Bob Carr has been described as ‘the reluctant leader’; according to his own diary he thought leading the NSW state Labor party would be the end of his career. Apparently minister for foreign affairs has been his life long ambition.

It seems power is an addiction to political players. The ‘faceless men’ will do anything to get it, and anything to keep it. It’s becoming more and more apparent that the Labor power brokers are desperate for a Messiah, and -for various reasons- neither Gillard or Rudd fill the bill.

Bob Carr has been nominated to fill a Senate vacancy. As the Prime Minister must be a member of the Lower House, Gillard must feel extra safe, on top of Carr’s famous ‘reluctance’.

Will it be enough to save Gillard, if she continues to stumble and fail to capture the hearts of the voters?

Companies ‘too big to fail’ rushed out and got bigger. Governments trying to borrow their way out of debt, without spending money on infrastructure, or money making ventures which would pay back the debt.

How long before they ‘allow’ us to “eat cake”?

Here’s another very important article from ECB.

The people out there that believe
that the U.S. economy is experiencing a permanent recovery and that
very bright days are ahead for us should have their heads
examined.  Unfortunately, what we are going through right now is
simply just a period of “hopetimism” between two financial
crashes.  Things may seem relatively stable right now, but it
won’t last long.  The truth is that the financial crisis of 2008
was just a warm up act for the economic horror show that is
coming.  Nothing really got fixed after the crash of 2008.
We are living in the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world,
and it has gotten even bigger since then.  The “too big to fail”
banks are larger now than they have ever been.  Americans continue
to run up credit card balances like there is no tomorrow.  Tens of
thousands of manufacturing facilities and millions of jobs continue to
leave the country.  We continue to consume far more than we
produce and we continue to become poorer as a nation.  None of the
problems that caused the crisis of 2008 have been solved and we are
even weaker financially than we were back then.  So why in the
world are so many people so optimistic about the economy right now?

Just take a look at the chart posted below.  It shows the
growth of total debt in the United States.  During the financial
crisis of 2008 there was a little “hiccup”, but the truth is that not
much deleveraging really took place at all.  And since the
recession “ended”, total credit market debt has gone on to even greater
heights….

So what does this mean for the future?

Well, if a small “hiccup” in the debt bubble caused so much chaos
back in 2008, what is going to happen when this debt bubble finally
bursts?

Read the rest of this article at the Economic Collapse Blog

James Cameron, the Hollywood producer responsible for blockbuster films like Terminator, Titanic and Avatar, is reportedly preparing to exit stage left. While the move for the Canadian born Cameron may initially be perceived as a rejection or denouncement of American policies and ideals, Cameron, who has made campaign donations to the Democrat Party in the past, most notably during the 2004 Presidential election where he supported democrat John Kerry, may have ulterior motivations, as evidenced by where he’s planning on moving and what he’s planning on doing once he gets there.

From time to time we get a glimpse into the goings on of the well connected. This may be one of those moments:

Cameron has successfully applied to buy 1,067 hectares (2,636 acres) of farmland in New Zealand. In an application filed with the New Zealand Overseas Investment Office, Cameron says he and his family “intend to reside indefinitely in New Zealand and are acquiring the property to reside on and operate as a working farm.”

Source: Associated Press, via Matt Drudge

As we’ve outlined before, farmland is one of the only reasonable physical assets to hold in the event of a major crisis, as you’ll be outside of highly populated metropolitan areas, you’ll have the ability to produce your own food, generate your own energy, and, more so than your urbanite and suburbanite counterparts, stay away from the chaos that will ensue during a major upheaval.

Read the rest of Mac Slavo’s article here:

By Mac Slavo, www.SHTFplan.co

Well known economist, trend forecaster and Gloom, Boom
and Doom Report publisher Dr. Marc Faber
joined some of the world’s leading investment minds at the Barron’s
2012 Roundtable to discuss what’s in store for 2012 and beyond with
respect to the economy, inflation, political stability and a host of
other issues.

As is generally the case, Dr. Faber doesn’t mince words and warns
that, despite what happens in the near term, the end game is global
conflict.

Excerpted from Barron’s
2012 Roundtable via SGT Report

Marc Faber: On another optimistic note, World War
III will occur in the next five years. That means the Middle East will
blow up. New regimes there will be less Western-friendly. The West has
also figured out it can’t contain China, which is rising rapidly and
will have more military and naval power in Southeast Asia. The only way
for the West to contain China is to control the oil tap in the Middle
East.

Bill Gross (Founder, Pimco): How does your World
War III hypothesis affect the financial markets? Is it positive for
stocks?

Marc Faber: It is very positive for stocks and
negative for bonds, because debt will grow dramatically. There will be
massive monetization of debt. When the U.S. entered World War II total
credit equaled 140% of GDP, and there were no unfunded liabilities. Now
total credit-market debt is 380% of GDP, and unfunded liabilities make
that 800%.

Brian Rogers (Chairman, T. Rowe Price): How is
World War III good for stocks?

Felix Zulauf (Zulauf Asset Management): Unused
capacity in an economy can be directed to the defense and war industry.
That will be paid for by new government debt, and that keeps the
economy growing.

Scott Black (President, Delphi): Marc, if Israel
strikes Iran’s nuclear facilities, they will use air power. They aren’t
going to commit ground troops. It won’t be the kind of conflagration
you’re thinking.

Bill Gross: War takes place today in cyberspace
and in terrorist space. Whether or not there will be a land war isn’t
the question.

Dr. Faber has also expressed his views on prior occasions,
suggesting that World War III is an inevitable outcome when nations
begin to default on trillions of dollars worth of debt (whether by
refusing to pay or simply easing their monetary supply).

In August
of 2010 Faber urged his subscribers to begin making preparations
for worst case scenarios:

In his latest GBD Report, Faber again advises those with the means
to do it, to leave urban areas and seek safety in rural, country areas,
preferably farms, and to be prepared to defend that land in the event
the worst happens:

Faber has an interesting suggestion for investors if the
plunge comes to pass.

With tongue apparently in cheek, he says buy a farm you can
tend to yourself way out in the boondocks. And protect it with high
voltage fences, barbed wire, booby traps, military weapons and
Dobermans.

While several members of the Roundtable disagree with the idea that
a conventional global war is out of the question, suggesting instead
that conflicts will be dealt with through air superiority and in
cyberspace (in itself a potentially catastrophic battlefield for modern
civilization), they are ignoring the real possibility that an attack on
Iran, or even a rogue attack against Europe or the United States, could
escalate to such a level that China
or Russia
would have no choice but to get involved.

While hard to believe, we’ve seen it before. Twice just in the last
century.

Not many people would have believed it prior to 1914 either. But
within just a few short months of the assassination of Archduke
Ferdinand in late June of that year, millions were dead and the Western
front had extended hundreds of miles across Europe to the North Sea.

Events played out with similar velocity in World War II when Adolf
Hitler’s aptly named Blitzkrieg (Lightning War) overtook entire nations
in a matter of days.

It only takes one country, one sociopathic leader with his finger on
the button, to get the ball rolling. Then there is no stopping it.

Author: Mac Slavo

Date: January 17th, 2012
Website: www.SHTFplan.com

THE DIARY OF AN ENGLISHMAN LIVING IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND .

“Our First Winter”

DECEMBER 20th

It’s starting to snow. The first of the season and the first we’ve seen for years.

The wife and I took out our hot toddies and sat on the porch watching the fluffy soft flakes drift gently down clinging to the trees and covering the ground.

It’s so beautiful and peaceful.

DECEMBER 24th

We awoke to a lovely blanket of crystal white glistening  snow covering as far as the eye could see.

What a fantastic sight, every tree and bush covered with a beautiful white mantle.

I shovelled snow for the first time ever and loved it.

I did both our driveway and the pavement. 

Later that day a snow plough came along and accidentally covered up our driveway with compacted snow from the street.

The driver smiled and waved.

I waved back and shovelled it away again.

The children next door built a snowman with coal for eyes and a carrot for a nose, and had a snowball fight.

A couple just missed me and hit the car so I threw a couple back and joined in their fun.

DECEMBER 26th

It snowed an additional 5 inches last night and the temperature dropped to around minus 8 degrees..

Several branches on our trees and bushes snapped due to the weight of the snow.

I shovelled the driveway again.

Shortly afterwards the snow plough came by and did his trick again.

Much of the snow is now a brownish / grey.

JANUARY 1st

Warmed up enough during the day to create some slush which soon became ice when the temperature dropped again.

Bought snow tyres for both our cars.

Fell on my arse in the driveway.

Went to a physio but nothing was broken.

JANUARY 5th

Still cold. Sold the wife’s car and bought her a 4×4 to get her to work.

She slid into a wall and did considerable damage to the right wing.

Had another 8 inches of the white shite last night.

Both vehicles are covered in salt and iced up slush.

That bastard snow plough came by twice today …………. Where’s that bloody shovel.

JANUARY 9th

More fucking snow.

Not a tree or bush on our property that hasn’t been damaged.

Power was off most of the night. 

Tried to keep from freezing to death with candles and a paraffin heater which tipped over and nearly torched the house. 

I managed to put the flames out but suffered 2nd degree burns on my hands. Lost all my eyebrows and eyelashes.

Car hit a fucking deer on the way to casualty and car was written off.

JANUARY 13th

This fucking bastard white shite just keeps on coming down. 

Have to put on every article of clothing just to go to the post box.

The little twats next door ambushed me with snowballs on the way back.

I’ll shove that carrot so far up the little bastard’s arse it’ll take a good surgeon hours to find it.

If I ever catch the prick that drives the snowplough I’ll chew open his chest and rip out his heart with my teeth. 

I think the bastard hides around the corner and waits for me to finish shovelling and then he

accelerates down the street like Michael Schufuckingmacher and buries the fucking driveway again.

JANUARY 17th

Sixteen more fucking inches of fucking snow and fucking ice and fucking sleet and god knows what other white shite fell last night.

I am in court in 3 months time for assaulting the snowplough driver with an ice pick.

Can’t move my fucking toes.

Haven’t seen the sun for 5 weeks.

Minus 20 and more fucking snow forecast.

JANUARY 18th

FUCK THIS, I’M MOVING BACK TO LONDON ………………………………………….

 

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:   Reason why cameras not allowed in our Parliament! Oh Wonderful, while we are all praying to keep our jobs!!!!!!!!!!        This picture is worth a trillion $$ House Minority Leader pictured standing, far right, speaks while colleagues play solitaire Monday night as the House convened to vote on a new budget. (AP) The guy sitting in the row in front of these two….he’s on Facebook, and the guy behind Hennessy is checking out the baseball scores. These are the folks that couldn’t get the budget out by Oct. 1, and are about to control your health care, cap and trade, and the list goes on and on….   Should we buy them larger screen computers – or - a ticket home, permanently?    This is one of their 3-DAY WORK WEEKS that we all pay for (salary is about $179,000 per year). KEEP THIS GOING!  DON’T LET IT STOP WITH YOU!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A mother passing by her daughter’s bedroom was astonished to see the bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then she saw an envelope propped up prominently on the center of the bed. It was addressed, “Mom.” With the worst premonition, she opened the envelope and read the letter with trembling hands:

Dear Mom: It is with great regret and sorrow that I’m writing you. I had to elope with my new boyfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Dad and you. I’ve been finding real passion with Ahmed and he is so nice-even with all his piercings, tattoos, beard, and his motorcycle clothes. But it’s not only the passion Mom, I’m pregnant and Ahmed said that we will be very happy. He already owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. He wants to have many more children with me and that’s now one of my dreams too. Ahmed taught me that marijuana doesn’t really hurt anyone and we’ll be growing it for us and trading it with his friends for all the cocaine and ecstasy we want. In the meantime, we’ll pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Ahmed can get better; he sure deserves it!! Don’t worry Mom, I’m 15 years old now and I know how to take care of myself. Someday I’m sure we’ll be back to visit so you can get to know your grand children.

Your daughter, Tess

PS: Mom, none of the above is true. I’m over at the neighbor’s house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than my report card that’s in my desk center drawer. I love you! Call when it is safe for me to come home.

Kristine   

From my (limited) investigations, Albert Torney did exist, and did collect bottles and cans. He also had a race horse named in his honour. The evidence that he created these sculptures is however sketchy.

The earliest post I have found claiming credit for Tapper was February 2010.

The other claimant to this particular throne is Sandy Sanderson, of New Zealand. The earliest post I have found for him was October 2009, which I believe corroborates his claim.

You might also notice there are several shots of a ‘Waikato’ car, but no Toohey’s cars. Very suspicious.

Sandy -and his sculptures- can be found at sandyscancars.com

My Sincere apologies to Sandy.

I think the water was just for ballast.

Don’t think I can (or need to) add anything……..

 

 LITTLE KNOWN TIDBIT OF NAVAL HISTORY

The U. S. S.. Constitution (Old Ironsides), as a combat vessel, carried 48,600 gallons of fresh water for her crew of 475 officers and men. This was sufficient to last six months of sustained operations at sea. She carried no evaporators (i.e. fresh water distillers).

However, let it be noted that according to her ship’s log, “On July 27, 1798, the U.S.S. Constitution sailed from Boston with a full complement of 475 officers and men, 48,600 gallons of fresh water, 7,400 cannon shot, 11,600 pounds of black powder and 79,400 gallons of rum.”

Her mission: “To destroy and harass English shipping.”

Making Jamaica on 6 October, she took on 826 pounds of flour and 68,300 gallons of rum.

Then she headed for the Azores , arriving there 12 November.. She provisioned with 550 pounds of beef and 64,300 gallons of Portuguese wine.

On 18 November, she set sail for England . In the ensuing days she defeated five British men-of-war and captured and scuttled 12 English merchant ships, salvaging only the rum aboard each.

By 26 January, her powder and shot were exhausted. Nevertheless, although unarmed she made a night raid up the Firth of Clyde in Scotland . Her landing party captured a whisky distillery and transferred 40,000 gallons of single malt Scotch aboard by dawn. Then she headed home.

The U. S. S. Constitution arrived in Boston on 20 February 1799, with no cannon shot, no food, no powder, no rum, no wine, no whisky, and 38,600 gallons of water.

GO NAVY!

 

In recent days, the fact that Mitt Romney has millions of dollars parked down in the Cayman Islands has made headlines all over the world. But when it comes to offshore banking, what Mitt Romney is doing is small potatoes.

The truth is that the global elite are hiding an almost unbelievable amount of money in offshore banks. According to shocking research done by the IMF, the global elite are holding a total of 18 trillion dollars in offshore banks. And that figure does not even count any money being held in Switzerland. That is a staggering amount of money.

Keep in mind that U.S. GDP in 2010 was only 14.58 trillion dollars. So why do the global elite go to such trouble to hide their money in offshore banks? Well, there are two main reasons. One is privacy and the other is low taxation. Privacy is a big issue for those that are involved in illegal enterprises such as drug running, but the biggest reason why people move money into offshore banks is in order to avoid taxes. Some set up bank accounts in foreign nations because they want to legally minimize their taxes and others set up bank accounts in foreign nations because they want to illegally avoid taxes. You would be absolutely amazed at what some large corporations and wealthy individuals do to get out of paying taxes. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the rest of us don’t have the resources or the knowledge to play these games, so we get taxed into oblivion.

So why do they call it “offshore banking”?

Continue reading this article at: the Economic Collapse Blog.