United States votes against rights to development and food as human rights and fundamental freedoms . Goodwill to all men

Seeing it's Christmas and a time for goodwill to all men it is worth reflecting on what the UN General Assembly are up to.

Sixty-third General Assembly - Third Committee - 46th & 47th Meetings (AM & PM)
THIRD COMMITTEE DRAFT TEXT ENDORSES RECOMMENDATIONS, FUTURE WORKPLAN OF HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL’S WORKING GROUP ON RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT - Document GA/SHC/3941 24th November 2008
Approves 8 Resolutions for General Assembly Adoption;
Right to Food, Mercenaries, Combating Religious Defamation Among Issues

Approved by a vote of 177 in favour to 1 against (United States), with 2 abstentions (Canada and Israel),the resolution on the right to development would have the Assembly call on the Council to continue to ensure that its agenda promotes and advances sustainable development and the Millennium Development Goals and to lead to raising the right to development as set out in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, to the same level and on a par with all other human rights and fundamental freedoms (Annex IV).

By a vote of 180 in favour to 1 against (United States) and no abstentions, the Committee also approved a resolution on the right to food, by which the Assembly would “consider it intolerable” that more than 6 million children still died every year from hunger-related illness before their fifth birthday, and that the number of undernourished people had grown to about 923 million worldwide, at the same time that the planet could produce enough food to feed 12 billion people, or twice the world’s present population. (See Annex III.)

What are the chances that the President Elect will see changing these votes as a priority ?... or even speaking out against them ?

In September 2008, America’s Second Harvest changed its name to Feeding America. This new name best conveys our mission—providing food to Americans living with hunger—and will be supported through expansive public outreach campaigns that will raise awareness of domestic hunger and our work.

Check this site and go to the link in the 1st comment below.

Tata Blackmails Government for a handout

The BBC report that the Finacial Times are reporting that Tata Motors, the owner of Jaguar Land Rover, is to inject "tens of millions" of pounds into their UK business.

Tata acquired Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford Motors for an all-cash deal of US$2.3 billion (£1.15 Bn at the then rate of exchange £$1= US$2) on May 2nd 2008 (Less than Ford paid for Jaguar alone). Shortly after (20/9) the The Indian News reported that the Tata board "has reviewed its fund raising plan " for the acquisition after considering " the current situation of the capital market and price changes in the stock market since May 2008". Tata had revenues globally of US$62.5Bn in the year to March - late last week, Tata announced a sponsorship deal with the Ferrari Formula One team.

According to the new financing plan, the board had decided to keep the share capital as low as possible. This was shortly after the announcement (31/7) of a joint venture with French bank Credit Agricole, that the Italian auto giant Fiat would be handling the financing of all new Jaguars and Land Rovers purchased across Europe. Fiat takes over financing for Jaguar/Land Rover in Europe

However if you read the Times today - Gordon Brown puts millions on table to save car maker Jaguar Land Rover

"A state package worth hundreds of millions of pounds will be negotiated in the new year to save a firm claimed by its Indian owner to be of key strategic importance to Britain’s economy."

Apparently Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya has received many international awards including the Padma Bhusan from the President of India for services to science, technology and industry and is an adviser to Tata Motors (and personal friend of the great patriarch Ratan Tata) and has been involved in talks with the UK Government.

This year his alma mater, IIT Kharagpur awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Sciences, the institution's highest accolade with previous recipients including Mother Theresa and Ratan Tata.

The Independent has a different tale from Sarah Arnott - The Indian giant with a begging bowl - JLR has laid off 850 agency staff , will thin out 600 posts with redundancy ,cut production at Castle Bromwich and Solihull in the West Midlands, and at Halewood on Merseyside.

Tata Motors, the Indian arm of the car business, lorry sales have fallen by 50% and the high-profile scheme to build the world's cheapest car , the nano (see pic) has been hit by scandal and delay.

Tata Steel, is seeing steel prices slumping it has lost 500 UK jobs at Corus, which cost them £6.2bn last year, and wants state aid from both the Dutch and UK governments.

Would we be right in thinking that Mr Tata has bitten off more than he can chew and now expects the UK tax payer to fund his extravagance ? Gordon is fast becoming a serial bailer - he should take heed of the future demands ....

Madoff money is said to have been re-directed to Israel and is still available to many investors.

Mathaba have a story that Madoff has moved money to Israel where it is available to clients. They claim this results from the disclosures of secret Swiss / Lichtenstein bank Accounts that the US IRS is currently working on. They also say the total funds involved may be up to US$100 Bn.

One has to remember that there are very, very large numbers of people all round the world denied access to conventional methods of investing their earnings - they may find it difficult to explain having large capital sumas at hand which may result from :

1 VAT Missing Trader fraud in the EU - it is running at £4 Bn a year at present in the UK alone

2. Production, transport, distribution of illegal drugs (According to the 2005 United Nations World Drug Report, the value of the global illicit drug market for the year 2003 was estimated at US$13 billion at the production level, at US$94 billion at the wholesale level, and US$322–$400 billion based on retail prices and taking seizures and other losses into account. )

3. People trafficking / prostitution (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) The UN and other experts estimate the total market value of illicit human trafficking at $32 billion - about $10 billion is derived from the initial "sale" of individuals, with the remainder representing the estimated profits from the activities or goods produced by the victims of this barbaric crime.

4. Illegal Arms Trade - Size ? ask Mr Bout - unfortunatel he's in prison in hailand currently so may remain quiet.

5. Theft by Russian Oligarchs from the USSR State Assets - Size - consult ask Mr Berezonvsky - he should prove co-operative he has British citizenship.

6. Every other form of crime, financial fraud, embezzlement, theft etc.,profits from privatisation of the UK railways etc etc., Diamond / Gold / tantalum etc., smuggling out of Africa. Cigarette / Tobacco smuggling.

Bob Quick and Aphrodite Wedding Services - a conflict of interests

Aphrodite Wedding Services = geddit ? Aphrodite the Goddess of Love ?

They will hire you, by the day f0r approx £500 - with driver ..

Even a Jensen Interceptor III whose registered owner is Mr Bob Quick. In fact a stable of cars that would probably stand in the books at well over £100,000.

This is run by Judith who shares her cars, her house (where she runs this business from) and her life with Commander Bob Quick the bovine Chief terrorist at the Metropolitan Police.

When the Mail on Sunday disclosed details of this service today - which they say uses ex police drivers , Bob was Quick off the mark (geddit QUICK off the mark !!) and called the Press Association :

" (This) is an attempt to undermine an investigation which is legitimate. The Tory machinery and their press friends are mobilised against this investigation in a wholly corrupt way, and I feel very disappointed in the country I am living in."

A couple of hours later the Conservative party issued this statement in reply:

"The Conservative Party played no part whatsoever in the publication of this story. Assistant Commissioner Quick's claims of corruption and intimidation are absurd and wholly untrue.

A few minutes later Mr Quick issues this statement:

"I regret and wish to retract my comment regarding corruption. The comment was made as I was in the act of having to move my family out of our home to a place of safety following the article in today's Mail on Sunday."

You only have to cursorily examine the bovine face, see how he holds the House of Commons in contempt - Sunday, November 30, 2008 Bob Quick, slow on the uptake and lies to the House of Commns as well to realise what a stupid man he is.

Naturally , even though a company with such impressive assets , not a limited liability company, will be paying all the necessary VAT, PAYE to sub contyractors like ex police drivers, have told the local authority that a car hire business is run from the premises, pays the appropriate rate of business rates, conforms for Health and safety for fuel storage etc., (Looks like a nice little earner and should help to beef up the old Police pension)

It seems odd / hypocritical however that he is happy to hand out leaflets with his home / business address and then raise Cain about it being disclosed. (No stranger to Surrey, Robert grew up in the East of the county where he now lives.)

This man should be relieved of his duties immediately - he is not fit for purpose. Dealing with terrists, real one's , demands care, composure, judgement, a rational balanced approach to thinking ...and also does not need the distraction of running an Arthur Daley outfit from his garage. The man is plainly a buffoon.

PS : There is a cache of the site here which if you find the Admin button on the bottom of the correct page gives you admin access and the ability to edit the pages. Although to do this would of course this would be wrong - not recommended. Ill advised.

Curiously flicking through Yellow Pages ...



Perhaps there is more to Aphrodite Wedding Services .... and their very insecure address details.... here's a map that might help if you need a jensen for that special getaway from it all....



And do NOT look at the Directions putting in say how to get there from say New Scotland Yard, London because you could then see a birds eye view of the Quick spread ... and who doesn't relish the chance of a Quick spread now and again.

Well if you can't resist the temptation expect a visit from highly trained team of lethal killers with hollow point bullets, who will shoot you in the head seven times and then won't be able to remember if they shouted out STOP Police.

Frank Zappa's birthday tomorrow he would have been 68

Considering the weather , this seemed appropriate ... However the world's greatest expert on Frank suggests this might be more appropriate for the season ..

Michael Connell - the IT expert who helped rig Dubya's election in 2000 and 2004 dies in air crash piloting his light aircraft on flight from DC

Michael Connell, the Bush IT expert who has been directly implicated in the rigging of George Bush's 2000 and 2004 elections, was killed last night when the single engine Piper Supercub plane (one report says it is a Piper Saratoga ) he was piloting alone crashed just before 6 pm , three miles short of Runway 23 at the Akron - Canton Airport . A devout Roman Catholic with very strong views on abortion he leaves behind a wife and four children.

Connell, 45, was wearing a business suit. Apparently, according to Stark County Coroner Investigator Harry Campbell , Connell had breakfast in Washington D.C. Investigators found receipts in Connell’s wallet.

Connell was a figure in an ongoing controversy about alleged vote flipping in Ohio in the 2004 presidential election. In October, U.S. Judge Solomon Oliver of Ohio ordered Connell to testify in a lawsuit in connection with charges that electronic voting apparatus in some Ohio districts flipped votes to Bush from Democratic nominee John Kerry.

Cliff Arnebeck, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the suit, alleged in an e-mail to U.S. Attorney Michael Mukasey in July that Connell and his family had been threatened in connection with Connell's possible testimony.

Velvet Underground have a website that catalogues Michael Connell's role in the Bush 2004 campaigns tampering with recorded votes and Karl Rove's oversight of the plans and operations.

They said he needed protection and now call for Heather Connell who is the owner of GovTech Solutions, Randy Cole, the former President of GovTech Solutions, and Jeff Averbeck, the CEO of SmartTech Corp in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Both GovTech and SmartTech have been implicated in the rigging of the 2000 and 2004 elections and the White House email scandal. They pointout their prior request to have Mr. Connell protected went unheeded and now he is dead.

See :- Stark Co. plane crash: Who was Michael Connell? WKYC TV

Pilot dies in Lake Township airplane crash - The Suburbanite

The Suspicious, Disturbing Death of Election Rigger Michael Connell
by By Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman the Free Press (They wrote HOW THE GOP STOLE AMERICAS 2004 ELECTION...., ) "Michael Connell, the crucial techno- lynch pin in the theft of the 2004 election, and much more, is dead at the age of 45."

White House consultant who rigged 2004 election dies suspiciously by Larisa Alexandrovna Op Ed news

Pilot who died in crash touched lives of many Akron Beacon Journal - apparently Michael Connell was a saint according to this hagiography but they have a ready explanation...

"Charles Starkey, a former Navy pilot and director of safety for a Cleveland-area private jet company, said Friday night's cloud cover and misty, cold conditions presented challenges for even the most experienced pilots.

In a 30-minute time frame around the crash, the weather deteriorated quickly as visibility around the airport diminished from nine miles to a little over one mile with a low ceiling. "

Documents reveal how Ohio routed 2004 voting data through company that hosted external Bush Administration email accounts The Raw Story
Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane - Friday October 31, 2008

Connell: "I don't know no Godfather!"

UPDATE 26th December 7.30 GMT :Tuesday, December 23, 2008 Karl Rove Threatened Connell, Suspected of Sabotage and Murder - The Existentialist Cowboy

The hunt is on for the tattooed attacker of Alois Mannichl amid increasing calls for banning the NPD

In the wake of the attack on Passau police head Alois Mannichl the police have circulated pictures of very distinctive tattoos which shouldreadily identify his doorstep attacker.

The NPD feel they have been unfairly harassed in the enquiry -" How else do you explain that almost all of the Passauer District of NPD in the investigation has been involved, board members were temporarily arrested and the deputy chairman of the District Association arrested."

The Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer has said they must "examine" a ban on the NPD ( NPD Verbotsverfahren). He said that the attack on Mannichl shows that police, enforcement officers and public prosecutor's officers must be better protected. They must protect our freedom, our values and the tolerance in our country from these enemies of the democracy. They earn for it more than our respect and our support. They earn also our sympathy and affection. “

Federal Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) is sceptical: "We can't call for a prohibition of the NPD, without being sure that we can also win it. We must defend aur aim of an open society against their enemies, and failure to win would prove to be counterproductive. "

The Federal Foreign Affairs Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier demanded an active search for the culprits in a newspaper interview with Sonntag , on the right-wing extremist scene. " Police and protection of the constitution must be used to combat the right-extremist expression and action" ..."The fact that the right wing believes they can use swastiaka flags in funerals and go unpounished is deeply frightening. Therefore the federal state and the federal office for Verfassungsschutzand nees to look more closely at these people."

"Those responsible for the attack in Passau must be found and arrested fast and be dealt with by the force of the law", said Steinmeier.

The punishment must make it completely clear that right-extremist acts of violence in our country does not succeed". On the prohibition of the NPD Steinmeier says the Passauer incident will increase calls for a prohibition (Verbot)". New demands for an NPD prohibition at the Federal Constitutional Court must however work otherwise ,"The right-wing extremists will triumph in the end - and this must not happen" .

An opinion poll by polling organisation group Emnid (part of Taylor Nielsen) seems clear: 65 % of Germans want a prohibition of the NPD. Only 29 % are against it. In the East German states up to 77 % want a prohibition of the right-wing party and only 22% reject it.

The National Democratic Party of Germany ( Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands, NPD) is a right wing, pan german nationalist and white supremacist political party. Founded on 28th November 1964 it succeeds the German Reich Party ( Deutsche Reichspartei, DRP). and has been led since 1966 by Udo Voigt.

A poll by broadcaster ARD shows that the majority of the population in Germany considers the NPD to be undemocratic and damaging to the image of the country and is considered by many to be thede facto National Socialist Party redux - they oppose increasing the number of non-whites, Jews, and Muslims living in Germany.

The German federal intelligence agency Verfasungsschutzsay they are a "threat to the constitutional order" and they keep a close watch on their activities.

They have been very active in criticising the election of Barack Obama and claim he represents an unholy alliance of Blacks and Jews .

They claim that the extensive support expresed for Obama in Germany "resembles an African tropical disease" and that Obama aimed to destroy the United States' "white identity." The NDP claimed that "A non-white America is a declaration of war on all people who believe an organically grown social order based on language and culture, history and heritage to be the essence of humanity" and that "Barack Obama hides this declaration of war behind his pushy sunshine smile

See also
Passau Stabbing Highlights Neo-Nazi Activism Z word Blog 18th Dec 2008 - especially re the rise of the right in Austria by Viennese based journalist Karl Pfiefer based in Vienna.

"At the beginning of November, five defendants accused of Nazi activities were acquitted by a jury in the district court of Wels in Upper Austria. When the acquittal was announced, supporters of the accused applauded loudly.

The five had founded an Association of Free Youths (BfJ) which aimed to replace the constitutional structure of the Republic of Austria with a “Volksgemeinschaft” of National-Socialist character. The prosecution spoke about a “direct rebirth of the Hitler Youth”. BfJ originates from the Youth movement of the extreme right “Arbeitsgemeinschaft für demokratische Politik” (AFP). Their publications have been characterized in a report by Heinz Mayer, a constitutional expert, as containing “manifest and dressed up glorification of National Socialist violent measures.”

The Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) received 11 % of the vote in the October 2006 general election, compared to 10 percent in 2002. Animosity between the FPÖ (21 seats) and Jörg Haider’s Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ − 7 seats), which split from the FPÖ in April 2005, prevented the latter from forming a coalition with the former ruling Austrian People’s Party ÖVP (66 seats). At the opening of Parliament, all 21 FPÖ representatives wore a blue cornflower in their buttonholes. Between 1933 and 1938 blue cornflowers served as a symbol identifying the illegal NSDAP in Austria.

This has attracted people with murky associations for example Styrian FPÖ regional spokesperson Gerhard Kurzmann was a member of the extreme right Kameradschaft IV (K IV), an association traditionally linked to the Waffen SS.

It is claimed that crimes associated with the extreme right have increased in Austria increasing from 419 in 2006to 752 in . Death threats have been posted on Internet sites with address and phone number of the persons targeted.

It has also produced a curious alliance of the far right with the Palestinian cause. An Austrian UN soldier was in the Lebanon in July 2006. Dietmar Gerhartl, a FPÖ district councilor in Neunkirchen, Lower Austria, wrote on the website of the Palästinensischen Gemeinde in Österreich (Palestinian Community in Austria) that he had long since grown tired “of having to watch the injustice in Palestine without being able to say or do anything about it.” the “terrorist state of Israel has now killed an Austrian too in cowardly fashion” and the “mass murderers with the Star of David… continue to go unpunished,” he no longer feared the “Nazi bludgeon” as the real Nazis were those in Israel.”

At the end of July 2006 the FPÖ demanded the suspension of relations with Israel. Condemning “Israel’s aggressive policies which contravene human and international law,” FPÖ member of the European Parliament (MEP) Andreas Mölzer decided to demonstrate solidarity by hoisting a Palestinian flag in front of his house.

Stop the War / NUJ protest at BBC Manchester

As usual it was drizzly rain but that didn't keep away a noisy, exuberant and happy crowd shouting support, waving a range of exotic footwear and placards in support of Muntazar al-Zaidi.

An NUJ organiser from inside the BBC was present and spoke but news organisations were simply not interested , except a paper from Egypt and we had live interviews on air with al- Zaidi's employer Al-Baghdadi plus they got blasts of Arabic chanting.

Naturally Plod turned up and a smiling and experienced Mark explained what was happening and Plod duly took notes and feeling exposed, small in number and unwelcome shot off with a wheel trim missing.



Besides a few pale faces pressed to windows the BBC ignored the chanting masses. Their state of the art electronic news gathering teams remained firmly indoors.



There was a friendly , jovial family atmosphere and all ages joined in the fun and frolics....



Umm Saad , his sister protested in Baghdad outside the Green Zone with thousands "nothing is known about... his condition, but he did nothing wrong. On the contrary, he pleased everyone. Bush is an occupier and he is the source of all the orphans and all the widows in Iraq.

"Everybody would have done what Muntazer did. We gave him the last kiss of democracy," she said of her brother shouting at Bush: "It is the farewell kiss, you dog."

A refrain taken up endlessly by the jolly crowd.

Now having done their best to destroy the cradle of civilisation another 20,000 US troops (and no doubt as many NATO) are on their way to Afghanistan.

Lots more and better pics at Greater Manchester Stop the War by Penny Krantz

The Ultimate Jewish Joke - Die Endlösung

"Uncle Sam is the biggest Ponzi operator of all, with the added magical power denied Madoff (unless forgery was among his talents) of being able to print money at will. CounterPunch tip of the week. Wheelbarrow stocks. Buy ‘em while the price is right. Soon Americans will be needing wheelbarrows to put the money in to go shopping. A vast new wheelbarrow industry could be part of Obama’s recovery plan. Collapsible wheelbarrows for the soccer moms to get in the back of the Volvo. Electric-powered wheelbarrows. Hybrid wheelbarrows from GM. Gold-plated wheelbarrows from the Defense sector."

"It's Kristallnacht Two!" An Ethnic Cleansing in America
By Alexander Cockburn - Counterpunch Weekend Edition December 19 - 21, 2008

Read it and weep ....

Frank J. Avellino - Bernie Madoff's partner in crime

There is a fascinating and MUST READ about Bernie Madoff and his family's inclination to steal money at Culture of Life News which should make your hair stand on end.

It has also produced a comment from Anon. which is worth copying here in its entirety ...

I need to remain anonymous for now, so I will trust you. The mastermind behind Bernard Madoff and his associate for more than 16 years has, until now, escaped scrutiny from the media and from law enforcement.

His name is Frank J. Avellino.

Avellino has been swindling people with Madoff for years. In 1992, the SEC investigated Avellino in an illegal $440 million securities case, but let him go. (Lord P. Not true see above) (Interestingly, the pair's attorney in the SEC case was Ira Sorkin. Madoff's current attorney: Ira Sorkin. )

See Wall Street Journal article - Dec 16, 1992:

Avellino has been scamming people with phony investment schemes, but not limited to the rich and famous.

He preys on innocent people with only $10,000 - $100,000 that he tells has access to the top people and proven profits on Wall Street and because their investment amounts are too small, he will bundle them with his funds which endears them to him and makes them feel safe and secure.
Many small investors have lost their life savings.

Avellino won’t even face his victims. He had his wife call them last week and inform them that their money was lost because it was invested with Bernard Madoff.

None of them had ever heard of Bernard Madoff, as their investments checks were written to Frank J. Avellino personally. He deposited them in one of his accounts at Citibank.

Annually he would send each investor a statement from Kenn Jordan Associates, an alias.

Avellino is hiding out in his New York apartment.

Frank Ave llino (212) 396-0404 655 Park Ave, New York, NY 10065

He also has a $4.5 million house at 223 Coral Lane in Palm Beach, And a $10 million house on Nantucket Island.

Law enforcement should force him to sell his properties and pay back all of the investors.

Frank J. Avellino is a crook and needs to go to jail with Bernard Madoff.

Please expose Frank J. Avellino as the fraud he is and I hope the authorities get him this time.

Thank You.

Avellino and Madoff have been working together, in tandem, operating the same Ponzi schemes. Some believe Avellino introduced the Ponzi scheme concept to Madoff and taught Madoff how it would work. These two have been working together for more than 16 years.

I know people, including my brother on Nantucket Island that have lost all of their money investing with Avellino, their losses are in the $ millions.

Avellino claimed he lost their money with Madoff, but there is no paper trail that he ever sent their money to Madoff. Avellino used a company named Kenn Jordan Associates to send annual statements to his victims. They have consulted with attorneys, so the Avellino/Madoff connection will become public soon.

Read page 3 of the SEC report (see above) on Avellino and Michael S. Bienes, another Madoff associate.

Avellino and Michael S. Bienes were partners, operating the same Ponzi scam, Avellino, Bienes and Madoff are all linked together in the same fraud.

I will keep you in the right direction, but I need to remain anonymous for now.

ENDS

Frank Avellino lives in 223 CORAL LANE Palm Beach 33480 and his Campaign Contributions can be seen here for Guiliani, Dole and Mc Cain. Mrs & Mrs A bought the property 223 Coral Lane for US$4,500,000 in May 2004 from Steven J Multin (Individually and as Trustee), Steven J Multin (Revocable Trust), and Tina Multin. It is also the address of the AVELLINO FAMILY FOUNDATION INC Pres. Frankie Boy. Tax exempt data here.

Mr & Mrs Avellino are gracious Patrons of the Metropolitan Museum. Mrs A also bought a cobblestone for the 911 memorial fund that's > US$9,999

According to Huffington Post $3,679,491 was given by people who identified their zip as "33480". $2,085,047 from 683 people to Republicans $1,594,444 from 534 people to Democrats

See also this fascinating piece in Naked Shorts
Madoff tops charts;skeptics ask how
By Michael Ocrant
Mention Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities to anyone working on Wall Street at any time over the last 40 years and you’re likely to get a look of immediate recognition.

The final sentence ... "
Madoff, who believes that he deserves “some credibility as a trader for 40 years,” says: “The strategy is the strategy and the returns are the returns.” He suggests that those who believe there is something more to it and are seeking an answer beyond that are wasting their time.

So ? - well the date of the piece is MAR/Hedge (RIP) Page 1 No. 89 May 2001

Now some more information on Mr Bienes New Times Broward Palm beach Bob Norman's Blog 17th Dec 2008

Bienes, an accountant who lives in a house assessed at about $7 million on swank Bay Colony Drive in Fort Lauderdale, (where Mayfair bookeeping services hang their shingle - see below) once had deep ties to Madoff.

He (he's about 70 now) and his wife have been generous benefactors - His donations in Florida have tallied $30 million, according to a 2005 article in an English publication run by the Genesis Foundation. Since then he and his wife have given at least another $4 million to Holy Cross and most recently he's been pouring money into St. Thomas Aquinas. And that's just Florida.

They like London and have a flat behind the Ritz Hotel) so they shifted a large part of their giving to Britain. The Royal Opera and the Donmar Warehouse now get their money.

The Bieneses love Glyndebourne, which they support heavily - as well as the English Chamber Orchestra Both Mike and Diana are on the Board and in September they are organising an ECO fundraising dinner at Windsor Castle with the Prince of Wales. Tables are £10,000 a piece.

Currently, Bienes and Avellino run a company called Mayfair Bookkeeping Services - 4750 NE 23rd Ave Fort Lauderdale , FL 333087767141. Perhaps coincidentally, Madoff has a financial base in Mayfair, England, where the Evening Standard reported that he kept his "dynastic piggy bank."

UPDATE :

Selva Ozelli CPA has written about US tax implications of risk management transactions of hedge fund managers. This may apply to Madoff and his foreign investors as well.

He has interesting things to say about the swift collapse of the Carlyle Capital Corporation (CCC) listed on the Amsterdam exchange which we posted about Thursday, March 13, 2008 Carlyle Capital Corporation go bust - US$16.6 BN ++++ down the tubes...more to follow and also Friday, March 07, 2008 Carlyle leads the way with Triple A mortage Fire Sales as margin calls cannot be met plus the woes of Bear Stearns which we have covered over the last two years ....see all these posts .

Mr Ozelli is very technical and understanding his arguments require knowledge of tax laws etc., beyond even our vast and experienced legal counsel. The bottom line seems to be that if you were unwise enough to invest in an offshore hedge fund that goes tits up yuo may need to pay taxes even thou you have lost all your money.

The truth about Bloody Sunday still concealed

The Government announced on December 18th 1974 that they will pay £42,000 compensation to relatives of those killed in the Bloody Sunday riots in Northern Ireland nearly three years ago.

An inquiry by Lord Widgery in 1972 had completely exonerated the army.

Thirteen men were killed when British troops opened fire on a group of civil rights demonstrators in the Bogside district of Londonderry on 30 January 1972.

The payments, which range from £250 to more than £16,500, were being made "in a spirit of goodwill and conciliation", the Ministry of Defence said.

The widow of one of the victims and mother of eight children, Mrs Ita McKinney, is to receive more than £13,000 from the government.

She said: "I will accept the money on behalf of my children. It will not make any difference to my life. I have lost my husband, things will still be the same."

The Rt Hon Lord Saville of Newdigate is the chaiman of a Tribunal of Enquiry established in 1998 by Tony Blair into the events on Sunday 30 January 1972 which led to loss of life in connection with the procession in Londonderry on that day, taking account of any new information relevant to events on that day.

The last of the 900 witnesses to the Tribunal was heard in January 2005.

On the 12 August 2005 a Press release was issued - Final Report - The report is currently in preparation.

"Tessa Jowell, let slip on BBC TV's Sunday AM programme that "the latest estimate )of costs of the Savile enquiry) . . . is about £400 million"

Downing Street and ministers joined together in claiming that the "awful" cost of the Bloody Sunday inquiry as a reason for rejecting growing demands from the relatives of victims and Muslim leaders for an official enquiry into the 7/7 bombings.

On Wednesday, 19 November 2008 the Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward said that the Saville enquiry will not publish its findings for at least another year.

Whoremonger Harlan Ullman brings more Shock 'n' Awe to Islamabad with Hilary Sinnott.

Well, well, well, our mole in Islamabad tells us of some surprising visitors to President Asif Ali Zardari . Harlan K Ullman, the great military strategist and designer of ‘Shock and Awe’ strategy for the US military, (Which his ex- colleague Secretary Richard Armitage described to former President Mushariff as "Do as we say or we bomb you back into the Stone Age") turned up recently and has enjoying a stay at the Residency along with military analyst Shuja Nawaz and has been ladling out advice ....

Ullman was allegedly friendly with the beautiful and tragic Benazir Bhutto in her luxurious Dubai exile - but perhaps not on the level he was with the whores provided by Madame Palfrey from her Washington on line bordello.

This coincided with the arrival in tandem (pic of him in Basra) of Sir Hilary Synnott KCMG, electrical engineer, former submariner and also former UK High Commissioner to Pakistan, and now Senior Consulting Fellow at The International Institute for Strategic Studies who met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on the 15th of December to discuss security and defence issues.

National Security Advisor , Pashtun Mahmud Ali Durrani and Pakistan’s former Ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani , now the Pakistan Ambassador to US, friend and confidant of Benazir Bhutto and also Co-Chair of the Hudson Institute's Project on the Future of the Muslim World , are said to be facilitating and promoting Dr Ullman’s advisory role on behalf of the ‘Atlantic Council’, a Washington-based think tank have also been kicking about offering the odd bon mot.

Durrani was the man who encouraged then Army chief and president General Muhammed Zia al Haq to witness the tank exercise in Bahawalpur on 17 August, 1988. the C-130 returning the party to Islamabad, crashed killing all on board.

Curiously , Durrani was also an advisor in the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, 2001 to 2004

Apparently this exotic caravanserai is preparing some sort of national security assessment on Pakistan for President-elect Obama.

Conversation overheard so far suggest that a primary objective would be for the President to set up and preside over a national advisory council... at the same time repealing President Pervez Musharraf’s infamous 17th Amendment to the Constitution which gave him god like powers and protection from any form of prosecution.

This would certainly help relations with opposition leader and twice ex Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (cricketer, the richest man in Pakistan and the man who ordered the Pak nuclear tests) of the Pakistan Muslim League who has ,in a fiery Press conference demanded it be removed , as per the Charter of Democracy that the Pakistan People’s Party was the other signatory of. Sharif's The Ittefaq Group saw a startling rise during the time of Gen. Zia al Haq who promoted Nawaz Sharif to enter politics and be his right hand man in the Punjab.

This National Security Council would act as a sort of liason between the President and the PM, or at least between the President and the rest of the hands-on executive.

Other listeners in the arras say the famed neo-con has advised the President to sack his pointman in Punjab for creating unnecessary friction between the PPP and the PML-N.

Some unconfirmed reports suggest that Dr Ullman stayed at the Presidency during his recent visit to Islamabad. He was a confidant of the horribly assassinated Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and now said (if only by him and his office) to an informal advisor to the Pakistani President.

Nobody seems to know quite who is footing the bill for the services of this group of willing advisors.

Harlan Ullman co authored with US Senator John McCain, of Unfinished Business: Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Beyond - Defusing the Dangers That Threaten America’s Security.

Seems a curious bag of neo-cons to be helping the "progressive" President - Elect O'Bomber to develop his liberal policies.

Governor Blagojevich presents his CV for a nice new well paid job for him, his wife or both of them

"I will fight. I will fight. I will fight until I take my last breath. I have done nothing wrong," "I'm not going to quit a job the people hired me to do because of false accusations and a political lynch mob," Governor Blagojevich said in a 3 minute claim for his innocence.

Faced with a faltering 21-member, bipartisan Illinois House panel to consider his impeachment...

Blago has a redoubtable weapon, which many, many folks don't want dragged through the courts.

He knows where the bodies are buried.

John "Bomber" Hutton reflects on the need for tourists in Iraq

“I think Iraq is in a fundamentally better place,It is no longer a threat to its people or its neighbours,” that's John Hutton quoted in the Times today.

The US Air Force Link of December 18th tells us ..."In total, coalition aircraft flew 44 close-air-support missions for Operation Iraqi Freedom." .. the same number as the previous day but one more than on the 16th.

"But it’s not perfect, it won’t be for some time. It will be a while before there are tourists." adds Magdelen College scholar, John Hutton.

The Times quotes Kim "Rentagob" Howells, who was until recently the Foreign Office Minister responsible for Afghanistan, said that the country was “corrupt from top to bottom”. Mr Hutton concedes: “There is a lot of corruption in Afghanistan and it’s got to be tackled . . . "

The Air Force Link says a total of 56 close-air- support missions were flown in support of the ISAF and Afghan security forces, reconstruction activities and route patrols - it was 61 the day before and 67 on the 16th.

The Times says our new ( since Oct. 3rd) Defence Secretary thinks that he has the perfect job. He cannot stop talking about “our boys”, making it clear that they are heroes. He has donned the body armour in Afghanistan to see how heavy it is and he loves the ceremony as much as the boys’ toys.

"The public should prepare for a long haul." says Hutton.

..and the civilians of Iraq and Afghanistan get ready for a lot more sudden, searing, blinding, strafing, and bombing .... sudden death sent from the skies.

However his constituents in Barrow in Furness can rest assured in their jobs, as their MP has repeatedly argued not just for Trident not to be scrapped, but for more nuclear submarines to be built.

Ex flatmate of Alan "Basher" Milburn seems to have found his ideal role.

WWHD ? What would Hitler do + advice from Rowan Atkinson to Gordon .."Government's plans to boost spending - addict returning to the drug"

David Gordon at the Mises Institute has an excellent esssay "Nazi Economics"

"What, then, would be Hitler’s economic policy?" he asks at one point .... or in a more contemporary fashion WWHD ?

He shows that pre-war Nazi economy couldn't be described as capitalist as all forms of private ownership (depending if you were Jewish , homosexual etc.,) were preserved. The government did not nationalize the means of production, as in Soviet Russia. Prices could not be set by the individual or the business , - appearance of ordinary markets, prices, wages, and interest rates was retained but wholly state controlled. Both internally and externally.

Businesses in all their activities were bound to obey unconditionally the orders issued by the government’s supreme office of production management. This office (the Reichswirtschaftsministerium in Nazi Germany) tells the shop managers what and how to produce, at what prices and from whom to buy, at what prices and to whom to sell. It assigns every worker to his job and fixes his wages - (what banks should lend, what for and to whom ?). It decreed to whom and on what terms the capitalists must entrust their funds. (what banks should lend, what for and to whom ?)

Externally the Nazis engaged in bilateral trades which were engineered by Schacht (his full name was remarkably Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht) , especially with South east European countries. Such agreements would involve particular commodities, with the rate of exchange between the German and foreign currencies "fixed at a level different from the actual rate of exchange... the barter agreements gave Germany a kind of monopoly of the trade with the countries of southeastern Europe which could not fail to link these countries politically with the Reich."

He points to the calls for extreme measures for extreme circumstances and exemplifies it by the increasingly lunatic Paul Krugman, e.g., in The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 [Norton, 2008] who said "there will have to be an assertion of more government control – in effect, it will come closer to a full temporary nationalization of a significant part of the financial system."

David Gordon adds finally that the rapid transition to state socialism under Germany during the 1930s illustrates the dangers of such a course.

He quotes Mises (Human Action, Mises Institute, 1998, p. 854.)

If one wants to correct their manifest unsuitableness and preposterousness by supplementing the first acts of intervention with more and more of such acts, one must go farther and farther until the market economy has been entirely destroyed and socialism has been substituted for it.

If you want to try to trace a perspective and put some sort of order for your own sake on the increasingly bizarre decisions of our masters, political, economic and even religious, now that the Archbishop of Canterbury has seen fit to chime in... read this.

Madoff swindle - evidently a family business

Investigators from the SEC rushing (?) to uncover / conceal Bernard Madoff's alleged frauds last week , found records from what appear to be thousands of clients but ran into trouble with a key Madoff lieutenant who was evasive...

The SEC and other investigators are also examining the activities of Mr. Madoff's wife, Ruth, once worked at her husband's firm ... and what role she may have played in the alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

ABC News reports that a high-level SEC compliance official who worked for the agency when it found no problems at the firm in 2005, later married Madoff's neice Shana Madoff (Balenciaga label whore) , Bernard Madoff Investment Securities' compliance counsel.

Eric Swanson, the SEC compliance official, was involved in compliance exams at the broker dealer in 1999 and 2004, not in the 2005 audit, and he left the SEC on 2006.

Swanson began seeing Shana Madoff in spring 2006 and left the SEC in August that year. Swanson and Madoff married in 2007... Swanson, is now general counsel at BATS Exchange

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Kicked off the Bill Bernbach Memorial Dinner Hosted by Clarissa and Edgar Bronfman, Jr., Violaine and John Bernbach, Marion and Peter Madoff and Shana Madoff At Asprey.

Alex helped with the Birnbaum Travel Guides, the guidebook series founded by her late husband, Stephen Birnbaum. Alex is the consulting editor of Birnbaum's Disney Guides, the official guides to the Disney theme parks.

Colts through to playoffs - it's Superbowl time again

The Colts clinched a playoff place with their 8th straight win at a balmy andwarm Jacksonville Municipal Stadium last night. It wasn't a pretty game but Peyton Manning passed for 364 yards (hitting his first 17 passes for 219 yards) and three touchdowns and Keiwan Ratliff returned an interception 35 yards for the touchdown that beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 31-24.

The Colts are the first team in NFL history to win 11 or more games in six consecutive seasons and make Tony Dungy the first coach since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to take 10 successive teams to the playoffs.

Eight weeks ago, the Colts were 3-4 and tickets were available for their new stadium. Now they are 11-4, winners of eight straight, their tickets are the hottest and they are the wild card no one wants to face.

The Colts are in the playoffs for a league-best ninth time in 10 years. Dungy's 10-year run includes 1999-2001 with Tampa Bay and all seven of his seasons with the Colts, 2002-08.

Superbowl 43 - Tampa Bay - the countdown has begun .....

RAF terrorist Christian Klar released - only one Baader Meinhof gang member still in jail

A very fit and healthy looking former Red Army Faction (RAF) terrorist 56 year old Christian Klar has been released after 26 years in prison - his granting of parole was announced on November 24th. . He left the Bruchsal prison last Friday says his lawyer and this was confirmed yesterday by The Ministry of Justice in Baden-Wuerttemberg .

Klar was a key accomplice of Brigitte Mohnhaupt, who was released in March 2007 after serving 24 years in jail for murdering prominent establishment figures, including those of West German chief federal prosecutor Siegfried Buback, Dresdner Bank head Juergen Ponto and Hanns-Martin Schleyer, the head of the country's industry federation. He was convicted in 1985 of nine murders and 11 counts of attempted murder - he had been in prison since 1982.

At the time Klar had appealed for clemency to the German President Horst Köhler. However he also sent a message to the Rosa Luxemburg Conference of left-wing groups in January, declaring that the time had come to "complete the defeat of the plans of capitalism and to open the door to another future." Monday, May 07, 2007 Clemency for RAF terrorists refused by German President

At the time Günther Beckstein, the conservative interior minister of Bavaria, warned Köhler not to grant clemency. A noted Protstant he told the mass-circulation newspaper Bild: "The aggressive tone and the ideological stubbornness show that this is an incorrigible terrorist criminal." Beckstein went on to become President of Bavaria but in the September elections the CSU had a massive setback after 4 decades in power and he lost his position - to be followed by Horst Seehofer.

The leader of the liberal Free Democrats party, Guido Westerwelle, took a similar line. "Klar is no reformed criminal," he said. "He remains a convicted serial killer and I strictly oppose granting him clemency."

Now only one former member of the RAF, Birgit Hogefeld, 52, remains in prison. She was arrested in 1993 and in November 1996 she was given three life sentences and is currently in a Frankfurt detention centre.

In 2008 Federal president Köhler denied her clemency request - she must serve at least another three years before she might be considered eligible for parole because of the "severity of the crimes."

See Monday, October 01, 2007 Stadtguerilla - Red Army Faction - Stasi - Stockwell ?

There is an intersting on-line archive of RAF documents, statements etc here this includes items from the Struggle Against World Imperialism Organization, a Palestinian group which hijacked a Lufthansa airliner in 1977 in support of the RAF, at the time of the Schleyer kidnapping.

Worth reading is "The Urban Guerrilla Is History..." The Final Communiqué From The Red Army Faction (RAF)

Curiously Jack Prescott, now 64 – a founder member of the Angry Brigade, Britain’s only home-grown urban terrorist group (not counting Gordon's 75% home brew extreme neo-Fascist fundamentalist Muslim terrists) , which carried out 25 attacks on Government buildings (they bombed of the Dept. of Employment and Productivity on the day of a large demonstration against the Industrial Relations Bill) , embassies and corporations cropped up in the UK news as the husband of Lisa Christensen, director of children’s services in Norfolk.

Global warming ! Dontcha just hate it !!

UNICEF Photo of the Year awarded to 21 year old Belgian freelance , Alice Smeets

Better quality at her website also gallery "Growing up in Hiati" all (c) A Smeets
e-mail: alice.smeets(at)googlemail.com