Links of the Day WE ARE ALL SOCIALIST NOW - but only if your already rich

WE ARE ALL SOCIALISTS NOW! But you only get a piece of the pie if your already rich!



What a crock! Bush and McShame are so full of it their eyes are brown! First McCain hasn’t been back to D.C. since April, missing over 150 votes. Now he wants to slink back to D.C. to convince House republicans to ram through a $700,000,000,000 bail out for Wall Street that as usual has no over site on how they spend it, sounds a lot like the bottomless pit called Iraq to me. Bush and his idiot in charge Paulson want us to give them a blank check. Ha Haaaaa.

McShame wants to “bail out” of tomorrow’s debate and hold it next week on the day ol Sarah is to go head to head with Joe Biden. I imagine after that great Speech http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH1z3UnXe78&feature=user Joe gave yesterday on the economic crises the McShame camp is trembling in their boots because shaking hands with world leaders only gives you a sore arm. What did he think she could get foreign policy experience through osmosis? Hee Hee.




I suggest Obama take the famous words spoken by John McCain F U ! But I know he can’t just wishful thinking on my part.

Obama, McCain called to White House for financial crisis talks
Republican presidential candidate wants to postpone debate

http://www.cbc.ca/world/usvotes/story/2008/09/24/us-polls.html

Statement on Obama Meeting with President Bush

A few moments ago, President Bush called Senator Obama and asked him to attend a meeting in Washington tomorrow, which he agreed to do. Senator Obama has been working all week with leaders in Congress, Secretary Paulson, and Chairman Bernanke to improve this proposal, and he has said that he will continue to work in a bipartisan spirit and do whatever is necessary to come up with a final solution. He strongly believes the debate should go forward on Friday so that the American people can hear from their next President about how he will lead America forward at this defining moment for our country.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGgYWb


Obama: Debate is 'More Important Than Ever'

Earlier today, Barack made a brief statement to the press and took questions regarding the ongoing economic crisis, his decision to reach out to John McCain this morning to suggest issuing a joint statement urging Congress and the White House to act in a bipartisan manner, and John McCain's suggestion that Friday night's debate be postponed: Please take a minute to share this video with your friends . . .
VIDEO
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGgYvq






In just 24 hours 100,000 Americans have signed the no bail out petition. I think we can make it 1 million if we pass this button on to our blog and to friends and family in a email.

A country held hostage - Resistance Grows to Banker's Coup D'etat
More than 100,000 letters sent through VoteNoBailout.org to Congress
New Free Web Button Available for VoteNoBailout





Get your button here
http://www.impeachbush.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5321


We can keep the pressure on by call Congress too. Now the DC switchboard is flooded so keep trying, eventually someone will answer the phone 1-877-851-6437 FREE CALL then ask for your Rep and both your Senators.

By now I hope you know who they are but if not here’s the links to find your critter.

U.S. Senate
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

U.S. House http://www.house.gov/



These people are giving socialism to the rich for their bad investments but whoa to the rest of us working slobs if we want Universal Health care!

Bush can’t find money to give health insurance to little kids but he sure found a chunk of change for his base, didn’t he?

Public Citizen has a petition too and I say you can’t sign enough of these to stop them from robbing us blind!

Tell Congress to Put YOUR Interests First in a Financial Bailout

Today, Congress and lobbyists are listening to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke tell them that they must devise a $700 billion bailout plan immediately. Two kinds of people are represented in that room: Wall Street speculators whose greed-driven schemes have jeopardized the economic stability of our nation, and public officials who should have done something to prevent this economic situation. Americans will be on the outside.

Public Citizen says enough! We're launching a campaign, along with Consumer Watchdog, to put consumers first in any financial bailout plan. We're mobilizing millions of Americans, and we need your support to make our voices heard in the halls of power!

Please sign our petition, and encourage your friends and colleagues to join the fight!

http://action.citizen.org/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1405


The Backbone Campaign has a petition too with DEMANDS!

SIGN THE PETITION
Democrats.com petition for the Backbone Campaign demands

http://www.democrats.com/stop-paulsons-plunder

Like I said the more petitions we sign the more we flood congress with the message that we do NOT want to fund the richest corporations in America.



Even George Soros says it’s a bad idea to give them a blank check. Letter received in a email.

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

I thought you might be interested in this opinion piece by George Soros which appears in the September 25 edition of the Financial Times and which is online now here.

Paulson Cannot be Allowed to Have a Blank Check

By George Soros
Hank Paulson's $700bn rescue package has run into difficulty on Capitol Hill. Rightly so: it was ill-conceived. Congress would be abdicating its responsibility if it gave the Treasury secretary a blank cheque. The bill submitted to Congress even had language in it that would exempt the secretary's decisions from review by any court or administrative agency - the ultimate fulfillment of the Bush administration's dream of a unitary executive.

Mr Paulson's record does not inspire the confidence necessary to give him discretion over $700bn. His actions last week brought on the crisis that makes rescue necessary. On Monday he allowed Lehman Brothers to fail and refused to make government funds available to save AIG. By Tuesday he had to reverse himself and provide an $85bn loan to AIG on punitive terms.

The demise of Lehman disrupted the commercial paper market. A large money market fund "broke the buck" and investment banks that relied on the commercial paper market had difficulty financing their operations. By Thursday a run on money market funds was in full swing and we came as close to a meltdown as at any time since the 1930s. Mr Paulson reversed again and proposed a systemic rescue.

Mr Paulson had got a blank cheque from Congress once before. That was to deal with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. His solution landed the housing market in the worst of all worlds: their managements knew that if the blank cheques were filled out they would lose their jobs, so they retrenched and made mortgages more expensive and less available. Within a few weeks the market forced Mr Paulson's hand and he had to take them over.

Mr Paulson's proposal to purchase distressed mortgage-related securities poses a classic problem of asymmetric information. The securities are hard to value but the sellers know more about them than the buyer: in any auction process the Treasury would end up with the dregs. The proposal is also rife with latent conflict of interest issues. Unless the Treasury overpays for the securities, the scheme would not bring relief. But if the scheme is used to bail out insolvent banks, what will the taxpayers get in return?

Barack Obama has outlined four conditions that ought to be imposed: an upside for the taxpayers as well as a downside; a bipartisan board to oversee the process; help for the homeowners as well as the holders of the mortgages; and some limits on the compensation of those who benefit from taxpayers' money. These are the right principles. They could be applied more effectively by capitalising the institutions that are burdened by distressed securities directly rather than by relieving them of the distressed securities.

The injection of government funds would be much less problematic if it were applied to the equity rather than the balance sheet. $700bn in preferred stock with warrants may be sufficient to make up the hole created by the bursting of the housing bubble. By contrast, the addition of $700bn on the demand side of an $11,000 market may not be sufficient to arrest the decline of housing prices.
Something also needs to be done on the supply side. To prevent housing prices from overshooting on the downside, the number of foreclosures has to be kept to a minimum. The terms of mortgages need to be adjusted to the homeowners' ability to pay.

The rescue package leaves this task undone. Making the necessary modifications is a delicate task rendered more difficult by the fact that many mortgages have been sliced up and repackaged in the form of collateralised debt obligations. The holders of the various slices have conflicting interests. It would take too long to work out the conflicts to include a mortgage modification scheme in the rescue package. The package can, however, prepare the ground by modifying bankruptcy law as it relates to principal residences.

Now that the crisis has been unleashed a large-scale rescue package is probably indispensable to bring it under control. Rebuilding the depleted balance sheets of the banking system is the right way to go. Not every bank deserves to be saved, but the experts at the Federal Reserve, with proper supervision, can be counted on to make the right judgments. Managements that are reluctant to accept the consequences of past mistakes could be penalised by depriving them of the Fed's credit facilities. Making government funds available should also encourage the private sector to participate in recapitalising the banking sector and bringing the financial crisis to a close.

George Soros






OK Lastly there’s Emergency Rallies being held all over the country to stop the bail out.

From United For Peace And Justice

Billions for War & Billions for Wall Street?

The Bush administration strong-armed Congress into supporting the war. The administration has spent more than $800 billion for wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere around the world. Now they demand a $700 billion blank check for Wall Street using fear and threats with no public debate!

Bail Out the Troops and Main Street, Not Wall Street!

EMERGENCY RALLIES

Thursday, September 25, 5 PM

Pick a spot, and mobilize! The most important thing is to pick a spot where you will be seen and start inviting other people RIGHT NOW!

Click here to post your action and get the word out!
http://www.truemajority.org/NoBailout/Event

We are joining True Majority, US Action and scores of others to take the debate into the streets.

Click here to set up events in your area.
http://www.truemajority.org/NoBailout/Event

Click here to find events in your area.
http://www.truemajority.org/NoBailout/Search


CALL CONGRESS NOW!

Some on Capital Hill are having second thoughts about going along with the administration's plan.

Call your Senator NOW and say, "Oppose the Bush bailout. Stand up for Main Street. And bring the troops home!"

Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121

Click here to report back to UFPJ how your call to your Senator went.
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/modinput4.php?modin=148

RESOURCES:

Although the crisis is complicated, whatever action is taken must be done based on what we need in our communities. Tremendous work is being done to uncover not only the roots, but also guidelines for making the solution to this crisis one that benefits working families and our communities!

Click here for an interview with Columbia University Professor Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize-winner in Economics and author of the 'The Three Trillion Dollar War'.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathan-gardels/stiglitz-the-fall-of-wall_b_126911.html

Click here for William Greider from The Nation Magazine's article on the Wall Street bailout.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081006/greider2

Click here for updates on the bailout situation from a number of respectable economic analysts at the Dollars & Sense blog.
http://www.dollarsandsense.org/blog/

The Congressional Research Service's July 2008 report on the costs of the war(s) can be found here.
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22926.pdf





This is a great web site that talks to us in term we can understand. I like because then I can tell off republicans I know where their hard earned tax money goes.

National Priorities Project analyzes and clarifies federal data so that people can understand and influence how their tax dollars are spent.

http://nationalpriorities.org/



Lets flood into Obama/Biden Events

Events

Sep 25
"Change We Need" Community Gathering with Joe Biden
in Greensburg, PA


Sep 25
"Change We Need" Community Gathering with Joe Biden
in Wilkes-Barre, PA


Sep 27
Voter Registration Rally with Michelle Obama and Jill Biden
in Tallahassee, FL


Sep 27
"Change We Need" Rally with Barack Obama and Joe Biden
in Greensboro, NC



Here’s a bit of GREAT NEWS!

US won't send monitors to polls

September 24, 2008

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department said yesterday it will not station criminal prosecutors at the polls on Election Day after civil rights groups said minority voters who are expected to turn out in unprecedented numbers because of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama could be intimidated by them.

The move reverses a decades-long practice that put prosecutors on the lookout for voter fraud, ballot access violations, and other polling problems.

"This decision was made as a precaution and is not the result of any instance of intimidation or complaint regarding any specific incident," acting Assistant Attorney General Grace Chung Becker said in a statement.

Becker and Attorney General Michael Mukasey met two weeks ago with about 40 representatives from voter access watchdogs, hoping to assure them that having a smooth Nov. 4 election is a top Justice Department priority. Some civil rights groups, including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said the monitors themselves could be part of the problem.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/09/24/us_wont_send_monitors_to_polls/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+National+news



Stupid Bush and his NeoCons. Pakistan has the bomb and they attack Iraq for freaking oil! While I hated Mushariff he like Saddam at least kept the religious zealots in check. Lets hope if they get their hands on the bomb they use it on each other.


Pakistani Civil War Feared


The violence and political unrest in nuclear-armed Pakistan continues to grow worse.

An Afghan diplomat was kidnapped near Peshawar; a Marriott hotel in Islamabad was hit with a suicide bomb killing at least 53 people; and the killing of Pakistani villagers by a U.S. missile has strained relations between Islamabad and Washington.

MUST SEE VIDEO! http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/092308b.html

TaTa for now.

Links of the Day is Back (for now) Bush is kissing China’s butt

"Links of the Day is back for now. I know back in April I said I'd be gone a week and it ended up being 5 months. After posting everyday for a year I needed a long break from all the crap I was reading. My physical and personal life was suffering and I needed to step back.



Well Obama is doing great and I'm counting on all the young people to get out and vote. The pollsters don't count them because their not allowed to call cell phones.



Our Government sucks! I know this is a week old but our media never tells us anything when another country calls us War Mongers, but it goes along with the article posted after it.

UN General Assembly Opens With a Denunciation of US Policies
By Walter Wisniewski
New York 17 September 2008


A new session of the United Nations General Assembly has opened in New York, with a sharp attack on the United States by the assembly's president, former Nicaraguan foreign minister Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann. VOA's Walter Wisniewski reports from our New York newscenter.

The past year's General Assembly of the United Nations has come to a close, and the new, 63rd session of the General Assembly is now formally open. World leaders will address the annual U.N. meeting next week, but the Assembly's incoming president caught diplomats' attention Tuesday with his opening remarks, a scathing attack on U.S. policies.

he General Assembly president, former Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, mentioned the United States by name only a few times, but made it clear who his target was.

D'Escoto says it is "undeniable" that some members of the Security Council have "an addiction to war," and he says they are threatening international peace and security. In a scarcely veiled reference to President George W. Bush's administration, d'Escoto also said no nation has the right "to decide on its own which states are sponsors of terrorism, and which are not."

"By now, over 1.2 million people have died as a direct consequence of that aggression and occupation," d'Escoto said about the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

The 75-year-old diplomat, who is a Roman Catholic priest, told reporters later he intends to try to reform the U.N. to give the 192-member General Assembly a stronger role, compared to the Security Council, whose permanent members - the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain - have veto power over U.N. decisions.

D'Escoto says the world has changed since 1945, when the United Nations was founded, but the U.N. has not kept pace. He predicts "soul-searching" and frank debate at the General Assembly in the weeks and months to come.

"This will be an interesting year, and I will be making an appeal from the very depth of my heart and my experience," he said.

D'Escoto used spiritual terms in his opening speech, which he addressed to "my dear brothers and sisters" from all over the world. Asked about the significance of his dual role as General Assembly president and also a priest, he tried to deflect the comment with a joke.

"I'm also the oldest and the most decrepit [laughter], healthwise, and I know that. But will I, therefore, because I am a priest, pay particular attention to interfaith dialogue?" he asked. "That's already on the agenda. This is something that I have spoken about quite a bit with the secretary-general, and he is asking me to join him in this effort."

He was asked about his scheduled appearance at a forum next week together with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel's destruction several times. D'Escoto says he does not feel it is inappropriate for him to take part.

"Obviously, if I am here talking about brotherhood and sisterhood, I don't want anyone to be wiped off the map - not even any individual, much less a state," he said.

He also pretended not to hear when another reporter asked whether he would condemn Russia's military action against Georgia last month constituted an act of aggression. D'Escoto, who has embraced leftist policies for decades, said he did feel that any act of aggression in the Caucasus region was committed by Georgia, against South Ossetia.

Heads of state and government will be streaming into New York over the next few days, before the General Assembly's traditional round of speeches by each leader begins next Tuesday.

link


....Bush and Dick like causing Chaos because war is very profitable.

September 22, 2008

US Hands Over Suitcase Nukes To Al Qaida In Pakistan

By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers (Traducción al Español abajo)

Russian Military Analysts are reporting in the Kremlin today that the massive blast that caused 53 deaths at the Islamabad Marriott hotel in Pakistan was an operation conducted by India's foreign intelligence agency The Research and Analysis Wing [RAW] in an attempt to 'decapitate' Pakistan's entire leadership, including their President, Prime Minister and Military Chiefs all of whom, at 'the last minute,' changed the location of their planned meeting with the United States Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, who had arrived in their country unannounced.

These reports continue by stating that India had become 'alarmed' by the United States Defence Intelligence Organization [DIA] and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence [ISI] plan to provide Al Qaida and Taliban terrorist forces with 37 suitcase nuclear weapons to be used against Western Nations in the coming month.

Not being understood by the American people is that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agents were the 'creators and controllers' of these terrorist organizations and are still active in their operations and attacks, and as we can read:

"Pakistan's intelligence agency is helping the Taliban to pursue an insurgency in Afghanistan that has seen a 50 percent hike in attacks in some areas this year, the NATO commander here told AFP.

The number of foreign fighters, including Europeans, is also increasing here while NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) still lacks the soldiers it needs, US General David D. McKiernan said in a weekend interview.

"There certainly is a level of ISI complicity in the militant areas in Pakistan and organisations such as the Taliban," the four-star general said, echoing allegations by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and others.

"I can't say to what level of leadership that goes to but there are indications of complicity on the part of ISI... to the extent that they are facilitating these militant groups that come out of the tribal areas in Pakistan."

To the exact transferring to Al Qaida and Taliban of these suitcase nuclear weapons we can read as reported by Pakistan's International News Service:

"Witnessed by many, including a PPP MNA and his friends, a US embassy truckload of steel boxes was unloaded and shifted inside the Marriott Hotel on the same night when Admiral Mike Mullen met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and others in Islamabad.

Both the main gates (the entrance and the exit) of the hotel were closed while no one except the US Marines were either allowed to go near the truck or get the steel boxes unloaded or shift them inside the hotel. These steel boxes were not passed through the scanners installed at the entrance of the hotel lobby and were reportedly shifted to the fourth and fifth floors of the Marriott.

Besides several others, PPP MNA Mumtaz Alam Gilani and his two friends, Sajjad Chaudhry, a PPP leader, and one Bashir Nadeem, witnessed this mysterious activity to which no one other than the PPP MNA objected and protested.

A source present there told The News that after entertaining them with refreshments at the Nadia restaurant at midnight when Mumtaz Alam, along with his friends, was to leave the hotel, he found a white US embassy truck standing right in front of the hotel's main entrance.

Both the In-gate and the Out-gate of the hotel were closed while almost a dozen well-built US Marines in their usual fatigues were unloading the steel boxes from the truck. No one, including the hotel security men, was either allowed to go near the truck or touch the steel boxes, which were being shifted inside the hotel but without passing through the scanners.

Upon inquiry, one of the three PPP friends who was waiting for the main gates of the hotel to open to get his car in, was informed that the suspicious boxes were shifted to the fourth and fifth floors of the hotel. Mumtaz Alam was furious both at the US Marines and the hotel security not only for the delay caused to them but also for the security lapse he was witnessing."

The International News Service further reports that two of the US Marines involved in the transferring of these nuclear weapons were also killed:

"The US Department of Defence at Pentagon has confirmed the death of its two marines in Hotel Marriott blast in Islamabad. According to GEO News, the Pentagon said on Sunday its two marines succumbed to injuries in the blast. The soldiers were deployed in the US embassy in Islamabad, it said. Pentagon said the names of the US marines could not be revealed prior to informing families of the victims."

India's anger against both the United States and Pakistan was further raised by Pakistan's deadly bombing of the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan, and as we can read:

"According to U.S. intelligence sources, Pakistan's intelligence service provided support to pro-Taliban insurgents responsible for the July 7 bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, which killed more than 40 people. Shocking though Pakistani involvement may seem to some, it is thoroughly predictable, given the worldview and interests of Pakistan's Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Unless we address what's angering the ISI, we won't be able to stabilize Afghanistan or capture al-Qaeda leaders inside its borders."

Most disturbing about these reports is their stating that 'an unknown number' of these suitcase nuclear weapons survived the explosion and are now to be 'presumed to be in the hands of their intended recipients'.

These reports also state the nuclear materials contained in these suitcase bombs were obtained during what is termed in the United States as a 'Bent Spear' incident which occurred in 2007, and as we can read:

"The 2007 United States Air Force nuclear weapons incident occurred at Minot Air Force Base and Barksdale Air Force Base on August 29–30, 2007. Six AGM-129 ACM cruise missiles, each loaded with a W80-1 variable yield nuclear warhead, were mistakenly loaded on a United States Air Force (USAF) B-52H heavy bomber at Minot and transported to Barksdale.

The nuclear warheads in the missiles were supposed to have been removed before taking the missiles from their storage bunker. The missiles with the nuclear warheads were not reported missing and remained mounted to the aircraft at both Minot and Barksdale for a period of 36 hours. During this period, the warheads were not protected by the various mandatory security precautions required for nuclear weapons."

Also, and as we had reported on in our September 16^th report US To Declare October 'Economic Emergency', Suspend Elections, the use of these suitcase nuclear weapons do, indeed, appear to be designed to deal the final death of the Western Nations political and economic structures in their continued efforts to shock their citizens senseless and allow them to institute the final set of laws needed to totally enslave these peoples forever.

http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1145.htm

OKAY NOW I AM WORRIED! This article is from Sept 8th and I do not recall the media telling us about this shit. Will we get to vote on November 4th or will Bush/GOP/Neo Cons declare martial law on us and install McCain as the new dictator of the United States?

If so will we the American people stand up on November 5th (like in V for Vendetta) and fight for our Freedom and our countries Constitution or will we go quietly along because we are afraid to fight and die? I hope for bravery but I think we Americans have gone soft and like a cur dog will tuck our tails and crawl back under the porch. It's not our fault we've been shocked and awed so much in the last 8 years that we will be frozen by fear.

We will either fight for freedom or die slaves.

Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1

3rd Infantry's 1st BCT trains for a new dwell-time mission. Helping 'people at home' may become a permanent part of the active Army By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Sep 8, 2008 6:15:06 EDT


The 3rd Infantry Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.

Now they're training for the same mission — with a twist — at home.
Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.

It is not the first time an active-duty unit has been tapped to help at home. In August 2005, for example, when Hurricane Katrina unleashed hell in Mississippi and Louisiana, several active-duty units were pulled from various posts and mobilized to those areas.

But this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.

After 1st BCT finishes its dwell-time mission, expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one.
"Right now, the response force requirement will be an enduring mission. How the [Defense Department] chooses to source that and whether or not they continue to assign them to NorthCom, that could change in the future," said Army Col. Louis Vogler, chief of NorthCom future operations. "Now, the plan is to assign a force every year."

The command is at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., but the soldiers with 1st BCT, who returned in April after 15 months in Iraq, will operate out of their home post at Fort Stewart, Ga., where they'll be able to go to school, spend time with their families and train for their new homeland mission as well as the counterinsurgency mission in the war zones.

Stop-loss will not be in effect, so soldiers will be able to leave the Army or move to new assignments during the mission, and the operational tempo will be variable.
Don't look for any extra time off, though. The at-home mission does not take the place of scheduled combat-zone deployments and will take place during the so-called dwell time a unit gets to reset and regenerate after a deployment.

The 1st of the 3rd is still scheduled to deploy to either Iraq or Afghanistan in early 2010, which means the soldiers will have been home a minimum of 20 months by the time they ship out.

In the meantime, they'll learn new skills, use some of the ones they acquired in the war zone and more than likely will not be shot at while doing any of it.

They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.

Training for homeland scenarios has already begun at Fort Stewart and includes specialty tasks such as knowing how to use the "jaws of life" to extract a person from a mangled vehicle; extra medical training for a CBRNE incident; and working with U.S. Forestry Service experts on how to go in with chainsaws and cut and clear trees to clear a road or area.

The 1st BCT's soldiers also will learn how to use "the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded," 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.

"It's a new modular package of nonlethal capabilities that they're fielding. They've been using pieces of it in Iraq, but this is the first time that these modules were consolidated and this package fielded, and because of this mission we're undertaking we were the first to get it."

The package includes equipment to stand up a hasty road block; spike strips for slowing, stopping or controlling traffic; shields and batons; and, beanbag bullets.

"I was the first guy in the brigade to get Tasered," said Cloutier, describing the experience as "your worst muscle cramp ever — times 10 throughout your whole body.

"I'm not a small guy, I weigh 230 pounds ... it put me on my knees in seconds."
The brigade will not change its name, but the force will be known for the next year as a CBRNE Consequence Management Response Force, or CCMRF (pronounced "sea-smurf").

"I can't think of a more noble mission than this," said Cloutier, who took command in July. "We've been all over the world during this time of conflict, but now our mission is to take care of citizens at home ... and depending on where an event occurred, you're going home to take care of your home town, your loved ones."

While soldiers' combat training is applicable, he said, some nuances don't apply.
"If we go in, we're going in to help American citizens on American soil, to save lives, provide critical life support, help clear debris, restore normalcy and support whatever local agencies need us to do, so it's kind of a different role," said Cloutier, who, as the division operations officer on the last rotation, learned of the homeland mission a few months ago while they were still in Iraq.

Some brigade elements will be on call around the clock, during which time they'll do their regular marksmanship, gunnery and other deployment training. That's because the unit will continue to train and reset for the next deployment, even as it serves in its CCMRF mission.

Should personnel be needed at an earthquake in California, for example, all or part of the brigade could be scrambled there, depending on the extent of the need and the specialties involved.

Other branches included

The active Army's new dwell-time mission is part of a NorthCom and DOD response package.

Active-duty soldiers will be part of a force that includes elements from other military branches and dedicated National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Teams.

A final mission rehearsal exercise is scheduled for mid-September at Fort Stewart and will be run by Joint Task Force Civil Support, a unit based out of Fort Monroe, Va., that will coordinate and evaluate the interservice event.

In addition to 1st BCT, other Army units will take part in the two-week training exercise, including elements of the 1st Medical Brigade out of Fort Hood, Texas, and the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade from Fort Bragg, N.C.

There also will be Air Force engineer and medical units, the Marine Corps Chemical, Biological Initial Reaction Force, a Navy weather team and members of the Defense Logistics Agency and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

One of the things Vogler said they'll be looking at is communications capabilities between the services.

"It is a concern, and we're trying to check that and one of the ways we do that is by having these sorts of exercises. Leading up to this, we are going to rehearse and set up some of the communications systems to make sure we have interoperability," he said.

"I don't know what America's overall plan is — I just know that 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there are soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines that are standing by to come and help if they're called," Cloutier said. "It makes me feel good as an American to know that my country has dedicated a force to come in and help the people at home."

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/

Well I'm sure there is alot more news out there today like the U.S. melt down of our economy but I warned you about that over a year ago.

But maybe you should know Bush is meeting with our lender China to talk about our Economy. Who would ever have imagined a U.S. president having to talk to China about our economy, but China has become our master since Bush has borrow billions from them to make the oil corps rich by invading Iraq to steal their oil.

before you read the next article go sign the petition to stop the give away of our tax money for Wall Street who has embezzled BILLIONS over the last 71/2 years.

NO BAIL OUT FOR WALL STREET!

http://www.votenobailout.org/

China's Hu, Bush talk on financial crisis

BEIJING, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Chinese President Hu Jintao and U.S. President George W. Bush spoke by telephone on Monday about the financial crisis engulfing Wall Street, China News Service reported.

The state-run news agency said the two leaders spoke at Bush's request.

"We have noticed that the United States has taken some important measures to stabilise the domestic financial market, and we hope these measures can achieve quick results so that economic and financial conditions in the United States will gradually improve and turn better," the news agency paraphrased Hu as saying.

The two spoke at the end of a weekend of intensive talks in Washington between Bush's administration and Congress to hammer out details of an unprecedented $700 billion bank bailout to forestall further financial market turmoil that risks plunging the economy into a deep recession.

Hu said the U.S. plan was in the interests of both the United States and China.

"It is also conducive to maintaining international financial market stability in order to promote the stable and healthy development of the world economy," China News Service paraphrased Hu as saying.

Seven Chinese banks have reported exposure of more than $700 million to failed investment bank Lehman Brothers. Lehman also guaranteed $500 million in structured notes held by a Chinese overseas investment fund.

But China's capital controls and the overwhelmingly domestic focus of its banks and insurers have largely insulated the country from the immediate fallout of the turmoil on Wall Street.

LOTS AT STAKE

However, China has a huge stake in the health of the U.S. financial system, not least because an estimated two-thirds of its $2 trillion in foreign exchange reserves is invested in dollar bonds.

Beijing is a big holder of U.S. treasuries and of debt issued by the two mortgage agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, that the U.S. Treasury effectively nationalised this month.

So a ballooning of U.S. government debt that drove down bond prices or the value of the dollar would spell big losses for China.

Looked at in another way, the United States could remain heavily reliant on Beijing to buy the extra U.S. debt needed to fund the bailout.

The China News Service story did not say whether Hu and Bush discussed possible investments by Chinese institutions in U.S. financial firms desperate to replenish capital depleted by writedowns on mortgage loans and securities.

China Investment Corp, the country's $200 billion sovereign wealth fund, is in talks to increase its 9.9 percent stake in Morgan Stanley .

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hatched the unprecedented rescue plan amid concerns that other major banks could collapse and that credit markets were close to freezing, threatening the U.S. and global economy.

Under his plan, foreign banks with operations in the United States could also be eligible to sell illiquid residential and commercial mortgage-related assets to the Treasury.

Some U.S. lawmakers are demanding in return that foreign governments set up similar bailout programmes.

"We have a global financial system and we are talking very aggressively with other countries around the world, and encouraging them to do similar things, and I believe a number of them will," Paulson said on ABC television on Sunday. (Reporting by Zhou Xin; Writing by Alan Wheatley; Editing by Ken Wills)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7816217


See you tomorrow for more happy news brought to you by our Fascist Government.