Edward Snowden: "This country is worth dying for"

Bathtub falls and police officers kill more Americans than terrorism, yet we've been asked to sacrifice our most sacred rights for fear of falling victim to it.  - Edward Snowden

Since the mainstream media, as directed by the Government and corporate entities who control the flow of news, is smearing Edward Snowden as a traitor and are flooding all of the news outlets with outright lies, I wanted to publish a follow-up open Q&A held by The Guardian  and Glenn Greenwald.  I've posted some of the most "piercing" answers from Snowden, including this one about Obama, which summarizes exactly what went through my mind about Obama after his first 100 days:

 Obama's campaign promises and election gave me faith that he would lead us toward fixing the problems he outlined in his quest for votes. Many Americans felt similarly. Unfortunately, shortly after assuming power, he closed the door on investigating systemic violations of law, deepened and expanded several abusive programs, and refused to spend the political capital to end the kind of human rights violations like we see in Guantanamo, where men still sit without charge.

 Here's a sample of some other quotes from Snowden, with the link to the Q&A at the end:

"I did not reveal any US operations against legitimate military targets. I pointed out where the NSA has hacked civilian infrastructure such as universities, hospitals, and private businesses because it is dangerous. These nakedly, aggressively criminal acts are wrong no matter the target. Not only that, when NSA makes a technical mistake during an exploitation operation, critical systems crash."

[Note:  think about the potential for the abuse of private information for political purposes by the Party in the White House with access to all this information.  Think about how J. Edgar Hoover or Nixon would have abused this.  Oh wait, the IRS under Obama has been abusing this, as has the Justice Department/Eric Holder]

"Initially I was very encouraged. Unfortunately, the mainstream media now seems far more interested in what I said when I was 17 or what my girlfriend looks like rather than, say, the largest program of suspicionless surveillance in human history."

"due to the FISA Amendments Act and its section 702 authorities, Americans’ communications are collected and viewed on a daily basis on the certification of an analyst rather than a warrant. They excuse this as "incidental" collection, but at the end of the day, someone at NSA still has the content of your communications"

And his coup de grace:

it's important to bear in mind I'm being called a traitor by men like former Vice President Dick Cheney. This is a man who gave us the warrantless wiretapping scheme as a kind of atrocity warm-up on the way to deceitfully engineering a conflict that has killed over 4,400 and maimed nearly 32,000 Americans, as well as leaving over 100,000 Iraqis dead. Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give an American, and the more panicked talk we hear from people like him, Feinstein, and King, the better off we all are. If they had taught a class on how to be the kind of citizen Dick Cheney worries about, I would have finished high school.

 Here's the article:  LINK

FYI, one of the ranking Congressional Republicans smeared Snowden as being a high school drop-out.  That's incorrect.  He does in fact have a GED. However, here's a sampling of some famous  high school dropouts:

Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein (later returned), John D. Rockefeller, Walt Disney, Colonel Sanders, Charles Dickens (one of my favorite authors), Ray Kroc (McDonald's).

An Orwellian Orgasm

For if leisure and security were enjoyed by all alike, the great mass of human beings who are normally stupefied by poverty would become literate and would learn to think for themselves; and when once they had done this, they would sooner or later realise that the privileged minority had no function, and they would sweep it away. In the long run, a hierarchical society was only possible on a basis of poverty and ignorance.  -  George Orwell, "1984"

The ability to perceive and understand the truth about Government/Federal Reserve/Industry economic reports is getting more difficult for those who only look at the headlines or take a cursory glance at the story, without delving into the details.  I'm sure eventually, if Orwell's vision plays out accurately even further than it has already, the details behind the headlines will be conveniently obfuscated -  “Yes, sometimes two plus two is four. But sometimes it’s five or even three. Sometimes it’s all of those at the same time.”  (from "1984"). 

So today the NY Fed released its monthly Empire State Manufacturing report, which showed that the general index increased from April's decline.  But the new orders index was -6.7, shipments index was -11.8%, unfilled orders -14.5%, labor index -10. I believe the source of the increase was derived from prices paid, +21, and prices received, +11.3.   There was an increase in the "outlook," a touch-feely sentiment poll, but the 6-month future outlook was negative.

In fact, beneath the headline number the report was down-right ugly.  You can check my ability to read and copy numbers here:  Empire State Manufacturing Survey.

The other Orwellian Orgasmic business report released today was the National Association of Homebuilders "Confidence" Index sponsored by Wells Fargo, the biggest home mortgage lender.  With Wells Fargo as the promoter of the index,  you can see how this thing gets spun around on its head with Orwellian deception.  In fact, here's how the survey is based:  "the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months"  LINK  As you can see, the questions asked are analogous to polling a classroom of kindergartners if they think they'll still like to eat candy at the end of the summer.

The truth is, that based on all the data I've been collecting and analyzing over the last 4 months, it would appear as if the housing market is getting ready to fall off of a cliff.  Here's just a flavor of the information which I will be turning into a couple of articles - this is from Mark Hanson, a private consultant who has been the most accurate housing market analyst I've observed over the past 12 years:

This morning [June 5, 2013] I was made aware that three large private mortgage bankers I follow closely for trends in mortgage finance ALL had mass layoffs last Friday and yesterday to the tune of 25% to 50% of their operations staff (intake, processing, underwriting, document drawing, funding, post-closing). This obviously means that my reports of refi apps being down 65% to 90% in the past 3 weeks are far more accurate than the lagging MBA index, which is likely on its' way to print multi-year lows in the next month.

The point here is that the entities putting up the money to finance homes are aggressively reducing their operations - i.e. that's how the big money is betting.   The new homebuilders index is reflecting sentiment.  One is hard cash, one is hot air that belies the underlying facts.

Someone asked me a little earlier if I had any thoughts on what Bernanke might say on Wednesday after the FOMC meeting breaks.  My reply was "no thoughts, barely interested."  I went on to say that "I'd be interested if they talked about why the Government has already incurred a $626 billion spending deficit 8 months into its fiscal year (end of May) when the CBO released a report three weeks earlier on May 8th that projected a full FY deficit of $649 billion...

Here's Why The "Taper" Won't Happen

The purveyors of this piece of media re-direct/distraction forgot to tell us that QE isn't intended to help the economy.  It's intended to keep the too big to fail banks - both domestic and foreign - solvent and to keep the Government outfitted with low-cost Treasury bond financing.

Skeptical?  Then spend some time reading this latest analyst I wrote and was published by Seeking Alpha:

Based on two key factors, not only will the Fed not taper, but it will be ultimately forced to up the ante on QE or risk a serious accident in the banking system and in the economy.

Here's the full article:  Tapering Risks Triggering A Stock Market Avalanche

Two more pieces of data reported today that further reinforce the argument I laid out in my article.  First, per the monthly TIC report, which details foreign cash flows in and out of our system, Treasury bond sales by foreign investors (mainly central banks and hedge funds) hit a record in April:  LINK  The Fed will actually have to print more money to replace that money or risk significantly higher rates.  And second, in another of a long string of disappointing economic reports, May's industrial production report came in flat vs. the expected up .2% and capacity utilization declined.  This further confirms that manufacturing and end-user demand is dropping.  This will give Bernanke further room to, minimally, keep QE where it is and, ultimately, justify taking it up a notch sometime this fall.

Up Next For The Insiders Looting Our System And Destroying Our Country...

  

Hey, what's the big deal?  Slaughtering women and children in Afghanistan/Pakistan and the Middle East is merely inconsequential collateral damage in the noble pursuit of money

            
  

Obama's Heart Of Darkness

Surveillance policy of Bush 42 “puts forward a false choice btw the liberties we cherish & the security we provide.” B. Obama 2007  -  as tweeted by Bill Gross (bond king of Pimco)

Everything belonged to him--but that was a trifle. The thing was to know what he belonged to, how many powers of darkness claimed him for their own. That was the reflection that made you creepy all over. It was impossible--it was not good for one either--trying to imagine. He had taken a high seat amongst the devils of the land--I mean literally. You can't understand."  - Joseph Conrad, "Heart of Darkness"

Before I get to Obama's surveillance program, I wanted to let all you remaining Obama sympathizers and Obama-care advocates see some hard facts about just how much this abortion of a law is going to cost many in this country.  Several States have already indicated huge rate insurance rate increases, especially for individuals who have to buy their own, but here's the latest State filing from Ohio:  Sky-high insurance rates.  As you can see - if you bother to examine the facts as they stand, something which almost every Obama supporter refuses to do, insurance premiums for individuals in Ohio will go up around 88%.   Thanks Barack!

Anyone who is indifferent to, or supports, this massive Government surveillance operation is either a complete idiot or is giving the Government a green light to do ANYTHING with YOUR life.

How quickly the moronic masses and the media - and even a "distinguished" University of Chicago law professor forget:   Here is the FOURTH AMENDMENT to the BILL OF RIGHTS - number four of the first 10 Amendments of the Constitution:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Read and re-read that.  I just read an editorial from the Huffington Post in which Geoffrey Stone, some distinguished law professor at the University of Chicago is calling Edward Snowden a "criminal."  Fuck you Stone and take your traitorous opinion and shove it up your ass.

Make no mistake about it:  Edward Snowden is this era's Patrick Henry - "Give me liberty of give me death."   Re-read that quote at the top from Obama's campaign in 2007.  Obama is the criminal, as is every single person connected to this widespread, all-encompassing surveillance program which Edward Snowden has risked his life to reveal.  Thank you Mr. Snowden.

Here's a quote from Snowden's interview with the Guardian UK that everyone needs to read:

"The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your emails or your wife's phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards.

"I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things … I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under."

Here's the full interview:  LINK   Here's a useful commentary from England's Telegraph UK, for those of you who seem to have forgotten how sacred our original Bill of Rights were intended to be:  LINK

I vividly remember the Watergate scandal, which posed a grave danger to our Constitution, and how impassioned that the entire country was in getting the truth out and having Rule of  Law imposed on the guilty.  I remember how horrified most people were and how interested they were in getting the truth out.  Nixon should have burned at the stake, but instead was let off easy and thus opened up the gate to the slippery slope that has destroyed the Governmental system that was handed to us by the Founding Fathers.

Quite frankly, maybe in another era Obama would be run out of office.  What makes him worse than Nixon or Bush 42 is that Obama lied to everyone about his motives and his game plan.  Instead of rescinding all the Constitutional violations implemented by Bush, as he promised in every speech I heard him make including one in person, Obama has been instrumental in implementing a full-blown police-State - one that is being executed and enforced silently via the internet and cell phones, using the most sophisticated technology available.  And it's not like it's doing any good.  This system couldn't prevent two miscreants in Boston from deploying and detonating a crude bomb PLUS it took a big military force and the shutting down of nearly an entire city in order to find a weaponless kid hiding in the hull of a boat, huddled in near-death, in someone's backyard.  How's it working for you, Barack?

I know some of you get it - and that's why Orwell's "1984" has become one of the fastest selling books on Amazon.com:  LINK

As I've written before, back in 2002 an old colleague and I both felt that eventually we would see things happen in this country that would truly blow our mind.  I'm not sure I can imagine anything more horrifying than what Obama's Government is doing to our freedom and way of life as he leads our nation down a fatalistic path and into a heart of darkness...

This About Sums It All Up Nice and Succinctly

       

It just blows my mind that anyone still trusts or approves of Obama's Presidency.  That latter fact reflects exactly why this country's Constitutional-based political system is collapsing.

More Chart Porn For Friday - What Happened Today?

          (click on chart to enlarge)

The smack on the metals will quickly fade and we'll go on to new highs.  Unfortunately, I'm afraid to say - and I know I'm right about this - the only "Change" with our Government will be more CHANGE for the worse.