The Good News/Bad News Thread

[TNOE]

I had the thought last night that DU should have a TOP TEN OUTRAGEOUS NEWS OF THE WEEK - OR MONTH. Ala David Letterman perhaps.


Look at the stories this month: And please feel free to add to the list - these are right off the top of my head.

Gannongate
Justice Sunday
Social Security
Deadly Flu Strain Mistakenly Sent
Final Iraq WMD Report

Perhaps the Most Outrageous Though Is This - Were they trying to plan an Economic 9/11?

An interesting story http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/topofthehour.aspx?StoryId=3274 appeared briefly a few days ago.

2 Brits nabbed with $3 trillion in fake US fed notes


Two men were arrested with three trillion (with a "t") in fake US Federal Reserve Negotiable Certificates, sometimes called "bearer bonds". What is interesting about the story is how the US Mainstream media pretty much ignored the whole thing. Considering the non-stop coverage given the Michael Jackson molestation trial, the avoidence of a story of a three trillion dollar crime called attention to itself.

Details of the story are sketchy. Acting on a tip, Philippine police arrested two men in the process of paying for a shipment of some iron boxes to Zurich. Upon opening the boxes, police discovered what was first reported to be Federal Reserve notes, then later corrected to "certificates", totaling three trillion dollars. The two arrested men were released on bail, warrants issued for two other men involved in the crime... and there the story ends.

Why?

Three trillion dollars, even in fake money, should be a huge story. And, for much of the foreign press, it has been. But here in the US, the story is over before it has begun.

So, what was such a huge amount of counterfeit money intended for in Zurich? Normally, currency counterfeiters sell their product through a large distributed chain of passers, who will pay some fraction of the face value of the currency, then spend it in stores, etc. But counterfeit beaerer bonds headed for Zurich strongly suggest the destination was a bank.

So, what happens when three trillion shows up all at one time? At the very least, three trillion dollars worth of paper dumped into the US economy at one time would trigger a sudden inflationary spiral; the usual result of too much cash chasing too few goods and services. Three trillion dollars in bonds presented for redemption through the banks in Zurich could trigger a run on the Federal Reserve itself, as even the Federal Reserve does not keep that kind of cash or even gold reserves at hand. Since the bonds were fakes, the ultimate mastermind could care less if the "money" was lost, and anyone willing to "lose" three trillion dollars in just the right way could bring down the entire US stock market.

George Bush and his neocons need a "terrorist" attack to justify the invasion of Iran, and a staged economic terrorist attack, executed from behind the anonymity of the Swiss Banks would be ideal. Blame for the crash of the US eocnomy could be shifted onto a scapegoat such as Iran, and off of the Congress that has borrowed this nation into ruin over the decades. The infamous FEMA Executive Orders, the means by which the nation can be turned into a legal dictatorship, include an economic crisis among the list of conditions under which the President can suspend the Constitution.

Three trillion in fake Federal Reserve Certificates could do huge damage to the nation, yet the mainstream media that screams "terrorism" every time a taxicab backfires in Bahgdad has totally buried this story.

Why?
Oh, my gosh! look at this! http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20050422-010225-2247r.htm Their bond was $295. As in two hundred ninety-five dolars?!! What the ???
Last part of their "UPI Hears..." column for 4/22.

Whatever they are charged with, it won't be with thinking small. The Philippines' National Bureau of Investigation announced the arrest of British citizens Paul Flavell and Sam Beany with an impressive $3 trillion (yes, trillion) in counterfeit U.S. Federal Reserve Bank security certificates. NBI Director Gen. Reynaldo Wycoco did not produce the suspects at a hastily assembled news conference; only their photographs were shown to reporters. NBI agents also launched a manhunt for two other British nationals involved in the syndicate, Seki Mehmet Bayram and Peter Whittkamp. NBI agents arrested Flavell and Beany following a tip from international cargo forwarder DHL Philippines Inc. about an iron chest shipment consigned by the two men for transport to Zurich. The NBI dispatched a team to the DHL office. The agents pounced on the suspects as they were paying their $996 bill. The counterfeit bonds were supposedly manufactured in 1934. Despite the potential magnitude of their thievery, the pair was granted bail after they each posted $295 bond.


So that's all the bad news and the good news? - If they were trying to plan an economic 9/11 - or bioterror with the flu strain - THEY FAILED - THEY GOT CAUGHT - AND IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!!! So that tells me one, they are really in a panic, they know they are going down and two, that there is definitely a FORCE FOR GOOD that is stopping their evil plans. We must remain viligent, no matter how discouraged we get, we are making a difference. What was it that Winston Churchill said - never have the majority owed the few so much?

So there, had to get that off my chest. By the way, Jon Stewart's show was so great last night that I stood up in my own living room by myself and CLAPPED!

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Hmm - possibly the 'trillion' was incorrect?

$3 trillion is so large that it would be ridiculous to think you'd get away with it. Say the certificates were worth $1 million each - they'd have had 3 million of those. And how many people would accept a million dollar bond without checking it damn carefully?

Here's a Philippines website that says $3 million: http://journal.com.ph/news.asp?pid=2&sid=2&nid=2062&month=4&day=22&year=2005

Another site did say trillion (it's disappeared now, but various blogs copied from it), but said this:
"The NBI recovered from Flavell and Beany a metal scroll and fake US federal bank reserves totaling $3 trillion, which were contained in an iron chest.

There were 13 boxes in the chest, each containing 50 reserve notes that amounted to $1 billion."
Even if this means that each note said "$1 billion" (what bank wouldn't check that damn carefully?), that's only 13x50=$650 billion. The maths in this story just doesn't add up.

Update: There's a bit of history to this - and it looks like the 'trillion' may be accurate. Here's a story from a website about fraud:

Although genuine Chinese Bonds have a collector's value of about £20 each, the faked US Treasury Bonds are well known to the US Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies, in Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, and Canada. Attempts have been made by fraudsters to use them as collateral for loans or to obtain money from naïve investors.
...
The story usually given by the fraudsters is that these bonds were printed by the CIA and given to Chiang Kai Sheck who opposed Chinese Communism in the 1930’s. However, so the story goes, some were lost and were then found in caves/crashed aircraft/sunken submarines (take your pick) by illiterate natives who passed them on to city slickers in exchange for a few trinkets. The fraudsters have even attached details of a B17 bomber, its tail number and details of the crew which perished in a crash in the rainforests of some distant tropical island.

Investors in the Far East have parted with huge sums of money to buy these bonds at 1¢ in the dollar. In June 2001 a US resident shot his wife and two children then turned the gun on himself after finding that these bonds, which he tried to encash at the US Bureau of Public Debt, were complete fakes.

Invariably the bonds are contained in what looks like a metal box with a serial number and a key number. The seal of the United States is usually embossed on to box lid. Once opened, the box will contain the bonds (which have a peculiar creosote aroma), sometimes large and heavy yellow metal coins in denominations of anything from $100m - $1bn, a negative film roll and a supporting documents such as an international certificate of immunity.

http://www.uk-fraud.info/alerts/treasury.html

Now that sounds believable - fake some bonds, come up with a back story, and then use them in a con - where the victim thinks he's getting ridiculously rich. I don't think any reputable institution would hesitate to call the police when confronted with comething like this.

[TNOE]

2. Geez - I post and go to lunch

nobody else thinks this is REALLY ODD?????

[spuddonna]

3. Yeah a top ten list would be good! And...

holy crap! 3 TRILLION... what the heck is the MSM doing?! Everyday I see pictures of Michael Jackson plastered all over my desktop, but I guess the potential destruction of our entire economy is 'too small potatoes' for them now... wtf!? arrrrrrrrrrggggh!!

[Lone Pawn]

4. I don't believe the 3,000,000,000,000 number.

That would be thirty million $100,000 bonds. In one chest? Impossible. So we up it to $1,000,000 bonds, and we have three million bills. That would be one fucking huge chest. But possible. More likely if it was one chest they had 300,000 $10,000,000 bonds.

Who is going to accept a $1,000,000 bond--much less a $10,000,000 bond--without checking it DAMN carefully? And how are they going to distribute three million of these without anybody noticing, "say, there's an awful lot of million-dollar bonds around here, and they all seem kinda off..."

[TNOE]

5. Man, I don't know

that's what I posted - SOMETHING IS REALLY FISHY HERE! That's all I know. Speculation as to an economic 9/11 - people smarter than me may know more.

[Cleita]

6. Gannongate beginning to get legs.

David Brock of Media Matters, on Al Franken today, brought up that Gannon had excessive and unusual access to the White House and that it's criminal that this hasn't been mentioned in the MSM. He has posted the information that Raw Story broke on his website.

However, the fact that it was on Al Franken's show means it has reached a bigger audience than the internet as of today that I know of. If it's starting to spread the MSM won't be able to ignore it much longer.