18 Oct 1999.
Index of earlier issues - click here.
THE RSI is still a little bit of a problem, so there may yet be further interruptions in the regularity of The Other News.
(Those who like digging about will find that there are hundreds of articles on many subjects to be found on this site.)
I am working again on old issues of Other News (1993) and hope soon to put a few more of them on the site.
This week, I had a pamphlet thrust into my hand by a strange and earnest-looking young man which, despite it's amateur Socialist-Worker-Party appearance, I felt compelled to read. There is little doubt in my mind that it is telling the truth, but what is more worrying about it is the effect this thing must be having on people's lives everywhere, and the fact that once people see through it (as they presumably will eventually, even if only in a few hundred years) there is bound to be the most almighty war of some sort - possibly leading to a situation where those who actually do something that most people perceive to be useful have the power instead of the banks:
"Dishonest Money.*1
The process by which the banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled" - J K Gaibraith (quoted by Anthony Sampson in The Moneylenders.).
A hundred years ago, a Mr Goldsmith opened Anybank. His first depositor, Mr Sure, came in to lodge a gold coin for safekeeping. Mr Goldsmith gave him a receipt. Mr Short then came in, to borrow a gold coin, to buy a horse from Mr Trainer. In exchange for his horse Mr Trainer accepted the gold coin from Mr Short, took it to Anybank, and lodged it with Mr Goldsmith, who gave him a receipt. A normal set of transactions when the gold standard existed.
The usual way of recording banking transactions obscures the actual situation. Our goldsmith recorded them as:
Deposits received: 2 gold coins, Cash available: 1 gold coin, On loan: 1 gold coin
(have had to edit here to get the meaning into HTML code) total deposits 2 gold coins, on loan and in bank 2 gold coins.
The real situation, disguised, by this accounting practice is quite different:
Receipts issued: 2 gold coins, Stock in hand: 1 gold coin
The strange thing about this story, however, is that Mr Goldsmith had issued two receipts, yet he had only one gold coin.
It is even stranger that since then nothing has changed except that money is no longer made of gold.
Yesterday Mr Lucky went into a betting shop and won a thousand pounds. Being a disciplined fellow, he went straightaway to Anybank to deposit his winnings for safekeeping. Mr Niceman, the owner of Anybank, gave Mr Lucky a cash-card for ready access to his money. Today Mr Driver came in early to Anybank and negotiated a cash-loan of a thousand pounds to buy a car on special offer from Mr Dealer. Late in the afternoon Mr Dealer paid in his takings and Mr Niceman recorded that he owed Mr Dealer an additional thousand pounds.
Again, Mr Niceman promises to return on demand to Mr Lucky and Mr Dealer their thousand pounds each. Yet he has altogether only one thousand pounds in his safe.
Bank records today are equally misleading. Mr Niceman shows them like this:
Deposits received: £2000, (Cash deposits: £1000, Loans: £1000)
total deposits received £2000, total cash deposits and loans £2000
The actual position is quite different:
Receipts issued: £2000, Stock in hand: £1000.
Yet this is not the end of the story. What is really hard to believe is that the same lump of money is lent over and over to at least nine different borrowers before Mr Niceman starts to get worried. Interest, of course, is charged on nine thousand or so pounds even though the money does not actually exist.
The modern money system rests on a confidence trick depending on the belief that not more than a fraction of depositors is ever going to demand their money back.
When the cycle initiated by Mr Lucky's deposit runs its course it is really hard to resist incredulity-this can not be true!-the mind is repelled. But it is true*2:
Promises to pay: £10,000, Stock of cash in hand: £1000
Shortfall: £9000
As the whole banking system is involved in this practice, reality is literally millions of times worse.
*1 From Honest Money - A Challenge to Banking by John Tomlinson, Helix Editions, 1993
*2The process of bank money creation is described in most economics textbooks. See for example pp.237-243 in Economics by Paul A. Samuelson and William D. Nordhous, Thirteenth Edition, McGraw-Hill,1989
HNSTMONY 23/1/96
(I feel bound to comment that this is just the same as that which people are complaining is happening to the 'Third World' - third world debt. It therefore seems it can only get worse if we go on in this direction.) ALONG WITH this document came another equally alarming one, but with no reference as to source:
Fluoride is a lethal poison passed off as dental protection. More health authorities in Britain want it added to water supplies. For convenience of disposal, profit, or mass medication?
If you heard of the water supply being laced with a poison 15 times stronger than arsenic you would consider this an atrocity. If you were told it was done officially for the good for our teeth, you might want to protest. But either through misinformation or ignorance few do, even though the entire London water supply stands in danger of being fluoridated by the year 2000 or soon after.
The substance SODIUM FLUORIDE was used as an extremely effective rat poison in the lOth century. With sodium silicofluoride it is a waste product of number of industries, especially the production of aluminium from bauxite. Its deadly properties make it a kind of 'Satan bug', and very difficult to dispose of. If dumped into the sea it would cause the death of millions of fishes. If buried in the ground it could seep lethally into reservoirs or rivers. It eats through metal. So that costly containers have to be used to insulate it.
Alternatively it can be recycled to, -the purpose of etching glass; or it can be exported to the USA and put into public water supplies as a form of mass compulsory medication.
As such, it can only cause vastly more suffering than it alleviates. Even its greatest proponents say it cannot help anyone over the age of 12. So why place it in the water supply of everyone? Why not properly measured individual doses of a not-so-toxic fluoride for those deemed in need of it?
This would be calcium fluoride, which occurs in a few places naturally. Yet it is still dangerous enough to cause the bone and teeth disease fluorosis, so that where water is already fluoridated the dosage is limited to one part per million.
Industrially rejected sodium fluoride is far worse. It is the estimate of Dr Charles Busch. formerly of the Massachusetts Medical Centre, that an equal amount of it to that of arsenic would kill 15 times as many people. Some say 16. Yes, this is what the U.S. government routinely adds to all tap water.
Sodium fluoride's corrosiveness is such that in fluoridated areas water has been known to eat away at the lead pipes carrying it, causing poisoning from the lead entering the supply.
Opposition to fluoridation is at last mounting. Some link the USA's highest incidence of cancer in the world with its being the most fluoridated country. Being a cumulative poison, sodium fluoride builds up in the body over time, making more: brittle the veins, arteries and nerves, as well as bones and teeth. Reports indicate increased cancer strokes and arteriosclerosis in fluoridated areas.
Official line Despite all this, the 'Thames Water Authority plans to join those already fluoridating public water. It would, we are told, help control the country's most widespread disease tooth decay. Even if fluoride were safe, none is required to grow up with perfectly healthy teeth. It is not a natural constituent of teeth. What we need is to cut out of the diet white sugar and white flour products and to eat healthily.
Profitable waste But doctors and politicians can be difficult to persuade when heavily bribed by wealthy companies keen on the idea of disposing of their waste product at a profit. "It is the EPA policy to encourage industry to find markets for recovered pollutants", said an attorney of the American Environmental Protection Agency, when asked why it was collaborating over fluoridation. It is up to us the public to resist the pressure of politicians and environmental and medical 'experts' to fluoridate. Yet even these personnel might not be aware of a still more sinister purpose behind it all. A purpose linked to psychological control of people in both wartime and peacetime.
Mind control. Fluoride compounds such as Semap are used as a common form of tranquilliser. Semap is actually one of the strongest of all known anti-psychotic compounds. Two other fluoride-derived products are the nerve gases Sarin and Soman. These were developed by the German chemical giant, l.G. Farben; responsible also for Zyklon B, the cyanide based nerve gas used to exterminate the Jews.
Germany bought the technology for producing sodium fluoride from Alcoa (Aluminium Company of America) in 1939. Nazi scientists working with the product hatched plans to subdue any given population through infinitesimal contamination of the drinking water. They had found that repeated doses of a minute amount of fluoride narcotise a certain part of the brain and gradually reduce an individual's power to resist those who govern them.
Fluoride was subsequently added by German and Russian armed forces to the drinking water of prisoners of war 'to make them stupid and docile'. This was discovered by Charles Edward Perkin, an American chemical and biological scientist seconded to Farben at the end of the Second World War.
The story is confirmed by Major General Racey Jordan, in charge of airlifting shipments of chemical supplies from Montana to Russia via Alaska. On enquiring what these supplies were, he was given the answer 'sodium fluoride', and that it was to be administered to POW's via their drinking water 'to take away their will to resist.'
Interestingly, when Farben expanded operations into the U.S. after the war, their American legal advisor was Alan Dulles founder and chief of the CIA notorious for its Nazi assisted mind-control experiments such as MK Ultra. And Colgate, the makers of our fluoridated toothpaste have as Chairman of the Psychology department of their university in Hamilton, N.Y., Dr George Estabrooks, advisor on hypnotism and psychological behaviour control to the U.S. Government.
Also noteworthy was the expensive fluoridation campaign in Northern Ireland, mostly unsuccessful due to the efforts of the National Pure Water Association.
David V Goliath The USA currently pours 143,000 tons of fluoride products into its public water supplies each year. This is in contravention of the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Substances Control Acts, and in defiance of the absence of known clinical research into the medical value, if any, of industrial grades of fluoride.
Citizen's Advisory groups call it "the most important health issue of our time". Some have called for an individual to sue the Federal government. Such a David could easily win on medical grounds against the fluoridation industry /govemment Goliath. The problem would be the massive litigation costs, the controversial nature of the issue making it feared among lawyers, and the lack of public support as the issue is kept well clear of mainstream media attention.
Fluoridation remains banned across most of Western Europe. But not in Britain, where, as well as being a very common ingredient in toothpaste, it is on the increase in local water supplies. People are advised to start making a fuss to bring the issue into media prominence. As we have seen with BSE and British beef when people become fully aware of a threat to their health from contaminated food or drink, this in itself forces industry and government to take notice and act."
end of quoted article.
SINCE WE are constantly bombarded with 'information' from all directions, and a great deal of it is either complete lies or misleading, one needs to be very careful about deciding what is truth and what is not. The two articles I have printed above come from an unknown source, and whilst the first one claims to be from a specified source I do not know (a) whether it really is from that source, or (b) whether it is a reasonable picture of reality (although to me it seems perfectly obvious).
The second article contains many references, none of which I have verified.
However, in both cases, I would want to say (a) just because it is in a book (or in The Other News From England, for that matter) and names are quoted does not mean that it is true, (b) there must be a way that you can to some extent test if it is true for yourself, (c) don't accept anything anybody tells you without working out whether they have an interest in misleading you first (this could take the form of their being paid to do so).
The following, from a thin book that is goiung about at present, might amuse you:
The other shareholders in the Bank of England are never revealed and they hold the voting rights. This mysterious other 50% of shareholders may not even be British. Questions are not permitted in the House of Commons Concerning the Bank of England.
This is an extraordinary state of affairs in a democracy. The creation and Issuance of a nation's currency and the accumulation of its debts are issues absolutely central to its prosperity and the distribution and ownership of its wealth. A nation's currency is the very foundation of its economy and he who controls it, controls that nation.
Such matters naturally have a huge bearing upon government economic policies and fundamentally affect their success or failure in carrying out their respective mandates. It is no surprise then that successive governments have been reduced to a desperate tinkering with the economy, robbing Peter to pay Paul, raising one tax while reducing another and generally finding the continual downward slide of our economic fortunes thwarting all their bright hopes and sincere endeavours.
Governments are in the position of mechanics fiddling with a car engine trying to make it work but forbidden to ever look in the petrol tank, where if they did they would discover the car is out of fuel.
They are doomed to failure and disappointment because they are denied access to a crucial and fundamental area of the economy, one that is rigged. Their calculator has a held down seven.
If a people are denied democratic control of their currency, even denied the right to know how, by whom and on what criteria decisions are made concerning it, then they are not living in a democracy, regardless of what they have been told.
New Labour has given the Bank of England free rein to do what it likes. The Bank of England operates completely outside of political control and even further outside of democratic control.
Interestingly, at the same time all matters concerning our currency, how it is constituted, how it is issued and what it represents have vanished from all political debate.
Nobody even asks the Bank of England what it is doing. The Bank of England in fact seems to tell the government how things are going to be - who's running whom?
It is a bank which has never been well named. It should be called the Flag Ship Bank of Britain's Financial Dictatorship. It supervises the counterfeiting of money by monitoring the rate at which our currency is issued as credit. It is a Private financial institution. The identity of its shareholders is kept secret, which immediately tells us there's something to hide.
Even our elected representatives are not allowed to ask questions about it in our own Parliament.
It is not a bank belonging to England at all. Truer to say that England belongs to it, or the faceless men who own it."
The website of the publisher of this stuff is http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~bamr1
Assuming the truth of this article, I presume you will not find it difficult to conclude that the other 50% belongs to the British royal family and their hangers-on!
The other thing we might consider is the fact that the pound, ecu, euro, or any other currency only has a value if we decide it has.
This is a site concerned with one of the most unpopular planning decisions ever made in Greater London, the Crystal Palace Complex. It is so stunningly awful that only a handful of people who do not live near it appear to approve, whilst the rest are not entirely uninclined to mention such things as payola, freemasons....you name it! The site belongs to the London Borough of Bromley, but the aggro generated by it and the destruction of amenity caused by it will be almost entirely suffered by residents of adjoining boroughs and not the people of Bromley themselves.
This is a recycling site based in London, and offering materials to anybody. The organisation is a charity seeking to link suppliers of surplus materials with users. Especially good for the more ingenious designers amongst us.
The email of the people who run the above site is cs@london-recycling.demon.co.uk. They are called Creative Supplies. Look them up for more info.
Here's an interesting education site - particularly for those who have young children and are not quite sure what to do to avoid the worst of what`s on offer in the mainstream of education.They are called www.edrev.org.
early Othernews - 1992, 93, 94.
There were a few essays that went out with the early Other News as a freestanding item. You can read these by clicking below.
London Journey - a trip from Docklands through Beckenham and back to Docklands.
(Friday Woodworkers are suffering a temporary break due to some of the episodes not having been fully edited at the time of writing. It may take some timne to fix this problem.
Episode 17.
(These articles were written in 1988, and were my first attempt at writing. Some people when shown these fell about laughing, some smiled faintly - and some yawned. I thought I was going to write a technical book, but it soon became apparent that I was much more interested in the people than the technology - and that is the main reason there are no drawings - although it might be rather good to do a couple of caricatures sometime.)
Index of Friday Woodorker articles (and a means of access).
We are still redesigning The Other News From England. Noticed the change so far?
There is at least one new article this week, and articles on many subjects in earlier issues (which can be seen by clicking below).
A READER COMPLAINED that it was not possible to go back more than 6 articles in Gabriele`s area. Regrettably this is because there is no index, and I have not the time to organise one yet. However, for those determined enough to find the early ones, they should be accessible by going to an early Other News and clicking through from it. This will not be fast, but I think will do the job. They started about November 1997 I think.
(I wish someone would make a contribution before I am forced to put in some of my own stuff here).
So new, in fact, that there is nothing there. I want to open a section of this site to be used as a kind of green reference. Ordinary folks usually know what to do in order to be green, but there are times when (a) they don`t know the technology, or (b)they are short of ideas, or (c) they would like to see what some other people think.
So the purpose of this area will be for people to describe to others how they made their own electricity, or saved a great deal of domestic water being wasted, or captured the methane gas from their cesspit, designed their solar bicycle with regenerative braking and portable overnight windcharger, caused plants to grow in a desert, made a solar water pump, etc.
A site for forward-looking people, in fact.
It may be very difficult to edit, but I would like a few articles and tips that are concise, easily understood and ecologically useful. Authors will be named if they so wish. These will be left on the site, and gradually as the number of articles builds up hopefully somebody will construct an index. I won`t volunteer myself, as I have yet to make a subject index for the whole Other News site.
One week carried an article that might be of interest to anybody thinking of taking out an Abbey National mortgage - or those who already have one.
Interestingly, one of the London papers described them as being "among the greediest".
There will soon be a new twist to this story, but I am not sure what it will be until it happens. They are trying to make it as difficult as possible instead of as easy as possible to resolve the present dispute.
(see several weeks back).
This Lexmark business gets worse. I refilled the black cartridge with an ordinary cartridge refilling outfit and it won`t print despite telling me that the cartridge is full and that it is printing.
In an earlier issue I told you about my feelings regarding Tempo retailers and the Lexmark 3200 printer I bought from them. I have now found out another thing about it.
The Lexmark 3200 printer I got from Tempo must surely be the most uneconomical printer I could possibly have bought. The black cartridge only does about 250 pages of ordinary type - for £28! That makes each sheet cost 11.2 pence plus the cost of the paper and probably another 11.2 pence more if any colour is used! - ABOUT 22.4 PENCE A SHEET! Nearly a pound for every four sheets!
I wouldn`t recommend you to buy it - but also look at my earlier article for an idea of Tempo`s service.
A person to help make up a subject index for the growing numbers of articles on The Other News From England. Email editor@othernews.co.uk
8- or more-track tape recorder. email pcj@gn.apc.org
Also want good working VW or Volvo 7 series 2.4litre turbodiesel engine. This is the type that goes in an LT van or a Volvo 740TD. email pcj@gn.apc.org
£2,000,000 at 0% interest would quite good too, although I would probably waste quite a lot of it employing musicians to do the great work.
All material on this site is copyright. Contact me if you want to use it. I am quite flexible. Educational non-profit use is free - but ask for permission and print an acknowledgement. If you can`t think what to print, put:
From The Other News From England. http://www.othernews.co.uk
editor@othernews.co.uk