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Fear of second Obama term spurs record gun sales

por Paul Joseph Watson

As the debate raged last week over the attempt to pass a law that would allow U.S. citizens to be detained indefinitely without trial, Americans were busy preparing for their own form of ‘homeland security’, as gun sales hit an all time high for a single day on Black Friday.

“Numbers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation show an all-time one-day high for background check requests from gun buyers last Friday,” reports ABC News. “There were 129,166 requests to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS)–a third more than the previous record of 97,848 on Black Friday 2008, FBI spokesman Stephen Fischer said. On Black Friday last year, there were 87,061 requests.”

The actual number of sales was also likely to be far higher because a buyer can purchase numerous guns per each background check.

The reason? If Obama secures a second term in office, Americans fear that he will use a lame duck presidency to fulfil promises to gun control advocates to take a bite out of the second amendment.

“Managers from both Griggs and Wholesale Sport say the presidential elections have a big effect on sales,” reports KNDU. “Sales went up four years ago when Obama was elected into office and they say with the new elections around the corner, many fear the President will work on changing gun control laws during his second term in office.”

Indeed, gun sales have been riding high every year since Obama took office, with a noticeable spike in first time gun buyers.

Gun stores across the country reported similar scenes of people queuing up from the early hours of the morning to take advantage of special deals on both collectors items and new firearms.

“I think there also is a burgeoning awakening of the American public that they do have a constitutional right to own guns,” said Larry Keane, a spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, adding that there has been a significant increase in the number of women buying firearms.

Earlier this year, President Obama told gun control advocate Sarah Brady that his administration was working “under the radar” to sneak attack the second amendment rights of American citizens.

During a March 30 meeting between Jim and Sarah Brady and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, at which Obama “dropped in,” the president reportedly told Brady, “I just want you to know that we are working on it (gun control)….We have to go through a few processes, but under the radar.”

Just over a month later it emerged that the administration had been sending guns to Mexican drug gangs via the “Fast and Furious” program while simultaneously blaming border violence on the second amendment.

But it’s not just distrust of the Obama administration that is driving sales. With local authorities increasingly being forced to lay off police ­officers, citicual Obama “se apareció,” el presidente habría dicho a Brady, “Solamente quiero que sepa que estamos trabajando en ello (control de armas)….Tenemos que someternos a algunos procesos, pero bajo el radar.”

Apenasunmes después surgió que la administración ha estado enviando armas a los carteles de drogas mexicanos vía el programa “Rápido y Furioso” mientras que simultáneamente se culpaba a la segunda enmienda de la violencia en la frontera.

Pero no solamente es la desconfianza hacia Obama lo que está aumentando las ventas. Con las autoridades locales siendo obligadas cada vez más a despedir a oficiales de policía, los ciudadanos están atentos a los criminales y están tomando medidas para proteger a sus familias. Temores de redadas y desórdenes civiles masivos también han sido frecuentemente citados como una razón para que los norteamericanos junten armas.

Paul Joseph Watson es editor y escritor de Prison Planet.com. Es el autor de Order Out Of Chaos. Watson también es conductor reemplazante del Alex Jones Show.

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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

Fith part

Recently by Andrew Gavin Marshall: The Logic of Imperial Insanity and the Road to World War III

To say we were striving for a one-world government is exaggerated, but not wholly unfair. Those of us in Bilderberg felt we couldn’t go on forever fighting one another for nothing and killing people and rendering millions homeless. So we felt that a single community throughout the world would be a good thing.

~ Denis Healey, 30-year member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group

The European Constitution, a move for creating a European superstate.

The European Constitution (renamed the Lisbon Treaty) was a move towards creating a European superstate, creating an EU foreign minister, and with it, coordinated foreign policy, with the EU taking over the seat of Britain on the UN Security Council, representing all EU member states, forcing the nations to “actively and unreservedly” follow an EU foreign policy; set out the framework to create an EU defence policy, as an appendage to or separate from NATO; the creation of a European Justice system, with the EU defining “minimum standards in defining offences and setting sentences,” and creates common asylum and immigration policy; and it would also hand over to the EU the power to “ensure co-ordination of economic and employment policies”; and EU law would supercede all law of the member states, thus making the member nations relative to mere provinces within a centralized federal government system.

The Constitution was largely written up by Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, former President of the French Republic from 1974 to 1981. Giscard d’Estaing also happens to be a member of the Bidlerberg Group, the Trilateral Commission, and is also a close friend of Henry Kissinger, having co-authored papers with him.

The Treaty, passed in 2009, created the position of President of the European Council, who represents the EU on the world stage and leads the Council, which determines the political direction of the EU. The first President of the European 2Council is Herman Van Rompuy, former Prime Minister of Belgium. On November 12, 2009, a small Bilderberg meeting took place, hosted by Viscount Etienne Davignon (Chairman of the Bilderberg Group), and including “international policymakers and industrialists,” among them, Henry Kissinger.

­Herman Von Rompuy “attended the Bilderberg session to audition for the European job, calling for a new system of levies to fund the EU and replace the perennial EU budget battles.” Following his selection as President, Van Rompuy gave a speech in which he stated, “We are going through exceptionally difficult times: the financial crisis and its dramatic impact on employment and budgets, the climate crisis which threatens our very survival; a period of anxiety, uncertainty, and lack of confidence. Yet, these problems can be overcome by a joint effort in and between our countries. 2009 is also the first year of global governance with the establishment of the G20 in the middle of the financial crisis; the climate conference in Copenhagen is another step towards the global management of our planet.”

As indicated from leaks of the recent 2011 Bilderberg meeting in Switzerland, the euro-zone is in a major crisis, and Bilderberg members are struggling to keep the house of glass from shattering to pieces. One major subject discussed at this year’s meeting, according to Bilderberg investigative journalist, Daniel Estulin (who reportedly has inside sources in the meetings who leak information, which has proved quite accurate in the past), the Bilderberg meeting discussed the situation of Greece, which is likely to only get worse, with another bailout on the horizon, continuing social unrest, and a possible abandonment of the euro. The problems of Greece, Ireland and the wider global economy as a whole were featured in this year’s discussions. Representatives from Greece this year included George Papaconstantinou, the Greek Minister of Finance, among several bankers and businessmen.

Among the EU power players attending this years meeting was the first President of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy, who was appointed as President following an invitation to a private Bilderberg meeting in November of 2009, at which he gave a speech advocating for EU-wide taxes, allowing the EU to not rely exclusively upon its member nations, but have its “own resources.” Van Rompuy, who previously stated that, “2009 is also the first year of global governance,” is no surprise guest at Bilderberg. Other key EU officials who attended this year’s meeting were Joaquín Almunia, a Vice President of the European Commission; Frans van Daele, Chief of Staff to European Council President Van Rompuy; Neelie Kroes, a Vice President of the European Commission; and of course, Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank.

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Occupy protest moves against foreclosures

­by Yashenka Baca

Manifestantes de Occupy Oakland llegan al Puerto de Oakland: (PHOSTO BY THAN STARK FOR TURNSTYLE NEWS)Occupy Oakland protesters arrive at the Port of Oakland  (PHOTO BY THAN STARK FOR TURNSTYLE NEWS)

The “Occupy Our Homes” national day of action called by the Occupy Wall Street movement nationwide, had a strong impact on the main banks planned foreclosures Tue. Dec. 6. Hundreds in San Francisco, and thousands nationwide gathered to defend the homes of hundreds of families that were schedule to be evicted, “demanding -the banks- negotiate with homeowners instead of foreclosing on them.”

According to Calorganize, an Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, banks had planned to foreclose 60 homes only on Wed. Dec. 7, despite Attorney General Support for a Holiday Moratorium that would allow families to have a home at least during Christmas.

The news website Huffington Post (HP) also informed that in San Francisco’s Bayview District there are about 3,500 foreclosed homes.

The total of homes affected in the city reach 12,600 which adds to the 2.1 million California homes that saw their owners being evicted since the 2008 crisis started. The movement has tried hard to remind the communities that although homes are being taken away, and families are evicted daily, not one person from Wall Street main banks has being held responsible for the economic crisis.

HP reported that Occupy Our Home supporters, and eviction protesters, gathered around Vivian Richardson’s home in San Francisco Tue. Dec 6. “Richardson became a local symbol of the foreclosure crisis when her bank tried to seize her home despite months of unsuccessful loan modification attempts” the website explained. Protesters ‘shield’ the property with a human chain and made it impossible for the sheriff to get in and evict the family.

esinformed the organization.The Rebuild the Dream Innovation Fund also reported on the day of action. The fund established that the human chain strategy is working nationwide, and more people are taking a stand. “Just last week police and movers refused to carry out a bank-ordered eviction of a 103 year-old woman and her daughter, from her home in Atlanta” informed the organization.

 

Winter plans for Occupy

Filmmaker Michael Moore shared on his website a video of Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur from 2009 regarding foreclosure policies. In the video a passionate Kaptur tells people who might face foreclosure in the future be squatters in their own home and not to leave.

“Don’t leave your home, because when those companies say they have your mortgage, unless you find a lawyer who can put his of her finger on it, then they don’t have your mortgage” said Kaptur.

Moore, who shared the video -from his film Capitalism a Love Story- as part of his proposal for Occupy Wall Street (OWS) during the winter season, called the message ‘encourage to open rebellion’. The filmmaker looks to continue presenting alternatives for the straggling families that might lose their houses in the upcoming weeks.

The OWS movement has been repeatedly raided nationwide, specially in the last few weeks. Occupy San Francisco -at Justin Herman Plaza- was raided Wed. Dec. 7 at about 2:00 am. According to Bay Area radio station KCBS dozens of police cars and about 200 officers wearing riot gear surrounded the encampment and took occupiers by surprise.

­Police was seeing taking down tents, but some protesters were spotted packing and moving out of the plaza on their own. A local TV channel website informed that 85 people were arrested during the raid and while occupiers stayed in the surroundings of the plaza determining what their next steps would be.

 

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Advanced electrical stimulation technology can repair damaged nerves

by Ethan A. Huff Natural News

(NaturalNews) Patients suffering from nerve damage or paralysis may soon be able to better regain function, thanks to a new electrical stimulation technique developed by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston, Mass., and engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Science Daily reports that the new method of functional electrical stimulation (FES) reduces electrical output by 40 percent and better protects surrounding nerves and tissues from damage by focusing energy directly to the damaged site.

Published in the journal Nature Materials, the findings reveal a method of stimulating neuronal activity in patients with nerve damage that is superior to traditional FES technologies. By reducing the amount of electrical current emitted and better concentrating it into damaged areas, scientists have successfully developed a safer and more efficient method of helping nerve-damaged patients regain function with less damaging side effects.

“This new device works by manipulating the concentration of charged ions surrounding the nerve,” said Samuel J. Lin, MD, a surgeon at BIDMC’s Divisions of Plastic Surgery and Otolaryngology, Assistant Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, and co-author of the study. “This could potentially mean reduced risk to surrounding nerves because less electrical current is required to stimulate the affected nerve.”

Since sensory nerves and the nerves that control movements are located very closely together, reducing both the amount of electrical current as well as its spread is crucial to maximizing the benefits and reducing the side effects of FES treatments. And after experimenting with the various ions in the fluid that surrounds nerves, the research team discovered that removing the positively charged calcium ions helps to focus the electrical current on the damaged nerve areas while protecting the healthy areas.

“Nerve fibers fire their signals based on the message they receive from the interaction of ions, or charged particles,” added Lin. “The nerves that control movements and the sensory nerves that carry pain signals are extremely close together, so existing FES therapy has had limitations. This (new discovery) is an important step towards the design of a device to help patients suffering from nerve paralysis and chronic neurological conditions.”

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/034362_nerve_damage_repair_electromedicine.html#ixzz1g1CRIoXE

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Correo: The 21st century is a new era for Latin American star

­by the El Reportero’s news services

Rafael CorreaRafael Correa­­

We are a continent, a region, a nation of peoples heading for the future with determination, said Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, after saying that Latin American integration and change cannot be stopped by anyone.

Now that we have signed the birth certificate of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), we confirm that we are a giant people, diverse peoples, that will never be alone again, and have charted our united path, he said.

Last night, at the end of the solemn session of Quito’s Metropolitan Council for the 477th anniversary of its foundation, the President reviewed the investment of some two billion dollars by the Citizen Revolution in works of social benefit in the capital.

This is the new era of the homeland. We need to move with urgency, we cannot afford to lose time, we must build a new Ecuador and we have already lost too much time; Correa said.

We are building a future of freedom, security, trust, a future of Good Living, solidarity and shared joy. We are building on the ideal city that does not exist yet but it is already prefigured in the dreams of all the inhabitants of Quito, he said.

Finally, he recalled Simon Bolivar, “that remarkable Latin American who thought in centuries and in a continent-wide panorama,” in whose dreams he discerned our Patria Grande (Great Homeland) of peace and solidarity, with only one huge heart in the shape of a continent.

­Mass turnout for Colombia’s ‘Freedom March’

On 6 December hundreds of thousands of people marched in 60 cities across the world (40 in Colombia and 20 in the US and Europe) under the banners of “no more Farc” and “free them now”.

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A candidate choosed not to be rediculous: Ron Paul trumps Trump

by John Nichols

Ron Paul is far from perfect. But the Libertariam Texas Congressman and maverick GOP presidential contender brings to the 2012 race a record far more worthy of commendation than those of his competitors for the Republican nomination.

Paul voted against the Patriot Act.

Paul voted against launching the Iraq War.

Paul has consistently supported moves to bring the troops home from Iraq, from Afghanistan and from just about everywhere else they are garrisoned.

Paul has worked with Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank on a campaign to cut the Pentagon budget by $1 trillion.

Paul has worked with Frank to decriminalize marijuana and to dial back the worst excesses of the drug war.

Paul has consistently opposed free-trade deals that have led to massive layoffs and factory closings in the United States.

Paul has worked with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and Florida Congressman Alan Grayson to crack down on the Federal Reserve’s secrecy and abuses.

Yes, yes, of course Paul’s anti-government rhetoric goes to extremes, and, yes, yes, of course he is an inconsistent libertarian on some vital issues.

But Ron Paul really has taken a lot of commendable stands in recent years.

And , now, he has done something truly worthy of admiration — not just in the context of the current Republican race but with regard to the celebrity-obsessed politics of the age..

He has chosen not to be ridiculous.

Confronted with the prospect of a participating in a Newsmax-sponsored debate hosted by the second-most-absurd figure in American public life, Donald Trump, Paul simply said “no.”

The campaign of the candidate who, in the new Des Moines Register survey is running second in the field of GOP presidential contenders with less than a month to go before Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses, issued a delightfully snarky statement:

The selection of a reality television personality to host a presidential debate that voters nationwide will be watching is beneath the tial contenders with less than a month to go before Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses, issued a delightfully snarky statement:

The selection of a reality television personality to host a presidential debate that voters nationwide will be watching is beneath the the like. To be sure, Mr. Trump’s participation will contribute to an unwanted circus-like atmosphere.

Mr. Trump’s selection is also wildly inappropriate because of his record of toying with the serious decision of whether to compete for our nation’s highest office, a decision he appeared to make frivolously. The short-lived elevation of Mr. Trump’s stature as a candidate put him on the radar of many organizations and we recall that last spring he was invited to keynote the Republican Party of Iowa’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner, yet at the last minute he left RPI holding the bag by canceling. In turn, RPI canceled its biggest fundraising gala of the year and suffered embarrassment and ­in addition RPI was required to engage in refunding measures. Our candidate will not even consider participating in the late- December debate until Mr. Trump publicly apologizes to Iowa party leaders and rectifies in full the situation. Therefore our candidate Ron Paul, the champion of the Constitution, has advised he will not attend. Trump was furious. The reality TV show host dismissed the congressman from Texas as “clown-like.”

(Trump also took a shot at another contender who rejected the debate invite, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman. But, unlike Paul, Huntsman is not a serious contender in Iowa, where the debate is set to be held.) Paul responded to Trump’s jab by sayng: “I didn’t realize he had the ability to lay on hands and anoint people.” Ron Paul may not win the presidency, but he is winning the debate about the debate with Donald Trump.

But even if Trump will not have a serious presidential contender on his debate panel, he will not be alone. The second-most-absurd figure in American public life will reportedly be joined December 27 by the most absurd figure in American public life: Newt Gingrich.

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SF Jazz Festival penultimate week

­by the El Reportero’s staff

Ocote Soul SoundsOcote Soul Sounds

The 29th Annual San Francisco Jazz Festival ends Dec. 18 so there’s still time to catch some closing performances. Erik Jekabson, a free lance trumpeter who has become a staple of the San Francisco Bay Area jazz community, will remember Chet Baker, one of the coolest jazz musicians of the 1950’s.

Jekabson is a composer and educator with two CDs in the market. The Dec. 8 performance will take place at Amnesia, 853 Valencia Street, 8:30 p.m., admission $5.

Ocote Soul Sound’s arrives to San Francisco

Co-led byMartin Perna and Adrian Quesada, part of Grammy winning Grupo Fantasma, Ocote Soul Sound’s band will arrive to the Bay to warm up December with a promising afrobeat latin performance.

The tour will take the band to 10 cities nationwide, including San Francisco Dec. 10, to promote their fourth and latest studio album, Taurus.

The new production is a funk infused, Afro-Cuban musical achievement. “This time the vibrations are stronger, more muscular and confident ” stated the band. For the musicians the most important part is to continue to build on the pan-Latino rhythms they are known for, and maintaining their cosmic ambiance.

El Reportero readers can enjoy the single “Primavera” on the Internet, by visiting http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6247931/02%20Primavera.mp3 On their December 10 presentation at the Brick & Mortar Music Hall in the city, the band will also play songs like Pirata, Augua Santa, and Cumbia la Magdalena; “the most perfectly syncopated creamy grooves you’ll hear in 2011” according to BLURT, a music reviews website.

The concert is Saturday, Dec. 10 at 9 p.m. For tickets ($10 – $15) and more information go to http://ocotesoul.com.

La Peña presents concert nights

Celebrate a night of vibrant and traditional sounds with gaitas, parrandas, tamboreras and more with the Venezuelan Music Project, on Sat. December 10 at La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley.

The group (a.k.a. VMP), directed by Jackeline Rago, will present Parranda Pa’ Ti 2011, a dynamic performance full of color, energy and vitality. The ensemble combines Indigenous-Venezuelan, Spanish-European and West African influences.

The group is one of few performances with Venezuelan music roots to be found in the Bay Area, founded in 1997 by the musical director Jackeline Rubio, VMP puts together engaging and entertaining shows.

VMT will perform Dec. 10 at 8:30 p.m. Tickets from $15- $18. For more information go to lapena.org or call (510) 849-2568 ext. 17.

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Mexico’s mariachi music deemed one of world’s cultural treasures

by the El Reportero’s news services

MariachiMariachi

Twelve elements, ranging from rice planting rituals in Japan to Mexico’‘s mariachi music to a horseback-riding tradition in France, were added to the United Nations-backed list of the world’‘s outstanding examples of intangible heritage.

A 24-member intergovernmental committee, meeting in Bali, Indonesia, inscribed seven elements on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

From the Latin American region the following cultural riches were added to this important list:

• Mexico’‘s mariachi music, which frequently involves trumpets, violins, the vihuela and the guitarron (or bass guitar).

• Peru’‘s pilgrimage to the sanctuary of the Lord of Qoyllurit’‘i, a 24-hour event in which people from eight indigenous villages travel to a sanctuary 58 days after Easter each year, was included on the list, and so are the cultural practices and expressions linked to the balafon—a pentatonic xylophone—of the Senufo communities of neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali.

Juan Luis Guerra uses music to support social causes

Dominican singer Juan Luis Guerra said in Guadalajara, the capital of the western Mexican state of Jalisco, that he has pursued his commitment to social causes through his music.

Guerra is giving a concert performance to benefit children with cancer at Guadalajara’s Hospitales Civiles as part of his “A son de guerra” musical tour.

The musician is well-known for his participation in philanthropic activities and for heading in his country a foundation that bears his name and that works closely with the Robert di Cabral Hospital to help children suffering from burns and with hydrocephaly.

Guerra, the writer of hits such as La bilirrubina and Ojalá que llueva café, said that he is going through a privileged time in his career of almost 30 years, something that he considers “a blessing.”

Guerra has sold more than 30 million copies of his albums worldwide, a feat that has made him one of the best-known Latino artists, as well as winning 18 Grammy awards.

­J Lo And Casper Smart Have a Thing, And It’s Called Radar Love!

J Lo’s new beau (literally) Beau Paul ‘Casper’ Smart apparently has a need for speed, and quite the record with traffic authorities.

Beau Paul Smart, a.k.a. Casper, has been picked up by police on several occasions for speeding, faster than 100 mph and driving without a valid driver’s license in 2004, 2006 and 2007, evading electronic toll charges in 2005 and exceeding maximum speeds in 2004 and 2005. Can anyone say Speed Racer.

In March, Smart pled no contest to an illegal drag racing arrest from 2010 and

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Healthcare workers submit vote iniciative

­by the El Reportero’s staff

Members of the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), filed two ballot initiatives with Attorney General Kamala Harri’s Nov. 23, looking to give consumers transparency on hospital costs, ensure increased charity and end overcharging in services.

SEIU-UHW represents 150,000 healthcare workers from the Bay Area to Sacramento and Los Angeles to the Central Valley. Their initiative will appear on the general election ballot in Nov. 2012.

Dave Regan, president of SEIU-UHW, explained one of the reasons for the introduction of such voter initiative package is three quarters of the hospital industry pays no taxes. “Companies that operate tax-free should not be permitted to overcharge consumers, they should be required to meet their charitable duty by providing a reasonable level of services for prevention, treatment and wellness to those in need” Regan said.

The ballot would bring $1.7 billion to the state economy, looking to relieve Californians from the exceeding 20 percent of cost payed for health insurance every year.

New regulations for Mexican workers in the U.S.

The Consul General of Mexico in San Francisco, Carlos Felix, and the Director of the U.S. Department of Labor-Wage and Hour Division, Susana Rincon, signed a new Memorandum of Understanding regarding working policies applicable to all Mexican workers in the United States.

The agreement, signed Nov. 17, looks to empower immigrants by institutionalizing a collaborative relationship that will provide information, guidance, and access to education and training resources, to help workers regardless of their immigration status.

“Today, we have deepened the ways for empowering our immigrant population to defend their rights to a safe workplace, to compensation for injuries, to minimum wage and overtime, to nondiscrimination and the right to collective actions” said Consul General Carlos Felix.

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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
Forth part

Recently by Andrew Gavin Marshall: The Logic of Imperial Insanity and the Road to World War III

To say we were striving for a one-world government is exaggerated, but not wholly unfair. Those of us in Bilderberg felt we couldn’t go on forever fighting one another for nothing and killing people and rendering millions homeless. So we felt that a single community throughout the world would be a good thing.

~ Denis Healey, 30-year member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group

Bilderberg and the European Union Joseph Retinger, one of the founders of the Bilderberg Group, was also one of the original architects of the European Common Market and a leading intellectual champion of European integration. In 1946, he told the Royal Institute of International Affairs (the British counterpart and sister organization of the 2Council on Foreign Relations), that Europe needed to create a federal union and for European countries to “relinquish part of their sovereignty.” Retinger was a founder of the European Movement (EM), a lobbying organization dedicated to creating a federal Europe. Retinger secured financial support for the European Movement from powerful US financial interests such as the Council on Foreign Relations and the Rockefellers. Important to note is that following World War II, the CFR’s main finances came from the Carnegie Corporation, Ford Foundation and most especially, the Rockefeller Foundation.

Apart from Retinger, the founder of the Bilderberg Group and the European Movement, another ideological founder of European integration was Jean Monnet, who founded the Action Committee for a United States of Europe (ACUE), an organization dedicated to promoting European integration, and he was also the major promoter and first president of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the precursor to the European Common Market.

Declassified documents (released in 2001) showed that “the US intelligence community ran a campaign in the Fifties and Sixties to build momentum for a united Europe. It funded and directed the European federalist movement.” The documents revealed that, “America was working aggressively behind the scenes to push Britain into a European state. One memorandum, dated July 26, 1950, gives instructions for a campaign to promote a fully-fledged European parliament. It is signed by Gen William J Donovan, head of the American wartime Office of Strategic Services, precursor of the CIA.” Further, “Washington’s main tool for shaping the European agenda was the American Committee for a United Europe, created in 1948. The chairman was Donovan, ostensibly a private lawyer by then,” and “the vice-chairman was Allen Dulles, the CIA director in the Fifties. The board included Walter Bedell Smith, the CIA’s first director, and a roster of ex-OSS figures and officials who moved in and out of the CIA. The documents show that ACUE financed the European Movement, the most important federalist organisation in the post-war years.” Interestingly, “the leaders of the European Movement – Retinger, the visionary Robert Schuman and the former Belgian prime minister Paul-Henri Spaak – were all treated as hired hands by their American sponsors. The US role was handled as a covert operation. ACUE’s funding came from the Ford and Rockefeller foundations as well as business groups with close ties to ­the US government.”

The European Coal and Steel Community was formed in 1951, and signed by France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Newly released documents from the 1955 Bilderberg meeting show that a main topic of discussion was “European Unity,” and that “the discussion affirmed complete support for the idea of integration and unification from the representatives of all the six nations of the Coal and Steel Community present at the conference.” Further, “A European speaker expressed concern about the need to achieve a common currency, and indicated that in his view this necessarily implied the creation of a central political authority.”

Interestingly, “a United States participant confirmed that the United States had not weakened in its enthusiastic support for the idea of integration, although there was considerable diffidence in America as to how this enthusiasm should be manifested. Another United States participant urged his European friends to go ahead with the unification of Europe with less emphasis upon ideological considerations and, above all, to be practical and work fast.” Thus, at the 1955 Bilderberg Group meeting, they set as a primary agenda, the creation of a European common market.

In 1957, two years later, the Treaty of Rome was signed, which created the European Economic Community (EEC), also known as the European Community. Over the decades, various other treaties were signed, and more countries joined the European Community. In 1992, the Maastricht Treaty was signed, which created the European Union and led to the creation of the Euro. The European Monetary Institute was created in 1994, the European Central Bank was founded in 1998, and the Euro was launched in 1999. Etienne Davignon, Chairman of the Bilderberg Group and former EU Commissioner, revealed in March of 2009 that the Euro was debated and planned at Bilderberg conferences.

Next week: The European Constitution, a move for creating a European superstate.

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