Pope Francis announced today that to prove how sincere he was about economic inequality and his comments against those who worship the "God of Money" the Catholic Church will now auction off all it's worldly goods... churches, statues, limosines, jewelry, properties, whore houses, investment holdings, and everything else in order to distribute to all of the world's needy. He said that no church leader needs to live like kings and that they should all live like paupers...in rags...and partake of meager sustenence...just like Jesus did. Of course not all of the Papal heiracrchy agreed with him and are are now baracaded inside the Vatican with arms and munitions and won't let the Pope back inside. They are now desperately plotting on how to respond to such comments...damage control. Rumor has it that they have contracted with the same PR firm, Hill & Knowlton, that sold the 1st Bush administration's first invasion of Iraq (Kuwait babies bayonetted in hospital wards ;-0 )

http://www.prwatch.org/books/tsigfy10.html

World leaders were listening...& laughing...all the way to the bank. The only reason the Pope was allowed by the Catho-Capito machinery to say what he said is because the powers that be know we won't fall for it anymore, talk is cheap, and false hope is profitable. I'm not saying he doesn't mean what he says, just that no money is lost, & money is gained by continuing to string us along. All the talk in the world, whether from the Pontif or the people en mass, can not stop the profitable, intentional genocide & population control the global elites commit every day via austerity, corruption, and polution. Sadly, much, MUCH more to come. Our only hope is to stop looking to our "leaders" & our political systems to make changes, to start looking to ourselves & our communities and to relearn how to survive not only off the grid in terms of energy, but in every conceivable way and for folks like Thom to start addressing this through education in sociology new forms of democratic governance & sustainability...to shift from political discussion which will never go anywhere in our current paradigm to discussion of solutions like OWS found in Zuccotti before they got bulldozed. We can talk about/organize against gvernment surveilence, injustice and economic inequality 'till we're purple in the face, but it won't change or stop anything. We can mobilize every citizen to action, but it will simply be ignored or used as an excuse to jail or kill. Dianne Feinstein a DEMOCRAT, is now proposing legislation that will wipe out freedon of press & speech in 1 fell swoop. This is how gov. will continue to respond to protest. Reinventing capatalist democracy will not work this time. Time for a new paradigm, not for reinvention, but invention. We need to hear from the finest minds in social philosophy, alternative energy & sustainability. Politicians, no matter how well meaning or liberal, if working within the current system, will only fall prey to the corruption of the system, or be powerless to stop it.

Sandlewould: I certainly think that it is about time we purge the Democrat party of all of the fake Democrats...either that or break up the two party stranglehold and send one big loud message to the ruling elite by electing a third party into office...make it an overwhelming defeat for both Republicans and Democrats.

Was it a matter of "allowing" Pope Francis to say those things or did he lay his head on the chopping block headed for Sainthood?

Palindromedary ~ Thanks for clarifying that. You had me a little worried.

Sandlewould ~ I agree! Very well said! The heads up on Ms Feinstein was most enlightening. I made up my mind to vote her out of office long ago anyway for a long laundry list of other reasons; but, now I have even more reason. Trying to establish a law to regulate internet free speech? That's blatant treason and another violation of her oath of office. This woman belongs behind bars. For anyone who might not be up to speed on this story, here is a link to an article and a video of her testimony.

http://www.againstcronycapitalism.org/2013/09/diane-feinstein-defines-free-speech-the-1st-amendment-a-privelage-video/

I can't wait to step into the voting box next election. Bye, bye Diane. I would vote for a hand puppet before ever voting again for you.

I am not a Catholic by any stretch, but I do find your comment rather a vain attempt at dark-satrie. I greatly admirely this new Pope, and he is showing his humility to the world in his actions as well as words. I know the Catholics have their problems, just as I'm sure you have YOURS! Let's not lose sight of the message he is giving!

With sincere gratitude to Pope Francis, and a heart-felt "thank you" to Thom Hartmann for passing this information along. The fact that most US "progressive" groups have turned their backs on the poor since Clinton made it cool has come with some pretty severe consequences. Our homeless have been virtually driven into hiding, often jailed and/or brutalized on the streets. Middle classers don't "get" some basic points about US poverty today. Millions of us are a single job loss from losing absolutely everything, with no way back up. How do you get a job without a home address, phone, bus fare? Now our government is targeting Social Security again. Few know (since media largely overlooked it) that it was Bill Clinton who took the first steps toward dismantling Social Security, starting with the disabled. Because of Clinton, the seriously ill and disabled became the fastest-growing group of homeless Americans. They did quite poorly on the streets. (Upon taking office, President Obama reversed Clinton's policies against the disabled, unquestionably saving lives and significant suffering.) I often think of how different things might have been, had our media chosen to inform the public about just what was happening to so many of the disabled.

That is your best yet Palin. Nice

Palindromedary: "diet of worms"......Is this wry humor in reference to Martin Luther's famous 1521 speech to the Imperial Diet in Worms Germany, which also makes them the Diet of Worms? .................just wondering!

Quote Palindromedary:Was it a matter of "allowing" Pope Francis to say those things or did he lay his head on the chopping block headed for Sainthood?

Palindromedary ~ That's a tricky question. Of course, there is no way of really knowing for sure. I can only give my humble opinion. Personally, I believe the Pope spoke on his own, and from the heart. I don't think that the Vatican really wants a pontiff who embodies the SOS. (Same Old Stuff.) That is why they picked this guy in the first place. The church is in very serious danger of losing it's edge. People see it for the opulent and hypocritical entity described in Revelations. People are outraged by the pedophile scandal and the Vatican's perverted way of coping with it. The faithful flock is diminishing at record numbers as people lose faith in the institution. This is a type of situation that only a modern day Saint can cure.

So yes, Pope Francis is speaking his mind instead of an agenda. Yes, he is speaking the truth and the true way of Christianity. Yes, he is placing his head on the chopping block and in the way of danger. Finally, yes, we could very well be seeing a modern day Saint in action.

This is nothing new with this man. He would not do the job any other way. Look at his life and you can see this is nothing new. Like Saint Francis he has embraced modesty and poverty in his own life. He refuses to isolate and protect himself from his flock. He insists of driving his own used car and preparing his own meals. He is a man who knows how to live through his faith and therefore does not fear death. He is an inspiration to all of us. He embodies the empowerment of true faith throughout the world community and right back to the Vatican--just like his namesake, The GREAT SAINT, St. Francis of Assisi did when he saved the church during his lifetime.

Essentially, that is precisely why I believe he was picked for this job. No one else from the inner sanctum of the Vatican could ever pull this job off and they know it.

Is he going to be martyred? Not necessarily! St. Francis wasn't. The same can be said for many other great Saints. You don't have to be killed to live a great and successful life serving God. As the typical Saint believes, 'As God wants so do I want.'

2950-10k: Actually, the thought did cross my mind at the time not that I was specifically referring to it. And the "let them eat worms" was a reference to the alleged saying of Marie Antoinette's "let them eat cake" in response to hungry people during the famine in France.

Quote Palindromedary:So too would it be for this lugubrious and "saintly" Pope ( a Jesus Christ personified no less) who just may save that floundering empire from extinction. I sure like his messages..but are they real? I liked Obama's messages during his campaigns too! Or is Pope Francis the Papal peddler of false hope that will keep the corrupt Catholic church infrastructure going on and on? There may be just as much deviousness playing out in the Papacy as in corrupt US politics. The true believers are always easy targets in both arenas.

Palindromedary ~ Well said! I share your apprehension. I like the Pope, the Church, unfortunately, is still the same old Church. The same is true of the puppet masters in Washington. I too would be happier than a Pig in slop if both institutions were to disappear one fine morning. Poof! Gone! All of our prayers answered.

DAnneMarc: Your "prayers"...my "hopes". To each his own..right?

Now, what are you bad boys, the NSA and/or GCHQ up to this time?

Quote cryptome:
On the brink of catastrophe (2013-09-21) --

"This could have been larger than 9/11", says one source who closely followed the case.

A piece of malicious software has been found on the network of BICS, a daughter company of Belgacom. It is hard to grasp even for well-informed insiders. The BICS network is so wide and deep that it is promptly clear to everybody that this is not just a Belgian problem. This problem is at least of European proportions. Because whoever controls BICS, controls the communication of a large part of the world. "This could have been larger than 9/11", says one source who closely followed the case. Without a grain of irony.

Gradually it became clear that the hackers are not only interested in the communications in the Middle-East, where BICS holds a solid position via South-African minority shareholder MTN. "They have been looking around and took what they could", state sources involved in the investigation. They are clear about one thing: the attack originated from the United States. "We determine that by the signature of the malware, but especially by where the trails lead. They partially run through the UK. We think the US is the main destination. And the past weeks at the US Embassy, you notice some embarrassment when you request exchange of information." Yesterday, the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel reported that the UK intelligence service GCHQ (Government Communications Headquartes) are responsible for the attacks. It based that claim on slides disclosed by whistleblower Edward Snowden. The news that GCHQ is behind the Belgacom attack is a surprise to at least the services working on the affair.

BICS provides the hardware infrastructure that carries internet traffic, phone conversations, text messages and mobile data of telecom companies and government institutions. And the more sensitive the customer, the more likely he is the end up at BICS. The daughter company of Belgacom markets itself with the argument that they never ever look at what travels over its cables. "We provide the cables for you, and you just send whatever you want over them", is what it basically boils down to.

A glance at the list of BICS' customers makes one dizzy. The financial transport center Swift, Electrabel, bpost, Belgocontrol, they are all connected to BICS. The NATO in Evere, the European Commission and Parliament, SHAPE, the Supreme Headquerters Allied Powers Europe, in Bergen; BICS, BICS, BICS. Even the headquarters of the NATO Allied Air Command, in Ramstein, Germany, from where the 2011 air attacks on Libya where coordinated, depends on BICS.

http://cryptome.org/2013/09/belgacom-hack-en.htm

Along the lines of income inequality: Thom, I love your policy position to end billionaires. However, I think there's an opening, using our unique historical moment, to nudge us in that direction. Let's create a "donut-hole" in the cap on Social Security contributions. Today we have a cap. Let's say that anyone who earns above 500 million dollars has to re-enter the Social Security system and pay the same rate as the average working stiff. Let's create a "donut-hole" in Social Security participation. Anyone who re-enters at the top end is ensuring the stability of our entire economic system. Social Security provides the consumer base that prevents our economy from completely collapsing during recessions. Without an ongoing economy, these billionaires would not exist. Complete collapse would mean theft and destruction of their plants and equipment, it would mean the end of cash flow from consumers.

How a Crypto ‘Backdoor’ Pitted the Tech World Against the NSA

Quote article by Kim Zetter for Wired:But one advantage to having the algorithm supported in products like Vista — and which may be the reason the NSA pushed it into the standard — is that even if it’s not the default algorithm for encryption on a system, as long as it’s an option on the system, an intruder, like the NSA, can get into the system and change the registry to make it the default algorithm used for encryption, thereby theoretically making it easy for the NSA to undermine the encryption and spy on users of the machine.

Schneier says this is a much more efficient and stealth way of undermining the encryption than simply installing a keystroke logger or other Trojan malware that could be detected.

“A Trojan is really, really big. You can’t say that was a mistake. It’s a massive piece of code collecting keystrokes,” he said. “But changing a bit-one to a bit-two [in the registry to change the default random number generator on the machine] is probably going to be undetected. It is a low conspiracy, highly deniable way of getting a backdoor. So there’s a benefit to getting it into the library and into the product.”

To date, the only confirmation that the algorithm has a backdoor comes in the Times story, based on NSA documents leaked by Edward Snowden, which the Times and two other media outlets saw.

“[I]nternal memos leaked by a former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden, suggest that the NSA generated one of the random number generators used in a 2006 NIST standard — called the Dual EC DRBG standard — which contains a back door for the NSA,” the Times wrote.

An editorial published by the Times this weekend re-asserted the claim: “Unbeknown to the many users of the system, a different government arm, the National Security Agency, secretly inserted a ‘back door’ into the system that allowed federal spies to crack open any data that was encoded using its technology.”

“This is the worst problem that the NSA has done,” Schneier says. “They have so undermined the fundamental trust in the internet, that we don’t know what to trust. We have to suspect everything. We’re never sure. That’s the greatest damage.”

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/09/nsa-backdoor/1/

Palindromedary ~ Interesting article on the vPro processor. Lesson learned--don't buy a computer with a vPro CPU. If you've already purchased one only use it for video games. Plug it into an outlet strip with a switch and turn off the power when not in use.

Add it to the list of things not to buy, right next to the new iPhone.

(Don't buy anything whose name begins with a lowercase letter.)

Thanks for the heads up!

Of course if you want to live with your head in the sand you will help the NSA more than anything you could possibly say or do on the internet. I suggest always behaving like the NSA is listening. Then they have no power over you. If you are concerned about your accounts, check them frequently and keep paper records of them as well. Don't allow high tech chicanery to stuff you into a box of isolation. Learn to work with it and around it. Nevertheless, it is better to be aware of the problem then not.

You know back in the day it was possible to use simple secret written and verbal codes with privately held keys to broadcast secret messages over the radio and through the mail. They were very popular in WWII and in the 50's with school kids. The same could be used on the internet and even if intercepted would take months to crack. Encrypted or not if intercepted somehow the message still needs to be decoded to be understood. There are more than one way to skin a goat and breaking our internet rights to privacy isn't going to do any damn thing to hinder the privacy of the truly creative.

ie. Nan na nan na boo boo stick your head in .........///**

(Now decode that!)

I hope nobody puts anything in this guy's tea to make him go sleepy time PERMANENTLY like liberal Catholics believe was done to Pope John Paul I.