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Attorney General score victory for millions of bank victim homeowners

­by the El Reporero’s staff and news agencies

What was considered a big gamble, California Attorney General Kamala Harris, won in the settlement negotiations with banks over illegal foreclosures.

It’s a gamble that appears to have paid off spectacularly.

Harris, whose state has been one of the hardest hit by the U.S. foreclosure crisis, pulled out of talks with the banks last September, saying what they were offering was grossly insufficient.

At the time, her office said on Thursday, California was being offered between $2 billion and $4 billion.

Yet on Thursday, Harris held a press conference in Los Angeles to herald a deal that looks exceptionally favorable to California. Out of the $40 billion in total benefits that are expected to flow from the $25 billion settlement that the banks agreed to pay, California is set to emerge with some $18 billion.

For the Greenllining Istitute, the bank settlement will help Californians, but Follow-through will be key to ensuring help reaches struggling families, The “robo-signing” settlement announced today represents real help for California homeowners who suffered due to misdeeds by loan servicers and other financial institutions, but more must still be done to help struggling families and stabilize the housing market, policy experts at The Greenlining Institute said today.

“We’re pleased that California homeowners facing foreclosure and those who have lost homes will get meaningful help without the banks getting a complete get-out-of-jail-free card,” said Greenlining Institute Executive Director Orson Aguilar. “Kamala Harris deserves applause for hanging tough to make sure Californians get real relief and that the enforcement mechanisms have teeth.”

California homeowners are expected to get up to $18 billion in relief, of which $12 billion will be in principal reduction, with priority going to hardest-hit regions.

“We applaud the incentives for principal reduction and the relief for struggling homeowners not covered by the administration’s just-announced housing plan,” Aguilar added. “This deal is a first step toward meaningful relief for distressed homeowners, and we look forward to more,” a statement from the California Community Advocates said.

“It will be crucial to make sure this assistance gets to those who need it,” Aguilar said. “There must be an aggressive outreach strategy to ensure that distressed homeowners know about these options, and it needs to include non-traditional outreach through organizations like housing counseling agencies, community development corporations, nonprofitsw, churches and the ethnic media.”

The agreement between the Department of Justice, state attorneys general and banks stems from disclosure of widespread mishandling of foreclosure processing, revealed in 2010.

“There is no doubt that the settlement announced today is stronger than it would have otherwise been, due to the courageous stance of AG Harris and others, who fought hard to bring more relief to homeowners and make sure that any settlement does not allow the banks to avoid accountability for fraudulent activity not yet investigated,” said.

However, the reported restitution payment for those who already lost their homes is just a tiny fraction of the wealth stripped from so many families, especially families of color.

We look forward to working closely with the Attorney General’s office to pursue meaningful, permanent reform for Californians that will hold the banks accountable.

“This settlement is a down payment on the debt owed to homeowners and communities by the Wall Street gamblers that crashed our economy. It will bring relief to some of the victims of the fraud and abuse of Wall Street, but there is much more that needs to be done.

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After 3 months of protests, a glimmer of hope for residents

por Jonathan Nathan‚

Reprinted from BeyondChron

Una familia protesta las ejecuciones hipotecarias injustas del Wells Fargo Bank.A family protests unjust Wells Fargo Bank’s foreclosure.

It’s been three months now that ACCE activists, municipal politicians, and local residents have protested the major bank branches in the Persia Triangle over foreclosure and home loan practices. Three months of hearing nothing but platitudes and get-back-to-yous from the banks. Three months of no relief. But the struggle of home ownership has been a longer — and realer — fight for the residents under threat. Two of them spoke to the press on Tuesday about their experiences before taking their cases — one more weary time — to the bank responsible for their hardships.

Maria Villareal embarked on the journey that has been her current home 14 years ago. The loan for her Naples Street home was originally owed to Wachovia, but was taken over by Wells Fargo. When Villareal’s husband went on disability and the family’s income stream dwindled, Wells Fargo sold the family an adjustable rate mortgage, a dangerous proposition that has become so destructive that it’s illegal in parts of the country. Adjustable rate mortgages are frequently targeted at low-income populations, often groups with little formal education and/or a language barrier.

Wells Fargo eventually ratcheted the interest rate to 8%, bringing monthly payments up to $5000. Villareal’s husband was forced to get off disability and is working under duress. Her children are also working to support the family. Villareal’s home has entered into the foreclosure. She’s currently asking that Wells Fargo give her a lower interest rate, a lower monthly payment, and a reduced principle. She adamantly insists that she doesn’t want anything for free — just the opportunity to pay for her home. The sale date for her home has been postponed indefinitely, but could be scheduled at any time. Monica Kenney’s story doesn’t go back as far, but it’s even more fraught with pain. Kenney purchased her first home in July 2008. “I realized a dream,” she said.

The Vienna Street home was 582 square feet and cost $352,000. The starting monthly payments on her loan from Wells Fargo were $2700. Kenney got the payments modified down to $2400 per month in 2009, but unforeseen disaster struck in January 2010 when she lost her job.

Over the course of the next eight months, she emptied her two retirement accounts to pay her house note, but by September, she was out of resources and still out of work. The following January, Wells Fargo told her that her home was in foreclosure, but that they were willing to work through the process with her. By now the way this story ends is a familiar refrain to anyone who’s followed the foreclosure crisis, but no homeowner assumes that she’ll be the one to fall. Kenney worked with the bank for months to come up with a solution, constantly being referred back and forth from department to department, from desk to desk, from phone call to phone call, never getting anywhere. She got the distinct impression that there was very little communication among different units within the bank, that she was being victimized by the bureaucracy. Finally, in June of last year, Wells Fargo offered her a forbearance. Essentially, they offered to let her pay $600 per month until she got a job, at which time her payments would revert to normal. The agreement would allow her to stay in her home while she weathered the storm of unemployment.Kenney agreed, and the plan was formalized in writing. She made her first $600 payment.

The next day the bank put her house up for auction. Wells Fargo has not returned that first payment to Kenney, and has refused to work with her to resolve the situation. Kenney was a victim of “dual-tracking,” a process that ACCE members have attacked publicly before, by which a bank pursues loan modification and foreclosure processes simultaneously, often without communication between the two divisions, often resulting in a home being sold even as an agreement is being reached to prevent foreclosure. Kenney’s home is now owned by Fannie Mae. Kenney hopes to work out an ­arrangement with Fannie Mae to get them to honor the forbearance agreement.

Kenney and Villareal led a small cadre of ACCE members and upset residents into the local Wells Fargo branch. Unlike past demonstrations and sit-ins, this one was quiet. But all was not lost. The regional manager for San Francisco happened to be in the office on Tuesday, and spent about a half-hour on the phone with his superiors and in conversation with Kenney and Villareal about the specifics of their situations. He made no promises, but said higher-ups at the bank would be in contact with ACCE, with Kenney, and with Villareal, and held out the possibility of hope. After three months, after three years, after fourteen years, that possibility was good news.

 

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Love – a magic word

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: In the occasion of the celebration of Valentine’s Day, El Reportero is proud to present the following article, submitted by Antonella Weisson E, that tells how subtle and charming is Love, to be enjoyed in this day of Love and Friendship.

Submitted by Antonella Weisson E

February has come in this discussed year of 2012, a month that as always is related to LOVE… a tiny four letter word with a meaning that even humankind is trying to accurately define. If you would look for ways to define it in the dictionary or in books, we will find a world of answers, but all of them converge into one small description of what it comprises…

“LOVE.. Universal concept related to an affinity between beings, defined in a variety of ways by different ideologies and points of view (scientific, philosophic, religious, artistic)…”

Based on this definition we can conceive love as a feeling, as a value, a virtue, an action, a knowledge, … and admit that it’s a big WHOLE that comprises an infinity of concepts working in unison, hand in hand, and getting the wonderful result that could actually describe what LOVE means… It’s a huge task for the human mind to define and conceptualize it.

There is no doubt that this small word entails a value of DIVINE order and principle, which would be the starting point where all the creation converges… The union of Macrocosmos (Father-Mother) and Microcosmos (Living beings)… it’s there where truth lies, where the verb that defines this extraordinary word is born, a word that is pronounced to praise and conceive what life really comprises and reaffirms the creation of the BEING… it is there where all the values and feelings that magnify the human being and allow him to reach the perfect balance, are gathered in a harmonious coexistence, where each one acknowledges and accepts that divine sparkle, that magical particle of LOVE with which we were created…

As human beings, we try to confine everything to this limited 3D scenario, and through it we only accept particular and individual conceptions that go in line with “our world”, and sadly LOVE hasn’t escaped this either; therefore it has been confined to be expressed in small particular expressions of the BEING… we thus accept and define LOVE as something physical, a state of harmo5ny, peace, a way to express goodness… love consists of that and more, I could try to define it somehow through understanding and becoming part of that perfect balance that goes from the opposed to the equivalent, from ­rejection to acceptance, from the individual to the universal, from an I to an US.. to a WHOLE.

Yes, there’s no doubt, love is the means to help us go beyond human boundaries to lead us to reach the divine ones, its bigger or smaller conception measures our level of “awareness”, making us more subtle, lighter in our walk in this level, taking us to the so longed connection and ascent, the so called AWAKENING, allowing us to see again and regain the light that resides in each being since creation, allowing that with each of our thoughts, words and actions it shines more and more looking to unite us to move on together, protected by it, that wonderful and shining light that is born in each of our souls.. LOVE is a magic word that gives every human being the possibility to build in this beautiful planet, our beloved GAIA the sky has always sought..

Now it’s time for us to understand what LOVE really is and to extend our wings …HAPPY MONTH OF LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP.

Arwen (Antonella Weisson E.) by Mundo de Angeles y Hadas, Guayaquil-Ecuador. mundodeangelesyhadas@hotmail.com.

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White House, U.S. courts and Environment Proctection Agenct to protect Monsanto

por Cassandra Anderson
Natural Society

American veterans and the entire country of Viet Nam affected by Agent Orange have been shafted beyond imagination due to corruption within the U.S. government and U.S. courts. U.S. courts have protected Monsanto and Dow Chemical from liability and criminal prosecution. The U.S. government has shielded Monsanto and Dow from the massive cost of medical treatment for victims and environmental remediation cleanup costs that would drive these corporations into bankruptcy.

Before we delve further into the issue, it’s important to detail what exactly dioxin is. Dioxin has a half life of 100 years or more when it is below the surface, leached into soil or embedded in river or stream sediment. Dioxin was generated as a byproduct of herbicide 2,4,5-T made by Monsanto and Dow, the top 2 producers of Agent Orange. It causes cancer, birth defects, liver damage and other major health problems.

Monsanto & Dow’s 2,4,5-T dioxin laden-herbicide was used in the U.S. for agricultural purposes in the 1940s before it was used for chemical warfare in Viet Nam from the early 1960s through 1971. It was phased out in the late 1970s. Now, let’s discuss the political situation behind this carcinogen.

U.S. Government and U.S. Court Dioxin Cover-Ups

President Reagans’s administration, in cahoots with the CDC, thwarted a $43 million Congressional Study of Agent Orange in 1987 to protect itself and its corporate pals Monsanto & Dow from accountability to U.S. veterans and the people of Viet Nam.

U.S. Courts dismissed veterans’ Agent Orange lawsuits based on a Supreme Court precedent, known as the Feres Doctrine, freeing the government of responsibility for deaths and injuries related to military service.The Supreme Court refused to hear American and Vietnamese victims’ lawsuits against Monsanto, Dow and other Agent Orange manufacturers on 3 separate occasions. Remember that the Supreme Court collects their checks from the federal government.

Atrocious Criminal Acts By Monsanto & Dow

Agent Orange makers hide behind government contractor immunity, despite the fact that dioxin contaminated herbicide 2,4,5-T was produced long before they were contractors for the government (50 million tons of the herbicide was sprayed in the U.S.per year). No modifications were used for Monsanto & Dow’s herbicide — half the ingredients in Agent Orange — so the immunity defense falls flat.

– Boehringer, a German 2,4,5-T herbicide producer notified Dow in 1957 about dioxin hazards and that dioxin could be eliminated by slow cooking the herbicide for about 12 hours. It appears that Dow and Monsanto continued cooking 2,4,5-T quickly in 45 minutes. Higher output led to higher profits. Monsanto’s formula contained high levels of dioxin and was dirtier than Dow’s product.

– Monsanto was not only aware in 1950 that dioxin was a health danger, but they also created a fraudulent health study.

– In 1965 Dow met in secret with other Agent Orange manufacturers to discuss the toxicity hazards of dioxin and their fear over a government investigation and restrictive regulations.

U.S. Veterans Shafted By the Kangaroo Court

Judge Jack Weinstein of the U.S. Federal Court of the Eastern District of New York committed the following offenses in several class action suits filed by veterans against Monsanto & Dow:

– Weinstein appointed attorneys to represent the veterans and then intimidated the attorneys into agreeing to a ‘nuisance’ settlement of $180 million- nowhere near enough money to cover the medical treatment of hundreds of thousands of injured vets.

– Weinstein rejected the veterans’ expert studies, instead of allowing a jury to decide on the credibility of the expert witnesses; Weinstein created a new rule of law from the bench.

– Weinstein based his ruling on Monsanto’s expert study that was later proven to be fraudulent.

– Weinstein dismissed all other veterans’ lawsuits against Monsanto and Dow.

– Weinstein took over a case that was unlawfully transferred to his federal court as it had been filed in the state of Texas. He dismissed that case.

– Astonishingly, Weistein created a second new rule of law to protect Monsanto and Dow. Weinstein invented immunity for government contractors!

Weinstein’s excuse for the government contractor defense was that if contractors were made to pay, they would pass the cost on to the government, so they were therefore immune. Weinstein’s new law was created from the bench instead of law passed through Congress! Weinsteins’s law has now been extended to all government supply contractors (even non-military contractors) in the courts.

VietNam

Approximately 11 million gallons of Agent Orange was dumped on Viet Nam between 1962 to 1970. It is estimated that Agent Orange is responsible for 400,000 deaths, 3 million victims of disease and 500,000 children born with birth defects.

Over 14 million acres of Vietnamese forests were sprayed. Agent Orange was also dumped in water supplies.

In 2004, Vietnamese victims filed a lawsuit against Dow, Monsanto and other manufacturers of Agent Orange. Judge Weinstein (yes, the same Judge Weinstein) presided over this case and dismissed it. Weinstein used the excuse that Monsanto and Dow had government sovereign immunity that extended to them because they were government contractors. He also ruled that Agent Orange was not considered a poison during that period, under international law.

The Supreme Court refused to hear this case, too.

The stated purpose of using Agent Orange was to deny the enemy cover in forested areas through defoliation. However, the U.S. Army did contract studies in 1943 of the effects of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D (the other ingredient of Agent Orange) on cereal grains, including rice, and developed the concept of using aerial herbicide spraying to destroy enemy crops to disrupt the food supply. Obviously, poisoning the enemy, farmland and civilians was a chemical warfare strategy used by the U.S. government.

­Monsanto Immunity

Currently, there is a court case pending against Monsanto’s dioxin contaminated 2,4,5-T herbicide filed by parties who lived near the plant where it was produced in West Virginia. The judge in that case,    Paul G. Gardephe, denied Monsanto immunity! Judge Gardephe asserted that because Monsanto burned dioxin waste in open pits and the U.S. government was not aware of this practice, nor did they evaluate it for hazard, Monsanto’s contractor defense was denied.

Fate of U.S. Veterans

In 2003, the Supreme Court affirmed a lower court decision allowing veterans to sue Monsanto, Dow and other Agent Orange manufacturers directly.

The government has responded, under the Obama regime, by passing the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010, which allows the automatic funding of veterans’ Agent Orange claims. While Monsanto & Dow appear to have considerable liability, the cost of healthcare and hospitalization of affected veterans is paid by American taxpayers.

More than 2 million Americans served in Viet Nam. The Veterans Administration claims they have no idea how many vets have been treated for Agent Orange injuries, or how much taxpayer money has been spent. The EPA is also involved in the cover-up and has been delaying an assessment report on dioxin since 1985 to protect plastic, chlorine, paper, herbicide and agricultural industries.

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Chávez falls back on the ultimate panacea

­by the El Reportero’s news services

Hugo ChávezHugo Chávez

When troubles come, create another level of bureaucracy. It is a simple rule of thumb that has served Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez well for years but as October’s elections approach, he seems more and more convinced of its efficacy.

Chávez knows there is a pressing need to be seen to be tackling public security, a perennial problem in Venezuela and the principal public concern, so he created a new political entity, a council of state, to form a commission to combat it. He also announced a whole new political structure to address another enduring problem – stagnant agricultural production.

Bolivia, the main reserve of drinking water in the world

La Paz, Feb 8 (Prensa Latina) Bolivia has the highest potential of freshwater in the world, said today the executive director of the National Irrigation Service (Senari), Delfin Reque.

The director of the Senari said that an important aspect to consider is that the most important water reserves of the planet are all together in the Amazon area, which includes part of Bolivia.

Reque said that the amount of national reserves of water are so considerable; that by means of different topographic factors they could make transfers to mountainous areas and valleys to use it in different ways.

At the same time, he said that there is no a current water balance in the country because it is difficult to make accurate measurements of the level of annual rainfalls.

On the other hand, he recognized the importance of water reserves, which are essential if we consider that Bolivia has a large number of basins that must be preserved.

A test for Brazil’s Rousseff­

On 6 February the US State Department issued a warning to US citizens to avoid temporarily all non-essential travel to Salvador, the troubled capital of the north-eastern state of Bahia, where a third of the state’s military police (PM) have been violently striking for the past week in demand of a 50% pay rise and better working conditions.

Bolivian government to toughen eradication of coca crops

Bolivian Interior Minister Carlos Romero has warned that those who try to hinder the process for the eradication of coca leaves will be punished by the law.

Any position contrary to what it is established by authorities on the eradication of the coca leaves will be legally punished, said Romero when referring to the events that took place in La Asunta.

On Monday, soldiers of the Joint Task Force (FTC) were attacked by coca growers in La Asunta, in the zone of Los Yungas zone, department of La Paz.

The FTC soldiers were eradicating coca crops in Floriarti and Barbarito when they were attacked by coca growers, who said that the soldiers were doing their work without a previous agreement.

Romero said that late last year, another FTC unit was attacked by coca growers who resisted the elimination of coca crops, as a result of that clash several people were wounded, including troops. (Latin News and Prensa Latina contributed to this report).

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Global warming trend ended in 1997, new data shows

by Dvid Rose
Mail Online

The supposed ‘consensus’ on man-made global warming is facing an inconvenient challenge after the release of new temperature data showing the planet has not warmed for the past 15 years.

The figures suggest that we could even be heading for a mini ice age to rival the 70-year temperature drop that saw frost fairs held on the Thames in the 17th Century.

Based on readings from more than 30,000 measuring stations, the data was issued last week without fanfare by the Met Office and the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit. It confirms that the rising trend in world temperatures ended in 1997.

Meanwhile, leading climate scientists yesterday told The Mail on Sunday that, after emitting unusually high levels of energy throughout the 20th Century, the sun is now heading towards a ‘grand minimum’ in its output, threatening cold summers, bitter winters and a shortening of the season available for growing food.

Solar output goes through 11-year cycles, with high numbers of sunspots seen at their peak.

We are now at what should be the peak of what scientists call ‘Cycle 24’ – which is why last week’s solar storm resulted in sightings of the aurora borealis further south than usual. But sunspot numbers are running at less than half those seen during cycle peaks in the 20th Century.

Analysis by experts at NASA and the University of Arizona – derived from magnetic-field measurements 120,000 miles beneath the sun’s surface – suggest that Cycle 25, whose peak is due in 2022, will be a great deal weaker still.

Yet, in its paper, the Met Office claimed that the consequences now would be negligible – because the impact of the sun on climate is far less than man-made carbon dioxide. Although the sun’s output is likely to decrease until 2100, ‘This would only cause a reduction in global temperatures of 0.08C.’ Peter Stott, one of the authors, said: ‘Our findings suggest a reduction of solar activity to levels not seen in hundreds of years would be insufficient to offset the dominant influence of greenhouse gases.’

These findings are fiercely disputed by other solar experts.

‘World temperatures may end up a lot cooler than now for 50 years or more,’ said Henrik Svensmark, director of the Center for Sun-Climate Research at Denmark’s National Space Institute. ‘It will take a long battle to convince some climate scientists that the sun is important. It may well be that the sun is going to demonstrate this on its own, without the need for their help.’

He pointed out that, in claiming the effect of the solar minimum would be small, the Met Office was relying on the same computer models that are being undermined by the current pause in global-warming.

CO2 levels have continued to rise without interruption and, in 2007, the Met Office claimed that global warming was about to ‘come roaring back’. It said that between 2004 and 2014 there would be an overall increase of 0.3C. In 2009, it predicted that at least three of the years 2009 to 2014 would break the previous temperature record set in 1998.

­So far there is no sign of any of this happening. But yesterday a Met Office spokesman insisted its models were still valid.

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U.S. falls to 47th in press freedom rankings after Occupy crackdown

por Ellen Connolly

Sweeping protests around the world made it an extremely difficult year for the media, and tested journalists as never before, the annual report into press freedom reveals.

The annual report by Reporters Without Borders has been released, showing the United States fell 27 points on the list due to the many arrests of journalists covering Occupy Wall Street protests.

The slide in the United States places it just behind Comoros and Taiwan in a group with Argentina and Romania.

Reporters Without Borders said the heightened unrest around the world resulted in a significant shake-up of the group’s annual Press Freedom Index, which assesses governments’ commitment to protecting media freedoms.

The Paris-based non-governmental Reporters Without Borders has named “crackdown” the word of 2011 in an assessment of global media freedom during a year in which journalists covering sweeping protests were tested as never before.

The non-governmental organisation seeks to defend journalists’ freedom to work and combat censorship internationally.

Despite the big changes, some constants remained. The country with the freest media in the world was Finland, followed by Norway, Estonia, the Netherlands and Austria. Eritrea was last, with North Korea just above.

The United States was not alone in the falling grades: Bahrain fell 29 points because of the crackdown in that country.

Egypt and Syria also fell a few points to languish near the bottom of the pack (166) and (176) respectively.

The group judged that Syria, along with Iran and China, ‘seem to have lost contact with reality as they have been sucked into an insane spiral of terror.’

Pakistan was the world’s deadliest country for journalists, and Eritrea came in last in the list of overall press freedom.Syria, where an uprising against the government has been met with a brutal crackdown that has left more than 5,000 people dead, received its worst rating ever at 176.

In Afghanistan (150th) and Pakistan (151st), reporters remained under constant threat from the Taliban, religious extremists, separatist ­movements and political groups. With 10 deaths last year, Pakistan was the world’s most dangerous country for journalists for the second year in a row.

‘Never have journalists, through their reporting, vexed the enemies of freedom so much. Never have acts of censorship and physical attacks on journalists seemed so numerous.

The equation is simple: the absence or suppression of civil liberties leads necessarily to the suppression of media freedom. Dictatorships fear and ban information, especially when it may undermine them,’ it said.

Elsewhere within the European Union, countries such as Bulgaria (80th), Greece (70th) and Italy (61st) failed to address the issue of media freedom violations, largely because of a lack of political will.

Libya came in 154th in the list, while Yemen was in 171th place.’

‘The future of both of thesecountries remains uncertain, and the place they will allow the media is undecided.

The same goes for Egypt, which fell 39 places to 166th place.’

Syria was 176th, because journalists were unable to work because of total censorship, widespread surveillance, indiscriminate violence and government manipulation.

The report also highlights how pro-democracy movements that tried to emulate the example of the Arab revolutions were brutally suppressed. Vietnam (172nd) saw many arrests, while China (174th) stepped up its system of controlling news and information in response to public dissatisfaction with corruption and other injustices.

The biggest falls in the index were in Africa – Djibouti fell 49 places to 159th, Malawi (146th) fell 67 places and Uganda fell 43 places to 139th.

The Paris-based press freedom watchdog said Wednesday that the wave of uprisings in the Middle East, the Occupy movement in the West and continued protests in China gave journalists an unprecedented role in advancing democracy. But they also were often targeted by governments trying to quash dissent.

‘Never has freedom of information been so closely associated with democracy. Never have journalists, through their reporting, vexed the enemies of freedom so much,’ the group said in a statement accompanying its report.

But the important role journalists played put them in the cross hairs of repressive regimes, the report said, adding: ‘Never have acts of censorship and physical attacks on journalists seemed so numerous.’

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Bilderberg 2011 The Rockefeller World Order and the High Priests of Globalization

FROM THE EDITOR: In continuing with our research and coverage of significant issues that have and are currently affecting our way of life, the following article, written by Andrew Gavin Marshall brings us into a long journey of historical passages about the Bilderberg group, a little known organization that has much to do with the policies that decide world events, such as future wars, countries invasions, mass destructions in other countries, or formation of new ‘free’ trade agreements for the benefit of the world ruling elite and the consolidation of a New World Order, and leading to the culmination of a New World Government to enslave humanity.

Due to its length, it will be divided into many parts. So please sit tight on your seat for a long ride, and hope that at the end, you’d have learned a big chunk of history.

by Andrew Gavin Marshall

Global Research

Eleventh and last part

… So the Rockefeller family, in this last 100 years, has contributed in a way that is quite extraordinary to the development in that period and has given ample focus to the issues of development with which I have been associated. In fact, it’s fair to say that there has been no other single family influence greater than the Rockefeller’s in the whole issue of globalization and in the whole issue of addressing the questions which, in some ways, are still before us today. And for that David, we’re deeply grateful to you and for your own contribution in carrying these forward in the way that you did.

David Rockefeller has been even less humble (but perhaps more honest) in his assertion of his family’s and his own personal role in shaping the world. In his 2002 book, Memoirs, David Rockefeller wrote:

For more than a century ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents such as my encounter with Castro to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as ‘internationalists’ and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure – one world, if you will. If that’s the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.

As if this admission was not quite enough, at a 1991 meeting of the Bilderberg group, David Rockefeller was quoted as saying:

We are grateful to the Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost 40 years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But the world is more 2sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the ­national auto-determination practiced in past centuries.

So, happy 96th birthday, Mr. David Rockefeller! But I am sorry to say (or perhaps not so sorry) that while the mainstream media have “respected their promises of discretion,” the new media – the alternative media – have not. As you said yourself, “It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years,” it seems that the “lights of publicity” are now descending upon your “plan for the world,” making it all the more difficult to come to pass. Indeed, “the world is more sophisticated,” but not because the world is ‘ready’ for your plan, but because the world is getting ready to reject it. While national sovereignty certainly has problems and is hardly something I would consider ‘ideal’, the “supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers” is about the worst scenario one could imagine. So as a birthday present to you, Mr. Rockefeller, I promise (and I am sure that I am speaking for a great many more than simply myself) that I will continue to expose your “plans for the world,” so that your dream – and our nightmare – will never become a reality. The light will shine, and in due time, the people will be ready to follow its path.

Reprinted from Global Research. The article with footnotes is available here.

Andrew Gavin Marshall is a Research Associate with the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). e is co-editor, with Michel Chossudovsky, of the recent book, The Global Economic Crisis: The Great Depression of the XXI Century. He is currently writing a book on “Global Government” due to be released in 2011 by Global Research Publishers.

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Guantánamo prisoners began hunger strike

Writers speak in San Francisco

Informado por sfWCWmedia

Activistas de los derechos humanos protestan y piden en la acera de UC Hastings College of the Law el 13 de enero: , el cierre de la prisión de Guantánamo.Human Rights activistas protest and ask at UC Hastings College of the Law on Jan. 13, the closure of Guantánamo prison.

As Guantánamo prisoners begin a hunger strike, a British journalists and filmmaker Andy Worthington visited the San Francisco Bay Area as part of a national speaking tour in a campaign to close the notorious U.S. prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. He was joined in conversation on stage by the renowned investigative journalist Jason Leopold (truthout.org).

Worthington and Leopold spoke about the current status of Guantánamo, legal issues and controversy over indefinite military detention (including in light of the new National Defense Authorization Act), and current U.S. policies on torture and rendition. To this date, prisoners still held at Guantánamo marked the 10th anniversary of the ­prison’s opening, by announcing their plans for peaceful protest, and the beginning of a 3-day hunger strike.

Andy Worthington’s path-breaking work continues to bare the truth about Guantánamo and the hundreds held there illegally without charge or trial, and tortured.

Both his book The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison and his film Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo are highly acclaimed by legal and civil liberties experts.

In 2011, after working with WikiLeaks on the release of classified military documents relating to the Guantánamo prisoners, Worthington began a new project, The Complete Guantánamo Files, a million-word series that will continue throughout 2012.

Jason Leopold has also written extensively on the role of torture in the U.S. “War on Terror” strategy, and has broken a number of related stories on the actual practice of torture and the illegal decisions made and carried out during the Bush-Cheney regime.

 

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Children’s medicines coated with brain-damaging aluminum

by S. D. Wells
Natural News

Aluminum Lake food coloring, used to heavily coat liquid medicines for children, contains dangerous amounts of aluminum and harmful synthetic petrochemicals. These “petrochemicals” are carcinogens containing petroleum, antifreeze and ammonia, which cause a long list of adverse reactions. Aluminum poisoning can lead to short and long term central nervous system (CNS) damage, such as memory impairments, autism, epilepsy, mental retardation, and dementia.

Research shows that just 4ppm of aluminum can cause the blood to coagulate. This is what causes Alzheimer’s Disease and has been documented to inhibit learning. Aluminum consumption can also be associated with the development of bone disorders, including stress fractures.

Also known as tartrazine, FD&C Yellow Aluminum Lake is a chemical concoction derived from coal tar. It is known to be a reproductive toxin. All artificial colors contain Aluminum Lake, so when your child gets to pick between red, blue or green medicine, they’re really choosing which poison they get to consume. Several chemically enhanced food colorings contain ammonia and therefore produce compounds proven to cause various cancers in animal studies, according to CSPI, the Center for Science in the Public Interest. (http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm)

Most widely used food colors and their damaging actions:

• Blue #1: Research shows it causes kidney tumors in mice.

• Blue #2: Research shows even higher incidence of tumors, specifically gliomas in male rates (a type of tumor that starts in the brain or spine).

• Red #2: Toxic to rodents, even at modest levels, and causes tumors of the bladder.

• Red #3: FDA recognized it in 1990 as a cause of thyroid cancer in animals. It was banned in cosmetics, but still allowed in food and medicine.

• Red #40: Most popular dye of all. Debilitates the immune-system in mice. Allergic reactions common.

• Green #3: Causes bladder and testes tumors.

• Yellow #5: Affects behavior and induces severe hypersensitivity reactions.

• Yellow #6: Causes adrenal tumors in animals.

The following is taken directly from FDA’s Regulatory Process and Historical Perspectives: “Color additives are important components of many products, making them attractive, appealing, appetizing, and informative. Added color serves as a kind of code that allows us to identify products on sight, like candy flavors and medicine dosages.” Really?! Decoding medicine dosages on sight?

There has been a 55% increase in U.S. toxic food dyes just since the year 2000. There are over 15 million pounds of dyes put in foods, drinks, candy and medicine every year, and the FDA does nothing to protect consumers from the colorful barrage of poison. (http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/food/artificial-food-colors.htm).

­Studies reveal that children have consumed as much as three pounds of dye by the age of twelve.

Here are some popular product and “brand” names you may mistake as exempt products: RD&C dyes and colors in baked goods, beverages, candy, cereal, drugs, pet food, personal care products, cosmetics, cough syrups, NyQuil,Tylenol, Robitussin,Jello, gelatins, Cheetos, Skittles, Fruity Pebbles, Marachino cherries, sausage, Mountain Dew, Doritos, chewing gum, and powdered drink mixes.

American companies doing business in Europe currently have to change their products to natural colorings to meet European Union strict regulations. The FDA’s rationale is that because artificial food colorings are used mainly in foods and medicines of low or no nutritional value, that the American public should “already be aware” of health implications, so it doesn’t matter if other toxins are added.

What are your options as opposed to poisonous medicines? Consult a naturopath (ND) for advice on ingredients in food and medicine.

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