Breaking News You Missed

The following recent news articles can be considered victims of mainstream amnesia, if not something more sinister. From barely mentioned to completely ignored, the subject matter was deemed to be undeserving of your interest or attention.

Presented here for your amusement and edification are some of those stories. Brief headlines and comments. Breaking news that may be of some value. You decide the importance.

1. You have to give them credit. Every TV talking head on every channel keeping a straight face while displaying the latest Osama Bin Laden video. What a breakthrough! Where will he strike next?

If anyone still believes the government version of anything, here's something to consider. The video freezes every time "Bin Laden" talks about current events. There is also a different background room tone, as if part of the video was recorded in a larger room.

I remember one of the previous videos, discredited by a German TV station, which presented a different Arabic translation from the one we were given.

From a fake, dyed beard to documented proof of his death, I would tend to doubt anything this video portrayed. Bin Laden is deceased. He's an expired terrorist. He's dead! Don't listen to him anymore. He was a CIA invention from the beginning.

2. New Zogby poll shows show 51 percent of Americans believe Bush and Cheney orchestrated 9/11. Maybe the overwhelming evidence of controlled demolitions - among other things - has something to do with it. Or maybe we've just seen too many video versions of Boogeyman Bin Laden. If we live long enough, maybe we'll have a government honest enough to conduct a legitimate investigation. It would be nice to see the real perpetrators pay the price. Dream on.

3. The General Petraeus show got off the ground on Monday, September 10. With a blizzard of flow charts reminiscent of Ross Perot (Hey Ross, where are you now that we need you?) the good General, as expected, delivered his white house propaganda progress report showing the magic surge to be an unqualified success. Surprise, surprise.

Almost made you want to call your travel agent to book your next vacation at the Anbar Holiday Inn. Free guided tours of desecrated historical sites and vandalized, empty museums, no extra charge. Just ignore all those people in the streets. They're just some of the 4 million refugees we've liberated from their homes. They love Americans. They really do.

As for the escalation - I mean, the so-called surge - put a different General up there with different charts and you'll be able to prove the exact opposite. Can you say cherry pick?

We had 130,000 US troops in Iraq when the surge was launched in February, 2007. As of September, 2007, the number has increased to 168,000. Using General Petraeus' suggested draw-down strategy, we can expect to have approximately 130,000 troops in Iraq in September, 2008.

Say what? It's a shell game. Raise the price, then drop the price and end up with the original price. The controlled press, of course, will focus only on the magic drawdown. Isn't it wonderful? 30,000 troops coming home. No mention of the 130,000 still trapped there.

The winner? George Bush. He gets his expected delay and more time to plunder the devastated country of Iraq. Nothing changes. The loser? General David Petraeus. Sorry, General. I tried to warn you. Lose your integrity and you've lost everything. Don't worry - there's a nice PR job waiting for you when you retire.

Second loser? The American people and the Iraqi people who must pay with their lives for the crimes of the Bush administration.

4. A few pertinent quotes for your pondering pleasure:

"Never get involved in a land war in Asia."

- General Douglas MacArthur

Advising President John F. Kennedy in 1961

"When the enemy advances, withdraw; when he stops, harass; when he tires, strike; when he retreats, pursue."

- Mao Zedong

Describing Guerilla Warfare

"All warfare is based on deception."

- Sun Tzu

The Art of War

"Gimme another 50 billion."

- President George W. Bush

Deceiver in Chief

5. Just to show that America doesn't have a monopoly on government controlled media, here's an interesting item about Britain's BBC.

WTC7 was a 47 story building located across from the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan. The building was damaged by fire and debris when the adjacent Twin Towers collapsed on September 11, 2001. At 5:20 PM EDT on that day, WTC7 also collapsed, attributed to multiple fires caused by debris damage.

That's the official explanation, although no steel-framed building has ever collapsed from fire before or since 9/11. The real reason for the building's collapse, how it was done and who benefited, will be the subject of another article.

As for the BBC, they reported the collapse of WTC7 on September 11, 2001, and the video record of that world broadcast is still available. Just one problem: The BBC reported the collapse at 4:54 PM EDT, with live video pictures of WTC7 still standing in the background - 26 minutes before WTC7 actually collapsed!

How did the BBC know that building 7 was going to collapse 26 minutes before it actually did? Their explanation: some kind of error due to the chaos and confusion of the day. And, of course, the original tapes of the 9/11 coverage are apparently missing. Of course.

There is one logical explanation. They knew in advance about the building's collapse, and they were reading from a prepared script. Since we'll never know who prepared that script, just be advised that the BBC can now be considered the British version of Fox News - a propaganda arm of the government, whose function is to deliver misleading, fabricated versions of the truth.

6. Will your vote count in the next Presidential election? Thanks to Ohio Republicans, probably not. They have effectively blocked Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's plan to test voting machines. You may recall her predecessor, Ken Blackwell, who was instrumental in stealing Ohio's electoral votes for our beloved leader in 2004.

Any number of legitimate studies have demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt that electronic voting machines are unreliable and easily hacked. Vote totals can be changed. Elections can be stolen.

Your choice, Ohio. You can demand the testing of your criminal machines - or you can repeat your record of destroying election records and covering up another stolen election. Go ahead. Let the War Party dictate the terms. One more stolen election and there won't be much left of this country worth saving.

If your only option is to vote on an electronic voting machine - in Ohio or anywhere else - save your vote. It won't mean anything and you will just be perpetrating the myth that Democracy still exists.

7. Coming soon to your hometown: rising unemployment - reduced production - severe economic decline. In other words, Recession. This time accompanied by the real possibility of a fully functioning Police State.

Presidential candidate Ron Paul believes an economic collapse is all but certain - despite attempts by the Fed to forestall the inevitable by pumping in more billions to keep the declining stock market above water.

It will happen fast, possibly in October; maybe a little later, and there won't be much warning. 

Things will be fine one day, then next day, the crash. A run on the banks at that point could trigger the declaration of national emergency and martial law.

Paul notes that the abolition of Habeus Corpus is a dangerous sign that martial law is being planned - noting also that laws are usually changed by those who plan to use them.

We've created $3 trillion in debt in just 6 years. We are now the proud owners of $8.4 trillion in national debt altogether - and we have to borrow $2.5 billion every day just to stay afloat. Our trade deficit is a whopping $800 billion and the Fed is frantically creating new funds to buy back its own Treasuries as fast as it can. And, of course, spending another $3 billion every week to finance our losing wars in the Mid East only adds to the problem.

Remember the housing crisis? It's still going on, and we've seen only the tip of the iceberg. New projections show that 70 percent of all subprime loans will foreclose in the next 12 months.

Manufacturing has all but vanished in this country (3 million jobs lost.Thanks, George) as one company after another abandons America to build its profit-bloated bottom line offshore. Energy prices and interest rates are rising, while the economy slows, the middle class disappears, and the dollar continues to drop.

Most noteworthy of all, the rest of the world - China in particular - is getting more than a little tired of bailing us out. China, Japan and many other countries are getting out of the dollar as fast as they can. Foreign investment in our equities and Treasuries has dried up, and the days of the dollar as the world's reserve currency are numbered.

The appearance of prosperity is about to disappear. Yale Professor Robert Schiller predicts home prices declining as much as 50 percent. Two million homeowners are expected to lose their homes.

Mortgage lenders are going bankrupt in unprecedented numbers. Banks are in serious trouble. Many do not have the reserves to cover anticipated commercial paper and mortgage losses.

The insane spending policies of the last 7 years are coming to a disastrous head and attempts by the Fed to correct things are too little, too late. It's time to pay the price.

We like to blame China for everything. Even our financial predicament can be blamed on China. Why don't they just re-evaluate their currency? That would bail us out. The Chinese, of course, have a different opinion. For some strange reason, they don't feel compelled to correct the stupidity, arrogance and financial mistakes of others.

China has been our banker. When China stops buying our Treasuries, our Mid East adventures will end. China could prevent the coming war in Iran simply by telling us they would not approve of such a war - unless we're prepared to buy back about $900 billion in US Treasuries.

Since we no longer have the ability to make such a purchase, the Iran conflagration would end even before it started.

China gave us a warning on August 10, telling us in no uncertain terms that our plan to apply sanctions designed to cause the Chinese currency to appreciate would cause their central bank to sell dollars. The value of the US dollar would fall. Prices would rise. Taxes would rise. The government would print more money. Expect inflation. Real inflation. Painful inflation.

So by all means, lets continue our threats against China, that very patient country which controls our interest rates - and has the power to economically destroy us at will. If China dumps the dollar, other countries will follow suit. The results won't be pretty.

Devaluation of the dollar and catastrophic crash of the stock market would have serious effects world wide. I can also think of several countries that might benefit.

The long-suffering citizens of Afghanistan and Iraq would benefit greatly. No more money to finance the Empire equals no more wars. I can picture them dancing in the streets and happily waving goodbye to their former torturers and occupiers. Iran would also benefit. How could we justify the expense of delivering our savage brand of democracy to that innocent country?

There is another country that would feel the immediate effects of a market crash in America. A country whose very existence depends on the forced largesse of American taxpayers. No, I can't tell you which country. It's supposed to be a secret. But here's a hint: It's the only country in the world that has fewer friends and allies than the United States of America - which, at this point, has none.

All of which you are free to dismiss as the unfounded, crazed ramblings of just another alarmist. You might be more impressed with the words of Bill Gates, the world's wealthiest man. Gates now owns billions in Euros, 30 percent of all the silver in the world, and has publicly stated that the dollar is going down.

Take some precautions. Your survival may depend on them. There could be a soup kitchen in your future.

That's about all the good news we can handle today. I had a lot more to write about, but good news is sometimes better taken in small doses. We're right on the edge of a lot of things, most of which we can only observe as they dramatically effect our lives.

Put some food and water aside - maybe some MRE's, Meals Ready to Eat. I hear they're quite tasty. They'll be tastier still when the supermarket shelves are empty. Put some money into silver eagles or get a few Krugerrands. Flashlight batteries might come in handy, and a little portable radio, and - well, you figure it out. Prepare for the worst. If it doesn't come, you'll be ahead of the game, and you can sell survival kits on eBay. Hey, there's a thought...

Otto King is a freelance writer, humorist and philosopher. His website 1984 News offers Real News from alternative and global sources, and chronicles our transformation into the totalitarian world of Orwell's 1984.

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