People are now saying, “Poor Ireland”. Poor Ireland, indeed …
I am saying, “Poor Europe, none of you cowardly Euro- jackasses have any idea what is going to happen to your sorry butts when the Irish are riled. They’ve been playing by the Eurobosses’ playbook and now stand to be screwed. The Irish are not going to take it.”
There will be blood. The Irish are not French. There are three countries you don’t want to mess with; Vietnam, Afghanistan and Ireland. The ground of all three countries is soaked with the blood of tyrants. Don’t believe me, ask the English!
Ireland is in the process of having its economic sovereignty ceded to the IMF and EU in order to continue the ill- advised bailout of its largest banks. The Irish banking problem has become Europe’s sovereign funding problem. To allow market funding for other EU deadbeats such as Portugal and Spain the EU is forcing the Irish government to accept surrender terms. This is the ‘official’ story, the back- story is that the mercantile center of Europe is stripping Irish assets. One such is the export businesses Ireland still possesses. At issue is Ireland’s low corporate tax rate that has allowed Ireland to be the European home of companies such as Intel. Germany would like to be ‘home’ for Intel and to hell with Ireland.
The euro seigneurage sales’ pitch looks good on paper but the payoff is turning out to be a rapidly wasting asset another fraud. The euro is revealed as a highly efficient deflation machine. Beneficiaries of the machine’s operation so far have been bond speculators and banking managers whose bloated salaries and bonuses are guaranteed.
Opposition Labour lawmaker Pat Rabbitte berated government minister Pat Carey on live television last night, telling him “you ought to be ashamed to show your face in this studio after you brought our country to penury.”Ireland would draw on a 750 billion-euro pool funded by Germany and other euro members should it ask for aid. While Britain is not part of the currency bloc, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne says he’s willing to contribute to any package to be a “good neighbor.”
Cowen said Ireland has no reason to feel “ashamed or humiliated.” “There is no question of loss of sovereignty for Ireland,” he told reporters in Dublin yesterday.
The government has said it may take aid in order to protect the euro. Ireland may be the “zone of attack,” Finance Minister Brian Lenihan told reporters in Brussels on Nov. 16 after a meeting of his counterparts in the euro region.
Uprisings
A request for outside help is acutely felt in a country that gained independence in 1922 after a series of failed uprisings against the British Empire. The most famous came in 1916 at the height of World War I, when republicans hung a banner from Dublin’s Liberty Hall reading: “We serve neither King nor Kaiser but Ireland.”
The slogan was a riposte to critics who argued that the separatist movement undermined Britain’s war effort against Kaiser Wilhelm II. While the 1916 revolt was suppressed, the surviving leaders then mounted another armed campaign that led to a 1921 treaty with Britain granting partial independence.
The country then descended into civil war, with the predecessors of Fianna Fail arguing that settlement was a sellout. More than eight decades later, some people in the party under Cowen are echoing the idea of selling out.
“This is our worst day and lowest day,” Ned O’Keeffe, a Fianna Fail lawmaker, said in an interview with broadcaster RTE. “We are sovereign people and blood has been lost over it. It’s sad that the U.K. Chancellor is now offering us money. I never believed I’d see that.”
One must wonder what Irish ministers are thinking about this euro- centric debacle when not propped in front of a microphone. The choice is simple; to default and let the banks fail and escape the euro or surrender the country to the world’s finance rapists. Closing the insolvent banks would shift the costs to those who deserve to take them: those who made the bad banking bets in the first place. At the same time, ejecting from the euro and the IMF would mean little further access to ‘international’ lending.
Skipping the euro is not a bad chance to take. When membership to the
EU is destructive as it is now to Ireland, what does it matter? None of the Euro- establishment figures have a grasp on the underlying problem which is unsupportable energy waste. Ireland has no oil or gas to use. It pays a fuel ‘tax’ to Saudi Arabia just as it pays a finance ‘tax’ to the international banking cabal. Had Ireland oil, there would be no euro- problems!
Ireland freed from its ruined banks could fund itself and at least have some control over its own destiny. Default would amount to a tax cut for Irish citizens. There is a lot to favor Irish ‘default and be done with it’!
Default and be done is inevitable. With fuel- driven deflation stalking the developed world the issue is WHEN not If. When will some ‘fill- in- the- blank’ European government close its defunct banks and challenge the EU overlords to do something about it. THAT will be the start of the REAL banking crisis as Irish banks are by no means the only zombies in the Eurozone. The French and German (and US) bondholders will be stuck with more trillion$ in bad loans. EU honchos will be forced to abandon the sickeningly trite homilies about ‘Liberté, égalité and fraternité’ and go hard after Europe’s middle- class suckers so as to benefit the financiers who run the Eurozone’s flying financial circus.
The salient characteristic of the euro debacle is the breadth and depth of its thoroughgoing failure. There is no European government, no federalism, no European treasury, no structure to share costs or manage European fiscal policy. There is only a structural vacuum compromised top to bottom by finance. As the Eurozone is currently non- structured, there are no long term benefits to any country — even Germany — only to the cadres of multi- national bankers and ‘investors’.
It is not just the ‘PIIGS’ that are under euro- stress. Much of Eastern Europe cannot escape euro- driven deflation.
It is simply a matter of time that a banking restructuring (collapse) will take place: there are no magic ‘growth potions’ for anyone in Euroland The only way a general banking crisis can be avoided is for another housing bubble to appear. The various bailouts postpone facing the problem. There is no rescue in the future, no invasion of Bankers from Mars.
The EU managers must know they are playing with fire. The suave and debonnaire French are blocking roads and oil terminals. What will the Irish hard- liners do? Ireland has given austerity a chance the the outcome has not been what it was sold. A steady diet of more and more nothing will result in truck bombs going off in front of investment houses in the City of London.
The PIIGS are terrorist hotbeds as well, note the various mafias and ‘Red Brigades’. The price of bailing out bond speculators is … what, exactly? How does the cost to the banks and their bosses compare to the price of needless violence or to pay increased military/security measures?
How can banker bonuses be justified if the cost is the disintegration of the EU, by violence or otherwise? Sez Ambrose Evans- Pritchard:
The EMU system has condemned Club Med to structural depression, with no way out. The logical – yet politically absurd – response of German Chancellor Angela Merkel is to talk of overriding national democracies in order to save the euro. “The question arises over what authority Europe has to tell national parliaments what to do, in order to avoid damage to Europe itself? National parliaments don’t like to be dictated to about such things, but we need to address the problem,” she said.I do not wish to paint this is as German bullying, let alone a conspiracy by Berlin. Germany is being swept along by events like every other country that entered EMU blindly. Yet here is a German Chancellor talking about “dictating” to the Hellenic Parliament, within living memory of the Axis occupation, the Swastika flag on the Acropolis, and the hated Security Battalions. Neither Greece’s Communist unions, nor Greek army officers, will react well to such diktats. That goes double for Epanastatikos Agonas and fellow terrorists.
Now the same ‘diktat’ is levied against Ireland. Good luck on ya, Mate!
Meanwhile, as the US shambles toward national bankruptcy the ‘Distraction du jour’ is taking place @ airports all over the country as new- fangled machines allow leering TSA peeping Toms to compare airline customers’ tits, cunts, ballsacks and penises.
Not to mention colostomy bags, tumors, deformities, scars, lesions and blobs and blobs of McCheeseburger derived fat. Entertainment, no? I need to get one of those airport jobs! It’s getting paid to watch porn!
I’d get to bully people, too. Those passengers not willing to expose themselves to machine- enabled strip searches are subjected to TSA harassment intended to cow the rest into getting with the scanning program, which is meant to enrich the company that sells these useless — except for entertainment purposes only — machines:
Since 1993, Rapiscan Systems has installed over 70,000 products in more than 100 countries. From baggage and parcel inspection systems and metal detectors, to automated explosive detection systems, air cargo screening solutions and container inspection systems, our expansive product portfolio and professional, knowledgeable consultants will help find the perfect security solution for your needs. Our systems are in use at airports, government and corporate buildings, correctional and prison facilities, postal facilities, military zones, sea ports and border crossings. The technologies utilized in the systems range from X-ray and Gamma-ray imaging to advanced threat identification techniques such as neutron and diffraction analysis.Rapiscan Systems is proud to partner with international governments and security agencies to design and deploy customized solutions for securing your facility. With our experience, dedication and customer support, we provide innovative and dependable security solutions to our global customers. By doing so, we make every effort to continually exceed our customers’ expectations.
Rapiscan Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of OSI Systems (NASDAQ:OSIS), is headquartered in Hawthorne, California and has additional offices and manufacturing in Finland, India, Malaysia, Singapore, United Kingdom and the United States. For more information about these facilities and our capabilities please visit Our Company.
This company is a client of ex- Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff who exploits the conflict of interest as well as any banker:
Group slams Chertoff on scanner promotionWASHINGTON – Since the attempted bombing of a US airliner on Christmas Day, former Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff has given dozens of media interviews touting the need for the federal government to buy more full-body scanners for airports.
What he has made little mention of is that the Chertoff Group, his security consulting agency, includes a client that manufactures the machines. Chertoff disclosed the relationship on a CNN program Wednesday, in response to a question.
An airport passengers’ rights group on Thursday criticized Chertoff’s use of his former government credentials to advocate for a product that benefits his clients.
“Mr. Chertoff should not be allowed to abuse the trust the public has placed in him as a former public servant to privately gain from the sale of full-body scanners under the pretense that the scanners would have detected this particular type of explosive,’’ said Kate Hanni, founder of FlyersRights.org, which opposes the use of the scanners.
The (now defunct) Washington Examiner last week ran down an entire list of all the former Washington politicians and staff members who are now part of what it calls the “full-body scanner lobby”:One manufacturer, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, is American Science & Engineering, Inc. AS&E has retained the K Street firm Wexler & Walker to lobby for “federal deployment of security technology by DHS and DOD.” Individual lobbyists on this account include former TSA deputy administration Tom Blank, who also worked under House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Chad Wolf—former assistant administrator for policy at TSA, and a former aide to Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Tex., a top Senate appropriator and the ranking Republican on the transportation committee—is also lobbying on AS&E’s behalf.
Smiths Detection, another screening manufacturer, employs top transportation lobbying firm Van Scoyoc Associates, including Kevin Patrick Kelly, a former top staffer to Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who sits on the Homeland Security Appropriations subcommittee. Smiths also retains former congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley, R-Md.
Former Sen. Al D’Amato, R-N.Y., represents L3 Systems, about which Bloomberg wrote today: “L-3 has ‘developed a more sophisticated system that could prevent smuggling of almost anything on the body,’ said Howard Rubel, an analyst at Jefferies & Co., who has a ‘hold’ rating on the stock.”
First of all, the idea that ‘security’ is something that can be bought in a store is absurd. Anyone wishing to harm airline customers would skip the plane and leave a large luggage bomb in the airport security line itself where hundreds typically mill about in anxiety wondering if their particular private parts measure up to Homeland Security standards.
Unfortunately, what the US government pimps these days is fear and cowardice. The establishment also adheres to the post- Warhol marching order that has all problems of the world solvable by use of machines and technology. The government will humiliate its citizens in the guise of protecting them: Here is the TSA blog:
Opting-out of Advanced Imaging Technology and the Pat-down Doesn’t FlyA recent incident in San Diego where a passenger opted out of Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) and also refused a pat-down has been raising some questions, so I wanted to help clarify a few things with this blog post.
AIT is optional for everybody. However, if you decide to opt-out of AIT screening, you must undergo alternative screening, which will include a pat-down. As I’ve said before, there is nothing punitive about it- it just makes good security sense. Obviously a passenger can’t completely opt out of all screening if they opt out of AIT. That would not make good security sense. AIT is deployed to help us find non-metallic threats, so if you’re selected for AIT and choose to opt-out, we still need to check you for non-metallic threats. That’s why a pat-down is required. If you refuse both, you can’t fly. It is important that all screening procedures are completed. This ensures that terrorists do not have an opportunity to probe TSA’s procedures by electing not to fly just as TSA’s screening procedures are on the verge of detecting that the passenger is a terrorist. Also, it’s important to remember that TSA screens nearly 2 million passengers daily and that very few passengers are required to receive a pat-down.
Let me get this straight, the (unnamed) terrorists need to ‘probe’ airport security? Waffo? What is there to probe? Any part of the security process can be seen by anyone visiting an airport. Where are aircraft most vulnerable and to whom? The answer is in terminals and to people who work there or who service the aircraft, not passengers.
Whatever happened to probable cause? Since when did Agosto Pinochet take over the Department of Homeland Security? In the mentioned instance, does the TSA maintain that a passenger standing on his or her fourth amendment rights to be free of a warrantless search is now a terrorist?
The government is on a slippery slope, here. How many terrorists are pulled out of airport security lines? The ‘scissors’ and ‘nail file’ idiocy had TSA selling items on Ebay. The ramp- up of ‘measures’ ends where, exactly? Will all airline passengers be required to be fitted into a straitjacket? How about flying naked? The issue isn’t about saving lives as the most dangerous part of any trip is the drive to the airport in the family car:
The ongoing abuses of the citizenry by ‘Authority’ for the blatant good of the authority’s clients is self- defeating. The cost of TSA’s insider dealings is a drop in passenger- miles; how much are these putative ‘terrorists’ worth to the airlines? A lot more than a few thousand scanners are to Michael Chertoff.
The real problem is the social cancer of cowardice.
The Peak Oil Crisis: Did We Vote Ourselves to Extinction?By Tom Whipple
The disconnect between the American body politic and reality grows larger every day.
In reviewing hundreds of pages of commentary on the election, one searches in vain for analysis that even come close to describing what is happening to the nation – i.e. we are in the midst of a massive deflating credit bubble and running short of affordable liquid fuels at the same time. There seems to be general agreement that the new balance of power in Washington means two years of gridlock. Despite an occasional bow in the direction of bi-partisanship, the new majority in the house is saying quite openly that it will work to lower taxes, cut spending, will stop any efforts to deal with climate change, and will spend the next two years investigating everything it can about the Obama administration in hopes it will be so discredited in two years that the President can’t possibly win another term. Whether this agenda is what the voters thought they would get on November 2 when they voted yet again for change is another question.
Upon assuming office, the Obama administration faced the biggest choice of any American President since Lincoln — either face up to the fact that the industrial age, with its mantra of endless economic growth, was over and start making preparations for a new era, or try to revive the economy. Apparently the new President, unwilling to grapple with the downsizing of civilization, chose to prolong the deteriorating industrial economy for a few more years by increasing deficit spending, attempting to reform health care, and resorting to various monetary tactics that may or may not keep the financial system from ultimately collapsing. The basis of the problem is that without steadily increasing amounts of cheap energy, reviving economic growth as we know it is simply not sustainable for long. Borrowing and printing trillions of dollars may briefly slow the decline, but little more.
In other words, the president faced the biggest choice since Abe Lincoln and he punted. The incoming Congress will do the same thing. This is cowardice. Our country has made sacred icons out of expedients. America’s institutional backbone of good government has been broken. Policy making has been abandoned by the statesmen. Policies are now made by lobbyists and ‘agents’ such as the Federal Reserve … that is, if they are made at all! Instead of addressing the root causes of our problems and doing something about them, the causes are papered over and ignored. Instead of educating those who have fallen behind the curve, the establishment pimps blatant lies or discredit, issuing threats to label ‘malcontents’ as liberals or worse … terrorists.
Instead of facing up to America’s doomed waste- based economy and calling for reform, the cowardly president Bush cajoled the country into invading Iraq. Instead of facing up to credit excesses and banker crimes, the cowardly current president bailed out the malefactors — his ‘clients’ — and put the bill to the rest of us. Cowardly Congress has rubber stamped the entire process. What is taking place is outrageous!
We need to face our problems with courage, instead of cowering behind scanners and ‘security’, bailouts and ‘extend and pretend’. We need to face reality, about fuel waste, about climate, about the broken and self- defeating economy; the failure of our institutions particularly government, education and the military. Putting off these issues hasn’t accomplished anything but to amplify the problems. Now, the country has run out of maneuvering room.
You can disagree but at least the Irish have the sense and the guts to be ashamed. Look to the Irish, then look to yourselves! It’s not a pretty picture.