Underground Stories 04-22-14

Union Hammers Obama for ‘Gutless’ Keystone XL Delay

A top labor union blasted the Obama administration on Friday over what it described as a nakedly political decision to once again delay a decision on the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.
Terry O’Sullivan, general president of the Laborers International Union of America (LIUNA), called the move “gutless” and a “low blow to the working men and women of our country.”
The State Department announced on Friday that it would push back its decision on the pipeline until after the midterm elections in November.
The delay was widely seen as an effort to appease high-dollar environmentalist donors, who have made Keystone their cause célèbre and threatened to battle even Democrats who support the project.
The administration denies that the decision was political, insisting that uncertainty created by litigation over the pipeline route in Nebraska required further study by regulators overseeing the project.
O’Sullivan rejected the explanation.
“The administration is delaying a finding on whether the pipeline is in the national interest based on months-old litigation in Nebraska regarding a state level challenge to a state process—and which has nothing to with the national interest,” he said in a Friday statement.
O’Sullivan’s union represents many workers who would be employed in the construction phases of the project.
“It’s not the oil that’s dirty, it’s the politics,” he wrote.

Report: Jeb Bush on Board of Directors of Pro-Obamacare Company

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush wanted to cash out after he left office, but those business entanglements may hurt him if he chooses to run for the GOP nomination in a party that is increasingly becoming opposed to crony capitalism.

According to a report in The New York Times, "Bush left public office seven years ago with a net worth of $1.3 million and an unapologetic determination to expand his wealth, telling friends that his finances had suffered during his time in government."
Bush tried to prop up Lehman Brothers before it collapsed and almost took down the financial system with it, eventually costing taxpayers billions of dollars to bail out banks. This galvanized what would become the Tea Party movement. He has also been associated with some troubled and shady companies and executives, as well as a company that promoted Obamacare.
Bush's associations with Lehman Brothers may prove more troubling for someone the Tea Party already distrusts for his unabashed support of amnesty and the Common Core:

Records and interviews show, for example, that Mr. Bush participated in the fevered, last-ditch efforts to prop up Lehman Brothers, a Wall Street bank weighed down by toxic mortgage-backed securities. As a paid adviser to the company in the summer of 2008, he met with Carlos Slim Helú, a Mexican billionaire, as Lehman sought to persuade Mr. Slim to make a sizable investment in the firm, emails show. ....
Within a year of departing the Statehouse, he had signed on as consultant to Lehman Brothers, where he was eventually enlisted to reach out to Mr. Slim in a plan code-named Project Verde. Mr. Slim, however, was not interested in making a major investment in Lehman Brothers or striking up a joint venture with it. “Project Verde was unsuccessful,” Mr. Bush wrote to a Lehman colleague in early July 2008.
Lehman executives talked openly about the value of Mr. Bush’s family connections in the midst of the crisis. Lehman’s chief executive, Richard S. Fuld Jr., discussed the possibility of having Mr. Bush ask his brother President Bush to persuade the British prime minister to allow Lehman’s emergency merger with a British bank, according to testimony from the company’s bankruptcy case. Mr. Fuld never followed through, and Mr. Bush did not call the president, a spokeswoman for him said.

Barclays, which took over Lehman Brothers, reportedly pays Bush "in excess of $1 million a year," according to the report.
The Times also reports that Bush was a paid director for a company, Tenet Health Care, that aggressively supported and promoted Obamacare because it would be profitable for the company. He may have to explain his connections to GOP primary voters--and an increasing number of Americans--who staunchly oppose the law.

US Political System Has Been Almost Completely Usurped

A recent scientific study by Princeton and Northwestern universities, which has gone somewhat under reported in the mainstream media, concludes that the US is now a fully fledged oligarchy.

The paper, entitled Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups and Average Citizens, notes that America is no longer even a Democracy, which begs the question, how far removed is the country from being the Republic envisioned and painstakingly established by Benjamin Franklin and the founding fathers.

“The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence,” the study notes.

In other words, powerful elites have taken over the country and effectively run the government, it is official. Of the people, by the people, for the people is now a thing of the distant past.

The research undertaken by the universities included the study of close to two thousand government policies enacted over a 21 year period between 1981 and 2002.

Using a framework of political models – Majoritarian Electoral Democracy, Economic Elite Domination, Majoritarian Pluralism and Biased Pluralism – researchers found that the majority of those US policies were specifically designed to benefit wealthy elites.

Policy outcomes “tend to tilt towards the wishes of corporations and business and professional associations,” the research states, meaning the US falls into the category of Biased Pluralism.

Researchers concluded that the reason for the trend is that policies are made by special interest groups rather than by politicians acting on behalf of average Americans.

“When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose.” the study also notes.

“In the United States, our findings indicate, the majority does not rule — at least not in the causal sense of actually determining policy outcomes.”

Will America heed the wake-up call of Ukraine?

By Condoleezza Rice, 

Condoleezza Rice was secretary of state from 2005 to 2009.

 

“Meet Viktor Yanu­kovych, who is running for the presidency of Ukraine.” Vladimir Putin and I were standing in his office at the presidential dacha in late 2004 when Yanu­kovych suddenly appeared from a back room. Putin wanted me to get the point. He’s my man, Ukraine is ours — and don’t forget it.
The “Ukrainian problem” has been brewing for some time between the West and Russia. Since Ukraine’s Orange Revolution, the United States and Europe have tried to convince Russia that the vast territory should not be a pawn in a great-power conflict but rather an independent nation that could chart its own course. Putin has never seen it that way. For him, Kiev’s movement toward the West is an affront to Russia in a zero-sum game for the loyalty of former territories of the empire. The invasion and possible annexation of Crimea on trumped-up concerns for its Russian-speaking population is his answer to us.
The immediate concern must be to show Russia that further moves will not be tolerated and that Ukraine’s territorial integrity is sacrosanct. Diplomatic isolation, asset freezes and travel bans against oligarchs are appropriate. The announcement of air defense exercises with the Baltic states and the movement of a U.S. destroyer to the Black Sea bolster our allies, as does economic help for Ukraine’s embattled leaders, who must put aside their internal divisions and govern their country.

The longer-term task is to answer Putin’s statement about Europe’s post-Cold War future. He is saying that Ukraine will never be free to make its own choices — a message meant to reverberate in Eastern Europe and the Baltic states — and that Russia has special interests it will pursue at all costs. For Putin, the Cold War ended “tragically.” He will turn the clock back as far as intimidation through military power, economic leverage and Western inaction will allow.
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Trial That Could Expose Obama As Kenyan Postponed Until After Midterms

WorldNetDaily was reportedly the only media outlet present during the hearing despite – or perhaps because of – the fact that this case could blow the lid off of Obama’s much-disputed birth story.

In a groundbreaking development that has been ignored by virtually all other media outlets, WorldNetDaily published a bombshell report that could tear apart Barack Obama’s carefully crafted backstory.
Despite attempts to marginalize so-called “birthers,” millions of Americans remain unconvinced that Obama was truly born in Hawaii as the administration claimed.
That doubt is not confined to the U.S., however, and one British man is doing his best to disseminate what he believes are the facts regarding Obama’s true origins. Jerome R. Corsi detailed the current legal battle London lawyer Michael Shrimpton currently finds himself in – and how it could ultimately lead to the revelation that Obama was born in Kenya.
Shrimpton was in court recently for a hearing regarding charges that he sent a baseless warning to the British government about a 2012 terrorist attack that never occurred. According to the article, he claimed German agents smuggled a nuclear weapon from a Russian submarine that sank in the Barents Sea 12 years earlier.
He claims, however, that intelligence information being withheld would result in his acquittal upon being released to the court.
WorldNetDaily was reportedly the only media outlet present during the hearing despite – or perhaps because of – the fact that this case could blow the lid off of Obama’s much-disputed birth story.
In a surprise move, however, the trial was postponed until November. This would mean that any potential damaging testimony against Obama would not surface until after the midterm elections.
As Corsi reports, Shrimpton first presented allegations that Obama was born in Kenya, and to a woman other than Stanley Ann Dunham, during the 2008 election cycle. In a video made during that period, he laid out a string of charges supporting his position – including the accusation that Dunham was not pregnant the month before Obama’s ostensible birth.

Major News on the Future of the Constitution

Something happened last week that you probably don't know about. I know I just found out and I try to follow everything that is political or constitutional in nature. Please read and then start holding your breath, because this could really be the biggest change in your lifetime. It could effect everything from your right to bear arms, to the national debt. 
The most important political development in 200 years was triggered last week, when the state legislature of Michigan became the 34th state to demand a "Constitutional Convention" in the United States. Under Article 5 of the US Constitution, if 2/3rds of the states call for such a convention, (meaning 34 states) it MUST take place. During such a convention, the ENTIRE Constitution can be changed; nothing is off-limits. This would even allow the States to dismantle the federal government without its consent, and repudiate the debt which that government has incurred! When it voted for the convention last week, Michigan became the 34 th state, thus meeting the requirement.

A goal has been reached behind what would be an unprecedented effort

to amend the U.S. Constitution, through a little-known provision that gives states rather than Congress the power to initiate changes. This is the most significant political development in the entire world in the last 200 years.

At issue is what's known as a "constitutional convention," a scenario tucked into Article V of the U.S. Constitution. At its core, Article V provides two ways for amendments to be proposed. The first – which has been used for all 27 amendment to date – requires two-thirds of both the House and Senate to approve a resolution, before sending it to the states for ratification. The Founding Fathers, though, devised an alternative way which says if two-thirds of state legislatures demand a meeting, Congress “shall call a convention for proposing amendments.”

The idea has gained popularity among constitutional scholars in recent years -- but got a big boost last week when Michigan lawmakers endorsed it.

Michigan matters, because by some counts it was the 34th state to do so. That makes two-thirds.

In the wake of the vote, California Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter pressed House Speaker John Boehner on today to determine whether the states just crossed the threshold for this kind of convention. Like Michigan lawmakers, Hunter's interest in the matter stems from a desire to push a balanced-budget amendment -- something that could be done at a constitutional convention.

Exposing Harry Reid’s Dirty Laundry From Bribery , Lies, Mob Connections, And Stealing.

What is Harry Reid’s motivation  behind the Bundy Ranchers?
It could have ended up like the infamous 1993 standoff with the Branch Davidian cult in Waco, Texas, as over the past several days federal agents confronted 300 armed supporters of Nevada rancher Clive Bundy. But the feds blinked and backed down from the highly charged episode that was threatening to become a major headache for Senator Reid (D-Nevada).

 

The Bureau of Land Management had been rounding up Bundy’s cattle to cover the $1.1 million in “grazing fees” the government claims he owes over a 20-year period. The BLM, in concert with other federal agencies, planned to sell Bundy’s cattle in order to pay his debt.
Tea party activist Dr. Jerome Corsi saids he’s convinced Reid wants to facilitate construction of a $5-billion solar energy plant in the Nevada desert by a Chinese company.
“It was clear that Reid had an economic motivation here and that one of Reid’s senior advisors is now heading the BLM. So clearly this whole Democratic Party scam on renewable energy came to roost on Harry Reid and Obama’s doorstep,” he remarks.
And what of the argument that the feds were protecting the desert tortoise from Bundy’s cattle? “The federal government was at risk of being exposed to America with grabbing land supposedly to defend some stupid tortoise that the government would readily move if Harry Reid wanted to build a highway,” Corsi offers.
The New York Times bestselling author maintains the whole incident was a pretext for the fact that Reid was going to make millions with the conversion of thousands of acres of Nevada land into solar farms owned by the Chinese. Senator Reid’s press aide denied such accusations Monday, describing them as “conspiracy theories that are being pushed by right-wing media outlets.”

 

 Obama Calls for Highest Sustained Taxation in U.S. History

(CNSNews.com) - In the budget proposal he presented to Congress last month, President Barack Obama called for what would be the highest level of sustained taxation ever imposed on the American people, according to the analysis published last week by the Congressional Budget Office.
Under Obama’s proposal, taxes would rise from 17.6 percent of Gross Domestic Product in 2014 to 19.2 percent in 2024. During the ten years from 2015 to 2024, federal taxation would average 18.7 percent GDP.
America has never been subjected to a ten-year stretch of taxation at that level.
In the twelve fiscal years preceding the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (1930 through 1941), federal taxation averaged 5.3 percent of GDP.
In the five fiscal years encompassing U.S. involvement in World War II (1942 through 1946), federal taxation averaged 16.1 percent of GDP.
In the fiscal years since World War II (1947 through 2013), federal taxation has averaged 17.1 percent of GDP.
In the period from fiscal 1992 through 2001, federal taxes averaged

18.3 percent of GDP. But in the last four years of that period (1998 through 2001), the federal budget was in balance.
In the twelve fiscal years from 2002 through 2013, federal taxes averaged 16.1 percent of GDP—the same that they averaged during World War II. However, the federal government ran deficits in each of those twelve years.
In all ten years from 2015 through 2024, under Obama's proposal, federal taxes would be higher than 18.3 percent of GDP. During the period of 1992 through 2011, there were only five straight years (1997-2001) when federal taxes were higher than 18.3 percent of GDP.
Under Obama’s budget proposal, according to the CBO, the budget will never balance. But over the next ten years, the federal government would add $7.183 trillion to its debt held by the public.

BOMBSHELL REPORT: Obama Lied About Bin Laden’s Death To Cover Up Eligibility Case

A report released by a long-time critic of the President claims that Obama may have lied about the raid that occurred in Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden. The report uses evidence she compiled that came from the government itself and is rather convincing.
Pamela Barnett is the author of the report and she was also a plaintiff in several cases against Obama regarding his eligibility to run for president, and that’s what she claims the lies were based around.
She points specifically to an email that she received from a Freedom of Information Act request that was dated on April, 29 2011, which was a full two days before the announcement that the world’s most wanted terrorist had been killed in a raid the same day.
The email carried the subject “Burial,” and the commander of Strike Group One, Samuel Perez, asked “Do I need any special religious/ceremonial preparations?”
However Barnett points out that when Obama made the announcement that bin Laden had been killed on May 1, 2011 he said “today,” twice.

She accused the President of lying to the American people and the world about the date in which bin Laden was killed, then said “According to a live speech … given to the country late night on May 1, 2011, Obama stated, ‘Today at my direction the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound … in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.’”
According to Barnett, the “emails in my possession received directly from the Department of Defense as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request for Osama bin Laden’s killing and burial related documents, reveal that the mission to allegedly ‘kill Osama’ occurred April 28, 2011, or earlier, not May 1, 2011, as Obama claimed.”
Her theory as to why Obama would have lied about the date in which bin Laden was killed is similar to the thoughts many Americans have, that the timing of certain events seems to be impeccable for him to distract attention away from anything that makes him look bad.

‘Tonight Show’ Host Jimmy Fallon Was Immediately Booed After Cracking This Hillary Clinton Joke

“Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon cracked a Hillary Clinton joke during his show Monday night — and the audience didn’t seem to particularly enjoy it.
Fallon, discussing the recent announcement that Chelsea Clinton is pregnant, joked, ”If it’s a girl, it’ll get some of Chelsea’s old hand-me-downs, and if it’s a boy, it’ll get some of Hillary’s.”
The joke prompted several boos from the audience.
“It wasn’t that hard of a joke,” Fallon countered. “What’s the big deal?”
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