I’ve decided to moderate my outspoken criticism of the pending attack on Syria, since it is obviously baked-in-the-cake now, given that the US Senate breaks its own freaking rules in its headlong rush to war.  The UN report not being in doesn’t seem to mean bupkis, and China this morning has sided with Russia over Syria which is significant since if China were to vote with its wallet (by not buying our “bond” offerings) we’d soon enough implode financially and the Rest of World (RoW) knows it.

Oh-oh…al Qaeda-linked rebels attacking a Christian village?  Tisk, tisk… Rebels executing folks?  Oh my…This is moderation, Mr. Kerry?  (…ahem…)

Although I bemoan the fact that the corporate coup d’état has overwhelmed the democratic republic formerly known as the United States of America, it wasn’t until just yesterday that alternative media boss Matt Drudge explained in simple enough terms in a Tweet  that we’re down to two political parties in America, the Authoritarians and the Libertarians.

And this has caused some to continue the thought by extension in articles like: “GOP Will Die Unless It Embraces Liberty.” (The answer?  They seem to be politics as a religious party to oppose an atheist party, as well…extremism isn’t limited to the sand box.)

However, as I point out in this morning’s Coping section, the public has already been outbid….and the Wayne Madsen piece, over at Strategic Culture that paints a picture of “American Generals Stand between War and Peace:” is likely closer to the mark than what passes for news (mostly war-cheerleading) on the MSM.

One school of thought from a reader?

“I see this from the very cynical realpolitik viewpoint that the Assad/Iran/Hesbollah side has been gaining too much ground lately, and we’d like to see more of a multilateral stalemate, so it’s time to break some of Assad’s toys to even the odds. “

Probably the best assessment came from a reader Jeffrey (an attorney type, but we won’t hold that against him in this case):

It is not about morality; it is about an effective foreign policy.  If morality were a useful motive for military adventures, we would be at war with one third of the world on an ongoing basis, something we clearly cannot do.  There is nothing to be gained in a limited military strike and much to be lost, including the very real possibility of much wider engagement with Russia directly, an outcome clearly disproportionate to what is stake in Syria.  Moreover, taking up arms on behalf of the rebel forces, when they are substantially supported and populated by radical Islamic elements opposed to our interests and those of our allies, is fundamentally counterproductive and foolish.  The amateurish commitment of the President to drawing lines in the sand over a battle that is not ours should not be allowed to commit us to engaging in acts of war.  That is why the Constitution places the war making power in the Congress and not in the President.  Again, just because he is a damned fool does not mean that we should endorse his foolishness.  American arms should only be committed when there is no other course, where defense of our people is at stake or where a clear advantage is to be gained in carrying out our policy by military means.  The proposed military strikes do not meet any of those tests.  Even though we have disagreed in the past, I am indeed shocked that you are in favor of this proposed military adventure.

But, as I said….get over it.  There is some perceived corporate value in ramping up the war hysteria and, as usual, you have to think deeper:  Let me see if I can help?

What Is Being Hidden?

This may seem like stating the obvious, but here’s the fact:  Obamacare is now less than a month from happening and what could be better that a nice, potentially escalating, external war to prevent a critical mass of the American public from saying “This is bullshit, I’m not doing Obamacare!”

With war in the headlines doing anything anti-government (even thinking outside the box) becomes much less desirable and, with it, the sell job for Obamacare done by former president Bill Clinton becomes all that much easier.

Without war in the wings, millions more would pay attention to Freedomworks campaign to “Burn Your Obamacare card.”

Can’t have that, can we?  “Must have  compliance…Must have compliance…” (*..it sounds better done in a Homer Simpson voice…)

Bury the Budget, Too

Then there’s the matter of the federal budget.  While it should have been completed long ago (since it is legally required of congress, but since when does this matter anymore?) this one has been supplanted with continuing resolutions because we’re now at the fiscal point where we need to fish or cut bait.  Real and permanent cuts in spending because we’ve papered over about as far as we can…

With a good war percolating, there’s no telling what manner of screwings can be written into the new budget which no one will be looking at because the two or three open thinking slots most people have for news items could be occupied with top-of-mind grabbers like imminent war, a couple of forthcoming Hollywood scandals and one or two other “random” events.

Preoccupied with texting one-another, people will blow off structural damage to America, content in the mistaken belief that if it was important, it would be the lead news item.

“Must have compliance, must have compliance…”

But war’s all a coincidence, you understand, right?  LOL…

And Then There’s the Crash

We note that in long wave economic studies, there is a tendency for major market declines to get organized and appear about 55-days after a significant market peak.   Since the market peaked on August 2, our Peoplenomics subscribers have been marking time until September 26th plus or minus a couple of days, which is when the markets ought to be imploding down to the S&P 1,540 level after we get past the current sideways Wave 2 we seem to be in now. (No, this is not investment advice,but watch closely to see if it works out this way…)

What Else is there?

Well, another story that has disappeared from the MSM is the ammunition shortage.  We’re only a couple of months from deer hunting season in a big chunk of the country and surprise, surprise, the ammo shortage has been pushed into Mainstream invisibility.  Oh, sure, good articles like “Ammunition shortage affecting law enforcement agencies” are about if you take time to go looking for them, but in the main, the disarming through huge government ammunition buying (while we have other pressing financial needs of the country) seems to have gone “Poof!”

The federal militarization of the local police is continuing unabated…with SWAT teams serving warrants for even petty matters.

In short, it’s all about distraction and misdirection and so as of this morning I am lining up like a good, patriotic American:  “Bring on the air power, and let’s get ready to nuke those Ruskies back into the stone-age if they don’t like us “standing up for what’s right.”

Privately, of course, I’m more sane that that.  But I’ll wrap myself up in the blanket of conformity and admire Senator Cruz who points out “We’re not al Qaeda’s Air Force.”  Pretend he didn’t say that, OK?

Instead, let’s here more rah-rah for attacking a country which hasn’t attacked us.  For the fine irony of being led into war by a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and for the utter delight of corporate profits to come.

“Must have compliance, must have compliance…”

More after this…

Job Cuts Rising

OK, you know this already because I told you about the Gallup Poll a while back which showed unemployment running 8.9%.  While we wait for the Bureau of Labor Make-believe to come out with new figures tomorrow showing otherwise (a hit of windowpane and ViceGrips helps), we are stuck with reporting this morning’s Challenger press release on August Jobs Losses”

Monthly job cuts surged to the highest level sinc February, as U.S.-based employers announced plans in August to slash payrolls by 50,46, a 33.8 percent increase from the 37,701 planned job cuts announced in July, accor ding to a report  Wednesday from global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

Job cuts last month were 57 percent higher than a year ago, when employers announced plans to reduce payrolls by 32,239.

This marks the third consecutive month in which job cuts outpaced the comparable period from 2012.

August ranks as the second largest job-cut month of the year behind February, when announced layoffs reached 55,356. Employers have now announced 347,095 job cuts so far this year. That virtually matches the 352,185 job cuts announced from January through August 2012.

Then there’s the ADP National Employment Trends report…bottom line?  Saved by the service sector/shopkeeper economy:

Stock futures are flat to down a tad.

Read More

My consigliere called me this morning early – before he got to his office, in fact. 

“Do you see it?”

“Yep…”

“WTF?  What more proof do people need that this is a Goebbels-style propaganda machine come to power right here to America?”

It’s been bothering me all day.  War’s coming.  Look around, see for yourself.  But only if your dare.

Matt Drudge of www.drudgereport.com has been conducting a poll today because as an alternative media, I think he’s seeing it too:    And if he hadn’t before, the results (shown at right) from when I looked on Tuesday afternoon were just absolutely clear.

Even on the few mainstream put-ups that dare to mention it, more than 60% oppose.

Maybe America in general isn’t as hip as Drudge readers.  But the unassailable statistics are simple: America doesn’t want another war.

Hornswoggle, boondoggle, pork festivals that they are;  with satanic sacrifices at the feet of symbols and an extra helping of dead.

Yet America’s so-called leaders have already been propped up in front of teleprompters, falling in place, neatly in a row. A grand slam triumph over dissent, debate, and even discourse.

Read More

What better way to kick off a shortened work-week than a review of the various marketing campaigns that are on to control that space between your ears?

You know serious change is in the air where when what I might loosely describe as a “Hollywood hottie” shows up on the net to talk about the illuminati and such.  But here we have this morning a young lady being repackaged from formerly being Tila Tequila to now becoming Ms Tila Truth – Truth Warriors.

Yes, change is definitely going mainstream when headlines like “Celebrity Tila Tequila Exposes the Illuminati” appear, complete with a story of how this particular “awakening” happened.  And then come videos like this one dealing with perception, which as all of old-timers know, is how things really run…

All of which is a fine improvement on watching a “bunch of grumpy old men” talk about what’s going on, for sure. 

But it may mean something much deeper.  Well, two things:  The obvious is to wonder if this is something that is totally independent.  But the other thing is what happens when a large fraction on young people start to figure out that job creation is crashing before the the roll of automation?

Shopkeeper economies are an interesting economics problem, in that it’s hard to be able to figure when they will break.  Whether the arrival of a young vixen is some kind of marker of a major shift in anything is an open question.  But it’s definitely going to prompt a lot of the 15-35 crowd to stir.

From a marketing perspective, I’ve been waiting for this:  The first of the “beautiful people” set joining the questioner/prepper/skeptical inquirers crowd.  A good thing, indeed.  It means the reclaiming of American won’t be controlled by the rabid right, the ludicrous left, or extremes of any stripe. 

Oh,. and thanks to reader Roger S for pointing this out to me (I wouldn’t have found it otherwise):

Came across this babe. She is a cutey. I have read the article. And the bullet points following it.

She is smart, informed and very dangerous, due to her talking to much. Don’t think it’d be to smart to include this in any of your posts. It is too hot. But it is worth you knowing.

I beg to disagree…hot is good…and this is definitely hot.

Read More

With US markets closed for the holiday, we can turn our attention to other developing matter this morning:

We have a somewhat speculative, but possible answer to one of the big question facing America right now:  “Was the administration’s decision to rope congress (belatedly) into the Syria debate, done with clean hands, or had something already happened which might indicate the Syrians have already deployed some high-tech Russian missiles and any first-strike could turn the region into a real powder keg?”

We get some hints in this direction from the (Google Translate) version of a report from the www.southlebanon.org site. In it, the group alleges the possible shoot-down of an American F-22 Raptor along with four Tomahawk missiles.  A key point in the translation: “The paper loss of U.S. forces to aircraft F-22 advanced north of Jordan, which hosts on its territory five F-22, was the main reason to postpone the process of aggression against Syria…”

Although the period leading up to any outbreak of hostilities is certainly a window where a lot of Tokyo Rose type misinformation is expected,  I noted in my (unusual) Saturday update, the president’s remarks were delayed 41-minutes from the announced time.  So the window is there for a quick “Oh-oh, shoot down – let’s kick it to Congress and tell them about this on background since it means Russian missile air defenses are in place and operational…” decision to have been made.

As of this morning, SecState John Kerry is gearing up his information campaign as the Obama administration seeks authorization to ask from Congress; a move which the Wall St. Journal’s online eds figure will be a defining task for the history books.

While we’re warming up the popcorn and beer, and adjusting CSPAN for the upcoming debate, we wonder whether the F-22 Raptor – sold as the current “best of class” weapons system – can be shot down – as this will be key in any conflict.. 

Unfortunately, as was reported back in 2007 here, the F-22 may be stealthy, alright, but dog fighting is still an art and lesser planes (with better pilots) can take out Raptors with real ‘surprise and overwhelm’ tactics.  Sure, computers are great, but stick and rudder is what dog fights are about.

Now let’s zoom out a ways:  We can sketch in the set-up for president Obama’s meeting day after tomorrow with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.  Russia may have become pseudo-democratic, but they haven’t axed their war making plans and, more to the point, with the backing of Russian oil oligarchs, they appear to have plans to dominate global energy  Leverage, leverage. How to do it?  Raw military power sold to friends… and new high tech arms.  A  sampling on their latest:

• The Russians have a new ground defense missile system which is said in some respects to be superior to the US Patriot missile system.  It’s called “Vityaz” and it’s part of their new S-350E series.
• Aviation Week has details on the system over here, as well, in its MAKS Notebook section.

While both the US and Russia will be busy the next couple of days tuning up their pose and posture for the Wednesday meeting, we see a number of other developments going on which will feed in to the conference. 

One is the claim by a Syrian minister that a US strike on Syria would benefit al Qaeda.  Which, considering the whole WOT (war on terror) is based on demonizing that group just doesn’t make sense.  Except that the conflict is in the lands where ‘’The enemy of my enemy is my friend…’ so things get seriously twisted up in policy-making.

If you’re looking for logic, notice the position of the key power-player in the Arab world, the Saudis who are supportive of a strike on Syria.

So Why War, Why Now?

My hunch is that it’s all about Leviathan, or had you forgotten?  Remember that huge gas find announced in 2010 off Israel, Greece and Cyprus? 

If you’re not aware of Leviathan, as most American’s aren’t, the Syrians wouldn’t seem to  have any major natural resources worth fighting over,  It could be dismissed as a kind of “so what?” country as the world plays out my 30+ year end-game Manufacturer’s Resource Wars scenario, which is now well underway.

If we postulate that there’s usually an economic motivation behind warfare, since America doesn’t need more rocks and sand dunes,, we can see some very curious developments showing around the Leviathan gas fields off the coasts of Cyprus, Israel, Greece (and Lebanon).

According to Wikipedia (ref):

“Lebanon initially argued that the field extends into Lebanese waters. Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri stated that Israel is “ignoring the fact that according to the maps the deposit extends into Lebanese waters,” Agence France-Presse reported on June 9.^[11] Israeli Minister of National Infrastructures Uzi Landau responded “We will not hesitate to use our force and strength to protect not only the rule of law but the international maritime law,” in an interview. Robbie Sable, a professor of international law at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, has stated that the claim may be complex due to Lebanon’s border with Israel being indented, making it harder to establish where Israel’s sea boundary ends and Lebanese waters begin.^[11]

In August 2010, Lebanon submitted to the United Nations its official view regarding the maritime border, indicating that it considered the Tamar and Leviathan gas fields to be outside Lebanese territory (though it indicated other prospective fields in the region may be within Lebanese territory). The US expressed support for the Lebanon proposal.

Informed speculation would be that the Leviathan fields could extend even further north than presently mapped, and this would put resource off the Syrian coast, which is where the Russians have a sizeable naval installation, (Tartus) granted them by the Assad government.  So, naturally, they will defend the potential new gas fields to the west because Syria would no doubt like a piece.

The tripartite agreement on Leviathan – doesn’t mention Syria is a pisser because why?

Read More

After the stunning defeat of the British measure which would have put Britain into war with Syria, president Obama today spoke from the White House on the situation following Russian president Vlad Putin  calling on the WH to show what evidence it has – any any that’s conclusive – to make the case that the nerve gas attack in Syria was carried out by forces loyal to Syrian president Assad.

In his remarks this afternoon, the president said he has decided to take military action against Syria, but again promised “no boots on the ground.” The actual date of the attack has not been set.

But the major deal point announced this afternoon is that the president noted that he’s the “President of the world’s oldest constitutional democracy” and he announced that authorization will be sought from Congress when Congress returns from  recess.

On the other hand, he basically blew off the UN weapon’s inspector’s report, nor does hye foresee a need for UN decisions.

He noted that “Our action will be stronger” if Congress votes on this action, although he reiterated his belief that the president has the to order the strike without consultation.

“Make no mistake, this has implications beyond chemical warfare,” the president said. “An attack made with chemical weapons must not just be investigated: It must be confronted.”

It had earlier been reported that SecState Kerry and SecDef Hagel were on the phone this afternoon talking with key members of the senate democratic caucus and the republican conference.

The presidents remarks, which had been scheduled for 1:15 PM Eastern were delayed about 41-minutes from its announced time for reasons which are not clear, although  this is obviously a fluid situation.  If you had listened (and watched) the streaming from the White House there was what sounded like protesters chanting “Leave it alone, Syria” way off in the background.

Read More