Tucson, Arizona | It’s a modern-day dilemma: getting the convenience of good cell reception without the blight of an ugly antenna.
Cell-phone provider T-Mobile apparently found a palatable solution for desert-dwelling mobile users by putting the antenna inside a fake saguaro.
The hills and valleys of the Catalina Foothills can wreak havoc on cell-phone coverage. But residents — many who chose to live in the Foothills to enjoy pristine desert views — don’t relish the idea of staring at antenna prongs pointing skyward.
“The neighbors didn’t want an ugly tower,” said Bob Kramber, a commercial real estate salesman who lives in the area.
Kramber said he likes the design of the phony saguaro, pointing out that for authenticity it even has a few holes that look like the ones woodpeckers and other birds dig into real cacti.
Jeff Oranski, who lives right across from the cell site, agreed that the antenna was cleverly disguised.
“If I’m looking at it, I can tell the difference,” he said. But it can be tough to distinguish it from the real thing if you only give it a quick glance while driving by, he said.
T-Mobile worked with public officials and the community to determine what design would work best for its cell site on North Craycroft Road just south of East Territory Drive, said Rod De La Rosa, a company spokesman.
“It depends on the area, but we definitely try our best to blend with the landscape,” De La Rosa said.
In urban areas, the towers blend in with buildings. They can also be built to emulate pine or palm trees, he said. But the saguaro design is unique to the Arizona desert.
Other cell-phone providers have added cell sites to improve their coverage in the hilly terrain of the Catalina Foothills.
AT&T recently activated 37 new cell sites for its third generation — or 3G — network there.
That service provider also had to address concerns from residents who didn’t want what they consider unsightly antennas in their community.
There is a secession movement afoot and its proponents are determined to put a halt to the federal government’s ambitions to destroy and reconstruct an entire economy and dissolve the last remnants of individual liberty. Twenty-eight states are invoking the law of the land, the U.S. Constitution, by rolling out legislation to assert their sovereignty as free states in order to keep from being undermined by the never-ending swarm of unrestrained federal decrees.
The speed with which the federal government intends to take over private institutions and usurp states’ rights and individual autonomy is unprecedented. When the Bush-Obama regime maneuvers are compared to the Hoover-FDR New Deal era, it looks like today’s hare vs. yesterday’s turtle. The state’s various propaganda arms, from big media to institutionalized special interest forces, are being empowered to publicize and sell the agenda of the totalitarian state by painting it in glossy colors that warm the hearts of unresisting Americans. There are, however, growing pockets of dissenters who conclude that life, liberty, property, and the futures of their children are more important than the trivial things that occupy the minds of the submissive class. For that reason, the state’s militarized police force, which has been given unparalleled powers by the contrived crises following 9-11, has snowballed in size and is being fortified in expectation of confronting rebellion from those citizens who intend to resist the tyranny of an over-reaching Leviathan.
Since the Bush II regime took control and 9/11 became its launch pad for sweeping hegemony, the police state has moved more swiftly than ever to demonize resistance and criminalize dissent. The most recent example is the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) report that profiled individuals according to their political convictions, especially those ideas that agitate against the institutionalization of unconstitutional acts that are intended to grow state power at the expense of individual liberties. Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, Bob Barr (!), guns & ammo, taxes, the Federal Reserve, secession, and resistance to universal government service or anti-privacy actions – all of those topics have become keywords in the crusade to criminalize individuals who refuse to be rounded up like cattle and marched toward serfdom.
Two years ago, a similar thing happened in Alabama when its Homeland Security Department released a report pigeonholing freedom activists as “anti-government types” who “claim that the U.S. government is infringing on their individual rights, and/or that the government’s policies are criminal and immoral.” Such groups, the report said, “May hold that the current government is violating the basic principles laid out by the U.S. Constitution…” Don’t bother to look up that report, however, because LewRockwell.com blogger Chris Brunner’s post on the Alabama report spread like wildfire ’round the Internet, resulting in that report being pulled from the website.
In addition, the MIAC report was quickly stifled by hordes of liberty activists, leading Chuck Baldwin to say, “the most effective way to fight an ever-encroaching federal leviathan is to focus on our individual states.”
The struggle for sovereignty, though begun on the part of spontaneous individuals with leanings toward the radical principles of our nation’s founding, has reached state legislatures across America in the form of sovereignty bills. According to the Christian Science Monitor, twenty-eight states are now commencing resolutions as a reaction to the sudden and massive expansion of federal powers. Even the Republic of Lakotah is declaring its withdrawal from all treaties and agreements imposed on it by the US government. The notion of state secession, once written off as a subject matter for political crackpots and eccentrics, has become a legitimate and practical solution for undoing the years of accumulated assaults on individual liberty that has come from the centralized state.
Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown, left, greets US President Barack Obama as he arrives for the G20 summit at the ExCel centre in London, Thursday, April 2, 2009. AP Photo
Gordon Brown announced the creation of a “new world order” after the conclusion of the G20 summit of world leaders in London.
The Prime Minister claimed to have struck a “historic” deal to end the global recession as he unveiled plans to plough more than $1 trillion into the world economy.
“This is the day that the world came together to fight back against the global recession,” he said. “Not with words but with a plan for global recovery and reform.”
Barack Obama, the US President, hailed the deal as a “turning point” for the global economy which would put it on the path to recovery.
Brown Announces ‘New world order emerging’ at G20 (9 min in)
However, critics pointed out Mr Brown had been unable to secure agreement on a new co-ordinated fiscal stimulus package that he and Mr Obama had been urging. The Prime Minister has staked his political future on securing a deal at the summit.
Under the $1.1 trillion (£750 billion) agreement, which followed several days of intense negotiation, struggling economies will be offered money provided to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by wealthier nations.
The G20 leaders also agreed restrictions on bankers’ pay, rules to target tax havens and hedge funds and a new financial early warning system to prevent a future economic meltdown.
“Today’s decisions, of course, will not immediately solve the crisis. But we have begun the process by which it will be solved,” Mr Brown said. “I think a new world order is emerging with the foundation of a new progressive era of international co-operation,”
Following the announcement of the deal at the ExCeL conference centre in London’s Docklands, the FTSE share index closed up more than four per cent. Other stock markets around the world also rose sharply.
The conclusion of the summit also coincided with the release of figures that suggested the British economy could be starting to recover. House prices have risen and the Bank of England claims that lending to businesses has improved.
Mr Brown’s delight at securing the agreement — which had been under threat from Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, and Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor — was evident.
The success was echoed by Mr Obama. “By any measure the London summit was historic,” he said. “It was historic because of the size and the scope of the challenges that we face and because of the timeliness and magnitude of our response.”
Mr Sarkozy, who had threatened to walk out of the talks unless he got action on tax havens, said a “page has been turned” on the old financial model, the “Anglo-Saxon model”.
One trillion dollars will be made available to the IMF and, in turn, to countries threatened by the downturn. However, Mr Brown made it clear that he did not intend to apply for funds for Britain, despite opponents warning that the country will soon need a bail-out due to the growing deficit in the public finances.
Mr Obama, who leaves Britain after a three-day visit on Friday morning, played an important part in brokering the deal, in particular French concerns over the deal on tax havens. A senior White House official said the President took Mr Sarkozy to a corner of the room for a chat. He then acted as a go-between with President Hu Jintao, of China until they both agreed to a solution put forward by Mr Obama.
As The Daily Telegraph disclosed on Thursday, a key part of the global rescue package included united action to curb excessive pay to bankers and traders.
Downing Street will be relieved that the summit has not proved a failure, despite Mr Brown not securing some of his earlier objectives, notably a second round of fiscal stimulus.
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Related
Hannity, Morris: Those “conspiracy people” were right after all
“Mr. Dodd, all of us here at the policy making level of the foundation have at one time or another served in the OSS or the European Economic Administration, operating under directives from the White House. We operate under those same directives…The substance of the directives under which we operate is that we shall use our grant making power to so alter life in the United States that we can be comfortably merged with the Soviet Union.”
– Rowan Gaither, the President of the Ford Foundation, during a meeting with Norman Dodd, Research Director for the Reece Committee, 1953.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev gestures, after putting on a cap, during a speech to the London School of Economics in London. Photo: AP
Russia’s leader hailed President Barack Obama as a “comrade” on Thursday and predicted that the two countries would resolve the vexed issue of a missile defence shields in Eastern Europe.
Delivering a strikingly conciliatory speech at the London School of Economics, President Dmitry Medvedev predicted that an agreement about defence could be achieved.
At present America plans to deploy 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic to act as a shield against incoming weapons. Washington says the only aim is to guard against a future threat from a nuclear armed Iran. But Russia has always refused to accept this explanation.
Mr Medvedev said: “On the part of America, there is decision to listen to our arguments. They are not trying to cut us off by saying the issue has been decided, there’s nothing to discuss. Therefore we can try to find a way of resolving this issue.”
He added: “We cannot rattle our sabres and show our muscles. That is counter productive.”
But the President restated Russia’s position to any further enlargement of Nato. “Before taking any decisions to further expand one should think about the consequences. I described this yesterday to my new friend and comrade, Barack Obama.”
Mr Medvedev added that Russia was “not the Soviet Union” and pledged that his country would develop into a “normal state with a market economy”.
U.S President Barack Obama (L) laughs with Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (C) and Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev as they pose for a family photograph at the G20 summit at the ExCel centre, in east London April 2, 2009. World leaders are set to declare an end to unfettered capitalism at a G20 summit on Thursday after France and Germany demanded they act fast on promises to prevent a repeat of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s. Reuters
Markets soar after President brokers ‘historic’ G20 deal between world leaders to bring end to recession
Independent | Apr 3, 2009
By Andrew Grice, Nigel Morris and Sean O’Grady
Gordon Brown declared that a $1 trillion package to stimulate economic growth agreed at yesterday’s G20 summit in London will ensure that the world pulls out of recession more quickly.
Speaking after the one-day summit of the world’s richest nations in the Docklands, the Prime Minister said there were “no quick fixes”, adding: “Today’s decisions will not immediately solve the crisis. But we have begun the process by which it will be solved.”
He said: “This is the day that the world came together to fight back against the global recession, not with words, but with a plan for global recovery and for reform and with a clear timetable for its delivery.”
The US President Barack Obama played a key role in brokering the agreement, resolving tensions between China and France on tax havens.
The $1trn will be made available to countries that run into trouble via the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and World Trade Organisation, which will all be beefed up. Half the money will come from IMF loans, with $250bn to finance trade deals and a further $250bn from the IMF’s currency reserve.
Hannity, Morris: Those “conspiracy people” were right after all
Mr Brown and President Obama originally wanted the G20 summit to call for higher government spending and tax cuts, but they ran into opposition from European nations, led by Germany and France. However, the summit kept open the option of such action in 2010 if the $5trn fiscal stimulus scheme does not work. The IMF will have a new role in monitoring whether countries are doing enough to help the world economy grow at about 4 per cent a year.
G20 leaders will meet again to review progress, probably in New York in September, to coincide with the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.
Last night British ministers said the real significance of yesterday’s agreement was not the $1trn package but the enhanced role it gave to world institutions like the IMF, whose budget will triple to $750bn. “A new world financial order has been born, almost by accident, because of this crisis,” one cabinet minister said. “These bodies have been revamped; now they need to raise their game.”
The IMF will no longer be regarded as a last-resort option for nations facing bankruptcy, but will instead take preventative action. Many nations have been reluctant to turn to the fund because the stigma of doing so sends bad signals to the financial markets.
The special drawing rights (SDRs) made available by the IMF – which can be converted by national governments into currency to provide a swift injection of liquidity into their economies – will be increased by a further $250bn. The funds will be used in the short term to support the precarious economies of eastern and central Europe. Romania and Turkey are the latest nations to seek help from the IMF; others in recent months include Ukraine, Pakistan, Iceland and Latvia. The IMF has expressed acute concern that a crisis in these economies could spread via the banks to western European countries.
China is playing a notably bigger role, pledging $40bn for the improvement in the IMF’s resourcing. Most of the rest comes from the US and Europe. China has publicly called for an increased role for the IMF’s own “world currency”, the SDR. A long-awaited reform of the governance of the IMF should deliver China more votes and influence.
Last night President Obama hailed the meeting as “a turning point in our pursuit of global economic recovery”. He told the press: “By any measure, the London summit was historic. It was historic because of the size and the scope of the challenge that we face and because of the timeliness and the magnitude of our response.”
The President said that “former mortal enemies” had come together to agree a common path out of recession. “I am very proud of what has been done, but this alone is not enough. The actions we take in our individual countries is vital.” He added: “It’s hard for 20 heads of state to bridge their differences. We’ve all got our own national policies, our own assumptions, and our own politics. But our citizens are hurting – they need us to come together.”
The 20 leaders also agreed to reform the financial system to prevent a repeat of the crisis. Mr Brown trumpeted the “start of the end” for tax havens refusing to be transparent about the money they hold; they will be named and shamed.
Last night, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development issued a “blacklist” of four offending countries: Costa Rica, Malaysia, the Philippines and Uruguay. In the run-up to the summit, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg, Andorra and Singapore joined a new spirit of openness. Yesterday Brunei and Guatemala agreed to abide by the new rules. The Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and British overseas territories such as the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands already comply with the guidelines.
Under yesterday’s deal, tax havens would have to open their books to other countries upon request, or face tough sanctions. Banks across the world face a regime of checks to guard against a repeat of the excessive lending that triggered the global financial meltdown.
The leaders pledged to give their regulators the powers to collect all the relevant information about banks and to strengthen links between regulators from different countries to pool information about multinational financial institutions. Hedge funds will be brought into the regulatory system. Bankers’ pay will reflect long-term performance, not short-term risk-taking.
Mr Brown pronounced the free-market consensus was over, hailing a “new consensus” among the largest countries. “From today we will together manage the process of globalisation,” he said.
On the fiscal stimulus, the Prime Minister insisted: “The issues that people thought divided us did not divide us at all. There was substantial agreement on the need for us to do whatever is necessary to return to growth.”
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, who had threatened to walk out if he was not happy with the outcome, said: “There were moments of tension. Never would we have thought to get as big an agreement.” He praised President Obama for helping to create consensus and persuade China to agree to publish lists of tax havens. Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, called the measures “a very, very good, almost historic compromise” that will give the world “a clear financial markets architecture”. But the anti-poverty campaigner Bob Geldof said: “A key question the African delegation is asking is whether this will be real new money for their countries, and will it be grants or expensive loans?”
David Cameron, the Tory leader, said: “Now the focus should switch back to our domestic economy because small businessmen needing a loan to keep their businesses going are still suffering. And our public finances here in Britain, the level of our deficit, is truly horrific and we need to act on that.”
Anti-terror powers are being invoked by Epsom council to spy on its residents over minor breaches of the law, it has emerged.
Epsom and Ewell Council has ordered surveillance designed to thwart terrorist bombings to catch unlicensed taxis, benefit fraudsters, alcohol licensees and noisy neighbours.
A Freedom of Information Act request by the Liberal Democrats revealed the council had utilised the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (Ripa) 36 times in the last five years.
Despite the large number of cases investigated only three led to prosecutuions.
Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling, MP for Epsom and Ewell, said: “I think it’s absolutely wrong these powers have been used by local authorities when they were originally designed for anti-terrorism policing.
“It’s not just a waste of money, it’s an inappropriate invasion of privacy.
“It’s using powers that are designed to fight terrorism for local purposes. That’s just wrong.
“I don’t think local authorities should be able to use them at all.”
Epsom and Ewell Liberal Democrat councillor Jonathan Lees said: “Nationally it is appalling these laws have been used so many times.
“Epsom and Ewell Council has used these 36 times, 29 of which have been authorised by management and only seven by senior management.
“I am very concerned these powers, which have the potential to infringe onto our civil liberties if used, are only used in extreme cases by the senior management of the council under tight guidance and control.
“They should be constantly monitored for misuse and if used, it should be documented why with a clear explanation.”
The council’s chief executive, two directors, four heads of service, one manager and three team leaders have the power to authorise the use of the anti-terror laws on council investigations.
A spokeswoman for the council admitted the use of new legislation “allows civil liberties to be breached in a legal manner”.
She said: “The council carries out investigations using powers under the Ripa in relation to benefit fraud, licensing and environmental health investigations.
“It does not do this on a routine basis, but only uses the powers where it feels they are appropriate.
“Local authorities have the power to regulate certain areas to ensure the safety and quality of life for our residents.
“Where offences are prosecutable surveillance in some cases is required to prove the offences.
“A local authority has to balance the rights of an individual against the rights and needs of the public as a whole when it carries out all of its functions.
“The staff who regularly authorise surveillance have been trained in the use of the proper powers and a refresher course led by external trainers was held last month.”
Global leaders took their biggest steps yet toward a new world order that’s less U.S.-centric with a more heavily regulated financial industry and a greater role for international institutions and emerging markets.
At the end of a summit in London, policy makers from the Group of 20 yesterday delivered a regulatory blueprint that French President Nicholas Sarkozy said turned the page on the Anglo-Saxon model of free markets by placing stricter limits on hedge funds and other financiers. The leaders also pledged to triple the resources of the International Monetary Fund and to hand China and other developing economies a greater say in the management of the world economy.
Hannity, Morris: Those “conspiracy people” were right after all
“It’s the passing of an era,” said Robert Hormats, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International, who helped prepare summits for presidents Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. “The U.S. is becoming less dominant while other nations are gaining influence.”
A lot was at stake. If the leaders had failed to forge a consensus — Sarkozy this week threatened to quit the talks if they didn’t back much tighter regulation — it might have set back the world’s economy and markets just as they’re showing signs of shaking off the worst financial crisis in six decades.
That’s what happened in 1933, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt torpedoed a similar conference in London by rejecting its plan to stabilize currency rates and in the process scotched international efforts to lift the world out of a depression.
More Conciliation
Seeking to avoid a repeat of that historic flop, President Barack Obama junked the at-times go-it-alone approach of his predecessor, George W. Bush, and adopted a more conciliatory stance toward his fellow leaders.
“In a world that is as complex as it is, it is very important for us to be able to forge partnerships as opposed to simply dictating solutions,” Obama told a press conference at the conclusion of the summit.
Stock markets rose in response to the steps taken by the G-20 leaders. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 2.9 percent to 834.38. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 216.48 points, or 2.8 percent, to 7,978.08. Both closed at their highest levels since the second week of February.
In an effort to promote harmony, Obama soft-pedaled earlier U.S. demands that the summit agree on a specific target for fiscal stimulus in the face of opposition from France and Germany. Instead, he settled for a vague pledge that the leaders would do whatever it takes to revive the global economy.
Repudiation of Past
The president also signed on to a communiqué that Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz said repudiated the previous U.S.-led push to free capitalism from the constraints of governments.
“This is a major step forward and a reversal of the ideology of the 1990s, and at a very official level, a rejection of the ideas pushed by the U.S. and others,” said Stiglitz, an economics professor at Columbia University. “It’s a historic moment when the world came together and said we were wrong to push deregulation.”
In bowing to that view, the leaders conceded in a statement that “major failures” in regulation had been “fundamental causes” of the market turmoil they are trying to tackle. To make amends and to try to avoid a repeat of the crisis, they pledged to impose stronger restraints on hedge funds, credit rating companies, risk-taking and executive pay.
“Countries that used to defend deregulation at any cost are recognizing that there needs to be a larger state presence so this crisis never happens again,” said Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
Financial Stability Board
A new Financial Stability Board will be established to unite regulators and join the IMF in providing early warnings of potential threats. Once the economy recovers, work will begin on new rules aimed at avoiding excessive leverage and forcing banks to put more money aside during good times.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had unsuccessfully sought to convince the U.S. and Britain to sign on to similar steps before the crisis began in mid-2007, hailed the communiqué as a “victory for common sense.”
The U.S. did, though, take the lead in getting the summit to agree on an increase in IMF rescue funds to $750 billion from $250 billion now. Japan, the European Union and China will provide the first $250 billion of the increase, with the balance to come from as yet unidentified countries.
“This will provide the IMF with enough resources to meet the needs of East European nations and also provide back-up funding to a broader set of countries,” said Brad Setser, a former U.S. Treasury official who’s now at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
IMF Allocation
The G-20 also agreed to an allocation of $250 billion in Special Drawing Rights, the artificial currency that the IMF uses to settle accounts among its member nations. The move is akin to a central bank such as the Federal Reserve effectively creating money out of thin air, except it’s on a global scale.
The increase in Special Drawing Rights will allow countries to tap IMF money without having to accept changes to economic policies often demanded as a condition of aid. The cash is disbursed in proportion to the money each member-nation pays into the fund. Rich nations will be allowed to divert their allocations to countries in greater need.
The G-20 said they would couple the financing moves with steps to give emerging economic powerhouses such as China, India and Brazil a greater say in how the IMF is run.
Emerging Markets Benefit
Citigroup Inc. economists Don Hanna and Jurgen Michels called the summit agreement “a boon to emerging markets” in a note to clients yesterday.
Mexico said Wednesday it will seek $47 billion from the IMF under the Washington-based lender’s new Flexible Credit Line, which allows some countries to borrow money with no conditions.
Emerging-market stocks, bonds and currencies rallied yesterday on speculation other developing nations will follow Mexico’s lead. Gains in Polish, Czech and Brazilian stocks helped push the MSCI Emerging Markets Index up 5.6 percent to 613.07, the highest since Oct. 15.
In a bid to avoid another mistake of the depression era, G-20 leaders repeated an earlier pledge to avoid trade protectionism and beggar-thy-neighbor policies that could aggravate the decline in the global economy.
The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development predicted this week that global trade will shrink 13 percent this year as loss-ridden banks cut back on credit to exporters and importers.
Trade Finance
To help combat that, the G-20 said they will make at least $250 billion available in the next two years to support the finance of trade through export credit agencies and development banks such as the World Bank.
The summit took place amid speculation among investors that the deepest global recession in six decades may be abating. Data released yesterday showed orders placed with U.S. factories rose in February for the first time in seven months, U.K. house prices unexpectedly gained in March and Chinese manufacturing increased. Still, a report today is forecast to show U.S. unemployment at its highest in a quarter-century.
“If the economy turns more favorable, this meeting will probably be viewed as a milestone,” said C. Fred Bergsten, a former U.S. official and director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.
The G-20 members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the U.S., the U.K. and the European Union. Officials from Spain and the Netherlands were also present.
Aftermath News 
