The Slaughterhouse Informer

A Compendiium of Various Official Lies, Business Scandals, Small Murders, Frauds, and Other Gross Defects of Our Current Political, Business and Religious Moral Lepers.

Presenting a new magazine that contains material that is not found elsewhere and is very difficult to post on the Internet. The ‘Voice of the White House’ will appear in each issue containing material not found on TBR News for very obvious reasons.This publication will appear once a week, on Wednesday, every week, will be ten pages in length and is available by subscription only. The price is $5.00 a month and can be paid via PayPal or by check. If you don’t like it, and Bush supporters can read the Drudge Report for free, you can cancel at any time.

Civil insurrection in America and government countermeasures: The official papers

By Bradley Moscrip

An in-depth study of official American plans to construct FEMA detention centers in America and specific recent U.S. Army domestic counterinsurgency plans. Here is a sampling of the ebook contents:

Gun Control by Confiscation

As the American general population is known to be the most heavily armed in the world, immediately upon the declaration of Martial Law and the execution by the military of counterinsurgency programs, it has been determined that the BATF, will begin the process of rounding up all rifles, pistols and so-called assault weaponry from the civil population. Lists of gun collectors obtained from firearms dealers, gun magazine subscription lists and other sources will be the basis for these mass confiscations. Gun owners will be supplied documentation by the BATF showing which pieces have been confiscated so that in the future, they will be told, they can recover their weapons when the state of emergency has passed. In actuality, weapons that do not have a high value or are not suitable for arming loyalist police forces, will be destroyed by order

This study is available from tbrnews at $5.00 by PayPal  

The Voice of the White House

          Washington, D.C., January 15, 2010: “I keep returning to the subject of the Peoples’ Republic of China but now we have more delinquencies to report on for your entertainment

Our relations with the Celestials has not been an easy one for the public but a delight for all of the American businesses who have their products made, by what is essentially dirt cheap slave labor, in that country. How can I count the ways I love China?

• Pet food sold in America that poisoned, and usually killed, about 30,000 American dogs and cats. I turned out to be full of harmful chemicals. The Chinese were horrified, apologized and shot a few plant people.

• Toothpaste that was filled with more harmful chemicals and which killed a number of people in Central America. The Chinese were horrified and shot a few plant people.

• Toys for children, made in China, were covered with lead paint. Children often put such small toys into their months and lead can do great damage to them. The Chinese were horrified and shot a few plant people.

• The Chinese have been, and still are, cranking out billions of dollars worth of fake American gold and silver coins, coins which major coin companies are gleefully stuffing into a sucker public. The Chinese know about this but, as the money is welcome, have done nothing about it.

• Chinese-built computers have a number of “bugs” built into them and at any time, without even leaving their offices, the Chinese governmental experts can easily look into any such computer, especially if it ends up in a high-level U.S. government agency or, more important, an important American business. In either case, what we know, the Chinese know. This has not been discussed with the Chinese.

• Fish products labeled ‘Made in China’ should under no circumstances be eaten. Shrimp, oysters and so on are “farmed” in the coastal areas of China, near their river systems that are jammed with very harmful chemicals dumped into the waters up river by cost-cutting Chinese businessmen. If you eat any of such products of highly contaminated waters, be sure to have your will in order and up to date.

• Plasterboard coming from China by the container full was used extensively in this country and later turned out to be highly toxic, mainly because the filler was taken from industrial waste sites. How clever of the Celestials to dump their toxic waste outside their country and, even better, to make a profit!

• Counterfeit parts for cars and aircraft;, purporting to be the product of reputable American firms, that are made of cheap metals and used to fall apart, often with very serious, and in the part of commercial aircraft, fatal results.

Now, we have another happy report about our business rivals. It has been rumored for some time that gold bars (400 oz or 12.5 kg gold bricks)  bearing the markings of the United States Mint were somehow adulterated and worthless. These have been showing up in banks and other institutions in Britain, Switzerland, France, Sweden, Iran, the UAE, India, Brunei, Italy and a number of other countries. These gold bars, all with American markings, are not gold. Instead, they are made of tungsten and then heavily gold-plated. Gold cost $12,000 per pound and tungsten costs $10 a pound.

Density    Name          Symbol   Atomic number

19.32        Gold               Au          79

19.35        Tungsten        W           74

In early 2008 millions of dollars in gold at the central bank of Ethiopia turned out to be fake. What were supposed to be bars of solid gold turned out to be nothing more than gold-plated tungsten. When this counterfeiting was discovered, the Ethiopians tried to pass this off on South Africa and recouop their money, the shipment was promptly returned as “unacceptable.” Rumors were quietly spreading about this counterfeit money. It was alleged that these bars, which had been showing up in huge numbers throughout the world, all purported to be coming from the United States Treasury and bore their markings.  Most of these billions of dollars of passable fakes came from China originally so when the rumors began to spread to the financial world, the Chinese, even clever, came up with a background cover story:

 Background Cover Story

In October of 2009 the Chinese received a shipment of gold bars. Gold is regularly exchanged between countries to pay debts and to settle the so-called balance of trade. Most gold is exchanged and stored in vaults under the supervision of a special organization based in London, the London Bullion Market Association (or LBMA).

When the shipment was received, the Chinese government asked that special tests be performed to guarantee the purity and weight of the gold bars. In this test, four small holed are drilled into the gold bars and the metal is then analyzed.

Officials were ‘shocked to learn that the bars were fake.’ They contained cores of tungsten with only a outer coating of real gold. What’s more, these gold bars, containing serial numbers for tracking, originated in the US and had been stored in Fort Knox for years. There were reportedly between 5,600 to 5,700 bars, weighing 400 oz. each, in the shipment!

At first many gold experts assumed the fake gold originated in China, the world’s best knock-off producers. The Chinese were quick to investigate and issued a statement that implicated the US in the scheme. Through their American supporters and the irresponsible hysterical bloggers throughout the world and their disniformational report was that roughly 15 years ago — during the Clinton Administration [think Robert Rubin, Sir Alan Greenspan and Lawrence Summers] — between 1.3 and 1.5 million 400 oz tungsten blanks were allegedly manufactured by a very high-end, sophisticated refiner in the USA [more than 16 Thousand metric tonnes]. Subsequently, 640,000 of these tungsten blanks received their gold plating and were shipped to Ft. Knox and remain there to this day.

According to the Chinese ‘investigation’, the balance of this 1.3 million to 1.5 million 400 oz tungsten cache was also gold plated and then allegedly “sold” into the international market. Apparently, the global market is literally “stuffed full of 400 oz salted bars”. Perhaps as much as 600-billion dollars worth.

            There is no rational reason why the United States would embark on such a program of counterfeiting which was bound to be eventually discovered but every reason for the crooks in Beijing to both reap huge rewards in purchases of badly-needed natural resources for next to nothing while at the same time badly damaging the image of the United States. China is an economic war with this country. She sells us dangerous products, counterfeits our coinage, and is trying to  flood this country with very cheap products in order to destroy our business infrastructure and compel us to depend upon China for our goods. They are practicing the same thing throughout the world but like all cons, they have gone too far and too long and very soon, their glittering house of cards, paid for by the proceeds of criminal activities, will cave in on them. Economic sanctions against China are now in process but in the United States, this is a difficult subject, due, in the main, to the fact that American manufacturing business is so deeply involved with Chinese cheap products that a boycott or other economic measure, would seriously cut into their profits. We can boycott China, along with the EU (which is working on this very seriously) but the damage this nation of crooks has done, and is continuing to do, to the financial world is so serious as to constitute an genuine casus belli. Let’s do it now and get it over with.”

            .

As China Rises, Fears Grow on Whether Boom Can Endure

January 11, 2010

by Michael Wines

New York Times

BEIJING — As much of the world struggles to clamber out of a serious recession, a gradual flow of economic power from West to East has turned into a flood.

New high points, it seems, are reached daily. China surged past the United States to become the world’s largest automobile market — in units, if not in dollars, figures released Monday show. It also toppled Germany as the biggest exporter of manufactured goods, according to year-end trade data. World Bank estimates suggest that China — the world’s fifth-largest economy four years ago — will shortly overtake Japan to claim the No. 2 spot.

The shift of economic gravity to China has occurred partly because growth here remained robust even as the world’s developed economies suffered the steepest drop in trade and economic output in decades.

But that did not happen by chance: China’s decisive government intervention in the economy, combined with the defiant optimism of its companies and consumers, has propelled an economy that until recently had seemed tethered to the health of its major export markets, including the United States.

Beijing’s state-run news media, indulging in a moment of self-congratulation, have hailed China’s new economic prominence as proof of national superiority.

The country’s economic miracle, the newspaper People’s Daily boasted last week, exists because its leaders — unlike those in other, unnamed nations — can make quick decisions and ensure underlings carry them out. The Great Recession, the newspaper said, has laid bare cracks in plodding Western-style capitalism.

Yet China confronts a number of challenges about its recent surge, including whether its formula for growth is sustainable, and how it will manage its increasingly strained economic relations with the outside world. Those are likely to prove challenging issues for a leadership unaccustomed to making policy under an international spotlight.

Sustaining a global-size economy is nowhere near as simple as building one, some Chinese and Western economists say. As the Chinese navigate toward a bigger role in the world financial system, they are already running into diplomatic and political headwinds.

At home, ordinary citizens and economists alike worry that the government’s decision to flood the economy with cash has created speculative bubbles — in housing, in lending — that could burst with disastrous effect. But curbing speculation requires moves, such as raising interest rates, that could crimp the sprees of investment and industrial expansion that are the main contributors to growth.

Abroad, the pressure on China to revalue its currency, the renminbi, is strengthening, and it seems sure to intensify after trade statistics released Sunday showed that China’s yearlong downturn in export growth reversed in December. Keeping the renminbi fixed at a low rate against the dollar boosts China’s exports and its economy. But increasingly, it angers its trade partners.

China once could wave off complaints about its currency policies, arguing that it was a developing nation entitled to a bit of slack from its Western customers. But with the world’s fastest-growing economy — and more than $2 trillion in foreign reserves — that argument looks increasingly untenable.

“At a time when you’ve got 10 percent unemployment in the U.S. and a very slow and gradual global recovery — and China seems to be skyrocketing — the pressure on the Chinese to change some of these policies, including the exchange-rate policy, is really going to grow this year,” said Nicholas Consonery, a China analyst at Eurasia Group, a New York-based political risk research firm.

In theory, China’s growing economic clout should benefit everyone: in an interconnected world, growing trade creates jobs and money everywhere.

“China’s extremely important, no doubt about it. And over all, the more important China becomes, the better it is for the American economy,” Scott Kennedy, who heads the Research Center for Chinese Politics and Business at Indiana University, said in an interview.

That Shanghai-assembled iPod, Mr. Kennedy said, is the product of American research and design and marketing, and most of the proceeds from its sale go back into American coffers. But China’s rise also poses new risks both for Beijing and for its trading partners.

Its largely bruise-free journey through last year’s economic crisis aside, not everyone is convinced that Beijing has eliminated threats to its financial and economic health.

Hit hard by an initial drop in exports that was frighteningly steep for a leadership that has long promised and delivered fast growth, China poured $585 billion in stimulus money into its domestic economy. Officials also ordered state-run banks to increase their lending by double that amount, triggering a spree of easy money that created jobs for migrant factory workers and fueled rises in the price of assets, like stocks and real estate.

Some experts fear that too much of the stimulus money was put into unprofitable projects and bad loans that will be exposed in a few years. In that view, China’s 2009 boom, in which automakers sold nearly 14 million cars and trucks, and housing prices doubled, is really a sign of an overheated economy at risk of serious recession down the road.

Judged by the numbers, China’s economy still looks robust. In Beijing, officials said, per capita gross domestic product is expected to exceed $4,000 this year, a 10 percent jump from 2009. Last month, the value of China’s exports leaped by nearly a third over the same month in 2008 — and imports jumped 55 percent, pointing toward growth in manufacturing.

But a Chinese economic crisis, which could have been shrugged off a few years ago, would be a considerably more serious event in a world in which Beijing runs the second-largest economy.

The government appears concerned. Last week, the central bank edged up the rate on an often-watched interbank loan, the first such hike in five months. That seemed to signal concern that the economy was expanding too quickly.

Many experts see few signs of immediate danger. After all, they note, China has gone on splurges before — building too many steel mills, and too many office buildings — only to see the nation’s breakneck growth sop up the excess capacity. With nearly a billion people still clawing to advance beyond peasant status, they say, China’s growth story has many chapters ahead.

Mr. Kennedy, the Indiana University expert, said he was less certain that endless growth is such a panacea. “No one defies economic laws,” he said. “Eventually you get it, whether you want it or not.”

'Made in China' gets a new gloss
January 15, 2010

By Benjamin A Shobert

Asia Times

            We have become so desensitized to defective products originating in China that this week's announcement from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission about finding dangerous levels of cadmium in children's toys seemed oddly expected and has thus far ruffled few feathers.

            Yet, while this particular issue may not be significant enough to upend the trade relationship between the US and China, or of such severity that it is likely to be the cause of a whole new set of import restrictions, it does add more weight to an increasing 

wariness and frustration with Chinese-made products on the part of American consumers.

            The cumulative effect of these quality problems has the potential not only to impact the export-sensitive economy of China, but to create a systemic problem for what it means to have products of any variety sourced in China, an issue that could cause problems for an untold number of American and European consumer-product companies, as well as the retailers they serve.

            In a series of television ads that started late last year with limited runs on CNN Asia, and now spreading to various media outlets around the world, Beijing seems to have acknowledged these fears, with a new ad program defending what it means to be "Made in China". The new ads go by the tag line "Made in China, Made with the World".

            The advertisements are sponsored primarily by the Ministry of Commerce, in conjunction with four Chinese trade groups, and are developed by DDB Guoan-Beijing. Through them, the Chinese government appears to be acknowledging that the China brand is suffering from these repeated product quality problems and may need a global media campaign to prevent further damage.

            Global marketing on the part of a country in the face of such a mounting set of negative publicity is extremely rare. The ads themselves have been in the works for some time, but the launch of the campaign appears with stories of tainted milk still lingering in people's memories.

            Should further quality problems present themselves in other industries, the country could well face a collective and insurmountable disgust at what it means to have products sourced in China, with customers of Chinese manufacturers choosing to pay higher prices in order to avoid the "Made in China". Unlikely though such a scenario might seem, the very presence of the ads seems to reinforce the concern that the potential consequences could be severe. The net effect of a shifting tide of popular opinion could be more devastating than all but the most onerous of trade wars.

            The TV ad begins by showing runners on their way through a park, and as one runner ties his shoe, the tongue of his running shoe can be seen bearing a label that reads: "Made in China with American Sports Technology". A home of distinctly European taste is the ad's next scene, with a refrigerator whose interior label states: "Made in China with European Styling". Teenagers listening to music at a bus stop are next up, shown holding an MP3 player that bears the imprint "Made in China with Software from Silicon Valley".

            The flash from a photographer is the next to last, as clothing models have their pictures taken, with a peak of the inside label from one garment showing "Made in China with French Designers". And last, a businessman on an airplane looks out of his window to see a jet engine bearing the black lettering "Made in China with Engineers from around the World". The ad's primary slogan, "When it says Made in China, it really means 'Made in China, Made with the World'", ends the 30-second piece.

            The products in question are interesting choices, ranging from the lowest technology (garment manufacturing) to the most popular of consumer products (the MP3 player, as shown in the spot a model curiously reminiscent of the iPod Nano), to one of the highest technology products that touches the average consumer's life, an airplane engine.

            This part of the ad works both for the benefit of the China brand as well as to its detriment: undoubtedly the ad's designers hoped that by showing the breadth of products made in China, consumers would be reminded of how infrequently they encounter problems. At the same time, the ad may provoke an uncomfortable realization on the part of the consumer that they have no grasp of where the next quality problem from China could present itself. As the ad illustrates, given the sheer number and variety of products made in China, shielding yourself against Chinese-made products is all but impossible.

            While the production value of the advertisement is not fully to Western standards, it is on the whole not poor; the overall effect on the part of the viewer is mixed. The ability to think strategically enough to understand the role such a global ad campaign needs to play in calming fears about what the "China" brand means suggests a responsive and somewhat sophisticated government. To be able to put out a coordinated program, strategically designed to talk to some of the most influential TV watchers, is well thought out. On the other hand, the ad has a twinge of what comes across almost as an inferiority complex, the entirety of the "China" brand reduced to that of being a passive manufacturer of the world's products.

            It is a curious combination that may not create the desired effect, and it is an admission on the part of China that its role in the global economy is not that of creator or innovator, but as that of a factory. At its best, this ad seems to suggest that China wishes to remind the world of what it does well, in an extremely wide range of products. At the same time, it provokes the watcher to recall the interconnectedness between country's production capacity and global business. At its worst, the ad reinforces the idea of China as only a factory, capable of low-cost production and little else.

            In a week that has seen one of America's technology leaders, Google, stand up to the Chinese government with a threat to withdraw from the country if the company cannot run an uncensored search site there, it is useful to reflect on whether we may have overstated the position of dominance enjoyed by Beijing.

            The "Made in China, Made with the World" ad campaign is not a move born of strength; rather it is an admission that the "China" brand currently carries many weaknesses and is still quite vulnerable. The fact that much of the developed world is questioning its own economic models further complicates a balanced diagnosis on China's real versus perceived strengths. Among the implicit admissions made in this ad by the Chinese government itself is that China needs the world as much as the world needs China, a reminder which again communicates strength, mutual reliance, and some weakness.

            In its own way, this ad may also serve as a reminder that the Chinese economy still has a lot of ground to cover if it is to compete with Western businesses.

            Without intending to do so, the ad should also provoke a realization on the part of American and European companies that, in order to stay competitive, they must remain vigilant on those business practices that they do better than their peers, with further emphasis on research, product development, and consumer marketing.

            However clumsy some may believe this ad campaign to be, it does reflect an awareness at the highest levels in China that the country must pay attention to, and work to create influence on, consumers' perceptions. As with many developments in China, once the government has shown this to be a necessary step, industry will soon follow.

            For all the emphasis on Chinese businesses and their role in export markets, those companies who have truly separated themselves and built their own autonomous brands in export economies are extremely rare, few if any being known outside the circles of business professionals or China industry watchers. Consequently, the "China" brand, if it exists at all, exists as a country-of-origin locator, and is not tied to any particular product or industry. This is undoubtedly why such a concerted media campaign was deemed necessary: if consumers know only the most global version of the "China" brand, and relate it to the numerous and mounting stories of defective products, they will begin to make purchasing decisions to avoid Chinese-made products.

            In addition, as the recession or near-recession in America drags out, more US-based companies looking for a marketing advantage may determine that sourcing domestically provides a short-term benefit that outweighs the cost savings of having product manufactured in China. The current faint cries for "Made in the USA" branded products could begin to build, leaving the "Made in China" brand to face not only baggage related to poor-quality products, but a spirit of economic nationalism in the US.

            From Beijing's perspective, it makes enormous sense now to reach out and try to speak directly to American consumers, reminding them not only of the benefits they enjoy from their Chinese-made products, but the degree to which American companies rely on Chinese manufacturing.

            At a time when the certainty of globalization's interconnectedness is being questioned, this television advertisement argues that the world benefits from China's productive capacity and that on balance China has earned the world's trust. But the mere fact that Beijing feels it must launch a concerted ad campaign to make these points suggests that many outside China feel quite the opposite, and that its position of strength is not as firm or all-encompassing as some might suggest.

            Benjamin A Shobert is the managing director of Teleos Inc (www.teleos-inc.com), a consulting firm dedicated to helping Asian businesses bring innovative technologies into the North American market.

Editors note: This article, without the attached list, appeared in our last issue and the list appeared in the most recent edition of the Slaughterhouse Informer. We are reprinting this, along with the partial listing of government snitches, for our reader’s enjoyment…and warning.

The Amercan Gestapo

January 9, 2010

by Dr.Peter Janney

            If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then the few surviving members of Hitler Gestapo, of Secret State Police, should be gratified that their counterpart, the Department of Justice’s Federal Bureau of Investigation, has copied, in detail, the so-called Vertrauns-Leute or V-Leute, program and is now developing it into a very powerful, and relatively unknown, internal surveillance force in the United States. Unlike the Gestapo, who had Communists as their chief enemy to observe, infiltrate and destroy, the FBI program is aimed solely at American citizens who are considered as present, and future, threats to the state.

            Before we analyze the FBI program with its nearly sixty thousand reporting members, let us briefly look at its father, the Gestapo’s V program because in comparing Hitler’s secret internal surveillance program with its huge network of volunteer informers with the FBI program, the parallels will at once become painfully obvious.

            The Gestapo, or Geheime-Staats Polizei (Secret State Police) was initially constructed from the political section of Berlin’s civil police force in April of 1933. Given the intensive Communist espionage in the lax Weimar Republic, a number of German law enforcement agencies, such as the Berlin and Bavarian police, had set up sections to deal with this menace.

In Berlin, under the government of Prussia, Hermann Goering, its Prime Minister, set up the Gestapo by enlarging the previous Geheimes Staatspolizeiamt. In 1934, the SS, under Heinrich Himmler and his top intelligence chief, Reinhard Heydrich (Head of the Sicherheitsdienst or SD) assumed control over the Prussian, and later, Bavarian, police. The small Gestapo was put under the control of one Heinrich Müller, a top operative in the political police of Munich. Although Müller had been a devoted enemy of the National Socialists, he was considered by Heydrich as an extremely competent expert in detecting and dealing with the Commniists and other dissident groups. Müller, a member of the Catholic right-wing BVP, organized the small Berlin intelligence agency into a highly competent and efficient arm of detection and repression. With the outbreak of the war in September, 1939, all German police and political police agencies were put under the umbrella of the RSHA (Reichssicherheitshauptamt…State security main office) and the Gestapo, still under Müller, constituted Amt IV (Bureau IV) of that agency. Although nominally under the control of both Himmler and Heydrich, Müller, a decorated WWI military pilot, was essentially independent and was in complete control of his organization.

            At its height, the Gestapo had offices in all the major, and some of the minor, German cities but never had more than thirty-two thousand personnel, to include office workers and field agents but the effectiveness of the Gestapo lay not only in Müller’s institution of an in-depth national card file on most German citizens but in an enormous network of volunteer informers called ‘V-Leute’ or Vertrauens-Männer (Leute) or trustworthy sources. Politically trustworthy supporters of the Nazi movement were recruited as voluntary, unpaid, reporting sources and could be found in all walks of German civilian and, to a lesser degree, government and military, sectors. These ‘V-Leute’ were given special identity cards, assisted if possible by the Gestapo in the event of civil or criminal legal problems and made privy to various impressive but unimportant Gestapo information. The value of this army of over 75,000 known domestic informers was, without doubt, one of the reasons for the Gestapo’s successes against internal dissident groups. Setting aside malicious denunciations, the V-Leute kept the Gestapo field offices and from them, the central headquarters on the Prinz Albrecht Strasse in Berlin, with an enormous input of often very valuable information.. One of the positive aspects of the activities of this army of domestic voluntary informers was the feeling among the German public that the Gestapo was everywhere, even present, ever observant and this fright quotient was often more than sufficient to quell any anti government sentiments in most of the German population and created  a `self-policing' society operating within a `consensus dictatorship'

            Here is a very brief outline of the structure of the Gestapo that dealt with the input of information from the unpaid but very effective ‘V-Leute’:

Amt IV

Gegnerforschung und                         (Also known as the Geheime Staatspolizei)

Gegnerbekämpfung                                         Under SS-Gruppenführer Heinrich Müller

(Investigation and combatting

of Opposition)

IV A 3

Gesellschaftsspionage                         Combating of espionage in society.

Fahrlässiger Landesverrat                              Treason through negligence,careless talk,etc.

Spionage                                             Combating of political espionage.

IV A 6

Karteien und Fahndung                                  (Card Indexes & Wanted Persons)

IV A 6 a

Kartei und Personalakten                                Card Index, Personal Files

Auskunft

            Heinrich Müller, the father of the informant program and the head of the Gestapo almost since its inception, escaped from Germany in 1945 and ended up in Switzerland where he worked as an expert on Communist espionage until 1948 when he was recruited by the CIA’s James Critchfield to work for the CIA, also as an expert in Communist espionage.  In studying the current FBI program, it is very obvious that Müller brought more to Washington than his hat and if the old adage that it is lawful to be taught by an enemy is correct, our own form of the Gestapo, the FBI, certainly and clearly benefited from Müller’s organizational skills.

            In 1996, the FBI set up an organization they called the Infragard, which very closely followed the ‘V-Leute’ program:

            , ….” the protection of our nation’s infrastructure cannot be accomplished by the federal government alone. It requires coordinated action from numerous stakeholders – including government, the private sector, law enforcement and concerned citizens.” And that: “Each InfraGard chapter is geographically linked with an FBI Field Office, providing all stakeholders immediate access to experts from law enforcement, industry, academic institutions and other federal, state and local government agencies”.

            One of the publicly stated aims of this project is that:  “(b)y utilizing the talents and expertise of the InfraGard network, information is shared to mitigate threats to our nation’s critical infrastructures.” This is nearly identical in wording to Müller’s own description of his national informers program and what follows here was lifted, almost verbatim, from his own period analysis: “An InfraGard member is a private-sector volunteer with an inherent concern for national security. Driven to protect their own industry and further motivated to share their professional and personal knowledge to safeguard the country, InfraGard members connect to a national network of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) communicate with federal law enforcement and government agencies through their local InfraGard chapters, and contribute to the security and protection of our national infrastructure from threats and attacks.”

            “Critical infrastructures are physical and cyber-based systems that are essential to the minimum operations of the economy and the government (as defined in Presidential Decision Directive/NSC 63, May 1998) Key resources are individual targets whose destruction would not endanger security on a national scales, but would create local disaster or profoundly damage national morale (as defined in Homeland Security Presidential Directive-7, December 2003) Together, critical infrastructures and key resources are so vital that their incapacity or destruction would have a debilitating impact on the defense, economic security, public health or national confidence of the United States.

            “InfraGard has SMEs around the country in each of the following 17 categories of critical infrastructures and key resources, as recognized by the National Infrastructure Protection Plan:”

            “Critical Infrastructures:

Agriculture and Food

Banking and Finance

Chemical

Defense Industrial Base

Drinking Water and Wastewater Treatment Systems

Emergency Services

Energy

Information Technology

National Monuments and Icons

Postal and Shipping

Public Health and Healthcare

Telecommunications

Transportation Systems”

            In additional similarity to the earlier Gestapo program of unpaid informers, we learn that the current FBI imitation provides its informers the following benefits:

“The benefits of joining InfraGard include:

> Network with other companies that help maintain our national infrastructure.
> Quick Fact: 350 of our nation's Fortune 500 have a representative in InfraGard.
> Gain access to an FBI secure communication network complete with VPN encrypted website, webmail, listservs, message boards and much more.
> Learn time-sensitive, infrastructure related security information from government sources such as DHS and the FBI.
> Get invitations and discounts to important training seminars and conferences.
> Best of all, there is no cost to join InfraGard

             Our 45000+ membership is voluntary yet exclusive and is comprised of individuals from both the public and private sector. The main goal of the Washington, DC Nations Capital Chapter of InfraGard is to promote ongoing dialogue, education, community outreach and timely communication between public and private members. Furthermore, to achieve and sustain risk-based target levels of capability to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from all hazards or events, and to minimize their impact on lives, property, and the economy.

            InfraGard members gain access to vital information and education that enables them to in turn provide assistance to prevent and address terrorism and other transnational crimes. InfraGard members are provided threat advisories, alerts and warnings and access to a robust secure web-VPN site and e-mail. InfraGard also helps promote an effective liaison with local, state and federal agencies, to include the Department of Homeland Security.

            The FBI retained InfraGard as an FBI sponsored program, and will work closely with DHS in support of the CIP mission. The FBI will further facilitate InfraGard's continuing role in CIP activities and further develop InfraGard's ability to support the FBI's investigative mission, especially as it pertains to counterterrorism and cyber crimes. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security Office of Infrastructure Protection are currently executing an InfraGard Partnership Program Plan under a Memorandum of Understanding signed in December 2007.

            Current Washington Field Office (WFO) cleared InfraGard members are encouraged to register on the Cybercop ExtraNet Portal to validate your affiliation with this chapter.”

            There are, of course, suggestions and support concepts available to the informant organization as per this statement: “The interests of InfraGard must be protected whenever presented to non-InfraGard members. Independent of the type of presentation, (interview, brief, or published documentation) the InfraGard leadership and the local FBI representative should be made aware of the upcoming presentation. The InfraGard member and the FBI representative should agree on the theme of the presentation. The identity of InfraGard members should be protected at all times.”

            As of January 1, 2010, there are over 45,000 InfraGard informants organized in 86 chapters in each of the 50 states, operating under the supervision and control of local FBI agents Secretly, and not reported, are branches in foreign countries, to include Britain, France, Italy and Switzerland..

            Given the proliferation of anti-government internet sites and the even larger proliferation of conspiracy stories (many the result of government disinfomation) a reader of the above material might well be expected to dismissed most of it as mere self-serving  bombast on the part of persons with a desperate need to be recognized. In response to these entirely legitimate observations, perhaps it should be noted that the italicized quotations above were taken directly from official sources and can be easily seen at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InfraGard. This lengthy article, an official overview on a site well-known to be very friendly to governmental needs, is confirmation, not only of the existence of this informant organization but, to a historian, a terrifying parallel with the earlier, and very effective, Gestapo program.

            Who are the volunteer informers spying on their co-workers, friends and neighbors? If a volunteer is approved by the FBI, they can join InfraGard but the FBI has put special emphasis on persons connected with the communications sector (to include computers and manufacturers and developers of computer-oriented software and equipment) which contains the major, and often minor, telecommunications firms, national, and international,  credit reporting bureaus, the major American members of the national, and international, banking systems, the American credit card companies, American automobile manufacturers (who install GPS or on-board vehicle tracking systems in their products) Internet providers, (Internet II is owned and operated by the FBI) a significant number of American Evangelical religious organizations who are often over-eager in their efforts to inform on Unbelieving neighbors, friends and co-workers, the hotel and motel industry, the airlines (whose information base of Americans traveling is considered highly important) and even companies who sell boats and private aircraft. Also, and far more alarming, are a number of teachers, recruited into the service because of the often unsophisticated parental remarks small children can be provoked into repeating to the informant. But not all of these sources of information are the sole purview of the FBI. The question arises as to whether the FBI is alone in its intensive spying on the American public and the response unfortunately is that they are only part of the picture of growing, invasive domestic spying.  There has grown up in the United State, an enormous infrastructure of agencies designed solely to spy on the American public and a discussion of some of these might now be in order.

            First, and foremost, there is the National Security Agency (NSA) Created by President Truman in 1952, during the Korean War, the NSA is charged with protecting the United States from foreign security threats. The agency was considered so secret that for years the government refused to even confirm its existence. Government insiders used to joke that NSA stood for "No Such Agency

            Since early 1996, the National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data voluntarily provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth,. The NSA also down-loads any and all information gleaned from its control, or penetration, of global communications satellites. In a word, the NSA can, and does, automatically record all overseas telephone conversations for all sources. It is the goal of the NSA to “create a database of every call ever made” by or to any American resident. To achieve this end, and it should be noted that Müller’s Gestapo had identical systems in place during the life of the Third Reich. This also includes bank transfer information, diplomatic traffic and other interesting information. The Bush administration used the NSA to spy on U.N. diplomats in New York before the invasion of Iraq..President Bush and other top officials in his administration used the National Security Agency to secretly wiretap the home and office telephones and monitor private email accounts of members of the United Nations Security Council in early 2003. As well as the diplomatically-secure UN, the National Security Agency (NSA), on the orders of the Bush administration, eavesdropped on the private conversations and e-mail of its own employees, employees of other U.S. intelligence agencies -- including the CIA and DIA -- and their contacts in the media, Congress, and oversight agencies and offices.

            AT&T , once the sole national provider of telephone service, merged with SBC and kept the AT&T name. Verizon, BellSouth and AT&T are the nation's three biggest telecommunications companies; between them they provide local and wireless phone service to more than 200 million customers.

            The three carriers control vast networks with the latest communications technologies. They provide an array of services: local and long-distance calling, wireless and high-speed broadband, including video. Their direct access to millions of homes and businesses has them uniquely positioned to help the government keep tabs on the calling habits of Americans.

            Although under Section 222 of the Communications Act, first passed in 1934, telephone companies are prohibited from giving out information regarding their customers' calling habits: violations of Federal law are quite acceptable, if carried out by official stool pigeons and with grateful acceptance. Also, all incoming calls, as well as wireless calls, are subject to being covered.

            The financial penalties for violating Section 222, one of many privacy reinforcements that have been added to the law over the years, can be stiff. The Federal Communications Commission, the nation's top telecommunications regulatory agency, can levy fines of up to $130,000 per day per violation, with a cap of $1.325 million per violation. The FCC has no hard definition of "violation." In practice, that means a single "violation" could cover one customer or 1 million and the NSA has made clear that it was willing to pay for the cooperation. AT&T, which at the time was headed by C. Michael Armstrong, agreed to help the NSA. So did BellSouth, headed by F. Duane Ackerman; SBC, headed by Ed Whitacre; and Verizon, headed by Ivan Seidenberg.have proven to be gold mines of intimate secrets for the FBI. Although several lawsuits have been filed against these cooperating communication giants, they have all been quickly dismissed by cooperative Federal judged before they could get to the potentially dangerous discovery process whereby unwelcome information could become public

            The Office of Terrorism Analysis supports the National Counterterrorism Center in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. See CIA transnational anti-terrorism activities. Previously, the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) oversaw the Intelligence Community, serving as the president's principal intelligence advisor, additionally serving as head of the CIA. The DCI's title now is "Director of the Central Intelligence Agency" (DCIA), serving as head of the CIA.

            At the present time, the CIA reports to the Director of National Intelligence. Prior to the establishment of the DNI, the CIA reported to the President, with informational briefings to congressional committees. The National Security Advisor is a permanent member of the National Security Council, responsible for briefing the President with pertinent information collected by all US intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency, the Drug Enforcement Administration, etc. All sixteen acknowledged Intelligence Community agencies (and five more whose names and activities are considered to be too secret to divulge) are under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence.

            The National Clandestine Service (NCS) (formerly known as the Directorate of Operations) is the main United States intelligence agency for coordinating human intelligence (HUMINT) services. The organization absorbed the entirety of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)'s Directorate of Operations, and also coordinates HUMINT between the CIA and other agencies, including, but not limited to, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Diplomatic Security Service, Defense Intelligence Agency, Air Intelligence Agency, Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), Marine Corps Intelligence Activity, and Office of Naval Intelligence. The current Director of the NCS is Michael Sulick. The Director of the NCS reports to the CIA Director.

            The creation of the NCS was officially announced in a press release on 13 October 2005.^[1] The NCS was created by a bill from US Senator Pat Roberts in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The investigation by the 9/11 Commission reported that HUMINT had been severely degraded in the past two decades, principally because of the end of the Cold War and because of startling revelations about CIA operations uncovered by the investigations of the Church Committee of the US Senate.

            The NCS has analogues in the National Security Agency (signals intelligence), the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency.

            The final version of the anti-terrorism legislation, the ‘Uniting and Strengthening America By Providing Appropriate Tools Required To Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism’ (H.R. 3162, the "USA PATRIOT Act") puts the Central Intelligence Agency back in the business of spying on Americans. It permits a vast array of information gathering on U.S. citizens from school records, financial transactions*, Internet activity, telephone conversations, information gleaned from grand jury proceedings and criminal investigations to be shared with the CIA (and other non-law enforcement officials) even if it pertains to Americans. The information would be shared without a court order. The bill also gives the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, acting in his capacity as head of the Intelligence Community, enormous power to manage the collection and dissemination of intelligence information gathered in the U.S. This new authority supercedes existing guidelines issued to protect Americans from unwarranted surveillance by U.S. agencies such as the FBI.

            The National Security Service (NSS) within the Federal Bureau of Investigation was created June 29, 2005, by President George W. Bush through the Executive Order (EO) entitled "Blocking Property of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators and Their Supporters."

 Gary M. Bald, Director

Philip Mudd, Deputy Director

            The basis for the creation of a National Security Service is documented in the FBI paper "National Security: FBI or MI-5?" from the "Report of the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, Chapter 10: Intelligence at Home: The FBI, Justice, and Homeland Security, pp. 466-67, March 31, 2005."

                        The National Security Service "pulls together the Counterintelligence Division, the Counterterrorism Division, and the Directorate of Intelligence, enabling it to act together to develop intelligence and then to act on that intelligence, in consultation with not only Department of Justice but also the Director of National Intelligence (DNI)." June 29, 2005, DoJ Briefing Paper.

            Also see: Memorandum: "Strengthening the Ability of the Department of Justice to Meet Challenges to the Security of the Nation," White House, June 29, 2005.

            TALON is the acronym for Threat and Local Observation Notice. "To track alleged ‘domestic terrorist threats against the military,’ the Pentagon is created a new database that contained raw, non-validated' reports of anomalous activities within the United States Talon was intended to provide a means to gather and disseminate reports from volunteer ‘concerned citizens’

            In 2002, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz "designated it as the DoD “standard for reporting suspicious activity.” The Department of Homeland Security, ever eager to enlarge it own domestic citizenry files, declared that; “ TALON as a template within the emerging Protect America homeland defense information sharing system."

            "Talon reports grew out of a program called Eagle Eyes, an anti-terrorist program established by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations that 'enlists the eyes and ears of Air Force members and citizens in the war on terror,' according to the program's Web site. A Pentagon spokesman recently described Eagle Eyes as a 'neighborhood watch' program for military bases. The Air Force inspector general newsletter in 2003 said program informants include 'Air Force family members, contractors, off-base merchants, community organizations and neighborhoods'," Walter Pincus reported in the December 11, 2005, Washington Post.

            In April 2007, the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence requested that the Secretary of Defense terminate the TALON program because the results of the last year do not merit continuing the program as currently constituted, particularly in light of its image in the Congress and the media.

            Operation TIPS, Terrorism Information and Prevention System, was a program designed at the specific order of  President George W. Bush to have United States citizens report suspicious activity on the part of their co-workers, neighbors and family members. US workers who had access to private citizens' homes, such as cable installers and telephone repair workers, would be reporting on what was in people's homes if it were deemed suspicious to them. A packet of what was deemed suspicious was to be supplied to each informer. (A copy of this is in the author’s possession and borders on the idiotic) The United States Postal Service, after at first supportive of the program, later resisted its personnel being included in this program, reasoning that if mail carriers became perceived as law enforcement personnel that they would be placed in danger at a level for which they could not reasonably be expected to be prepared, and that the downside of the program hence vastly outweighed any good that it could accomplish. The National Association of Letter Carriers, a postal labor union, was especially outspoken in its opposition. Although the TIPS program was officially cancelled in 2002, on June 30, 2008, the Denver Post reported that 181 individuals, including police officers, paramedics, firefighters, utility workers, and railroad employees had been trained as Terrorism Liaison Officers to report suspicious information which could be signs of terrorist activity and that while Congress had specifically forbidden its implementation, it was still very much active. The article also stated that TLOs were already active in six other states and the District of Columbia.

Ed. Here is a partial list of the Infragard Informer’s Friday Night Chowder and Marching Society. There is a wealth of more information which we will publish when it becomes available.

Alaska

·                       Anchorage Chapter
infragard-anchorage@infragard.org

Russ, Mr. Virgil T. ICS, P.O. Box 6255, Gulf Shores, AL 36547

Arizona

·                       Phoenix Chapter
www.phoenixinfragard.net
infragard-phoenix@infragard.org

·                       Southern Arizona

E.G. Kendrick  Founder Datatel, Inc.

Moy, Robert S., 2934 North 22nd Pl., Phoenix, AZ 85016

Richards, Jeff, 7180 Arcadia Lane, Yuma, AZ 85364

Lusby, David, 1937 S. Abrego Dr., Green Valley, AZ 85614

Shaw, Robert T., 12851 E. Speedway Tuscon, AZ 85748

Van Loon, Ernest J., 5215 North 33rd St., Phoenix, AZ 85018

Selgrat, George S., 11426 N. Balboa Dr., Sun City, AZ 85351

Reed, Daniel E., 6774 E. Paseo Penoso, Tucson, AZ 85715

Kovacevich, Mrs. Ruth, 4800 N. 68th St., No 142, Scottsdale, AZ 85251

Tschudy, Dr. James, 3030 West Foothills Way, Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Rockhill, Charles D. Jr., 3382 W. Camino De Amigos, Tucson, AZ 85746

Jilli, Edmund, 8700 N. La Cholla No 2134, Tucson, AZ 85741

Lapham, Lewis, 65710 E. Desert Trail Dr., Tucson, AZ 85737

Moses, Dr. Elbert, 2001 Rocky Dells Dr., Prescott, AZ 86303

Arkansas

·                       Little Rock Chapter

Jay Allen  Sr. Vice President Corporate Affairs  Wal-Mart

Robert Madison Murphy  Founder   Murphy Oil Corp.

Whitehead, Harvey A. , P.O. Box 572, Palmer, AK 99645

California

·                       Los Angeles Chapter

·                       San Diego Chapter

·                       Sacramento Chapter

·                       San Francisco Chapter

Roland Arnall  Chairman   Ameriquest Capital Corp.

Edward G. Atsinger III  CEO & President   Salem Communications

Frank E. Baxter   Chairman  & CEO Jefferies & Co.

Herbert F. Boeckmann II  President  Galpin Motors

Steven A. Burd   President, Chairman & CEO  Safeway, Inc.

Wen Pin Chang  President Trade Union International

Deepak Chopra   President & CEO  OSI Systems Inc

Dwight W. Decker  Chairman & CEO  Conexant Systems, Inc.

Charles  E. DuPont Jr.  President  Charles DuPont Co.

Dale Dykema  Chairman & CEO  TD Service Financial

Matt Fong President  Strategic Advisory Group

Stephen E. Frank  Chairman, CEO & President  Southern California Edison

Robert E. Grady Managing Director, Carlyle Venture Partners  Carlyle Group

Robert A. Kotick  Chair & CEO  Activision

E. Floyd Kvamme   Partner Emeritus  Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

David H. Murdock  Chairman & CEO  Dole Food Co.

Palmer N. Murray  Morgan Stanley

Jerry Perenchio  Chairman & CEO Univision Communications

Gregory Slayton  CEO Slayton Capital

Marc I. Stern  TCW Group President  Trust Co.of the West

Jerry Weintraub  Producer Warner Brothers

Joe M. Weller  Chairman & CEO Nestle USA

Addicott, Kenneth F., General Delivery, Carmel, CA 93921

Allen, Andrew E., 122 Pepper Ave, Larkspur, CA 94939

Atwell, Joan D., 918 Siskiyou Dr., Menlo Park, CA 94025

Yu, David C.L., 2510 Morning Sun Dr., Hilltop Village Richmond, CA 94806

Colorado

·                       Denver
www.denverinfragard.org/

Adnet, Jacques J., 4515 Diamondback Dr., Colorado Springs, CO 80921

Bruce D. Benson   Chair & President   Benson Mineral Group

Johnson, William R., 317 Foxtail Ct., Boulder, CO 80303

Mondani, Eugene, 3024 West Springlake Circle, Colorado Springs, CO 80906

McMichael, John, 10346 S. Horizon View, Morrison, CO 80465

Connecticut

·                       www.infragard-ct.org

Mr. Jonathan Bush  CEO & President Riggs Investment Management Co.

George A.L. David  CEO & Chairman  United Technologies Corp.

Mr. Patrick J. Durkin  Managing Director Credit Suisse First Boston Corp.

Mr. Roger A. Enrico  Ex-Chairman & Ex-CEO PepsiCo

Edward D. Kratovil  Vice President UST, Inc

Patten, James S., P.O. Box 1321, Torrington, CT 06790

Delaware

·                       www.deinfragard.org

Florida

·                       Jacksonville Chapter
www.infragard-jax.org

·                       Miami Chapter
www.infragardsfl.org

·                       Tampa Chapter
infragard-tampa@infragard.org

·                       Tallahassee Chapter
www.tallahasseeinfragard.org

·                       Pensacola Chapter
www.infragard-nwfl.org
rcochran@leo.gov

·                       Orlando Chapter
infragard-tampa@infragard.org

James J. Blosser  Lobbyist Poole McKinley & Blosser

C. David Brown II Chairman  Broad & Cassel

Alvin  R. Carpenter  Vice Chairman CSX Transportation

Robert Edward Coker  Senior Vice President Public Affairs U.S. Sugar Corp.

Husein A. Cumber  Assistant Vice President Public Affairs Florida East Coast Industries

Mr. Richard M. DeVos  Co-founder Alticor, Inc. (formerly Amway)

J. Nelson Fairbanks  Retired President & CEO U.S. Sugar Corp.

Todd S. Farha  Chairman & CEO WellCare Health Plans, Inc.

David Hart  Finance Director WellCare Health Plans, Inc.

Tramm Hudson  Executive Vice President Provident Bank of Florida

Manuel D. Medina  CEO & Chairman Terremark Worldwide

Clinton Pownall  CEO Computer Bus Consultants, Inc.

George C. Zoley  Chairman & CEO Wackenhut Corrections Corp.

Ztimbrum, William F., 3442 14th St., N. Naples, FL 33940

Alden, Sygmund, P.O. Box 611374, Miami, FL 33161

Bush, Lester E., 2004 Michigan Ave., NE, St. Petersburg, FL 33703

Georgia

·                       Atlanta Chapter
www.infragardatlanta.org

·                       Savannah Chapter
www.infragardcoastalempire.org

·                        

John D. Carswell insurance Marsh USA, Inc.

Fred E. Cooper  Chairman  Cooper Capital

James C. Edenfield  Co-founder American Software

Dwight H. Evans  Executive Vice President Southern Company

Otis B. Ingram III President Ingram & LeGrand Lumber Co

Equifax PO Box 105873 Atlanta GA 30348

Hawaii

·                       Honolulu Chapter
www.infragardhawaii.org/

Roberts, George, 47868 Kamehameha Highway, Kaneohe, Oahu, Hi 96744

Smith, David R., 1717 Mott-Smith Dr., No 2911, Honolulu, HI 96822

Idaho

·                       Boise Chapter
dominic.venturi@infragard.org

Illinois

·                       Chicago Chapter

·                       Springfield Chapter
infragard-illinois.org

Robert N. Burt  Chairman & CEO FMC Corp.

John A. Canning  Chairman & CEO Madison Dearborn Partners

Samuel K. Skinner  Retired Chairman & CEO U.S. Freightways Corp.

William H. Strong  Vice Chairman & Managing Director Morgan Stanley

Hiscott, George E., 1745 Spruce Ave., Highland Park, IL 60035

Sierros, Steve N., 9312 69th Ave., Oak Lawn, IL 60453

Shonkweiler, John P., 307 Pitt County Courthouse, Monticello, IL 61856

Mainardi, Mrs. Marilyn, 1402 ½ Central Ave., No 305, Evanston, IL 60201

Indiana

·                       Fort Wayne Chapter
www.infragard-nei.net

·                       Indianapolis Chapter
New chapter website coming soon

Stephen Goldsmith  Senior Vice President Affiliated Computer Services, Inc.

Todd Huston  Director of Business Operations Komputrol

Owens, John P., 519 South 10th St., Elkhart, IN 46516

Minnick, Wendell, 427 South 31st St., Terre Haute, IN 47803

Iowa

·                       Des Moines Chapter

Mr. David Fisher  Chairman & President Onthank Company

Darcy, Thomas, 12821 Sunset Terrace, Clive, IA 50325

Kansas

·                       Kansas City Chapter
www.infragardkc.org

Morgan, Ray, 6815 Flint St., Shawnee Mission, KS 66203

Klager, Roy B. Jr., 3001 Hedgetree Ct., Wichita, KS 67226

Kentucky

·                       Louisville Chapter
www.infragardky.org

Robert M. Duncan CEO Inez Deposit Bank

Louisiana

·                       Baton Rouge Chapter -

·                       Lafayette Chapter -

·                       New Orleans
www.infragard.net/chapters/neworleans

Melton, H. Keith, P.O. Box 5755, Bossier City, LA 71171

Maine

·                       http://infragard-me.org

Sleeper, Francis H., 55 Lambert St. No 7, Portland, ME 04103

Sharp, Frederick D., III 3 Fairwind Lane, Yarmouth, ME 04096

Maryland

·                       Baltimore Chapter
www.mdinfragard.net

·                       Wilmington Chapter

David G. Albert Lobbyist Park Strategies

Thomas A. Allegretti President American Waterways Operators

Jeffrey S. Amling  Managing Partner of Global Media Deutsche Bank

Stephen G. Canton CEO Teleglobe Buisness Solutions

Thomas R. Kuhn President  Edison Electric Institute

Ansley, Norman, 35 Cedar Rd., Severna Park, MD 21146

Massachusetts

·                       Boston Chapter
infragard-boston@infragard.org
http://www.infragard-boston.org

Stephen Albano  President & CEO Offtech, Inc.

Mr. Herbert F. Collins Chairman Boston Capital Partners

Richard J. Egan Chairman EMC Corp.

Stephen L. Guillard CEO Harborside Healthcare

Bracebridge H. Young Jr. Partner Mariner Investment Group 

Townsend, Patrick L., 93 Winfield Rd., Holden, MA 01520

Michigan

·                       Detroit Chapter

Robert Liggett Chairman Liggett Communications

Andrea Fisher Newman  Senior Vice President Government Affairs Northwest Airlines

Peter Secchia Chairman  Universal Forest Products

Paul F. Welday President Strategic Public Affairs

Minnesota

·                       Minneapolis Chapter

Rudy Boschwitz Chairman Home Valu

William McGuire  Chairman & CEO UnitedHealth Group

Schoen, Charles J., P.O. Box 33, Crystal Bay, MN 55323

Stefanson, Randolph E., 428 So 8th St., Moorhead, MN 56560

Mississippi

·                       Jackson Chapter
infragard-jackson@infragard.org

Bill J. Dore President & CEO Global Industries

Sauls, Dr. F. Clark, 201 Chesterfield Rd., Hattiesburg, MS 39402

Missouri

·                       Jefferson City Chapter
infragard.missouri.org.

·                        Kansas City Chapter
infragardkc.org

·                       St. Louis Chapter

Mr.. Stephen Brauer Chairman, CEO Hunter Engineering

August Busch III Chairman & President Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.

Mr. William H. T. 'Bucky' Bush  Chairman  Bush-O’Donnell Co.

Irl Engelhardt  CEO & Chairman  Peabody Energy Corp.

Raymond  Wagner Jr.Vice President Legislative Affairs  Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Montana

·                       infragard-su@fbi.gov

Sedoff, Walter, 1013 Meadow Lane, Alberton, MT 59820

Thomson, Dr. Fred W., 3009 Queen St., Missoula, MT 59801

Bessac, Frank B., 1826 Traynor, Missoula, MT 59802

Weaver, Robert W., 1910 36th St., Missoula, MT 59801

Nebraska

·                       Omaha Chapter

Duane W. Acklie Chairman  Crete Carrier Corp.

Richard K. Davidson  Chairman, CEO & President  Union Pacific Corp.

David L. Sokol  Chairman & CEO MidAmerican Energy Holdings

Murray, Dr. Kent, 608 Forest Blvd., Hastings, NE 68901

Nevada

·                       Sierra Nevada Chapter

·                       Southern Nevada Chapter

Sheldon Adelson Chairman Las Vegas Sands, Inc.

Charles Mathewson Chairman & CEO International Game Technology

Tilley, Michie F., 16095 Rhyolite Circle, Reno, NV 89511

Mendez, Orlando, P.O. Box 34574, Las Vegas, NV 89133

Patty, Robert, 7180 Pah Rah Dr., Sparks, NV 89436

McCarthy, Roger, 2054 Sutton Way, Henderson, NV 89014

New Hampshire

·                       infragard.boston@fbi.gov

Marshall, Walter, 31 Durham St., Nashua, NH 03063

Schwenk, George O., 177 Merriam Hill Rd., Mason, NH 03048

Halpin, Daniel D., 9 Eastman Ave., Bedford, NH 03110

Sughrue, Daniel F., P.O. Box 179, Concord, NH 03302

Dupre, Robert, 28 Williams St., Salem, NH 03079

New Jersey

·                       Newark Chapter
www.njinfragard.org

Lawrence E. Bathgate II Attorney Bathgate Wegener & Wolf

Robert B. Chernin  Vice President of TransportationCapacity Group

James Courter CEO IDT Corp.

James C. Finkle President  CB Finkle Jr. Co.

Douglas Forrester President Benecard Services Inc.

Ellsworth G. Havens Vice President Corporate Development Englewood Hospital

Hon. Gualberto Medina  Vice President International Affairs NET 2 PHONE

Thomas A. Renyi  Chairman & CEO Bank of New York

Joel A. Schleicher Ex-Chair & CEO Interpath 

Balserio, Aldo E., 1216 Kennedy Blvd., Union City, NJ 07087

New Mexico

·                       Albuquerque Chapter
www.infragardnm.org

Abbott, Alfred, P.O. Box 10205, Albuquerque, NM 87184

Colin Riley McMillan  Ex-Chairman & CEO   Permian Exploration Corp.

Altomare, Gasper R., 600 Amherst Dr., SE, Albuquerque, NM 87106

Papich, Sam J., 4908 General Hodges NE, Albuquerque, NM 87111

Mastrovito, James, 7120 Aztec Rd., NE., Albuquerque, NM 87110

Putman, Forrest S., 8808 Chambers Pl.NE, Albuquerque, NM 87111

Richardson, William N., 3901 Indian School Rd NE, No C-206, Albuquerque, NM 87110

Lupsha, Peter, 617 Dartmouth NE, Albuquerque, NM 87106

New York

·                       Albany Chapter

·                       Buffalo Chapter

·                       Hudson Valley Chapter

·                       Long Island Chapter

·                       New York Chapter

·                       Rochester Chapter

Jeffrey Ballabon Vice President of Publicity  Primedia

H. Doug Barclay Attorney Hiscock & Barclay

Bruce A. Blakeman  Attorney Robert Blakeman Associates

Geoffrey T. Boisi  Vice Chairman JPMorgan

Mark Broxmeyer President & CEO Fairfield Properties

James E. Cayne  Chairman & CEO Bear Stearns & Co.

Francois de Saint Phalle  U.S. Equities Co-head Warburg Dillon Read

Bruce S. Gelb  Vice Chairman Bristol-Myers Squibb

Rich L. Gelfond Co-CEO IMAX Corp

Joseph J. Grano  Chairman & CEO UBS Wealth Management USA

Douglas R. Korn Senior Managing Director Bear Stearns & Co.

Henry Kravis  Founding Partner Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts

Stephen M. Lessing  Managing Director Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc

John Mack CEO Credit Suisse First Boston Corp.

Hank McKinnell Chairman & CEO Pfizer

Peter J. Murphy Bear Wagner Specialists CEO Bear Stearns & Co.

Steven Price  CEO LiveWire Corp.

James Quigley CEO Deloitte & Touche

Stephen A. Schwarzman President, CEO & Co-founder Blackstone Group

Ivan Seidenberg  President & CEO Verizon Communications, Inc.

George H. Walker IV Managing Director Goldman Sachs & Co.

Bacot, John C., Bank of New York Co., New York, NY

North Carolina

·                       Charlotte Chapter
www.ncinfragard.org

·                       Eastern Carolina Chapter
www.ecinfragard.org

James P. Cain Lobbyist Kilpatrick Stockton

James B. Culbertson  Founder & President Financial Computing, Inc.

James H. Hance Jr. Vice Chairman Bank of America

G. Kennedy Thompson  Chairman, CEO & President Wachovia Corp

Williamson, Eugene, 1008 Millbrook Dr., Greenville, NC 27858

Maciel, Joseph, 1992 Jack Rabbit Lane., New Bern, NC 28562

Platt, Dr.Rorin M., 1512 Oakland Hills Way, Raleigh, NC 27604

North Dakota

·                       North Dakota Chapter
http://www.infragard-nd.org

Ohio

·                       Cincinnati Chapter
www.infragard.net/chapters/cincinnati

·                       Cleveland Chapter
www.nocinfragard.org

·                       Columbus Chapter
infragard.columbus.oh.us

·                       Dayton Chapter
www.infragard.dayton.oh.us

·                       Toledo Chapter
www.toledoinfragard.org/

Peter W. Adams Executive Alliance Capital Management

Anthony J. Alexander President FirstEnergy Corp.

William A. Antonoplos Lobbyist Antonoplos & Associates

Ron Beshear  Managing Partner Beshear General Agency Northwestern Mutual Life

Richard T. Farmer  Chairman & Founder Cintas Corporation

Carl H. Lindner III Co-President American Financial Group

Carl H. Lindner Jr.CEO American Financial Group

Walden W. O'Dell  CEO Diebold Systems

James E. Rogers  Chairman, President & CEO Cinergy Corp.

Oklahoma

·                       Oklahoma City Chapter

Norton, Maurice, 6453 N. College Ave., Oklahoma City, OK 73132

Taylor, Robert L., P.O. Box 506, Fairfax, OK 74637

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The Afghan/Iraq Death Toll: January 16

January 15 2010

by Brian Harring

January 4, 2010

  The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

   Spc. Brushaun X. Anderson, 20, of Columbus, Ga., died Jan. 1 in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.

            The Department of Defense announced today the death of an airman who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Senior Airman Bradley R. Smith, 24, of Troy, Ill., died Jan. 3 near Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained while supporting combat operations.  He was assigned to the 10th Air Support Operations Squadron, Fort Riley, Kan.

January 5, 2010

            The Department of Defense announced today the death of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. They died Jan. 3 in Ashoque, Afghanistan, from wounds suffered when insurgents attacked their unit with multiple improvised explosives devices and small arms fire. They were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.

            Killed were:

      Sgt. Joshua A. Lengstorf, 24, of Yoncalla, Ore.

       Spc. Brian R. Bowman, 24, of Crawfordsville, I

             Pvt. John P. Dion, 19, of Shattuck, Okla.

January 7, 2010

            The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

                Spc. David A. Croft Jr., 22, of Plant City, Fla., died Jan. 5 in Baghdad, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device and small arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

January 11. 2010

            The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

             Sgt. 1st Class Jason O. B. Hickman, 35, of Kingsport, Tenn., died Jan. 7 at Forward Operating Base Salerno, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered earlier that day at Combat Outpost Bowri Tana, when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device and small arms fire. He was assigned to Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska.

            The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. The initial press release had anincorrect name due to a clerical error. However, the correct family was notifiedby Marine Corps officials.

            Lance Cpl. Mark D. Juarez, 23,of San Antonio, Texas, died Jan. 9 while supporting combat operations in Helmandprovince, Afghanistan. He was assignedto 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III MarineExpeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

            The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

           Lance Cpl. Jacob A. Meinert, 20, of Fort Atkinson, Wis., died Jan. 10 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

January 12, 2010

            The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

            Pfc. Michael R. Jarrett, 20, of North Platte, Neb., died Jan. 6 in Balad, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 159th Aviation Regiment, 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, Illesheim, Germany.

            The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation.

January 13, 2010

                The Department of Defense announced today the death of three Marines who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

            The following Marines died Jan. 11 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan:

            Staff Sgt. Matthew N. Ingham, 25, of Altoona, Pa.

            Cpl. Jamie R. Lowe, 21, of Johnsonville, Ill.

            Cpl. Nicholas K. Uzenski, 21, of Tomball, Texas.

            Ingham, Lowe and Uzenski were assigned to 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan.

January 15, 2010

            The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

            Spc. Kyle J. Wright, 22, of Romeoville, Ill., died Jan. 13 at Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered earlier that day when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device in Kandahar province.  He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.

            The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

            Sgt. Christopher R. Hrbek, 25, of Westwood, N.J., died Jan. 14 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.  He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

            The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

            Sgt. Lucas T. Beachnaw, 23, of Lowell, Mich., died Jan. 13 in Darya Ya, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit using small arms fire. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Camp Ederle, Italy.  

TBRNews Addendum January 18, 2010

U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed With Secret 'Jesus' Bible Codes

Pentagon Supplier for Rifle Sights Says It Has 'Always' Added New Testament References

January 18, 2010

by Joseph Rhee, Tahman Bradley and Brian Ross

ABC News

            Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found.

            The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.

            U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious "Crusade" in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents.

            One of the citations on the gun sights, 2COR4:6, is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

            Other references include citations from the books of Revelation, Matthew and John dealing with Jesus as "the light of the world." John 8:12, referred to on the gun sights as JN8:12, reads, "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

            Trijicon confirmed to ABCNews.com that it adds the biblical codes to the sights sold to the U.S. military. Tom Munson, director of sales and marketing for Trijicon, which is based in Wixom, Michigan, said the inscriptions "have always been there" and said there was nothing wrong or illegal with adding them. Munson said the issue was being raised by a group that is "not Christian." The company has said the practice began under its founder, Glyn Bindon, a devout Christian from South Africa who was killed in a 2003 plane crash.

'It violates the Constitution'

            The company's vision is described on its Web site: "Guided by our values, we endeavor to have our products used wherever precision aiming solutions are required to protect individual freedom."

"We believe that America is great when its people are good," says the Web site. "This goodness has been based on Biblical standards throughout our history, and we will strive to follow those morals."

            Spokespeople for the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps both said their services were unaware of the biblical markings. They said officials were discussing what steps, if any, to take in the wake of the ABCNews.com report. It is not known how many Trijicon sights are currently in use by the U.S. military.

            The biblical references appear in the same type font and size as the model numbers on the company's Advanced Combat Optical Guides, called the ACOG.

            A photo on a Department of Defense Web site shows Iraqi soldiers being trained by U.S. troops with a rifle equipped with the bible-coded sights.

            "It's wrong, it violates the Constitution, it violates a number of federal laws," said Michael "Mikey" Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group that seeks to preserve the separation of church and state in the military.

            'Firearms of Jesus Christ'

            "It allows the Mujahedeen, the Taliban, al Qaeda and the insurrectionists and jihadists to claim they're being shot by Jesus rifles," he said.

            Weinstein, an attorney and former Air Force officer, said many members of his group who currently serve in the military have complained about the markings on the sights. He also claims they've told him that commanders have referred to weapons with the sights as "spiritually transformed firearm[s] of Jesus Christ."

            He said coded biblical inscriptions play into the hands of "those who are calling this a Crusade."

            According to a government contracting watchdog group, fedspending.org, Trijicon had more than $100 million in government contracts in fiscal year 2008. The Michigan company won a $33 million Pentagon contract in July, 2009 for a new machine gun optic, according to Defense Industry Daily. The company's earnings from the U.S. military jumped significantly after 2005, when it won a $660 million long-term contract to supply the Marine Corps with sights.

            "This is probably the best example of violation of the separation of church and state in this country," said Weinstein. "It's literally pushing fundamentalist Christianity at the point of a gun against the people that we're fighting. We're emboldening an enemy."

Satan Writes a Letter to Pat Robertson
January 16, 2010
by Satan
Dear Pat Robertson,

            I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I'm all over that action. But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I'm no welcher.

            The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished. Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth — glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle.

            Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven't you seen "Crossroads"? Or "Damn Yankees"?

            If I had a thing going with Haiti, there'd be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox — that kind of thing.

            An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it — I'm just saying: Not how I roll.

            You're doing great work, Pat, and I don't want to clip your wings — just, come on, you're making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad. Keep blaming God. That's working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract.

            Best, Satan

Chinese economy: Sparks of revival amid the collapse of a Chinese steel town

Half the steel mills in one of China's key industrial regions have closed down, with some companies admitting that orders collapsed by as much as 90pc during the financial crisis.

by Malcolm Moore in Jiangyin

            "Before last August, we were shipping between $30m and $40m of steel a year to Europe," said Xi Dongqing, the general manager of Jiangyin Hetai Industrial, a major steelmaker in the heart of China's factory belt. "Now we only have one-tenth of the exports we had," he added, glumly.

            Mr Xi's plant lies in the coast province of Jiangsu, in the heart of the Yangtze River Delta. The 110,000 residents of Jiangyin became some of the richest people in China during the rapid growth of the past decade.

            Their appetite for iron ore helped create the commodities boom that drove prices sky-high and led to fierce criticism of China. In its heyday, China produced four times as much steel as Japan and five times as much as the United States.

            The past six months, however, have wiped them out, with half of the town's 50 steel mills shutting their gates. At Hua Qiang Steel, one of the largest producers in the region, the plant is silent and the workers absent. "We have suffered, but we do not want to talk about it," the manager says, asking not to be named.

            "I do not understand it," said Mr Xi. "We are being told by our customers in Europe that prices are now even lower than the cost of us exporting the steel, and that's not including the freight charges. It is very strange. I think distributors must be trying to sell off their stocks, raise cash and restart their businesses. Since the financial crisis started we have lost $500,000."

He added: "These days, we do not know what to do. Compared to the old times we are now watching the television more, reading newspapers and the internet to try to see what will happen next."

            The mood elsewhere in the once-prosperous town is equally grim. "The big companies have stopped using subcontractors because they do not have as many orders," said Zhu Longgao, the 40-year-old owner of Huashi Steel Supplies, a construction materials store. The government has already said it wants smaller firms to go out of business, and is only placing orders with larger companies. Although China is the world's largest steel producer, its production is spread among tens of thousands of smaller companies, ruling out efficiency savings.

            However, there are already small signs of revival in Jiangyin, which may in turn send ripples out through the global market. One Australian iron ore supplier said he felt the worst had past. "I sense that things have stabilised after several tough months and they are not as dire as are being reported," he said. "There are also substantial Chinese investment in iron ore in Western Australia, and that continued during the downturn, suggesting they want to control a share of the supply."

Mr Xi has turned to markets in South American and the Middle East. "We have made contact through the internet," he said. "It is just a start, but in the old times we neglected customers from these regions because it was just too difficult."

Xi Jinping, the Chinese vice president who many tip to take over as leader when Hu Jintao steps down, is currently on a tour of Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil as China tries to drum up trade ties. Another politburo member, Hui Liangyu, is visiting Argentina, Ecuador and the Caribbean. Meanwhile, China formally became a member of the Inter-American Development Bank last month, offering $350 million for financing projects in the region to curry favour.

Then there is the effect of the £400 billion Chinese fiscal stimulus plan, which will pour money into construction projects this year, boosting steel demand. "I believe China now has the highest steel prices in the world," said Mr Xi. "We have switched 80pc of our production into the domestic market."

Since China's State Council, the equivalent of the Cabinet, announced a bail-out plan for the steel industry in January prices have risen to around Pounds380 a tonne in Beijing, according to Mysteel, an industry research company. Shares in Baosteel, the country's largest producer, have also rallied, on predictions that China will consume 490m tonnes of steel this year, up 10pc from last year.

Steel from Ukraine and Russia is also flowing into China, and shares in Severstal, Mechel, NLMK and Magnitogorsk have all risen by nearly a fifth in the past fortnight and India's iron ore mining federation has announced that it expects iron ore prices to double this year. Two-thirds of India's iron ore goes to China. Since the end of the Chinese New Year, the quantity of iron ore entering China's major ports rose by 7pc.

China's exports dropped by 17.5pc in value in January, compared to January last year. Although the timing of the Chinese New Year holiday meant there were five fewer working days in January, the statistics were far worse than economists had feared. In terms of value, exports have nearly halved since last year.

Imports into China fell by a record 43.1pc in value, although the price of oil and other commodities may explain part of the drop. Since China imports many of the raw materials it needs to manufacture goods, the drop in imports suggests months of weakness ahead.

 However, the fact that China is running a near-record $39.11 billion (£27 billion) trade surplus could lead to further tensions as the spectre of protectionism looms worldwide.''The numbers are terrible. The environment is awful,'' said Ken Peng, an economist at Citigroup.

In Wenzhou, in southern China, exporters said they were fearful for the rest of the year. At Aolun, one of the China's largest shoe factories, the workers admitted that orders had halved. "Before the financial crisis, each production line was making between 50,000 and 60,000 pairs a month," said one worker, who asked not to be named. "Now we make just 30,000." A spokesman for Aolun admitted that last year had been "very bad"

Ringed by mountains but facing the sea, Wenzhou's geography has helped it become one of China's most outward-looking and entrepreneurial cities. It was here, in the 1980s, that private companies began to export their goods and create enormous suburbs of low-cost factories.

Qiaotou is button city and produces 60pc of the world's supply. Exports have crumbled and sales are down 20pc, said Ma Fuquan, the 29-year-old manager of Zhenghua buttons. Next door, Xindaxin buttons said they do not have much time left if things continue as they are. "A lot of the smaller companies have closed," said Mr Ma.

Wenzhou also manufactures 95pc of the world's cigarette lighters, and Li Zhongjian, the head of Tung Fong lighters, one of the largest companies, said he was not surprised by the trade figures. "Even last year things were pretty bad and people have changed their mentality from consuming to saving," he said. "Beforehand, they might have worn three pairs of shoes a year, or discarded shoes that were barely worn. Now they have cut down. This will be a big test for all Chinese companies."

However, several companies said Wenzhou's entrepreneurial spirit would win through and that China would remain the world's workshop. "There is nowhere else in the world cheaper to make things," said Chen Ji, the owner of New Urban Buttons. "Even if you move production to Vietnam, you still have to come back to China for some materials."

"The financial crisis has had an effect, but most of the factory closures have been cash flow problems because owners have lost their money on the stock market or by investing in property," he added. "The media exaggerated things and banks became reluctant to give out credit, but we expect to grow this year and are opening a new branch in Shanghai to sell to H&M and Zara."

Mr Li, at Tung Fong, added that larger companies had been given "a great opportunity" to increase market share as smaller companies went bust. "We are also targeting new markets. We have developed a special cigarette lighter technology that will help them work at high altitude, useful for South America," he said.

MAJOR FOREIGN HOLDERS OF TREASURY SECURITIES

Estimated foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury marketable and non-marketable bills, bonds, and notes reported under the Treasury International Capital (TIC) reporting system are based on annual Surveys of Foreign Holdings of U.S. Securities and on monthly data.

China, Mainland       744.2 billion $