"The Wizard of Oz" - What it really means!

The Symbolism Hidden Within "THE WIZARD of OZ"
~ author unknown

The "Wizard of Oz", written by L. Frank Baum, is not a mere child's story.

What is "Oz" a symbol for? Ounces.

What is measured in ounces? Gold.

What is the yellow brick road? Bricks or ingot bars of gold.


The character known as the Straw Man represents that fictitious, ALL CAPS, legal fiction - a PERSON, the Federal U.S. Government created with the same spelling as your birth name.

Remember what the Straw Man wanted from the Wizard of Oz? A Brain! No juristic person - legal fiction - paper corporation has a brain because he/she has no breath of life.

What did he get in place of a brain? A certificate: a Birth Certificate for a new legal creation.

He was proud of his new legal status, plus all the other legalisms he was granted. Now he becomes the epitome of the brainless sack of straw who was given a certificate in place of a grain of common sense.

Now, what about the Tin Man? Does Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) recall anything to mind? The poor TIN Man just stood there mindlessly doing his work until his body literally froze up and stopped functioning. He worked himself to death because he had no heart nor soul.

He's the heartless and emotionless creature robotically carrying out his daily task as though he were already dead. He's the ox pulling the plow and the mule toiling under the yoke. These days, his task masters just oil him nightly with beer and place him in front of a hypnotic television until his very existence no longer has any meaning or value. His masters keep him cold on the outside and heartless on the inside in order to control any emotion or feeling that might arise.

The Cowardly Lion was always too frightened to stand up for himself. Of course, he was a bully and a big mouth when it came to picking on those smaller than he. (Have you ever noticed how bullies are really the biggest cowards? They act as though they have great courage, but, in reality, have none at all. They roar, but with no teeth of authority to back them up.) When push came to shove, the Cowardly Lion always buckled under and whimpered when anyone of any size or stature challenged him. The Cowardly Lion wanted courage from the Grand Wizard, so he was awarded a medal of "official" recognition. Now, although remaining a coward, his official status allowed him to be a bully, but with officially recognized authority. (He's not unlike the Attorneys who hide behind the Middle Courts of the Temple Bar.) et al ad infinitum.

What about the trip through the field of poppies? Did you notice how this had no narcotic effect on the Straw Man (no brain) or the Tin Man (no heart or soul)? They weren't real people, so drugs could not influence them.


The Wizard of Oz was written at the turn of the century, so how could the author have known America was going to be drugged?

The Crown has been playing the drug cartel game for centuries.

Just look up the history of Hong Kong and the Opium Wars.

The Crown already had valuable experience conquering all of China with drugs, so why not the rest of the world?


What was the Emerald City? The Federal Reserve System.

Who finally exposed the Wizard for what he really was?

Toto, the ugly (or cute, depending on your perspective) and somewhat annoying little dog. Toto means "in total, all together; Latin in toto."

What was it that the witch wanted after she alleged that the little dog had bitten her? TOTO. ... everything. Notice how Toto was not scared of the Great Wizard's theatrics, yet he was so small in size, compared to the Wizard, that no one seemed to notice him?

The smoke, flames and holographic images of Oz were designed to frighten people into doing as the Great Wizard commanded.

Toto simply padded over, looked behind the curtain (the COURT, etc.), saw it was a scam, started barking until others paid attention to him and came to see what all the barking was about. Who was behind the curtain?

Just an ORDINARY PERSON controlling the levers that created the illusion of the Great Wizard's power and authority.

When Toto pulled back the curtain and completely exposed him, the charade was at an end. (The veil hiding the corporate legal fiction and its false courts was removed.)

The Wizard's game was UP. What was he after all? ... a con-man. A FRAUD.

We can see, in this tale, just how loud the bark from a little dog can be.

How about YOUR bark? How big is it?

Most of us remain silent and wait to be given whatever food and recognition, if any, by our legal master.

Let us not forget those pesky flying monkeys. What perfect mythical creatures to represent the Bar Association Attorneys who attack and control the little people for the Great Crown Wizard, the powerful and grand Bankers of Oz: GOLD!

How, finally, was the evil witch destroyed? .... pure, clean water LIQUIDATION!

How, at last, did Dorothy get home? She simply clicked her heels. She always had the power, and SO DO WE!

What would it take to expose the Wizard for what he is, tearing away his veils?

We each need only a brain, a heart and soul --- and COURAGE.

Then, and perhaps of the greatest importance, we need to learn HOW to WORK TOGETHER.

Only "in TOTO," WORKING TOGETHER as ONE Body of the King of Kings, (whatever name or form that may take for each of us), can we have the freedom given under God's Law.

*** end of article ***


This appears to be a message to expose the banking cartel in America, and to let the people know that they have the power to 'liquidate' them and get back to Kansas - the real land/republic (Hab 2.6-8).

Here are some of the important points made in this movie in an article by an unknown author:

The saints need to come out of the accounting/charging system of commerce, and into the forgiving/serving system of cooperation and love. The saints now can and MUST return to the "Garden" (Isa 51.3; 52.8-12)!

http://www.thepowerhour.com/news4/wizard_of_oz_what_it_means.htm

Obama sued for secret abortion meetings - 'In haste to socialize medicine, president violated commitment to transparency'

Posted: December 21, 2009

By Bob Unruh

A legal firebrand whose work fighting corruption left both Bill Clinton and Dick Cheney on the defensive today took on Barack Obama, suing the president for secret meetings with Planned Parenthood and other lobbyists on his plans to nationalize health care.

Larry Klayman, founder of Judicial Watch and, more recently, Freedom Watch USA, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., under the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The law requires disclosure of records of meetings between the executive branch and outside industry lobbyists. It also requires access to meetings.

Klayman raised the same issues during the early years of the Clinton administration, contributing to the demise of the health care proposal championed by Hillary Clinton.

The lawsuit charges that in Obama's "haste to socialize medicine in the United States, and increase government control generally," he has "violated his commitment to transparency." READ MORE ...

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=119735

Mexico Under Siege: A LA Times Special Report- The drug war at our doorstep

December 22, 2009

http://projects.latimes.com/siege/#/its-a-war

Link: Interactive Map - Mexico Under Siege 'It's a War'

RELATED:

Family of marine murdered in possible revenge attack

Staged photos of slain drug lord stir controversy

Tijuana's security chief needs all of it he can get

http://projects.latimes.com/siege/#/its-a-war

Bolivian President Morales wants to promote the experience of the Bolivian revolution in Africa raising political awareness among indigenous people

Peoples on the African continent must shed the "imperialistic manacles"
and nationalize their natural resources

December 22, 2009 - Morales, 50, who has headed Bolivia since 2006, is continuing his second presidential term after he won elections again in December 2009 with 63% of the vote.

"I asked a number of Bolivian trade union leaders to study English so that I can send them later to Africa to raise awareness among the population of the need to restore the political power of the people," Morales said at a meeting celebrating the 73rd anniversary of the state oil company Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB).

"I want to tell the whole world and primarily the African countries that natural resources must belong to the people rather than to transnational corporations and a bunch of oligarchs, as it turns out to be, for example, in Nigeria," Morales said.

Morales is Bolivia's first fully indigenous national leader. Since he came to power, industries including oil-and-gas and transportation have been nationalized mainly to fund social programs.

He is also the leader of the Movement for Socialism (MAS), a Bolivian socialist political party, which is committed to equality, indigenous rights, agrarian land reforms and the constitutional reform with the goal to improve the well-being of the impoverished population of the country.

Among the poor, rural and indigenous population, the MAS enjoys nearly unanimous support.

MEXICO, December 22 (RIA Novosti)

http://en.rian.ru/world/20091222/157323491.html

CaveNews YouTube Channel | Animated Magnetosphere Update - December 22, 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7iPtP5P_PE

About Real-Time Magnetosphere Simulation

DECEMBER 22, 2009 AT 6:27 PM CDT

http://www2.nict.go.jp/y/y223/simulation/realtime/index.html

CaveNews YouTube Channel

Report says 225,000 Haiti children work as slaves and trafficking children not prosecuted

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - December 22, 2009 - Poverty has forced at least 225,000 children in Haiti's cities into slavery as unpaid household servants, far more than previously thought, a report said Tuesday.

The Pan American Development Foundation's report also said some of those children - mostly young girls - suffer sexual, psychological and physical abuse while toiling in extreme hardship.

The report recommends Haiti's government and international donors focus efforts on educating the poor and expanding social services such as shelters for girls, who make up an estimated two-thirds of the child servant population.

Young servants are known as "restavek" - Haitian Creole for "stays with" - and their plight is both widely known and a source of great shame in the Caribbean nation that was founded by a slave revolt more than 200 years ago.

Researchers said the practice is so common that almost half of 257 children interviewed in the sprawling Port-au-Prince shantytown of Cite Soleil were household slaves.

Most are sent by parents who cannot afford to care for them to families just slightly better off. Researchers found 11 percent of families that have a restavek have sent their own children into domestic servitude elsewhere.

Despite growing attention to the problem, researchers said their sources were unaware of any prosecutions of cases involving trafficking children or using them as unpaid servants in this deeply poor nation of more than 9 million people.

Glenn Smucker, one of the report's authors and a cultural anthropologist known for extensive work on Haiti, said he believes the number of restavek children is increasing proportionally with the population of Port-au-Prince as more migrants flee rural poverty to live in the capital.

The researchers surveyed more than 1,400 random households in five Haitian urban areas in late 2007 and early 2008, with funding help from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The most widely used previous number for restaveks came from a 2002 UNICEF survey, which estimated there were 172,000.

The new report used a broader counting system to include children related to household owners but still living in servitude, such as nieces or cousins, and as well as "boarders" living temporarily with another family but are still forced to provide labor.

"Most people working with restavek children ... think that these numbers, both ours and UNICEF's, are actually underestimating the problem," said Herve Razafimbahini, the Pan American Development Foundation's program director in Haiti.

He called for Haitian officials to conduct a national survey to analyze the full scope of the problem, including in rural areas.

Officials with the Ministry of Social Affairs could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

http://omaha.com/article/20091222/AP15/312229780

RELATED:

The United Nations pushes war and starvation onto the peoples of Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Congo, and Haiti

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EU/IMF Revolt: Greece, Iceland, Latvia May Lead the Way Total financial collapse, once a problem only for developing countries, has now come to Europe .

Israel to seek another 1b euros Holocaust in reparations from Germany Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz will demand between 450 million to 1 billion euros in reparations from Germany on behalf of Jews forced into slave labor during the Holocaust, it emerged on Sunday.

More Change We Can Believe In: Banks with political ties got bailouts, study shows

Israel’s IDF Cooperates with FEMA, National Guard, NORTHCOM

Sen. Whitehouse: foes of health care bill are birthers, right-wing militias, aryan groups Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) today took shots at those who are not supporting the health care legislation. During a floor speech, he excoriated Senate GOP members for holding up the pending health care bill and accused their supporters of being birthers and fanatics in right-wing militia and Aryan support groups

There'll be nowhere to run from the new world government 'Global' thinking won't necessarily solve the world's problems, says Janet Daley

Copenhagen climate deal shows New World Order may be led by U.S., China If the talks that resulted in an imperfect deal to combat global warming provided anything, it was a glimpse into a new world order in which international diplomacy will increasingly be shaped by the United States and emerging powers, most notably China.

Goldman’s Attempt To Ambush Dollar Aborted, Tactical Shorts Closed As Stop Losses Hit Fear not Goldman, there is only three months at most before Bernanke announces that he will be forced to buy all MBS from the end of QE 1 into perpetuity. In the meantime we suggest you do what you do best: short the dollar and bet on the imminent demise of America’s middle class.

VIDEO: Rod Blagojevich uncensored with We Are Change

Maine to consider cell phone cancer warning A Maine legislator wants to make the state the first to require cell phones to carry warnings that they can cause brain cancer, although there is no consensus among scientists that they do and industry leaders dispute the claim.

Gordon Brown calls for new group to police global environment issues A new global body dedicated to environmental stewardship is needed to prevent a repeat of the deadlock which undermined the Copenhagen climate change summit, Gordon Brown will say tomorrow.

CIA links to the torture of Palestinians That the CIA has been supporting torturers in the Palestinian security forces should come as no surprise. The CIA has a long history of training foreign security forces in torture techniques, even though they were forbidden in the US itself

Merck Appoints Former CDC Chief As Head Of Vaccines Vaccines, along with emerging markets and biologics, are an area Merck is eyeing for growth as it digests its recent acquisition of Schering-Plough Corp. The takeover was designed to help bolster Merck's research pipeline and diversify its product lineup in the face of challenges such as generic competition and setbacks in bringing new drugs to market.

Trillions of Troubles Ahead A crushing burden of debt threatens to sap America's growth for years to come.

Depressionary Science: Engineering Food With Aromas That Make Us Feel Full Usually the enticing smell of food is associated with hunger pangs, but researchers in the Netherlands think that foods can be engineered to release satiating aromas during chewing. This would help combat obesity by stimulating areas of the brain that signal fullness. In a paper published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the researchers outline how food products could be tailored to release a higher quality -- or a higher quantity -- of aromatic food molecules, thus discouraging overeating.

Israel harvested organs in '90s without permission Israel has admitted that in the 1990s, its forensic pathologists harvested organs from dead bodies, including Palestinians, without permission of their families.

RAND Corporation Blueprint for Militarized “Stability Police Force” The RAND Corporation, one of the most fecund research arms of the Military-Industrial-Homeland Security Complex, has released a study entitled A Stability Police Force for the United States: Justification and Creating U.S. Capabilities.

Selling Drugs to Fund Terror: al-Qaeda Linked to Cocaine Trafficking Three men linked to al Qaeda and arrested in Africa by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents following a cocaine sting operation have been extradited to New York and are slated to appear in federal court in Manhattan today, according to federal sources.

Knights of Malta fueling both sides of the “Climate Debate” with Lord Monckton

Deadly Intentions: The Truth Behind The Iran Rumors For the past several days, the spin behind the headlines surrounding Iran's activities have been enough to send any one looking for cover -- or declare war. After all, nuclear bombs, missiles, and the stealing of a neighbor's oil fields is what prompted the "international community" to declare war on Iraq - twice. Why not Iran? As Bill O'Reilly said: " What spin is, is taking a set of circumstances, all right, and taking that circumstance and making it not what it is."

Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan to create unified economic space by Jan. 2012 The presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan agreed Saturday to create a single economic space by January 1, 2012. The leaders of seven post-Soviet states (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan) met in a place near Almaty to discuss security and economic integration.

First Commercial 3-D Bioprinter Fabricates Organs To Order The problem with organ transplants is that the organ has to come from someone else. Since most people rather fancy their hearts and lungs, getting any organ other than a kidney usually requires the difficult combination of donor consent and timely death. In an attempt to circumvent that limitation, the engineering company engineering firm Invetech teamed up with the medical company Organovo to produce the first commercial 3-D bio-printer.

Special Ops robots now do psychological warfare US arms globocorp Boeing has announced yet another military robot demonstration - but this time, one with a difference. Rather than spying on meatsacks or mowing them down with the traditional array of automated weaponry, the war-bots in this trial sought to win over their fleshy opponents using psychological warfare.

Colombia Beefs Up Forces on Border With Venezuela The Colombian government has announced it is building a new military base on its border with Venezuela and has activated six new airborne battalions, BBC reported.

U.S. National Debt Tops Debt Limit The latest calculation of the National Debt as posted by the Treasury Department has - at least numerically - exceeded the statutory Debt Limit approved by Congress last February as part of the Recovery Act stimulus bill.

Obama's Current Science Advisor Warned in the 1970's of a New Ice Age ... And Is Open to Shooting Soot Into the Upper Atmosphere

Banks Squeezing Money from Unemployed While posting breathtaking profits in the last two quarters – Wells Fargo’s $3.2 billion, Citigroup’s $3 billion and Chase’s $2.7 billion – U.S. banks have figured out a way to squeeze some extra dollars from those who can least afford it, the unemployed.

Drug giant General Electric uses libel law to gag doctor General Electric, one of the world’s biggest corporations, is using the London libel courts to gag a senior radiologist after he raised the alarm over the potentially fatal risks of one of its drugs.

RevolutionRadio.org | Headlines - December 22, 2009

Mullen Insists Military Ready to Attack Iran

Constant Threats of Attack ‘Critical,’ Joint Chiefs Chairman Insists

Admiral Michael Mullen declared today that the military stands ready to attack Iran at the president’s order, and insisted that it was critical to negotiations that the ever-present threats to attack Iran remain “on the table.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Iran Sanctions Are Precursor to War

by Rep. Ron Paul

Last week the House overwhelmingly approved a measure to put a new round of sanctions on Iran. If this measure passes the Senate, the United States could no longer do business with anyone who sold refined petroleum products to Iran or helped them develop their ability to refine their own petroleum. The sad thing is that many of my colleagues voted for this measure because they felt it would deflect a military engagement with Iran. I would put the question to them, how would Congress react if another government threatened our critical trading partners in this way? Would we not view it as asking for war?

Read the rest of this entry »

Americans Are Hell-Bent on Tyranny

Obama’s dwindling band of true believers has taken heart that their man has finally delivered on one of his many promises—the closing of the Guantanamo prison. But the prison is not being closed. It is being moved to Illinois, if the Republicans permit.

Read the rest of this entry »

Uncharted Economic Waters

WallStreetPit.com
Dec 22, 2009

It does not matter how you measure it, the US Treasury yield curve is at its steepest level ever. Away from that, the value for expected five-year inflation, five years from now is at its highest level ever, excluding the noise that we had as our markets crashed in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Small Business Carnage That Shows The Real Reason Jobs Aren’t Being Created In America

Vincent Fernando
BusinessInsider.com

While some parts of the U.S. economy show early signs of an economic rebound, for small business, the situation remains extremely tough.

Read the rest of this entry »

Salbuchi – 2010 Forecast: Transition from Globalization to World Government -1 of 3

Salbuchi – 2010 Forecast: Transition from Globalization to World Government -2 of 3

Salbuchi – 2010 Forecast: Transition from Globalization to World Government – 3 of 3

Brace Yourself for a Hard Landing

CounterPunch.org

Ben Bernanke has been a bigger disaster than Hurricane Katrina. But the senate is about to re-up him for another four-year term. What are they thinking? Bernanke helped Greenspan inflate the biggest speculative bubble of all time, and still maintains that he never saw it growing. Right. How can retail housing leap from $12 trillion to $21 trillion in 7 years (1999 to 2006) without popping up on the Fed’s radar?

Read the rest of this entry »

Jim Rogers and Marc Faber See Disaster Looming, Blame the Fed

Legendary investors Jim Rogers and Marc Faber have similar outlooks on the financial crisis and the efforts of the Federal Reserve to revive the U.S. economy. What do they think of the Fed’s quantitative easing policy? In a word, it is a recipe for disaster.

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The Recession Is Over but the Depression Has Just Begun

LewRockwell.com

This is an updated version of a post I wrote about two-and-a-half months ago over at Credit Writedowns. When I wrote it, I had been looking for bullish data points as counterfactuals to my bearish long-term outlook. I found some, but not nearly enough.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Nullification–10th Amendment Movement Is Growing

December 22nd, 2009

TenthAmendmentCenter.com

“If the federal government has the exclusive right to judge the extent of its own powers, warned the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions’ authors (James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, respectively), it will continue to grow – regardless of elections, the separation of powers, and other much-touted limits on government power.”

Read the rest of this entry »

THE BIRTH OF CHRIST AND THE BIRTH OF AMERICA ARE LINKED

By Chuck Baldwin
December 22, 2009
NewsWithViews.com
As we approach the celebration of Christ’s birth, I am reminded of the words of John Quincy Adams. On July 4, 1837, he spoke these words:

Read the rest of this entry »

TRAITORS, EVERY ONE

By Lynn Stuter
December 22, 2009
NewsWithViews.com

At 1 a.m. on December 21, 2009, in the dark of night, the first cloture vote was taken on H.R. 3590, Senator Harry Reid’s Obama Deathcare Bill.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Long Decline of the American Economy

Global Research, December 21, 2009

The official position on the cause of the current financial downturn is that it was caused by the reckless practices of financial institutions and the failure of regulatory bodies, and it is likely that these were the proximate causes, but they were not the ultimate cause. Americans, unfortunately, are rarely willing to search for ultimate causes or do anything about them when they are found.

In the 1980s, I was living in a suburb of Washington, DC. One evening, a friend and I were walking the streets of Georgetown when we met a group of Japanese taking pictures of a building they had just purchased. They asked us to take some photographs of them in front of it, which we did. A few blocks further along, we observed a group of teenagers drumming on plastic household buckets. The kids were very good drummers, but I pointed out to my friend that after WW2, the youths of the Caribbean altered abandoned oil drums into musical instruments of various ranges and created a new and unique musical genre—steel drums. Later over dinner, my friend and I discussed what appeared to be a serious decline in America's economic fortunes and culture. READ MORE .....

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16639

Build-A-Bear Warns Kids that Santa Claus May Cancel Christmas Due to 'Global Warming'...Why you should boycott Build-A-Bear

Attention Santas:

This missive is directed at the guardians of, and donors to, tiny humans. If you fall into that category you likely are already familiar with Build-A-Bear, a world-wide corporation that provides the most innocent of services. They sell customizable stuffed animals. Make your own bear, dog…penguin. Cute concept.

So cute, in fact, that the Build-A-Bear empire sweeps across nearly every state and into 17 other countries. You’ll find their outlets in shopping malls everywhere and even some ballparks. The company also has a website called Build-A-Bearville.com where children can play an interactive video game that, on it’s surface, is unlikely to raise suspicion or sound alarms.

But when your unsuspecting tot logs on and hops a virtual train to the North Pole…you should know that he or she will be informed — by Santa Claus — that Christmas may be canceled this year due to Global Warming. Below is part two of the 3-part video. READ MORE

http://biggovernment.com/2009/12/22/build-a-climate-scare-why-you-should-boycott-build-a-bear/

SteveQuayle.com | Hot Headlines - December 22, 2009

STEVE QUAYLE'S: SURVIVE 2 THRIVE
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VIDEO: Sen. Whitehouse: Foes of health care bill are birthers, right-wing militias, aryan groups

(Scroll to about 1:07 Minutes into the video)

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) today took shots at those who are not supporting the health care legislation. During a floor speech, he excoriated Senate GOP members for holding up the pending health care bill and accused their supporters of being birthers and fanatics in right-wing militia and Aryan support groups. He started off by citing an editorial from the Manchester Journal Inquirer, which used the insult "lunatic fringe.".

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/ID/217151

Rense.com | Obama Has 189,000 US Personnel In Afghanistan NOW

December 20, 2009 - by Jeremy Scahill - A hearing in Sen. Claire McCaskill's Contract Oversight subcommittee on contracting in Afghanistan has highlighted some important statistics that provide a window into the extent to which the Obama administration has picked up the Bush-era war privatization baton and sprinted with it. Overall, contractors now comprise a whopping 69% of the Department of Defense's total workforce, "the highest ratio of contractors to military personnel in US history." That's not in one war zone-that's the Pentagon in its entirety.

In Afghanistan, the Obama administration blows the Bush administration out of the privatized water. According to a memo [PDF] released by McCaskill's staff, "From June 2009 to September 2009, there was a 40% increase in Defense Department contractors in Afghanistan. Â During the same period, the number of armed private security contractors working for the Defense Department in Afghanistan doubled, increasing from approximately 5,000 to more than 10,000."

At present, there are 104,000 Department of Defense contractors in Afghanistan. According to a report this week from the Congressional Research Service, as a result of the coming surge of 30,000 troops in Afghanistan, there may be up to 56,000 additional contractors deployed. But here is another group of contractors that often goes unmentioned: 3,600 State Department contractors and 14,000 USAID contractors.

That means that the current total US force in Afghanistan is approximately 189,000 personnel (68,000 US troops and 121,000 contractors). And remember, that's right now. And that, according to McCaskill, is a conservative estimate. A year from now, we will likely see more than 220,000 US-funded personnel on the ground in Afghanistan.

The US has spent more than $23 billion on contracts in Afghanistan since 2002. By next year, the number of contractors will have doubled since 2008 when taxpayers funded over $8 billion in Afghanistan-related contracts.

Despite the massive number of contracts and contractors in Afghanistan, oversight is utterly lacking. "The increase in Afghanistan contracts has not seen a corresponding increase in contract management and oversight," according to McCaskill's briefing paper. "In May 2009, DCMA [Defense Contract Management Agency] Director Charlie Williams told the Commission on Wartime Contracting that as many as 362 positions for Contracting Officerâ¤s Representatives (CORs) in Afghanistan were currently vacant."

A former USAID official, Michael Walsh, the former director of USAID's Office of Acquisition and Assistance and Chief Acquisition Officer, told the Commission that many USAID staff are â¤administering huge awards with limited knowledge of or experience with the rules and regulations. According to one USAID official, the agency is sending too much money, too fast with too few people looking over how it is spent. As a result, the agency does not â¤know â¤S where the money is going.

The Obama administration is continuing the Bush-era policy of hiring contractors to oversee contractors. According to the McCaskill memo:

In Afghanistan, USAID is relying on contractors to provide oversight of its large reconstruction and development projects. Â According to information provided to the Subcommittee, International Relief and Development (IRD) was awarded a five-year contract in 2006 to oversee the $1.4 billion infrastructure contract awarded to a joint venture of the Louis Berger Group and Black and Veatch Special Projects. USAID has also awarded a contract Checci and Company to provide support for contracts in Afghanistan.

The private security industry and the US government have pointed to the Synchronized Predeployment and Operational Tracker(SPOT) as evidence of greater government oversight of contractor activities. But McCaskill's subcommittee found that system utterly lacking, stating: "The Subcommittee obtained current SPOT data showing that there are currently 1,123 State Department contractors and no USAID contractors working in Afghanistan."

Remember, there are officially 14,000 USAID contractors and the official monitoring and tracking system found none of these people and less than half of the State Department contractors.

As for waste and abuse, the subcommittee says that the Defense Contract Audit Agency identified more than $950 million in questioned and unsupported costs submitted by Defense Department contracts for work in Afghanistan. That's 16% of the total contract dollars reviewed.

http://www.rense.com/general88/obmii.htm

RMN.com | Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson's Handlers

The Buffetts are the largest contributor to Nelson. Don't overlook that Warren Buffett and his wife Susan through their tax-exempt foundation are multi-million dollar supporters of abortion education and clinics.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

See:
(IRS Report) The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2008/476/032/2008-476032365-0504ffe4-F.pdf

Top Contributors Ben Nelson

Contributor Total ... Indivs ... PACs
Berkshire Hathaway $75,550 $63,050 $12,500
Level 3 Communications $66,750 $51,750 $15,000
Union Pacific Corp $65,950 $37,950 $28,000
Blue Cross/Blue Shield $64,523 $18,650 $45,873
AT&T Inc $49,750 $11,750 $38,000
Nebraska Beef $49,400 $49,400 $0
NelNet Inc $49,100 $34,100 $15,000
Mutual of Omaha $48,100 $26,100 $22,000
Citigroup Inc $45,450 $16,950 $28,500
Werner Enterprises $42,550 $23,550 $19,000
ConAgra Foods $37,700 $7,700 $30,000
Omaha Steaks $36,100 $36,100 $0
National Assn of Letter Carriers $36,000 $0 $36,000
Prudential Financial $35,500 $24,000 $11,500
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance $35,450 $450 $35,000
Archer Daniels Midland $34,000 $2,000 $32,000
Deloitte & Touche $33,800 $12,800 $21,000
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp $32,900 $9,900 $23,000
Liberty Mutual Insurance $32,500 $4,000 $28,500
Credit Union National Assn $31,390 $950 $30,440

Here are the e-mail addresses for the senate staff of Nebraska's Ben Nelson. He's the one selling out on the healthcare bill by getting the other states to pay for Nebraskans' exemption. Some of you might like to let the senator know how you feel.

<christiana_gallagher@bennelson.senate.gov>, <Dayle_Williamson@bennelson.senate.gov>, <JosephProcaccini@cox.net>, <Kate_Howard@bennelson.senate.gov>, <Melanie_Rogge@bennelson.senate.gov>,
<senator@bennelson.senate.gov>, <Tim_Becker@bennelson.senate.gov>

Judicial Watch | TSA Clears Illegal Immigrants To Work At NY Airport

In the latest of many shameful lapses, the federal agency in charge of securing the nation’s transportation system approved background checks for a dozen illegal immigrants working in sensitive areas of a busy U.S. airport.

The illegal aliens, from Central America and Mexico, worked in operational areas of Stewart International Airport, a 2,400-acre facility located about 60 miles north of New York City. Stewart is a major passenger airport for the state’s mid-Hudson region that also handles large quantities of cargo and serves as a military field.

The illegal aliens all had security badges approved by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the agency created after the 2001 terrorist attacks mainly to protect airlines. The TSA’s national background check failed to detect the fake Social Security numbers and other bogus documents provided by the illegal immigrants to obtain clearance.

So the embattled 43,000-member Homeland Security agency, which has received hundreds of millions of dollars from Congress to fulfill its mission, granted the undocumented aliens “trusted agent” security badges. This allowed them to work at an airport warehouse business and access key operational areas. An alert airport employee noticed the suspicious documents and reported the illegal aliens.

This sort of negligence is par for the course for the TSA, which has come under fire in recent years for leaving airplanes extremely vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Just last month the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General revealed that the TSA is failing to ensure the security of tens of thousands of cargo packages transported daily in the bellies of passenger planes, leaving aircraft at risk of a terrorist attack.

That probe also found that workers who handle the cargo had not received the required background checks or training, further adding to the security crisis. Previous Inspector General probes have over the years revealed similar problems in the TSA’s dismal air cargo security system and exposed dozens of security failures in other crucial areas nationwide.

http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2009/dec/tsa-clears-illegal-aliens-work-ny-airport

Citizens For Legitimate Government | BREAKING NEWS and COMMENTARY | Last updated: 12/21/2009 23:00:16

US forces mounted secret Pakistan raids --Former Nato officer reveals secret night operations in border region which America kept quiet 21 Dec 2009 American special forces have conducted multiple clandestine raids into Pakistan's tribal areas as part of a secret war in the border region where Washington is pressing to expand its drone assassination programme. A former Nato officer said the incursions, only one of which has been previously reported, occurred between 2003 and 2008, involved helicopter-borne elite soldiers stealing across the border at night, and were never declared to the Pakistani government. "The Pakistanis were kept entirely in the dark about it. It was one of those things we wouldn't confirm officially with them," said the source, who had detailed knowledge of the operations.

Obusha opens new war front; lamestream media yawns: Mullen worried Yemen becoming terrorist 'haven' --Adm. refused to discuss whether US played active role in recent operation 20 Dec 2009 Adm. Mike Mullen is applauding a military strike in Yemen against suspected members of the al-Qaida terrorist group civilians. The top U.S. military officer said Sunday he has been concerned for some time that Yemen could become "another safe haven" for terrorism. He applauded the effort to go after an al-Qaida cell which he said has grown significantly over the last couple of years. Mullen said the United States will continue to help Yemen develop its ability to 'fight' terrorism, but he refused to discuss whether the United States played an active role in the recent operation. ['Could' become. We're bombing the sh*t out of civilians again, because of what 'could' happen. --LRP]

Saudi jets kill 18 civilians in Yemen 21 Dec 2009 Fresh Saudi air strikes on northern villages of Yemen have claimed the lives of 18 civilians, all women and children, the Houthi fighters say. According to a statement released by the fighters, Saudi forces carried out more than 40 air raids on al-Razih, al-Nazir, al -Malaheet, and the district of Ghamra in northern Yemen on Monday.

Police Headquarters Attacked in Southeastern Afghanistan 21 Dec 2009 An provincial government official said that Afghan security forces and American troops killed five heavily armed men who attacked a police headquarters in the center of Gardez, the capital of the southeastern province of Paktia Province. Four police and three civilians were wounded, said the official, Rahullah Samon, a spokesman for the governor’s office. A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said that five suicide bombers entered the Gardez police headquarters around 9 a.m. and attacked a class of police recruits while foreign mentors were taking daily attendance. [Gee, looks like the US 'plan' for training Afghan police is a big ice cream cone in the dirt, isn't it? No worries. US taxpayers will just build a new police HQ in Afghanistan so Blackwater can blow it up again.]

Soldier killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan --A military policeman killed on patrol in Afghanistan is feared to have been the victim of friendly fire. 21 Dec 2009 The fatal shot is thought to have come from a member of his own patrol but sources were unable to say whether he was caught in cross fire during a firefight or was shot as a result of the accidental discharge of a weapon. A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence confirmed that there was a "possibility that the latest death in Afghanistan was caused as a result of friendly fire."

Sabotage cuts Iraqi oil pipeline [What a shame!] 20 Dec 2009 Oil exports from northern Iraq have stopped following an attack on a pipeline that leads to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. Assem Jihad, an Iraqi oil ministry spokesman, told journalists on Sunday that a 55km section of the pipeline was damaged, causing a large oil spillage, around 325km north of Baghdad. "Exports have stopped and technicians from the Northern Oil Company have gone to the site to survey the damage", Jihad said.

Iraq: Bombs kill 5 in northern city, Baghdad 21 Dec 2009 A suicide [Blackwater?] bomber attacked the convoy of a city council chief in northern Iraq on Monday, killing the official and three guards, police and health officials said. The slain official, Hussein Akrash, was affiliated with the country's largest Sunni political party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, and was a member of the Turkoman minority.

Obama signs $636.3 billion defense-spending bill 21 Dec 2009 President Obama signed into law legislation that provides $636.3 billion for the U.S. military in fiscal 2010, including $128.3 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the White House announced today. About $65 billion of the war funding is for operations in Afghanistan. The administration says it will need about $30 billion more to finance the addition of 30,000 more troops there that begins this month. That request is likely to come with the fiscal 2011 budget to be submitted in February.

Obama Says New Contracting Rules Saved $19 Billion 21 Dec 2009 President Barack Obama said changes in federal contracting rules he ordered have saved the government about $19 billion, almost half-way to a target of $40 billion in savings by Oct. 1, 2010. Waste costs the taxpayers more each year than the budgets of the Departments of Education and Homeland Security combined, Obama said today at the White House.

'US policy toward Iran is duplicitous' 22 Dec 2009 Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani has criticized the United States over its 'failed' strategy towards Iran. "It seems that the Americans have an internal problem in regard to their strategy toward Iran. They have failed to adopt a unified and wise strategy on this issue," Larijani said in Cairo, where he travelled to attend the three-day meeting of the Parliamentary Union of Organization of the Islamic Conference member states (PUOICM), which opened on Monday.

Israeli military admits harvesting organs 21 Dec 2009 The Israeli military has admitted harvesting organs from dead Palestinians after an interview conducted over the issue in 2000 was broadcast again. Over the weekend, Israel's Channel 2 TV broadcast an interview conducted in 2000 with the then-head of Israel's Abu Kabir forensic institute, Dr. Jehuda Hiss who revealed that forensic pathologists harvested organs from dead bodies, including Palestinian corpses in the 1990s, the Associated Press reported.

Former Israeli premier Olmert pleads not guilty 21 Dec 2009 Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert is pleading not guilty to charges of illegally accepting funds from an American supporter and double-billing Jewish groups for trips abroad. Olmert spokesman Amir Dan says Olmert and his office chief, Shula Zaken, denied all charges at the Jerusalem district court Monday.

'You were tied to a chair and they would tip you over on your back, put a towel over your face and pour water over you.' British Army 'waterboarded' suspects in 70s --Evidence casts doubt on guilt of man sentenced to hang for killing soldier 21 Dec 2009 Evidence that the British army subjected prisoners in Northern Ireland to waterboarding during interrogations in the 1970s is emerging after one of the alleged victims launched an appeal against his conviction for murder. ...The jury did not believe Liam Holden's insistence that he made the confession only because he had been held down by members of the Parachute Regiment, whom he says placed a towel over his face before pouring water from a bucket over his nose and mouth, giving him the impression that he was drowning. But now the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has referred Holden's case to the court of appeal in Belfast after unearthing new evidence, and because of doubts about "the admissibility and reliability" of his confession.

UK drops terrorism charges against Libyan 21 Dec 2009 A Libyan national who has been under restriction for the past six years in the United Kingdom on terrorism charges has won his long court battle against the UK Home Office and Security Services. Faraj Hassan told Press TV over phone on Monday that his solicitors tried hard and finally succeed in convincing a High Court judge that he is not a terrorist threat to the United Kingdom.

David Headley Said to Have Helped Terrorists Target Nuclear Plant --Authorities Say Chicago Man Cased, Photographed Facility at Tombroy, India, that Produces Plutonium for Nuke Weapons 21 Dec 2009 The Chicago man charged with helping plot the terror attacks one year ago in Mumbai also photographed and conducted surveillance of a nuclear weapons fuel plant [Bhabha Atomic Research Center] in Tromboy, India, according to Indian and U.S. law enforcement authorities. The authorities say David Headley was sent to Tromboy, a northwest suburb of Mumbai, by his [CIA] handlers in the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, an affiliate of al Qaeda. [See: Did America keep mum on 26/11? By Vir Sanghvi 20 Dec 2009 ...These papers showed that Headley had been convicted and sent to jail. But after 9/11, he had been set free and sent to Pakistan to work as an undercover agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). According to US journalists, Headley had been given a new passport in the American name of David Headley (his American mother’s maiden name is Headley) rather than his original name of Daood Gilani.]

White House picks new cyber coordinator 21 Dec 2009 President Barack Obama has chosen a national cyber security coordinator to take on the formidable task of organizing and managing the nation's increasingly vulnerable digital networks. A senior White House official says Obama has tapped Howard A. Schmidt, a longtime computer security executive with extensive ties to the corporate world, to take the job.

Tarmac Delays Get Three Hour Limit in DOT Airline Crackdown --New Rule Requires Airlines to Deplane Passengers, Provide Food and Water 21 Dec 2009 The U.S. Department of Transportation today announced it's getting tough with airlines that keep passengers stuck in planes on airport tarmacs for more than three hours, issuing a "hard time limit" after which carriers must let the passengers off the plane or face fines. The rules also require airlines to provide food and water to passengers within two hours of a delay, keep the lavatories functional and provide medical attention to passengers who may need it.

President And First Lady Get H1N1 Shots 21 Dec 2009 Declaring that the H1N1 vaccine is safe [!?!], President Obama says he and the First Lady got their swine flu shots on Sunday. If it wasn't safe, he said he would not have allowed daughters Sasha and Malia, "the two people that are most important in my life," to get the vaccinations for H1N1 several months ago.

Walgreen 1Q profit rises 20 percent on drug sales 21 Dec 2009 Concerned Brainwashed customers got more than 5 million flu shots at Walgreen Co. stores in the fall, helping the company boost its quarterly profit by 20 percent. The company administered 5.4 million seasonal flu shots between Sept. 1 and Nov. 30, compared with 1.2 million in last year's entire flu season, from October to February.

How health lobbyists influenced reform bill 20 Dec 2009 An analysis of public documents by Northwestern University's Medill News Service in partnership with the Tribune Newspapers Washington Bureau and the Center for Responsive Politics found a revolving door between Capitol Hill staffers and lobbying jobs for companies with a stake in health care legislation. At least 166 former aides from the nine congressional leadership offices and five committees involved in shaping health overhaul legislation -- along with at least 13 former lawmakers -- registered to represent at least 338 health care clients since the beginning of last year, according to the analysis. Their health care clients spent $635 million on lobbying over the past two years, the study shows.

Seeing Public Subsidy (Not Public Option) Investors Flock to Health Insurers By Shahien Nasiripour 21 Dec 2009 Investors are seeing the Senate's version of health care reform as a massive public subsidy for insurance companies -- and as a result, are sending the sector's stock prices shooting up, up, up. Stripped of a government-run insurance plan, the bill would give tens of millions of Americans no option but to start paying hefty premiums to private companies. The rise in stock prices has been particularly striking in the period since Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn. Israel) said on October 27 that he would filibuster a Senate health care reform bill if it included a public option - a threat that caused Senate leaders to cave without much of a fight.

'Health' Bill Passes Key Test in the Senate With 60 Votes 21 Dec 2009 Democrats held ranks early Monday in a dead-of-night procedural vote that proved they had locked in the decisive margin needed to pass a far-reaching overhaul of the nation’s health care system corporaterrorist giveaway. The roll was called shortly after 1 a.m., with Washington still snowbound after a weekend blizzard, and the Senate voted on party lines to cut off a Republican filibuster of a package of changes to the 'health care' bill by the majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada. The vote was 60 to 40 -- a tally that is expected to be repeated four times as further procedural hurdles are cleared in the days ahead, and then once more in a dramatic, if predictable, finale tentatively scheduled for 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve.

Sen. Coburn: 'People Ought to Pray' That a Senator 'Can't Make the Vote Tonight' By Faiz Shakir 20 Dec 2009 The Senate is expected to vote very late tonight/early Monday morning "on the first of three motions to close off debate" on the health care bill and proceed to an expected Christmas Eve vote on final passage. Speaking against the health care bill on the Senate floor just moments ago, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) expressed his hope that a Senator of the majority caucus would not be able to make the vote: "What the American people ought to pray is that somebody can't make the vote tonight. That’s what they ought to pray." [Aren't people already busy praying for a polar bear to swallow Sarah Palin whole?]

Former speaker gets pricey perks 21 Dec 2009 U.S. taxpayers are spending more than $40,000 per month on office space, staff, cell phones and a leased SUV for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R), even as he works as a lobbyist for private corporations and foreign governments... In addition to the office, the government pays the salaries of three of Hastert’s assistants in his Illinois office -- each more than $100,000 in 2008.

Ford Offers Buyouts to All Factory Workers --Automaker Also Offering Hourly Workers Early Retirement Packages in Effort to Slash Factory Work Force 21 Dec 2009 Ford Motor Co. says it is offering buyout and early retirement incentives to all of its 41,000 U.S. hourly workers to further reduce its factory work force. Company spokesman Mark Truby said Ford still has too many factory workers for its current sales levels.