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Julius Baer Whistleblower To Expose 2,000 High Net Worth Tax Evaders To The World
Two years ago when the US bailed out UBS and Switzerland from a brief but potentially terminal liquidity crisis, it succeeded in extracting a historic pound of flesh: it forced UBS to declassify thousands of bank accounts of US tax evaders which was the first nail in the centuries-old concept of Swiss bank secrecy. Today, Rudolf Elmer, a former COO of one of the biggest Swiss banks, Julius Baer, may have just nailed the last, and with that set off a chain reaction that will force a huge outcry against pervasive global tax fraud (but likely achieve nothing ultimatel). According to the Guardian, tomorrow Elmer will hand over details of 2,000 "high net worth individuals and corporations" to WikiLeaks which will make him "the most important and boldest whistleblower in Swiss banking history." And since among those exposed will be "approximately 40 politicians" expect all hell to break loose as photos of Assange having a underage orgy with Al Qaeda members are suddenly made public to diffuse what is bound to be another huge (if brief - after all human kind cannot bear very much reality).
From the Guardian:
British and American individuals and companies are among the offshore clients whose details will be contained on CDs presented to WikiLeaks at the Frontline Club in London. Those involved include, Elmer tells the Observer, "approximately 40 politicians".
Elmer, who after his press conference will return to Switzerland from exile in Mauritius to face trial, is a former chief operating officer in the Cayman Islands and employee of the powerful Julius Baer bank, which accuses him of stealing the information.
He is also – at a time when the activities of banks are a matter of public concern – one of a small band of employees and executives seeking to blow the whistle on what they see as unprofessional, immoral and even potentially criminal activity by powerful international financial institutions.
This is interesting: after all it was Zero Hedge that about 18 months ago suggested that all financial professionals should be very concerned: after all, all it takes is one sloppy firing, or one departure without the appropriate non-disparagement and non-truth telling clause, and all hell could break loose as those who were part of the inner sanctum suddenly find themselves on the outside... and wanting revenge. Elmer is just first of many. In the meantime, we hope that every single hedge fund, starting with that particular one in Stamford and going all the way down, has made plans regarding termination of its employees. All it takes is one person who believes they may have been wrongfully terminated to approach the SEC themselves, or, even worse, some blog or alleged terrorist organization with a penchant for disclosing the truth...
More on what will soon be the biggest case of exposed international tax fraud:
Elmer says he is releasing the information "in order to educate society". The list includes "high net worth individuals", multinational conglomerates and financial institutions – hedge funds". They are said to be "using secrecy as a screen to hide behind in order to avoid paying tax". They come from the US, Britain, Germany, Austria and Asia – "from all over".
Clients include "business people, politicians, people who have made their living in the arts and multinational conglomerates – from both sides of the Atlantic". Elmer says: "Well-known pillars of society will hold investment portfolios and may include houses, trading companies, artwork, yachts, jewellery, horses, and so on."
"What I am objecting to is not one particular bank, but a system of structures," he told the Observer. "I have worked for major banks other than Julius Baer, and the one thing on which I am absolutely clear is that the banks know, and the big boys know, that money is being secreted away for tax-evasion purposes, and other things such as money-laundering – although these cases involve tax evasion."
Below is Elmer's more verbose explanation of why the game of mutual assured secrecy works...until it doesn't.
"Once you become part of senior management," he says, "and gain
international experience, as I did, then you are part of the inner
circle – and things become much clearer. You are part of the plot. You
know what the real products and service are, and why they are so
expensive. It should be no surprise that the main product is secrecy …
Crimes are committed and lies spread in order to protect this secrecy."
What is interesting is that Elmer has penetrated not only onshore Swiss accounts, but offshore ones, anmely those located in the Caymans, which as everyone knows is the primary base of operations for tax evading "offshore" hedge fund LPs:
That first crop of documents was scrutinised by the Guardian newspaper in 2009, which found "details of numerous trusts in which wealthy people have placed capital. This allows them lawfully to avoid paying tax on profits, because legally it belongs to the trust … The trust itself pays no tax, as a Cayman resident", although "the trustees can distribute money to the trust's beneficiaries".
Now, Blum says, "Elmer is being tried for violating Swiss banking secrecy law even though the data is from the Cayman Islands. This is bold extraterritorial nonsense. Swiss secrecy law should apply to Swiss banks in Switzerland, not a Swiss subsidiary in the Cayman Islands."
Yet just like with cablegate, the end result of all this imminent disclosure will be merely the confirmation of what everyone has already long suspected: that nobody rich pays taxes, and all US, and world, politicians are massively corrupt. And therefore, no criminal charges will be filed against anyone. Expect of course Assange, who will soon be branded a threat to US national security.
Unfortunately, US society, having lost all forms of checks and balances. has gotten to a point where no incremental information will do anything to even dent the ponzi lie. After all, the simplest observations is that Madoff is in jail for life, while sacrifices are made on Ben Bernanke's altar each and every day. And they say gold is a religion...
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Taxation is the taking by force of value created by others. In other words, it is theft. Full stop.
Thank you, CH1, for stating it succinctly.
I'm dismayed by the naivete of people, even here on ZH. Runs something like THIS:
a) THE PEOPLE were living well, with lots of wealth, valuable houses and productive jobs;
b) The evil bankers STOLE the people's wealth!
c) Plead to government to grab "the wealth" from the bankers and give it back to the middle classes...
d) And - BINGO! - everyone can buy HDTVs and iPhones again!
NOT SO SIMPLE. Just print more money then everyone would be wealthy! Right, guys?
Depressing...
Yes, string them up.
IMO, this is at best a test of Wikileaks... at worst, it is an attack by a malevolent foreign power (Israel). Elmer had previously sent a CD with the records showing the tax evasion to governments and Mainstream media outlets, who refused to published the information. Did Wikileaks ever publish the original 15 names it was given (before it was shut down)?
Wikileaks, which previously has published primarily pro-Israel state department cables and nothing to harm Israel, is now going to be given these records to publish. It seems MOST likely that the records will be used by Elmer and a Mossad established Wikileaks to blackmail those in power and entrapped by the collusive bankers in tax evasion. It will also hide the records of those who further the pro-Israel agenda.
If Wikileaks publishes nothing and just gives lame excuses, then it is a complete fraud. IMO, this would also be a good test for Zerohedge.... if given the records.
well I wanna add a triple dog dare you Tyler to this shit above!
What about the BoA's leak?
on Sun, 01/16/2011 - 09:33
#879832
What about the BoA's leak?
********************************************************************************
Julian, NEVER SAID "B OF A"!!!!!! The Jusesess Freaks did!
If this were legit, you don't need wikileaks. You can just release it to the media with the explicit understanding that you will release further details if you aren't satisfied with how they report it.
PC,
With individuals like Murdoch implicated (and who knows how many other media "players") I doubt these "details" would be reported. I look forward to reading and reviewing it.
Other than NPR, what other major US media is not corporate controlled?
You can't trust that the media would handle it equitably--the less politically-connected evaders would be nailed and the rest downplayed, just like last time.
Here is a guess- the correlation between an index of tax evasion and that of government waste, fraud, and abuse is high.
In other words, I would guess that, no matter the rate of taxation, out-of-control government spending begets increases in tax evasion.
That is to say, some of that money would be willingly surrendered to governments were the governments not perceived as corrupt.
Agreed. We need a new limited government and less taxes
In reference to the 1099 rule of 2012, in an environment of intimidation and "voluntary compliance" I say: fuck compliance.
I dont see a big distinction between obama having a kill list without trial and vincent having a kill list. Ok all you crazies did you hear what jw n fl said? Spray them. Spray them all. 47 is just a start...were are our jacobins?
This is a non-event just like alleged Wikileaks bank exposure.
Some high profile people evading taxes. Wow, like that's going to motivate sheeple to action when all the rampant in-your-face fraud, looting, and criminality of the past 2 - 3 years hasn't.
Nothing to see here. Carry on.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I think Wikileaks is either ridiculously slow or really has nothing much.
Time will tell, though the longer it takes, the more likely they have nothing.
Julian doesnt do "Nothing".... Julian does to, too much... not packaged and easily understood by stupid reader digest personalities...
It is not packaged and thumb tabbed... for idiots..
Julian should do a truth for idiots series.
No one will suffer reading 5,000 docs, let alone in a sitting.. and retain enough of the information (with wifey bitchin n da kitchen) so that it would be of any use... most, that is.
People cant not comprehend, they dont want to know... and we liked them stupid before all this happened becuase we where so much better than "THEM".
The only way for there to be no "US" v. "THEM"... is for "US to be "THEM"... and I honestly dont know where to start educating, making people un-lazy and the like begins? do you?
Good work, Tyler. You have really been on a roll.
since he got fired... best thing that ever happened to him!
Yes thank you tyler....keep it up.......we are just in need of doubling the unemployment and the revolution begins. Long live St. Vincent.
Oh, for Christ's sake, taxation is theft, boys and girls, so if you want to go after people who are simply trying to "evade" being robbed, then go ahead. Just remember that that puts you on the side of the thieves -- meaning the state -- which makes you an enemy of freedom.
And therefore my enemy.
The state and its defenders can kiss my ass.
So you're on the side of the politicians, huh?
Establishment shill.
What, you want to nab a few hypocritical politicians (but I repeat myself) in the name of "tax fairness"?
Go ahead, take it up the ass is you like it so much. The state can kiss mine.
January 16 is offically Rudolf Elmer day.
How many potiential wistleblower holidays do we have left in the year ?
...me thinks someone forgot to pay 'da man
Okie Doke ... done with Zerohedge. No cred.
Get the fuck out then... door is that way...
rudolph, won't you guide julian's sleigh tonight?
“The issue is freedom to publish information without fear of intimidation, imprisonment, and death.”
On Guarding the Public’s Right to Ignorance and Meeting With Julian Assange by CHARLES GLASS | January 12, 2011
When a journalist disappears in Russia or is murdered in Iraqi Kurdistan, his or her colleagues in safer climes stand up to be counted. No one should be killed, tortured, or imprisoned for publishing information or opinions that the powerful find inconvenient. Organizations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists, Article 19, and PEN regard it as their duty to defend writers’ and publishers’ rights, as PEN famously did for Arthur Koestler against Nazi tyranny in the 1930s. Index on Censorship, a publication with an honorable pedigree, came into existence to publish the samizdat articles and stories of writers who risked the gulag for expressing themselves.
In journalism schools, they teach aspiring reporters it is their duty to ferret out information the state and other power centers conceal that affects ordinary people’s lives. Bringing information to the governed about their governors is the breath of democracy, the exposure that animates liberty’s spirit, and a necessary check against the world’s imbalances in wealth and power. When Upton Sinclair revealed the way meat was packaged in America in The Jungle, when Lincoln Steffens told the truth about municipal government corruption, when Ida Tarbell exposed the Standard Oil Company to public scrutiny, when I. F. Stone published the truth behind the Gulf of Tonkin lies that Lyndon Johnson used as an excuse to escalate the war against Vietnam (the Weapons of Mass Destruction of its time), when Seymour Hersh reported the American massacre at My Lai, when Ray Coffey of the Chicago Daily News broke the story of America’s illegal bombing of Laos, did their colleagues rise as one to defend them?
The hell they did. A few stood with the investigators, but most condemned them. Hearst columnists and other guardians of the public’s right to ignorance railed against the muckrakers for betraying American values. Who could be against Rockefeller and Standard Oil apart from a traitor? The good burghers of the popular press turned on them like a pack of hounds for questioning the wisdom of duly (albeit corruptly) elected rulers and daring to publish documents that God had deigned as comprehensible only to a bureaucratic inner circle.
“I understand why the Pentagon, the State Department, and the White House hate Assange and WikiLeaks. He broke into their cozy little circle of lies and turned on the lights.”
Journalistic guard dogs of power, the most likely hacks to climb the ladder for the Purina Dog Chow of corporate-media op-ed columns, talk shows, and editorships, have turned against WikiLeaks. Julian Assange has committed the crime for which we, from the safety of time’s passage, honor Steffens, Tarbell, Stone, and Hersh. It is no surprise that a pseudo-journalist such as Bill Kristol at The Weekly Standard calls for Washington to employ “various assets to harass, snatch or neutralize Julian Assange and his collaborators.” But it is more difficult to excuse the distance that real journalists, many of whom published the documents and videos that WikiLeaks made available to them, are putting between themselves and Assange. The Society of Professional Journalists, the National Association of Broadcasters, and The New York Times’ opinion pages have run for cover as fast as politicians during a police raid on a whorehouse.
The New York Times, along with The Washington Post, had the honorable distinction of publishing the Pentagon Papers. They received those documents from Daniel Ellsberg, who was pilloried in his time just as Assange is today. The Nixon Administration, in a precursor to the Watergate break-in, raided his psychiatrist’s office and circulated stories that Ellsberg was insane. The argument was not unknown in the Soviet Union: If you are against us, you must be crazy. Now they are turning on Assange over his sex life, his alleged imperiousness, and his supposed recklessness.
I understand why the Pentagon, the State Department, and the White House hate Assange and WikiLeaks. He broke into their cozy little circle of lies and turned on the lights. We’ve seen the amusement of helicopter pilots and gunners as they blew away journalists in Iraq. We’ve read how Hillary Clinton illegally suborned UN diplomats to spy on their colleagues. We’ve had a look into secret discussions where the US tried to persuade the Japanese to shut down the anti-whaling Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. We have read that Israeli border guards have been trying to shake down American companies such as Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, and Westinghouse for bribes to let them send their products into the Gaza Strip.
We have seen all of this, while Assange’s critics tell us (1) nothing he has revealed is of any significance and (2) what he has revealed is so significant he must be prosecuted or terminated with prejudice. Let the government fight its corner, fair enough. But does the press, which collaborated with WikiLeaks in bringing so much information to public scrutiny, need to condemn him? In the battle between the state and the free press, I stand with the free press.
This is an easy decision, and I made it well before I met Assange last weekend. He seemed to me to be neither arrogant nor deceptive. He is, however, single-minded and determined to fight for his corner. He has accepted his predicament with good grace, having endured nine days in Wandsworth Prison in solitary confinement. The terms of his bail, while he awaits a possible extradition to Sweden for alleged crimes that carry no sentence other than a small fine, require him to remain inside the Norfolk farmhouse of his friend Vaughan Smith, a brave former Grenadier Guards officer and combat cameraman. Julian may leave the house only for daily visits to the local police station. When we wanted to smoke outside, in deference to Pranvera Smith’s understandable concern about the air around her beautiful little daughters being fouled by tobacco, Julian had to stand inside the doorway. I was free to pace the garden with my cigar, the absurdity of which was obvious to us both.
He spends most of his time working on WikiLeaks and preparing his legal defense, showing no sign of the tension that would break most of us. But making this a battle about his personality misses the point: The issue is freedom to publish information without fear of intimidation, imprisonment, and death. Where are my colleagues? Many have stood up honorably to defend him and to guarantee his bail in Britain. Others have turned on him, including the two English-language newspapers (The Guardian in London and The New York Times) that published documents they could have obtained only from him. It was ever thus, as Julien Benda reminded us in La Trahison des Clercs:
Our age has seen priests of the mind teaching that gregarious[ness] is the praiseworthy form of thought, and that independent thought is contemptible. It is moreover certain that the group which desires to be strong has no use for a man who claims to think for himself.
During America’s war in Vietnam, Noam Chomsky referred to the journalistic and academic defenders of the aggression as the “secular priesthood.” Their heirs worship at the same altar of power, even when it means sending one of their own to prison for a “crime” they only pretend to commit: speaking truth to and about power.
http://takimag.com/article/on_guarding_the_publics_right_to_ignorance_an...
"Vaughan Smith, a brave former Grenadier Guards officer and combat cameraman"
Foward Obs... Up...
tac 1... up...
tac 2.... ready...
perimeter?......
lights green..... good to go?
add key stroke here ______________________.
Excellent. Thank you.
I have a short story to tell.
I once worked for a large, international organization for many years. 4 years ago, we created a new subsidiary that I earned ownership in, via sweat equity and my longevity with, and loyalty to, the large, international organization. Last year, I discovered that my partners in this subsidiary were defrauding me, as well as our other partners in the large, international organization, so I went to my counterparts at the large, international organization to reveal the facts of the fraud.
Shortly thereafter, the "proof" I had presented to them disappeared, and I was offered a buy-out.
Before I left, I managed to do one small thing that I believe will have an affect: I planted small seeds of doubt amongst them. The lies they told me came back to them twofold, and before I was forced out, I saw a few seedlings sprout.
There is no honor among thieves.
Buy shinny PM's... Ammo... Food.... and shelter with a sustainable power source... and then kick back and watch the fire works... sat TV and internet... lines maybe effect.
If you want to hedge... buy what the FED Buys...
wtf is 'shinny'?
wtf is jo?
Well JR, speaking of Chomsky, maybe you should check out "Manufacturing Consent", before posting idealistic journalism claims.
And who has turned agains Asange? The mainstream media has been riding his dick worldwide, non stop (of course with some bogus rape charges to spark some controversy, an illusion of prosecution). It's a psyop plain and simple. Or maybe wikileaks someday will tell us something that we don't know already?
Think of the little people, think of the entertainment value that you would take from the... think of...
How about lets just keep putting the raw docs out.... so that a running tab can be kept, a library for the future to read from... and un-varnished view?
Almost everyone knows it would be a mistake to hero worship Noam Chomsky; it’s a blind alley. But when the man says something right, it’s a mistake to rebut it with a personality generalization. Here are the facts: WikiLeaks has shaken the world's ruling classes, from Pennsylvania Avenue to Saudi Arabia to Tel Aviv. There’s no better evidence than the positioning of The Guardian and The NY Times, standing in line for the handouts from the powerful. No one could absorb the audio and images from a U.S. helicopter “lighting up” the innocents in Iraq without understanding why we need WikiLeaks.
I’m concerned about where the people who would silence this information are coming from…from Rush Limbaugh to Hillary Clinton to our lying, corrupted sycophants--our so-called journalists.
So no one could absorb the helicopter video shooting some Iraqis? That's a daily occurence in a war theater sir. How about kids being raped in Iraqi prisons, there are videos of that too you know, any info on 911 there? You see to give the site some credebility you might as well post some junk, the more graphic the better to play on the feelings of the gullible (to make you imbrace it's cause), but in the end wikileaks has agendas way beyond it's offical statement.
I wanna be real fucking clear in this one...
FUCK! anyone who is not Roman / American...
If anyone, anywhere... touches, lays a hand on a Roman / American... then let the deed be an instant act of war upon those people where ever that may be.
and when I say American, I mean English, Canadian, Austrailian and / or fat ass stupid American's.
and the French...
the food is to die for... no really, it is so good... they are so lazy... and cant fight thier way out of a paper sack (in force). so we will die, to eat that food again... its coming.
as an add on... Russia is growing on me... always liked the people, loved really... the food is iffy, but they party!
i eat drink nothing but potatoes. i think i will like russia†
l___________________________________________________________________________l goose.
l________________l pineapple.
mashed? heavy cream, garlic and a little minced candian bacon...
you made me hungry, arent you a crafty one?
Let’s shut up about it, right? We all knew all about it, right? Then why would the power elites want to get Assange and put him in prison? He’s not telling us anything new we didn’t already know, right?
Have you heard the word “WikiLeaks”? It’s all over the world. Who cares, you say? Then why is everyone talking about WikiLeaks? It’s because people really didn’t know what was happening.
Your point is the same as Rush Limbaugh’s; that with war you get these shameful occurrences; it’s a mistake to concentrate on the evils of war. This is just wartime; anything goes time! I once heard Rush say that he wouldn’t allow people to bring up America’s war atrocities on the air. War is war; the rules of engagement determined by those in power, the same as in occupied Palestine.
The truth is: This is a banker-controlled superpower gaming for the world’s resources, pushing its will on an undeveloped world. It’s not us doing it; it’s our tyrannical rulers. They went to war in Iraq under false pretense; they lied us into war and now they are lying about the war, its goals, its achievements, and why we are there. WikiLeaks is showing us the war we are supporting with our money, our inflation, our lives, our patriotism… and our silence.
Those Americans in the helicopter have all the modern inventions of a superpower, looking down on journalists and people who have nothing, running in the dust below, and they are going to kill them.
My point is, let’s see what war is then. WikiLeaks and other videos are showing us what the power elites in the United States are doing.
Maybe it's like when police haul an informant in in cuffs to give him a little street cred and cover for his visit. We should not be surprised that Jules is a tool of TPTB. And again, it would seem it is safer to leak military or diplomatic secrets than it is to leak bank secrets, which would go some way to explaining why Jules is so slow to dribble out BoA stuff.
[Assange] has started something seismic but inevitable, a consequence of modern communications that cannot be stopped. One day we might be governed better as a result. Vengeance by the authorities is weakness here and will not help us face the challenges of the times.
These are the words of a freedom fighter. In the absence of one shred of proof that Assange compromises or is on the side of the rulers, I cast my belief with Vaughan Smith, the founder of the Frontline Club, who as an independent cameraman and video news journalist covered wars and conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Kosovo and elsewhere. Smith himself filmed the only uncontrolled footage of the Gulf War in 1991, according to Wikipedia, after he bluffed his way into an active-duty unit while disguised as a British Army officer. He also ran Frontline News TV, “set up in 1989 to represent the interests of young video journalists who wanted to push the envelope of their profession.”
Wrote Smith December 15 in “Why I’m Sheltering Julian Assange” in The Independent (UK):
“I ponder the disservice to Julian done by the media. With their stockings stuffed by WikiLeaks they dehumanise him with images printed and screened of a cold, calculating Machiavelli pulling strings from secret hideouts. The main hideout, of course, being the Frontline Club, where many of them have interviewed him.
“They made him out to be the internet’s Bin Laden. The likeness might be poor, but that was OK because the colours were familiar and bright. Now the focus is on Julian’s court fight, instead of on the opaque political system that his leaks have exposed. The charges that Julian faces have already been dropped once, from a Swedish court that even Glenn Beck, the incendiary US Fox News TV host, rubbishes…
“I resolved then, and on that ugly spot, that I would never abandon Julian. It wasn’t any more about whether Wikileaks was right or wrong, for good or bad. It was about standing up to the bully and the question of whether our country, in these historic times really was the tolerant, independent and open place I had been brought up to believe it was and feel that it needs to be. If to fight for this country we will have to fight for its fundamental principles of justice then I declare my position in the ranks.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/exclusive-the-worlds-most-wanted-house-guest-2160607.html
As to why "Jules is so slow to dribble out BofA stuff," maybe he thinks he needs some protection. But, I have no idea.
Question :::
Why is anyone ever letting Mr. Assange hold up release of the various secret information ?
He claims that he has economic interests related to dribbling things out.
He claims that he owns what comes through Wikileaks.
Really ?????
What nonsense. Stolen property is never owned by a second party.
Question :::
Why is anyone ever letting Mr. Assange hold up release of the various secret information ?
He claims that he has economic interests related to dribbling things out.
He claims that he owns what comes through Wikileaks.
Really ?????
What nonsense. Stolen property is never owned by a second party.
Day after day,
Alone on a hill,
The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still
But nobody wants to know him,
They can see that he's just a fool,
And he never gives an answer,
But the fool on the hill,
Sees the sun going down,
And the eyes in his head,
See the world spinning 'round.
Well on the way,
Head in a cloud,
The man of a thousand voices talking perfectly loud
But nobody ever hears him,
or the sound he appears to make,
and he never seems to notice,
But the fool on the hill,
Sees the sun going down,
And the eyes in his head,
See the world spinning 'round.
And nobody seems to like him,
they can tell what he wants to do,
and he never shows his feelings,
But the fool on the hill,
Sees the sun going down,
And the eyes in his head,
See the world spinning 'round.
Ooh, ooh,
Round and round and round.
And he never listens to them,
He knows that they're the fools
They don't like him,
The fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down,
And the eyes in his head,
See the world spinning 'round.
Ooh,
Round and round and round
FOUR bloody gold stars!
It’s better not to know; like the second cow in the line headed for the slaughterhouse telling the protesting first cow to “shut up”!
Here is one interpretation of the The Fool on the Hill by blogger moonlit8. A second to Antipodeus' “Four bloody gold stars!”— to the Beatles and to you for the reminder :
It isn't Jesus, it isn't MLK.
"Day after day, alone on a hill,
The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still
But nobody wants to know him,
They can see he's just a fool
And he never gives an answer."
No one wants to be accociated with this strange fool, with his silly ideas. I'm not sure what 'he never gives an answer' means.
"But the fool on the hill sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head see the world spinning round."
This shows his intelligence. He sees the sun going down, but the eyes in his head (his mind's eye) sees the world spinning 'round. The sun does not, in fact 'go down' but it appears to. In reality, the world is turning us away from the sun.
"Well on the way, head in a cloud,
The man of a thousand voices talking perfectly loud.
But nobody ever hears him
Or the sound he appears to make
And he never seems to notice."
His head is in the clouds, dealing with things far above the rest, well on the way to an epiphany of some sort. 'A man of a thousand voices talking perfectly loud' means he has many things to say, and he expresses them all. Nobody really hears what he is saying, even if they listen. He doesn't really notice that nobody understands him, because it is so very clear to him. How could it not be so obvious to everyone else.
"And nobody seems to like him,
They can tell what he wants to do
And he never shows his feelings."
Nobody really likes him. He doesn't do anything fun. He just sits on the hill and watches the sun. And thinks. He never shows his feelings, because really, who would care? To them, he is just the fool on the hill.
"He never listens to them,
He knows that they're the fools"
He doesn't care what they say about him. He knows that they are just fools. They just don't understand him.
I often feel like the fool on the hill.
http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858598072/
I hate to go disturbing your narrative here, but how do you know whether any or only some of this information is true?
Is it possible that all this information is actually targeting certain people and organizations?
Perhaps it’s time to curb ones enthusiasm and put the pitchforks back in the shed.
Question authority, especially when it’s something you want to believe is true. You don’t want to go discrediting ones self.
When are we going to read a Wikileak about organ theft rings or white phosphorous and American cluster bombs used against civilians in Gaza? Instead, we get "chickenfeed" about a politician?
Where are the Wikileaks on torture, rendition, Dr. Aafia or the phony intelligence on Iraq that led to the invasion in 2003? We are still waiting for a Wikileak on Israel's friend, Chalabi, the wanted criminal America made Prime Minister of Iraq, a decision that led to a full scale civil war.
911? It's all conveniently missing, the mainstream media is loosing i'ts share year after year thanks to the alternative media on the internet. How do you compete? Simple, you create your own outlet...
I agree, Helicon. This wikileak is just a teeny tiny bit of what's going on, at most .00001%; as you say, there’s sooo much more. The good news is, it begins....
J.R.
begin, a beautiful concept in theory.
“To begin, begin.”
And beautifully put, velobabe. You’re a romantic. Thought of you and your gadabout neighboring Russian oil magnate with his 36 million dollar Colorado ranch yesterday when I read this comment by Taki Theodoracopulos :
“Still, life goes on and a very good life it is except for the crappy snow in Gstaad and the arrival of Abramovich types—not too many, thank God. I had a slight run-in with one of them who refused to take off his very dirty boots inside a very clean shop on The Promenade. The owner didn’t dare ask him to remove them. So I put in my two cents by reminding him that it wasn’t too long ago that he was without shoes, so why not revert to his younger self and remove them? He was not best pleased.”
http://takimag.com/article/when_money_dies/print
Reminds me of another “inveterate traveler,” the 39-year-old Honourable Nathaniel Philip Victor James Rothschild. According to February’s Architectural Digest, “Scion of the world’s best known—and chicest—banking dynasty, he’s a financial titan and international playboy who appears to spend more of his time aloft in his extensivlely equipped Gulfstream jet, flying between his homes in Klosters, Switzerland; London; New York; Paris; Moscow; and Corfu,” with an entourage that “generally includes a few cabinet ministers, movie stars, models, and Russian oligarchs.”
And AD gives us a peek at Nat and his latest new vacation home, his Rio de Janeiro “spectacularly sited beachfront property, a glass house built on a lush hillside…”
But, as AD reminds us: “the good taste to savor all this is just in the blood” of the in line to become the fifth Baron Rothschild.
Says AD: “Still, Rothschild remains characteristically elusive when sought out for comment. His assistant in London will not even divulge what continent he is on (“I cannot disclose,” she whispers over the phone). This might have something to do with the $3 billion merger he’s just struck for his finance company, Vallar, with a seriously wealthy Indonesian family—an accord described in the financial press as one of the most complex of the year.
“After a deal like that, it would seem Rothschild is due for a vacation—perhaps in Rio?”
So here we are, after the grueling, expensive arms race, a cliff hangng cold war, the Vietnams, the Balkans, the Iraqs and Gazas, the oil wars, the Armand Hammers, the Kissingers, and the duplicity of our rulers throughout it all. And here are the inheritors: a man in a dinner jacket, the magic of tyranny purchased resources, unashamed of the Rothschild name in spite of the bodies and the blood and the surrender of whole peoples to a banking empire.
Ah, velobabe.
J.R.
I wonder if a lot of vaults are being constructed in US homes these days.
Let me guess, the politicians exposed will not be current, except Hilary Clinton, probably all right wingers and none of the corporations exposed will be Democrat donors...unless this is right wing plot, in which case just reverse the above!
Can't wait to find the 'targets' of this Swiss banking leak... Zero Hedge could be rammed for days with suggestions working back from the targets who the plotters were ... much fun to come, 2011 has started with a party feeling already
Is WikiLeaks A CIA Operation? 2/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAcR8bqVnIk&feature=related
Is WikiLeaks A CIA Operation? 2/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAcR8bqVnIk&feature=related
Tax evasion is evasion of theft. More power to legitimate private banking clients. It'll be fun to see the hypocrites go down, though. The truly savvy put money in Singapore, where tax evasion is not a predicate act to money laundering. And section 47 of Singapore's Banking Act makes it a crime to disclose customer information absent prior written consent or a court order (excepting court orders relating to tax evasion). In other words, Singapore has a neon sign twenty stories high saying: We Won't Tell. Just like Switzerland used to have. Compliance officers at private banks are clued-in to the whistleblowing incentives put out by governments to rat out clients. A couple of years ago the BND (the German FBI) paid one compliance officer in Luxembourg 5 million Euros to provide the names of German citizen clients suspected of evading taxes. And then there's Bradley Birkenfeld who blew the whistle on 19,000 clients of UBS suspected of evading US taxes, who could stand to gain over $100 million from the "billions" in taxes recouped as a result of his whistleblowing. He'll have to wait until he gets out of prison first, though, as the US, incomprehensibly, incarcerated him for speaking out.
What about this from the Guardian story:
"The names on the CDs will not be made public, just as a much shorter list of 15 clients that Elmer handed to WikiLeaks in 2008 has remained hitherto undisclosed by the organisation headed by Julian Assange ..."
If the names are not disclosed, big wow. Why are we so excited then?
I wonder what a full UBS disclosure would reveal.
After all, a certain person was going to be the US Senator from New York until she abruptly removed herself from consideration as soon as it was thought UBS would be disclosing all their private accounts.
lol.