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News 2009

admiral1 — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:25:03 -0800

News for January 2009

Grapevine Open After Runaway Big Rig Accident

stupid — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 08:25:36 -0800

FULL STORY
BREAKING NEWS UPDATE:Grapevine Open After Runaway Big Rig Accident

Grapevine Open After Runaway Big Rig Accident

The northbound lanes of the Interstate-5 at the Grapevine were backed up from Gorman past the Fort Tejon exit ramp.

UPDATE: (Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008, 5:15 p.m.) FRAZIER PARK—As of 4:55 p.m., CHP was still escorting northbound traffic in groups of 50 from the Lebec Road overpass through the Grapevine exit due to heavy fog, and traffic is backed up from at least Gorman. A big rig carrying corrosive hazardous materials lost its brakes just past the second runaway truck ramp on the downgrade of northbound I-5, hitting 11 vehicles and injuring about 27 people, according to Sean Collins of the Kern County Fire Department.

Fog did not appear to be a factor in the accident, Firefighter Collins said. Visibility was less than 100 feet from Fort Tejon to the bottom of the Grapevine and in some spots even less. Although there were no fatalities, nine victims were transported to local area hospitals in Valencia and Bakersfield, four via helicopter and five via ground ambulance. Twenty-five firefighters from Kern and Los Angeles Counties responded, but none of the injured required extrication from vehicles.

Reporters were told there was no leak or spill of the corrosive material from the big rig, but no one on scene or at the California Highway Patrol Lebec substation could say exactly what materials were being transported.

According to CHP’s Officer Ryan Patrick, most of the injured were from one van carrying 11 family members. “From the impact of hitting the first vehicle to where the truck finally stopped was 2,500 feet,” Officer Patrick said. Witnesses said the truck was going “about 40 miles per hour” at first and gradually picked up speed.—Reported by Katy Penland, The Mountain Enterprise

UPDATE: (Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008, 4 p.m.) FRAZIER PARK—The Interstate 5 northbound lanes across the Grapevine are again open, according to the CHP. Up to 11 vehicles are now reported to have been involved when a runaway big rig bearing hazardous materials hit several passenger vehicles, CHP Officer Patrick said. Kern County Fire Department's Sean Collins said there were 27 injured, including several from a single van which carried 11 family members. Dense fog on the I-5 made helicopter evacuation of the injured impossible. It was necessary to transport victims to a staging area in Lebec near El Tejon School for evacuation to the hospital.

UPDATE: 2:35 p.m.—Nine vehicles plus one big rig involved. Big rig has been stopped in center divider. Fog too thick for air landings. Victims being taken by ground to Lebec for pickup by air ambulance, according to Captain Fletcher of Frazier Park Station 57.

Just before 1 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 31 a runaway big rig crashed into five vehicles in the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 near Fort Tejon, the California Highway patrol reports.

CHP says the truck driver is reported to have lost control just north of the Tejon truck emergency ramp. Traffic has stopped on the I-5 northbound while ambulances and CHP secure the accident scene.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

KABC FULL STORY & VIDEO
KERN COUNTY, Calif. (KABC) -- A runaway truck struck a number of vehicles on the Interstate 5 Freeway near the Lebec exit Wednesday afternoon.
According to the California Highway Patrol, the tractor-trailer truck may have suffered brake failure. The big-rig collided with nine vehicles on the long downhill stretch of the Grapevine. As many as 27 people were injured, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
ABC7 Traffic Center
The vehicles were spread over approximately a 1-mile stretch of the northbound Interstate 5 Freeway, between Fort Tejon and Grapevine. The location is near the Lebec exit. The area was blanketed with heavy fog, preventing rescue helicopters from landing immediately.
The Kern County Sheriff's Department was on scene Wednesday with several air ambulances. Three people were transported by helicopter and six people by ground ambulance to hospitals.
Story continues belowAdvertisementA passenger van with as many as 15 people was overturned in the crash.
The northbound 5 Freeway was shut down due to the accident. Northbound lanes were re-opened at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.
______________________________________________________________

11 Hurt in Chain Reaction Crash on I-5

KTLA News
January 1, 2009

FORT TEJON -- At least 11 people were injured after a runaway big rig crashed into as many vehicles on the Northbound I-5 near Fort Tejon, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The crash occurred in foggy conditions just before 1 p.m. Wednesday, creating a miles-long backup.

Officials say the driver of the big rig apparently lost control and struck the vehicles on a stretch of downhill highway on the northern side of Tejon Pass, which rises to an elevation of more than 4,000 feet.

The truck driver reported that he lost his brakes before the crash. Investigators planned to examine the brakes to determine if they were working. The fog could have also been a contributing factor, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Scott Jobinger.

Jobinger said 11 people were injured and taken to hospitals, including four who suffered major injuries and were flown out by helicopter. It did not appear that there would be fatalities, he added.

The truck was reportedly carrying hazardous material, but it's unknown exactly what that material is, officers said.

The truck's cargo was not compromised in the crash, Jobinger said.

Northbound I-5 was closed at Highway 138 for about three hours following the crash.

The collision scene was about 1½ miles long and the truck came to rest on the side of the highway near Grapevine Road, about 70 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
*******************************************************

Dec 31, 2008
27 Injured In Multi-Vehicle Crash On The 5 Freeway
FULL STORY
CBS2 News Pop Out video
LEBEC, Calif.

At least 27 people have been injured in a multi-vehicle accident on the 5 Freeway near Fort Tejon in Lebec.

In addition, officials say one of the vehicles, a big rig carrying hazardous materials, has blocked all lanes of traffic on the northbound 5.

In all, nine vehicles were involved.

The crash occured just before 1 p.m. Wednesday.

The big rig, traveling down the Grapevine's steep downgrade, apparently lots its brakes setting off the chain-collison.

Traffic from Southern California towards the Central Valley is being diverted at Lebec onto eastbound state Route 138 to Lancaster, and north into Bakersfield via routes 14 and 58.

There are no reports of fatalities.

Traffic is backed up for at least five miles.

A heavy fog is also making if difficult for medical helicopters to land near the scene to aid victims.

Some of the victims have been airlifted to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, according to authorities.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

27 Injured in Big-Rig, Multi-Car Grapevine Crash
FULL STORYwith video
Updated 6:37 AM PST, Thu, Jan 1, 2009
Kern County | Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES -- A truck apparently lost its brakes on the big Grapevine downgrade into the Central Valley on Wednesday, causing as many as 11 collisions and injuring as many as 27 people.

Dec. 31, 2008: Cars Collide on Grapevine
close
View Gallery

Check out images from a crash that injured more than two dozen people.

The truck left a 1-1/2-mile-long series of wrecks behind it as it descended into the San Joaquin Valley at high speed, down a steep grade where trucks are limited to 35 miles an hour, CHP officials said.

Cars may have been slowed or stopped for heavy fog that has socked in the Valley. Visibility at the time was reportedly limited to several hundred feet.

Twenty-seven people were hurt, but only 11 needed hospitalization, and four of those people were hurt badly. The victims were taken by ambulance up the hill to Fort Tejon, where medical choppers could land in bright sunshine at the higher elevation.

The heavy fog at the crash scene prevented rescue helicopters from landing near the mess.

The collision was reported north of Fort Tejon near the truck escape ramp at 12:52 p.m., said California Highway Patrol Officer Scott Jobinger, a California Highway Patrol Traffic spokesman in Fresno said.

Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Ron Haralson said that there were no fatalities. Some of the injured were flown by helicopter to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills in Los Angeles, a CHP spokesman in Fresno said.

The crashes left the four-lane freeway northbound into the San Joaquin Valley closed for almost four hours, with an eight-mile line of stopped traffic stretching past Fort Tejon and Lebec. Northbound motorists were diverted east at Route 138 and told to take a 50-mile detour through Lancaster and Tehachapi.

Many of the detoured cars ran into pea-soup conditions on Highway 58 in the Tehachapi, CHP dispatchers in Bishop said.

Rosamond, crash on Tehachapi-Willow Springs Road

admiral1 — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 08:11:07 -0800

FATAL CRASH California Highway Patrol Officer Paul Salazar looks over the scene of a Jan. 10 crash on Tehachapi-Willow Springs Road, north of Rosamond Boulevard, where a woman died after her Toyota Highlander SUV collided with a Granite Construction big rig. The truck's driver was not injured.

EVELYN KRISTO/Valley Press files

Oak Creek wind Energy

jedwind — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:15:17 -0800

Oak Creek Wind Energy

J. Edward Duggan, Executive Vice President
Oak Creek Energy Systems, Inc
a Marubeni Company http://www.OCES.com
14633 Willow Springs Road, Mojave, CA 93501
Phone: 661-822-6853 Ext 102 Fax 661-822-5991
Email: jed@oces.com (work) or jedwind@lightspeed.net (personal)

Grape Vine Fiasco----AGAIN

stupid — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:09:29 -0800

This letter was printed in the Mountian Enterprise and can be viewed at the mountian Enterprise site under Community Input
December 20, 2008 Dear Editor:
On December 17, I-along with many other mountain residents-became a victim of the storm closure on Interstate 5 at the Grapevine. Lighted information signs on the road said to listen to AM1610 for road information. Which I did.

We were told there that Interstate 5 as well as many other of our mountain roads were closed due to ' snow and there was no telling when the road might be opened. I was in Bakersfield and the radio officially stated alternate routes should be taken. They suggested taking Route 46 to Highway 101 to reach Los Angeles-a detour of approximately 250 miles.

No mention was made that exceptions to the road closure would be made for mountain residents with four-wheel drive, snow tires and appropriate identification.

So all of us were stuck on one side of the hill or the other, even though most of us were fully equipped and experienced for snow driving and almost certainly could have made the drive without incident. After all, we do it all winter long.

My concern is the inability of CalTrans and the California Highway Patrol to accommodate or even communicate with the mountain residents who are fully capable and fully prepared for this eventuality.
Most of. the Mountain Communities here, while paying our state and county taxes, plow our own roads.
This saves California and Kern, County many thousands of dollars. Do we receive any consideration on any level for this? The answer is an emphatic no.

While four snowflakes an hour may constitute a road closure for Los Angeles residents, that same standard should not be applied to us here and I, for one, think that should change.

I resent the fact that CHP will not answer their phone. The only information. available is through our Sheriffs department or the pathetic recording on AM1610. The Sheriffs office appears to get its information from the CHP, but at least they try.

So ...on December 18 1 awoke from my motel room in Bakersfield -and listened to AM1610. The Grapevine was still closed at 11:30 a.m. with no predicted time for opening. "Take Route 46 to the 101 to get to Los Angeles," people were told. Woe be to the poor saps who followed those instructions. They are still driving.

At noon I received a phone call from a friend who informed me the road had been opened. At that time, AM1610 stopped giving road conditions and handed out information on the water situation for farmers in northern Kern County! I was so interested in that, I could hardly change the channel. At 1 p.m. I was halfway up the hill and in a lot of traffic. The road itself was completely dry That's right: D-R Y Are you reading this CHP? Dry as in popcorn dry. But at 11:30 a.m. the road was supposedly impassible. "Closed due to severe ice, snow and vicious weather conditions with no opening in sight."

Pretty odd don't you think?

Those folks who took the alternate Route 46 to 101 are still out there somewhere, wasting precious fuel and adding to the global warming catastrophe because the lazy people who run AM1610 didn't change the recording and because the CHP didn't 'do the job we are paying them for.

I have a suggestion. Fire the CHP and CalTrans workers here, give their pay and benefits to the auto company workers who are at least trying to accomplish something. Hire two plow operators and one supervisor from Truckee, California where residents are always able to follow the plow in to` get back to their homes.

Jay Baumler,
Pine Mountain

The NAT-iz's lie

BILL CODY — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:22:02 -0800

The NAT sqaud LIES !!! I called the 'CASE FOLLOW UP' number which is 213-974-6453 and our property was NOT even listed in their computer!!!!!!!!!!
You should ALL call this number and ask how the ANONYMOUS investigation is going and give them YOUR OWN property address. We where NOT listed!! The NAT goons out right LIED and just picked our property at random then blaming our neighbor. CALL this number 213-974-6453 as the ANONYMOUS person who turned in the property next door lets just say, to your surprise YOU MAY NOT EVEN BE LISTED!!!!!!!!!!
Which means it is NOT your neighbor but the goons who hand picked YOU!!! Call 213-974-6453 and find out,,,,, very disturbing!!!!!!!!
Which means the NAT goons and the DA thugs are liars of the worst bottom feeding scam suckers of the human race!!!!!!!!!! When the LAW lies what are people to do????

Eight people, including one incumbent, are seeking appointment to A V RCD

admiral1 — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 20:47:59 -0800

Candidates to vie for 3 board seats
This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Saturday, December 27, 2008.

By BOB WILSON
Valley Press Staff Writer
LANCASTER - Eight people, including one incumbent, are seeking appointment to three vacancies on the board of directors of the Antelope Valley Resource Conservation District.

The 42-year-old district is in charge of overseeing a number of conservation programs in a jurisdiction that spans 1.6 million acres in northern Los Angeles, southeast Kern and northwest Ventura counties.

Those programs focus on efforts to control blowing dust and soil erosion on farms, halt the spread of non-native vegetation, conserve water, reduce air pollution, provide habitats for threatened plants and animals and teach high school students the importance of protecting the environment.

The district's unpaid board also oversees the operations of an 80-acre nursery at 10148 West Ave. I.

The board consists of directors James Dodson, Steve Rodrigues, Richard Lee Campbell, Ruth Michael and President Kathleen Burr. The four-year terms of Dodson, Rodrigues and Burr have expired, and only Burr is seeking reappointment.

The names of Burr and seven others have been forwarded to the office of county Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich for consideration, said Norm Hickling, the supervisor's field representatives in the Antelope Valley.

Antonovich, whose 5th District includes the far northern section of the county, is expected to seek ratification of three of the eight applicants at the Jan. 20 meeting of the Board of Supervisors, Hickling said Monday.

To qualify for appointment, an applicant must be an owner of land or a designated agent of an owner of land within the district.

bwilson@avpress.com

Hybrid puppies for sale

Wolf — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:58:04 -0800

Mom

Another litter

Call Sherry at 661-256-8536

Cops Nab Man For Alleged Kidnap, Assault Of 4 yr old Girl

shirley — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 10:05:17 -0800

Dec 25, 2008 9:48 pm US/Pacific
Cops Nab Man For Alleged Kidnap, Assault Of Girl

FRESNO (AP) ―
Authorities in Fresno have arrested a man on suspicion of sexual assault of a 4-year-old girl who was taken from a Christmas eve party and found beaten and naked in a nearby field.

Authorities say a suspect is in custody for the alleged abduction and sexual assault of a 4-year-old girl who was taken from a Christmas eve party and found beaten and naked in a nearby field.

Fresno County Sheriff's Lt. Joseph Blohm said the child was sleeping in a car at the outdoor family gathering near Raisin City, a farming community about 12 miles southwest of Fresno, when relatives discovered her missing from the vehicle. They located her in the field walking distance away and notified the sheriff's department about 1:30 a.m. Thursday.

The girl remains hospitalized in stable condition.

Blohm says the person in custody was attending the party and is either a relative or friend of the child's family.

He did not disclose the suspect's name.

keeping Sacramento sewer discharge out of our water

stupid — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 08:51:37 -0800

Lode officials say septic rules tough for poor

By Dana M. Nichols
Record Staff Writer
December 18, 2008

SAN ANDREAS - Rural Californians are balking at the cost of proposed state rules intended to force them to keep their septic tank discharges out of the water the rest of the state drinks.

At the second in a series of 11 public workshops, officials and residents from the Mother Lode last week told state water pollution officials the proposed rules may actually make the problem worse, because low-income mountain residents afraid of big repair bills will simply ignore the rules and avoid contact with government agencies.

"In the neighborhoods I'm mentioning, there's not the economic wherewithal to fix them," Calaveras County Supervisor Steve Wilensky said of an area along a fork of the Mokelumne River where leaking septic systems are suspected of causing high E. coli concentrations in it.

Septic rules

A series of 11 public workshops on proposed pollution rules for home septic systems will be held at locations throughout California this month and in January. The State Water Resources Control Board is accepting written comments on the proposed rules until Feb. 9.

Information: http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issu...tic_tanks.

The State Water Resources Control Board will hold a public hearing on proposed rules regulating septic systems at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 9 in the Byron Sher Auditorium, Cal EPA Building, 1001 I St., Sacramento.

Wilensky said the average family income in the area is $26,000 a year. State regulators estimate it could cost $45,000 or more, depending on conditions, to replace a failing septic system.

Arthur Baggett was the member of the State Water Resources Control Board who attended Tuesday's public workshop in San Andreas. Baggett said that AB885, the original bill adopted in 2000 to require statewide rules for septic systems, had language stating the Legislature's intent to financially help private property owners modernize their septic systems.

But the Legislature never allocated any money for that, Baggett said.

So now, the State Water Resources Control Board is following the requirement to put in place new rules that by 2010 will regulate discharges from home septic systems. The rule will hit virtually all rural residents by requiring at a minimum that the septics be inspected every five years at an estimated cost of $325 per inspection. Residents that have both a well and a septic will also have to check the well for contamination every five years, for another $325 or so.

That's not the end of it. Tighter rules for new septic systems would also dramatically push up costs there, and possibly make many mountain lots that lack the required 2- or 3-feet soil depth unbuildable.

"This is going to be a really tough problem in Calaveras County," Supervisor Russ Thomas said. Thomas said in the Copperopolis area where he lives, there are thousands of lots with shallow soils that might not be able to install septic systems under the new rules. "If we don't get some relief from that particular requirement, it is going to be catastrophic," Thomas said.

James Giannopoulos, assistant division chief for water quality at the State Water Resources Control Board, said the soil depth requirements are there because it is only after septic effluent slowly percolates through several feet of soil over a period of time that bacteria and viruses in the liquid are eliminated.

Contact reporter Dana M. Nichols at (209) 607-1361 or dnichols@recordnet.com.

Antelope Acres Town Council Rescheduled for Dec. 30 2008

admiral1 — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 13:59:35 -0800

All,

Please find attached the agenda for this month's regularly scheduled Antelope Acres Town Council Community meeting to be held this coming Tuesday Dec30. 2008 from 6:00PM to 7:30PM.

Here’s the twist… it’s a dinner meeting at Texas Cattle Company 44206 10th Street West (661) 948-3927. We’ll be ordering from the menu and it’s Dutch – sorry. We sure hope you can make it!

Thank You,
Ron Hawkins
Vice President
Antelope Acres Town Council

Rescheduled for Dec. 30 2008

ANTELOPE ACRES TOWN COUNCIL
Community Dinner Meeting Agenda
Date: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 6:00 PM
Location: Texas Cattle Company 44206 10th Street West (661) 948-3927 [/b]

1. Call Meeting to Order ________ Number in Attendance _______
Please turn off or silence cell phones and pagers. Please refrain from public displays or outbursts such as unsolicited applause, comments, cheering, foul language, or obscenities. Any disruptive activities that substantially interfere with the ability of the Council to carry out its meeting will not be permitted and offenders will be requested to leave the meeting.

2. Flag Salute

3. Roll Call of Officers
President Vickie Nelson: ___ Vice President Ron Hawkins: ___ Secretary Ginger Stout: ___
Treasurer Stanley Whitfield: ___ Member at Large Colleen Schiller: ___

4. Agenda: Approved _______ Approved with corrections _______

5. Minutes of last meeting: Approved _______ Approved with corrections _______

6. Community Leader Reports / Updates

A. Antelope Acres Chamber of Commerce
B. California Highway Patrol
C. Los Angeles County Fire Department
D. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
E. Los Angeles County Supervisor’s Office
F. Representatives of State and Local elected Officials

7. Community Announcements
Bona fide representatives of community service organizations and clubs are invited to announce upcoming events open to the public. Presentations should be limited to no more than three minutes.

8. Installation of new Board Member by Norm Hickling

9. Election of Officers

10. Installation of Officers by Norm Hickling

11. Upcoming Events
A. Town Council Executive Meeting – 2nd Wednesday of every month at Westside Community Church - 47707 90th Street West (Across from Wood Ave.)

12. Adjournment: -- Meeting adjourned at _________.

Severe shortages may be coming sooner than later!

Brad Farber — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:40:47 -0800

F & F, We may be heading for serious trouble sooner than we think on the supply side of what’s on our store shelves, warehouse, factories & etc. The “Baltic Dry Index” is a no nonsense index of some global oceangoing shipping which has dropped some 93 – 94% from recent highs. *Shane L. of AZ brought this concern to my attention a few hours ago and I wanted to send my quick research for your immediate consideration – as time is of the essence. Brad, AZ.

1) Baltic Dry Index From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Dry_Index
The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) is a number issued daily by the London-based Baltic Exchange. The index provides "an assessment of the price of moving the major raw materials by sea. Taking in 26 shipping routes measured on a time charter and voyage basis, the index covers Supramax, Panamax, and Capesize dry bulk carriers carrying a range of commodities including coal, iron ore and grain."^[1] Every working day, the Baltic canvasses brokers around the world and asks how much it would cost to book various cargoes of raw materials on various routes (e.g. 100,000 tons of iron ore from San Francisco to Hong Kong, or 1,000,000 metric tons of rice from Bangkok to Tokyo). ^[2] The index is made up of an average of the Baltic Supramax, Panamax, and Capesize indices. These indices are based on professional assessments made by a panel of international ship broking companies. The BDI factors in the four different sizes of oceangoing dry bulk transport vessels:[3]

Why economists and stock markets read it
Most directly, the index measures the demand for shipping capacity versus the supply of dry bulk carriers. The demand for shipping varies with the amount of cargo that is being traded or moved in various markets (supply and demand).

The supply of cargo ships is generally both tight and inelastic — it takes two years to build a new ship, and ships are too expensive to take out of circulation the way airlines park unneeded jets in the California desert. So marginal increases in demand can push the index higher quickly, and marginal demand decreases can cause the index to fall rapidly. So the index indirectly measures global supply and demand for the commodities shipped aboard dry bulk carriers, such as building materials, coal, crude oil, metallic ores, and grains.

Because dry bulk primarily consists of materials that function as raw material inputs to the production of intermediate or finished goods, such as concrete, electricity, steel, and food, the index is also seen as an efficient economic indicator of future economic growth and production. The BDI is termed a leading economic indicator because it predicts future economic activity.^[6]

Because it provides "an assessment of the price of moving the major raw materials by sea," according to The Baltic, "... it provides both a rare window into the highly opaque and diffuse shipping market and an accurate barometer of the volume of global trade -- devoid of political and other agenda concerns."^[7]

Other leading economic indicators — which serve as the foundation of important political and economic decisions - are often massaged to serve narrow interests, and subjected to adjustments or revisions. Payroll or employment numbers are often estimates; consumer confidence appears to measure nothing more than sentiment, often with no link to actual consumer behavior; gross national product figures are consistently revised, and so forth. Unlike stock and bond markets, the BDI "is totally devoid of speculative content," says Howard Simons, an economist and columnist at TheStreet.com. "People don't book freighters unless they have cargo to move."^[7]

Impact of 2008 financial crisis
On 21 May 2008 the index reached its record high level since its introduction in 1998, reaching 11,793 points. Half a year later, on 5 December, 2008, the index had dropped by 94%, to 663 points, the lowest since 1986.^[8] These low rates move dangerously close to the combined operating costs of vessels, fuel, and crews.^[9]^[10]

By the end of 2008, shipping times had been already increased by reduced speeds to save fuel consumption, but lack of credit meant the disappearance of letters of credit, historically required to load cargoes for departure at ports. Debt load of future ship construction was also a problem for shipping companies, with several major bankruptcies and implications for shipyards.^[11]^[12] This, combined with the collapsing price of raw commodities created a perfect storm for the world's marine commerce. Cheaper fuel was no longer able to offset this situation and global letters of credit are beyond the powers of the Federal Reserve.

2) YouTube video (8 min +) forwarded to me by *S.L. suggesting the implications:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXATSV8S3-M

3) Graph snapshot used in the above video showing a 93% drop from the high:

http://www.investmenttools.com/futures/b..._index.htm

Madoff's Ponzi Scheme Dwarfed By Illuminati Rubin's

Brad Farber — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:08:18 -0800

http://www.rense.com/general84/d22er.htm

Madoff's Ponzi Scheme Dwarfed
By Illuminati Rubin's
By Henry Makow PhD
12-13-8

The arrest of financier Bernard Madoff Thursday for operating a "Ponzi scheme" costing investors $50 billion made the TV network news. Curiously, a lawsuit the same day against Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin for defrauding Citibank shareholders of more than $122 billion, also described as a "Ponzi scheme," got no airplay whatsoever.

As we shall see, Rubin, a Director of Citibank, profited from the shady practices that destroyed the financial system and sent the world's economies into a tailspin. Then, to repair the damage, he and his banker friends put the taxpayer on the hook for trillions.

Rubin didn't get the same publicity as Madoff because of his close connection to Barack Obama.

Robert Rubin's son Jamie was Obama's main Wall Street fund raiser and is now one of his principal advisers. More significant, Obama's economic team consists of Rubin's protégés including Timothy Geithner, Treasury Secretary, Lawrence Summers, Senior Economic Adviser and Peter Orszag, Budget Director. The Times of London has already dubbed them the "Robert Rubin Memorial All Stars."

Clearly, the media don't want people to see that the candidate of "Change" chose the people responsible for this calamity to be his "economic team." While in the Clinton White House, Rubin, with Summers, helped tear down the regulatory walls between banks, brokerages and insurance companies and freed them to trade in unregulated and little-understood derivatives worth trillions of dollars.

THE LAW SUIT

In an article entitled "Ponzi Scheme at CITI," the New York Post reported: "A new Citigroup scandal is engulfing Robert Rubin and his former disciple Chuck Prince for their roles in an alleged Ponzi-style scheme that's now choking world banking.

Director Rubin and ousted CEO Prince - and their lieutenants over the past five years - are named in a federal lawsuit for an alleged complex cover-up of toxic securities that spread across the globe, wiping out trillions of dollars in their destructive paths.

Investor-plaintiffs in the suit accuse Citi management of overseeing the repackaging of unmarketable collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) that no one wanted - and then reselling them to Citi and hiding the poisonous exposure off the books in shell entities.

The lawsuit said that when the bottom fell out of the shaky assets in the past year, Citi's stock collapsed, wiping out more than $122 billion of shareholder value.

However, Rubin and other top insiders were able to keep Citi shares afloat until they could cash out more than $150 million for themselves in "suspicious" stock sales" calculated to maximize the personal benefits from undisclosed inside information," the lawsuit said.

The latest troubles for Rubin, Prince and others emerged in a 500-page investigation by Citigroup investors represented by law firm Kirby McInerney.

The probe was used to amend and add new details to a blanket investor lawsuit filed against Citigroup a year ago. The amended suit called the actions of Citi leaders "a quasi-Ponzi scheme" to hide troubles - and keep Citi stock afloat while insiders unloaded about 3 million shares between Jan. 1, 2004 and Feb. 22, 2008 for huge profits.

In addition to Citigroup, Rubin and Prince, the complaint names Vice Chairman Lewis Kaden, ex-CFO Sallie Krawcheck and her successor CFO Gary Crittenden.

Rubin cleared $30.6 million on his stock sales, while Prince got $26.5 million, former COO Robert Druskin got nearly $32 million and former Global Wealth Management unit chief Todd Thomson got $25.7 million, the suit said."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12042008/bus...42511.htm

THE PONZI SCHEME

In an article, "The Great American Ponzi Scheme," Robert Butche writes, "Little did people know that banking and finance had contracted a nasty disease -- one known in the grifter trade as a Ponzi Scheme -- in which sub-prime mortgages were securitized and traded based on an unsustainable promise to pay high returns to investors from monies obtained from subsequent investors."

http://newsroom-magazine.com/?p=3773

In the commentary to the NY Post article above, a Ph.D. in Physics explained that his fellow graduates all went to work for big banks, brokerages and Fannie May. They were "hired to do complicated calculations (loop level) borrowed from quantum field theory and statistical mechanics. They can take any number(s) as an input and produce any output as desired. Hence the banks hired at a much higher pay these people than they could earn in Universities or research institutes...Their bosses told them to inflate the value of anything to any number and these people did that."

"No ordinary derivatives trader can ever understand any formula(e) to calculate the value of anything. These are too complicated but intentionally. But there are some conservation laws for energy, momentum etc in physics. Where every (loop level) calculation has to abide by them. In finance and banking there is no such conserved quantity as credit can be created from thin air and destroyed also to that. Hence the fiasco."

BERNARD MADOFF, RAHM EMMANUEL

Madoff was a pillar of Wall Street, one of the founders of the NASDAQ Exchange and a former Chairman. His private Investment business became known for delivering steady returns year after year and attracted billions. Little did anyone imagine he was using new investments to provide returns on old ones. The house of cards came crashing down last week when he confessed to his sons, who promptly reported him. He had lost their money too. He had cheated family and friends.

http://www.time.com/time/business/articl...=tsmodule

"Madoff's investors included captains of industry, corporations -- some of which are publicly traded -- that used Madoff almost as a high-yielding cash management account, endowments, universities, foundations and, importantly, many high-profile funds of funds," said Douglas Kass, who heads hedge fund Seabreeze Partners Management. "It appears that at least $15 billion of wealth, much of which was concentrated in southern Florida and New York City, has gone to 'money heaven,'" he said.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Madoff-alleged-50-billion- rb-13819411.html

Madoff's $50 billion scam is described as the largest in history. But it pales in comparison with what Robert Rubin and his ilk have done to the world. With the possible exception of Ponzi himself, most of the scamsters mentioned here are Jewish. A consolation to anti-Semites, the biggest victims probably also are Jews. One Jewish Foundation, which gave away $1.5 million to Jewish causes, closed its doors and laid off its employees. All its money was invested with Madoff.

http://jta.org/news/article/2008/12/12/1...its-doors

"This guy [has] killed more Jews then Hitler," one wag said in a forum. "Wait till you read the formal complaint from the SEC and FBI." Then he added facetiously, "Now that the Jew has been thrown down the well, is our country free?"

http://dealbreaker.com/2008/12/madoffs-victims.php

Thankfully Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is not Jewish, but Obama's Jewish Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel is implicated in the Governor's plan to sell Obama's Senate Seat. Obama was put in power by Illuminati Jews and Masons and there is going to be plenty of corruption.

("implicated" http://www.henrymakow.com/illuminati_ban...evolu.html

Just as there was collateral damage when Illuminati bankers put Hitler into power, (the loss of 60 million people) Jews today have got to break rank with the bankers and their political puppets. We're not responsible for their machinations and Jews suffer as much as anyone.

Moreover, Jews are going to be blamed unless we join in exposing and opposing the Illuminati, (i.e. the highest rank of Freemasonry consisting of Jews and non-Jews.) Organized Jewry and many individual Jews are witting and unwitting instruments of the Illuminati bankers' plan for totalitarian world government.

At the same time, we need to ask ourselves whether there is some flaw in Jewish culture that makes so many Jews sacrifice personal integrity for financial success and power.

Finally, wars and depressions don't happen by accident. They are planned by the Illuminati years in advance. They are designed to engineer social and political change. See my "Illuminati Bankers Seek "Revolution" by Economic Means" and "Credit Crunch: Occult Colonization of the Developed World?" The media is controlled by the Illuminati and advances their agenda. That's why the spotlight is on Bernard Madoff and not Robert Rubin.

Makow--"Bankers Seek Revolution by Economic Means" http://www.henrymakow.com/illuminati_ban...evolu.html

"Occult Colonization of the Developed World" http://www.henrymakow.com/credit_crunch_...ld_g.html

Sovietizing the US Economy-The Final Phase http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/200...hase.html

Henry Makow Ph.D. is the author of "Illuminati-The Cult that Hijacked the World." (http://www.cruelhoax.ca) His articles can be found at his web site http://www.henrymakow.com He enjoys receiving your comments, some of which he posts on his site using first names only. hmakow@gmail.com

US Physicists Make Weapons of Mass Financial Destruction

Dear Henry,

I read with interest your articles in Rense.com. In the present article you mentioned a you mentioned a PhD physicist and quoted from his letter to the NY Post. That physicist is me.

I did my PhD from University of ---. I had a grade point average of over 4.9/5.0. But I tried to just stick with physics and I am glad that I did so.

People with training in disciplines like physics can do great work, but they can also be used to create havoc by powers that be.

Without physicists, no matter how much money you have you cannot make a nuclear reactor (for good) or nuclear bomb (for bad).

It must be mentioned that in the USA most of the physics research is supported by the Federal Government in one way or another. In the mid 90's due to serious budget cuts, research money started drying up. Hundreds of PhDs were competing for one university job. So many gave up and went for other options. Those were in banks and financial institutions.

As the employers who earlier employed physicists to make atom bombs got their bombs made, similarly the employers in banks and other financial sectors got the physicists, mathematicians and others with technical skills to make these weapons of financial destruction's (WFDs) which they have finally started to release.

This present situation is plain and simple warfare by the rich to grab all they can from the middle class and poor. The WFDs are the choice weapon as they are the ultimate destroyers of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness but preservers of real estate.

I do not know, but you may want to look how these financial institutions went after physicists and mathematicians and what was their purpose of hiring so many so called 'rocket scientists.' I even saw a poster from Surrey University, UK, about graduate studies with physics and finance.

I do not want to downgrade physicists (and I hope I am wrong) but one needs to examine their involvement very carefully to understand the dynamics of the present chaos.

The terms of the President and the Vice-President

Brad Farber — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 08:59:03 -0800

Jeff & your Rense Radio Webmaster,

I was replaying your interview with *Dr. Viera and went to the XX Amendment – Article 3 he mentioned. He indicated that at a certain stage Vice President elect would take the Presidential seat if Obama failed. In my quick reading I saw something slightly better. Please look for your FYI.
http://www.newswithviews.com/Vieira/edwinA.htm
Regards,
Brad
Rense Subscriber
Mesa, AZ
http://www.fathermag.com/US_Constitution...ment.shtml

AMENDMENT XX

Section 1.

The terms of the President and the Vice-President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3rd day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.

Section 2.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3rd day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.

Section 3.

If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice-President elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice-President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice-President shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice-President shall have qualified.

Body of premature newborn found at Lancaster home

shirley — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 09:17:55 -0800

Body of premature newborn found at Lancaster home
Daily News Wire Service
Article Last Updated: 12/19/2008

LANCASTER - The body of a premature newborn was found Friday at a home in Lancaster, a sheriff's deputy said.

The baby, which was believed to be at least two months premature, was found at 11:50 a.m. in the toilet at the mother's parents' home in the 1300 block of East Avenue I, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Derrick Thompson.

The mother, whose name was not released, was taken to a hospital for treatment, after authorities found her feverish and delirious, Thompson said.

Detectives continue to investigate.