Weekly Outlook by the Moderator of FX Insights

EUR/USD Weekly Outlook 6/22 thru 6/27 2008

For the weekly calander go to: FX Insights and scroll to the bottom of report.

TRADERS:

It is imperative you realize this week carries a risk level of 10.

What does this mean and why? At the beginning of each week, based on what fundamentals are on the books for the week, I give the trade week a risk rating. This week's risk rating is a 10 out 10.

The reason this week is rated 10 is because we not only have an FOMC rate decision and rate policy statement, we have two speeches by Trichet, we have major consumer data for the EUR and USD. We have major housing data for the USD. We have key inflation data for the EUR and USD, and we have a market that is not behaving rationally but is making emotional, knee-jerk decisions that defy logic and lack any kind of common-sense.

Those ingredients make for the highest risk rating I can possibly give. Expect heightened volatility, wild price swings, and possible surprising price moves at unexpected times.

Plus, be on alert for whatever kind of news come out of the meeting with Arabic oil ministers. If they come out with a strong statement to crank up more production and put more barrells of crude into the world supply, I would suspect this would hurt oil and help the dollar...

Trade Plan:

There is so much risk ahead for this week that I'm going to start today's update by encouraging you to sit down tonight, clear your mind, and write down your risk mangement plan and trade plan for this week.

How do you do this?

First, study the calendar... study what's on the books for this week. Look at when the big events are happening. Think about all the possibilities that could happen if the Fed comes out hawkish, or if they come out dovish. What if Trichet turns dovish on raising rates in July?

What if Core Durables, Consumer Confidence, and the Michigan Sentiment all suprise to the upside? What if German CPI prints to the downside?

Then, you connect the dots back to how all those individual pieces of data could directly effect Fed and ECB rate policy. This week is all about fundamentals, economics, and most of all: interest rates.

Please don't be lazy and skip this process of coming up with a game plan for the week ahead. If you've never done anything like this, now is a great time to get disciplined.

Of course I will provide analysis and forecasting in the daily updates, but don't trust what I say -- those are my opinions based on the information I collect and gather. I don't always get it right -- I may get some of it wrong this week. That's why you need to do your own research and come up with your own game plan to manage your money.

And as you're formulating your game plan, think about what you're going to do if the worst case-scenario happens -- getting caught long at a top or getting caught short at a bottom.

What size are your entries going to be? How far are you going to space out your entries? Will you use a mental stoploss should the market move against you? Think about these issues... you need to step up your game this week.

One last thing, if anybody in the chat asks me what time the FOMC is, I'm banning you for a year -- no questions asked.

Rates and Yields:

Obviously the biggest event is the FOMC. For the past three weeks the market has been making knee-jerk reactions based on interest rate speculation.

Right now Fed Funds Futures is predicting a 50bps rate hike as early as October. The 2-year yield has started to move above the Fed Funds Rate. This means the bond market is signaling that the Fed is definitely done cutting rates and is likely to move into a rate hike cycle sooner than later.

Yeah I don't think so...

But, it doesn't matter what I think, it matters what the market thinks. If you're serious about following monetary policy and rate policy like I am, do yourself a favor and watch the yield on the 2-year. If the yield keeps going up this will give you a great indicator that the market is thinking the Fed is hiking rates... and you know what that will do for the USD.

Also, watch the yield on the German Bund. If the yield spreads between Bunds and Bonds go up in favor of the Bund this will be better for the EUR vs. the USD. You don't have to watch them tick up and down in real-time, just glance at the yield every so often to keep up with where they're moving.

I think gold will come more into play this week than it has the past two weeks. All eyes must still be kept on oil, of course.

Tomorrow:

The biggest event tomorrow is the German IFO data which carries similiar significance to the ZEW data, but deals with various sectors like retail, wholesale, manufacturing, etc. I believe we could get some downside on this data. The forward looking outlook for growth, manufacturing, production, and the consumer is still weak to the upside in my opinion.

A downside print on the IFO data certainly carries a higher potential to bring the EUR/USD down.

We have zero USD news tomorrow. We do not have any Fed speeches this week other than the Fed activities on Wednesday.

EUR/USD:

Keep in mind we may see some big market players position themselves ahead of the FOMC. This is where those volatile price swings that I mentioned earlier will come into play. If a bank or hedge fund wants to get positioned prior to the FOMC they very well could use an ill-liquid time to perform these actions, so be prepared for that please.

Last week I called a 1.5640 topside by Friday and we were fortunate to see that play out as forecasted. Now that was great but the euro's gone back to sitting in a precarious spot -- the 1.5600 level.

We knew the euro was under value trading below 1.5600 but now could it be getting to close to an unattractive value? It's possible. So for me, this means I'm not likely to jump right in with a new long position.

My trading in the market will stay considerably scaled back at least until Wednesday. My entry size will be small and I won't be trying to hit a home run on a trade, but to make safe profits with minimal risk exposure.

Based on Friday's real-time price action I do believe we have the potential for more topside testing, but this will be dependant upon that upside momentum can sustain Sunday/Monday. And it will also depend on any geo-political events that might go down at the start of the week.

For example, suppose the Arabic oil ministers promise to raise production and then some oil cowboys hijack a platform, or cut a pipeline, etc. That would obviously send the crude market into a tailspin... so, this is the kind of stuff you have to be ready to deal with this week.

My trade plan for this week will be to add EUR/USD short positions on every 150-200 pip rise, unless the market tells me to do otherwise, this is my plan. I will still hold my best euro longs, but I'm definitely positioning my accounts with swing shorts on any rise up.

If the upside momentum ceases to exist and commodities do some correcting we could easily see a move back below the 1.5500 level. Should the markets cooperate and work together to devalue the dollar, I see no reason we can't push towards the 1.5750 level to test resistance and try to trigger stops.

And speaking of stops, this week the banks and brokers are going to be running stops and triggering stoplosses. This is their pattern during weeks like this. I know what they do and I'm not expecting anything differently from them this week.

OK, I think you understand what you're up against this week and how important it is for you to stay at the top of your game, not to overleverage your account, and not to take any dumb, knee-jerk trades.

If you're in doubt, stay out. Sit on the sidelines if the market and the price action is not clear to you. It's that simple. Be smart, be patient... wait for your price and wait for the trade to come to you.

We will try to do a live audio Q and A tomorrow morning at 1000 EST in the chat.

Litroenergy - New Light Source Material Category: Sustainable Technology

Steve Stark (MPK Co)
MPK CO.
Champlin (Clayton, WI), MN US
minnesotainventor@yahoo.com

Litroenergy is a patent pending designed light source material that emits light for 12 plus years- without electricity or sun exposure! Our development/design of long-life, self-luminous micro particles called Litrospheres (non-toxic) emit light continuously for 12 plus years (half-life point) without any exposure to a light or other energy (not effected by cold or heat). This extremely low cost material offers 24/7 light, which can be injection molded or added to paint. It is 5,000lb crush resistant, stable and constant light source (gives off no U.V. rays). It is designed to give off almost any color of light desired. Our goal is to mass produce this material and supply OEM’s. Litroenergy has potential to save billions of dollars in energy costs world-wide. Litroenergy surpasses all known available lighting options for cost/durability/reliability (12+ years) and safety. The uses are unlimited as the imagination; however we predict the safety aspects to be the front runner in application (light safety tape, lighted life rafts/flotation equipment, light safety markings/equipment, etc.). Supplemental light source will be second as the material is bright and one can read by it, if you have some Litroenergy lighting you will not need to always turn on a light source that requires electricity. The use of Litroenergy in toys, sports/camping equipment, bikes and novelty uses will be close in applications. The fill rate of Litroenergy micro particles in plastic injection molding material or paint is about 20%. The cost to light up 8 ½ x 11 piece of plastic 1/8” thick is about .35 cents. We appreciate this opportunity to introduce our patent pending designed Litroenergy light source material to the world.

Law Enforcement: SWAT Run Amok

6/20/08

Two recent incidents involving SWAT teams are adding fuel to the fire in the emerging controversy over the routine use of such paramilitarized police units to prosecute the drug war. In Chicago, the Chicago Police Department has been hit with a $10 million lawsuit over a September raid on a social club. Meanwhile, in Florida, the Pembroke Pines Police Department Special Response Team, a SWAT-style unit, shot and killed a 46-year-old homeowner in a dawn raid June 13 that netted a whopping three-quarters of an ounce of marijuana.

SWAT team, Pasadena, Texas(There is even more trouble on the SWAT front. Read StoptheDrugWar.org blogger Scott Morgan's post about the murder prosecution of raid victim Derrick Foster and the killing of raid victim Ronald Terebesi, Jr., here. StoptheDrugWar.org is committed to ending these abuses. Sign our online petition here.)

In the Chicago raid, raw video of which is available here (part one) and here (part two), Chicago SWAT team officers dressed as if heading for combat in Baghdad hit the La Familia Motorcycle Club as it was being used for a birthday party. Officers exploded stun grenades, pointed assault weapons at people cowering in hallways, and, according to the attorney who filed the lawsuit, did so without producing a search warrant.

Attorney George Becker said police also stole $1,500 from amusement machines and $1,000 from a safe they broke open during the raid. Becker also said five women at the club were strip-searched by female officers in front of male officers and club patrons. Becker said those parts of the raid were not recorded because officers pointed surveillance cameras at the ceiling.

"It looked to me like the Chicago Police Department is engaging in military-type activity," said Becker after showing the raid video.

But police are unrepentant. "We believe the officers acted within department guidelines in executing the legal search warrant," Police Department spokeswoman Monique Bond said.

Although police said an informant had told them a shipment of drugs was destined for the building, they seized only a small quantity of drugs and one hand-gun. Two arrests were made -- one on a bond forfeiture warrant and one for reckless conduct.

Police in Pembroke Pines, Florida, are also unrepentant about their SWAT raid that left Victor Hodgkiss dead. Police have released few details about what exactly went down during the dawn raid, except to say they he was shot and killed after confronting them as they entered his home on a no-knock drug search warrant. The raid netted one arrest -- of the girlfriend of Hodgkiss's son, who was charged with possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana.

"We use SRT for all narcotics warrants," Pembroke Pines Deputy Police Chief David Golt told Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel columnist Mike Mayo, who wrote a scathing column denouncing the reflexive resort to SWAT-style tactics. "You never know what you're going to encounter."

As Mayo noted in his column: "In this case, a 46-year-old man with a concealed weapons permit and no record of violent crime encountered his demise in his home of 14 years."

Police did not say whether Hodgkiss was armed when he was shot, but they did say they recovered a weapon from the home.

The Hodgkiss killing bears eerie similarities with another Florida SWAT killing, the 2005 shooting death of Philip Diotaiuto, a 23-year-old bartender shot 10 times by officers after he grabbed a gun as they burst into his home in a dawn raid that netted little over an ounce of marijuana. No charges were ever filed against those officers, but a civil suit filed by Diotaiuto's family is pending.

In both cases, police were aware their target had a weapons permit and used that to justify their resort to SWAT team tactics. In both cases, people ended up being killed over trivial amounts of marijuana.

SWAT team policing excesses are nothing new, but seem to be on the upswing as the units, originally designed for hostage and other dangerous situations, are increasingly used routinely for drug search warrants and other law enforcement purposes. The Cato Institute's Radley Balko has compiled the primary source book for SWAT killings and other abuses, 2006's Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America.

How Can Americans Sleep through so many wake up calls?

By Karl Schwarz
6-22-8

WAKE UP, America.

Do you remember the 2006 elections? Do you remember the DNC promises to END the war in Iraq?

America took the House and Senate away from the Republicans, gave it to the Democrats, and nothing was done to even pretend to stop the war. Zero.

We have the most impeachable president and administration in the history of the United States, literal war criminals, and both sides of the aisle abjectly, irrefutably refuse to repair America's destroyed image throughout the world.

America is dying of cancer and these Congressional lap dog cretins refuse to perform the operation (impeachment) that would begin to restore some of the damage Bush has done to America and the rest of the world. That is why the approval rating for Congress is right there in the sewer with Bush - they are just as despicable.

Bush has stated repeatedly that the 'Axis of Evil' is Iraq, Iran and North Korea. Remember that? I submit the true axis of evil is the US, UK and Israel. I submit that any nation that makes war and kills over one MILLION people based on a lie is evil. It is not 'war', it's called Genocide...and it is NOT 'defending' America.


Many have come forward ­ Bush and Cheney lied. The entire Bush Administration and Congress were/are just one Big Lie Machine. O'Neill and McClellan have both made it clear: Bush and Cheney LIED. Furthermore, Blair lied to the UK. Colin Powell lied to the UN. Rice lied/lies every time she moves her lips.

9-11 was a huge lie. They needed an excuse to attack Afghanistan and take over the Caspian Basin oil and have a pipeline route to get it to world markets. Not because America needs it, but because certain people in America want those trillions of dollars in their pockets.

Over 3,000 American troops (13,000?) and countless others have been murdered because someone wanted those trillions of dollars.

Do we really have to have a debate in America on the definition of what a LIE is? Are we are a point in the course of our nation that Americans do not know the difference between the truth and a lie, fact versus fiction?

I have heard it said that many Americans prefer to believe almost any lie over the simple truth...if it is more 'comfortable' for them. There was a time I did not believe that, but I do now.

I am a devout Ecumenical Christian but have major disagreements with the Zionist Christians who think "thou shalt not kill" was a suggestion, not a Commandment. Killing based on lies is way past evil. I do not think they will win the debate with God on Judgment Day that the Iraqi genocide they supported was okay due to semantics and splitting hairs over what the definition of genocide or murder is.

Now we are in 2008, the White House is up for grabs, and both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have mumbled 'stay the course' in Iraq. Defending America, NOT.

Of course McCain will stay the course because he is too stupid to come up with an alternative and besides, the idiot Christian Far Right still thinks Bush is hot, and is out defending America - while the truth of the matter is he is destroying America and knee-deep in heinous in war crimes.

I thought America would be up in arms about the torture, the mass death, the genocide...but evidently American Christians are okay with torture so long as it is not them being tortured.

At the gas pump, cash only is about to be required because the gas stations are tired of giving 3% to 8% to the credit card companies on the sale. It is affecting their bottom line, too.

What is torture to me?

Watching another lie uttered by Wall Street or Washington DC and certain Americans holding them up high as the great leaders they are not.

I fear that about 90% of Americans cannot connect those dots and come up with the right answer ­ the DNC lied about ending the travesty of Iraq.Will they continue to lie? You can bet everything you have on it.

Do they care one iota that your gasoline, home utilities and food prices are putting you deeper in the hole and bankrupting you and your family? Again, you can bet all you have that they could not care less.

So, why does the treasonous Democrat Congress not impeach Bush and just be done with it?

Because he has the ultimate defense. He would expose the other side of the aisle as being just as complicit in 9-11; for their support of the lies about why we needed to attack Afghanistan for a pipeline; and the hideous lies about Iraq and the genocide of !.2 million people. Both sides of the aisle are guilty...and that is why Bush smirks.

Just this week the Democrat-controlled Congress voted (approved) another $165 billion for a war the entire world (except most of America) knows was based on total lies.

Of course, the quid pro quo was they would approve that $165 billion so Bush could "victory" and not veto an obese pork spending package of DNC pet projects. Both the pork projects and the wars are funded with debt, folks, not cash. The American hole just got deeper.

Did anyone notice that with passage of the $165 billion bill the US dollar took a nose dive in world markets because that money did not come from the US Treasury? It is yet more DEBT and the rest of the world is sick and tired of funding the excesses of Washington, DC and its endless lies.

If you have not traveled outside of the US since Bush took office, you should. There are places in Europe that one cannot get the currency exchange windows to even accept US dollars at ALL. It's that bad, folks. But still America laughs, plays, sleeps, eats fast 'food', shops at the malls...and continues to sink just like the unsinkable Titanic did.

'The worst of the credit crisis is behind us.'

If you believe that, you are the type of fool that Washington DC salivates over.

According the Morgan Stanley, the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Bank of England, you had better hold onto your socks because what is coming is an F5 economic tornado.

Wow, Britney Spears' father won a court order allowing him to sell her home. That's news...but the dying economy isn't even mentioned.

The Spears family clearly did not do a very good job of raising Britney. Seems she did not have enough discipline to teach her right from wrong, manners, civility, and how to dress and conduct herself in public, etc. No rational mind would categorize her problems as newsworthy.

One of the email update members informed me that their home in Arizona has depreciated from $549,000 to under $212,000. In financial circles, they call that "a very big hit"...it is also called "mark to market". Their mortgage has gone unside down...they now owe more on the home than the mortgage debt. Even better, Boeing is moving the husband's job to Mexico, so Boeing can make critical jet engine parts cheaper.


Does anyone wish to ride on a Boeing jet with critical parts made in Mexico for $1.75 an hour by an illiterate Mexican? I certainly do not even, if his name is Jesus.

And then we have McCain speaking in Canada. He is fully-backing NAFTA and will resist those who want it abolished. America has done the Free Trade routine and it has put America straight into the poor house. There is a big difference in Free Trade...and FAIR Trade.

Oh, yes, Bush and Congress have granted Big Pharma total immunity. The drug giants can now legally kill you with no worry about being sued. If you missed the news, LEGAL prescription medication kills more Americans than do illegal drugs.

Bush and Congress have also allowed Big Defense to hide behind the immunity of the Feres Doctrine. Big Defense has never been forced to bear responsibility for criminal negligence or for non-stop defrauding of the American taxpayers.

This Democrat-controlled Congress also just granted the telecom companies total immunity. So, spying on you as if you are Al Qaeda is now okay, too.

If you have not been paying attention, what they are doing in Washington, DC is legalizing criminal conduct so Americans cannot hang them as they deserve.

Get this straight America ­ The Department of Homeland Security exists for one reason...and it has nothing to do with foreign threats. It exists to defend these lying thugs from the wrath of the American people when the proverbial fertilizer hits the proverbial fan.

One of the email list members is a retired colonel, USAF. He provided this quote to share with you.

"Absolutely nothing will restore our freedom or save our country until Americans develop the courage to tell government bureaucrats at all levels to---Kiss My Ass!"

Amen to that.

Another is a publisher in Australia, and provided this quote.

DEMOCRACY & DIPLOMACY, WHERE ART THOU?
PEOPLE TELL ME WORRY NOT.

HOWEVER, I WORRY MOST WHEN PEOPLE WORRY NOT WHATSOEVER.

Amen to that!

So, go back to surfing channels, shopping, eating...whatever it is that Americans do to ignore their wake-up calls and patriotic responsibilities.

Make no mistake, the day is fast-approaching for that final wake-up call: 'America passed away last night in its sleep.'

Best regards,

Karl
How Can Americans Sleep
Through So Many
Wake-Up Calls?
By Karl Schwarz
6-22-8

WAKE UP, America.

Do you remember the 2006 elections? Do you remember the DNC promises to END the war in Iraq?

America took the House and Senate away from the Republicans, gave it to the Democrats, and nothing was done to even pretend to stop the war. Zero.

We have the most impeachable president and administration in the history of the United States, literal war criminals, and both sides of the aisle abjectly, irrefutably refuse to repair America's destroyed image throughout the world.

America is dying of cancer and these Congressional lap dog cretins refuse to perform the operation (impeachment) that would begin to restore some of the damage Bush has done to America and the rest of the world. That is why the approval rating for Congress is right there in the sewer with Bush - they are just as despicable.

Bush has stated repeatedly that the 'Axis of Evil' is Iraq, Iran and North Korea. Remember that? I submit the true axis of evil is the US, UK and Israel. I submit that any nation that makes war and kills over one MILLION people based on a lie is evil. It is not 'war', it's called Genocide...and it is NOT 'defending' America.


Many have come forward ­ Bush and Cheney lied. The entire Bush Administration and Congress were/are just one Big Lie Machine. O'Neill and McClellan have both made it clear: Bush and Cheney LIED. Furthermore, Blair lied to the UK. Colin Powell lied to the UN. Rice lied/lies every time she moves her lips.

9-11 was a huge lie. They needed an excuse to attack Afghanistan and take over the Caspian Basin oil and have a pipeline route to get it to world markets. Not because America needs it, but because certain people in America want those trillions of dollars in their pockets.

Over 3,000 American troops (13,000?) and countless others have been murdered because someone wanted those trillions of dollars.

Do we really have to have a debate in America on the definition of what a LIE is? Are we are a point in the course of our nation that Americans do not know the difference between the truth and a lie, fact versus fiction?

I have heard it said that many Americans prefer to believe almost any lie over the simple truth...if it is more 'comfortable' for them. There was a time I did not believe that, but I do now.

I am a devout Ecumenical Christian but have major disagreements with the Zionist Christians who think "thou shalt not kill" was a suggestion, not a Commandment. Killing based on lies is way past evil. I do not think they will win the debate with God on Judgment Day that the Iraqi genocide they supported was okay due to semantics and splitting hairs over what the definition of genocide or murder is.

Now we are in 2008, the White House is up for grabs, and both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have mumbled 'stay the course' in Iraq. Defending America, NOT.

Of course McCain will stay the course because he is too stupid to come up with an alternative and besides, the idiot Christian Far Right still thinks Bush is hot, and is out defending America - while the truth of the matter is he is destroying America and knee-deep in heinous in war crimes.

I thought America would be up in arms about the torture, the mass death, the genocide...but evidently American Christians are okay with torture so long as it is not them being tortured.

At the gas pump, cash only is about to be required because the gas stations are tired of giving 3% to 8% to the credit card companies on the sale. It is affecting their bottom line, too.

What is torture to me?

Watching another lie uttered by Wall Street or Washington DC and certain Americans holding them up high as the great leaders they are not.

I fear that about 90% of Americans cannot connect those dots and come up with the right answer ­ the DNC lied about ending the travesty of Iraq.Will they continue to lie? You can bet everything you have on it.

Do they care one iota that your gasoline, home utilities and food prices are putting you deeper in the hole and bankrupting you and your family? Again, you can bet all you have that they could not care less.

So, why does the treasonous Democrat Congress not impeach Bush and just be done with it?

Because he has the ultimate defense. He would expose the other side of the aisle as being just as complicit in 9-11; for their support of the lies about why we needed to attack Afghanistan for a pipeline; and the hideous lies about Iraq and the genocide of !.2 million people. Both sides of the aisle are guilty...and that is why Bush smirks.

Just this week the Democrat-controlled Congress voted (approved) another $165 billion for a war the entire world (except most of America) knows was based on total lies.

Of course, the quid pro quo was they would approve that $165 billion so Bush could "victory" and not veto an obese pork spending package of DNC pet projects. Both the pork projects and the wars are funded with debt, folks, not cash. The American hole just got deeper.

Did anyone notice that with passage of the $165 billion bill the US dollar took a nose dive in world markets because that money did not come from the US Treasury? It is yet more DEBT and the rest of the world is sick and tired of funding the excesses of Washington, DC and its endless lies.

If you have not traveled outside of the US since Bush took office, you should. There are places in Europe that one cannot get the currency exchange windows to even accept US dollars at ALL. It's that bad, folks. But still America laughs, plays, sleeps, eats fast 'food', shops at the malls...and continues to sink just like the unsinkable Titanic did.

'The worst of the credit crisis is behind us.'

If you believe that, you are the type of fool that Washington DC salivates over.

According the Morgan Stanley, the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Bank of England, you had better hold onto your socks because what is coming is an F5 economic tornado.

Wow, Britney Spears' father won a court order allowing him to sell her home. That's news...but the dying economy isn't even mentioned.

The Spears family clearly did not do a very good job of raising Britney. Seems she did not have enough discipline to teach her right from wrong, manners, civility, and how to dress and conduct herself in public, etc. No rational mind would categorize her problems as newsworthy.

One of the email update members informed me that their home in Arizona has depreciated from $549,000 to under $212,000. In financial circles, they call that "a very big hit"...it is also called "mark to market". Their mortgage has gone unside down...they now owe more on the home than the mortgage debt. Even better, Boeing is moving the husband's job to Mexico, so Boeing can make critical jet engine parts cheaper.


Does anyone wish to ride on a Boeing jet with critical parts made in Mexico for $1.75 an hour by an illiterate Mexican? I certainly do not even, if his name is Jesus.

And then we have McCain speaking in Canada. He is fully-backing NAFTA and will resist those who want it abolished. America has done the Free Trade routine and it has put America straight into the poor house. There is a big difference in Free Trade...and FAIR Trade.

Oh, yes, Bush and Congress have granted Big Pharma total immunity. The drug giants can now legally kill you with no worry about being sued. If you missed the news, LEGAL prescription medication kills more Americans than do illegal drugs.

Bush and Congress have also allowed Big Defense to hide behind the immunity of the Feres Doctrine. Big Defense has never been forced to bear responsibility for criminal negligence or for non-stop defrauding of the American taxpayers.

This Democrat-controlled Congress also just granted the telecom companies total immunity. So, spying on you as if you are Al Qaeda is now okay, too.

If you have not been paying attention, what they are doing in Washington, DC is legalizing criminal conduct so Americans cannot hang them as they deserve.

Get this straight America ­ The Department of Homeland Security exists for one reason...and it has nothing to do with foreign threats. It exists to defend these lying thugs from the wrath of the American people when the proverbial fertilizer hits the proverbial fan.

One of the email list members is a retired colonel, USAF. He provided this quote to share with you.

"Absolutely nothing will restore our freedom or save our country until Americans develop the courage to tell government bureaucrats at all levels to---Kiss My Ass!"

Amen to that.

Another is a publisher in Australia, and provided this quote.

DEMOCRACY & DIPLOMACY, WHERE ART THOU?
PEOPLE TELL ME WORRY NOT.

HOWEVER, I WORRY MOST WHEN PEOPLE WORRY NOT WHATSOEVER.

Amen to that!

So, go back to surfing channels, shopping, eating...whatever it is that Americans do to ignore their wake-up calls and patriotic responsibilities.

Make no mistake, the day is fast-approaching for that final wake-up call: 'America passed away last night in its sleep.'

Best regards,

Karl

Why Wall Street, Israel and D.C. need the illegal drug trade

Contributing Editor Catherine Austin Fitts, who was a Managing Director at Dillon Read before becoming Assistant Secretary of Housing under George Bush and who holds an MBA from Wharton makes things very simple. She points out that the four largest states for the importation of drugs are New York, Florida, Texas and California. She then points out that the top four money laundering states in the U.S. (good for between 100 and 260 billion per year) are New York, Florida, Texas and California. No surprise there. Then she rips the breath from your lungs by pointing out that 80 per cent of all Presidential campaign funds come from - New York, Florida, Texas and California.

All Promises Broken - Volume II Hearings Held Without Notice - Behind Closed Doors

You Might Miss What's Next by Michael C. Ruppert

Posted June 29, 1999 - © Copyright 1999 From The Wilderness, Michael C. Ruppert. All Rights Reserved

On May 25, just four days after we published our last issue, under the totally misleading heading of "CIA and Drugs in Los Angeles" the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) held a closed door hearing. It took us until June 22 to determine that the Committee heard testimony that day from Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Bromwich, who had not appeared before the Committee since the release of his report last year. And it also heard from current CIA Inspector General Britt Snider, who discussed Volume II of retired CIA IG Fred Hitz's report on the whole Contra war - not Los Angeles. Los Angeles was Volume I.

That's right - They have had the hearing on Volume II. They did it in secret. The press did not cover it. And it remains unclear, at this moment, as to whether HPSCI's final report will even be declassified or made available to the public in any form at all. This is not only a breach of every promise made to us in 1996 by both Houses; it is, in my opinion, a complete breach of trust between the government and the people.

In a June 22 conversation with HPSCI Deputy Staff Director, Tim Sample, I was told that the Committee "would like to wrap this up this summer." I was also told that the protocol for closing the investigation out had not been finalized. It is "not known" whether there will be another hearing. It is "not known" whether or if the Committee's final report will be declassified or ever released. It is "not known" if any additional witnesses will be called. I and retired DEA Agent Cele Castillo and presumably the other major figures in the investigation have all received letters asking us to submit whatever other evidence "we are aware of" before the Committee closes its work.

This is a sign of true desperation as the Republican controlled Committee must absolutely close the issue - to protect George W. Bush - before the 2000 Presidential campaign begins in earnest in October. It must also protect the biggest secret of all from the American people: The entire economy, and the entire political system itself, is currently hooked and dependent upon - drug money.

I have been saying for years that you could show a video of George Bush ordering drug runs, CIA agents laundering money and flying airplanes full of drugs and no one in power would do anything about it. They would not be able to. In this issue I will tell you, and the House, about something almost as damning - a partially authenticated letter, written on CIA letterhead and stamped "Top Secret", ostensibly written and signed by CIA Director William J. Casey in late 1986, that admits to direct participation in the drug trade [SEE STORY THIS ISSUE]. I have been aware of the existence of this letter for approximately five months. I have had it read to me in its entirety. It was not until I was given this last chance by HPSCI to present "all of the information of which you are aware on the allegations" that I was able to obtain an "On the Record" statement about the letter from Attorney Ray Kohlman. The letter will be admitted into evidence in a new trial motion for former Green Beret William Tyree in the near future. When that happens, From The Wilderness will publish the letter, both on the Internet and in the newsletter.

Now that the House has indicated its intent to close the matter for good and all it is time to bring the letter forward - for good and all. I will also see to it that the letter is widely distributed enough so that any of the major news organizations will be able to follow up on it. The information in this issue is enough for the House Intelligence Committee to go to the CIA and compel it to confirm or deny the letter's authenticity.

Reading The Right Map

If nothing happens with further hearings, or with the letter, I will tell you in advance exactly why.

Contributing Editor Catherine Austin Fitts, who was a Managing Director at Dillon Read before becoming Assistant Secretary of Housing under George Bush and who holds an MBA from Wharton makes things very simple. She points out that the four largest states for the importation of drugs are New York, Florida, Texas and California. She then points out that the top four money laundering states in the U.S. (good for between 100 and 260 billion per year) are New York, Florida, Texas and California. No surprise there. Then she rips the breath from your lungs by pointing out that 80 per cent of all Presidential campaign funds come from - New York, Florida, Texas and California.

Civics test: Who are the current governors of Texas and Florida?

From The Wilderness has been working on a story for an upcoming issue that will show conclusively, using testimony of law enforcement officers and U.S. Government records, that Dominican drug gangs, who dominate the trade in the northeast United States - especially New York and Pennsylvania - have been making regular campaign donations to the Clinton-Gore-Democratic camp since the early 90s. California drug sales are currently split between Democratically allied crime factions and entrenched hard core Republican strongholds from the Reagan era. People who shudder at the thought of the Chinese buying into presidential politics would choke if they knew how much drug money was involved.

Why? Again, the answer is simpler than you might think. While the Department of Justice estimates that $100 billion in drug funds are laundered in the U.S. each year, other research, including research material from the Andean Commission of Jurists cited by author Dan Russell in his soon to be published book Drug War place the figure at around $250 billion per year. Catherine Austin Fitts places the figure at $250 to $300 billion. Given the fact that the UN estimated that in the early 1990s world retail volume in the illegal drugs was $440 billion, $250 billion seems about right. Fitts, using her Wall Street experience as an investment banker is then quick to point out that the multiplier effect (x6) of $250 billion laundered would result in $1.5 trillion dollars per year in U.S. cash transactions resulting from the drug trade. How many jobs does $1.5 trillion represent? Why do President's get re-elected? As Bill Clinton's staff recognized in 1992, "It's the economy -Stupid!"

During the Contra years, when the CIA and Bill Clinton were swimming in cocaine, and Arkansas became the only state in the Union to ever issue bearer bonds (laundry certificates), employment in Arkansas rose to an all time high because there was so much money floating around. So what if they donÕt count all the dead bodies like two young boys Kevin Ives and Don Henry, shot, bludgeoned and dismembered on a railroad track after witnessing CIA drug drops. "It's the economy - Stupid!"

The Pop

Corporations trading on Wall Street, including many implicated in money laundering schemes where products are sold with questionable bookkeeping throughout drug producing regions, all have stock values that are based upon annual net profits. Known as "price to earnings" or "The Pop" the multiplier effect in stock values is sometimes as much as a factor of thirty. Thus, for a firm like GE or Piper Aircraft to have an additional $10 million in net profits based upon the drug trade, the net increase in these companies' stock value could be as much as $300,000,000. Did GE make a $10 million net profit on consumer products in Latin America last year? Easily. And since GE owns NBC is there a chance that accurate reporting on the drug trade and CIA's involvement therein might hurt their stock?

Disney owns ABC and has a huge retail, resort and entertainment empire that benefits from the "drug multiplier." Would ABC consider hurting its parent's stock value? Ronald Reagan's CIA Director, William Casey had been Chief Counsel to Cap Cities Broadcasting until 1981. His old law firm represented Cap Cities when it bought the ABC network in 1985. ABC's Peter Jennings, by the way, had been doing a series of investigative reports on the CIA drug bank (and successor to the Nugan Hand bank) Bishop, Baldwin, Rewald, Dillingham and Wong when the buyout was initiated. Cap Cities (not surprisingly) secured SEC approval in record time and effectively and immediately silenced Peter Jennings who had previously refused to back down from Casey's threats. Thereafter ABC was referred to as "The CIA network."

I have no doubt that the ABC "object lesson" was front and center for CNN founder Ted Turner and Time-Warner when Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell and (CIA vet) John Singlaub put the pressure on in the wake of April Oliver's 1998 "dead bang accurate" Sarin gas stories connecting CIA to the killing of American defectors.

Every major media corporation in the country trades on Wall Street. There are no "independents" left and the American people are left with the increasing cognitive dissonance of recognizing that they are being fed useless bullshit. I wonder how they would respond to real a news corporation if they saw or heard one.

It's Legal to be Bad

It is also perfectly legal for a Wall Street brokerage or investment bank to go "offshore" and borrow once laundered drug money to finance a corporate merger or leveraged buyout (LBO). Why do this? If you were a major multi-national corporation in a cutthroat competition to buy a company with a hundred million in sales (which might boost your stock value $3 billion) you would be willing to pay a seemingly outrageous price. [How much would you be willing to spend to make $3 billion? - 2.9?]. All an LBO is is an acquisition financed on borrowed money. If you are Goldman-Sachs, arranging the deal, and you can borrow laundered drug money at five per cent or a bank's money at ten per cent where are you going to go? Remember that since the cost of capital is lower using laundered drug money you are now able to outbid all the other competitors because your total payback stays the same. Does this actually happen? In 1998 the Russians asked for only $18 billion to save their entire economy. With $440 billion a year moving around how could it not happen?

And a major drug dealer, like a Carlos Lehder, a Pablo Escobar, an Amado Fuentes, a Matta Ballesteros or a Hank Rohn, sitting around with ten billion dollars of useless illegal money, is more than happy to loan it at five percent because his money is now legal and liquid. And, if one goes to prison or dies, there is always another dealer to fill the void so that the supply is not interrupted. The drug trade now has power because it is underwriting the investments of the largest corporations in the world. It underwrites politicians. It has hooked the gringos on Wall Street whose own children sometimes die from its drugs. Wall Street cannot afford to let the drug barons fall. Congress cannot afford to let the drug barons fall. Presidents and their campaign finances cannot afford to let the drug barons fall. Why? Because our top down economy, controlled by one per cent, cannot take the risk of letting competition (business or political) have the edge of using drug money. The third world has its revenge for European colonialism but Wall Street still calls the shots. And for every million dollars of increased sales or increased revenues from a buyout, the stock equity of the one per cent who control Wall Street, increases twenty to thirty times.

Remember - The National Security Act of 1947, which created the CIA, was written by Wall Street lawyer and banker Clark Clifford. Clark Clifford is the man who brought the CIA backed drug bank BCCI into the United States. Allen Dulles who virtually designed the CIA and served as its Director, and his brother John Foster who was Eisenhower's Secretary of State, were Wall Street lawyers from the firm Sullivan and Cromwell. Dwight Eisenhower's personal liaison with the CIA was none other than Nelson Rockefeller. William Casey was Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission under Richard Nixon. Former CIA Directors from William Raborn to William Webster to Robert Gates to James Woolsey to John Deutch all sit or have sat on the Boards of the largest, richest and most powerful companies in America.

As we near the millenium one thing is clear to anyone who sees the economic system clearly. The system is on the verge of implosion. Privately owned and operated prison companies trade on Wall Street. One of those, Wackenhut, is a virtual CIA proprietary. We have entered, at the end of the industrial age, a phase of growth where we must incarcerate an ever expanding number of people to sustain the growth of all the companies profiting from law enforcement, crime, imprisonment and war. And the overheated stock market must grow or collapse. The reason this nation spends five dollars on prisons for every one dollar on higher education - even after seven straight years of falling crime rates - is because there is more profit in it in the current economic model. Hell, we have turned police departments into profit making entities through asset forfeiture. This is insane!

This economic model is patently no more sustainable than a snake eating its own tail can be considered nourishment. Organized crime has become the government and it seeks to make all citizens become subliminally guilty participants, fearing for their own livelihoods, believing that the system will collapse if someone really tackles the issues facing us - as surely as the iceberg faced the Titanic.

The system will collapse anyway - unless the economic model is turned upside down - unless a way is found or offered which will make it more profitable than all other ways - to do the right thing. The only thing that will sustain the current economic system, and its dependence on drug capital, is a police state. New enforcement programs involving HUD and the Department of Justice such as Project "Safe Streets" and "Weed and Seed" - along with their corresponding butchery of the Constitution - show an emerging police state already. The conduct of Congress and the White House in the CIA drug investigations further demonstrate the arrogance, the fear and the ever-increasing sloppiness of a system out of control.

The veneer, the illusion that we live under the rule of law cracks before our eyes, grows thinner and ever more difficult to sell with each passing minute. All at once the fears of the right of a New World Order and the fears of the left, of new concentration camps and genocide suddenly become one and the same thing. Dogma matters little to the oppressed. Pain tastes the same whether you call it Fascism or Communism. Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas, co-founder of the Medellin Cartel, who was given a life sentence in 1990, now enjoys the sunshine at his home in the Bahamas. He frolics regularly with gaming magnate and owner of the Atlantis Hotel Sol Kerzner. His guests at parties include Kevin Costner who played (I am sorry to say) both Elliot Ness and Jim Garrison. Manuel Noriega will probably be out of prison before Bill Clinton leaves office. The Kosovo Liberation Army has been funded with drug money and has trained with Islamic terrorist Osama bin Laden. The son of a documented drug trafficker, who very few people in this country even know anything about, is "scheduled" to become our next President, simply because he has the most money and he and his backers control most of "The Pop."

Source: From the Wilderness

Let's not forget the massive amounts of money made by Israel thru the manufacture and sales of Ecstasy.

From an article in Haaretz

According to a report issued in 2003 by the U.S. State Department, Israel is at the center of international trafficking in Ecstasy and Israeli crime organizations, some of them linked to similar organizations from Russia, achieved a dominant status in the Ecstasy market in Europe, and went on to control the drug's distribution in the States. "Israeli drug-trafficking organizations are the main source of distribution of the drug to groups in the U.S, using express mail services, commercial airlines, and recently also using air cargo services," the report states. The authorities do not provide official data on the scope of the Israeli trade in Ecstasy, but the most commonly heard estimate is that Israeli criminals control no less than 75 percent of the Ecstasy market in the U.S.

Whether Israeli's are running moving compaines, or learning how to pilot 747's or selling illegal drugs to American kids, there's just no end to the amount of subversion they can get into here in the U.S.

Gov. Napolitano Approves Prohibition on Real ID (ARIZONA)

Contact: Senator Karen S. Johnson (602-926-3160)

Ernest Hancock

Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano signed a bill today that prohibits the implementation of the REAL ID in Arizona. SB2677 received a Final vote of approval in the House last week by an overwhelming margin of 51 to 1. Napolitano’s signature was uncertain until today when she signed the bill into law.

The bill prohibits implementation of the REAL ID Act of 2005, which was passed by Congress as part of a supplemental spending bill for tsunami relief and the War on Terror. The bill did not receive a hearing in either the House or the Senate, and the public was largely unaware of it until it had already been signed into law.

“Everyone thinks that the REAL ID is just about protecting us against terrorism,” said co-sponsor Senator Karen Johnson (R-18). “But it really represents a cash cow for technology companies as well as the birth of the National ID card, complete with all the biometric information that technology can handle – face recognition, fingerprints, etc.”



“Corporations which specialize in selling identity cards stand to gain millions of dollars in profits if the Real ID Act is implemented,” said Johnson, “so, of course, they’re eager for everyone to be required to carry a National ID card everywhere they go.” Two of those corporations are Digimarc ID Systems and L-1 – the Number 1 and Number 2 companies for the manufacture of state driver’s licenses and identity cards. L-1 is considered the main driver behind the REAL ID and last year had nearly $100 million in federal contracts involving identity cards. Digimarc spent $350,000 in the first six months of 2007 lobbying Congress on the Real ID Act. Apparently the two companies are soon to be merged, resulting in a powerhouse corporation, pushing the “identification-as-security” concept to the maximum in order to increase company profits as they add more and more biometric features to state driver’s licenses.

“It’s misguided to think that identification equals security,” says Johnson. “Identification is just identification – it doesn’t prove intent and it doesn’t stop terrorists. Indeed, terrorists will forge documents – as they always have – to obtain the identification they want to commit crimes. Making U.S. citizens carry identity papers to board a plane or enter a government building stinks,” says Johnson. “It’s odious, onerous, and a violation of our civil liberties.”



“I refuse to be tagged and numbered,” said Johnson. “Requiring people to carry papers takes away their freedom. There are other, better ways to stop terrorism and to protect us against criminals. The federal government needs to butt out and let the states handle driver licensing. It’s not the business of the Dept. of Homeland Security to tell us how to run our state.”




Real ID – SB2677


1. Proponents always claim that the sole purpose of the Real ID is to prevent another 9/11-type attack by disrupting terrorists travel. That is bogus. If the government really wanted to prevent such an attack, they would secure our borders, which would (1) cost less than implementing Real ID, (2) would be more effective at keeping terrorists out, and (3) would be less intrusive and less inconvenient for American citizens. Until the borders are secure, all the rosy pleas for the Real ID are just so much hogwash.

2. The Real ID will cost the states billions of dollars. The Dept. of Transportation estimates that in Arizona alone, it will cost $40 to $70 million to implement just in the first year, and $15 to $20 million in subsequent years. But they really don’t have a clue – they don’t know what the regulations are going to be yet. They are just estimating. It will depend on what the Rules say when they are finally issued.

They already do some things that will be part of the requirements. For example, they already check citizenship, or whether or not someone is legally authorized to be in the country. So that would not be an additional expense. But even factoring in that some things required by REAL ID are already being handled, the $40 to $70 million is over and above what we already do!!!

3. The Real ID is an invasion of privacy. Why should so much personal information be compiled on one place for so many people to have access to?
- medical history
- social security number
- insurance information


4. The Real ID increases the risk of Identity Theft. Identity theft is a major problem in Arizona already. Throwing everyone’s personal information – including social security numbers, birth dates, medical information, driver’s license and auto licensing information, etc. – into one massive data base just makes it easier for identity thieves to harvest identities for fraudulent purposes. The Real ID requires all Arizona driver’s license information to be compiled with all the information for the other 49 states and the District of Columbia into one massive database that will be accessible by thousands of clerks and government employees throughout the country. This is a horrendous idea – an invitation to identity theft on a massive scale.

US House approves war funds bill

Sorry US tax payers about the levee's, bridges and the crippled infrastructure, you know you can't have everything. Geo Bush



The White Houses says it supports the legislation
The US House of Representatives has approved more funding to pay for another year of fighting in Iraq and in Afghanistan.

In a 268-155 vote, the Democrat-held House agreed to provide the Pentagon with $162bn (£82bn).

But the bill did not include any timetables for withdrawing US troops from Iraq. President George W Bush opposes such deadlines.

The bill is now expected to be debated in the Senate in the coming days.

In a statement, the White House said it supported the measure.

Criticism

The bill allows the Pentagon to pay for US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan until mid-2009.

It also envisages a significant increase in college education benefits for returning soldiers and help for US unemployed and flood victims in the Midwest.

If approved by the Senate, it will bring to more than $650bn (£330bn) the amount provided by Congress for the war in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003.

Some Democrats criticised the bill for not setting deadlines for pulling out US troops from Iraq.

"Let us hope this is the last time another dollar will be spent without constraint, without conditions," Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

Welcoming the result of the vote, House Republican Minority leader John Boehner said: "I'm glad we're there."