Finally more financial market participants are realizing that our government and its agents are intervening in our markets. The chief investment strategist for Raymond James cited as we did in an earlier issue that the change in the gasoline component of the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index and the massive selling this caused in gasoline futures, was responsible in part for the collapse in gasoline prices. They speculated as we did that this had something to do with the coming elections and the Republicans desire to have lower gasoline prices before voters go to the polls. Raymond James was correct, it is just that they were three weeks late. Another reference that lends credence to our and their synopsis is that the DOE has delayed the purchase of oil to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until at least after the winter heating season.
The State of Ohio will use RFID chips to track all of its 44,000 prison inmates. The $415,000 contract went to Alanco Technologies. Inmates will wear “wristwatch-size” transmitters that can detect if prisoners have been trying to remove them and send an alert to prison computers. Staff will also wear the technology on their belts so they can be tracked for security purposes. Wardens can activate an alarm themselves, but the alert will also be sent if the transmitter is forcibly removed or the warden is knocked down. Facilities in Michigan, California and Illinois already employ the technology and evidentially three more states are ready to sign up.
The Bush administration has had another disastrous foreign policy debacle. Paraguay has refused diplomatic immunity for US troops and will not renew its military cooperation pact. Another factor was that European and Asian nations helped with road, hospital, school and infrastructure projects, which the US had no interest in doing. Their attitude was it is our way or the highway. The Mercosur bloc, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela have completely outflanked the US. Eventually South American countries will all be in Mercosur, they want to make their own mistakes and run their own lives.
Democrats held leads in races for 11 of 15 key Republican-held House seats as the Speaker is being pressured to resign over the Mark Foley child molestation-pedophile scandal. Remember, do not vote for an incumbent unless he has voted the way you wanted him to at least 80% of the time.
On 9/21/06 Homeland Security announced Boeing has won a $2.5 billion contract to install sensors and radar along the US border. We’ve been told the sensors won’t work. When Chertoff was asked why Boeing was chosen, he refused to answer. The reason is the Boeing team includes an Israeli military contractor, which will play a lead role. It is called Kollsman, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Elbit Systems of Haifa, Israel. They will man 1,800 towers on the borders with cameras developed to spot people nine miles away.
Prosecutors in California have filed criminal charges against former Hewlett-Packard Chairwomen Patricia Dunn, and four others implicated in a corporate spying campaign, including a private investigator. Pretexting was part of the charges or lying to obtain the personal phone records and other data about company directors. They are accused of using false or fraudulent grounds to obtain confidential information from a public utility, unauthorized access to computer data, identity theft, and conspiracy. Corporate America continues to wallow in crime.
Sen. John McCain manages both the anti-Bush group within the party as he enables Bush to accomplish all his goals. He in great part was responsible for the torture bill and the warrantless spy bill. After challenging the bills both were passed in almost their original form. A scam pure and simple. The bills presently won’t stand up to the Supreme Court, but as we mentioned before, one more change in the court and they will uphold Bush’s tyrannical rule. Just pray that doesn’t happen. McCain votes 90% of the time as an ordinary right-wing conservative, and when push comes to shove, he gives the corporatist fascists what they want. He has even made overtures to the religious right. McCain is a dangerous phony who wants the presidency at any cost.