We are a group of anomalists from The Hidden Mission Forums who have banded together to bring you this site, an extension of those forums. The purpose of The Hidden Message Journal is to enable us to present to the general public our findings and general research conclusions from our discussions, debates and musings within those forums. We hope you find our material both interesting and informative.
Membership here is restricted to those who are members at the Hidden Mission; however, membership there is free and open to any who seek "straight talk on anomalous topics." Return often as material is added on a regular basis and that frequency will increase as our membership grows.
- The Hidden Message Team
---
Featured Articles and Photo Galleries
---
The Hidden Message Journal is pleased to present to you the following items submitted by our members:
By David Cho and Zachary A. Goldfarb Washington Post Staff Writers Tuesday, October 21, 2008; Page D01
The government is moving forward with its first significant effort to bring oversight to a vast, unregulated corner of Wall Street that has severely exacerbated the financial crisis.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) says the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is too close to private industry players to be the regulator. (Alex Wong - Getty Images)
But a turf war is brewing among three leading federal agencies that have contrasting visions for how the $55 trillion market for speculative financial instruments known as credit-default swaps should be regulated.
While the credit crisis has upended global financial markets and given a lift to advocates of heightened regulation, it has not resolved traditional disputes in Washington over how deeply the government should be involved in free markets.
British Treasury has used terrorism laws to freeze Icelandic bank's assets - 9th Oct 2008
As Iceland’s Prime Minister is complaining about the use of terrorism laws to freeze the Landsbanki assets in the UK, was it the right thing to do by the British authorities? Iceland is a rock in the ocean and it had its “Northern Rock” moment three years ago when international institutions stopped lending it money for expansion.
Icelandic banks found a good home in the UK by offering good rates to savers and carried on with their expansion regardless.
The secret information below was uncovered by Vive le Canada. On September 12- 14, 2006 in Banff Alberta, Canada a group of present and past elected federal Ministers and Deputy Ministers from Canada, USA and Mexico met with unelected corporate, military, academic, financial ,industrialists,and "think tank" members to strategize the unification of Canada, USA, and Mexico. They conspired to continue to commit the unconstitutional act of castrating three national entities by planning ways to remove the constitutional powers and protections granted to the citizens of Canada, USA, and Mexico.
The people identified below are functioning as a "government de facto" (Black's Law Dictionary page 824). They are "a government of fact. A government actually exercising power and control in the state,as opposed to the true and lawful government.; a government not established according to the constitution of the state, or not lawfully entitled to recognition or supremacy, but which has nevertheless supplanted or displaced the government de jure. A government deemed unlawful or unjust, which nevertheless receives presently habitual obedience from the bulk of the community." Since no sitting party in Canada's Parliament is prepared or willing to challenge and terminate the practice and power of this de facto government, it is up to us, the citizens, to do it. We must and can defy them. It is our democratic duty to refuse obedience to them. Our power is still at the ballot box. Our power is still in our voices . We must and can take back our democracy by electing only representatives to our government who refuse to permit the continuation of this de facto government . Elect only those who promise to govern for the public good and in the public interest. Elect only those who will defend, protect and preserve the rights of citizens. Elect only those who commit to the integrity of an independent sovereign nation.
New U.S. intelligence report warns 'victory' not certain in Iraq
Posted on Tuesday, October 7, 2008
By Jonathan S. Landay, Warren P. Strobel and Nancy A. Youssef | McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON — A nearly completed high-level U.S. intelligence analysis warns that unresolved ethnic and sectarian tensions in Iraq could unleash a new wave of violence, potentially reversing the major security and political gains achieved over the last year.
U.S. officials familiar with the new National Intelligence Estimate said they were unsure when the top-secret report would be completed and whether it would be published before the Nov. 4 presidential election.
More than a half-dozen officials spoke to McClatchy on condition of anonymity because NIE's, the most authoritative analyses produced by the U.S. intelligence community, are restricted to the president, his senior aides and members of Congress except in rare instances when just the key findings are made public.
The new NIE, which reflects the consensus of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, has significant implications for Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, whose differences over the Iraq war are a major issue in the presidential campaign.
The findings seem to cast doubts on McCain's frequent assertions that the United States is "on a path to victory" in Iraq by underscoring the deep uncertainties of the situation despite the 30,000-strong U.S. troop surge for which he was the leading congressional advocate.
08/10/08 -- -WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama has his William Ayers connection. Now John McCain may have an Iran-Contra connection. In the 1980s, McCain served on the advisory board to the U.S. chapter of an international group linked to ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America.
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., arrives for a technical walk-through of the debate site in advance of the presidential debate with Democrat rival Barack Obama at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
The U.S. Council for World Freedom aided rebels trying to overthrow the leftist government of Nicaragua. That landed the group in the middle of the Iran-Contra affair and in legal trouble with the Internal Revenue Service, which revoked the charitable organization's tax exemption.
The council created by retired Army Maj. Gen. John Singlaub was the U.S. chapter of the World Anti-Communist League, an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America. After setting up the U.S. council, Singlaub served as the international league's chairman.
McCain's tie to Singlaub's council is undergoing renewed scrutiny after his campaign criticized Obama for his link to Ayers, a former radical who engaged in violent acts 40 years ago. Over the weekend, Democratic operative Paul Begala said on ABC's "This Week" that this "guilt by association" tactic could backfire on the McCain campaign by renewing discussion of McCain's service on the board of the U.S. Council for World Freedom, "an ultraconservative right-wing group."
'Outrage' at World Bank Over Colleague's Generous Salary
By Al Kamen Friday, April 6, 2007; Page A19
The World Bank rank and file were most upset by our recent column noting that Shaha Riza, linked romantically with bank President Paul Wolfowitz, got some curiously hefty raises upon being detailed to work at the State Department -- but remaining on the bank's payroll.
"Since publication of the . . . column," a bank-wide e-mail Wednesday from the bank's staff association said, the association "has been inundated with messages from staff expressing concern, dismay and outrage."
Pay raises for Shaha Riza, now of State, have irked many at the World Bank. (World Bank)
The association "has looked into those concerns" and concluded that, while it couldn't "determine who drew up and approved" the agreement detailing Riza to State -- which the bank said was necessary to avoid a conflict of interest -- it did find that the terms are "grossly out of line with" bank rules.
Animal Instincts: Main Street Seeks Revenge on Wall Street
by Robert Roy Britt and Jeanna Bryner posted: 02 October 2008 01:22 pm ET
The outrage expressed by many so-called Main Street folks over the proposed Wall Street bailout is based on more than a sense of injustice.
It's about revenge, a basic animal instinct shared by humans, chimpanzees and even blue-footed boobies.
Protesters march outside of the U.S Treasury building in protest of the proposed Wall Street bailouts, Friday Sept. 26, 2008, in Washington. Credit: AP Photo / Jacquelyn Martin.
And Washington politicians would be wise to listen up and stick some get-back-at-'em clauses into the bailout bill if they hope to get the support of the average American, says one behavioral economist who studies these things.
In phone calls made by constituents to politicians, as well as e-mails to news organizations and other media, the public has expressed a preference for a package that helps consumers and homeowners without assisting fat cats on Wall Street. In fact, a Pew Research Center survey conducted Sept. 27 through Sept. 29 found that nearly 70 percent of Americans say they feel angry about the government's plan, and half admit they are scared.
President Bush and other leaders who support the bailout warn, however, that if financial institutions are not propped up quickly and significantly with public money, the average American will pay the price.
Bring it on, many people seem to be saying.
Dan Ariely would agree.
"People are willing to lose money to get those people [on Wall Street] to suffer" because the corporate financial leaders have violated a social contract, says Ariely, a behavioral economist at Duke University. "We need to include revenge in the bill."
The bill should also include a code of punishment for exacting revenge for future financial misdeeds, Ariely said last night on "Marketplace," a radio program produced and distributed by American Public Media.
Betting on the Futures of Politics Prediction Markets Can Be Powerful -- and Often Profitable
By Sarah Lovenheim washingtonpost.com Staff Writer Thursday, October 2, 2008; 2:23 PM
Bethan Brome Lilja of Massachusetts. (Photo courtesy of Lilja.)
Last September, Bethan Brome Lilja, a Massachusetts commercial photographer, made a bet of sorts that seemed absurd at the time: that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) would win the Republican presidential nomination.
Although McCain's campaign organization had imploded that summer and his polling numbers were near rock-bottom, Lilja purchased about $75,000 worth of contracts on an unusual futures market called Intrade speculating that McCain would pull out the nomination. She also wagered that former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani would lose his campaign for the GOP nomination, despite polls showing him very much in the running.
Today, Lilja's high-stakes political speculation looks prescient, and she has made more than $300,000 off the market -- roughly four times the amount she initially invested.
Guidelines Expand FBI's Surveillance Powers Techniques May Be Used in U.S. Without Any Fact Linking Subject to Terrorism
By Carrie Johnson Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, October 4, 2008; Page A03
Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said the guidelines are necessary to predict threats and respond even before an attack takes place. (By Linda Davidson -- The Washington Post)
Justice Department officials released new guidelines yesterday that empower FBI agents to use intrusive techniques to gather intelligence within the United States, alarming civil liberties groups and Democratic lawmakers who worry that they invite privacy violations and other abuses.
The new road map allows investigators to recruit informants, employ physical surveillance and conduct interviews in which agents disguise their identities in an effort to assess national security threats. FBI agents could pursue each of those steps without any single fact indicating a person has ties to a terrorist organization.
After the Economic Crisis, the Fleecing? Emergency Bailout Effort Could Bring More Waste, Fraud and Cronyism, Watchdogs Warn By JUSTIN ROOD October 2, 2008
Relaxing rules for hiring personnel and firms to aid the massive economic bailout are prompting concerns over waste, fraud and cronyism from watchdog groups.
The emergency bailout effort to quell the economic crisis could bring more waste, fraud and cronyism, watchdogs warn, because of relaxing rules for hiring personnel and firms. (Richard T. Nowitz/National Geographic/Getty Images)
The bailout under consideration by Congress "has the potential to exacerbate wasteful contracting practices," said Laura Peterson of the Washington, D.C-based nonprofit Taxpayers for Common Sense. "We have seen that in other emergency situations," like the government's efforts following Hurricane Katrina, or the war in Iraq, Peterson said.
