JEWISH S.H.I.T. LIST
Self-Hating and/or Israel-Threatening
Showing posts with label Info. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Info. Show all posts
Monday, September 24, 2007
Saturday, September 22, 2007
‘The Big Con’
I have this problem. Whenever I try to explain what's happening in American politics-I mean, what's really happening-I wind up sounding a bit like an unhinged conspiracy theorist. But honestly, I'm not. My politics are actually quite moderate. (Most real lefties, in fact, think I'm a Washington establishment sellout.) So please give let me a chance to explain myself when I tell you the following: American politics has been hijacked by a tiny coterie of right-wing economic extremists, some of them ideological zealots, others merely greedy, a few of them possibly insane. (Stay with me.)
The scope of their triumph is breathtaking. Over the course of the last three decades, they have moved from the right-wing fringe to the commanding heights of the national agenda. Notions that would have been laughed at a generation ago-that cutting taxes for the very rich is the best response to any and every economic circumstance, or that it is perfectly appropriate to turn the most rapacious and self-interested elements of the business lobby into essentially an arm of the federal government-are now so pervasive, they barely attract any notice.
The result has been a slow-motion disaster. Income inequality has approached levels normally associated with Third World oligarchies, not healthy Western democracies. The federal government has grown so encrusted with business lobbyists that it can no longer meet the great public challenges of our time. Not even many conservative voters or intellectuals find the result congenial. Government is no smaller-it is simply more debt-ridden and more beholden to wealthy elites.
And yet the right-wing ascendancy has continued inexorably despite continual public repudiation. The 2006 elections were only the latest electoral setback. The right has suffered deeper setbacks before, and all of them have proven temporary. In 1982, after the country had entered the deepest recession since the 1930s, Republicans were slaughtered in the midterm congressional races, losing twenty-seven seats in the House of Representatives. Ronald Reagan, whose election two years earlier had seemed to augur a new conservative era, trailed his likely 1984 Democratic challengers by double digits in the polls and seemed destined to be a lame duck. "What we are witnessing this January," wrote the esteemed Washington Post reporter David Broder in the first month of 1983, "is not the midpoint in the Reagan presidency, but its phase-out. 'Reaganism,' it is becoming increasingly clear, was a one-year phenomenon." We know what happened the next year.
And the conservative revolution has had its obituary written many times since. In 1986, Republicans lost the Senate, and shortly thereafter Reagan saw his approval ratings sink as he became embroiled in the Iran-Contra scandal. In 1992, Democrats won back the White House along with both chambers of Congress, and there was widespread talk of "a conservative crackup." It happened again after the public turned on the Republicans following their 1995 government shutdown, and once more after the public rebelled against the Clinton impeachment. By the late 1990s, the Republican revolution had again been written off.
And yet the Republican right keeps coming back, and back, and back. Their fortunes rise and then dip, but each peak is higher than the last peak, and each dip is higher than the last dip. Consider the present situation. Things have gone about as badly as they could have in George W. Bush's second term. A Republican administration started and lost a major war in Iraq; presided over an economy that has failed to deliver higher wages for most Americans; contributed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to the near-wipeout of a major American city; launched a failed assault on Social Security, the most popular social program in the history of the United States; and saw its members suffer an almost unprecedented string of sexual and financial scandals. Still, Democrats find themselves holding only the slimmest of majorities in the House and Senate. Even if they hold their majorities in Congress and win the White House in 2008, the structural forces in Washington will make it nearly impossible to roll back any significant chunks of the Bush tax cuts, let alone take on crises like global warming or the forty-five million Americans lacking health insurance.
NEXT PAGE:
Thursday, September 20, 2007
The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion
Learned Elders of Zion
Note: this document is the original translation from a hundred years ago.You can find the Protocols into modern English, which makes it easier to understand here: Protocols-in-Modern-English.htm
The Protocols is also available in Spanish at this web site
The drawing from the Spanish version is below. It shows that Zionists control the Christians, the Nazis, the Communists, the Masons, and the banks. Makes ya' "think" huh?
| Protocol I | The Basic Doctrine |
| Protocol II | Economic Wars |
| Protocol III | Methods of Conquest |
| Protocol IV | Materialism Replace Religion |
| Protocol V | Despotism and Modern Progress |
| Protocol VI | Take-Over Technique |
| Protocol VII | World-Wide Wars |
| Protocol VIII | Provisional Government |
| Protocol IX | Re-education |
| Protocol X | Preparing for Power |
| Protocol XI | The Totalitarian State |
| Protocol XII | Control of the Press |
| Protoco XIII | Distractions |
| Protocol XIV | Assault on Religion |
| Protocol XV | Ruthless Suppression |
| Protocol XVI | Brainwashing |
| Protocol XVII | Abuse of Authority |
| Protocol XVIII | Arrest of Opponents |
| Protocol XIX | Rulers and People |
| Protocol XX | Financial Programme |
| Protocol XXI | Loans and Credit |
| Protocol XXII | Power of Gold |
| Protocol XXIII | Instilling Obedience |
| Protocol XXIV | Qualities of the Ruler |
Sunday, September 9, 2007
6 Nukes Fly Over The US - Big Problems With This Story!
As the "official" story of six wayward nukes unfolds inconsistencies abound, and government reacts with absurd remedies. Government culture is not known for it's intelligence or common sense I grant you, but their reaction seems almost "Alice in Wonderland" like. Let's examine:
Air Force official fired after 6 nukes fly over U.S.
The Air Combat Command has ordered a command-wide stand down on Sept. 14 to review procedures, officials said. In addition to the munitions squadron commander who was relieved of his duties, crews involved with the mistaken load — including ground crew workers — have been temporarily decertified for handling munitions, one official said.
According to the U.S. Air Force statement, the commanding officer in charge of military munitions personnel and additional munitions airmen were relieved of duties pending the completion of the investigation.
According to Hans Kristensen, a nuclear weapons expert at the Federation of American Scientists, "the error could not have come from confusing the Advanced Cruise Missile with a conventional weapons since no conventional form exists. So the munitions Airmen should have been easily able to spot the mistake. Other routine procedures were violated which suggests a rather obvious explanation for the error. The military munitions personnel were acting under direct orders, though not through the regular chain of military command."
Now the question is - How did a squadron commander get access to nuclear warheads? (Weapons of mass destruction?) All nuclear weapons are released only by upper echelon authority. There are fail-safe procedures and protocols in place to keep just this sort of thing from happening.
A nuclear submarine commander cannot launch his nuclear missiles without direct orders from the Commander in Chief or next in the chain of command. There are authentication codes and redundant verification procedures to stop this from happening.
How did it happen? Was the president involved, was this a covert operation, or was there a security breach? Any way you slice it, there is something very, very wrong with this story.
The timing of this looks very suspicious. This happens now at a time when there is much talk of: The US preemptively Striking Iran and large scale terrorist attacks on US soil.
Is all of this just coincidence? Time will tell. Don't expect the truth from the military investigators though.
Take a look at these comments to get the seriousness of the crisis.
Rep. Ike Skelton, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, called the mishandling of the weapons “deeply disturbing” and said the committee would press the military for details. Rep. Edward J. Markey, a senior member of the Homeland Security committee, said it was “absolutely inexcusable.”
“Nothing like this has ever been reported before and we have been assured for decades that it was impossible,” said Markey, D-Mass., co-chair of the House task force on nonproliferation.
Another angle of the story coming out also looks suspicious. Why was the nuclear armed B-52 sent to Barksdale AFB?
If initial reports that the weapons were being decommissioned, but were mistakenly transported by a B-52 bomber, then the weapons should have been taken to Kirtland Air Force Base. According to Kristensen, this is “where the warheads are separated from the rest of the weapon and shipped to the Energy Department’s Pantex dismantlement facility near Amarillo, Texas”
It is well known that Barksdale AFB is used as a staging base for operations in the Middle East.
Another strange twist here from MSNBC:
Langley jets grounded next week for safety review
WAVY-TV HAMPTON, Va. (AP) -- Langley Air Force Base will ground its jets next week.
The Air Force says the service's Air Combat Command has ordered all jet fighters and bombers to remain grounded so airmen can review safety procedures and protocol.
Langley is home to three fighter squadrons, which fly the F-15 Eagle and F-22A Raptor.
The nuclear tipped cruise missiles were on bombers not fighters! Fighters do not carry nuclear weapons. Furthermore the incident happened at Minot Air Force Base and not Langley Air Force Base. What is more disturbing is the fact that Langley is charged with defending the airspace over much of the east coast including the capitol. Why are fighters being ordered to stand down? This just doesn't compute!
Let's review the strange and inconsistent aspects of this unfolding story:
1. Nuclear tipped weapons loaded and transported skirting layers of fail-safe security measures and the chain of command.
2. Nuclear tipped weapons supposedly slated for decommission transported to a base that does not have the facilities necessary.
3. Very suspicious timing. This all happens at a time when there is much talk of the US preemptively Striking Iran and/or large scale terrorist attacks on US soil.
4. Langley Air Force Base will ground its jets for a week leaving vital airspace much less protected.
The whole scenario doesn't sound good or square up. Something much more is going on than we are being told!
Source
Air Force official fired after 6 nukes fly over U.S.The Air Combat Command has ordered a command-wide stand down on Sept. 14 to review procedures, officials said. In addition to the munitions squadron commander who was relieved of his duties, crews involved with the mistaken load — including ground crew workers — have been temporarily decertified for handling munitions, one official said.
According to the U.S. Air Force statement, the commanding officer in charge of military munitions personnel and additional munitions airmen were relieved of duties pending the completion of the investigation.
According to Hans Kristensen, a nuclear weapons expert at the Federation of American Scientists, "the error could not have come from confusing the Advanced Cruise Missile with a conventional weapons since no conventional form exists. So the munitions Airmen should have been easily able to spot the mistake. Other routine procedures were violated which suggests a rather obvious explanation for the error. The military munitions personnel were acting under direct orders, though not through the regular chain of military command."
Now the question is - How did a squadron commander get access to nuclear warheads? (Weapons of mass destruction?) All nuclear weapons are released only by upper echelon authority. There are fail-safe procedures and protocols in place to keep just this sort of thing from happening.
A nuclear submarine commander cannot launch his nuclear missiles without direct orders from the Commander in Chief or next in the chain of command. There are authentication codes and redundant verification procedures to stop this from happening.How did it happen? Was the president involved, was this a covert operation, or was there a security breach? Any way you slice it, there is something very, very wrong with this story.
The timing of this looks very suspicious. This happens now at a time when there is much talk of: The US preemptively Striking Iran and large scale terrorist attacks on US soil.
Is all of this just coincidence? Time will tell. Don't expect the truth from the military investigators though.
Take a look at these comments to get the seriousness of the crisis.
Rep. Ike Skelton, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, called the mishandling of the weapons “deeply disturbing” and said the committee would press the military for details. Rep. Edward J. Markey, a senior member of the Homeland Security committee, said it was “absolutely inexcusable.”
“Nothing like this has ever been reported before and we have been assured for decades that it was impossible,” said Markey, D-Mass., co-chair of the House task force on nonproliferation.
Another angle of the story coming out also looks suspicious. Why was the nuclear armed B-52 sent to Barksdale AFB?
If initial reports that the weapons were being decommissioned, but were mistakenly transported by a B-52 bomber, then the weapons should have been taken to Kirtland Air Force Base. According to Kristensen, this is “where the warheads are separated from the rest of the weapon and shipped to the Energy Department’s Pantex dismantlement facility near Amarillo, Texas”
It is well known that Barksdale AFB is used as a staging base for operations in the Middle East.
Another strange twist here from MSNBC:
Langley jets grounded next week for safety review
WAVY-TV HAMPTON, Va. (AP) -- Langley Air Force Base will ground its jets next week.
The Air Force says the service's Air Combat Command has ordered all jet fighters and bombers to remain grounded so airmen can review safety procedures and protocol.
Langley is home to three fighter squadrons, which fly the F-15 Eagle and F-22A Raptor.
The nuclear tipped cruise missiles were on bombers not fighters! Fighters do not carry nuclear weapons. Furthermore the incident happened at Minot Air Force Base and not Langley Air Force Base. What is more disturbing is the fact that Langley is charged with defending the airspace over much of the east coast including the capitol. Why are fighters being ordered to stand down? This just doesn't compute!
Let's review the strange and inconsistent aspects of this unfolding story:
1. Nuclear tipped weapons loaded and transported skirting layers of fail-safe security measures and the chain of command.
2. Nuclear tipped weapons supposedly slated for decommission transported to a base that does not have the facilities necessary.
3. Very suspicious timing. This all happens at a time when there is much talk of the US preemptively Striking Iran and/or large scale terrorist attacks on US soil.
4. Langley Air Force Base will ground its jets for a week leaving vital airspace much less protected.
The whole scenario doesn't sound good or square up. Something much more is going on than we are being told!
Source
They're Looking For The Missing Nuke
OPINION: THEY ARE *NOT* LOOKING FOR FOSSETT, HE IS NOT MISSING, THEY KNOW EXACTLY WHERE HE IS.... THEY ARE USING HIM AS A COVER STORY... THEY ARE LOOKING FOR A MISSING 150 KILOTON NUKE!
By: Never_Surrender <Send E-Mail>
Date: Friday, 7 September 2007, 11:06 a.m.
By: Never_Surrender <Send E-Mail>
Date: Friday, 7 September 2007, 11:06 a.m.
Ok....
Something just occurred to me....
On Aug. 30th we had the B-52 nuke incident, no one knows for sure if there were 5 or 6 nukes yet.
If there were 6 ONE IS MISSING
On Sept. 3rd, we are being told that a famous man went missing... a highly connected famous man.
for days they have been searching for him.....
OR HAVE THEY?
This all just hit me when I was watching the news for the first time in about two weeks, and I heard them say that the MILITARY is helping to look for this Fossett guy.
WHAT? The Military????
It was then that it hit me....
THEY ARE LOOKING FOR THE MISSING NUKE!
Nevada Guard Aids Search for Missing Pilot Fossett
Air Force units assist in search for adventurer Steve Fossett
COME ON, THERE IS NO WAY THAT THIS IS ALL FOR SOME GUY!!
They even have GOOGLE searching for the guy FROM SPACE!!
Mark my words.... THEY ARE LOOKING FOR A MISSING NUKE.
This Fossett guy is ONLY missing because they needed a cover story... they had to find a way to explain all of the military planes that were going to be flying around over Nevada.
They needed a good excuse and VOILA... Fossett provided it!!
As soon as they locate the nuke, they will produce the set up "crash" scene!
Right now that man is in a bunker somewhere with his plane hidden inside or underneath of a mountain being held in safe keeping away from public eyes until they find what they are really looking for......... A MISSING 150 KILOTON NUCLEAR WEAPON!!
and then they will take him out to some remote location and set up the "crash" scene.... or, there is a chance that Fossett is in on this whole thing and that he volunteered to "disappear" for a few days into some government bunker so that he could play a part in saving the country from being nuked.
In which case he will show up in a week or two with some heroic story of survival and everyone will be amazed that he made it.
I don't know why it took me so long to get this one but...
they are DEFINITELY NOT looking for a missing man using ALL of these military resources and EVEN going as far as to have satellites searching FROM SPACE....
THEY ARE LOOKING FOR SOMETHING THAT HAS TO DO WITH MATTERS OF NATIONAL SECURITY.... mark my words.
"A VIEW TO A KILL":STEVE FOSSET,A BROKEN ARROW &THE 3rd FEMA SCENARIO AFTER 9/11
Date: Saturday, 8 September 2007, 9:44 p.m.
In Response To: IF I WERE IN CALIFORNIA,- I'D LEAVE NOW. *PIC* (The_Fox) Most possible a nuke has gone "missing" on Aug. 30 on the territory of the U.S.. Everything we have heared about that incident with the B52 points towards that assumption. The code word in military jargon for such an accident is called "Broken Arrow". And we had a "Broken Arrow" - at least for that three to four hours flighttime - where five or six nuklear weapons of the U.S.A. were not under control of the "system" - as they simply didn't knew about their whereabouts - which would be the best case of the worst, however. According to various sources it took the B52 three to four hours from Minot to Barksdale AF-Base, which is a distance of appr. 1,100 miles. Calculating with an avarage speed of the B52 at about 530mph the bomber could have made the distance on a direct flight in about two hours. The actual route was kept secret. It can be assumed that the flight planning didn't lead the route over populated area - even if nothing was known about the payload - and this would suggest a course leading in great parts over the Rocky Mountains. Let's speculate that the B52 indeed had six cruise missiles under its wings - as was reported initially. Which would make sense - as you would put on this stuff symetrically - and not "five" as was reported later. So chances are high that the confusion occured, as the B52 was leaving with six warheads from ND - and arriving in Louisiana with five only... According to calculations it is possible that the hot bomber could fly past the Great Nevada Bassin. But much more likely is that it could have been possible that one AGM 86 was programmed that way that it silently dropped "itself" from the pylon, fell close to the surface and started its propulsion engine there - skimming towards a preprogrammed target - maybe a lake, somewhere in the "nowhere" of Arizona. Although a bit speculative, let's continue our little scenario. The cruise missile drops into the lake - without exploding - leaving the warhead intact. Someone only has to go there and pick it up. Without signing any acknowledgement of receipt... Ian Fleming wrote a similar scenario in "Never say Never Again": A SPECTRE agent has stolen two American nuclear warheads, and James Bond must find their targets before they are detonated... But there is even more from the world of the inventor of 007, and it deals with earthquakes, the San Andreas fault, and flooding Silicon Valley. In "A View to a Kill" Christopher Walken plays the bad guy Max Zorin having invented a new computer chip capable of blowing out all other digital chips. In our case we wouldn't have to deal with some "computer-chips" but rather with a major earthquake in California! I wrote about this "3rd FEMA prediction" at... ...and "coincidentally" it was published exactly on Sept.14.! See, what is planned for that date! ... First on the list was a terrorist attack in New York. Second was a super-strength hurricane hitting New Orleans. Third was a major earthquake on the San Andreas fault. ...A catastrophic temblor at the right spot along the San Andreas could significantly reduce energy and water supplies - at least temporarily, she and others said... ...Because the Los Angeles region is so much larger than the Louisiana city, it is difficult to conceive of a disaster - "sort of an A-bomb" - that would blanket the whole city, let alone the whole county, in ruin, said Lee Sapaden, a spokesman for Los Angeles County's Office of Emergency Management... But back to our fiction about the missing nuke. Three days after the incident with the B52 -on Monday, Sept. 3, early in the morning - "aviator" Steve Fossett took off in a small plane from the private airstrip "Flying-M Ranch", near Carson City and the California border. It was reported that Fossett was "searching for a suitable lake bed" for another speed record attempt. Althoug constantly appearing in media as the "great aviator" little is known about the connections and businesslife of Steve Fossett. James Stephen Fossett, born April 22, 1944, in Jackson, Tenn., growing up in Garden Grove, Calif has always been portrayed as a colorful person. Fossett's first job after college was running the information-technology division of some department store. Later he joined Merrill Lynch and founded the Lakota Trading Inc., a stock-options trading firm in Chicago. It was followed by Larkspur Securities Inc., an investment firm and Marathon Securities, a securities firm, all located in Chicago. The celebrity earned a bachelor's degree in economics and philosophy, at the "epicenter" of today's Neocons, Stanford University, and holds a master's degree in BA from Washington University/St.Louis. Fossett is married to Peggy Fossett, the couple have no children and live in Beaver Creek/Colorado. The autobiography of Steve Fossett appeared in 2006: "Chasing the Wind"... But let's have a look what we do know of Fossett's company Marathon Securities Ltd.? Did you know that "Marathon Securities" was involved with the ptb-circles through Barrick Gold? Managing takovers of Gold-shares? In "redistributing" of Zaire's mining industry in unisono with the Worldwide British Cartell and all those IMFs of our world? Meeting in Lubumbashi on 9./10. May 1997, participants: But back to Nevada: The Franco Nevada Mining Corp. Ltd. that has at least business connections to Marathon Securities was bought in 2002 by Newmont Mining Corporation, one of the World's leading gold producers with operations on five continents. From their site: Fosset could have been in that area within one hour flight-time. Parking his small single-engine Bellanca Super Decathlon (tail number N240R) wherever it would be suitable. No signal was received from the plane's emergency locator transmitter, designed to be automatically activated in an event of a crash... So most possibly there was no crash. And why would one of the highest ranking military, Maj.Gen.Henry C.Morrow, "coordinate" any search for Fossett if there wasn't more behind the story? The area, Newmont owns, shows a lot of natural springs interconnected via subterrain water-channels. The Sage layback was broadly drilled by Santa Fe Pacific Gold in the mid-1990s. The Sage ore body is a northern extension of the existing Twin Creeks Mega pit, and occurs in the overturned fold axis of a NW-trending anticline at depths of 600 to 1200 feet. Together with the proper knowledge of the geological terrain of the area it would be imaginable that someone could use those skills for placing a nuke somewhere there - near the states border to California - inmidst the San Andreas fault - possibly causing a major quake. If nature isn't on time to "fullfill" FEMA's predictions - hey - one could do a lot "with a little help from my friends"... And - what companies own massive short positions running out by Sept.21! Although this little fiction is highly speculative there are lots of bits that would fit into a "scenario" - and nobody would recognize it. It would possibly go under the topic of a "natural catastrophy"... War on 'error, Part 33: "FEMA's famous Third Fame"
FarSight3 -- Wednesday, 14 September 2005, 12:40 p.m....U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones remembers attending an emergency training session in August 2001 with the FEMA that discussed the three most likely catastrophes to strike the United States.
Most people do know him as being the first person to circle the globe in a balloon in 2002 solo and being the first to fly a plane solo around the world without refueling in 2005. Fosset holds 116 records in five sports, including sailing, ballooning, gliding, dirigibles and powered aircraft. About half remain unbroken. He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2007.
Could be a perfect cover, indeed. Noone would expect from someone that much in the focus of the media that there might be another face behind a nice, 63 years old famous sportsman. Same with Sir Richard Branson, the British billionaire who has helped finance many of Fossett's adventures. Although Rayelan doesn't think so... * Bunting Warburg/Toronto, a dpt.of the Swiss Bankverein-Warburg;
* Goldman Sachs/Wall-Street-Investmenthouse;
* London's Hedge Fund Value Investing Partners;
* SA dpt. of German Morgan Grenfell;
* C.M. Oliver/Vancouver;
* Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce-Wood Gundy (CBIC);
* Marathon Securities;
* British Investors Yorkton Securities;
* Nile International/North-Carolina;
* British Breco International;
* London's National Securities;
* Northern Mining/Ontario.Newmont owns or controls approximately 3,056 square miles (7,915 square kilometers) of land in Nevada, stretching across the state along the Interstate 80 corridor.
Source
Rupert Murdoch Buys The Wall Street Journal....Ut Oh
The Fox And The Journal
Dennis Kneale, 08.01.07, 3:25 PM ET
The lamentations begin: The Wall Street Journal, bastion of objectivity and insight in business news, has fallen into the clutches of wily Rupert Murdoch, the tabloid-mongering, arch-conservative Australian press lord and chief of the omnivorous News Corp.
Murdoch will impose his views and his business agenda on the hallowed news pages of the Journal and its high-minded, mission-motivated scribes. This, after the Journal had spent a century in the protective cocoon of the Bancroft family, four generations upholding a solemn promise to insulate the newspaper from the harsh vagaries of business pressures and Wall Street whims. Brace for the updating of résumés and a supposed exodus of noble Journal staff.
The lamenters have one thing right: It is, indeed, a sad day in journalism. But the rest of it is just plain wrong. It's a sad day in journalism not because Murdoch's conquering hordes have had their way with the Journal and its parent, Dow Jones & Co. (nyse: DJ - news - people )--it's sad because the greatest financial-news brand in the world ended up unable to stand on its own in the next media age.
Video: Wall Street Journal Under Murdoch
And that tragedy owes not to Rupert Murdoch or the rise of the Internet. It owes to the same precious, sanctimonious attitude that has been on display at Dow Jones since the bid emerged. It owes to some of the same pious and self-absorbed people who so regret this deal: some Bancrofts; longtime Dow Jones brass who presided over a multitude of miscalculations and miscues in 20 years; and, to a lesser degree, self-satisfied Journal-istas who fooled themselves into thinking they were doing God's work. How else to explain their desperate search for another bidder and reportedly trying to entice billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens and billionaire grocer Ron Burkle. Rupert, at least, knows a bit about journalism.
None of these insiders were evil or even stupid, and all of them meant well. But hey--they blew it, they lost and now they should be kissing Rupert's ring, or something else, to thank him for saving their collective hide.
By The Numbers
It is painful to say this, for my career owes so much to the Journal, where I started at age 24 and didn't quit until age 41 (to join Forbes). My admiration and affection for the paper, and for my former colleagues, are undiminished, eight years after my exit. For a time I nurtured far-off fantasies (read: delusions) of returning one day, MacArthur-like, to run it.
But 20 years ago Dow Jones' market value was at $2.6 billion, and News Corp.'s (nyse: NWS - news - people ) was at $3 billion; today News Corp., at $67 billion, is worth more than 10 times the market cap of Dow Jones, which will disappear into the Murdoch machine for all of $5.6 billion in cash. In 25 years, Dow Jones shares rose an embarrassingly low 57%, as the S&P 500 surged 1,181% or more than 11-fold, and the Dow Jones industrial average soared 1,447%, up 14-fold.
Dow Jones stock was at $30 or so in 1983, a year after I joined; after a 3-for-2 stock split, it was at only $36 on the day before the Journal finally broke the news of Murdoch's $60-a-share bid on May 1. (The paper, whose integrity gets a lot of ink lately, held back the scoop for a week or two after word of the offer leaked into the newsroom; this, no doubt, served Dow Jones' business agenda. If Rupert tries that, he will be hanged.)
So maybe none of this is Dow Jones' fault: It struggles amid decrepit dinosaurs in the newspaper industry, blah blah blah. But this company botched myriad opportunities. And a primary reason is that Dow Jones was always run by journos, not by business executives. This quaint bent, always a strength of the Journal, weakened Dow Jones. Its chief executives were past Journal scribes, until Richard Zannino succeeded the affable and honorable Peter Kann last year. Other editors were seeded into jobs running units throughout the company--circulation, the Wall Street newswire, the thriving indexes business, the entire overseas operations, new desktop data ventures, a failed desktop-video service and more.
The flaw of this is that journalists, bless our corn-pone hearts, make decisions based on what's good journalism, not what's good business. And to get real about it, the former can't survive and thrive without the latter.
Bad Business
At Dow Jones, many decisions in pursuit of good journalism came unabashedly at the expense of profits. We ink-stained wretches celebrate this, blind to the financial withering that ensues over the long term. The Journal has kept its Asian edition alive through 31 years of tepid performance; it recently shrank to a tabloid. It has kept plugging at a struggling European edition that, in 25 years, posted spotty profits and frequent losses and failed to challenge the Financial Times.
Amid a terrible downturn in print ads a few years ago, the paper added staff to broaden coverage of softer fare and personal how-to advice. And it swallowed a likely 20% increase in distribution costs to add a Saturday edition that has been poorly received. (Let's hope Rupert kills it, if he dares. We have too much to read as it is.)
Outside the newsroom, other moves fared even worse. Years ago Dow Jones blew two chances to create a business-news cable channel, in one case losing out to General Electric (nyse: GE - news - people ), whose CNBC now has pretax profits of $300 million a year. DJ ran up losses of more than $1 billion on financial-data wire service Telerate, then earlier this year had to sell off six of its local papers to raise cash to pay $200 million to settle a related breach-of-contract suit. The Journal fared better with WSJ.com, with its audience of a million paying subscribers, but Forbes.com, a free site, reaches 15 million users a month worldwide.
At many other companies, such a lengthy litany of screw-ups would ignite a shareholder revolt, but at Dow Jones the Bancrofts reigned, and the rest of the shareholder base--the unlucky gene pool--was powerless to rebel. The controlling family owned only 38% of DJ shares but held 64% voting control, a structure shareholders had approved in the early 1980s.
So why didn't the Bancrofts themselves revolt? A laudable sense of duty, sure--but another reason has to be the steady flow of dividends funded by the Dow Jones brass. The company paid out hundreds of millions of dollars over the years in shareholder dividends instead of reinvesting the cash in new businesses. Even as earnings struggled, DJ raised its dividend 25% in 12 years. In the past decade, Dow Jones earned all of $377 million in net income after charges and restructurings--but it paid out $858 million in dividends. Debt covered part of the tab, almost doubling in 10 years to $447 million.
Some $330 million of that dividend largesse went to the Bancrofts, an average of $33 million a year--a payoff, of sorts, for keeping their hands off the business and letting the pros run it. One key factor in clinching this deal was News Corp.'s agreeing to pick up $30 million in personal advisory costs the Bancrofts ran up. In the end, it was always about money.
That the Bancroft family's cozy arrangement was disrupted so quickly, and the relatives so riven, by Murdoch's $60-a-share bid raises questions about other stumbling companies with two separate and unequal classes of stock. Memo to the New York Times Co. (nyse: NYT - news - people ): You may be next.
News You Might Have Forgot....But Im Not Gonna Let That Happen!
Picture this!
On July 26, 2000, WorldNetDaily published an exclusive, copyrighted, breaking news story, "FBI fishes Senate e-mail for Trulock."
No other media organization had the story.
Two days later, the Washington Post published a remarkably similar story, "Probe of Ex-Official Extends to Hill." The Post's top national security writer, Walter Pincus, reportedly had been e-mailed copies of WND's story on July 27 by sources on Capitol Hill.
When WorldNetDaily confronted the Post, the news giant readily admitted it had failed to credit WND with the story, apologized, and ran a correction crediting WorldNetDaily.com. (See "The Post's uncredited WND rewrite")
In this tumultuous era for the press – which has changed in one generation from having been dominated by the Washington Post, New York Times and "the big three" networks to offering today a multitude of news choices – the so-called "Old Media" are having a little trouble accepting the "New Media." Competition makes them uncomfortable, especially from the revolutionary new Internet world.
The Post episode is not unique. In fact, it's a frequent occurrence, and not only with the Post. Stories that first appear on this site are subsequently picked up by the rest of the press, sometimes with credit, but more often – especially when picked up by big media – without credit.
When WorldNetDaily broke the story of President Clinton's Executive Order 13083 – which totally re-defined federalism and threatened to gut the 10th Amendment – it was a month before the Post finally got around to covering the story in a July 17, 1998, piece by Post staff writer David Broder. No credit to WorldNetDaily.
On Feb. 27, 2000, Post staffer Marc Fisher interviewed WND Editor Joseph Farah about another WorldNetDaily scoop – Jane Fonda's conversion to Christianity. In his story, "When Barbarella Met Jesus," Fisher writes: "This is one of those Internet specials, a report that originated on a wacky Web site and found its way onto page one of the Washington Times before flying all over the infotainment universe."
And when WND first brought the brutal rape-murder of 13-year-old Jesse Dirkhising to national attention, the ensuing controversy over the virtual media blackout on the case led to the Washington Post's ombudsman, E.R. Shipp, writing this:
"There is an explanation for the absence of coverage of the brutal rape and asphyxiation death of 13-year-old Jesse Dirkhising, but those who are inclined to believe the David Dukes, Joseph Farahs and Tim Grahams of the world – who have asserted that the story has been suppressed so that homosexuals won't be portrayed negatively – will not be satisfied."
So, while the Post has no problem in attempting to marginalize or trivialize WorldNetDaily by calling it names like "wacky Web site," or comparing veteran journalist and CEO Joseph Farah with Ku Klux Klansman David Duke, it also has a penchant for picking up WND's stories and packaging them as its own.
In fact, WorldNetDaily's exclusive dual news features on Fox's controversial "Temptation Island" series resulted in many follow-on stories in the rest of the media, including Associated Press, the New York Times, New York Daily News and others. All gave credit to WorldNetDaily for breaking the story – except the Washington Post.
The Post did manage, however, to credit Sperry for his uncovering of the Internet pornography scandal in the Clinton White House, involving the downloading by White House staffers of massive amounts of hard-core porn video files. The Post confirmed that story the next day with White House spokesman Joe Lockhart, and other major news media – including the Associated Press, MSNBC, USA Today, followed up – crediting WorldNetDaily with breaking the news on the latest White House scandal.
For the sake of new readers who may not be familiar with the five-year track record of WorldNetDaily.com, we present: "WND Scoops: You read it here first!"
Although by no means an exhaustive listing of original stories, "Scoops" features some of the high-profile stories that have had the greatest impact on Americans over the last five years. "Know Your Customer," the National ID card, CNN-Time's "Tailwind" fraud and many others are described and linked.
WND has garnered at least 14 Associated Press citations for stories it's broken – by far the most of any independent newssite on the Internet – which is more proof that the old establishment media are having to take our reporting seriously.
Sometimes we get credit for our work, and sometimes we don't. But it always has impact.
Here are links to lists of just some of the stories WND has broken, categorized by year:
2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997
Bush Backs Immigration Reform
| Bush Backs Immigration Reform |
| By Scott Stearns White House 19 May 2007 |
Stearns report - Download 445k
President Bush says a Senate compromise on immigration reform will secure the nation's borders, restore respect for law and meet the needs of the U.S. economy. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns reports, the bill faces opposition from some House Republicans.
In his weekly radio address, President Bush thanked Republican and Democratic leaders in the Senate for coming together on legislation that he says includes all the elements required for comprehensive immigration reform.
Mr. Bush said the legislation will make it easier for employers to verify the immigration status of new workers. It creates a temporary worker program and helps resolve the status of some 12 million illegal immigrants already in the country without what the president calls animosity or amnesty.
 |
| President George Bush, 14 May 2007 |
The president's past efforts to reform U.S. immigration laws were blocked by members of his own party in the House of Representatives who believe that offering illegal immigrants a means to regularize their status amounts to rewarding people who have broken the law.
The latest plan tries to address those concerns by requiring illegal immigrants to pass a strict background check, pay a fine, hold a job, maintain a clean criminal record, and eventually learn English. If they want to become citizens, they will have to pay an additional fine, pass a citizenship test, and return to their country to apply for a green card.
Beyond opposition from Republicans in the House, the plan is also dividing the ruling-party's presidential candidates. Arizona Senator John McCain backs the deal. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and most of the other Republican presidential hopefuls do not.
In the Democratic radio address, Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro called on the federal government to spend more money on child welfare, including funds for after school programs and health care for children from poor families.
New resource on 1798 Sedition Act
New resource on 1798 Sedition Act
First Amendment Center Online In 1798 the Alien and Sedition Acts were signed into law by President John Adams in response to fears of an impending war with France. The acts were fiercely debated in the press, in particular the Sedition Act, which made speaking openly against the government a crime of libel punishable by fine and even prison time. Federalists sought to quell dissent by prosecuting those who violated the Sedition Act to the fullest extent of the law. See "The Sedition Act of 1798," by First Amendment Center Library Manager Gordon T. Belt, at the link below.
01.17.07
Related
Sedition Act of 1798
Ten Ways To Fight Hate....
SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA...
Every hour Every day Every week Hate in America is a dreadful, daily constant. The dragging death of a black man in Jasper, Texas; the crucifixion of a gay man in Laramie, Wyo.; and post-9.11 hate crimes against hundreds of Arab Americans, Muslim Americans and Sikhs are not "isolated incidents." They are eruptions of a nation's intolerance. Bias is a human condition, and American history is rife with prejudice against groups and individuals because of their race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or other differences. The 20th century saw major progress in outlawing discrimination, and most Americans today support integrated schools and neighborhoods. But stereotypes and unequal treatment persist, an atmosphere often exploited by hate groups. When bias motivates an unlawful act, it is considered a hate crime. Race and religion inspire most hate crimes, but hate today wears many faces. Bias incidents (eruptions of hate where no crime is committed) also tear communities apart — and threaten to escalate into actual crimes. According to FBI statistics, the greatest growth in hate crimes in recent years is against Asian Americans and the gay and lesbian community. Once considered a Southern phenomenon, today most hate crimes are reported in the North and West. And these numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. Law enforcement officials acknowledge that hate crimes — similar to rape and family violence crimes — go under-reported, with many victims reluctant to go to the police, and some police agencies not fully trained in recognizing or investigating hate crimes. The good news is ... This guide sets out 10 principles for fighting hate, along with a collection of inspiring stories of people who worked to push hate out of their communities. Whether you need a crash course to deal with an upcoming white-power rally, a primer on the media or a long-range plan to promote tolerance in your community, you will find practical advice, timely examples and helpful resources in this guide. The steps outlined here have been tested in scores of communities across the nation by a wide range of human rights, faith and civic organizations. Our experience shows that one person, acting from conscience and love, is able to neutralize bigotry. Imagine, then, what an entire community, working together, might do.
someone commits a hate crime.
at least eight blacks, three whites, three gays, three Jews and one Latino become hate crime victims.
a cross is burned.
All over the country people are fighting hate, standing up to promote tolerance and inclusion. More often than not, when hate flares up, good people rise up against it — often in greater numbers and with stronger voices.
1. Act
2. Unite
3. Support the Victims
4. Do Your Homework
5. Create an Alternative
6. Speak Up
7. Lobby Leaders
8. Look Long Range
9. Teach Tolerance
10. Dig Deeper
You Are Not Alone
Resources
Read The Reports!!!
Reports Purged From the Website of the Civil Rights Commission
full versions of almost all deleted reports are posted below
| >>> As of 7 January 2005, the website of the US Commission on Civil Rights has been purged of 20 reports that didn't meet the approval of the agency's Republican majority. The site says that you may still order copies of these reports, but, tellingly, they require that you give them a physical mailing address. In other words, they'll send you a paper copy of a report, not an easily-postable electronic copy. The Memory Hole was able to locate Links: US Commission on Civil Rights website Commission's listing of deleted reports Memoryblog post: "Civil Rights Commission Website Purges Bush-Unfriendly Reports" |
The Missing Reports
| "Redefining Rights in America: The Civil Rights Record of the George W. Bush Administration" (Sept 2004) |
| "Closing the Achievement Gap: The Impact of Standards Based Education Reform" (July 2004) |
| "Is America Ready to Vote? Election Readiness Briefing Paper" (July 2004) |
|
|
"Native American Health Care Disparities Briefing Summary" (Feb 2004)
| "Anniversary Update on Commission Activities Related to September 11" (Sept 2003) |
| "The U.S. Department of Education’s Race-Neutral Alternatives in Postsecondary Education: Innovative Approaches to Diversity - Are They Viable Substitutes for Affirmative Action?" (May 2003) |
| "The Supreme Court Revisits Affirmative Action: Will Grutter and Gratz Mean the End of Bakke?" (April 2003) Unable to locate a copy. Please email us if you have it. |
| "Education Accountability and High-Stakes Testing in the Carolinas" (Feb 2003) |
| "Crossing Borders: The Administration of Justice and Civil Rights Protections in the Immigration and Asylum Context" (Jan 2003) |
| "Beyond Percentage Plans: The Challenge of Equal Opportunity in Higher Education" (Nov 2002) Executive Summary | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 |
| "Briefing on Tragedy Along the Arizona-Mexico Border: Undocumented Immigrants Face Death in the Desert" (Aug 2002) |
| "Voting Rights in Florida 2002: Briefing Summary" (Aug 2002) |
| "Haitian Asylum Seekers and U.S. Immigration Policy" (June 2002) |
|
|
| "Briefing on the Consequences of Government Race Data Collection Bans on Civil Rights" (May 2002) |
| "Briefing on Civil Rights Issues Facing Muslims and Arab Americans in Indiana Post-September 11" (May 2002) |
| "Briefing on Civil Rights Issues Facing Muslims and Arab Americans in Wisconsin Post-September 11" (April 2002) |
| "Briefing on Civil Rights Issues Facing Muslims and Arab Americans in Minnesota Post-September 11" (Feb 2002) |
| "Briefing on Civil Rights Issues Facing Muslims and Arab Americans in Ohio Post-September 11" (Nov 2001) |
"Briefing on Boundaries of Justice: Immigration Policies Post-September 11" (Oct 2001)
Executive Summary | Panel 1 | Panel 2 | Panel 3
Harris | Kamaski | Mineta | Mineta 2 | Mineta 3 | Naraski | Rivera | Zogby | Zogby 2
School Searches Made Legal...
DID YOU KNOW THAT......
In 2006 the House voted for a bill that would require local school districts and charter schools to create
policies allowing school officials to more easily search students for drugs and weapons, over the objections of school administrators, school boards, parents and student groups? Although Democrats complained during debate that the bill (HR 5295) is unnecessary, they did not obstruct its passage by voice vote. A Democratic aide said party leaders did not force a roll call vote because they knew that the measure had enough support to pass by a two-thirds majority and because it is expected to go nowhere in the Senate.
9-19-06, House Agreed to Bill by Voice Vote
Referred to Senate
- Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
- This Act may be cited as the `Student and Teacher Safety Act of 2006'.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
- Congress finds the following:
- (1) The United States Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics reported in the 2005 Indicators of School Crime and Safety that in 2003 seventeen percent of students in grades 9-12 reported they carried a weapon. Six percent reported having carried a weapon on school grounds.
- (2) The same survey reported that 29 percent of all students in grades 9-12 reported that someone offered, sold, or gave them an illegal drug on school property within the last 12 months.
- (3) The United States Constitution's Fourth Amendment guarantees `the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures'.
- (4) That while the Supreme Court affirmed the Fourth Amendment's application to students in public schools in New Jersey vs. TLO (1985), the Court held that searches of students by school officials do not require warrants issued by judges showing probable cause. The Court will ordinarily hold that such a search is permissible if--
- (A) there are reasonable grounds for suspecting the search will reveal evidence that the student violated the law or school rules; and
- (B) the measures used to conduct the search are reasonably related to the search's objectives, without being excessively intrusive in light of the student's age, sex, and nature of the offense.
- (5) The Supreme Court held in Board of Education of Independent Sch. Dist. 92 of Pottawatomie County vs. Earls (2002) that random drug testing of students who were participating in extracurricular activities was reasonable and did not violate the Fourth Amendment. The Court stated that such search policies effectively serve the School Districts interest in protecting its students' health and safety.
SEC. 3. SEARCHES BASED ON REASONABLE SUSPICION.
- (a) In General- Each local educational agency shall have in effect throughout the jurisdiction of the agency policies that ensure that a search described in subsection (b) is deemed reasonable and permissible.
- (b) Searches Covered- A search referred to in subsection (a) is a search by a full-time teacher or school official, acting on any reasonable suspicion based on professional experience and judgment, of any minor student on the grounds of any public school, if the search is conducted to ensure that classrooms, school buildings, school property and students remain free from the threat of all weapons, dangerous materials, or illegal narcotics. The measures used to conduct any search must be reasonably related to the search's objectives, without being excessively intrusive in light of the student's age, sex, and the nature of the offense.
SEC. 4. ENCOURAGEMENT TO PROTECT STUDENTS AND TEACHERS.
- (a) In General- A local educational agency that fails to comply with section 3 shall not, during the period of noncompliance, receive any Safe and Drug Free School funds after fiscal year 2008.
- (b) Definition- In this section, the term `Safe and Drug Free School funds' includes any funds under Part A of Title IV of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
Passed the House of Representatives September 19, 2006.
Attest:
Clerk.
To protect students and teachers.
END
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS!!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)