Blog Smith is inspired by the myth of Hephaestus in the creation of blacksmith-like, forged materials: ideas. This blog analyzes topics that interest me: IT, politics, technology, history, education, music, and the history of religions.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Monday, July 23, 2012
Egyptian Actors Pranked on Candid Camera Turn Violent When Told TV Channel Is Israeli MEMRI
CATHOLIC CHURCH PAID TO SEND OBAMA TO ANTI-CATHOLIC RADICAL ALINSKY-FOUNDED GROUP’S COMMUNITY ORGANIZING TRAINING
CATHOLIC CHURCH PAID TO SEND OBAMA TO ANTI-CATHOLIC RADICAL ALINSKY-FOUNDED GROUP’S COMMUNITY ORGANIZING TRAINING
A book, No Higher Power: Obama's War on Religious Freedom, by Phyllis Schlafly and American Spectator journalist George Neumayr exposes never-before-seen documents that show that the Catholic Church supported, and gave monies to, Obama in the 1980s to attend a community organizing training with the Saul Alinsky-founded Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF).
Obama received support from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), an arm of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:
"In the 1980s, the Catholic archdiocese of Chicago contributed to the training of Obama in the very Alinskyite radicalism that would culminate in such anti-religious measures as the HHS mandate. In fact, in the course of writing this book, we met a source who once had access to copies of documents from the archives of the Chicago archdiocese. This source supplied us with never-before-published copies of invoices, checks, and letters that confirm the Church’s support for the man who would one day seek to destroy its religious freedom.
In a series of appendices, we have reproduced the check and invoice showing that the archdiocese of Chicago paid for Obama’s plane trip to a conference in Los Angeles run by the Industrial Areas Foundation, the community organizing group founded by Alinsky."
Obama Calumet Reimbursed
Then, a follow-up note shows a memorandum from the Campaign for Human Development (the name given to the group before “Catholic” was later added in), which confirms a travel payment to the then-community organizer.
Campaign for Human Development and Obama
Reimbursement
Southwest
Schlafly and Neumayr continue, providing more on the close relationship between Alinsky and Church officials:
"Alinsky had always targeted churches for radical infiltration, and to a certain degree he succeeded. The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) was the Alinskyite branch of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops which had offices in dioceses across the country. It was founded in 1969 by priests and bishops close to Saul Alinsky, such as Monsignor John Egan, who sat on Alinsky’s Industrial Areas Foundation board. The group was originally called the Campaign for Human Development, with “Catholic” added later as its socialist work began to draw criticism.
Alinsky had initially won favor with some in the Archdiocese of Chicago by appearing to be an advocate of justice for the poor. In the 1950s, in fact, Alinsky received tens of thousands of dollars from the Church to “study” poverty and racism."
Cf. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/new-books-ironic-claim-catholic-church-paid-to-send-obama-to-an-alinsky-founded-groups-community-organizing-training-see-the-documents/
Sunday, July 22, 2012
HARVARD PROF. PREDICTS EU CRISIS WILL CONSUME AMERICA…AND WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
Harvard University history professor Niall Ferguson says that Americans should be paying more attention to the eurozone crisis. He believes that the issues facing Europe are going to make their way to the U.S.
Writing in The Daily Beast, Ferguson explains why we should be paying close attention:
The first reason is that, with American consumers still in the doldrums of deleveraging, the United States badly needs buoyant exports if its economy is to grow at anything other than a miserably low rate. And despite all the hype about trade with the Chinese, U.S. exports to the European Union are nearly three times larger than to China.
Indeed, the EU and the U.S. economies account together for about “half the entire world GDP and for nearly a third of world trade flows,” writes the European Commission website.
Consider the $240 billion that the U.S. made from exports to the EU and compare that to the $91.1 billion that the U.S. made from China. It would stand to reason that a total collapse of the eurozone could have disastrous economic repercussions in the U.S.
And Ferguson has more to say.
Europe’s problem is not just that governments are overborrowed. There are an unknown number of European banks that are effectively insolvent if their holdings of government bonds are “marked to market”—in other words, valued at their current rock-bottom market prices.
His fear is that, because of the existence of our present global economy, some U.S. financial institutions will naturally be affected by the euro banks collapsing. Consider the fact that some of the biggest U.S. banks have some sort of “exposure” to euro bonds and banks. If the euro banks become “effectively insolvent,” this will affect the U.S. banks that have investmenst in those bonds.
A more timely example: “MF Global, run by former Goldman Sachs CEO Jon Corzine—just blew up because of its highly levered euro bets,” writes Ferguson. Now imagine the fallout of Mf Global but on a much larger scale involving major banks. That’s what Ferguson is worried about.
And although these are all valid points, Ferguson goes on to say that that’s not even the worst of American concerns. He continues writing:
…what is happening in Europe today could ultimately happen here. Just a few months ago, almost nobody was worried about Italy’s vast debt, which amounts to 121 percent of GDP. Then suddenly panic set in, and Italy’s borrowing costs exploded from 3.5 percent to 7.5 percent.
Today the U.S. gross federal debt stands at around 100 percent of GDP. Four years ago it was 62 percent. By 2016 the International Monetary Fund forecasts it will be 115 percent. Economists who should know better insist that this is not a problem because, unlike Italy, the United States can print its own money at will. All that means is that the U.S. reserves the right to inflate or depreciate away its debt. If I were a foreign investor—and half the debt in public hands is held by foreigners—I would not find that terribly reassuring. At some point I might demand some compensation for that risk in the form of … higher rates.
Athens, Rome, Washington … The shortest route from imperial capital to tourist destination is precisely this death spiral of debt.
Marines, USMC as Cops
BATMAN SHOOTER AS 18-YEAR-OLD PRESENTING AT SCIENCE CAMP
He was one of the few students who had been awarded a federal grant to study behavioral science.
GUN RANGE OWNER THOUGHT BATMAN SHOOTER SEEMED ‘BIZARRE’
Misleading Webster Commission FBI Report on the Fort Hood Islamist Massacre
This report bends over backwards to exculpate Islam:
"The FBI's report on terrorist acts in the U.S. between 1980 and 2005 identified 318 events (including bombings, arson and malicious destruction, and shootings); only 7% of those events were attributed to Islamic extremists."
On that page, as part of their excuse for not catching Hasan sooner, the report points out, without any hint of irony, that "He was a religious person."
Now here's the best part: this same report, on page 11, highlights some FBI's successes in catching terrorists. Sixteen names are listed:
• Antonio Martinez
• Mohamed Osman Mohamud
• Farooque Ahmed
• Shaker Masri
• Zachary Chesser
• Mohammed Mahmood Alessa
• Carlos Eduardo Almonte
• Hosam Smadi
• Michael Finton
• James Cromitie
• Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari
• Colleen LaRose
• Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif
• Walli Majahidh
• Waad Ramadan Alwan
• Mohanad Shareef Hammadi
Now of course ten of these are obviously Arabic, Muslim names. But the other six aren't obviously identifiable, so perhaps the report simply reflects political correctness. On the other hand, a bit of research is revealing.
• Antonio Martinez converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Hussain: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/13/AR2010121305708.html
In other words, sixteen out of the sixteen were Muslims. It is misleading to refer to only 7% Islamists described in Chapter 1, is it?
• Zachary Chesser converted to Islam and changed his name to Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee: http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/CHESSER%20FINAL%20REPORT(1).pdf
• Carlos Eduardo Almonte converted to Islam and changed his name to Omar: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bloodlust_of_tjUWgKCSnGMpRDcz9eUBXJ
• Michael Finton converted to Islam and changed his name to Talib Islam: http://www.globaljihad.net/view_news.asp?id=1096
• James Cromitie converted to Islam and changed his name to Abdul Rahman: http://www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2010/nyfo101810.htm
• Colleen LaRose converted to Islam and changed her name to Fatima: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/10/colleen-larose-jihad-jane-charges
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Another Doctored Image For Obama
Most of the analysis here is speculative however it does appear to be a black hand rather than Anne's hand in the photograph.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Batman Tragedy
The first public testimony has been given about the tragedy.
The shooter "was dripping in sweat and his pupils were wide open."
Prosecutors did not indicate why Holmes’ pupils were dilated.
An officer noted that the shooter seemed “very, very relaxed” and didn’t seem to have “normal emotional reactions” to things. “He seemed very detached.”
At one point, an officer asked the shooter if anyone had been helping him or working with him. “He just looked at me and smiled … like a smirk,” the officer recalled.
The officer added: "I dragged him a few feet away. He was completely compliant. Normally there's a muscular tension. In his case he was very, very relaxed. "It was like there weren't any normal emotional responses to anything."
Aurora police seized four prescription bottles and immunization records when they searched theater-shooting suspect James Holmes' apartment in July, according to newly obtained filings in the murder case against Holmes.
The modus operandi of the Batman tragedy is similar to the 2011 Norway attacks. The 2011 Norway attacks were two sequential attacks on 22 July 2011. The first was a car bomb explosion in Oslo. The second attack occurred less than two hours later at a summer camp on the island of Utøya in Tyrifjorden, Buskerud.
In the Aurora attack, the suspect booby trapped his apartment, which was discovered before it could harm anyone but it appears that was the original intent; then, the shooter entered the theater and attacked.
Rather than an obsession with the Joker, despite the red hair, the suspect's real model was Robocop given his armor and preparation.
Click to enlargeOne difference is to identify who was the accomplice of the shooter, so far, there is no information on who that could be.
Witnesses: Colorado Massacre Shooter Had Accomplice
Aerial shots indicate multiple shooters outside the emergency exit and that blood traced back to the theater.
Who else was involved in the shooting?
Another consideration is that there may be two individuals involved which appears possible given the differences in appearances between the released pictures. To wit: consider the differences in the photographs.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHToljppecTAxGic33BSg14R96xJHKauYU8XzysDfhFJ_1qanPSp8cACHp9bgX2kOnG6mlMZGHyyvg_vTagk9l3jat_luyMzoQzpnRmqnVMGryxBNrTDbIKSFfSBsRsb8C95oli25gquPN/s1600-h/clip_image003%25255B5%25255D.jpg
Recently, the suspect noted on Match.com that he had "middle-of-the-road" political views." The slandering that he could associated with the TEA Party then is a complete fabrication.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9419299/Batman-Colorado-shooting-James-Holmes-fixated-by-altered-states-of-mind.html
First court appearance
The shooter was earmarked by the federal government some time ago as a person of interest.
He received a $26,000 stipend and his tuition was paid for at the highly competitive program in Neuroscience at the University of Colorado in Denver.
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/07/24/james-holmes-received-26k-grant-from-bethesda-based-national-institutes-of-health/
He was studying neuroscience under a grant from the National Institutes of Health, only one of six people annually selected for the honor.
Federal support and research into bright young kids has long been of interest to the Federal government. While at Harvard Ted Kaczynski, the Unibomber, also garnished the attention of Federal researchers. That experiment did not end well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski
As an 18-year-old the Batman suspect was speaking at Miramar College in San Diego. His presentation is on “temporal illusion,“ which he defines as ”an illusion that allows you to change the past.”
We know now that he needed psychiatric help.
Psychiatrist Called Threat-Team About Aurora Shooting Suspect James Holmes
The suspect came to the attention of the threat assessment committee at the University of Colorado but no further action was taken because he left the school more than a month before the attack.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/james-holmes-psychiatrist-schools-threat-assessment-team/story?id=16908862
Eyewitnesses report his strange appearance before committing himself to the theater.
Holmes was wearing jeans and sneakers and described himself as a local student, Allen said. But Allen also said he noticed something strange about Holmes' eyes.
"His eyes were fluttering and blinking," Allen said. "It was really weird. I didn't know if he was high or what, but those eyes kept fluttering."
Two others who witnessed the incident, Ashley Jones, 25, and Rosando "JR" Causus, a maintenance man at 1733 Paris Street, independently confirmed Allen's story.
Perhaps most tellingly, the neuroscience students was not grounded.
"The neuroscience graduate was adopted and Mrs Holmes, 58, and husband Robert, 61, a software developer, raised him as one of their own."
As a sign of his disaffection, last fall, Holmes began a four-year doctoral course in neuroscience at a University of Colorado medical campus in Aurora, a Denver suburb. He would be studying the mechanics of the brain, the ways that electrical signals transmit thoughts and sensations. Holmes was part of a small group of first-year students who met together numerous times a week for classes in a small conference room.
Five of the students formed a close bond over their shared classes and workload, and their concerns about being accepted to their preferred research laboratory — a ritual that happened at the end of the first year. But Holmes didn’t share in that bond, one student said. Holmes spoke only when prompted in class, and spoke almost never outside of the classroom.
“I was always trying to get into his head,” said one fellow neuroscience first-year. “If no one had ever said anything to him, he wouldn’t have said a word” all year.
The student, who asked not to be named because the university has asked students not to speak to the media, said that Holmes often was the first to arrive at class, riding from his nearby apartment on a BMX bike more fit for an adolescent. But once class began, he had a habit of daydreaming.
“It’s like you’re interrupting” another train of thought that Holmes was pondering, the student said.
When Holmes was required to speak in class, he often spoke in a monotone, but he sprinkled his presentations with attempts at humor, little puns and jokes. In the hallways, Holmes would join — when prompted — in grousing about assignments and required reading. He often smiled when he spoke and gave his classmates good marks when they had to review each other’s work. The classmate remembers no hint of anger or edge.
But Holmes volunteered little information about his life outside the classroom. The student could remember just one personal detail that Holmes revealed without being asked: During a conversation about football, he said he was a San Diego Chargers fan.
After classes, Holmes was always the first to leave. His fellow students assumed he was just sequestered in his off-campus apartment.
“I always just figured he liked being alone,” the student said.
Four months ago, when Holmes allegedly began stockpiling ammunition and explosives, his behavior in class didn’t seem to change. Then came early June, when all first-year students must face a demanding oral exam. The exam came and went, and the other students didn’t hear how Holmes did. Then they got word that he had sent an e-mail to administrators, saying he would leave school. His classmates were not told a reason.
A few days after that, the student saw Holmes walking across a campus food court and wondered why Holmes was still on campus.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/explosives-removed-from-james-holmess-apartment-and-destroyed-officials-say/2012/07/22/gJQAL9XN2W_print.html
The tragedy has centered on the theater but important questions remain unanswered.
How did the FBI anticipate the attack on the movie theater?
FBI theater attack warning issued on May 17, 2012
DHS Warned About Threats In Movie Theaters
Hallmarks of a False Flag: Colorado University Held Identical Drill on Same Day as Aurora Theater Mass Shooting, Mind Control, and Multiple Suspects
http://theintelhub.com/2012/07/23/hallmarks-of-a-false-flag-colorado-university-held-identical-drill-on-same-day-as-aurora-theater-mass-shooting-mind-control-and-multiple-suspects/
Colorado Batman shooting shows obvious signs of being staged. For example, the lamestream narrative does not deal with an obvious question: How does an unemployed medical student afford $20,000 in weapons gear?
The unemployed alleged shooter has:
"In the last 60 days Mr. Holmes had purchased four guns at local gun shops, Chief Oates said. And through the Internet, he bought more than 6,000 rounds of ammunition: more than 3,000 rounds for the assault rifle, 3,000 rounds of .40 caliber ammunition for the two Glocks, and 300 rounds for the 12-gauge shotgun."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/us/shooting-at-colorado-theater-showing-batman-movie.html
A decent AR-15 rifle costs $1,000 or more. The shotgun and handgun might run another $800 total. Spare mags, sights, slings, and so on will run you at least another $1,000 for three firearms. The bullet-proof vest is easily another $800, and the cost of the bomb-making gear is too difficult to guess. With all the specialty body gear, ammunition, booby-trap devices and more, I'm guessing this is at least $20,000 in weapons and tactical gear, much of which is very difficult for civilians to get in the first place.
The FBI and ATF are on scene. FBI agents and police discovered his flat was booby-trapped when they used a camera at the end of a 12-foot pole to look inside.
In addition, where does an unemployed medical school drop out get the training to deploy sophisticated booby traps, tactical body armor, weapons systems and more?
One of the most important considerations is the timing of the event coming as it does just a week before a U.N. Agreement which would curtail the Second Amendment in favor of international gun controls.
Both the FBI and the Justice Department has supplied guns so it may not be surprising if there is a connection found here as well.
The Aurora Police Department has their own SWAT team and has handled explosive devices.
In a recent Aurora case, "the Arapahoe County Bomb Squad responded and took possession of the devices."
In this recent tragedy, neither the Aurora SWAT team nor the County Bomb Squad are handling the investigation and have pulled back to await Federal agencies.
Michael Bennet, Senator from Colorado, reports that about $15 million dollars has been spent on Aurora.
Entity: Buckley Air Force Base Project Name: Land Acquisition Location: Aurora, Colorado Amount Requested: authorize and appropriate $9,900,000
Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colorado is surrounded by a growing community. To ensure mission capabilities and safety, Buckley Air Force Base would like to acquire roughly 122 acres of land immediately adjacent to the base to permanently protect the clear zone and eliminate any potential hazards to the flying mission. The purchase of this land is critical to the safety of flying missions and to meeting anti-terrorism and force protection requirements. As development continues in the surrounding community, pilots at Buckley face a more difficult task of successful take off and landing. Providing funds for land acquisition will better protect our pilots and better enable Buckley to meet its responsibilities.
Entity: Colorado Air National Guard, Buckley Air Force Base Project Name: Weapons release complex upgrades Location: Aurora, Colorado Amount Requested: authorize and appropriate $4,500,000
Funding would allow Buckley Air Force Base and the 140th Fighter Wing of the Colorado Air National Guard to expand its weapons release complex. A weapons release complex is a facility in which munitions and ordinances are maintained. The existing facility is undersized, and National Guard officials worry it is becoming a hazardous environment for them to meet mission requirements and cannot provide adequate training to maintenance personnel.
http://www.bennet.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/?id=973a8a51-35ae-4f8f-b5a0-e0d3e56fd128
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