy is telling its employees they must report specific personal health information or pay an extra $600 per year for their health insurance coverage.
Among the measures employees are required to report are their weight, body fat, cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar levels. Employees must also be tobacco-free or enroll in an addiction program.
“These changes aren’t just about costs, they’re about us, each of us taking personal accountability for our own health,” said Lisa Bissacia, CVS senior vice president and chief human resources officer, in a recorded video released by the company.
The irony that a company that peddles to an unsuspecting public pharmaceuticals with a list of side effects as long as your arm and responsible for millions of adverse reaction events and 106,000 deaths annually would actually be concerned about their employees’ health is no doubt lost on Bissacia. On top of that, such a policy is an egregious violation of the employees’ rights.
Employment lawyer Richard Schramm told KPIX 5 News: “(CVS Executives) better get some pretty good legal counsel and decide whether your policy is really legal, because the policy as announced is not legal.”
Schramm told KPIX 5 the company is trying to tell employees what they can and can’t do on their off time.
“If we granted that right to employers, employers could tell employees who to date, who to see, what kinds of foods to eat, what to drink, all kinds of behavior off site could be controlled. And that’s absolutely not the law in California,” he said. Nor anywhere else, except maybe Florida.
“The approach they’re taking is based on the assumption that somehow these people need a whip, they need to be penalized in order to make themselves healthy,” Patient Privacy Rights founder Deborah Peel, M.D., told ABC News.
For the company’s many low-wage in-store employees, it’s essentially blackmail. There’s no way they can absorb an additional $50 per month increase in premiums, so they’ll have to comply.
And what will CVS do with the information? Not to worry; CVS won’t have access to the personal information. It will be given to WebMD.
And therein lies another rub. WebMD is a major propaganda arm of Big Pharma, and Big Pharma and the health insurance cartel wrote the Obamacare law. Drug criminal Eli Lilly was an original investor of WebMD. Eli Lilly has repeatedly been cited, fined and successfully sued for illegal and deceptive marketing, covering up the harmful effects of its drugs and buying the influence of doctors and regulatory agencies (as have all the major drug manufacturers).

Gun groups promise fight as U.N. inches toward override of Second Amendment

Washington Times
March 28, 2013



American gun rights advocates said Thursday that they remain determined to block a far-reaching U.S. agreement on international arms sales, warning that the pact could lead to a national firearms registry and disrupt the U.S. gun market, even as the accord ran into an unexpected last-minute snag in negotiations in New York.

Objections from North KoreaSyria and Iran prevented negotiators from clinching a deal by acclamation on the proposed U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, although diplomats and private advocacy groups say they still anticipate an overwhelming positive vote when the world body's General Assembly votes on the agreement next week.

But American gun rights activists insist the treaty is riddled with loopholes and is unworkable because it includes “small arms and light weapons” alongside battle tanks and combat aircraft in its list of weaponry subject to international regulations. They do not trust U.N. assertions that the pact is meant to regulate only cross-border trade and would have no impact on domestic U.S. laws and markets.

“Our main concern is that civilian firearms are included in the scope of this treaty,” said Thomas Mason, executive secretary for the Americas at the World Forum on Shooting Activities, which counts the National Rifle Association as a member and opposes the U.N. treaty.


Homeland Security Demands “Obedience” in Message to Agents

The New American
March 28, 2013
Written by  Alex Newman


Homeland Security Demands “Obedience” in Message to Agents
DHS Video

The Obama administration and its controversial Department of Homeland Security are under fire for sending what is being described as a “chilling” message to U.S. Border Patrol agents demanding “obedience,” Liberty News Network (LNN) national correspondent and law-enforcement advocate Andy Ramirez revealed in anexclusive video report (see below) calling for Congress to investigate. The word “obedience” was defined on the official TV screens as: “quickly and cheerfully carrying out the direction of those who are responsible for me.”

Reliable sources inside the agency confirmed to Ramirez, who also serves as president of the Law Enforcement Officers Advocates Council (LEOAC), that the controversial message demanding “obedience” was displayed for agents on TV monitors in the San Diego and Tucson sectors last week. In his explosive video for LNN exposing the scheme, Ramirez also provided a picture of the “propaganda” graphic that he obtained from a source within Customs and Border Protection (CBP) who requested anonymity (see photo above).

“This ‘Obedience’ order just continues a long recent history of intimidation going back to the 2004 ‘gag order’ by then-Chief David Aguilar,” Ramirez told The New American in an interview, referring to a controversial non-disclosure agreement purporting to bar agents from releasing important information to lawmakers and the media. “The primary point of this all is to purge the patrol of experienced agents who refuse to go along to get along.”

Calling for congressional hearings to investigate the controversial “obedience” message, Ramirez said the scheme was frightening. “Cheerfully?!” he exclaimed about the graphic, sounding bewildered. “Responses I’m hearing from sources at the Border Patrol include the words Orwellian, creepy, sickening, craziness, Nazi handbook — and those are just the ones I can actually repeat.”

Ramirez also wondered what happens to Border Patrol agents who do not “cheerfully” engage in “obedience” upon demand, especially if orders included instructions to violate the Constitution, for example. “Do they go to one of the long-rumored FEMA camps guarded by employees and DHS armored personnel carriers?” he asked. “Perhaps we hear loudspeakers playing ‘Deutschland, Deutschland Uber Alles’ — something out of Hitler’s Nazi Germany?”

Alternatively, Ramirez speculated half-seriously, there could be an even more chilling fate awaiting those who refuse to carry out unlawful or unconstitutional orders. “Are they now classified as domestic terrorists, in which case a yet-to-be-identified official at the Department of Justice can have them taken out with a drone strike?” he wondered. “As we just heard in recent congressional hearings, that’s pretty much what can now happen; a drone strike on an individual who is considered a terrorist on U....”         

According to Ramirez, both the Border Patrol and Customs have already engaged in a number of “purges” where agents close to retirement were forced to retire even though they still had room for advancement. “They want employees who are loyal to DHS and CBP, which is why the old BP logos and decals have been pretty much removed off the vehicles,” the LNN correspondent told The New American in an exclusive interview. 

“Agencies like CBP, ICE, TSA, and the like were placed under DHS' roof for command and control purposes,” Ramirez continued. “However the real purpose has been to keep the facts from reaching the public. In point of fact, DHS is a propaganda ministry in its own right, given the blatant misinformation released by top officials. In the wrong hands it could easily act in a way similar to ‘State Security’.”

In addition to exposing the controversial image used to condition Border Patrol agents into blind obedience, Ramirez took the opportunity to blast the agency’s leadership as well. “As the Border Patrol enters its 89th year since it was established, there is no figure who has done more to destroy this honorable agency thanDavid Aguilar and his handpicked cronies, including current national Chief Mike Fisher,” he said.      

The longtime advocate for Border Patrol agents, who has testified before Congress on multiple occasions, also noted that management was destroying morale. Among other concerns, Ramirez pointed to pay increases for top leadership amid sequester even as agents face potentially massive pay cuts. He blasted what he said was top officials’ efforts to prevent agents from enforcing U.S. immigration laws, too.

Another concern highlighted by Ramirez was the U.S. government’s willingness to “sacrifice agents as scalps through the Justice Department upon request of the Mexican government.” He was referring, of course, to the now-infamous prosecution of Border Patrol agent Jesus “Chito” Diaz,... that the agent had allegedly pulled on the handcuffs of a young drug smuggler

Indeed, the Mexican government seems to be rapidly expanding its influence on the American side of the border. Ramirez slammed what he described as the U.S. federal government ceding control over the border to the Mexican military, drug cartels, and human smugglers. Notoriously corrupt authorities from Mexico now have “virtual oversight impunity” at U.S. Border Patrol facilities, he explained.    

Finally, Ramirez lambasted top officials’ participation in the cover-up of the murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, who was killed by drug smugglers apparently armed by the Obama administration under operation “Fast and Furious.” While the explosive scandal and the subsequent cover-up eventually resulted in Attorney General Eric Holder being held in criminal contempt of Congress, justice has yet to be served. 

“It’s no wonder morale has been broken at the Border Patrol,” Ramirez concluded.   

The New American reached out to the Department of Homeland Security with a number of questions about the “obedience” scandal. Who approved this? Is it from DHS, CBP, or some other agency? Are such messages being used in other DHS components? How does DHS respond to criticism from Ramirez and agents about this message? Does DHS consider this type of messaging to be appropriate? Are there any exceptions to "obedience"? What happens if agents do not “quickly and cheerfully" carry out "the direction of those who are responsible” for them?

While most of the questions were left unanswered, Bill Brooks with the CBP Office of Public Affairs offered a brief statement about the issue. “Information Display System slides are meant to communicate important and useful information to personnel,” Brooks told The New American in an e-mail. “This example falls short of that criteria, and has already been removed.”

For Ramirez, however, though he was glad to hear that the offensive slides have already been removed, the official “non-denial” response was not enough. “Well apparently CBP has responded to the Obedience slide, but refused to comment on who ordered it, and the other facts I reported for LNN,” he said. “Clearly they're not denying it.”

Still, even though the slide is supposedly gone, Congress needs to get involved and provide real oversight of DHS, Ramirez explained. The other alternative is to continue allowing the “out-of-control bureaucracy” to run roughshod over their employees, the rights of Americans, and constitutional principles. For Ramirez, doing nothing should not even be an option. 

“Congress needs to publicly investigate this ‘Obedience’ slide as well as the DHS purchase of over 1 billion rounds of ammoFEMA camps, and armored personnel carriers, for there are many serious implications involved here,” Ramirez concluded, calling on officials to make a public apology to agents. “Also, the officials responsible for this blatant attempt to intimidate our Border Patrol agents must be terminated with the same loss of benefits as employees who get terminated on trumped up charges I've documented over the past eight years.”

Alex Newman is a correspondent for The New American, covering economics, politics, and more. He can be reached at anewman@thenewamerican.com.

How Obama Is Sidestepping Congress On Gun Control


constitutionschool.com
March 30, 2013
Photo: Emily Stanchfield.
With a looming gun control vote in the Democratic controlled Senate, scheduled for next month, the Obama Administration is realizing its dream of greater gun control legislation may have been just that – a dream.
The reason being is that whatever bill the Senate puts together, the odds are that Republicans in the House, most of whom have been undeterred by Obama’s Twitter bots harassing their accounts daily, will likely mark the legislation dead on arrival.
Even the Democrats’ top man in the Senate, Harry Reid, recently admitted that even among Democrats in his chamber, the bill probably won’t have enough support to pass.
Still yet, a defiant President Obama is pressing forward with his gun control agenda with or without their help – via executive order.
According to a recent report published by The Hill, “The president has used his executive powers to bolster the national background check system, jump start government research on the causes of gun violence and create a million-dollar ad campaign…”
These steps have enabled federal law enforcement officials to have unprecedented access to many state records, previously locked away from their eyes due to the nation’s longstanding tradition of separation of powers – giving federal agents access to many state records that detail just who in our nation owns a firearm and how many.
Other steps have included eliminating many of the road blocks that presently prevent state governments from notifying the federal government of individuals suspected or deemed to be mentally unstable. This again gives the federal government more power to investigate, restrict and even detain such individuals.
Earlier this month, the DOJ announced a $20 million grant program aimed at incentivizing many of the red states who have previously refused to surrender their records to the NICS database.
“The economy is bad and all governments, state and local, are strapped for cash. Unlike the federal government, states can’t print their own money, so they need revenue badly. The Obama Administration knows this and is dangling a pretty lucrative carrot in front of some of the states hardest hit,” notes one political commentator.
Republicans argue that the President is not interested in merely preventing mass gun violence, as he is maintaining, but rather that he has his eyes set on restricting legal gun owners from fully enjoying their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
They point to studies the Obama administration has ordered the Consumer Product Safety Commission to conduct, studying whether new trigger lock laws should be implemented.
Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday the expected upcoming Senate votes on gun control are only the beginning of the White House’s fight.
Presently, the fate of gun control legislation is unclear. A vote on a Senate bill, including expanded background checks and harsher penalties for gun trafficking, is expected next month.
The White House also has been pushing for limits on military style assault weapons and high capacity magazines, but those provisions won’t be part of the Senate bill. Instead they are to be offered as amendments. Admendments that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid believes do not enjoy enough support to pass.
“That doesn’t mean this is the end of the process. This is the beginning of the process,” Biden said during a conference call organized by Mayors Against Illegal Guns pushing for the gun control measures.

The Global Elite Are Very Clearly Telling Us That They Plan To Raid Our Bank Accounts


Economic Collapse
March 28, 2013
Don’t be surprised when the global elite confiscate money from your bank account one day.  They are already very clearly telling you that they are going to do it.  Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem is the president of the Eurogroup – an organization of eurozone finance ministers that was instrumental in putting together the Cyprus “deal” – and he has said publicly that what has just happened in Cyprus will serve as a blueprint for future bank bailouts.  What that means is that when the chips are down, they are going to come after YOUR money.  So why should anyone put a large amount of money in the bank at this point?  Perhaps you can make one or two percent on your money if you shop around for a really good deal, but there is also a chance that 40 percent (or more) of your money will be confiscated if the bank fails.  And considering the fact that there are vast numbers of banks all over the United States and Europe that are teetering on the verge of insolvency, why would anyone want to take such a risk?  What the global elite have done is that they have messed around with the fundamental trust that people have in the banking system.  In order for any financial system to work, people must have faith in the safety and security of that financial system.  People put their money in the bank because they think that it will be safe there.  If you take away that feeling of safety, you jeopardize the entire system.
So exactly how did the big banks in Cyprus get into so much trouble?  Well, they have been doing exactly what hundreds of other large banks all over the U.S. and Europe have been doing.  They have been gambling with our money.  In particular, the big banks in Cyprus made huge bets on Greek sovereign debt which ended up failing.
But what happened in Cyprus is just the tip of the iceberg.  All over the planet major financial institutions are being incredibly reckless with client money.  They are leveraged to the hilt and they have transformed the global financial system into a gigantic casino.
If they win on their bets, they become fabulously wealthy.
If they lose on their bets, they know that the politicians won’t let the banks fail.  They know that they will get bailed out one way or another.
And who pays?
We do.
Either our tax dollars are used to fund a government-sponsored bailout, or as we have just witnessed in Cyprus, money is directly confiscated from our bank accounts.
And then the game begins again.
People need to understand that the precedent that has just been set in Cyprus is a game changer.
The next time that a major bank fails in Greece or Italy or Spain (or in the United States for that matter), the precedent that has been set in Cyprus will be looked to as a “template” for how to handle the situation.
Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem has even publicly admitted that what just happened in Cyprus will serve as a model for future bank bailouts.  Just check out what he said a few days ago
“If there is a risk in a bank, our first question should be ‘Okay, what are you in the bank going to do about that? What can you do to recapitalise yourself?’. If the bank can’t do it, then we’ll talk to the shareholders and the bondholders, we’ll ask them to contribute in recapitalising the bank, and if necessary the uninsured deposit holders”
Dijsselbloem insists that this will cause people “to think about the risks” before they put their money somewhere…
“It will force all financial institutions, as well as investors, to think about the risks they are taking on because they will now have to realise that it may also hurt them. The risks might come towards them.”
Well, as depositors in Cyprus just found out, there is a risk that you could lose 40 percent (and that is the best case scenario) of your money if you put it in the bank.
Why would anyone want to take that risk – especially in a nation that is already experiencing very serious financial troubles such as Greece, Italy or Spain?
As if that was not enough, Dijsselbloem later went in front of the Dutch parliament and publicly defended a wealth tax like the one that was just imposed in Cyprus.
Dijsselbloem is being widely criticized, and rightfully so.  But at least he is being more honest that many other politicians.  His predecessor as the head of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker, once said that “you have to lie” to the people in order to keep the financial markets calm…
Mr. Dijsselbloem’s style contrasts with that of his predecessor, Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg’s prime minister, who spoke in a low mumble at news conferences and was expert at sidestepping questions. Mr. Juncker once even advocated lying as a way to prevent financial markets from panicking—as they did Monday after Mr. Dijsselbloem’s comments.
“When it becomes serious, you have to lie,” Mr. Juncker said in April 2011. “If you have pre-indicated possible decisions, you are feeding speculation in the financial markets.”
But Dijsselbloem is certainly not the only one among the global elite that is admitting what is coming next.  Just check out what Joerg Kraemer, the chief economist at Commerzbank, recently told Handelsblatt about what he believes should be done in Italy…
“A tax rate of 15 percent on financial assets would probably be enough to push the Italian government debt to below the critical level of 100 percent of gross domestic product”
Yikes!
And as I wrote about the other day, the Finance Minister of New Zealand is proposing that bank account holders in his nation should be required to “take a haircut” if any banks in his nation fail.
They are telling us what they plan to do.
They are telling us that they plan to raid all of our bank accounts when the global financial system fails.
And calling it a “haircut” does not change the fact of what it really is.  The truth is that when they confiscate money from our bank accounts it is outright theft.  Just check out what the Daily Mail had to say about the situation in Cyprus…
People who rob old ladies in the street, or hold up security vans, are branded as thieves. Yet when Germany presides over a heist of billions of pounds from private savers’ Cyprus bank accounts, to ‘save the euro’ for the hundredth time, this is claimed as high statesmanship.
It is nothing of the sort. The deal to secure a €10 billion German bailout of the bankrupt Mediterranean island is one of the nastiest and most immoral political acts of modern times.
It has struck fear into the hearts of hundreds of millions of European citizens, because it establishes a dire precedent.
And when you cause paralysis in the banking system, a once thriving economy can freeze up almost overnight.  The following is an excerpt from a report from someone that is actually living over in Cyprus…
As it stands now, nowhere in Cyprus accepts credit or debit cards anymore for fear of not being paid, it is CASH ONLYBusinesses have stopped functioning because they cannot pay employees OR pay for the stock they receive because the banks are closedIf the banks remain closed, the economy will be destroyed and STOP COMPLETELY. Looting, robberies and theft are already on the rise. If the banks open now, there will be a massive run on the bank, and the banks will FAIL loosing all of its deposits, also causing an economic crash. TONIGHT there are demonstrations at most street corners and especially at the parliament building (just 2 miles from me).
Many are thinking that the ECB and EU are allowing Cyprus to fail as a test ground for new financial standards.
Just wanted all you guys to know the real story of whats going on here. Prayers are appreciated (although this is very interesting to watch) many of my local friends have lots of money in the banks.
Would similar things happen in the United States if there was a major banking crisis someday?
That is something to think about.
In any event, the problems in the rest of Europe continue to get even worse…
-The stock market in Greece is crashing.  It is down by more than 10 percent over the past two days.
-The stock markets in Italy and Spain are experiencing huge declines as well.  Banking stocks are being hit particularly hard.
-The Bank of Spain says that the Spanish economy will sink even deeper into recession this year.
-The latest numbers from the Spanish government show that Spain’s debt problem is rapidly getting worse
“The central government’s interest bill surged 15 percent last year to 26 billion euros, while tax receipts slumped 21 percent. The cost of servicing debt represented 30 percent of the taxes collected at the end of December, up from 20 percent a year earlier.”
-The euro took quite a tumble on Thursday and the euro will likely continue to decline steadily in the weeks and months to come.
For a very long time I have been warning that the next major wave of the economic collapse is going to originate in Europe.
Hopefully people are starting to see what I am talking about.
As this point, the major banks in Europe are leveraged about 26 to 1, and that is close to the kind of leverage that Lehman Brothers had when it finally collapsed.  As a whole, European banks are drowning in debt, they are taking risks that are almost incomprehensible and now faith in those banks has been greatly undermined by what has happened in Cyprus.
Anyone that cannot see a crisis coming in Europe simply does not understand the financial world.  A moment of reckoning is rapidly approaching for Europe.  The following is from a recent article by Graham Summers
At the end of the day, the reason Europe hasn’t been fixed is because CAPITAL SIMPLY ISN’T THERE. Europe and its alleged backstops are out of money. This includes Germany, the ECB and the mega-bailout funds such as the ESM.
Germany has already committed to bailouts that equal 5% of its GDP. The single largest transfer payment ever made by one country to another was the Marshall Plan in which the US transferred an amount equal to 5% of its GDP. Germany WILL NOT exceed this. So don’t count on more money from Germany.
The ECB is chock full of garbage debts which have been pledged as collateral for loans. If anyone of significance defaults in Europe, the ECB is insolvent. Sure it can print more money, but once the BIG collateral call hits, money printing is useless because the amount of money the ECB would have to print would implode the system.
And then of course there are the mega bailout funds such as the ESM. The only problem here is that Spain and Italy make up 30% of the ESM’s supposed “funding.” That’s right, nearly one third of the mega-bailout fund’s capital will come from countries that are bankrupt themselves.
What could go wrong?
Right now, close to half of all money that is on deposit at banks in Europe is uninsured.  As people move that uninsured money out of the banks, the amount of money that will be required to “fix the banks” will go up even higher.
It would be wise to try to avoid the big banks at this point – especially those with very large exposure to derivatives.  Any financial institution that uses customer money to make reckless bets is not to be trusted.
If you can find a small local bank or credit union to do business with you will probably be better off.
And don’t think that this kind of thing can never happen in the United States.
One of the key players that was pushing the idea of a “wealth tax” in Cyprus was the IMF.  And everyone knows that the IMF is heavily dominated by the United States.  In fact, the headquarters of the IMF is located right in the heart of Washington D.C. not too far from the White House.  When I worked in D.C. I would walk by the IMF headquarters quite a bit.
So if the United States thought that confiscating money from bank accounts was a great idea in Cyprus, why wouldn’t they implement such a thing here under similar circumstances?
The global elite are telling us what they plan to do, and the game has dramatically changed.
Move your money while you still can.
Unfortunately, it is already too late for the people of Cyprus.

U.S. flies Stealth bomber practice raids over South Korea

Reuters
March 28, 2013


One of three Air Force Global Strike Command B-2 Spirit bombers returns to home base at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, March 20, 2011 after striking targets in support of the international response which is enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya. REUTERS/Kenny Holston/U.S. Air Force photo/Handout
SEOUL | Thu Mar 28, 2013 8:43am EDT
(Reuters) - The United States flew two Stealth practice bombing runs over South Korea on Thursday, an exercise bound to infuriate North Koreawhich already threatened both countries with nuclear attack.
An official with the U.S. military said two B-2, or Stealth, bombers flew from an air base in Missouri to South Korea as part of Foal Eagle war drills being held with South Korea.
The exercise is not likely to go unnoticed in Pyongyang which has raised its rhetoric against the United States in response to new U.N. sanctions imposed after its third nuclear test in February.
The U.S. military announced on March 15 it was bolstering missile defenses in response to threats from the North, including a threat to conduct a preemptive nuclear strike against the United States.
Despite the shrill words, few believe North Korea, formally known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, will risk starting a full-out war.
North and South Korea are still technically at war anyway after their 1950-53 civil conflict ended with an armistice, not a treaty, which the North says it has since torn to pieces.
(Reporting by Jack Kim; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by Vicki Allen)

National Popular Vote for President Is Not the Answer

JBS.org
March 28, 2013


JBS CEO Art Thompson's weekly news video update for March 18 - 24, 2013.
In this week's analysis behind the news video, JBS CEO Art Thompson discusses: Why the Electoral College is so important; the Cyprus Banking Crisis; New York City's Sustainable Cities event; the changing definition of inflation; and a few thoughts on Pope Francis.

Israel in the End Times - Bible Prophecy

You Tube
March 27, 2013



Freeway Ricky Ross on Alex Jones Tv How The CIA Supply, Control, Op

Infowars.com
March 27, 2013

Mark's note: I won't say how I know "Freeway Ricky" and others associated in his business, but I knew one of his dealers in the Ohio area who was also arrested and got time for these crimes.......











Cyprus Deal Turns Bank Depositors into Lenders, Abolishes National Sovereignty

The New American
March 25, 2013




Cyprus Deal Turns Bank Depositors into Lenders, Abolishes National Sovereignty
Late Sunday night the president of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, was officially informed of the deal the unelected Eurogroup had come up with in order for Cyprus to receive its bailout from the European Central Bank. Anastasiades flew to Brussels on Sunday to meet with Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and José Barroso, the president of the European Commission (EC). The meeting was run by Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council. On his way to the meeting, Anastasiades admitted that “the situation is very difficult.”
That was an understatement. Once the details were explained to Anastasiades, the Eurogroup — consisting of unelected finance ministers from each country that uses the euro, and headed by another unelected bureaucrat, Jeroen Dijsselbloem — issued a statement of unanimity:
The Eurogroup has reached an agreement with the Cypriot authorities on the key elements necessary for a future macroeconomic adjustment program. This agreement is supported by all euro area Member States as well as the three institutions.
The details were ugly. There will first of all be a “downsizing of the [country’s] financial sector” by theft of part of every account over roughly $130,000 (€100,000) in Cyprus’ two largest banks, the Bank of Cyprus and the Cyprus Popular Bank (the Laiki Bank), which hold half of all bank deposits in the country. Any amount above $130,000 will make a “contribution” to the deal amounting to an estimated 20 percent while those accounts held in Cyprus’ other 26 banks will be nicked four percent. The Cyprus Popular Bank will be liquidated and accounts $130,000 or smaller will be transferred to the Bank of Cyprus. Accounts over $130,000 will disappear along with any investors’ bonds in that bank. The country’s capital gains tax rate will be increased along with corporate income tax rates.
Said “downsizing” was exacerbated by Anastasiades telling his friends what was coming on Thursday and to get their money out before the deal was announced. According to the Daily Mail, within the next 48 hours some $6 billion of foreign deposits (estimated to be between $20 and $40 billion) was transferred out of the country, leaving a banking system weakened by haircuts already suffered due to the Greek financial crisis teetering on the edge.
Anticipating that once the banks were opened small depositors would be taking their money out as well, the deal kept the remaining banks closed indefinitely, limiting depositors just $130 maximum daily withdrawals from their accounts through ATM machines.
And a new term was introduced into the lexicon of the day: “bail-in." A bail-in occurs when the contract terms of a bond are unilaterally and illegally changed by an outside illegal and unelected body so that the bond holder who normally would stand at the head of the line in a bankruptcy gets to “contribute” part of his investment to save the bank in which he invested. In essence it’s a forced haircut.

Rosa Korie Explains Why Public Must Awaken to Agenda 21


Infowars.com
March 27, 2013
Rosa Koire, ASA, is the executive director of the Post Sustainability Institute. She is a forensic commercial real estate appraiser specializing in eminent domain valuation.
Her nearly 30 years of experience analyzing land use and property value enabled her to recognize the planning revolution sweeping the country.
While fighting to stop a huge redevelopment project in her city she researched the corporate, political, and financial interests behind it and found UN Agenda 21.
Impacting every aspect of our lives, UN Agenda 21/Sustainable Development is a corporate manipulation using the Green Mask of environmental concern to forward a globalist plan. Rosa speaks across the nation and is a regular blogger on her website: http://www.democratsagainstunagenda21…

Too big to fail or ignore: How the US went from over 13,000 banks in 1987 to 6,000 today. $7.4 trillion in deposits backed by $32 billion dollars.

MyBudget360
March 27, 2013


Remember when too big to fail brought our economy to a grinding halt?  Of course you do because this is a recent financial event with dramatic ramifications.  In the time since the buffet of bailouts was rolled out you might be surprised that the too big to fail banks have only grown even larger and if they were too big to fail before, what happens when they become even bigger?  Some walk around in a financially comfortable delusion about our current system even though we all realize that we will never payback our $16 trillion in national debt.  You also have a banking system backing $7.4 trillion in insured deposits with $32 billion (that is, 0.43 percent).  Yet in our current system the Fed is digitally inflating away our currency and limiting available banking options.  Are we simply ignoring the too big to fail?
Shrinking the number of banks while becoming even bigger
The US banking industry has been consolidating for many years.  In fact, we have gone from over 13,000 banks in the US in 1987 to roughly 6,000 today:
number of banks
At the same time, you can track the trend that banks have gotten much larger in this same period of time in terms of the assets they carry:
assets at fdic banks
You need to remember what banks consider “assets” because it will be a different definition from what you would consider an asset.  For a bank, a mortgage is an asset.  This is money that you owe the bank while the mortgage is a liability on your balance sheet.  The home is an asset but certainly not the mortgage.  Think you own your home?  Stop paying on that mortgage and find out who really owns it.  Yet banks can increase their asset column by the simple act of writing more mortgages.  This is good when housing prices only go up but when they go down, suddenly those assets can go underwater.  Deposits are not an asset to a bank since these are liabilities that must be paid back to customers.  That is why the fact that $7.4 trillion in deposits is backed up by only $32 billion is somewhat astonishing.  I think few people realize this but in reality, the Fed and U.S. Treasury would simply turn on the printing press and inflate away our currency if they had to (and they are).
large asset banks

We have more than 50 banks with $20 billion in assets or more.  Take JP Morgan Chase for example.  Chase had $2.031 trillion in assets under management in 2009.  Today?  That number is $2.359 trillion (an increase of $328 billion at a time when we fully realized that too big to fail was the central culprit of our economic collapse).  Yet here we are simply allowing the banking sector to get even larger with the full unbridled support of the Federal Reserve.
What occurred in Cyprus is somewhat telling even though this was a tiny island in Europe.  To preserve the central currency the Euro exacted some tough measures on Cyprus and their banks.  Cyprus is a tiny part of the EU but it is part of the union.  This is very telling in terms of how central banks will act when push comes to shove.  In a way, we see similar actions of how the government and banking system is essentially forcing states where cost of living is more modest to subsidize the spending of expensive states (i.e., New York and California).  One clear example of this is the mortgage deduction.  Most people get very little benefit from this because the typical home in the US is roughly $170,000.  So the deduction only helps out a little.  But what about people that take on $500,000, $750,000, or even million dollar mortgages?  These people can claim a ridiculously high deduction and this comes at a cost to the rest of the nation.  Banks benefit of course because they can carry more “assets” on their books and appear larger.
The financial system encourages heavy leverage.  It is a big reason why student debt is now well over $1 trillion as well.  There is little reason why the banking system would want to put any sensible brakes on this until of course, we have another financial crisis that will hit because the same risks are being taken just in slightly different forms.  Yet people are getting more in tune to this and the standard of living for most Americans has gone stagnant.  Sure the press is focused on the Dow reaching a record peak but a very tiny portion of Americans even own stock and a good part of gains came from slashing labor and reducing wages.  Too big to fail has become too big to ignore but ignoring is exactly what we are doing.  Let us all rest assured and feel comfortable that $7.4 trillion is backed by $32 billion.

NY Times says CIA supplying arms to Syria insurgents

Press TV
March 27, 2013



According to the New York Times Arab governments, Turkey and the CIA have sharply increased the flow of weapons to Syrian insurgents.

While expanding a secret airlift of arms and equipment for the militants to use against President Bashar al-Assad, the New york times has based their findings according to air traffic data, interviews with officials in several countries and the accounts of rebel commanders. 


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North Korea puts Rocket Units on Alert to ‘attack US’


The Telegraph
March 26, 2013
The announcement, carried by the KCNA state media, was in the name of the Supreme Command, which has attracted attention in South Korea because it is an emergency division of the government that is only operational during time of war.
In the announcement, North Korea said it would “show off our army and people’s stern reaction to safeguard our sovereignty and the highest dignity through military actions.”
The comments come a day after Kim Jong-un was again pictured visiting military units, watching exercises on the east coast involving troops storming ashore from hovercraft and artillery shelling targets.

The Robot Reality: Service Jobs Are Next to Go

CNBC
March 27, 2013
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images
President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sample matza bread offered to them by small robots during a tour of a technology exposition at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.


If you meet Baxter, the latest humanoid robot from Rethink Robotics – you should get comfortable with him, because you'll likely be seeing more of him soon.
Rethink Robotics released Baxter last fall and received an overwhelming response from the manufacturing industry, selling out of their production capacity through April. He's cheap to buy ($22,000), easy to train, and can safely work side-by-side with humans. He's just what factories need to make their assembly lines more efficient – and yes, to replace costly human workers.
But manufacturing is only the beginning.
This April, Rethink will launch a software platform that will allow Baxter to do a more complex sequencing of tasks – for example, picking up a part, holding it in front of an inspection station and receiving a signal to place it in a "good" or "not good" pile. The company is also releasing a software development kit soon that will allow third parties – like university robotics researchers – to create applications for Baxter.
These third parties "are going to do all sorts of stuff we haven't envisioned," says Scott Eckert, CEO of Rethink Robotics. He envisions something similar to Apple's app store happening for Baxter. A spiffed-up version of the robot could soon be seen flipping burgers at McDonalds, folding t-shirts at Gap, or pouring coffee at Starbucks.
"Could [Baxter] be a barista?" asks Eckert. "It's not a target market, but it's something that's pretty repeatable. Put a cup in, push a button, espresso comes out, etc. There are simple repeatable service tasks that Baxter could do over time."