Compiled by G. Edward Griffin 

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2008 OCTOBER 18 – OCTOBER 24

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If original sources are missing, click on Cached.
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Asterisk indicates an amazing event or phenomenon.
    (See them all together here.)

OPEC announces cut in oil production, but oil prices continue downward below $65 in response to drop in world demand. USAToday 2008 Oct 24 (Cached)

UK economy shrinks for first time in 16 years as marks are in virtual freefall. UKMail 2008 Oct 24 (Cached)

          

Asian stocks crash. Bush calls summit of 20 nations. China Daily 2008 Oct 24 (Cached)

Excellent documentary on the right to bear arms. Your life could depend on knowing these facts.
JPF 2008 Oct 22

US: Tax protestor, Irwin Schiff, permanently banned from giving tax advice. Yahoo 2008 Oct 22 (Cached)

          
     Ceiling painting in smokers' lounge. A message here?

Dr. Mercola explains why you should avoid flu shots and how large doses of a simple vitamin will stop flu in its tracks. Mercola 2008 Oct 21

Yahoo fires 1,500 workers. 3rd quarter profit falls 64%. Yahoo 2008 Oct 21 (Cached)

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            FROM OUR READERS
Send comments to gedward.griffin@verizon.net but please be aware that personal responses are not possible.

IS THERE A HIDDEN STORY BEHIND DIGITAL TV?
I frequent the Reality Zone as a reliable source of important information. Thank you for your efforts to provide this information.

I came across something that I have not seen commented on anywhere from a socio/politcal standpoint: the federally mandated transition from analog television to digital television.

I have tried to read up on why exactly this is happening, but the "why" does not seem clear. The dominant story that I get on internet searches I've done is that in digital "the picture is better." If that is the case, why is the government requiring analog to be shut off? Shouldn't they just leave it be and eventually the superior product will take hold? This is what it says on dtvtransition.org :

"Analog television service isn’t as efficient as DTV. It uses up much more valuable spectrum that - once the DTV transition is completed - will be provided to public safety organizations, such as first responders including fire and police departments. Remaining spectrum will be auctioned off for the production of new services. "

Also, from what I understand, digital television sends its information in computer bytes, unlike analog. It would stand to reason then, that the information transmitted via digital would be subject to more cyber-tracking, control, and monitoring mechanisms than analog. Is it not sort of like having radio over the airwaves versus radio on the internet? The internet is much more "trackable" by the powers that be, as opposed to the free airwaves. Anything on the internet can be tracked to an IP address and then a physical address. Could it be the same for digital television? A tool for more surveillance?

I do not know much about television or this new federal mandate which evidently will require us to purchase a "converter box" if we have old TVs. Have you heard anything about this issue, or do you know of someone who may know the repercussions of this?

Thanks.
Ryan from Florida, 2008 October 21

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READER THINKS GRIFFIN'S VIEWS ARE TOO EXTREME
Dear Mr. Griffin,
While browsing your website and looking at some of your excellent
articles, I read through your missive "future calling", and the creed
that you expound.

I am merely an ordinary plebeian, so I may not understand all your
sophisticated thoughts, but you seem to have become very religious
about your individualism to the point of extreme. You seem to have
lost sight that it is not a religion you are expounding which needs to
be puritanical, but what matters to people, what is workable, and what
is their need. It is a human invention, and it needs to serve human
needs. Here are just two points where your ideas become dicey. 1) A
blood family is a unit, separate from an individual, and separate from
the extrapolation of its converse to a totalitarian state as you
imagine all combines to become. While you someplace state that there
needs to be a balance and extremes are no good, you again swung back
in your creed exposition to deny any existence of any grouping, for
the abstract fear of its limit. I remain unconvinced. 2) There is no
notion of public commons. you want all things privatized and run on
market forces in true competition. Sorry - don't buy it when the
demand can be infinite on limited supply or limited ability to acquire
it, or essential services and "things" need to be held for the common
good of all the peoples, especially to meet their existential needs.
This includes air, water, electricity, money creation (that you
concede), air waves, etc. etc. You want total deregulation, and
government out of all responsibility other than the minimal ones you
list. All that too is utopia isn't it? Many things you have stated are
good, as good as apple pie. If you tone down your rigidity, which to
me, sounds almost like religion, the ideas would be more implementable
as a happy compromise of the things you have so well articulated. I
really like your clarification of the emphasis on non-coercion. That's
great. I don't like your sole emphasis on all or nothing approach
towards individuals or totalitarianism. While many arguments can be
made to show what happens in the limit - it is not the limit for which
we design the operating envelope of any system. As a system architect
in electrical engineering, I know that from my own professional system
design experience. See my patents listed on my website to verify my
credentials for what I assert if you wish. Here too, a gentle system
that does what's desired by the people for whom it derives its power
and to whom it serves, as you rightly put it, can create a balance.
Your emphasis on principles is excellent. I appreciate that very much.
While I learnt from your essay, I don't agree with its fundamental
conclusions.

Thank you.
Zahir Ebrahim, 2008, October 18

EG'S REPLY:

Hello Zahir.
I am saddened by your comments because they tell me that I was not successful in convincing you that the battle between collectivism and individualism is not subject to compromise. As I see it, in the end, only one will survive and there can be no permanent middle ground. Collectivism, like pregnancy, once begun must go to full term or be aborted. There is no such thing as a balance between pregnancy and non-pregnancy. Government power never voluntarily stops short of total.

Although my ideological beliefs are not in the same category as religious beliefs, nevertheless, I do hold them to be extremely important. They may not relate to my life in the hereafter but they do relate to my life in the here and now - which is no small matter.

I am dedicated to freedom for myself and my fellow man. If the day should come when you find yourself in abject slavery in a collectivist state, I know that you, also, will be extreme in rejecting the system that enslaves you. I think the only difference between us is that you probably don't believe it could happen to you, whereas I believe it now is too close to ignore.

Thank you for taking the time to express you view.
Ed Griffin

              ==================================

ZEITGEIST ADDENDUM REJECTED, POINT-BY-POINT
by Daniel Morin, 2008 October 21

I agree entirely with Mr. Griffin regarding Zeitgeist Addendum. The first movie, Zeitgeist, is much better than its Addendum. The first part of the first movie is more a matter of opinions. The second part documents actual facts about 9/11. The third part gives a brief overview about the Federal Reserve. If I had to recommend the first movie, I would recommend only the second and third part.

After reading Mr. Griffin’s comment, I decided to watch the third part again at (More)

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THE PROFIT MOTIVE HAS GOT TO GO
Comments by Dustin Archer - in defense of Zeitgeist Addendum
2008 October 13

Greetings, I am an avid support of Freedom Force and a reader of The Creature from Jekyll Island. I am also a huge proponent of the world envisioned in Zeitgeist Addendum.

It is my hope that those statements do not dissuade you from reading the content of this message, as I am deeply curious if you understand the underlying issues and if I will be able to continue to associate myself with your organization in the future.

While I do not disagree with many of your claims and I understand the failures in the Addendum, the main overall argument must be refuted. You [Mr. Griffin] are a man who believes in the profit motive, and thus your natural inclination is to defend that ideology, even it it is outdated. I challenge you to sufficiently dispute the fact that seeking profit results in exploitation of both the people of the world as well as destruction of the worlds resources. No matter how individualist-based a world we live in, there will still be a great deal of wealth stratification that will not go away. This results from education, access to technology, etc. (More, including reader response)

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STOCK MARKET EXPLAINED IN ONE EASY LESSON
Once upon a time in a village, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each.

The villagers seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest, and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10 and as
supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort. He further announced that he would now buy at $20.

This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going
back to their farms.

The offer increased to $25 each and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch it! The man
now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now buy on his behalf.

In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers. 'Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at $35 and when the man returns from the city, you can sell them to him for $50 each.'

The villagers rounded up with all their savings and bought all the monkeys. Then they never saw the man nor his assistant ever again, only monkeys everywhere!

Now you have a better understanding of how the stock market works.

From Nance. planetnews8@gmail.com , 2008 Oct 5

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HOW CAN BANKS BE IN TROUBLE WHEN THEY CREATE MONEY OUT OF NOTHING?
Dear Mr. Griffin
I hope you are doing well. I have a question and I greatly appreciate you taking the time to help me. It, of course, concerns the big topic today, the bailout.

Of all of the commentaries I have read, I haven’t seen anything on how this mess relates to fractional reserve banking. I am just a novice, having read your books and listened to your audiotapes. But something just sticks in my craw, if you know what I mean. That is, with the leverage of fractional reserve banking, how can these investment and commercial banks be, according to their records, in such bad shape?

if a third of their mortgage-backed securities go bad and become non-performing assets, they still have 2/3’s of their assets performing. These assets are still producing a considerable amount of revenue. To me, that should be more than enough to pay their obligations. The banks claim that their balance sheets are in bad shape because of these toxic mortgaged back loans. They claim they are about broke; yet, their cash flow should still be very significant from the rest of their performing assets. Just not as much as before. Am I getting close to figuring these guys out? I would appreciate any comment you might have on my thoughts.
Respectfully,
Rick Taylor, 2008 Oct 8

EG'S REPLY:

I regret that I do not have time to answer your excellent question in great depth, but part of the answer can be found here.

The other part is that, in addition to the fractional-reserve issue, banks recently have been going even further by creating/lending more money than the real value of the underlying collateral. In a way, you might call this hyper fractional-reserve banking. So, when borrowers default, banks are unable to liquidate their collateral for enough to cover the loans. It is true that they should still do OK if only a small percentage of these loans defaulted at one time, but the trend of late is for a large proportion to do so, and massive write-offs from assets on the balance sheet have put many banks into a position where they no longer have the liquid capital to pay salaries and overhead and continue in business. Modern banks have a lot of overhead.

Even though the money they created for loans was from thin air, nevertheless, it went into the economy. Eventually, that money is supposed to return to the banks when loans are paid off and, at that point, it would disappear back into the computer chips from which it came. Normally, this is no problem, because borrowers eventually returns this money plus interest; but, when loans are written off as bad debts, the borrowers do NOT return that money into the bank, and the bank has to cover the losses from the asset column of their books, which means that it is paid back by bank stockholders in the form of a loss in the equity value of their stock. So, when the Fed pumps money into the banks to give them “liquidity,” as they like to call it, what it really is doing is taking it from taxpayers in the form of inflation, allowing the fraud to continue a little longer, and protecting bank shareholders from severe loss. It is a rescue plan, all right, but it is a rescue of the politically connected financiers and investors, not the common man.

Thanks for writing.

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ZEITGEIST ADDENDUM - A CRITICAL REVIEW
Hello Mr. Griffin.
I'm sure you have heard of the popular movie on the internet, Zeitgeist. It had three separate parts about Christianity being fake, the Federal Reserve being a conspiracy and bad, and that the government was involved in 9/11. Well the sequel just came out, Zeitgeist Addendum, and it seems very dangerous. This movie screams controlled opposition/false solution propaganda more than anything I have ever seen.

The movie starts off with why the Federal Reserve is bad. It seems to latch onto valid concerns that the freedom movement/Ron Paul supporters have been worried about. But its solution is really, really bad and is already sending a lot of people in the wrong direction. It goes on to say that money is evil and has caused every problem in the world. If only we abolished all money and private property everything would be great. All resources should collectively belong to all humans of the world. Intelligent management of resources and technology could allow everyone to be free. The world would turn into some utopia. All crime would go away and greed and corruption would go away. We should be a one world community. It even specifically says that voting for liberty candidates like Ron Paul is the wrong thing to do. I guess we should give up all hope and let bad politicians do whatever they want to us.

It is full of doublespeak, wild assumptions, and crazy socialist propaganda. It also put in more about how religion is bad. I am convinced this thing was specifically made to stop the liberty movement from achieving anything. It puts in just enough truths that we believe in to trick people into following the wrong path.

I think statements about what is wrong with this film from liberty organizations like Freedom Force International would do a lot of good and would prevent some people from going in the wrong direction. Some people might think the best idea is to just ignore it and it will go away. But it appears to be incredibly popular online and gaining support. Even the most popular Ron Paul website posted the video. And the most popular Ron Paul message board has three threads with hundreds of posts talking about it. Here is the video link.
Jonathan, 2008 Oct 6

REPLY FROM EG:

Jonathan, I don't like to criticize anything that is helping to spread the truth about the Federal Reserve and 9/11 but I must agree with the substance of what you have said about this video. I watched it two nights ago and was deeply disturbed by its message. At first, I thought it would be best to just let it play itself out in expectation that most viewers would cross it off as whacky. However, the production value is high, the effects and sound score are compelling, and there is enough truth embedded in the beginning to capture the attention and possibly the trust of many within the freedom
movement. So here are comments on my items of concern: (More)
 

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DANGEROUS SERVANT;
A Discourse on Government by G. Edward Griffin

“Government is not reason. It is not eloquence. It is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” – George Washington

G. Edward Griffin responds to questions from a camera crew creating a video documentary on the U.S. Constitution. He answers the most difficult questions imaginable in the fields of political and social science. The depth and clarity is amazing, especially considering he is speaking extemporaneously without script or notes. In an era when many people are just now waking up to the WHAT of current events, here are issues for the brain that go far beyond that shallow pool into the deep water of WHY and HOW. (More)

THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND; A SECOND LOOK AT THE FEDERAL RESERVE
by G. Edward Griffin
Where does money come from? Where does it go? Who makes it? The money magician's secrets are unveiled. Here is a close look at their mirrors and smoke machines, the pulleys, cogs, and wheels that create the grand illusion called money. A boring subject? Just wait. You'll be hooked in five minutes. It reads like a detective story – which it really is, but it's all true. This book is about the most blatant scam of history. (More)

THE FEDERAL RESERVE
A Discourse by G. Edward Griffin
The author of The Creature from Jekyll Island; A Second Look at the Federal Reserve adresses such issues as: Who created the Fed? How is money created?
What impact has this had on the American Dollar? Should our currency be backed by gold or silver? Where does government get most of its funding? Why do bankers get away with it? What might happen if we continue on our current path? What might come from a return to constitutional money? (More)

FIAT EMPIRE; The Federal Reserve vs. The Constitution
This documentary shows how the Federal Reserve creates inflation, destabilizes the economy, causes wars, and enriches financial elitists at the expense of the common man. You will learn that the Fed is not a government agency but a banking cartel, and you will understand why many Americans view it as a sophisticated form of organized crime. (More)

INVISIBLE BALLOTS;
A Temptation for Electronic Vote Fraud.   Governments are installing computerized voting systems with no paper record to verify accuracy. Elections will be controlled by companies that do not allow voters to inspect their software. If vote counting becomes privatized, there may be no way to get it back. High-tech vote fraud is already a reality. If you value your vote, you absolutely must get this information to your friends – and fast! (More)

THE POLITICALLY INCORRECT GUIDE TO GLOBAL WARMING AND ENVIRONMENTALISM
Here is scientific proof that: the Earth often has been hotter than it is now; only a tiny portion of green-house gases are man-made; most of Antarctica now is getting colder; the media only recently abandoned the global "cooling” scare; and more. These facts counter the global-warming junk science that is scaring people into meekly accepting more government. (More)

TORTURED IN RED CHINA
The Persecution of Falun Gong
The Testimony of Charles Lee
Dr. Charles Lee is one of the few political prisoners held in Chinese prisons who has survived to tell about it. After receiving a medical degree in China, he came to the U.S. in 1991 for graduate study and soon thereafter became an American citizen. In 2003 he returned to China to proclaim the truth about government persecution of Falun Gong, a non-violent, spiritual movement dedicated to “Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance”. He was arrested and sentenced to 3 years in prison where he was beaten, force-fed, and tortured, which he describes in gruesome detail in this video interview by G. Edward Griffin. On January 21, 2006, Charles was released and returned to San Francisco. Now he is a leader in the movement that has motivated millions of members of the Chinese Communist Party to resign. (More)

HEALTH MYTHS EXPOSED
A former drug-design chemist confronts ten myths that prop up a sick health-care industry. He shows that FDA-approved drugs are NOT safe and effective, pharmaceutical drugs do NOT improve the quality of life, cholesterol is NOT bad for you, and other myths. There is a surprising bonus in the section on the real cause of obesity and why dieting and appetite suppressants usually don’t work – and the author shows what does. That section alone is worth the price. (More)

WASHINGTON YOU'RE FIRED!
This documentary focuses on the growing police state in America and shows how the Bill of Rights and the Consti-tution literally have been cancelled by recent legislation and executive orders. With the next crisis, the President will have power to confiscate all private property including homes, cars, and money; all commercial property; all means of transportation; and can round us up into work brigades. Anyone who criticizes can be imprisoned without legal defense. Presidents now have more dictatorial power than King George had when Americans fought the Revolutionary War to rid them-selves of him. This program includes a plan for restoring the Constitution without armed revolution. (More)

UN-COUNTED
The New Math of American Elections. This documentary shows how the elections of 2004 and 2006 were stolen and who did it. This is not a conspiracy theory. It’s the real thing! The people who perpetrated this fraud remain in place to do the same thing in 2008 – and every election thereafter. This has nothing to do with Republicans vs. Democrats. It is about controlling the electoral process so that the common citizen will never be able to break the grip of those who control both major parties. This grip CAN be broken, but only if more Americans become aware that it exists. That’s where you come in. Acquire this video and show it to your friends. (More)

THE LATE GREAT U.S.A. The Coming Merger with Mexico and Canada. While many people are still clinging to the belief that The U.S.will never give up its sovereignty, the process already is far advanced. This is not just a super highway between Mexico and Canada, but a total political, economic, and military merger into what will be called the North American Union, identical to the creation of the EU. Here are the chilling details of a plan being implemented largely behind closed doors by global elitists to terminate the United States. (More)