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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (60434)	10/14/2004 10:16:42 AM
From: T L Comiskey	Respond to of 89467

Cheney says the following CAN ONLY occur under Kerry's watch... Yet..if true.. (note source..the W T is Moonie owned) things May get interesting..(pre election..) this 'attack' could help our floundering fish (mercury addeled) President win.. 'May you live to see Interesting times' T October 13, 2004 Chechen terrorists probed By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES U.S. security officials are investigating a recent intelligence report that a group of 25 Chechen terrorists illegally entered the United States from Mexico in July. The Chechen group is suspected of having links to Islamist terrorists seeking to separate the southern enclave of Chechnya from Russia, according to officials familiar with intelligence reports. Members of the group, said to be wearing backpacks, secretly traveled to northern Mexico and crossed into a mountainous part of Arizona that is difficult for U.S. border security agents to monitor, said officials speaking on the condition of anonymity. The intelligence report was supplied to the U.S. government in late August or early September and was based on information from an intelligence source that has been proved reliable in other instances, one official said. A second U.S. official said the report is being investigated, but said it could not be determined whether the group of Chechens actually entered the country, as the intelligence source reported. "We don't know whether or not that report is true," this official said. A spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed that the intelligence report was provided by another government agency, but said Border Patrol agents were unable to verify its accuracy. It could not be learned whether the reported infiltration is related to the recent Education Department warning to school officials to examine security in the aftermath of the attack last month by pro-Chechnya Muslim terrorists on a school in Russia, in which more than 300 people were killed and some 700 wounded. In the Russian attack, heavily armed Islamists took over and wired with explosives the school building in Beslan, North Ossetia. It is believed that an accidental explosion set off a battle between Russian security personnel and the terrorists, who set off several explosions and shot schoolchildren and teachers as they tried to escape. U.S. officials believe the Beslan terrorists included some al Qaeda-linked foreign terrorists. The Education Department letter said that school officials should examine "protective measure guidance" for helping to prevent and respond to a similar terrorist attack, were it to occur in the United States. The notice said the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are "currently unaware of any specific, credible information indicating a terrorist threat to public and private schools, universities or colleges in the United States." The letter stated that indicators of terrorist surveillance before an attack include interest in site plans for schools, bus routes and attendance lists from persons who don't normally request such information. Authorities also were advised to remain alert for "static surveillance" by people who may be disguised as panhandlers, shoeshiners, newspaper or flower vendors, or street sweepers who seem out of place in a particular area. Other indicators of terrorist surveillance can include spying on school security drills, people staring at employees or vehicles in parking areas, and surveillance by pedestrians. Fears of an attack on American schools also were raised by the recent discovery in Iraq of a computer disk containing data showing the layout of six schools in the United States, including districts in California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, New Jersey and Oregon. Officials believed the disk may have been part of a terrorist plot. However, FBI officials said on Friday that there did not appear to be a terrorist threat connected to the computer disk. The Iraqi who had the disk, a member of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party, apparently was collecting information from the Internet sites of American schools that would be useful for emergency planning for Iraqi schools, U.S. officials said. U.S. security officials have been concerned in recent months that al Qaeda or other terrorists are planning to enter the United States from Mexico. Intelligence officials said a suspected al Qaeda leader who has been in the United States was spotted recently in Mexico. Officials believe Adnan Shukrijumah, whom the FBI wants for questioning, met with alien smugglers in Mexico and Honduras and was seeking ways to bring al Qaeda members into the United States. Shukrijumah was seen in August in the Sonora province of northern Mexico, officials said. Since October 2003, authorities have arrested five Arabs attempting to cross illegally into the United States from Mexico. In July, officials dismissed as untrue an Internet report that said a group of Middle Eastern men were recently caught trying to cross the border from Mexico. The report apparently was based on a group of Oaxacan tribesmen who were stopped as they tried to cross the border in Arizona. The tribesmen spoke an Indian language native to southern Mexico that may have been mistaken for Arabic, officials said at the time.

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (60434)	10/14/2004 10:37:00 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 89467

$3,000,000 for a cup of coffee? Ceri Shepherd Trend Investor October 13, 2004 Does this sound a bit far fetched? A bit unrealistic? I have spent this summer travelling around the Turkish coast by yacht; 3,000,000 Turkish Lira is the going rate for a cup of coffee, a basic car is 20,000,000,000 Turkish Lira. The Turkish government never planned for a currency with so many noughts, inflation caused through too much Turkish Lira printing forced this upon them! Last year the exchange rate was 2.3 million Lira for one British Pound. This year the rate is 2.8 million Lira. Inflation is currently running at about 20% which is historically a very low rate of inflation for Turkey, so the value of the currency in the last year has fallen by approximately that much. I can now clearly understand why Turkey is a very large market for Gold! Why couldn't the same thing happen in the USA, or the Euro area. Or Britain? The simple answer is that there is no reason why this could not happen, they are all fiat currencies that are only backed with a government promise of value and not with an identifiable hard asset. A British Pound was originally a pound in weight of Silver unfortunately you cannot buy a pound of Silver anymore for a Bank Of England fiat banknote because it has been substantially devalued over the years in relation to Silver, it has been clipped! Despite still proudly exclaiming on every banknote I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of `Unfortunately this is an absolute 100% bare faced lie,' otherwise I, like everybody else, would be demanding my pounds of Silver as per the proclaimed promise. The reality is that the British Pound like any other fiat currency can simply be printed very much at will and therefore has no real true lasting value. Mr Bernanke a Federal Reserve Governor no less, has already publicly explained in graphic detail the workings of the printing press. So if we can devalue a currency when necessary how will that impact the level of the Stock market. Please note that I used the word level and not value. I would suggest beneficially, because it allows companies to export more product and gain a currency advantage over foreign competitors. For example lets assume that McDonald's sell a meal in Berlin for 5 Euros and they make 1 Euro net profit if the exchange rate is 1 Euro to 1 Dollar they have 1 Dollar of profit to report in there 10Q to the SEC. Now let's assume the exchange rate is 1 Euro equals 1.20 Dollars McDonald's have now made a magical extra 20% profit. In reality they have made no extra profit as the Dollar has also lost 20% of its purchasing power but in simple numerical accounting terms they have. McDonald's are a constituent of the S&P 500 and will now be reporting increased earnings primarily because of Dollar devaluation as will most of the other 499 constituents. So either the PE ratio of the S&P 500 will become more realistic from its current overvalued ratio of approximately 20. Or if we were already at a fair value PE ratio of about 15 the market could rise to maintain this fair value ratio with respect to the increased earnings bought on the back of simple Dollar devaluation. Now imagine the extreme scenario of $3,000,000 dollars for a cup of coffee at Starbucks. It would be quite feasible for the S&P 500 just based on Starbucks earnings alone to be at say 30,000,000 or maybe 50,000,000. If you devalue your currency you can artificially produce more earnings and therefore influence the future direction of the stock market. HOWEVER the extra earnings produced will not have more purchasing power in the international marketplace as they are denominated in a debased currency, what in reality has changed is the unit of measure of the earnings. Ten years ago it cost 500 Turkish Lira for a cup of coffee. Now it costs 3,000,000 the coffee has not changed only the unit of measure. Devaluing the currency unfortunately is not economic nirvana, I will talk about the problems it causes with domestic inflation the potential for a bond revolt and its attendant impact on the housing market next time. Commodities are surging again, and the stock market has also shown some strength recently. Could it be that the markets are anticipating another major Dollar decline? One final thought, we know that shortly the boomers retire we know that there is a MINIMUM $40 Trillion Dollars shortfall as regards there promised entitlements. It is therefore crystal clear that the boomers are not going to get meaningful government entitlements as they expect. If the stock market is now allowed to fall, private savings and pensions will also be lost. This would be a catastrophe and a political disaster. I believe the boomers will receive what they were promised by Government, unfortunately they will be paid in vastly depreciated Dollars. America like many Western democracies is in a desperate race against time to devalue and inflate their way out of a looming debt and entitlement crisis. It is my belief that the major sacrificial cow has to be the Dollar, the opposite of the Dollar is Gold and the other precious metals. Gold is not appreciating against the Dollar, it is simply maintaining value as the Dollar depreciates. This is the job it does best, a job it has done for over 5000 years which is why Gold had true value in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome and still has today. Why it has been identified throughout the ages as real, lasting and definable wealth, the currency of the kings. So do you own any? If not, why not? If we ever reach a situation of $3,000,000 for a cup of coffee would you rather be holding your present day depreciating paper dollars or physical Gold? The Turks understand the answer to this question through painful personal experience and therefore hold Gold as the ultimate store of value. 321gold.com

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (60434)	10/14/2004 11:22:44 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Debate Comments From Slate's Chief Political Correspondent slate.msn.com <<...Kerry patched up his troubles with women voters, noting his efforts to get them equal pay for equal work. But his most important assurance to them—and to men—came in his answer to the debate's sole question about national security. He spoke fluidly of the military's overextension and the additional special forces and active-duty divisions necessary to alleviate it. He described how he would deploy the National Guard to protect the homeland. He reminded the audience that he was a gun owner and former prosecutor. He paraphrased a terrorism handbook captured from al-Qaida. Everything he said, and the facility with which he said it, conveyed a man ready to assume the presidency in wartime. By the time the clock had ticked down to 15 minutes, the balance of power onstage had shifted. Kerry was the one talking like a president. He complimented his opponent as a leader and father, pledged to work across the aisle, admitted with a twinkle that "I can sometimes take myself too seriously," and joked to Schieffer, "The president and you and I are three examples of lucky people who married up." The audience laughed, and Kerry, growing looser by the minute, took another poke at himself: "And some would say maybe me more so than others." The audience laughed again, and Kerry relaxed into the smile of a man who has been humbled by the toughest campaign of his life and believes that despite it all, he is about to win. "But I can take it," he shrugged, beaming through a goofy grin. Bush, sensing that everyone else was having a good time, tried to smile along, but all he could do was twist up one corner of his mouth. His eyes darted around the room as though trying to make sense of a nightmare. The closing statements confirmed the tide of the race. Kerry spoke like a man closing a deal. He recalled his service to his country, promised "tested, strong leadership that can calm the waters of the troubled world," and vowed to protect the nation in the tradition of FDR, JFK, and Reagan. Bush spoke like a man pleading for a second chance. He fumbled his opening sentence. He talked about the hard times we'd been through and the good things he'd do in a second term that he hadn't done in his first. He called for faith and optimism. Kerry ended with the words of a president: "Thank you, goodnight, and God bless the United States of America." Bush ended with a plea: "I'm asking for your vote. God bless you." I wasn't surprised when the instant polls showed Kerry winning the debate handily. I bet Bush wasn't, either. All night long he looked like a pitcher who knew his stuff wasn't working and was stuck out there, alone on the mound in front of millions of people, with no idea what to do next. Now he's given up four runs and the lead. But he's still got the home field. And he's got half an inning—the bottom of the ninth—to turn things around...>> *Complete comments at: slate.msn.com