Dollar Sinks to New Low

BERLIN (AP) — The dollar fell to a new all-time low Wednesday in late European trading amid speculation that the Federal Reserve will soon cut interest rates and on a warning from the U.S. treasury secretary that turbulence in financial markets may linger.

The 13-nation euro rose as high as $1.3901 in late afternoon European trading — topping its previous record of $1.3852, reached on July 24. It almost immediately fell back to $1.3889, compared with the $1.3832 it bought in New York late Tuesday.

The sudden surge came after Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, speaking to officials from some of the biggest financial firms in the U.S., said that volatility in financial markets will take some time to be resolved, particularly in the area of subprime mortgages.

"We have been experiencing market turbulence and as I have said for awhile, it is going to take some time to work its way out," Paulson said at a meeting at the Treasury Department. "We are going to work our way through this, in some markets more quickly than others."

The euro's strength threatens to make European exports more expensive, and therefore less competitive — although the currency's movements this year have been gradual rather than abrupt.

The strong euro "is weighing on growth," French Budget Minister Eric Woerth said after a Cabinet meeting in Paris on Wednesday.

While the weaker dollar makes U.S. exports more competitive, it diminishes the spending power of American tourists in Europe.

The dollar, which has hovered within a few cents of its record low over recent weeks amid the market turmoil caused by the subprime mortgage crisis, had come under new pressure since the U.S. Labor Department issued unexpectedly poor August jobs data on Friday.

That report strengthened speculation that the Fed will cut interest rates at its Sept. 18 meeting by as much as half a percentage point. A cut from the current rate, 5.25 percent, would be the first reduction in four years.

"Traders continue to second-guess how (Fed Chairman Ben) Bernanke and his team will act" next week, said James Hughes, a market analyst at CMC Markets.

Lower interest rates, used to jump-start the economy, can weaken a currency by giving investors lower returns on investments denominated in the currency.

Bernanke offered no hints during a speech in Germany on Tuesday.

"The fact no mention of monetary policy was made in yesterday's speech in Berlin has done little to placate the market, and we're also seeing growing speculation that the Fed may elect to cut rates by a half a point as they try to steer the economy away from recession," Hughes said.

The European Central Bank last week put its own two-year run of gradual interest rate rises on hold, but left many economists still expecting a quarter-point increase from the current 4 percent before the end of the year.

The dollar was lower on Wednesday against the British pound, drifting down to $2.0296 from its level of $2.0317 in New York late Tuesday.

The U.S. currency was lower against the Japanese yen, even as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that he would resign, putting an end to his troubled year-old government. The dollar ambled down to 114.27 yen from 114.30 yen.

At Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, American newlyweds Doracy and Russell Harrison said the unfavorable exchange rate had prompted changes in their plans.

"Accommodation is where you really feel it," said Doracy Harrison, 27, of Raleigh, North Carolina, a program manager at an aquatic center.

"We probably wouldn't have come if were weren't staying with friends. We haven't been as gung-ho about eating out and have planned on low-key cafes instead of nicer places we'd usually eat."

U.S. Officials Begin Crafting Iran Bombing Plan

FOX NEWS | September 11, 2007
James Rosen

WASHINGTON � A recent decision by German officials to withhold support for any new sanctions against Iran has pushed a broad spectrum of officials in Washington to develop potential scenarios for a military attack on the Islamic regime, FOX News confirmed Tuesday.

Germany � a pivotal player among three European nations to rein in Iran's nuclear program over the last two-and-a-half years through a mixture of diplomacy and sanctions supported by the United States � notified its allies last week that the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel refuses to support the imposition of any further sanctions against Iran that could be imposed by the U.N. Security Council.

The announcement was made at a meeting in Berlin that brought German officials together with Iran desk officers from the five member states of the Security Council. It stunned the room, according to one of several Bush administration and foreign government sources who spoke to FOX News, and left most Bush administration principals concluding that sanctions are dead.

The Germans voiced concern about the damaging effects any further sanctions on Iran would have on the German economy � and also, according to diplomats from other countries, gave the distinct impression that they would privately welcome, while publicly protesting, an American bombing campaign against Iran's nuclear facilities.

Germany's withdrawal from the allied diplomatic offensive is the latest consensus across relevant U.S. agencies and offices, including the State Department, the National Security Council and the offices of the president and vice president. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, the most ardent proponent of a diplomatic resolution to the problem of Iran's nuclear ambitions, has had his chance on the Iranian account and come up empty.

Political and military officers, as well as weapons of mass destruction specialists at the State Department, are now advising Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the diplomatic approach favored by Burns has failed and the administration must actively prepare for military intervention of some kind. Among those advising Rice along these lines are John Rood, the assistant secretary for the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation; and a number of Mideast experts, including Ambassador James Jeffrey, deputy White House national security adviser under Stephen Hadley and formerly the principal deputy assistant secretary for Near Eastern affairs.

Consequently, according to a well-placed Bush administration source, "everyone in town" is now participating in a broad discussion about the costs and benefits of military action against Iran, with the likely timeframe for any such course of action being over the next eight to 10 months, after the presidential primaries have probably been decided, but well before the November 2008 elections.

The discussions are now focused on two basic options: less invasive scenarios under which the U.S. might blockade Iranian imports of gasoline or exports of oil, actions generally thought to exact too high a cost on the Iranian people but not enough on the regime in Tehran; and full-scale aerial bombardment.

On the latter course, active consideration is being given as to how long it would take to degrade Iranian air defenses before American air superiority could be established and U.S. fighter jets could then begin a systematic attack on Iran's known nuclear targets.

Most relevant parties have concluded such a comprehensive attack plan would require at least a week of sustained bombing runs, and would at best set the Iranian nuclear program back a number of years � but not destroy it forever. Other considerations include the likelihood of Iranian reprisals against Tel Aviv and other Israeli population centers; and the effects on American troops in Iraq. There, officials have concluded that the Iranians are unlikely to do much more damage than they already have been able to inflict through their supply of explosives and training of insurgents in Iraq.

The Bush administration "has just about had it with Iran," said one foreign diplomat. "They tried the diplomatic process. China is now obstructing them at the U.N. Security Council and the Russians are tucking themselves behind them.

"The Germans are wobbling �There are a number of people in the administration who do not want their legacy to be leaving behind an Iran that is nuclear armed, so they are looking at what are the alternatives? They are looking at other options," the diplomat said.

Vice President Cheney and his aides are said to be enjoying a bit of "schadenfreude" at the expense of Burns. A source described Cheney's office as effectively gloating to Burns and Rice, "We told you so. (The Iranians) are not containable diplomatically."

The next shoe to drop will be when Rice and President Bush make a final decision about whether to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and/or its lethal subset, the Quds Force, as a terrorist entity or entities. FOX News reported in June that such a move is under consideration.

Sources say news leaks about the prospective designation greatly worried European governments and private sector firms, which could theoretically face prosecution in American courts if such measures became law and these entities continued to do business with IRGC and its multiple financial subsidiaries.

If the Bush administration moves forward with such a designation, sources said, it would be an indication that Rice agrees that Burns' approach has failed. Designation of such a large Iranian military institution as a terrorist entity would also be seen, sources said, as laying the groundwork for a public justification of American military action.

9/11 Families Slam Government Over Anniversary

Attempt to "force a non-existent connection" via Petraeus Testimony called "abuse" to the memory of loved ones, lack of government accountability and secretive 9/11 reports also criticized

Infowars.net | September 11 , 2007
Steve Watson

The decision to hold Iraq war commander Gen. David Petraeus' testimony to the Congress on the sixth anniversary of 9/11 has been condemned by families of the victims of the attacks as another crude attempt by government officials to link the event to the war in Iraq despite the fact prior intelligence reports have dismissed any such notion.

Petraeus' testimony, throughout which he has advocated a continuation of the so called surge in Iraq, has been running side by side all day on news networks with the 9/11 memorials and tributes taking place in New York.

The 9/11 family group September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows has released a statement which slams the timing of the hearing:

"The timing of this testimony is another attempt by government officials to force a non-existent connection between the events of 9-11 and this administration's disastrous policy of invasion and war in Iraq. The 9-11 Commission found there was no operational or cooperative relationship between Al Qaida and Iraq. It is widely understood today that this administration's actions in Iraq have in fact created a terrorist sanctuary where none previously existed, at a cost of more American lives than were lost on 9-11, tens of thousands maimed and wounded, and over 100,000 Iraqi dead.

Six years after September 11, 2001, politicians, from the White House to the halls of Congress, continue to abuse the memory of our loved ones who died in that attack by attempting to invoke their and our suffering to further this administration's political goals. As we have stated on previous occasions, we ask any and all politicians and candidates for office to respect the memory of the innocent lives lost on 9-11 by refraining from using the 9-11 sites, memorials, and anniversaries for political ends, either explicitly or as political 'backdrop.'"

Senior officials including Bush, Rumsfeld and particularly Dick Cheney have repeatedly asserted that the U.S. needed to go to war with Iraq because U.S. intelligence had evidence that Saddam Hussein was working with Al Qaeda.

As reported by the NY Times, "The chairman of the monitoring group appointed by the United Nations Security Council to track Al Qaeda told reporters that his team had found no evidence linking Al Qaeda to Saddam Hussein" [6/27/03]. Similarly, even the 9/11 commission report undercuts claims before the war that Hussein had links to Al Qaeda.

Even the Pentagon dismissed any link between Al Qaeda and Iraq.

In addition to condemning the use of 9/11 to launch preemptive war, September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows has also slammed the use of 9/11 by the Neocon White House to engage in domestic repression of civil rights, stating on their website:

"We have witnessed the use of 9/11 to justify the slaughter of tens of thousands of people in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands of our own soldiers have been killed. Two million refugees in Syria and Jordan languish in poverty and desperation. And we have witnessed as well the suppression of our constitutional rights at home. We have been unable to stop any of it."

The group has also been vocal in calling for an end to secrecy surrounding the events of 9/11 and has dispelled the myth, often leveled at 9/11 truth groups, that the families are insulted by questioning of the official version of events:

"And so we come to the sixth anniversary of the attacks of September 11th. There has been too little introspection concerning those attacks, no accountability from our government, and reports more secretive than revealing about what happened in the immediate aftermath of those attacks. Six years later, we have more questions than answers, more dead to mourn, and a thing with feathers still perches in our souls, yearning for peaceful tomorrows."

We have reported many times previously that some of the largest 9/11 family groups are, like 9/11 truth groups, seriously concerned over the government's account of the events and are themselves vocally active in demanding answers to the many questions that still remain unanswered and uninvestigated six years later.

Fred Thompson Is CFR scum

thanks to
THE TRUTH BE TOLD

Giuliani is no longer a threat.

FRED THOMPSON IS, EXPOSE HIM.




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9/11 The Falling Man (full video)

Thanks Andrew The Rock n Roll Psychic



I watched this film this afternoon; have a hanky or two handy if you watch it. I think this film is really excellent and addresses at a very personal level the horror the poor people in the Towers must have felt when they discovered they were stuck with no way out.