PJB: Metrics of National Decline
Must Read - A quote...."“Bush Boom Continues” trilled the headline over the Lawrence Kudlow column, as George W. Bush closed out his seventh year in office. -- “You can call it Goldilocks 2.0,” purred Kudlow. -- Yes, you could. But what a difference 12 months can make. -- Final returns are now in on the eight years of George Bush. Charles McMillion of MBG Information Services has crunched the numbers. And, pace Kudlow, the only relevant comparison is to Herbert Hoover."

Nationalization by Autumn, Bank on It - posted at ICH
Must Read - A quote...."February 17, 2009 "Reuters" -- Like it or not the United States will be forced to nationalize large swathes of its banking system by the time the leaves fall from the trees in Washington. - The tragedy is that we will have to wait that long and that the costs will mount. - The plan to rescue the banks, or, er, the people, as enunciated by Treasury Secretary Geithner, is no plan, only an apparent set of contradictory principles: an ideological one not to nationalize and a political one not to subsidize too obviously." -- Nationalization is the worst of all possible economic ideas save one....that of giving trillions of tax payer dollars to a bunch of rich, fat, squealing, pig eyed, little banksters who through their own unmitigated, unapologetic and unlimited greed caused all of these problems in the first place.  However it's too late and we've already done that.  It's really to bad that this nation has decided to massively embark on the worst of all possible economic ideas.  By the time it gets around to trying the second worst there won't be any "real" money left at all, either in the banks, or the US-NRE's treasury.  Just little worthless bits of green paper and tens of trillions worth of unredeemable IOUs. – mpg -- also posted at CommonDreams

Government: A Successful Failure
A quote...."The disposition of politicians is to react to perceived problems rather than to solve them. Our present economic plight is a case in point. A constant clamoring is heard daily from politicians, bureaucrats, and their business beneficiaries pleading for the government to do something, even anything, before economic conditions worsen. Without a clue as to what has caused today’s malaise, politicians move into panic mode and sign on to "solutions" which can lead only to greater economic hardships ahead."

The People Be Damned - The President of Special Interests - posted at ICH
A quote...."February 17, 2009 "Information Clearinghouse" -- - The Bush/Obama bailout/stimulus plans are not going to work. Both are schemes hatched by a clique of financial insiders. The schemes will redistribute income and wealth from American taxpayers to the shyster banksters, who have destroyed American jobs, ruined the retirement plans of tens of millions of Americans, and worsened the situation of millions of people worldwide who naively trusted American financial institutions. The ongoing theft has simply been recast. Instead of using fraudulent financial instruments, the banksters are using government policy." -- also posted at OnlineJournal

Trouble at Treasury - Geithner gets the keys to the henhouse - posted at ICH
A quote...."February 17, 2009 "Information Clearinghouse" --- The Obama Team has a big problem on their hands; Timothy Geithner. Geithner was picked as Treasury Secretary because he is a trusted ally of the big banks and has a good grasp of the intricacies of the financial system. The problem is that Geithner can't handle the public relations part of his job. His big debut in prime-time last Tuesday turned out to be a complete dud. He was thoroughly unconvincing and looked like a nervous teenager at a speech contest. He fizzled on stage for 25 minutes while the little red box in the corner of the TV screen--which shows the current Dow Jones Industrials--plummeted nearly 400 points. It was a total disaster and one that is sure to be repeated over and over as long as Geithner is at Treasury."

Collapse of the US dollar: Global systemic crisis. The phase of global geopolitical dislocation @ GlobRsrch
Charts - A quote...."We had hoped that the decanting phase would give the world’s leaders the opportunity to draw the proper conclusions from the collapse of the global system prevailing since WWII. Alas, at this stage, it is no longer possible to be optimistic in this regard (1). In the United States, as in Europe, China and Japan, leaders persist in reacting as if the global system has only fallen victim to some temporary breakdown, merely requiring loads of fuel (liquidities) and other ingredients (rate drops, repurchase of toxic assets, bailouts of semi-bankrupt industries,…) to reboot it. In fact (and this is what LEAP/E2020 means ever since February 2006 using the expression « global systemic crisis”), the global system is simply out of order; a new one needs to be built instead of striving to save what can no longer be saved. "
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Lawrence Walsh and America's law-free zone
Must Read - A quote..."David Rivkin and Lee Casey are right-wing lawyers and former Reagan DOJ officials who, over the last eight years, have been extremely prolific in jointly defending Bush/Cheney theories of executive power. Today, they have one of their standard Op-Eds, this time in The Washington Post, demanding that there be no investigations or prosecutions of Bush officials.  Most of the arguments they advance are the standard platitudes now composing Beltway conventional wisdom on this matter.  But there is one aspect of their advocacy that is somewhat remarkable and worth noting." -- also posted at CommonDreams

“Prosecute Bush”? hahaha; “Change”? HAHAHAHAHA. Oh, Stop… stop. You’re Killing Me….
A quote...."Roves New Sugar Daddy -- What makes you think, that the very same people who were working diligently to keep us from impeaching G.W.Bush would ever allow a serious prosecution of the man, simply because you ASK for it? Especially now that they are still in power and are handing out billions to pet projects and business supporters of theirs…in this economy? -- Obama, not Bush, now seeking delay of Rove deposition."

Only a Civic Jolt Can Save Us Now -- The One-Dimensional Congress
A quote...."By Ralph Nader -- Can Congress walk and chew gum at the same time?? -- This phrase used by President Lyndon Johnson for one of his political opponents comes to mind at a time early in the first 100 days of the Obama Administration when supposedly many long-overdue changes and rollbacks are possible. -- It is not just that Congress is completely absorbed with the tax-cut-stimulus package. It is stasis that seems to be enveloping, even within its numerous well-funded and staffed committees in the House and Senate, from even the signaling of serious movement toward rolling back Bush-pushed legislation and starting widely supported forays that take hope to change."

FEIN: The more things change - link posted at AntiWar
A quote...."President Barack Obama's campaign theme should have been, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

U.S. "War On Terror" Eroded Rights Worldwide: Experts - posted at ICH
A quote...."February 16, 2009 "Reuters" -- - Washington's "war on terror" after the September 11 attacks has eroded human rights worldwide, creating lingering cynicism that the United Nations must now combat, international law experts said on Monday."

UN Report on Afghan Civilian Toll Contradicts NATO Claims - posted at AntiWar
A quote...."Today, the United Nations released a report detailing the civilian death toll in Afghanistan in 2008. According to the report, 2,118 civilians were killed in 2008 - 828 by the American-led coalition forces. Most of those were, unsurprisingly, killed in the various air strikes and raids against Afghan villages."

Civilians killed as Obama orders more troops to Afghanistan
A quote...."Obama has ordered more troops to Afghanistan where US forces killed civilians including at least one child in an air strike."

Wisconsin bids farewell to 32nd IBCT Guardsmen - link posted at AntiWar
A quote...."MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin said goodbye Tuesday to hundreds of part-time soldiers bound for Iraq in the largest deployment of Wisconsin National Guard forces since World War II."

American Caesar's Ghost - posted at AntiWar
A quote...."We are witnessing what a military takeover of a superpower looks like in the new American century. David Petraeus became the most dangerous American general since Douglas MacArthur when George W. Bush announced that his "main man" would decide when, how, and if an Iraq troop drawdown would occur, giving Petraeus unilateral control of U.S. foreign policy."
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US occupation of Iraq: An ongoing criminal enterprise
A quote...."Recent media reports on the mounting evidence of wholesale corruption in US reconstruction efforts in Iraq are symptomatic of the criminal nature of Washington’s war and occupation from their inception nearly six years ago. These crimes are continuing under the Obama administration, with no end in sight."

The Frontline State
Photo Essay: Pakistan -- A quote...."The world order changed completely after 9/11. The leader of the free world trumpeted a whole new mantra that redefined global alliances and allegiances. Countries that expressed their desire to be ‘with’ the forces of ‘good’ were assigned new roles whereas countries that refused to align with the forces of ‘good’ were branded as axis of evil and declared as the ‘enemies of the free world’."

Iran sets up command to guard nuclear sites -  link posted at ICH
A quote...."Iran is working to home in on its military anti-aircraft command, amid threats of an Israeli air strike on the country's nuclear sites."

Iran pins hopes on Russia in its SCO bid - Mottaki - link posted at ICH
A quote...."MOSCOW, February 16 (RIA Novosti) - Iran expects to receive the backing of Russia, which holds the presidency of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, in its bid for full membership of the organization, Iran's foreign minister said on Monday."

Iranian defence minister in Russia on missile quest Updated
A quote...."MOSCOW, February 17 (RIA Novosti) - Iran's defense minister is likely to discuss the delivery of Russian S-300 air defense systems to the Islamic Republic during a meeting with his Russian counterpart on Tuesday, a business daily said."

Kyrgyzstan moves to evict US troops - link posted at ICH
A quote...."BISHKEK: Kyrgyzstan moved a step closer to evicting US troops on Monday after the government sent to parliament the final package of documents required to close down an air base used to support US forces in nearby Afghanistan."

Kyrgyz party puts final nail in Manas coffin
Related Article - A quote...."The Kyrgyz ruling party has approved a government decision to close a key US airbase that serves as a vital supply route to Afghanistan." -- also posted at WarInIraq

Liquid gas provides alternative to pipeline
A quote...."Russia is about to start exporting its gas to where pipelines cannot reach. The first liquefied natural gas plant has opened in the country's Far East."
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DHS Spies on Maryland Peace Activists: It's Worse Than We Thought
Police State Alert - A quote...."Today's Washington Post has an article opaquely titled "Federal Agency Aided Md. Spying": http://www.washingtonpost.com/...  I wrote about this a month ago, http://www.dailykos.com/..., but it's worse than originally reported.  Initial reports were that Maryland police classified nonviolent activists as terrorists and entered their names into state and federal terrorist watch lists for opposing the death penalty and Iraq war.  But it's the other way around: DHS spied on peaceful protest groups and gave the information to state police.  Come with me below the fold to hear more about why this is even more troubling than we first thought."

Sen. Diane Feinstein's Net Neutrality Killer
Must Read - Action Alert - (for the outrage) -- A quote...."UPDATE: 11:30 a.m. EST, 14 February 2009: The United States Senate has passed and sent to President Obama the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 reconciled with and approved yesterday by the U.S. House of Representatives. The final version of the bill does not appear to contain language previously inserted by Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) for "Reasonable Network Management" (RNM). The details of how her attempt to end the existing rules and regulations guaranteeing "net neutrality" are still somewhat unclear, although the RNM provision was contained in an amendment by Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI), which was withdrawn, apparently at his behest or with his consent. Given Sen. Feinstein's demonstrated willingness to use a critical piece of legislation having nothing to do with Internet management to advance her to desire to end net neutrality, the removal of her provision to that purpose from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 will most certainly not be the final chapter in the battle to prevent further erosion of freedom of speech on and access to the Internet." -- For more on this issue see....Attempts to Control the Internet

Inside America's Germ Warfare City
Special Note - A quote...."One legacy of the Bush-Cheney administration is the grandiose expansion of our germ warfare research program. This was declared to be necessary because of the September-October 2001 anthrax letters' attacks on Congress and the media---attacks the public is now being told came not from the Middle East but from within our own government's facilities. As a result, developmental work is going forward with deadly and loathsome pathogens capable of triggering plagues and epidemics."

The Gaza Attack - 8 Articles - Tuesday - [ Day 53 ] ========== ========== ========== ===

Israel Braces for Wave of Lawsuits
Special Note - Action Alert - Sue the bastards.  Everyone throughout the Middle East who supports legitimate, nationalistic, popular movements should track down all the jerk-ass terrorist organizations the US-NRE, Saudi Royals and the Israelis are currently giving money and arms too, make the information publicly available, and encourage everyone throughout the world to sue all the little sh-ts involved. – mpg -- A quote...."RAMALLAH, Feb 17, 2009 (IPS) - Israel is bracing for a wave of lawsuits accusing the Jewish state of substantial human rights violations during its 22-day military assault on Gaza which left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead and nearly 5,000 wounded, more than half of them civilian."

Khalid Amayreh - The Mossad's Arab Writers
A quote...."These words were not written by Israeli propagandists or Zionist apologists seeking to justify the recent Israeli blitzkrieg in Gaza. They are actually the words of a Kuwaiti Arab columnist who has apparently sold his soul to the devil.  --  I say “sold his soul to the devil” because when a human being transforms himself into a willful liar in the service of evil, that person, knowingly or unknowingly, loses his morality and eventually loses his humanity as well." -- Yep, Mr. Reficul probably already has him on the payroll and no doubt he's signed the "contract". - mpg

GERMANY-1933 vs ISRAEL- 2009
A quote...."February 18, 2009 at 6:23 am -- Editor’s note: The rise of the rightwing in Israel through the recent Knesset elections that was preceded by the bloody war on Gaza, that left more than 1,300 dead most of them are women and children, has aroused a lot of criticism among Palestinians. Khalid Amayreh opines about the rise of Lieberman. -- In the early 1930s, many in Germany saw the Nazis as the wave for the future. Thousands of new members joined the Nazi party, giving absolute allegiance to the Fuhrer, Adolph Hitler. In the spring of 1932, with six million unemployed, chaos in Berlin, starvation and ruin as well as the threat of Marxism, and a very uncertain future, the masses turned to Hitler by the millions." -- For more on this issue see....A Mortal Threat – Europe’s New Frankenstein Monster - 01-26-09 - mpg

What’s 25,000 flowers when 40 million rot and farmers continue to be shot at?
The Israelis just can't let the farmers of Gaza make a decent, dignified, living from the honest tilling of their own soil....can they?  What a sick, twisted, diseased, degenerate, sadistic people the Jews of Israel have turned out to be. - mpg -- A quote..."Feb 17, 2009 -- I worked on farms in Israel for 15 years," Abu Alaa, the owner of the land said.  "We had a good relationship, and the Israeli farmers loved my bread, Palestinian bread, and our baclawa ("baklava") sweets. I had to stop working there when Israel closed our borders, stopped giving permits to Palestinians to work in Israel."

To Gaza, With Love
Special Note - A quote...."Published on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 -- As a Jew, an American and a mother, I felt compelled to witness, firsthand, what my people and my taxdollars had done during this invasion. Visiting Gaza filled me with unbearable sadness. Unlike the primitive weapons of Hamas, the Israelis had so many sophisticated ways to murder, maim and destroy-unmanned drones, F-16s dropping "smart bombs" that miss, Apache helicopters launching missiles, tanks firing from the ground, ships shelling Gaza from the sea. So many horrific weapons stamped with Made in the USA. While Hamas' attacks on Israeli villages are deplorable, Israel's disproportionate response is unconscionable, with 1,330 Palestinians dead vs. 13 Israelis."

“Salt of the earth” send aid convoy to Gaza while Brown sends the Royal Navy to help lawless Israel
A quote...."18 February 2009 -- Unable to attend the Viva Palestina convoy send-off in London, I watched video footage of the occasion with tears in my eyes. Here at last were people of courage and moral backbone – a dying breed in Britain, I had thought. How easily they put our leaders to shame. The political leadership in London still dances to Israel's tune in spite of that regime’s never-ending crimes. It is no use looking to them for honest action. A humanitarian response to Gaza has never crossed their mind. They are, after all, the friends of land thieves and racist aggressors." -- also posted at WarInIraq & PalestineChron

Aid for Palestine under attack - posted at OnlineJournal
A quote...."Feb 18, 2009, 00:18 -- The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has had a mandate to assist Palestinian refugees in “Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territory” for the past six decades. For many refugees it literally represents a lifeline, providing food, shelter, health care and social services to the needy. It is also responsible for the education of some half-million children."

“We Israelis control America”
A quote...."02/18/09 -- Paul J. Balles argues that decent Americans need to reconsider their willing support of Israeli pathological murderers currently in control of the US – people who openly describe Palestinian civilians as “human animals” that should be slaughtered."

See also the Gaza Invasion of 12/27/08 - database - under construction. - mpg

End - The Gaza Attack - 8 Articles - Tuesday - [ Day 53 ] ========== ========== ========== ===

Top Banks That Received Aid Cut Lending
Special Note -- Haaaaa, Ha, Ha, Ha, Hoooooo, Ho Ho Ho, (giggle, giggle......) I'm rolling on the floor here folks, my legs are kicking up in the air, I'm gasping for breath now --- Heeeee, Hee, Hee, Heeeee! -- Oh Man that was good!!! --- mpg -- A quote...."(AP) The 20 largest banks that received U.S. government rescue funds slightly reduced their lending to consumers and businesses in the last three months of 2008, the government said Tuesday."

Conservative Group Sues for TARP Details
We all know how good conservatives are at following the money, something the "liberals" should pay more attention too. - mpg -- A quote...."A conservative legal group is suing the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve to reveal exactly how the first $350 billion of the financial services bailout was spent." -- Speaking of which.....

U.S. Accuses Texas Financial Firm of $8 Billion Fraud
A quote...."HOUSTON — In Texas, Robert Allen Stanford was just another wealthy financier.-- But in the breezy money haven of Antigua, he was lord of an influential financial fief, decorated with a knighthood, courted by government officials and basking in the spotlight of sports and charity events on which he generously showered his fortune. -- On Tuesday, his reign was thrown into turmoil as a caravan of cars and trucks carrying federal authorities pulled up to the headquarters of his company, the Stanford Group, to shut down what the regulators described as a “massive ongoing fraud” stretching from the Caribbean to Texas, and around the world."

Greenspan says recession will be 'longest and deepest' since '30s - Hint...it's what most people call a Depression.
A quote...."The maestro was wrong. -- Eight months after he predicted the worst was over and the threat of recession receding, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said the current global recession will "surely be the longest and deepest" since the 1930s."

GM Seeks $16.6 Billion More in U.S. Aid
Some quotes....."GM Plans to Slash 47,000 Jobs; Chrysler Mentions Bankruptcy Option for First Time" -- "GM said it might need as much as $100 billion in financing from the government if it were to go through the traditional bankruptcy process." - bold by website editor

NY manufacturing slump worsens in February
A quote...."NEW YORK (Reuters) - Factory activity in New York State fell to a record low in February with new orders and employment falling sharply as the U.S. recession deepened, according to a survey on Tuesday from the regional central bank." - bold by website editor

Record slump in Japan: a sign of deepening global recession
A quote...."A dramatic slump in the Japanese economy in late 2008 is another ominous sign that the global economic crisis is continuing to snowball, with no end in sight. Economic data released on Monday revealed that the world’s second largest economy contracted at an annualised rate of 12.7 percent for the final quarter of 2008—the third straight quarterly fall and the steepest decline since 1974. Deutsche Bank in Tokyo bluntly predicted a “severe depression” in Japan, lasting at least until late 2010."



To Alter or Abolish
Must Read -  A quote...."Dear Federal Government,"

"Drop dead."

"Excuse us. Some may consider such bluntness to be indecorous, but why beat around the bush? In any case, we've been around this bush (Bush?) too many times to count already. It's time to let you know what we really think of you, what we say behind your back, what we whisper to each other when you leave the room."

"We hate you. We want you to drop dead. Or, anyway, to go away and never come back. You are not welcome anymore. We have tolerated you – and we emphasize "tolerated" – for a long time, long after whatever romance there may have been was gone. We can pretend no more. You are disgraceful, boorish, nauseating, corrupt, shameful, arrogant, dishonest, self-serving, parasitic, disgusting, hypocritical, and rotten to the core. You have not even one redeeming quality. There is nothing you offer that we want any longer. We're not even sure what it is we ever saw in you to begin with."
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Getting the Goat: A Bipartisan Proposal on Torture
Special Note - A quote...."Jason Leopold has the low-down on some more smoking guns proving the highest level involvement in some of the basest tortures in the American gulag. In this case, we have more documentary evidence, gathered by the Pentagon's own investigators, linking former Pentagon honcho Donald Rumsfeld – the preppy pipsqueak who nosed his way through blood and filth for decades at the center of the American power structure – to the criminal abuse and murder of several prisoners by government goons who were following Rummy's "Special Interrogation Plan." As Leopold reports:"

Rumsfeld Knew His Guys Were Torturing People to Death, Which Is a Serious Crime
A quote...."71% of Americans are in favor of an investigation into the possible misuse of the Department of Justice by the Bush administration according to a Gallup poll released yesterday. (Full Story) -- That's a pretty startling number, even for those of us who've been arguing for investigations for some time now. After all, Obama didn't get 71% of the vote, which means that a lot of folks who voted for McCain also want equal justice applied equally." -- Yeah, but numbers equally just as large wanted the US-NRE out of Iraq....and it's still there, and it's gonna stay there.... forever. - mpg

On the Rocks
A quote...."I write these words at the end of a week in which: A new Democratic president, Barack Obama, via his Attorney General, has explicitly endorsed Bush's policy on renditions and Bush's refusal to recognize the jurisdiction of US courts in any legal proceedings in this regard; a week in which Obama’s solicitor general has explicitly endorsed  Bush’s policy on enemy combatants."

Solicitor general nominee says 'enemy combatants' can be held without trial
Related Article - A quote...."Elena Kagan tells a senator she agrees with Attorney General Holder that the U.S. is at war and therefore may detain suspected terrorists indefinitely." -- also posted at AfterDowningStreet

Defence role in CIA's secret jails
A quote...."THREE human rights groups have obtained documents that confirm US Department of Defence involvement in the CIA's "ghost" detention program, and the existence of secret prisons at Bagram air base in Afghanistan and in Iraq."

Rendition Case Enters 'Bizarre' Realms of Secrecy
Our wonderful leadership’s childish and pathetic attempts at "plausible deniability".  Where did this nation’s sense of pride go?  "America's" moral outrage? This country's electorate should be ashamed of themselves for going into the polling booths and wasting their precious votes on these morons.- mpg -- A quote...."A prominent British-American lawyer who represents an Ethiopian-born Guantánamo detainee is charging that U.S. Defense Department officials are intentionally concealing evidence of his client's rendition and torture from President Barack Obama."
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Worst Than The Great Depression? ' Worst Economic Collapse Ever'
Video Interview - This one was a lot of fun - mpg -- A quote...."In 2009 were going to see the worst economic collapse ever, the Greatest Depression, says Gerald Celente, U.S. trend forecaster. He believes its going to be very violent in the U.S., including there being a tax revolt." 

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PJB - Obama and the Great Game
Must Read Analysis - Bang on target -- Assuming Obama and the elites really want to settle things down in the Middle East and not stage another false flag event to gin up more wars so they can avoid the coming Depression. Something unlikely to occur given the consistent regularity of this nation's ten year cycle. - mpg -- A quote.... "Earlier, there was talk of 30,000, bringing the U.S. total to 63,000. Now, there are reports Obama may commit no more than the three brigades promised in 2008, and only one brigade now. - Clearly, the United States is checking its hole card. Can we draw to a winning hand? Or is this hand an inevitable loser – and we must cut our losses and cede the pot? No longer, anywhere, is there talk of "victory"." -- also posted at PJB

GRITtv Daily Newsmaker, February 09, 2009: Eugene Jarecki - (GTV - YouTube 1 min 47 sec - Feb. 09, 2009)
Video - Grit TV with Laura Flanders on Military Keynesianism and the military state. - mpg

Afghan Govt Condemns Australian Raid That Killed Children
A quote...."Australian forces launched a pre-dawn raid on a village in Oruzgan Province, sparking a gunbattle that left five children dead and several others wounded. The Australian military defended the killings, saying they were “in accordance with the rules of engagement,” but declined to elaborate on how they were killed."

Pakistan urges India to share full facts:
Special Note - A quote...."ISLAMABAD: After exercising restraint for over two months, Pakistan on Friday rebuked India for hiding the facts of the Mumbai terror attacks under political compulsions and asked New Delhi to come up with “full facts”. -- ‘Enough is enough’ was Islamabad’s veiled message to New Delhi that has taken a tough line against Pakistan since the Nov 26 Mumbai mayhem, notwithstanding the PPP government’s repeated offers of all-out help in investigating the incident to bring its perpetrators to justice."

US drone attacks originate in Pakistan - Hah! So much for all that talk about shooting the drones down. - mpg
A quote...."The US drone planes that launch missile strikes against militants are based in Pakistan, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee says."

Pak bases not being used, says Mukhtar - Here's the official denial. - mpg
Related Article - A quote...."LAHORE: Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar has denied that US drone attacks in the Tribal Areas are being carried out from Pakistani airbases. “We do have the facilities from where they can fly, but they are not being flown from Pakistani territory. They are being flown from Afghanistan,” he told a private TV channel. About comments by the US Senate Intelligence Committee chairwoman, Mukhtar said, “I do not know on what she based all this.” daily times monitor"

Radical cleric Sadr reaches out to Iraq PM
A quote...."NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) – Iraq's radical anti-US Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Friday reached out to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, hinting his movement could return to the premier's Shiite alliance."

Petrobras discovers evidence of oil off Iran's coast
A quote...."RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's state-owned oil and gas company Petrobras has discovered evidence of hydrocarbons in ultra-deep water in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Iran, company officials said Friday."

Russia to stick to its decision on bases in S.Ossetia, Abkhazia
A quote...."Russia's decision to create military bases in Abkhazia and South Ossetia will not be reviewed, [Period, full stop, end of story.] Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Sunday." -- Every once and awhile it really is refreshing to hear utterly blunt honesty. - mpg
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Beverly Eckert, Lost in a Plane Crash
In Memorial - A quote...."Beverly Eckert never gave up.  She and her fellow 9/11 widows and victim’s family members stuck to their guns and not only forced the Bush administration to do something they resisted for over 400 days, investigate the events of 9/11...."

Homeland Security TV: Be Very Afraid
Police State Alert - A quote...."This is new to me: the Homeland Security Television Channel, “the world’s first online, on-demand television network dedicated to homeland security and global development.” The channel is also “dedicated to facilitating rapid awareness of new technologies and services, and assisting in the transfer of those technology solutions to the government and critical infrastructure marketplace.” -- If this idea sounds familiar to anyone, go rent a copy of "Fahrenheit 451" -- A quote....

 
9/11 Questions: Who Provided Security?
A quote...."A question that has seldom been asked and certainly not addressed by the Media is, "who was in charge of security at the World Trade Center?"  We decided to investigate and what we found is not surprising. " -- For more on this issue see....9/11 - WTC7 & 9/11 - NORAD

Orbital Collision: Please Pick Up the Nearest Black Courtesy Phone
Quirky Connections - Some quotes...."In November 1998, Motorola activated the Iridium communications network, a constellation of low-earth orbit satellites that provides wireless telecom and data services to any location on the planet. The cost to build the system? About $5 billion. By August 1999, unable to sign up enough customers—because of extremely high handset costs and per minute usage fees—Iridium was facing bankruptcy."  ---  "How much did this group of private investors pay for the system that cost about $5 billion to build?  $25 million. That’s a discount of about 99.5% off the build cost."  ---  "But guess what happened next....The Department of Defense, through its Defense Information Systems Agency, last night awarded Iridium Satellite LLC of Arnold, Md., a $72 million contract for 24 months of satellite communications services."  ---  "In an odd twist, the new Iridium is 24% owned by an investment firm controlled by Prince Khalid bin Abdullah bin Abdulrahman of Saudi Arabia. The prince used to own a minority chunk of the old Iridium in partnership with the Saudi Binladen Group, the company run by Osama bin Laden’s family."

Well heck yeah!!  Now "our" government officials can coordinate all their activities with them "bad boy terrorists" even better using their very own, recently expanded, private satellite network. – mpg

The Gaza Attack - 7 Articles - Friday - [ Day 49 ] ========== ========== ========== ===

The Siege of Gaza - Rev. Edwin Makue & Phyllis Bennis on GRITtv with Laura Flanders
Video - From the History File - A quote...."This interview was broadcast Wednesday November 26, 2008 2:00 pm "Rev. Edwin Makue, General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches and Phyllis Bennis, Director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies on the Israeli siege of Gaza.

From Dresden to Gaza: Some people never change
A quote...."Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:51 UTC -- It wouldn't be surprising if the pathocrats wanted Dresden destroyed for what it stood for, as a symbolic warning to the rest of humanity. And the psychopathic leaders of the time went over and beyond with brutality, ceasing only at humanity's opposition. That's how psychopaths gauge when enough is enough, since they don't posses the internal "stop-cruelty switch" themselves. Same story with the recent carnage in Gaza. Without humanity voicing its opposition (citizens rather than heads of states and governments), the Israeli government would have "cleared out" Gaza completely."

The Israeli Smashing of Gaza and International Silence
A quote...."Published on Friday, February 13, 2009 -- I travelled to Gaza last week with Medea Benjamin and Tighe Berry of Codepink: Women for Peace. We were allowed by the Egyptian government to enter Gaza for only 48 hours. -- I knew that 1026 of the 1330 who were killed in the Israeli attacks on Gaza were civilians. Of the 1026 civilians, 282 were children, 111 women, 168 civilian policemen and 501 civilian men died in Israeli bombings. 274 have been classified as combatant deaths."

International Criminal Court Faces Big Test With Israel
A quote...."February 12, 2009 -- The International Criminal Court soon faces a big test—a test that could reveal whether it is truly an independent institution." -- also posted at CommonDreams

Does Zionism legitimize every act of violence?
A quote...."Last update - 10:52 13/02/2009 -- The Israeli left died in 2000. Since then its corpse has been lying around unburied until finally its death certificate was issued, signed, sealed and delivered on Tuesday. The hangman of 2000 was also the gravedigger of 2009: Defense Minister Ehud Barak. The man who succeeded in spreading the lie about there being no partner has reaped the fruit of his deeds in this election. The funeral was held two days ago."

Israeli air force, navy, shells Gaza
A quote...."Saturday February 14, 2009 09:35 -- The Israeli air force and the navy shelled late on Friday at night three areas in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, Gaza city and Rafah causing several injuries and excessive property damage."

Under a white flag, darkly
A quote...."Sat., February 14, 2009 Shvat 20, 5769 -- At 1 P.M. on Monday, January 5, 2009, near Rajib Mughrabi's garage on Saladin Street, in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, a man of about 60 was pushing an elderly woman in a wheelbarrow. A 15-year-old boy walked at their side, waving a white cloth. Behind them, some 80 people were walking northward, their hands in the air. The day before, during Israel Defense Forces advances under cover of heavy fire, Palestinian inhabitants began their great flight westward, inward, into the Strip's urban centers. If they thought they were in the soldiers' line of sight, they waved white flags and raised their hands aloft." -- also posted at Uruknet

See also the Gaza Invasion of 12/27/08 - database - under construction. - mpg

End - The Gaza Attack - 7 Articles - Friday - [ Day 49 ] ========== ========== ========== ===

Obama, like Bush, is throwing public money into a black hole
Must Read - A quote...."Let’s look coldly at the situation. The ratio of total debt to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is now higher than it was in 1933, when it reached the lofty and unsustainable level of 299.8 percent. It took nearly 20 years to bring down the debt/GDP ratio to below 140 in 1952. In the second quarter of 2008, all debt records were broken when the total debt ratio in the U.S. registered at 356.7 percent of GDP. If the same process of unwinding of excessive debt level plays itself out this time, this could translate into a debt deflation process lasting possibly until 2027!" -- also posted at ICH & OnlineJournal

Obama’s Opening Salvo
Must Read - A quote...."By Peter Schiff -- There is nearly universal agreement that the opening salvo of the Obama Administration’s campaign to restore health to the financial system, delivered this week by new Treasury Secretary Geithner, fell with a loud and ugly thud. The most common criticism is that the announcement was short on detail. What is abundantly clear, however, is that the new Administration intends to push spending back up to pre-crash levels and to fill the entire credit void that has disappeared into the black hole of the American financial system. Whether or not the prior levels of spending and lending were justified by market conditions then, or now, appears to be largely unexamined." - bold by website editor

Geithner's Debut: "Not Ready for Prime Time"
A quote...."February 13, 2009 "Information Clearinghouse" -- Tuesday was Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's coming out party. He was supposed to outline Obama's Financial Stability Plan to the Senate Banking Committee. Wall Street was looking for clarity, but it didn't get it. Instead, they got 25 minutes of political posturing and blather. The markets went into freefall. By the end of the day, the Dow was down 382 points. It was a complete fiasco."

Who is Pulling Geithner’s Strings?
A quote...."Appearing behind a podium that proclaimed, “Financial Stability and Recovery,” Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday carefully read from a teleprompter and provided what his flack said was a “comprehensive” plan. It was not comprehensive in any way. It seemed so amateurish and shallow that the market dropped and commentators and senators were almost incredulous at the lack of detail. -- But what were they expecting? Geithner doesn’t know the details because he hasn’t been given them yet. Those who expected the details of the plan were operating under the false assumption that the Treasury Secretary―and by extension, the U.S. Government―is in practical control and charge of the U.S. economy." -- also posted at ICH

Obama’s voodoo economics - Deficit Nonchalance
A quote...."February 13, 2009 "Information Clearinghouse" -- -Who remembers economists’ hysteria over the “Reagan deficits”? Wall Street was in panic. Reagan’s fiscal irresponsibility was bringing the end of the world. The fiscal year 2009 federal budget deficit that Obama is inheriting, and adding to, will be ten times larger in absolute terms than Reagan’s biggest and a much larger share of GDP in percentage terms. Yet, economists are sending up no alarms. Paul Krugman, for example, couldn’t damn Reagan’s puny deficits enough. But today he thinks the deficit can’t be large enough! The central issue of the stimulus and bailout plans is how to finance the massive budget deficit. This issue remains unaddressed by economists and policy makers. As far as I can tell, the government, its advisers and cheerleaders think financing the deficit will be a cakewalk, like the Iraq War."

Don't hope for discounts - If deflation sticks around, history is clear: It's bad news for all but a few
A quote...."SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Bargain shoppers, beware. The last time a major economy experienced repeat price cuts across a broad range of consumer goods, the stock market lost 80% of its value and unemployment hit its highest level since World War II."

Eurozone economies slow sharply
Financial Alert - A quote...."Economies in the Eurozone, the group of 16 countries that use the euro, shrank by 1.5 per cent in the last quarter of 2008. This is the region's third quarterly contraction in a row and represents the Eurozone's sharpest slump since the euro was created in 1999."

Europe turns to protectionism as industry plummets
Depression Warning - A quote...."Statistics released Thursday by the European Union's Eurostat agency reveal that production plummeted across Europe at the end of 2008. The figures announced were far worse than analysts had anticipated. Industrial production declined across Europe by 2.6 percent in December compared to the previous month. On a year-to-year basis, European production has slumped 12 percent."

Asia’s export economies in free fall
Depression Warning - A quote...."Staggering falls in exports across Asia have shocked economic analysts and ended all claims that the global slump may be nearing its bottom. The IMF's growth forecast for Asia this year is just 2.7 percent—less than a third of the 9 percent growth rate of 2007. The prediction is a full percentage point less than during the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis."

FDIC shutters four banks in one day
A quote...."Oregon, Nebraska, Florida, Illinois bank failures bring year's total to 13"

Which Stimulus Programs Have the Most Bang for the Buck?
Chart - A quote...."An article by economist James K. Galbraith contains a chart - based on information from Moody's and congressional testimony - showing the most bang for the buck from government stimulus programs:"

A trip down memory lane
Special Note - Market Tech Note - A quote...."Based on earnings on an "as-reported" over the trailing 12-months, the p/e ratio for the S&P 500 index stood at around 20 at the stock market's top in October 2007. -- At the beginning of 2008's fourth quarter, furthermore, the ratio stood at 25.4. -- Are you sitting down? -- The comparable p/e ratio as of Thursday night, based on data from Standard & Poor's, is 29.1."

Anger grows in Britain as recession deepens
A quote...."LONDON, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- As the recession bites harder in Britain, concerns are growing amongst the unemployed as to how they are going to pay their bills or find another job. There is rising anger directed towards the government and more recently top bankers. -- The public has complained that politicians' daily rhetoric is not solving Britain's economic problems. Many see government actions as only bailing out the banks and financial institutions rather than helping the ever increasing number of jobless and falling businesses." -- Hah!!  Get in line, or as you Brits are so wont to say....the queue. - mpg


Shock Absorbers: Progressives Stunned by Obama Non-Surprises
Must Read - A quote...."There is certainly a great deal of slack-jawed shock going around these days, especially in progressive circles, where pundits, commentators, analysts and kibitzers continually find themselves reeling from yet another "inexplicable" move by the Obama Administration to uphold the core principles of their predecessors: enriching the rich, extending the empire, and enhancing the authoritarian power of a thoroughly militarized state." -- Also posted at AfterDowningStreet

Unredacted documents reveal prisoners tortured to death
Special Note - A quote...."The American Civil Liberties Union has released previously classified excerpts of a government report on harsh interrogation techniques used in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. These previously unreported pages detail repeated use of "abusive" behavior, even to the point of prisoner deaths." - also posted at WarInIraq & RogueGov -- For more on this issue see....Judeo-Christian C/C & US - The Abyss

Top Obama Aides Embrace Bush’s War on Terror Rhetoric and Enemy Combatant Policy - link posted at AntiWar
Related Article - A quote...."This has been a uniquely bad week for civil libertarians. The Obama Administration appears to be rushing to dispel any notions that Obama will fight for civil liberties or war crimes investigations. After Eric Holder allegedly assured a senator that there would be no war crimes investigation and seemed to defend Bush policies, Harvard Law Dean Elena Kagan, Obama’s Solicitor General nominee, reportedly told a Republican senator that the Administration agreed with Bush that we are “at war” and therefore can hold enemy combatants indefinitely."

Is Obama following Bush's lead on official secrecy?
A quote...."WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, which vowed to usher in a "new era of openness in our country," either has delayed action on requests for access to government records or refused to disclose them in three early, high-profile tests of the pledge."

Regarding the four articles shown above. -- God almighty, Americans (and that designation is used very loosely here) have got to be the stupidest people on the planet for believing Obama's lies -- or perhaps the most vilely deceptive for pretending to believe them.  The second possibility is not only extremely disheartening, but truly scary if you think about it. – mpg
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Toothless: The Watchdog Press That Became the Government's Lapdog
A quote...."The president of the Associated Press (AP) was spewing venom at the Bush–Cheney administration for having turned the Department of Defense into a propaganda machine. --  Americans “expect honest answers about what’s happening to their sons and daughters,” Tom Curley told journalism students and faculty at the University of Kansas. Listing innumerable ways the Pentagon had advocated Bush–Cheney political beliefs, Curley questioned if the United States should “be trying to influence public opinion through subterfuge, both here and abroad,” -- An AP investigation had just revealed that the Pentagon budget for “influence operations” this fiscal year is at least $4.8 billion, with about 27,000 civilian and military personnel assigned to information dissemination. -- The penalty for failing to agree to the Pentagon’s terms of reporting, said Curley, was that he was told by top commanders that “if I stood and the AP stood by its journalistic principles, the AP and I would be ruined.”  -- For more on this issue see....Fake Intel / Propaganda

Is the West losing the Pashtuns?
A quote...."In the middle of the night on December 17, Amir Hassan, his wife, and their 14-year-old nephew were killed during a Coalition Forces operation in the eastern Afghan province of Khost. Qudratullah, Hassan's 10-year-old son, survived but was bitten by an attack dog shortly after the US-led raid. The US military claimed that its forces had targeted "known individuals with al-Qaeda links" and had even been shot at. Hassan's brother and neighbours said the raid had resulted in the deaths of three civilians with no ties to insurgents or armed groups."

David King: Iraq was the first 'resource war' of the century
Must Read - A quote...."UK government's former chief scientific adviser says Iraq war was about oil, not weapons of mass destruction – and warns there will be more 'resource wars' to come." - also posted at CommonDreams -- For more on this issue see....War Resource 9/11

The New Fallujah Up Close And Still in Ruins
Must Read - A quote...."Fallujah, Iraq -- Driving through Fallujah, once the most rebellious Sunni city in this country, I saw little evidence of any kind of reconstruction underway. At least 70% of that city's structures were destroyed during massive U.S. military assaults in April, and again in November 2004, and more than four years later, in the "new Iraq," the city continues to languish." -- also posted at CounterCurrents & AsiaTimes & TruthOut

Israel lurches into fascism
A quote...."Whenever Israel has an election, pundits begin the usual refrain that hopes for peace depend on the "peace camp" -- formerly represented by the Labor party, but now by Tzipi Livni's Kadima -- prevailing over the anti-peace right, led by the Likud." -- also posted at AtheoNews

Islamabad Hands over Mumbai Probe Report to New Delhi
A quote...."ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has formally handed over the details of its investigation into the Mumbai terror attacks to India, the Foreign Office said on Thursday as Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik admitted that the attacks were ‘partially planned’ in Pakistan. -- “The Indian high commissioner was ... [on Thursday given] material pertaining to the Mumbai terror attacks probe by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), by the foreign secretary,” said Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit."

Mumbai Attacks: "Attackers had Indian links": Ghafoor
A quote...."He said these supporters had been identified and were among the 16 wanted accused on the list given to Pakistan. The rest on the list are Pakistanis. “We have identified the local (Indian) supporters of the Mumbai attackers and their names have been submitted to the Pakistani government as wanted accused in our case,” Ghafoor said."

Mumbai police chief admits Indian involvement in attacks
A quote...."LAHORE: The Mumbai police chief has admitted that Indians were also involved in the Mumbai terror attacks, a private TV channel reported on Thursday. According to the channel, Hassan Ghafoor said that two Indians had also been arrested in the probe, while 16 more people were wanted by Mumbai police. “Out of those 16 names, 10 are the names of the one person in custody and the nine dead (gunmen), and the six others who are wanted by us in this crime,” he said, adding that those six were ‘of Pakistani origin’. He said France had also registered a case against Ajmal Kasab, the lone gunman arrested, and might want his custody. daily times monitor/afp"

Pakistan and Iran set to finalise IPI gas project
A quote...."Pakistan and Iran are set to finalise the IPI (Iran-Pakistan-India) gas project soon, Pakistan Ambassador to Iran M.B Abbasi said in an interview with English daily Iran News. He expressed the hope that Iran and Pakistan would soon settle the row over the gas pricing formula and finally sign the long-awaited IPI gas pipeline contract.
He added Iranian officials have offered a revised pricing to Islamabad and pointed out that an agreement was soon to be reached."

Iraq and Iran draw roadmap to hike bilateral trade to $5 billion
A quote...."Iraq and Iran have drawn up a roadmap that will boost the value of trade exchange between the countries to $5 billion next year, Trade Minister Abdulfalah al-Sudani said."

Iran Building 7 More Satellites
A quote...."Iranian scientists are building 7 other satellites, 4 of which are due to be dispatched to low orbits and each weight less than 100kg … and 3 others will be sent to altitudes lower than 36,000 km", Soleymani added during a visit to a series of exhibitions on the achievements of Iranian youths in the post-revolution era."

A Ukraine mystery: Who did Russian gas sales benefit? - link posted at AntiWar
Special Note - A quote...." KIEV, Ukraine — When Ukraine and Russia ended their clash over natural gas supplies last month, resuming the flow to more than a dozen European countries, the agreement focused a spotlight on a mysterious firm that suddenly was cut out of the deal."

Kazakhstan to get S-300 air defense systems from Russia soon
A quote...."ASTANA, February 12 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will supply Kazakhstan with S-300 air defense systems in the near future, the Kazakh defense minister said on Thursday." -- also posted at WarInIraq

U.S. missile shield deployment would force Iskander move - Lavrov
A quote...."MOSCOW, February 11 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's foreign minister reiterated on Wednesday that Moscow would be forced to position missiles on the EU border if U.S. missile defense components were deployed in Central Europe." -- also posted at WarInIraq

Russian space freighter docks with orbital station
A quote...."KOROLYOV (Moscow Region), February 13 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian cargo spacecraft successfully docked on Friday with the International Space Station (ISS), a RIA Novosti correspondent reported from Russia's Mission Control. -- The Progress M-66 docked with the orbital station on schedule at 10:18 a.m. Moscow time (07:18 GMT). -- The spacecraft brought 2.4 tons of supplies, including oxygen, food, clothes and medical equipment for the ISS crew."
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Militarizing Police Depts. With Your Bailout Money
Police State Update - A quote....If prostitution is the world’s oldest profession, then city mayors follow a very close second.  In fact, it occurs to me they may be the spiritual offspring of the aforementioned liaisons.  Whenever there is loose change or unclaimed dollar bills laying around, mayors can smell them a mile away and if a Sugar Daddy offers free cash, they never stop to question what the vigorish might be.  The urban emperors, suburban commissars, the hack and the highbrow, the Republican and Democrat, the apolitical and amoral, the exurban apparatchiks all assemble to line dance down Pennsylvania Avenue like ladies of the evening on the way to a golden score with Big Daddy." -- also posted at BLN

Source: FEMA & DHS Preparing For Mass Graves & Martial Law
Police State & False Flag Update -- A quote...."We want to know every important thing in this county. We want to know where police departments are. Where weapons are stored. Hazardous material. Where can we land a helicopter. Where are the airports. How big a plane can you land at the airport. Where are all the bridges. Where are all the power stations. Where are all the generating stations.Where are all the substations. They literally wanted to know where everything was. I’m sitting there thinking man if there was ever martial law. This kind of information is exactly the kind of stuff they are going to want. We’re just laying it all out for them right there.”

[British Police "Terror"] Stops Increase Ten Times In Less Than Ten Years
Police State Update -- Something the "colonies" can look forward too. - mpg -- A quote...."3.5% of entire population of Britain stopped in the street by police in one year "

The Gaza Attack - 9 Articles - Thursday - [ Day 48 ] ========== ========== ========== ===

A Toxic Force Rises in Israel
A quote...."Wednesday 11 February 2009 17.15 GMT -- But it's not this idea which has made Lieberman such a toxic force. For that you have to look to the slogan that drove his campaign: "No loyalty, no citizenship." He would insist that every Israeli swear an oath of loyalty to Israel as a Jewish state: anyone who refuses will lose his citizenship." - bold by website editor -- also posted at CommonDreams

Israel Treated Gaza Like Its Own Private Death Laboratory
A quote...."Posted February 13, 2009. -- Israel tested out a "focused lethality" weapon that minimizes explosive damage to structures while inflicting catastrophic wounds on its victims."

UN probe into Israel’s bombing of world body’s premises in Gaza begins
A quote...."UNITED NATIONS, Feb 13 2009 -- (APP): A United Nations investigation into the  death and destruction at the U.N. premises in Gaza wrought by Israel’s strikes during its recent three-week offensive kicked off on Thursday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said."

Listen And Listen Well -- The Gaza Song
Video -- A quote...."Posted Feb. 12, 2009 --

Under Siege Again, But Gaza Will Not Die
A quote...."Feb 12 2009 -- In a tent in front of Shifa hospital, the largest hospital in Gaza, a sign on the photo of a young child bleeding from wounds from the Israeli attack on Gaza read "Gaza Will Not Die." -- Shifa hospital received hundreds of bodies of those killed and thousands of those wounded during the December 27, 2008-January 18, 2009 22 day attack, invasion and occupation of Gaza by the Israeli military."

Hamas agrees to truce with Israel
A quote...."Fri, 13 Feb 2009 03:09:16 GMT  -- On Thursday, Musa Abu Marzuk, the Hamas deputy leader, said after meeting with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman that Hamas had accepted the truce in return for the lifting of the Israeli blockade of Gaza."

Egypt arrests 30 truck drivers 'headed for Gaza'
A quote...."Wed Feb 11, 7:46 am ET -- CAIRO (AFP) – Egyptian police have seized 30 trucks laden with goods they say were destined to be smuggled into the Gaza Strip and arrested the drivers, a security official told AFP on Wednesday."

Egyptian lawmaker jailed for Gaza trip
A quote...."Feb 11, 2009 15:26 | Updated Feb 11, 2009 15:42  -- A military tribunal on Wednesday convicted an opposition lawmaker of illegally crossing into Gaza and sentenced him to two years in prison and a $1,000 fine, an Egyptian court official said."

PWA: No building supplies in Gaza means no water purification; donor projects failing
A quote...."Feb 12, 2009 -- Ramallah- Ma’an – Emergency drinking water projects initiated by Palestinian Authority (PA) funds in Gaza are close to failure on account of the total lack of materials getting into Gaza, said deputy to the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA), Rebhi Ash-Sheikh said on Thursday."

See also the Gaza Invasion of 12/27/08 - database - under construction. - mpg

End - The Gaza Attack - 9 Articles - Thursday - [ Day 48 ] ========== ========== ========== ===

Nationalize Insolvent Banks
Special Note -- A quote...."By Nouriel Roubini, [a.k.a. Doctor Doom] -- A year ago I predicted that losses by U.S. financial institutions would be at least $1 trillion and possibly as high as $2 trillion. -- At that time, the consensus was that such estimates were gross exaggerations--the naïve optimists had in mind about $200 billion of expected subprime mortgage losses. But, as I pointed out, losses would rapidly mount well beyond subprime mortgages as the U.S. and global economy spun into a severe financial crisis and ugly recession." -- also posted at CommonDreams

Trying to Revive the Bubble Economy: Obama's Awful Financial Recovery Plan
Special Note - A quote...."Martin Wolf started off his Financial Times column for February 11 with the bold question: “Has Barack Obama’s presidency already failed?” The stock market had a similar opinion, plunging 382 points. Having promised “change,” Mr. Obama is giving us more Clinton-Bush via Robert Rubin’s protégé, Tim Geithner. Tuesday’s $2.5 trillion Financial Stabilization Plan to re-inflate the Bubble Economy is basically an extension of the Bush-Paulson giveaway – yet more Rubinomics for financial insiders in the emerging Wall Street trusts. The financial system is to be concentrated into a cartel of just a few giant conglomerates to act as the economy’s central planners and resource allocators. This makes banks the big winners in the game of “chicken” they’ve been playing with Washington, a shakedown holding the economy hostage. “Give us what we want or we’ll plunge the economy into financial crisis.” Washington has given them $9 trillion so far, [That’s not straight cash, it's back-stops, guarantees, "temporary buy-backs", and other assorted financial shenanigans] with promises now of another $2 trillion– and still counting."

The popular uprising against central banking - PDF
A quote...."The way Ron Paul tells it, his more than 30 years of speaking and writing about money, inflation, and the Federal Reserve System attracted only limited interest outside libertarian and constitutionalist circles. The subject, and Paul as its spokesman, were scarcely to be found in the media, even—or perhaps especially—on the business networks. -- But Paul’s 2008 presidential bid changed that. Suddenly the Fed was on the table for discussion for the first time since Congress established it in 1913."

Credit Bubble Bulletin - The government finance bubble
A quote...."It is imperative for policymakers to ensure that the government finance bubble does not follow in the footsteps of the runaway excess associated with Wall Street/mortgage finance. Yet it's clear that policymaking (monetary and fiscal) is setting a course to guarantee just such an outcome. And, as has been the case for some time now, markets are keen to fall in love with - and aggressively accommodate - whatever might be the bubble of the day."

Financial Meltdown: The TARP Dog and Pony Show
A quote...."With no clear strategy, the new bank-rescue plan offers only more uncertainty"

Economist on Geithner Plan:
A quote....


Merrill bonuses made 696 millionaires: probe
A quote...."WASHINGTON (AFP) — Merrill Lynch quietly paid out at least one million dollars bonus each to about 700 top executive even when the investment house was bleeding with losses last year, a probe has revealed. -- They were part of 3.6 billion dollars in the firm's bonus payments in December before the announcement of its fourth quarterly losses and takeover by Bank of America, the investigation by the New York state Attorney General's office showed." -- For more on this issue see....Having Fun With Your Tax Dollars

Revolt Brews in California Counties
A quote...."Counties in California say they've had enough – and they aren't going to take it anymore. In what amounts to a Boston Tea Party-style revolt against the state Capitol, they're threatening to withhold money. Los Angeles is considering such an option. And Colusa County supervisors said they authorized payment delays for February."

Government Considering Buying Up Bad Alt-A Mortgages
A quote...."Of course, America is broke, and we don't have the money.  On the other hand, the funds would come from money already approved by Congress for the bailout, and would not represent new commitments.  Its smarter than most of the idiotic things the government is doing with taxpayer money. At least it would actually help some people, and might help to mitigate one of the many sources of the crisis."

Leon Kuhn | This Week -- Hats off to New Labour
Cartoon
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Home prices in record plunge
Financial Update - A quote...."The National Association of Realtors reports that home prices dropped a record 12.4% in the final quarter of 2008 - the biggest decline in 30 years." - bold by website editor

Wells Fargo Is Effectively Insolvent
Financial Industry Alert -- A quote...."Two smart and meticulous financial analysts - Reggie Middleton and Mish - argue that Wells Fargo is insolvent. -- In yesterday's update to his June 11, 2008 analysis, Reggie shows that the lion's share of Wells Fargo's assets are in mortgages in the California, Florida and Arizona markets, which are all tanking. He concludes:


[Federal] Deficit breaks all the records
A quote...."WASHINGTON — The recession and massive costs for the financial bailout have pushed the federal deficit to an all-time high for the first four months of the budget year. The Treasury Department reported Wednesday that the deficit for October through January totaled $569 billion, more than six times larger than the imbalance during the year-ago period. The deficit for January alone totaled $83.8 billion, worse than the $78 billion economists expected." - bold by website editor

U.S. business inventories fell most since 2001, sales fell 3.2%
A quote...."Inventories at U.S. businesses fell more than forecast in December and the most since 2001 as companies responded to slumping sales that reflect a deepening recession." -- Because they were probably able to sell some at the end of December, see article shown below.....

Retail sales rise unexpectedly in January
One of a very few positive signs for the economy, probably this small increase was caused by all the after Christmas sales.  The question is, did retailers make any money selling their goods at rock bottom prices? - mpg -- A quote..... "WASHINGTON – U.S. retail sales jumped 1 percent in January, reversing a six-month declining trend and defying economists' expectations by posting the biggest increase in 14 months."

Jobless claims dip - remain at high level
Some quotes...."Number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits falls to 623,000, while those living on benefits at record high. -- Economists polled by Briefing.com were expecting the number to fall to 610,000 for the most recent week."  - bold by website editor

Seven years of wealth gains gone -- After years of strong growth, typical nest egg now smaller than in 2001
A quote...."WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The nest egg of the typical American family is smaller now than it was seven years ago, according to Federal Reserve data released Thursday." - bold by website editor

Obama’s Stimulus Not Enough to Avert Biggest GDP Drop Since 1946
Financial Alert - A quote...."Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan will be insufficient to avert the biggest U.S. economic decline since 1946 as consumer spending posts its longest slide on record, according to a monthly Bloomberg News survey."

Japan heads for deflation - Its wholesale prices log first fall in five years
A quote...."TOKYO - JAPANESE wholesale prices fell for the first time in five years in January, data showed on Thursday, reinforcing fears that Asia's biggest economy is heading for another bout of deflation."

Toyota cutting North American production
A quote...."SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Toyota Motor Corp. said late Thursday it will reduce production at its North American manufacturing plants in an effort to grapple with what the Japanese automaker termed "the worst automotive slump in decades."

Laid-Off Foreigners Flee as Dubai Spirals Down
A quote...."DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Sofia, a 34-year-old Frenchwoman, moved here a year ago to take a job in advertising, so confident about Dubai’s fast-growing economy that she bought an apartment for almost $300,000 with a 15-year mortgage."


Obama's 'War on Terror' - A "long list" of crimes Bombs Away will commit for the elite's "long war". - mpg
Must Read - A quote...."The language is softened and deceptive. The strategy and tactics are not. The "war on terror" continues. Promised change is talk, not policy. Just look at Obama's "war cabinet," discussed in an earlier article. It assures:"

Obama's First Press Conference: Repeating Old Lies, Dodging Old Truths
A quote...."So how's that "change" thing working out? Are we getting better, or more of the same, and why?  In his first press conference, Obama labeled Iran a destabilizing influence in the Middle East because it allegedly sought nuclear weapons, while ignoring the longstanding Israeli nuclear threat to all its neighbors.  And the same day, Obama Justice Department lawyers appeared in court to invoke the same defense against investigation of their secret cross-border kidnapping and torture schemes as Bush --- that these widely known activities were "state secrets".  Have we heard any of this before? " -- Poor Obamatrolls, they'll just never learn. - mpg
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Fixing the Economy: Of Fences and Futures
Must Read - A quote...."So far, all the money aimed at fixing the economy has gone to the top of the fence - the banks - and not at the actual hole in the bottom - insufficient incomes. We can pour money into the banks until the government itself is bankrupt but until we fix the problem at the bottom, with vanishing jobs, declining incomes, and rising foreclosures, the crisis will only deepen."  - also posted at ICH -- Yes but that involves giving money to the "little people"....so it simply won't happen. - mpg

Timothy Geithner and the Ruling Class
A quote...."When referring to a shadowy, collective entity like the "ruling class," we need to deflect the slur of "conspiracy theorist." Justin Raimondo put it best in his comment on the penetrating analysis of Murray Rothbard: "Here there is no single agency, no omnipotent central committee that issues directives, but a multiplicity of interest groups and factions whose goals are generally congruent. In this milieu, there are familial, social, and economic connections, as well as ideological complicity, and none is better than Rothbard at ferreting out and unraveling these biographical details. Taken together, the author's small and studied brushstrokes paint a portrait of a ruling class whose ruthlessness is surpassed only by its brazen disloyalty to the nation" (Murray Rothbard, Wall Street, Banks, and American Foreign Policy, 1984). The nature of the ruling class has never been portrayed more accurately."

Let them eat fudge - Commentary: Why the market gagged on the Treasury plan
A quote...." President Obama at his Monday press conference took Republicans in Congress to task for "ideological blockage" because they weren't getting with the stimulus program. And yet, while he tells us there is need for urgent and bold action, his Treasury secretary seems to suffer from the same kind of blockage. -- Geithner, we are told, prevailed in the internal administration debate to save the jobs and salaries of the bank executives and to preserve the pittance investors can still get for their bank shares. He wants to tone down the notion of government intervention even while managing the biggest intervention in financial markets ever."

Economic Rescue Plan: More Debt, More Dollar Devaluation And More Government
A quote...."More of the same from the people who brought you the crisis in the first place -- Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's so called economic rescue plan, announced yesterday, has a three pronged approach to the financial crisis - more debt, more devaluation of the dollar and more government."

Banking CEOs testify - Congress on bended knee before Wall Street executives
A quote...."Chief executive officers from the eight largest banks in the US, which have collectively received $125 billion in bailout money, appeared before the House Financial Services Committee Tuesday. The hearing was a demonstration of the utter prostration of both the Democratic and Republican politicians before America's financial elite."

Crisis ten years of hell? Pt.4 - (RN - YouTube - 13 min 24 sec - February 10, 2009)
Real News Video - A quote...."F William Engdahl: Mass action in the streets by millions of people needed to force policies to face crisis "
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A Response to William Hauser and Jerome Slater -
A response to a call for sacrificing additional blood on behalf the New Roman Empire.-- Military State Update - A quote...."The construct of this modest proposal is surprisingly defensive, given that the authors claim that mass conscription will win the war on terror. I mean, who doesn’t want to win the "War on Terror"? After describing an "ongoing struggle between radical Islam and Western Democracy" and the lousy state of the American volunteer military (over-extended, over-vaccinated, overweight, and overpaid), Hauser and Slater put forth mandatory American national service as the cure – more Americans to man-up and prepare to die for the government overseas, with the remainder fearfully indoctrinated on the necessities of eternal service and submission to the state. "

URGENT ACTION: Tell Justice Department Not to Coverup Torture With "State Secrets" Claim
Action Alert - A quote...."On Monday the new U.S. Justice Department urged a federal appeals court to dismiss a lawsuit against Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen DataPlan for its role in the extraordinary rendition program. Mohamed et al. v. Jeppesen was brought on behalf of five men who were kidnapped and secretly transferred to U.S.-run prisons or foreign intelligence agencies overseas where they were tortured. The Bush administration asserted the "state secrets" privilege, claiming the case would undermine national security. The Obama administration has now done the same."

Cheney’s Fright Mode
False Flag(s) Update -- A quote...."Former Vice President Dick Cheney, obviously in perpetual fright mode, is continuing to do his best to frighten the American people. He claims that 61 of the inmates that have been released from Guantanamo have “gone back into the business of being terrorists.” He also predicted a “high probability” of a nuclear or biological terrorist attack on the United States."

FBI Believed that Bombs Were Used on 9/11
A quote...."On 9/11, the FBI believed that bombs were involved in the attacks. How do I know that? Because, according to the FBI's website:


(see also this and this). -- Indeed, the FBI told a reporter for USA Today that FBI agents believed there were bombs in the Twin Towers."
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INTERVIEW-Iraq to reopen museum, symbol of 2003 looting
A quote...."BAGHDAD, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Iraq will reopen later this month its renowned national museum, home to priceless artefacts plundered in the unchecked chaos following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, an Iraqi minister said."

Military struggles to track Afghans' weapons
A quote...."WASHINGTON – The U.S. has been shoveling weapons into the hands of Afghan troops but doesn't have a firm system in place or enough personnel to ensure they don't wind up in the hands of Taliban fighters, according to an independent study." -- For more on this issue see.....US Support of Terror - Guns 4 Everyone

Azerbaijan air force chief shot dead
Some quotes...."Lieutenant-General Rail Rzayev, 64, was gunned down outside his home in the capital Baku as he left for work in the early morning, interior ministry spokesman Sadiq Gozalov told AFP." -- "Experts said the killing may have been a contract hit linked with Rzayev's role in large-scale military acquisitions Azerbaijan has made in recent years as government coffers surged from oil revenues."

The Gaza Attack - 5 Articles - Wednesday - [ Day 47 ] ========== ========== ========== ===

Hamas emerges defiant
A quote...."Thursday, 29 January 2009 15:38 -- Yet, after more than three weeks of bombardment, Hamas has emerged defiant and with greater global recognition, including in some western countries."

Israel’s Crimes - (Grit TV Vid - 10 min 39 sec - 02-01-2009)
Video - A quote...."By: GRITtv Tuesday February 10, 2009 - Retired US army colonel Ann Wright talks about her recent trip to Gaza. Throughout Israel's intensive war in Gaza, reporters and international observers have been barred from entering the region. Wright says that the damage is extensive and Israel's disproportionate response "criminal.""

A Palestinian man from Gaza dies in Egypt due to earlier wounds
A quote...."Wednesday February 11, 2009 16:53 --  Fayz Shamiya, 23, from Gaza City was moved to Egypt last week after sustaining severe wounds in the head during the Israeli operation "Cast Lead".  According to the Palestinian Embassy in Cairo Shamiya is the Palestinian number 33 to die in Egypt after sustaining wounds in the latest Israeli attacks."

UN says Israel blocks most Gaza aid
A quote...."Wed, 11 Feb 2009 09:02:37 GMT -- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says Israel only allows a meager amount of humanitarian aid to enter the impoverished Gaza Strip."

Israel reopens three Gaza crossings
A quote...."Wednesday February 11, 2009 11:48 -- The Palestinian side announced that the Karem Abu Salem, or Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza, was reopened today , allowing the entry of 86 trucks, including 30 belonging to the UNRWA, 22 trucks belonging to the WFP, 18 trucks from Jordanian assistance, 10 trucks from Egyptian assistance, three trucks from the ICRC and two other trucks belonging to the ANIRA International Organization."

See also the Gaza Invasion of 12/27/08 - database - under construction. - mpg

End - The Gaza Attack - 5 Articles - Wednesday - [ Day 47 ] ========== ========== ==========

Major Powers 'Pressure IMF to Distort Data'
A quote...."An official in the British government claims that reports made by the International Monetary Fund are being distorted due to pressure tactics by the world's big powers. Adair Turner, chairman of England's Financial Services Authority, told the Financial Times newspaper that one of the problems with the IMF is that the world's big powers have used their diplomatic clout to tone down the fund's reports focusing on their economies." -- also posted at BLN

Toxic EU Bank Assets Total £16.3 Trillion - One wonders how much the total is in the US-NRE and Britain?
Financial Alert - A quote...."It is not surprising that European Union finance ministers looked ashen faced in Brussels on Tuesday. -- The breakfast meeting discussed how EU governments should deal with, in other words pay for, the "toxic" banking assets that triggered the economic crisis. -- The figures, contained in a secret European Commission paper, are startling. The dodgy financial packages are estimated to total £16.3 trillion in banks across the EU."

The Baltic Dry Index "Panic"
A quote...."The US invasion of Iraq in March 2003 marked the beginning of the index run up and must be considered as a contributing factor due to a mix of market sentiment and the steady rise on crude oil, and therefore ship fuel (bunker) oil prices through to the end of 2008. This is illustrated in this graph which plots the BDI (in blue) against crude oil prices (in red) and shows a close correlation:" - bold by websited editor -- For more on this issue see....Effective Fed Funds Rate & Total Non-Farm Payrolls 03-24-07

MV=PT A Classic Equation and Monetary Policy
A quote...."In 1911 he came up with the "Equation of Exchange" concept. That equation was MV=PT, where M was representative of the amount of money, V equaled velocity, P was price and T represented transactions. -- A landmark theory, many people consider the equation to this day to be the single most important mathematical description of economics. Others downplay its significance or find it mildly useful...."

The Surging Trade Deficit and the Recession Anatomy of a Hemorrhage
A quote...."The Commerce Department reported the 2008 deficit on international trade in goods and services was $677.1 billion. This is down from $700.3 billion in 2007 but still 4.7 percent of GDP. The trade deficit was smaller in 2008, becasue economic growth and consumer spending began to decline during the second half 2008."

China exports continue to plunge
A quote...."China's exports plunged by a massive 17.5 per cent in January, the biggest year-on-year decline in more than a decade and threatening more job losses in an already slowing economy."