Former Fed analyst questions M1 currency component spike prior to 9/11

by Ed Haas

MUCKRAKER REPORT

March 22, 2007 – William Bergman worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago from July 1990 until early 2004. He served as an economist for eight years, and then moved to a senior analyst position in a new department researching financial market and payment system risk policy issues. In late 2003, he was asked to consider an assignment in the money laundering area. Bergman accepted the assignment, underwent a background check, received credentials affording access to confidential banking information, and began working in the area. He was told that he was “part of the fight against terrorism” and that he “had been asking good questions.”

One aspect of the assignment to the money laundering area was for Bergman to develop a paper that, if accepted, could serve as a reference source for the Federal Reserve System.

Bergman decided to begin his new assignment by developing a 40 question Q&A in order to introduce himself and anyone else new to the money laundering area to the topic. He thought that the Q&A could serve as a primer that dealt with the fundamentals, including some history on money laundering, recent legal developments in the area, and the role of banking regulators.

After submitting his draft to a supervisor, Bergman received approval of his work and was told that it could be considered as a reference. However, in his Q&A, Bergman left one question without an answer. That is to say that Bergman submitted his 40 question Q&A with 40 questions, but only 39 answers. The supervisor that reviewed the draft told Bergman that he should continue his work by answering the only remaining unanswered question in the draft.

What prompted the unanswered question that Bergman incorporated into his draft? Bergman had noted that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve had issued supervisory letters to the 12 Reserve Banks in the weeks after September 11, 2001 urging scrutiny of suspicious activity reports in tracking terrorism activity and financing. However, Bergman also noticed that the Board of Governors had issued a similar letter, albeit one that did not refer explicitly to terrorism, on August 2, 2001[1]. According to Bergman, terrorism and terrorist financing were known to be part of ‘suspicious activity’ however, and the August 2, 2001 supervisory letter clearly called for scrutiny of suspicious activity, which implies and includes the tracking of terrorism activity and financing. The unanswered question on Bergman’s 40 question Q&A asked why the Board had issued the August 2, 2001 letter – a very fair, logical, and important question that has yet to be answered to this day.
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FBI, Congress: Sibel Edmonds case ‘unclassified’
by lukery

In a recent speech, Sibel again emphasized that the reason that she has been gagged is not for reasons of national security, but rather to cover-up criminality, treason, by high level US officials.

As evidence for this claim, Sibel explained that for the three months prior to Ashcroft blanket-gagging her case, the FBI was conducting unclassified briefings for Congress on the case.

In other words, from the beginning, neither Congress, nor the FBI, even considered that this information might be classified, let alone a ‘national security’ issue.

As Michael Ostrolenk, National Director of the Liberty Coalition, said: “The excuse of protecting national security is fallacious.”

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The Pentagon’s “Second 911″

Another [9/11] attack could create both a justification and an opportunity to retaliate against some known targets
by Michel Chossudovsky

Global Research, August 10, 2006

With all the fear mongering in the mainstream media today, this article may well be more relevant today than when it was written almost one year ago. -Ed.

One essential feature of “defense” in the case of a second major attack on America, is “offense”, according to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff: “Homeland security is one piece of a broader strategy [which] brings the battle to the enemy.”(DHS, Transcript of complete March 2005 speech of Secr. Michael Chertoff)

In the month following last year’s 7/7 London bombings, Vice President Dick Cheney is reported to have instructed USSTRATCOM to draw up a contingency plan “to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States”. Implied in the contingency plan is the certainty that Iran would be behind a Second 9/11.

This “contingency plan” uses the pretext of a “Second 9/11″, which has not yet happened, to prepare for a major military operation against Iran, while pressure was also exerted on Tehran in relation to its (non-existent) nuclear weapons program.

What is diabolical in this decision of the US Vice President is that the justification presented by Cheney to wage war on Iran rests on Iran’s involvement in a hypothetical terrorist attack on America, which has not yet occurred:

The plan includes a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons. Within Iran there are more than 450 major strategic targets, including numerous suspected nuclear-weapons-program development sites. Many of the targets are hardened or are deep underground and could not be taken out by conventional weapons, hence the nuclear option. As in the case of Iraq, the response is not conditional on Iran actually being involved in the act of terrorism directed against the United States. Several senior Air Force officers involved in the planning are reportedly appalled at the implications of what they are doing—that Iran is being set up for an unprovoked nuclear attack—but no one is prepared to damage his career by posing any objections. (Philip Giraldi, Attack on Iran: Pre-emptive Nuclear War , The American Conservative, 2 August 2005)

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Iraq war veteran and experienced demolitions expert blows the cover on 9/11 inside job.
Written by Gibbwake

Meet Torin Wolf. He has a broad and varied background as a US Army Combat Nurse during Operation Iraqi Freedom…

…building construction contractor, certified structural welder, certified asbestos and hazardous materials worker, experienced demolitions expert, teacher, radio show host, and well studied 9/11 truth activist. Torin knows how to put a building up, and bring the same building down in its own footprint. Torin’s free presentation, “Taking the Red Pill” was hosted by Brave New Books on 1904 Guadalupe in Austin last Saturday, June 23rd at 7 pm.

Torin is proud of his native Cherokee heritage and his mother is the Band Historian of the White River Band Cherokee from the central United States. Since he received his GED at age 14, saying he is a smart guy is putting it lightly. For over 12 years he worked as a hazardous materials contractor specializing in asbestos abatement and concrete construction sampling. Add to his resume the fact that he designed and implemented well over 100 controlled demolitions. He was not just helping at a lower level in the demolitions – he was the guy responsible for calling the shots. Afterwards, he became a certified structural steel welder and worked in heavy and mega construction for over 5 years in locations around the world including several skyscrapers.

Ironically, Torin signed his papers to join the army on September 11th, 2000. He knew something was wrong with the official 9/11 story when his army handlers took his squad into a room just in time to watch the buildings collapse. With his demolitions experience, he immediately knew those towers could not have fallen like that without explosives. He went on to serve “with honor and distinction” with the 21st Combat Support Hospital in Mosul, Iraq during the first part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and earned the Bronze Star with V device for valor in combat.

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High Velocity Bursts of Debris From Point-Like Sources in the
WTC Towers
Kevin Ryan, 6/13/2007

Since September 11th, 2001, there have been two competing hypotheses to explain the destruction of the World Trade Center buildings. The first hypothesis, a fire-induced collapse of all three buildings, has undergone numerous variations over the years, as government scientists have worked to keep it alive while ignoring the second hypothesis.[1] That second hypothesis is the controlled demolition of all three buildings.

There is a great deal of compelling evidence for the demolition hypothesis, including the following physical facts about the destruction of each building.

• Sudden onset of failure
• Near free-fall speed of “collapse”
• Symmetrical “collapse”
• Many eyewitness testimonies to explosions and flashes of light
• Small rubble piles (WTC 7 fell into its own footprint)
• Molten metal in the rubble piles and pouring from WTC 2
• Dust clouds resembling pyroclastic flows from volcanoes
• Sulfidation and intergranular melting of the steel

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The Pentagon Flight Path Misinformation, Stand-Down, War Games, and the Three Mysterious Planes
By Arabesque

Many 9/11 researchers including even Jim Hoffman and Pentagon research have made reference to a flight path map of alleged flight 77 by Former Air Force Pilot Steve Koeppel.[1] Unfortunately, this map is wrong. Any doubt of this fact has been removed in an excellent research piece by Caustic Logic:“More people had fallen for [this map] at some point (besides me, not that I even looked close until now): Jim Hoffman at one point used Koeppel’s map to illustrate a ‘Spiral Attack Maneuver Avoids Top Brass.’”[2]

As indicated on the map below, there is no way that the plane could have approached from the north without radically altering its flight path from the east.[3]

In other words, the plane would have had to flown in an incredibly impractical direction before the approach as seen in Koeppel’s flight path map.

Koeppel relied on a single, error filled source as Caustic Logic explains:

“As an ill-fated aside before explaining his sources, Koeppel pointed out “what’s surprising is how many news sources got the information wrong. For example, look at this graphic from Reuters, which has the attack on the wrong side of the Pentagon:”[4]

“[Below] is the graphic he used, labeled “The Pentagon Attack” and featuring a six-point timeline of events, along with a grossly incorrect impact point shown. What’s at least as surprising, in my opinion, is where Koeppel explains

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A Reform to Restore the People’s Power

by Paul Craig Roberts
July 12, 2007

The American political system has failed. The fabled checks and balances of American politics were no match for a neoconservative administration with a secret agenda. The American people were deceived and tricked into supporting two invasions that are war crimes under the Nuremberg standard.

US aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq and the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians have radicalized Muslims throughout the world and swelled the ranks of insurgents. Despite the “surge” and an additional 30,000 US troops in Baghdad, the US is unable to protect its own embassy. On July 10, the fortified Green Zone, which contains the US and British embassies and the puppet Iraqi government, came under intense mortar and rocket attack. Within the protected Green Zone, 18 people were wounded and 3 were killed.

The US military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus said that the US is a decade away from victory in Iraq. Gen. Petraeus could have added another truth and acknowledged that the US military lacks sufficient fresh troops to remain in the conflict. Last year Colin Powell said the US Army is “about broken.” The US military is exhausted by the insurgencies and will be driven out if not withdrawn.

Gen. Petraeus assumed command in January. Six months later, Petraeus says “the question is how can we gradually reduce our forces so we reduce the strain on the army.”

In the US Senate, Republican support for Bush’s wars is fading as senators face a hostile public that has had enough of Bush’s pointless and lost wars based on lies and deception. The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq never had any valid reason. The US occupations of these countries have failed, and no purpose has been achieved except the enrichment of the military-security complex and the swelling of al-Qaeda’s ranks and credibility.

One trillion dollars has been totally squandered. Moreover, Bush’s wars have had to be financed by borrowing abroad. The result has been a reduction in the dollar’s value and an erosion of the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency. The dollar has fallen to a new low against the Euro and has reached a 26-year low against the British pound.

The latest comprehensive worldwide Pew poll reveals the complete collapse of America’s standing in the world.

This is a huge price to pay for Bush’s childish ego, for the enrichment of Cheney’s cronies at Halliburton and merchants of death, and for Congress’ appeasement of AIPAC.

Bush’s and Cheney’s lies and assaults on the US Constitution and American civil liberty, their plans to attack Iran, and the war crimes for which they are responsible provide an open and shut case for their impeachments. The latest polls show that 54% of Americans support impeachment of Vice President Cheney, with only 40% opposed. Bush hangs on by a hair with 45% favoring his impeachment and 46% opposed. But Democrats, like Republicans, have failed the electorate and refuse to do their duty. Congress is a creature of special interests and no longer represents the American people.

Obviously, some new method is needed for removing incompetent or dictatorial presidents and vice presidents.

Constitutional reform might be next to impossible, but before dismissing the possibility consider that according to British news reports, Britain’s new prime minister, Gordon Brown, intends a wide-ranging program of constitutional reform, including giving up the prime minister’s power to declare war.

The London Telegraph says: “The measures are intended to restore trust in politics after the by-passing of Parliament and the Cabinet, as well as the culture of spin and media manipulation, that characterized the Blair decade.”

If America is to remain a democracy, the people need refurbished powers to hold “government of the people, by the people, for the people” accountable. One way of doing this would be a vote of confidence by the people. The question can be put to a national referendum: “Shall the President remain in office?” “Shall the Vice President remain in office?”

The state of Florida does this for judges, including Florida’s Supreme Court, so there is precedent for allowing the people to decide whether officials may remain in office.

As the American people can no longer rely on elected officials to respond to public opinion, the people must do what they can to gather power back into their hands before they become the subjects of tyrants.

July 13, 2007

Paul Craig Roberts [send him mail] wrote the Kemp-Roth bill and was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is author or coauthor of eight books, including The Supply-Side Revolution (Harvard University Press). He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair in Political Economy, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He has contributed to numerous scholarly journals and testified before Congress on 30 occasions. He has been awarded the U.S. Treasury’s Meritorious Service Award and the French Legion of Honor. He was a reviewer for the Journal of Political Economy under editor Robert Mundell. He is the co-author of The Tyranny of Good Intentions. He is also coauthor with Karen Araujo of Chile: Dos Visiones – La Era Allende-Pinochet (Santiago: Universidad Andres Bello, 2000).

For Immediate Release:

Contact: Richard Gage, AIA, Founding Member of AE911Truth.org

Email: rgage@AE911Truth.org Website: http://AE911Truth.org

Former California Seismic Safety Commissioner Endorses 9/11 Truth Movement

Prominent Engineer Calls for a New Investigation of 9/11

SAN FRANCISCO, CA July 16, 2007 — San Francisco architect Richard Gage, AIA, founder of the group, ‘Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth,’ announced today the statement of support from J. Marx Ayres, former member of the California Seismic Safety Commission and former member of the National Institute of Sciences Building Safety Council.

“We are proud to have the support of Marx Ayres, a nationally recognized expert in building energy systems and earthquake damage to building nonstructural systems, in our search for the truth about the events of 9/11.”, said Mr. Gage. “He has signed our petition requesting a reinvestigation of those tragic events and he has now gone even further by providing his personal statement of support for a new investigation of 9/11.”

Mr. Ayres is a nationally recognized expert in building air conditioning design and analysis, energy conservation, thermal energy storage, commissioning of HVAC systems, and earthquake damage to building mechanical systems, with over 55 years of experience. Co-founder of one of the largest building engineering firms in Los Angeles, Mr. Ayres has been in responsible charge of the design of hundreds of major building projects, including high rise offices, commercial centers, hospitals and laboratories, hotels and residential buildings, universities and colleges, schools, theaters and entertainment centers, jails and correctional facilities, TV and sound studios, governmental buildings and industrial facilities.

In his statement, Mr. Ayres wrote, “I support the work of Dr. Steven Jones. He has provided a scientific foundation for the collapse of the three World Trade Center (WTC) towers. I read the FEMA September, 2002 report, prepared by the American Society of Civil Engineers, and initially accepted their theory of the collapse of WTC 1 and 2. As more information became available on the web, I was motivated to research the subject in a more rigorous manner. I have carefully studied the Jones 2006 paper, “Why Indeed Did the WTC Buildings Completely Collapse?” and concluded that it is a rational step-by-step study that meets the accepted standards for scientific building research. His critical reviews of the FEMA, NIST, and 9/11 Commission reports are correct.”

Mr. Ayres continues, “Steven Jones’ call for a ‘serious investigation’ of the hypothesis that the WTC 7 and the Twin Towers were brought down, not just by impact damage and fire, but through the use of pre-positioned “cutter-charges” must be the rallying cry for all building design experts to speak out.”

Dr. Steven Jones is in the forefront of independent scientific researchers investigating the events of 9/11. A former professor of physics at Brigham Young University, his research indicates that the World Trade Center skyscrapers were destroyed not as a result of the impact of airplanes, but rather the result of intentional, controlled demolitions using precisely timed detonations of pre-planted explosives. In fact, one of the skyscrapers, 610 foot tall, 47-story, WTC Building 7, was not even hit by an airplane, yet it disintegrated and fell into a pile of rubble in less than 7 seconds. It is of interest to note that Building 7 was not even mentioned in the 9/11 Commission’s “full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.” And in the almost six years since 9/11, the Federal government has yet to publish its promised final report that explains the cause of Building 7’s collapse.

In addition to his work on the California Seismic Safety Commission and National Institute of Sciences Building Safety Council, Mr. Ayres also served on the State of California Department of Health Building Safety Board, where he was Chairman of the Mechanical/Electrical Subcommittee. Mr. Ayres has also served as a member of the Building Code Advisory committees for the City of Los Angeles, the California Building Standards Committee, and the International Conference of Building Officials.

Mr. Gage, Mr. Ayres, and over 120 other architecture and engineering professionals, have signed a petition posted on the group’s website which questions the official reports of the destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC) Twin Towers and Building 7 in New York City on 9/11/01, and calls for a new investigation. The group does not speculate as to who and why, Gage says, but instead calls for a new investigation by Congress with subpoena power. He believes a new investigation is the only hope of “fully answering these questions and bringing those responsible to justice.”

To read Mr. Ayres’s full statement and to learn more about Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, please visit the organization’s website at: http://AE911Truth.org

For more information about J. Marx Ayres, please visit his website at http://jmayres.com

For more information about Dr. Steven Jones’ research on the destruction of the World Trade Center buildings, please visit Scholars for 9/11 Truth and Justice website at http://stj911.org/index.html

# # #

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Protesters: West Terre Haute police abused power
Arrest raises questions of when it’s OK for officers to ask for ID; men considering lawsuit
By Deb McKee

The Tribune-Star
WEST TERRE HAUTE — Two men walking across the nation to protest the Iraq war say police officers in West Terre Haute violated their constitutional rights last week when one of the men was arrested for failing to produce identification.

Police say the request for identification was legitimate, and the arrest lawful.

For nearly four months, Raymond Schwab, 32, of Loveland, Colo., and Elliott Nesch, 22, of Fort Collins, Colo. — Brother Raymond and Brother Elliott, to their followers — have been walking from Denver on their way to Washington, D.C., sharing their religious and pacifist beliefs.

They belong to Beit Shalom Ministries, an outreach of the Protestant Free Church Movement, according to their Web site, www.beitshalomministries.org, which is sponsoring the walk.

On the evening of July 8, the two had just crossed the border from Illinois into Indiana when Nesch was stopped by a West Terre Haute police officer.

That in itself is not unusual for the pair.

Nesch said during an interview Friday afternoon that since they began walking, they have been stopped daily by members of various police agencies.

But this week was the first time either of the two ended up in a jail cell.

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The White House Manual for Silencing Protesters and Demonstrations

White House Policy Illegally Silences Americans Critical of Bush
From the ACLU

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit against Gregory Jenkins, a former high-level White House staffer who enacted a policy that unlawfully excluded individuals perceived to be critical of the administration from public events where President Bush was present. The policy is laid out in an October 2002 “Presidential Advance Manual” obtained by the ACLU.

The ACLU filed today’s lawsuit, Rank v. Jenkins, after obtaining a heavily redacted version of the Presidential Advance Manual from the Justice Department. This manual is the Bush administration’s guide for planning presidential events around the country, and it repeatedly instructs organizers about “the best method for preventing demonstrators,” “deterring potential protestors from attending events,” “designat[ing] a protest area . . . preferably not in view of the event site or motorcade route,” and the like.

The lawsuit names as plaintiffs Jeff and Nicole Rank, who were arrested at a Fourth of July presidential appearance at the West Virginia State Capitol because they were wearing T-shirts critical of the president, and Alex Young and Leslie Weise, Denver residents who were thrown out of a town hall meeting with President Bush because they had an anti-war bumper sticker on their car.

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International Association of Firefighters Blast Guiliani for 9-11 Failures

Despite having a very distinguished guest, the head of the International Association of Fire Fighters and American hero Harold Schaitberger, Chris Matthews repeatedly interrupts and approaches the line of a blatant attack upon Mr. Schaitberger. Apparently playing “Hardball” means that you rudely interrupt and treat your guest poorly if he dare to challenge the sanctity of the mythical urban legend of the coward Rudy Guiliani.
-Michael

Senators want to make CIA release 9/11 report
Office has not publicized any of its internal documents on the attack

	U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has been pushing legislation that would require the CIA to declassify the executive summary of an inspector general’s report on the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001

WASHINGTON – A bipartisan group of senators is pushing legislation that would force the CIA to release an inspector general’s report on the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The CIA has spent more than 20 months weighing requests under the Freedom of Information Act for its internal investigation of the attacks but has yet to release any portion of it.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and two other intelligence committee leaders — chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and senior Republican Kit Bond of Missouri — are pushing legislation that would require the agency to declassify the executive summary of the review within one month and submit a report to Congress explaining why any material was withheld.

The provision has been approved by the Senate twice, but never made into law.

In an interview, Wyden said he is also considering whether to link the report’s release to his acceptance of President Bush’s nominations for national security positions.

“It’s amazing the efforts the administration is going to stonewall this,” Wyden said. “The American people have a right to know what the Central Intelligence Agency was doing in those critical months before 9/11…. I am going to bulldog this until the public gets it.”

Completed in June 2005, the inspector general’s report examined the personal responsibility of individuals at the CIA before and after the attacks. Other agencies’ reviews examined structural problems within their organizations.

Wyden, who has read the classified report several times, wouldn’t offer any details on its findings or the conversations he has had with CIA Director Michael Hayden, former CIA Director Porter Goss and former National Intelligence Director John Negroponte.

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Bush like Hitler, says first Muslim in Congress

By Toby Harnden in Washington
Last Updated: 1:14am BST 15/07/2007

	Keith Ellison, a convert to Islam, has cultivated a moderate image since being elected last November

America’s first Muslim congressman has provoked outrage by apparently comparing President George W Bush to Adolf Hitler and hinting that he might have been responsible for the September 11 attacks.

Addressing a gathering of atheists in his home state of Minnesota, Keith Ellison, a Democrat, compared the 9/11 atrocities to the destruction of the Reichstag, the German parliament, in 1933. This was probably burned down by the Nazis in order to justify Hitler’s later seizure of emergency powers.

“It’s almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that,” Mr Ellison said. “After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the Communists for it, and it put the leader [Hitler] of that country in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted.”

To applause from his audience of 300 members of Atheists for Human Rights, Mr Ellison said he would not accuse the Bush administration of planning 9/11 because “you know, that’s how they put you in the nut-ball box – dismiss you”.

Vice-President Dick Cheney’s stance of refusing to answer some questions from Congress was “the very definition of totalitarianism, authoritarianism and dictatorship”, he added.

Mr Ellison also raised eyebrows by telling his audience: “You’ll always find this Muslim standing up for your right to be atheists all you want.”

A convert to Islam who was previously linked to the extremist Nation of Islam, Mr Ellison, 42, has cultivated a moderate image since being elected last November, concentrating on issues such as health and education.

He is an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq. But he angered his own anti-war supporters by voting for a budget bill that aims to end the war over the next 18 months. His followers want an immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.

After his speech was reported, Mr Ellison said he accepted that Osama bin Laden was responsible for 9/11. But his demagogic comments threaten to plunge him in controversy.

Mark Drake, of the Republican party in Minnesota, said: “To compare the democratically elected leader of the United States of America to Hitler is an absolute moral outrage which trivialises the horrors of Nazi Germany.”

Original article here.

Treason as a Basis for Impeachment
Monday, July 9, 2007

Most people who talk about impeachment are talking about “high crimes and misdemeanors”. There are certainly many bases for impeaching Bush and Cheney based upon high crimes and misdemeanors (see, for example, Congressman Kucinich’s articles of impeachment against Vice President Cheney; the articles drafted by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark; this website; and this one).

However, no one is talking about treason as a basis for impeachment. Specifically, Article II, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution provides:

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Obviously, if you believe that the government has used false flag terror to promote its agenda, then you believe that our “leaders” have committed treason.

But even if you do not believe that the neocons have committed false flag operations, it cannot be disputed that they have opened our country up to attack.

More War and Terrorism

Initially, in the 90′s, the Neocons wanted to go to war against China because “‘they felt that the Republican Party didn’t do as well’ in the absence of a pressing foreign threat.”

And the head of the Arkansas GOP said we need more ‘attacks on American soil’ so people appreciate president Bush

And former GOP congressman Rick Santorum is hoping that “some unfortunate events” will give Americans a “very different view of this war”, one more in view of that of the administration.

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Papers, Please
Brother Elliott of Beit Shalom Ministries Arrested by Indiana Police

Today, Sunday, July 8, 2007 Brother Elliott was arrested and detained by West Terre Haute Police officers in the state of Indiana for “Failure to Identify” because he refused to show identification to Indiana law enforcement officials. I have phoned the Vigo County Jail where Brother Elliott was taken and I was told:

• Brother Elliot is currently being detained at the Vigo County Jail charged with the crime of “Failure to Identify” a Class C Misdemeanor.
• Brother Elliott was arrested by the West Terre Haute Police department and transported to the Vigo County Jail.
• Brother Raymond was left on the side of the road in dangerous conditions and was not asked for id.
• Brother Elliott’s car has been impounded saying it was abandoned. It was later discovered that the car had been ransacked by West Terre Haute police.
• Brother Elliott has to appear in court Monday morning.
• I was also told by the jail staff that if Brother Elliott were to produce an ID, they would release him, but he still has to go to court on Monday to face the charges against him.

These actions by Indiana police are blatantly un-Constitutional. The 4th Amendment to the Constitution reads:

The right of the People to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizure 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.

The brothers have not broken any laws and are not suspected of committing any crimes, yet are commanded to “Show Your Papers!” by Indiana law enforcement or be subject to arrest and persecution. This police state mentality from those who serve us, must not go unchallenged. Please take the time to voice your opinion by politely calling the following Indiana state agencies.

West Terre Haute Police Department
812.533.2114

Vigo County Sheriff’s Department
812.462.3226

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels
317-232-4567

Indiana House of Representatives
(800) 382-9842

Indiana Senate
(800) 382-9467

Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter
317-232-6201

UPDATE: Brother Elliott has produced his papers and has been released by the Vigo County Jail and has a court appearance on Monday, July 9th. After being released, and upon inspection of their private property, the brothers learned that Indiana law enforcement had tampered with, and destroyed personal property and evidence relating to this case. As my listeners know, Beit Shalom Ministries has been documenting their Denver to D.C. Walk for Truth on video. Indiana law enforcement seized a video camera belonging to Beit Shalom Ministries, rewound the tape to the beginning of their confrontation with the brothers, placed the lens cap on the lens, and hit the record button, thereby destroying valuable documentary footage and possible evidence in any future legal action.

UPDATE: Brother Elliott has produced his papers and has been released by the Vigo County Jail and has a court appearance on Monday, July 9th.

UPDATE 2: Elliott and Raymond have just retrieved their video camera, to find that the incident, which had been entirely caught on tape, is no longer recorded. Rather, the time is filled with black silence. A hearing has been scheduled for tomorrow morning. If Elliott pleads not guilty, the judge will hear the case at that time.

FINAL UPDATE: 7/9 2:15 CDT: This email message just in from Brother Raymond:

“Once again I hope people see that what we are doing is not illegal. This morning the County Attorney dismissed all charges against Elliott because the Police actions were unconstitutional.   As the neo-cons would say as they enslave and destroy Iraq, freedom isn’t free and if we desire to have liberty in this country it is only through people being willing to suffer for the truth.  Thank you for your prayers.  Shalom, Brother Raymond.”