Tuesday May 12th 2009

Blue Gold, Turkmen Bashes, and Asian Grids - Pipelineistan in Conflict
Must Read - A quote...."As Barack Obama heads into his second hundred days in office, let's head for the big picture ourselves, the ultimate global plot line, the tumultuous rush towards a new, polycentric world order. In its first hundred days, the Obama presidency introduced us to a brand new acronym, OCO for Overseas Contingency Operations, formerly known as GWOT (as in Global War on Terror). Use either name, or anything else you want, and what you're really talking about is what's happening on the immense energy battlefield that extends from Iran to the Pacific Ocean. It's there that the Liquid War for the control of Eurasia takes place. -- Yep, it all comes down to black gold and "blue gold" (natural gas), hydrocarbon wealth beyond compare, and so it's time to trek back to that ever-flowing wonderland -- Pipelineistan. It's time to dust off the acronyms, especially the SCO or Shanghai Cooperative Organization, the Asian response to NATO, and learn a few new ones like IPI and TAPI. Above all, it's time to check out the most recent moves on the giant chessboard of Eurasia, where Washington wants to be a crucial, if not dominant, player." -- also posted at WarInIraq

Obama’s Empire
Special Note - Obama™ Update - A quote...."Why isn’t the honeymoon over yet? That all peace advocates still haven’t broken with Barack Obama is ominous, indeed. Do they really hate war, empire, and colonialism? Or did they just hate George W. Bush and Dick Cheney? - Obama has been in power more than 100 days, which is time enough to judge the man’s intentions for the American empire. The signs are not good. Liquidation is clearly not on his agenda." -- Oh Contraire! -  Obama intends to "liquidate" the Palestinians, the Syrians, the Iraqis, the Pakistanis, the Afghanis, and many others on behalf of the New Roman Empire....he intends to do a lot of "liquidation"!! – mpg

Obama threatens to limit U.S. intel with Brits - Justice letter filed in court - And the cover-up continues. - mpg
Special Note - Obama™ Update - A quote...."The Obama administration says it may curtail Anglo-American intelligence sharing if the British High Court discloses new details of the treatment of a former Guantanamo detainee. - A court filing from the British Foreign Office released recently includes a letter from the U.S. government, identified as the "Obama administration's communication." Other information identifying the U.S. agency and author of the letter appears to have been redacted."

Lawmakers Try to Block New Abuse Photos - More attempts at a cover-up. - mpg  - posted at AntiWar
Special Note - Obama™ Update - A quote...."Civil libertarians are condemning a call by two influential U.S. senators for the White House to block the impending release of photographs showing detainees being abused by U.S. military personnel at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and at other U.S. detention facilities in the Middle East and elsewhere. -- The plea to intervene to stop the expected May 28 release of the photos came in a letter to President Barack Obama from Senators Joseph Lieberman and Lindsey Graham."

Seven Days in May, 2009
Coup Alert - Possible False Flag Alert - A quote...."The past week has seen a series of incidents that suggest a mounting crisis within the American state machine. It is not yet possible to provide a full explanation of these events, but they testify to the extraordinary degree of political tension in official Washington. -- On Friday, May 8, the head of the White House Military Office, former secretary of the army Louis Caldera, tendered his resignation, after an uproar provoked by the still-unexplained decision to have one of the two Boeing 747 jets at the disposal of the White House fly low over Manhattan escorted by an Air Force fighter jet."

Sibel and Scott again. -- Congress is a failed channel for whistleblowers.
A quote...."There is a new Sibel Edmonds - Scott Horton interview at Antiwar Radio. Audio here, transcript here. The interviews with Scott have typically been the most informative interviews that Sibel has given. -- Sibel contributes a wealth of valuable 'process' information for those who are trying to understand the Harman / AIPAC / Goss story, as well as those of you still trying to get your head around Sibel's case. I recommend that you read the whole thing."

Inquirer defends the indefensible: A monthly column by torture architect John Yoo
A quote...."By late last year, the world already knew a great deal about John Yoo, the Philadelphia native and conservative legal scholar whose tenure in the Bush administration as a top Justice Department lawyer lies at the root of the period of greatest peril to the U.S. Constitution in modern memory. It was widely known in 2008, for example, that Yoo had argued for presidential powers far beyond anything either real or implied in the Constitution -- that the commander-in-chief could trample the powers of Congress or a free press in an endless undeclared war, or that the 4th Amendment barring unreasonable search and seizure didn't apply in fighting what Yoo called domestic terrorism.
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Displaced Iraqis stay away as violence persists
A quote...."SULAIMANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - In summer, the heat is unbearable. In winter, the torrential rains turn the cramped, leaking tent where Khalid Jamhuri lives with his family into a freezing morass of mud."

U.S. Admited Using White Phosphorous as an Offensive Weapon in 2005
A quote...."People are rightly outraged that the U.S. appears to be using white phosphorous as an offensive weapon in Afghanistan. - But this is nothing new. - The U.S. admitted using white phosphorous as an offensive weapon in Iraq in 2005."

From Blunder to Blunder in Afghanistan
A quote...."I also made it clear that the United States will work with our Afghan and international partners to make every effort to avoid civilian casualties as we help the Afghan government combat our common enemy," US President Barack Obama promised.  He received his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts Hamid Karzai and Asif Ali Zardari at the White House on Wednesday, the same day when the police chief of the Farah province, in southern Afghanistan, said the US Air Force's airstrike on the village of Bala Buluk on Monday, to free the Afghan troops attacked by guerrillas, had resulted in more than a hundred victims, mostly civilians.  As usual, investigations were launched by US and Afghan authorities, as well as by UN representatives." -- also posted at Creative-i

Afghan Govt: US Strike Killed 140 Civilians  - posted at AntiWar
A quote...."An Afghan government commission has concluded that 140 civilians were killed in the United States air strikes in the Farah Province last week, and are providing relatives with $2,000 for each slain civilian. The findings provided further confirmation that the attack was the single deadliest incident of US forces killing Afghan civilians since the 2001 invasion."

Pakistan army: 1.3 million fled fighting in NW - posted at AntiWar
A quote...."Pakistani commandos dropped from helicopters behind Taliban lines in the Swat Valley on Tuesday in a widening offensive that the military said has pushed the number fleeing fighting in the northwest to 1.3 million."

On Af-Pak – Stop “Helping” – Ron Paul - Alt - (YouTube - 4 min 2 sec - May 11, 2009)
Audio Video - A quote...."While much of the country’s attention is on other issues, a serious situation is developing in Pakistan that threatens to plunge us into another fruitless and bloody war. It is very frustrating to see that many who were so vehemently against the wars of the last administration have suddenly lost interest in foreign policy simply because we were promised change."

US policy makes things worse in Pakistan
Video - Note: Part 2 is not available yet - mpg -- A quote...."More at The Real News Network & also @ RNN's YouTube section -- Aijaz Amhad: US policy will lead to thousands of new recruits for Al Qaeda"  -- All part of the "Game Plan". - mpg

Obama administration renews Bush-era sanctions on Syria
A quote...."WASHINGTON (IPS) - US President Barack Obama issued a statement on 8 May calling for the renewal of sanctions on Syria, which were set to expire on Monday. The declaration came at the end of a busy week in which both high-level US officials and the Iranian president visited the Syrian capital, Damascus. -- Though Syria has recently sought engagement with the US and Israel, the executive order extending sanctions is only the latest in a series of significant stumbling blocks to peeling off one of Iran's closest regional allies."

Chomsky: Obama Policies Same As Bush (Part1) - (YouTube - 6 min 0 sec - May 11, 2009)
Chomsky: Obama Policies Same As Bush (Part2) - (YouTube - 6 min 1 sec - May 11, 2009)
RT Videos - Obama™ Update - A quote...."What are the perspectives of NATO expansion? Is U.S. policy in Afghanistan escalating the war in the region? - To discuss this and much more, RT interviews Professor Noam Chomsky, political activist, philosopher, and author."

Report: Iran deploys missiles in Persian Gulf
War Alert - A quote...."Iran's Revolutionary Guards have begun deploying mobile launchers for surface-to-air and surface-to-sea missiles in the Strait of Hurmuz and other areas in the Gulf, it has been revealed. -- An Iranian official, quoted anonymously in the Saudi daily Al-Watan, said Iranian forces deployed the missile bases following secret reports that the United States and Israel were working on a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities."

US to give Iran talks 'only until October'
War Alert - Obama™ Update - A quote...."With the US President planning a policy shift on Iran, a report says he will only give the much-awaited talks five months to resolve Tehran's nuclear dispute. -- According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, the United States has set October as its deadline for engaging Iran in the first round of talks over the country's nuclear activities."

Ahmadinejad leads election poll by big margin
A quote...."A recent poll shows the Iranian president's popularity has grown among the electorate, while support for his rival, Mir-Hossein Mousavi has remained unchanged. -- The opinion poll was conducted in Tehran as well as 29 other provincial capitals and 32 important cities on May 3-4."

Georgian ex-leader calls on Saakashvili to step down
A quote...."Former Georgian leader Eduard Shevardnadze describes the situation in Georgia as “catastrophic.” He is strongly urging the country's currently embattled president to resign."

MERCOSUR, India Boost Trade
Good for them, they should form trading blocs that exclude the US-NRE.  It's the only safe thing for them to do. - mpg -- A quote...."New Delhi, May 12 (Prensa Latina) MERCOSUR, made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, is boosting trade and investment with India via a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA). --  Brazilian Attache Jose Carlos Fonseca says the PTA with New Delhi, the first with a business partner outside the continent, will operate from June with 147 products from both parties."
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Galloway sues Canada over entry ban
A quote...."British anti-war lawmaker George Galloway is taking legal action against Canada because he was prevented from entering the country in March. - The Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada said in March that Galloway would not be allowed entry and referred to a catch-all legal clause."

Pope calls for Palestinian homeland
A quote...."Pope Benedict XVI has told Palestinians in Bethlehem that he believes they have the right to a sovereign Palestinian homeland. - On his first trip to the occupied West Bank, the pope addressed a crowd in Manger Square alongside Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, on Wednesday."

Pope calls for end to Gaza Strip Embargo as he prepares to give mass in Bethlehem
A quote...."Bethlehem – Ma’an – "All the tourists come here for one or two hours then leave. I can't make much money from this,” said Manger Square Shawarma shop owner Omar Showriya as 8,000 pilgrims packed the square outside with cheers for the Pope, about to give mass."

Hizballah today, Hamas tomorrow
A quote...."On 20 March, Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced that he would not use his authority to override a decision by Citizenship and Immigration Canada to bar British MP George Galloway from entering the country. Due to speak in Toronto at a public forum entitled "Resisting War from Gaza to Kandahar," hosted by the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War, Galloway received the news of his inadmissibility to enter Canada during a speaking tour in the United States. During the tour, Galloway called for a single-state option in Israel/Palestine, one between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, in which Jews, Muslims and Christians could live as equal citizens."

Hamas Leader Reiterates Goal of Palestinian State Neighboring Israel
A quote...."The Palestinian group Hamas has announced a cessation in rocket fire into Israel this week as Khaled Meshal, the political leader of Hamas, in exile in Syria, repeated that Hamas is seeking an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel along the pre-1967 border."

Bil’in: A Village That Will Never Surrender
A quote...."Four years ago, construction started on the Separation Wall through the middle Bil’in, a village outside of Ramallah. They have lost about 60% of their land—agricultural land where most of the income of the village was made. -- The people of Bil’in have taken their case to the Israeli Supreme Court many times. In September 2007, the Israeli Supreme Court finally ruled that the path of the separation wall was prejudicial to Bil’in and must be altered. This decision should have allowed Bil’in to regain almost 50% of the land that was stolen in 2004. -- Despite all of these decisions, and the international laws that find the wall illegal, construction continues; and Bil’in’s land continues to be stolen."
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Another Patriot Act Victim - Alt - (YouTube - 4 min 4 sec - May 02, 2009)
Police State Alert - Must View Video - The Patriot Act would never be used against US citizens, right? Certainly not innocent people, right? After all, holding an American citizen in jail indefinitely without charges, without evidence, based on a "set up" is impossible, right? Think again. The Patriot Act, that rights-stripping remnant of the Bush administration's attack on the civil liberties of the American people has once again reared its ugly head. This short video explains all:"

Sorensen says lawyers too silent on torture
A quote...."Too many American lawyers remained silent while the United States conducted illegal torture and the Constitution was violated by disregard for the rule of law, Ted Sorensen told law graduates Saturday. - In a commencement address at the University of Nebraska College of Law, his alma mater, Sorensen urged  the graduates to act with courage and embrace integrity in their professional pursuits."

A Progressive Challenge to Jane Harman
Action Alert - A quote...."There are many reasons why progressives will mobilize behind the campaign of Marcy Winograd, who announced on Monday that she'll challenge incumbent Congresswoman Jane Harman in the 2010 Democratic primary. -- Some will speak of Harman's pro-war record. Some will recall her support for warrantless wiretapping, followed by her irony-free indignation when it turned out that NSA snoops had taped her own phone conversations. Some will recount Harman's long public silence after being briefed on torture by the U.S. government."

9/11 Conspiracy? Pentagon Missile Defense Failure
A quote...."Remember Star Wars? Do you remember the Pentagon's Strategic Defense Initiative to build a massive missile defense system that raised so much controversy during the Reagan and first Bush years? -- 130 billion of our tax dollars were poured into developing that system. It was designed to detect and intercept missiles fired from an unknown destination traveling at well over 10 times the speed of a commercial airliner, and to shoot them down in 15 minutes or less, before they reached their US targets."

Osama bin Laden was US operator: President Asif Ali Zardari
Video - Special Note - Actually there's a chain of command here.  Osama was a dutiful son who worked for his own family the bin Ladens, who still work for the Saudi Royals, who work for the US-NRE, which continues to work for Israel. -- mpg -- A quote...."May 11, 2009 “New Karala” — Washington, May 11 : Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has alleged that elusive Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was a US operator who had tried to destabilise his late wife Benazir Bhutto’s government back in 1989. -- In fact, as premier Bhutto had “warned America about Osama bin Laden in 1989 with a call to then US president George H. Bush”, Zardari said on NBC’s Meet the Press programme Sunday."

David Ray Griffin (at Boston University) 9/11- Time For a Second Look
Videos - A quote....."A myth is an idea that, while widely believed, is false.  In a deeper sense, in the religious sense, a myth serves as an orienting and mobilizing story for a people.  The focus is not on the stories relation to reality, but rather, on it’s function.  A story cannot “function” unless it is believed to be true in the community or the nation.  It is not a matter of debate.  If some people have the bad taste to raise the question of the truth of the sacred story, the keepers of the faith do not enter into debate with him.  They ignore them or denounce them as blasphemers.“  --  *David Ray Griffin*
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The Swine Flu Outbreak and Other Bio-Warfare Matters.....

Health Organizations Checking Top Virus Scientist's Claim that Swine Flu May Have Escaped From Lab
A quote...."Adrian Gibbs isn't a wild-eyed youth. He was one of the researchers whose worked was instrumental in the creation of the flu drugs Tamiflu and Relenza, and he has written or co-authored more than 250 scientific publications on viruses during his 39-year career at the Australian National University in Canberra. -- The fact that Gibbs is saying that the swine flu may have escaped from a lab is causing the CDC and other health organizations to investigate his claim. They aren't buying it at this point, but they are looking into it."

"Swine Flu May Be Human Error, Scientist Says WHO wants to know whether evidence that the virus may have been developed in a laboratory can be corroborated 12 May 2009 The World Health Organization is investigating an Australian researcher’s claim that the swine flu virus circling the globe may have been created as a result of human error. Adrian Gibbs, who collaborated on research that led to the development of Roche Holding AG’s Tamiflu drug, said in an interview today that he intends to publish a report suggesting the new strain may have 'accidentally' evolved in eggs scientists use to grow viruses and drugmakers use to make vaccines. Lab Escape: Gibbs said his analysis supports research by scientists including Richard Webby, a virologist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis... His research found the rate of genetic mutation in the new virus outpaced that of the most closely related viruses found in pigs, suggesting it evolved outside of swine, Gibbs said. [See: US involved in bird flu conspiracy: Indonesia 20 Feb 2008 (Transcript from AM, Australia's ABC.) Peter Cave: Indonesia's Health Minister has suggested that the United States may be involved in a conspiracy to use the bird flu virus to develop biological weapons; US, Japanese Researchers Mix Samples of 1918 Flu Pandemic to Recreate Deadly Code 30 Dec 2008; Donald Rumsfeld makes $5m killing on bird flu drug 12 Mar 2006.]"

Additional Articles.....

WHO: Swine flu virus may face deadly mutation
Worldwide swine flu cases pass 5,000
Most H1N1 patients do not need drugs to recover: WHO
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Bank Regulator William K. Black Interviewed by The Young Turks
Must View Video - A quote...."Famed bank regulator William K. Black, a consumer-protection hero of the savings and loan scandal of the 1980s, speaks with The Young Turks radio show about the massive banking fraud perpetrated on the American people and the futility of the Obama administration's bank rescue plan."

"Happy Talk" Can NOT Improve the Economy
A quote...."Many people believe that if there is enough "happy talk" about the economy, and enough people believe the economy is improving, it will improve. -- Are they right? -- Well, it is true that consumers and small investors drive a large portion of the economy. And it is true that consumers and small investors, in turn, are largely driven by their perception of what is happening. -- But is it also true that when the fundamentals of the economy are lousy, or there has been a giant bubble and vast overleveraging, or there has been massive fraud, or the government has gone so far into debt that it has formed a black hole, then all of the happy talk in the world won't turn the economy around. -- For example, happy talk did not work during the Great Depression."

Dollar Rally Will End, Rogers Says; May Short Stocks (Update2)
A quote...." May 12 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar’s rally is set to end in a “currency crisis,” investor Jim Rogers said, adding that he may bet on a slide in equities after nine weeks of gains. -- The advance in the U.S. currency has been driven by investors covering their short sales, Rogers, 66, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Singapore. He may consider adding to his holdings of the yen and prefers the euro to the dollar or the pound, the investor added."

Enjoy the rally while it lasts - but expect to take a sucker punch
A quote...."Our delicious spring rally is nearing the limits. The 40pc rise on global bourses since March assumes that central banks have conjured away the debt overhang by slashing rates to zero and printing money. Nothing of the sort has occurred. Two thirds of the world economy will be in deflation by July." -- also posted at BLN

Website Editor's Caution: regarding the two articles shown above....

"....this is NOT to be taken as a market recommendation, just an observation.  Keep in mind the US economy is roughly 13 to 15 trillion dollars in GDP per year while the world's derivatives market is now anywhere between 300 to 500 trillion dollars 1.2 quadrillion dollars (1015 ) notational value, [updated 061808] possibly even more. Most of it controlled by the centralized financial institutions and elites that currently run our government.  With such vast leverage they could mask, manipulate, or resist market forces for years." - mpg

US trade gap widens after seven months of decline
A quote...."The US trade deficit widened in March after seven consecutive months of decline, with exports sinking to a 2004 low as the global economic crisis hobbles trade, Commerce Department data showed Tuesday."

Another mega-thief walks free in the US
Some quotes...."While the US criminal justice system is notoriously punitive and heavy-handed when it comes to crimes of theft and trespass, its collective heart melts when it comes up against a mega-criminal. Witness the ability of self-confessed fraud, thief, and confidence trickster Marc S. Dreier, who pled guilty on Monday in a New York court to selling $400 million worth of fake promissory notes and running an illegal Ponzi scheme, yet managed to walk free from the courthouse." -- "Not so lucky was Mr. Jerry Williams, 27, who in 1995 was sentenced to 25 years to life for stealing a slice of pizza. Admittedly, it could have been his third offense, which put him at the wrong end of California's "three strikes" law, but in all likelihood, all that Mr. Williams ever stole in his life would not amount to Harvard Law School graduate Marc Dreier's gasoline costs for his Aston Martin and Mercedes." -- Changes that old phrase from "You'll do the time if you do the crime". -- to -- "You'll do less time, the bigger your crime". - mpg

Monday May 11th 2009

The Children's Crusade
Must Read - Obama™ Update - A quote...."Day after day, week after week, Barack Obama's "Overseas Contingency Operations" keep churning through the bodies of children: sometimes with chemical weapons that sear their flesh and leave them maimed and disfigured for life; sometimes with carefully aimed bullets ripping through their organs and leaving them dead right on the spot. -- And in every such case, our brave and noble Terror Warriors -- who, lest we forget, are upholding the highest values of world civilization, bringing hope and change to benighted lands and defending our sacred way of life -- run screaming like spinsters in a hissy fit from the slightest hint of responsibility for their actions. Their first response, always, is to blame someone else: either the designated enemy of the day -- or else the burned and shredded children themselves."

The Bad PR of Dead Civilians - Afghan airstrikes and the corporate media
Must Read - Obama™ Update - A quote...."Early reports of a massive U.S. attack on civilians in western Afghanistan last week (5/5/09) hewed to a familiar corporate media formula, stressing official U.S. denials and framing the scores of dead civilians as a PR setback for the White House's war effort." - also posted at CommonDreams - For more on this issue see....US Fake Intel / Propaganda

Obama’s Middle East Imperialism
Special Note - Obama™ Update - A quote...."The velvet gloves are off and the reality of Obama’s Middle East plans are being revealed: a bare-fisted pummeling of Afghanistan and Pakistan — with Iraq’s fate yet to be determined. - The media have been preparing this for months, with incessant talk about the alleged “troop drawdown” in Iraq, the “surge” in Afghanistan and the “immediate threat” that supposedly is represented by Pakistan. - It’s now crystal clear that zero “change” will be forthcoming when it comes to U.S. foreign policy, minus a strategic shifting of troops.  This fact was highlighted recently when Obama asked for an additional $83.4 billion in “emergency spending” to fight the Iraq/Afghan/Pakistan wars. It must be noted that so-called “emergency funds” were precisely the avenue Bush chose to fight his wars, enabling him to skirt the already-gigantic military budget."

'Everything destroyed' in Swat valley - link posted at AntiWar
Obama™ Update - A quote...."Tens of thousands of people have been fleeing the fighting between the Pakistani army and the Taleban in the Swat district. According to the UN, there are more than 300,000 people registered as displaced and the Pakistani government says it expects that figure to reach one million." - bold by website editor - For more on this issue see....The Method - 05-07-07 - mpg

Swatis Flock to Increasingly Crowded Refugee Camps - Hundreds of Thousands Displaced in Latest Offensive @ Antwr
Obama™ Update - Related Article - A quote...."Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been chased out of the Swat Valley by the Pakistani military offensive, and many are flocking to the increasingly crowded and ill-equipped refugee camps set up for them. The UN says it is expecting that most of the people chased out of the region will stay with relatives or friends, which may be part of why the camps don’t seem up to the task of housing so many displaced persons."

A Double-Edged Sword - Obama is now hiring a murderer to do his dirty work. - mpg
Obama™ Update - Some quotes...."The Pentagon just announced the surprise replacement of General David McKiernan with Lt. General Stanley A. McChrystal, who commanded JSOC from 2003-2008." -- "General McChrsytal carries with him a dark side as well. One unit under his command, the now-notorious Task Force 6-26, which was assigned to find HVTs, or High Value Targets in Iraq, is credited with the ultimate death of Zarqawi. The problem is, along the way they faced accusations of running a secret camp that tortured prisoners, and they were implicated in at least two detainee deaths during torture sessions. Their camp, called Camp Nama, became something of a lightning rod after a “computer malfunction” destroyed upwards of 70% of their records and an investigation into their conduct stalled out."

New Afghanistan Commander Had Role In Tillman Friendly-Fire Episode - And he's a liar to boot. - mpg -@ Antiwar
Obama™ Update - Related Article - A quote...."It looks Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the man taking over as the new top commander in Afghanistan, was a key player in one of the more shameful episodes of the Bush administration's war on terror -- though it's unclear exactly how much blame, if any, he himself deserves."

The Big Dog Wins Another One
A quote...."The acquittal of former AIPAC operatives Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman on espionage is yet another victory for the Israel Lobby.  As happens so often these days, stories that are much discussed in some sectors of the Internet are pretty much ignored in the MSM. The New York Times buried it and the LA Times ignored it entirely. It was missing from network news and from cable TV talk shows of all political leanings." -- For more on this issue see.... Judeo-Christian C/C & US

CIA and ISI together created Taliban: Zardari
A quote...."WASHINGTON: In a new revelation, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that the CIA of the United States and his country's ISI together created the Taliban. "I think it was part of your past and our past, and the ISI and CIA created them together," Zardari told the NBC news channel in an interview." - also posted at WarInIraq -- For more on this issue see....US Support of Terror

U.S. Foreign Policy Caused the Taliban Problem
A quote...."While most Americans now view President Bush’s Iraq War as a “bad war,” the common perception is that Bush’s invasion of Afghanistan was a “good war” (despite the fact that he went to war without the constitutionally required congressional declaration of war). The notion is that the U.S. government was justified in invading Afghanistan and ousting the Taliban regime from power because the Taliban and al-Qaeda conspired to commit the 9/11 attacks. --
There’s just one big problem with that belief: it’s unfounded." -- also posted at ICH
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CIA Refuses To Turn Over Torture Tape Documents To ACLU - And the cover-up of 9/11 continues. - mpg
Special Note - A quote...."The CIA claims the integrity of a special prosecutor’s criminal investigation into the destruction of 92 interrogation videotapes will be compromised if the agency if forced to turn over to the American Civil Liberties Union detailed documents related to the purge, according to newly released court documents. -- In a May 5 letter to U.S. District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein, Lev Dassin, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said the Justice Department recently had discussions with prosecutors working on the criminal investigation into the destruction of the interrogation tapes and was informed that “the production of documents...would conflict and substantially interfere with the [criminal] investigation” into the destruction of the interrogation tapes."

9/11 Mastermind: "During ... My Interrogation I Gave A Lot Of False Information In Order To Satisfy What I Believed The Interrogators Wished To Hear" - And continues again.....mpg -- Special Note -- A quote....."The Red Cross is the organization charged with deciding what is torture and what isn't. - The International Committee of the Red Cross interviewed Khalid Shaikh Mohammed - the alleged 9/11 mastermind - at Guantanamo Bay. Here's what KSM told the Red Cross:"

"During the harshest period of my interrogation I gave a lot of false information in order to satisfy what I believed the interrogators wished to hear in order to make the ill-treatment stop."

Coverage of al-Libi 'Suicide' Almost Wholly Absent from U.S. Mainstream Corporate Media
Special Note - A quote...."So, it's been about 16 hours since we covered indie journalist/historian/blogger Andy Worthington's detailed report on the the reported suicide of the man who falsely "confessed", during torture, to a false tie between Iraq and al-Qaeda. The forced confession was subsequently used by the Bush Administration (Bush himself, as well as Powell and others) as justification for the war on Iraq. That, despite the fact that Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi recanted his story not long thereafter, as long and widely reported."

Al-Libi Case Eloquent Testimony against Torture
Special Note - Related Article - A quote...."The best refutation of Dick Cheney's insistence that torture was necessary and useful in dealing with threats from al-Qaeda just died in a Libyan prison. See also Andy Worthington. -- Al-Qaeda operative Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi was captured trying to escape from Afghanistan in late 2001. He was sent to Egypt to be tortured, and under duress alleged that Saddam Hussein was training al-Qaeda agents in chemical weapons techniques. It was a total crock, and alleged solely to escape further pain. Al-Libi disavowed the allegation when he was returned to CIA custody. But Cheney and Condi Rice ran with the single-source, torture-induced assertion and it was inserted by Scooter Libby in Colin Powell's infamous speech to the United Nations."

“America’s Disappeared”: Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi Has Died In A Libyan Prison
Special Note - Related Article - A quote...."The emir of the Khaldan training camp in Afghanistan, al-Libi was one of hundreds of prisoners seized by Pakistani forces in December 2001, crossing from Afghanistan into Pakistan. Most of these men ended up in Guantánamo after being handed over (or sold) to US forces by their Pakistani allies, but al-Libi was, notoriously, rendered to Egypt by the CIA to be tortured on behalf of the US government. -- In Egypt, he came up with the false allegation about connections between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein that was used by President Bush in a speech in Cincinnati on October 7, 2002, just days before Congress voted on a resolution authorizing the President to go to war against Iraq, in which, referring to the supposed threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s regime, Bush said, “We’ve learned that Iraq has trained al-Qaeda members in bomb making and poisons and deadly gases.” -- For more on this sort of issue see article shown below....

Torture and Treason
(Must read, for one of the key concepts of the Neocons' criminal enterprise) - This is the very heart of the matter folks, don't lose sight of it.  The Neocons set it all up and that includes murdering people to start their various wars for profit. - mpg -- A quote...."Let us pause the news cycle here and strip away the desperate delicacy of this language. The Gitmo intelligence crew was being told, from the highest levels of the Bush White House and the Pentagon - think Cheney, think Rumsfeld - to keep slamming these guys' heads against the wall, to keep pouring water down their throats, to keep tormenting them with dogs and insects, until they blubbered, in their pain and terror, a word or two that would justify the long-planned (and completely pointless) invasion of Iraq. -- This drags the torture "debate" out of the fog that mainstream pundits are paid to generate - does it work? is it legal? is it cruel? is it counterproductive? - and exposes something that is troubling at the level of the soul, and begs only one question. -- Is it treason?" -- posted 04-30-09 -- For more on this issue see....The Convenient Silence of Guantanamo Bay - 05-31-08 - mpg
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Roxana Saberi's plight and American media propaganda
A quote...."An Iranian appeals court this morning announced that it was reducing the sentence and ordering the immediate release of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, who was convicted by an Iranian court last month of spying for the U.S. and sentenced to eight years in prison.  Saberi's imprisonment in January became a cause célèbre among American journalists, who -- along with the U.S. Government -- rallied to demand her release.  Within minutes of the announcement, several of them -- including ABC News' Jake Tapper, Time's Karen Tumulty, The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder -- posted celebratory notices of Saberi's release." - also posted at CommonDreams & LewRockwell - For more on this issue see....US - Killing the Messenger

War Without Context: Fatah, Hamas - And Flawed Language
A quote...."President Abbas is reportedly assembling a new government, which is expected to, once again, exclude the majority-party in the parliament." -- For more on this issue see....US Sponsored Civil Wars - Palestine

1-2-3 What Are We Fighting For? - Blaming the Dead Victims
A quote...."We’re been here before, many times. -- The US causes massive civilian deaths through its indiscriminate use of heavy air power, and then tries to claim it’s the enemy’s fault for “hiding” among the civilians and “using them as shields.” -- In Vietnam, where the US was fighting against a local revolutionary movement that was seeking to overthrow the puppet regime backed by America, American planes routinely bombed and napalmed villages, claiming that the Viet Cong were hiding amongst the peasants. Women, old men and children would die in droves—several million of them by the time that war was over--and we’d be told it was all the fault of the Communists, who, we were told, had no regard for innocent life."
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Senior Iraq police chief shot dead
A quote...."BAGHDAD (AFP) — One of Baghdad's most senior police chiefs was assassinated in a drive-by shooting in the Iraqi capital on Monday, a police official said. - Gunmen shot dead the head of police operations, Abdul Hussein Mohsen al-Kadhemi, as he was driving in a central Baghdad district, the official told AFP."

Karzai "very serious" on ending air raids: official
A quote...."KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai is "very serious" about a demand for foreign forces in Afghanistan to halt air raids, even though it was rebuffed by a top U.S. security official, his spokesman said on Monday. -- Afghans are furious about the bombing of two villages in Western Farah province during a drawn-out battle last week, when homes full of civilians were hit."

Iran urges world action on Israeli nukes
A quote...."Iran says Israel's undeclared arsenal of approximately 200 atomic warheads is the only obstacle in the way of a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East. -- In a Monday address to the third session of the preparatory committee for the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in New York, Iranian delegates hit out at the lack of world action on Israel's possession of atomic nuclear weapons -- which can be launched from land, sea and air."

Iran Turning to China for Air Defense System
A quote...."Iran will turn to China instead of Russia to acquire an advanced air defense system after relations between Iran and Russia hit rock bottom, the official Iranian news agency PressTV reported. -- For years Iran has been trying to purchase the S-300 anti-aircraft missile, which is considered to one of the most advanced systems available on the market and would dramatically increase Iran’s air defense capabilities against any attacks on its nuclear installations." -- also posted at WarInIraq

Saakashvili-opposition meeting reaches dead-end
A quote...."The political turmoil deepens in Georgia as a meeting between the opposition and the president fails to bear fruit with the former refusing a proposed power-sharing deal. -- President Mikhail Saakashvili offered to share power with his most outspoken opponents on Monday. The opposition, however, insisted that the president should step down, vowing to intensify the protests that have resulted in thousands demonstrating outside government buildings, occasionally clashing with police over the past month."

Bolivia for Expulsion of Criminals from Peru
A quote...."La Paz, May 11 (Prensa Latina) Bolivian President Evo Morales, reiterated on Monday his request to his Peruvian peer Alan Garcia to expel former Bolivian ministers under the government of Gonzalo Sanchez de Quesada (2002-2003) accused of genocide here."

Venezuelan Police Discover Large Arms Cache
A quote...."Mérida, May 11th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com)– Venezuelan police arrested four men and confiscated a large quantity of sophisticated weaponry that government officials speculate could have been part of an assassination plan against President Chávez. This discovery occurred in the context of a wave of apparently politically motivated violence that Chávez supporters suspect is part of a wider new campaign against the government."
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UN pressures Israel on peace policy
A quote...."Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, has urged Israel to "fundamentally change" its policies towards settlements and commit to a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict."

In Ireland or Palestine, strength in unity
A quote...."The recent Israeli actions in Gaza demonstrated not only the brutal nature of the occupation and the ideology behind it, but also the deep internal division within the Palestinian body politic. It was already common knowledge that Israel had effectively ended the ceasefire on 4 November with an attack that left six members of Hamas dead. Yet, as pictures of dead, dying and wounded Palestinian police cadets flashed through the world's television screens, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was busy toeing the Israeli line that Hamas was responsible for the ending of ceasefire. He said this, not because it was true, but as a way of undermining the political authority of Hamas in Gaza and increasing his own. Ordinary Palestinians saw through the quite crude and transparent attempt, forcing Abbas to backtrack on his earlier assertion."

Netanyahu: Israel Will Never Return Golan
A quote...."Israeli hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declares that Tel Aviv will never return the occupied Golan Heights to Syria. - Benjamin Netanyahu made the remarks in an interview with Russian-language reporters on Friday, saying "remaining on the Golan will ensure Israel has a strategic advantage in cases of military conflict with Syria", Israeli online daily, Ha'aretz reported."
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The Swine Flu Outbreak and Other Bio-Warfare Matters From CLG.....

Now 2,600 cases of new flu in US, CDC says
US has more swine flu cases than any other country, WHO says
Ten more cases of swine flu confirmed in England
Mexican H1N1 flu spreads easily: study
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China overtakes the US as Brazil's largest trading partner
Special Note - You see this event is caused by the difference between a country that makes things people want to buy (China), and a country that just keeps on killing and torturing people for no apparent reason, the (US-NRE). - mpg -- A quote...."China has become Brazil's most-important trading partner, disrupting a relationship between the United States and the Latin country that stretches back to the 1930s." - bold by website editor

Prospects of a quick economic recovery are but fool’s gold
A quote...."Hoping for better times -- for some, even the return to make-believe “yesterday” -- has now become our prescribed daily medicine dispensed through the corporate media by our government via injections of economic news or commentary. - Confidence-building little white lies, misleading insinuations or, often, absurd interpretations of statistical data by Bernanke, Geithner, Summers, even Obama himself, are meant to keep us, the blind citizenry, faithful to a bankrupt system . . . subservient to the rulers of capitalist imperium."

The Nature of the Current Financial Crisis: The System is designed to exert Total Control over the Lives of Individuals
A quote...."What impresses me in the current financial crisis is the near-total failure of so-called progressives to appreciate the magnitude of what is going on or the level of intelligence behind it. How many will say, for instance, that the crash was deliberately engineered by the creation, then destruction, of the investment bubbles of the last decade? -- When the financial system creates bubbles it drives up the cost of assets far beyond their true value in producing or storing wealth. When the bubbles burst the value of the assets plummets. Those with ready cash then buy them up on the cheap. When the dust settles more wealth has been concentrated in fewer hands. The rich get richer, and ordinary people are left in a deeper condition of indebtedness, poverty, and pressure to perform to the liking of the financial masters." -- Marx couldn't have said it better.....but it's true. - mpg

Government borrowing 50 cents for every dollar it spends
A quote...."WASHINGTON - With the economy performing worse than hoped, revised White House figures point to deepening budget deficits, [Absolutely no surprise to anyone, one hopes?] with the government borrowing almost 50 cents for every dollar it spends this year. --  The deficit for the current budget year will rise by $89 billion to above $1.8 trillion -- about four times the record set just last year. The unprecedented red ink flows from the deep recession, the Wall Street bailout, the cost of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus bill, as well as a structural imbalance between what the government spends and what it takes in.

Trade deficit expected to rise, negates effects of stimulus
A quote...."Tuesday, the Commerce Department report will report on March international trade in goods and services. The U.S. trade deficit on goods and services is expected to rise to $29 billion from $26 billion in February. - Trade with China and oil imports comprise about 90 percent of the deficit. The deficit with China is expected to increase significantly but the oil import bill is expected to fall, as the recession has curbed demand for gasoline." -- Not quite, oil is starting to go up really fast. - mpg

Banks Brace for Credit Card Write-Offs
A quote...."It used to be easy to guess how many Americans would have problems paying their credit card bills. Banks just looked at unemployment: Fewer jobs meant more trouble ahead. The unemployment rate has long mirrored banks’ loss rates on card balances. But Eddie Ward, 32 and jobless, may be one reason that rule of thumb no longer holds. For many lenders, losses are now starting to outpace layoffs."

Life on the Edge of a Bubble- Blowing the American Dream - Bursting the Myth, Revealing the History of Power
Film and Book Review -- A quote...."The rules of the national and international financial system keep changing, as we move from crisis to bubble, from prosperity to bankruptcy, from the American dream to the American nightmare.  As the American Empire has evolved over centuries and totters on the abyss of decline, it behooves us to step off the quickly moving carousel of daily revelations, and look beneath the surface of events at the historical patterns that have led to this ever changing, yet remarkably the same, moment in time."

Sunday May 10th 2009

Race for Iran presidency hots up
Oh My Gawd - LOOK!!!  The dirty towel heads are doing it again; they're actually holding elections WITHOUT US-NRE or Israeli permission!!!  The US-NRE doesn't permit Iraq or Afghanistan or even Pakistan to allow candidates to run for office without our input or say-so. It wouldn't even permit the Palestinians to have the government they voted for back in 2005!  Heck, we don't even permit candidates in this country to run for office without AIPAC's (i.e. Israel's) permission and blessing!  How could Obama let them backwards Iranians get away with this stuff.   How can the New Roman Empire just stand by and ALLOW these Iranian animals, these evil people, these "terrorists” to just go-ahead and hold an honest, fair, and freely monitored election???  It's indecent, it's disgusting, it's like they don't need us?  Doesn't Obama UNDERSTAND that if the Iranians keep holding these elections by THEMSELVES, without our PERMISSION, in their very own, unoccupied, non-colonized, non-bombed to shreds, nation-state, it sets a terrible example for the ENTIRE Middle East!!!  Soon other countries could ask the US-NRE to leave so they too, could hold their own elections without our "help".  And than where would we be as the New Roman Empire - hmmmmmm??? – mpg

After US Strikes, Afghans Describe "Tractor Trailers Full of Pieces of Human Bodies"
A quote...."As rage spreads in Afghanistan after US bombing that killed up to 130 people, unnamed Pentagon officials are spinning another cover-up. Defiant Obama moves ahead with troop increase." -- also posted at ICH

"'NATO has not denied using white phosphorus during the Kapisa incident, nor have they provided evidence that the insurgents fired these rounds.'Afghanistan: NATO Should 'Come Clean' on White Phosphorus --Release Report on Attack in Which Child Burned 08 May 2009 NATO forces in Afghanistan should immediately release the results of their investigation into a March 14, 2009, incident in which an 8-year-old girl in Kapisa province was burned by white phosphorus munitions, Human Rights Watch said today. A NATO spokesperson has denied allegations from the girl's father that NATO forces had fired the rounds that caused her injuries. The spokesman for the commander of NATO and US troops in Afghanistan, Brig. Gen. Richard Blanchette, confirmed that white phosphorus munitions are used in Afghanistan. [Right, so when the US media whores start blaming 'Taliban militants' for the white phospohrous burns, refer to Brig. Gen. Blanchette's admission. --LRP] "-- Paragraph quoted form CLG

Past masters at torture
A quote...."The gambit used by a torturer is that he was merely carrying out orders. American doctors, who without pangs of conscience, supervised torture at Gitmo could well say they were under orders to do so. But what about Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice, who were mainly responsible for torture? Water-boarding, a torturous method that simulates drowning was Cheney's favourite 'sport'." -- also posted at ICH

Pakistan faces biggest human flood since 1947
A quote...."Her name was Sahin and in a matter of hours her world had been broken. As fighting raged in their hometown of Mingora – fighter jets screaming overhead and mortar fire pounding – she and her husband tried to escape with their 10 children. Amid the chaos, her husband was killed by an artillery shell. There was hardly time to bury him in the courtyard of a neighbour's house before Sahin was forced to think of the children and of somehow leading them to safety by herself. They walked for "hours and hours" before, in a neighbouring town, they found a bus. That bus brought them to a camp for the displaced, a place for the beleaguered, for those with nowhere else to go."
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Pakistani president: Osama bin Laden is dead
A quote...."Two weeks ago, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zadari suggested that Osama bin Laden might be dead, saying that U.S. and Pakistani intelligence agencies had been unable to detect any sign of the world’s most wanted man since an audio recording of his voice was released in March. - Sunday morning, Zadari went further: “I don’t think he’s alive,” the president told NBC’s David Gregory. “I have a strong feeling and reason to believe that.” Zadari continued: “I have asked my counterparts in the American intelligence services and they haven’t heard [from] him in seven years.” - bold by website editor

It's simply too funny.  Seventy percent of the US-NRE's population consists of mind-numbingly retarded, bovine brained, TV fixated, drooling, depends wearing, pork-rind eating, cup cake munching, faux-infotainment-believing, morons.

When it's all later revealed (as it already has been on the web) that the videos and audios of Osama were faked our elites will simply tell the sheeple that al-Qaeda produced them to keep the "movement" alive or some such other fantasy, and the sheeple will believe them as they always do.

No doubt when it’s further revealed (as it already has been in several cases) that their own government produced these tapes and videos, or hired someone else to do so, and always coincidently released them before upcoming votes on some constitution destroying  piece of legislation, or during one of this nation's faux-election cycles, the sheeple will yawn, drool a little bit, snort, burp, fart, and than turn to their favorite sports channel.

It's the way they're born and bred.  For slaughter.  - mpg
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9/11 - From The History File...Expert Goes On Rec: Bin Laden 9/11 Confession Is Bogus
Is OBL Dead? Pt1: Dec is for Dying & Pt 2: the First Tapes
Special Effects Experts Say Fake OBL Tape Fairly Easy To Make
ABC, FBI Punk'd by Terror 'Fan Video' (Updated)
How easy you can fake Bin Laden videos? - video satire - (Ggle 1m33s - 031609)
Al Qaeda does not exist - Bin Laden videos are fake -- OBL is dead
Osama bin Surplus
The Fake 2001 bin Laden Video Tape
Osama bin Laden: The Newest Fake - Alt
Pentagon Liars: Fake Osama bin Laden Video Exposed
Osama bin Laden: A dead nemesis perpetuated by the US government
CIA&Their Fake Osama Videos - video - (YuTb - 7m28s - 042309)
Osama bin Surplus - Fake Osama In al-Jazeera Video?
Meet the Fake bin Laden
Fake Osama bin Laden Tapes Fool American Public
Fake Videos - Google Search - video search list
The 2004 October Surprise Video is fake!
Faked Video Confession
Top U.S. Bin Laden Expert: Confession Video “Bogus”
Osama or CIA's Funniest Home Video? - article & video list
Osama Stole O.J.'s Fake Beard
Osama Tape Appears Fake, Experts Conclude
New Osama Tape: Was It Fake?

For more on this issue see....US Fake Intel / Propaganda - "al-Qaeda" Videos
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"Petraeus: al-Qaeda moved headquarters from Afghanistan to Pakistan [LOL! Yup, al-Q packed up and moved, to justify this insanity: US House committee approves $400 mn for Pakistan counterinsurgency 08 May 2009. Oh, and wait! There's more: [The top US military commander also warned that "tentacles of al-Qaeda" have spread across the countries from the Middle East to northern Africa.] 10 May 2009 Gen. David Petraeus says "very significant losses" in recent months have triggered al-Qaeda to move their headquarters from Afghanistan to western Pakistan. Appearing on "FOX News Sunday" and CNN's "State of the Union," on Sunday the head of the US Central Command said the group was no longer holding its headquarters in Afghanistan. The top US military commander also warned that "tentacles of al-Qaeda" have spread across the countries from the Middle East to northern Africa. Petraeus said he believes Osama bin Laden and his No. 2 [frequently killed and re-born] Ayman al-Zawahiri remain in charge of the terrorist network." -- Paragraph quoted form CLG

G20 police 'used undercover men to incite crowds' -- MP demands inquiry into Met tactics at demo
Special Note - A quote...."Police and protesters clash in London on 1 April 2009. Photograph: Chris Ison/PA
An MP who was involved in last month's G20 protests in London is to call for an investigation into whether the police used agents provocateurs to incite the crowds. - Liberal Democrat Tom Brake says he saw what he believed to be two plain-clothes police officers go through a police cordon after presenting their ID cards." -- also posted at AtheoNews
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Don’t Be Fooled by Inflation
Some quotes...."by Peter Schiff -- Strike up the band, boys, happy days are here again! Recently released short-term economic data, including unemployment claims, non-farm payrolls, home sales, and business spending, which had been so unambiguously horrific in February and March, are now just garden-variety awful......" -- "Once again, the facts do not support the euphoria. Over the past few months, the government has literally blasted the economy with trillions of new dollars conjured from the ether. The fact that this “stimulus” has blown some air back into our deflating consumer-based bubble economy, and given a boost to an oversold stock market, is hardly evidence that the problems have been solved. It is simply an illusion, and not a very good one at that. By throwing money at the problem, all the government is creating is inflation. Although this can often look like growth, it is no more capable of creating wealth than a hall of mirrors is capable of creating people."

It may actually be worse than what Peter Schiff thinks, the inflation numbers like the CPI, although unreliable, can still be used in comparison to the PPI numbers.  And the CPI has been a lot lower to actually negative recently compared to the PPI.  Which indicates that manufacturers are having trouble passing their costs onto the consumers.  Which is going to affect their profits, and hence (eventually) their stock prices. Worse, the consumer is tapped out, their credit is maxed out, their house ATM doesn't work anymore, real wages are flat to falling, and the economy is shedding six hundred thousand jobs a month.  Conditions that are not expected to improve for YEARS!

On top of all this we have what looks like a boom in the commodities market as people, and much more importantly other nations, dump currencies that are intangible for goods that are.  In other words instead of a case of classic inflation, what Bernanke may have engineered is a non-agricultural commodities bubble which is taking place DURING an on-going US-NRE depression!!!

Or think of it this way, remember what happened during the '72 to '82 part of the ten year cycle as jobs disappeared, gas prices zoomed upwards and inflation reared it's ugly self? Well, this is going to be ten times worse.

It just goes to show all those pieces of paper Bernanke rolled off the presses had to go somewhere -- what can one say....genius at work perhaps? – mpg

For more on this issue see....The Virtual Economy - 05-01-09 - mpg
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Bank of England braced for third wave of financial crisis
A quote...."The Bank of England is concerned that the UK's banking system is heading for a third wave of crisis that could snuff out fragile signs of recovery in the economy. - On Thursday the Bank surprised the City by announcing that it would pump an extra £50bn of new money into the economy despite recent stockmarket rallies."

Saturday May 9th 2009

No posts. - mpg

Friday May 8th 2009

Rebranding the "Long War", Pt 2 - Balochistan is the ultimate prize & Pt 1: Obama does his Bush impression 
Must Read - Geo-Strategic Alert - Obama™ Update - A quote...."It's a classic case of calm before the storm. The AfPak chapter of Obama's brand new OCO ("Overseas Contingency Operations"), formerly GWOT ("global war on terror") does not imply only a surge in the Pashtun Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). A surge in Balochistan as well may be virtually inevitable. -- Balochistan is totally under the radar of Western corporate media. But not the Pentagon's. An immense desert comprising almost 48% of Pakistan's area, rich in uranium and copper, potentially very rich in oil, and producing more than one-third of Pakistan's natural gas, it accounts for less than 4% of Pakistan's 173 million citizens." -- For more on this issue see....The US's New Map of the Middle East & Divide and rule & The Plan -- according to U.S. General Wesley Clark (Ret.) YouTube - 1.37 min

How the US Empire Contributed to the Economic Crisis
A quote...."A few — and only a few — prescient commentators have questioned whether the U.S. can sustain its informal global empire in the wake of the most severe economic crisis since World War II.  And the simultaneous quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan are leading more and more opinion leaders and taxpayers to this question.  But the U.S. Empire helped cause the meltdown in the first place." -- For more on this issue see....Effective Fed Funds Rate & Total Nonfarm Payrolls

Scott Horton Interviews Jacob Hornberger
Audio Interview - A quote...."Jacob Hornberger, founder and president of the Future of Freedom Foundation, discusses the legal maneuvers that prevented a Supreme Court ruling on enemy combatants, the difference between regular and extraordinary rendition, how the U.S. asserts the right to detain anyone in the world indefinitely and how the mission of the CIA is incompatible with a free society."

The NYT's definition of blinding American exceptionalism
Special Note - A quote..."There's been a major editorial breach at The New York Times today, in this obituary of an American fighter pilot who was captured by the Chinese:"

"Harold E. Fischer Jr., an American Flier Tortured in a Chinese Prison, Dies at 83. . . .From April 1953 through May 1955, Colonel Fischer — then an Air Force captain — was held at a prison outside Mukden, Manchuria. For most of that time, he was kept in a dark, damp cell with no bed and no opening except a slot in the door through which a bowl of food could be pushed. Much of the time he was handcuffed. Hour after hour, a high-frequency whistle pierced the air." -- *New York Times*

"So that's torture now?  To use the prevailing American mindset:  a room that doesn't meet the standards of a Hilton and some whistling in the background is torture?  My neighbor whistles all the time; does that mean he's torturing me?  It's not as though Fischer had his eyes poked out by hot irons or was placed in a coffin-like box with bugs or was handcuffed to the ceiling." -- also posted at LewRockwell

Tales of Yankee Power: Inevitable Atrocities of the Terror War
Special Note - Obama™ Update - A quote...."A quote...."Patrick Cockburn reports that the death count is rising from this week's American airstrike on an Afghan village compound where women, children and elderly men were taking shelter from a battle several miles away;  Afghan officials now say that almost 150 civilians were killed. [One of the few survivors is pictured at left.] What's more, it turns out that the attack was not a single, mistaken shot, but part of a sustained bombing campaign, lasting for hours, in which three villages were "pounded to pieces." From The Independent:"

Taking a Page From the Bush Playbook
Special Note - Obama™ Update - A quote...."The Obama administration is now considering reinstating the Military Commissions Act after a four-month suspension, in contradiction to the president’s promise to end military tribunals for detainees and to close down Gitmo. While there is talk about reforming the act to restrict hearsay evidence and to permit defendants to challenge intelligence used against them, the disparity between the tribunals and due process for other criminals leaves intact the concept of “unlawful enemy combatant,” as contained in the act, and thus threatens further evisceration of the rule of law."  - also posted at ICH -- There is absolutely no difference between Obama and George Bush except Obama is more intelligent, can actually speak the English language, and he knows what he's doing....whereas Bush wasn't, couldn't, and could’ve cared less.  That just makes Obama - if this is even conceptually possible - more repellently evil. – mpg

Obama budget allocates $130 billion for 2 wars
Obama™ Update - A quote...."WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's proposed defense budget includes $130 billion for the nation's two wars, a figure that may not be enough."

Obama renews sanctions on Syria
Obama™ Update - A quote...."Despite recent attempts to improve relations with Damascus, a senior official says the Obama administration has extended US sanctions on Syria." -- One would sincerely hope this did not come as a surprise to Syria.  After all, this action was undertaken by a "man" (the term is used quite loosely here) who almost literally got on his knees at AIPAC's convention in gratitude that they let a lowly worm like him fawn and genuflect at their feet -- and he did it twice! – mpg
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Laying the Groundwork for Violence
A quote...." Throughout history, those who collaborate with the occupiers of their country tend to end up hung out to dry, or dead. The occupation of Iraq is no different - collaboration and the poison fruits that come of it are on full display for the history books once again. Only now, the rapidity with which this is happening is staggering." -- also posted at GlobRsrch & Uruknet & Creative-i

Afghan villagers say [New] NATO strike kills 6 civilians
A quote...."A NATO operation killed six civilians Monday, including a woman and a young girl, in a mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan, villagers and officials said. But the military alliance said its force killed four to eight militants."

Villagers list 147 dead in Afghan strike
A quote...."KABUL, May 8 (Reuters) - Residents of two villages hit earlier this week by U.S. air strikes have prepared lists with the names of 147 people killed in the attacks, the deputy governor of the province where the strikes took place said."

Afghanistan: DOD Makes Excuses, CNN Rushes to Repeat the Spin
A quote...."Yesterday, while Sec. of State Clinton was expressing “deep regret” over Monday's civilian deaths in Bala Baluk, US military spokespeople were telling a different story. After similar incidents, one of the usual claims made is that the civilian casualties are inevitable since villagers are “used as human shields by the Taliban” but this time, DOD is spinning at a whole new level, claiming that the Taliban rounded up civilians and killed them with grenades – then loaded the bodies into trucks to use as an anti-American photo op. CNN quickly had Barbara Starr on air repeating the DOD version within hours of the Clinton apology."

Afghanistan: NATO Should "Come Clean" on White Phosphorus Release Report on Attack in Which Child Burned
A quote...."(New York) - NATO forces in Afghanistan should immediately release the results of their investigation into a March 14, 2009, incident in which an 8-year-old girl in Kapisa province was burned by white phosphorus munitions, Human Rights Watch said today. A NATO spokesperson has denied allegations from the girl's father that NATO forces had fired the rounds that caused her injuries."

Karzai Demands End to US Air Strikes
A quote...."Ending his visit to the United States, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has demanded that the United States end its air strikes in his country, saying that the rising death toll was infuriating the public. “We believe strongly that airstrikes are not an effective way of fighting terrorism, that airstrikes rather cause civilian casualties,” Karzai declared."

Conflating Afghanistan and Pakistan - Obama's Axis of Obedience
A quote...."In the first six month’s of Zardari’s presidency, the relationship between the governments of America and Pakistan has been that of colonial power to colony. Zardari’s support of the American bombing campaign in Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province, and Pakistani military operations there, both resulting in disproportionate civilian casualties, have infuriated the Pakistani people and put the country on the brink of revolution. As another prominent Pakistani opposition figure, Imran Khan, has noted, “what country bombs its own people?”

Pakistanis flee Swat fighting
A quote...."A humanitarian crisis is looming in Pakistan as hundreds of thousands of civilians flee fighting between the Taliban and government troops in the country's northwest."

Business As Usual in Washington As Humanitarian Crisis Looms in Pakistan
A quote...."A major offensive against militants in the Swat and Buner districts of Pakistan is underway, as thousands of civilians flee the area, headed for refugee camps that have been set up to help mitigate the crisis. -- The offensive marks the complete collapse of a peace agreement between the government and Pakistani Taliban forces. Under the truce, the Taliban would be allowed to implement Sharia, or Islamic law, in Swat. But as Taliban forces took advantage of the lull in an attempt to expand their influence into Buner, the deal fell apart."

Resisting U.S. Priorities - The Pakistan Conundrum
A quote...."The advances of the Taliban insurgents beyond the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in recent weeks and the failure of the Pakistani military to counter them have brought a rare moment of truth for top national security officials of the Barack Obama administration."

Five More Mossad Agents Arrested in Lebanon
A quote...."08/05/2009 Security forces have arrested Friday five individuals in various southern towns on suspicion of collaborating with the Israeli Mossad." - also posted at WarInIraq

“Soros’ institute was involved in revolutions in Ukraine, Georgia” – expert
Video - A quote...."Investigative journalist and columnist Wayne Madsen joins RT from Washington to share his ideas regarding an alleged plot against Barack Obama within NATO."

Belarus denies plans to sell Syria, Iran weapons
A quote...."MINSK, May 8 (RIA Novosti) - The Belarusian president denied on Friday the country had any plans to sell weapons to Syria or Iran. Earlier this month some Russian and foreign media reported Belarus was planning to sell S-300 surface-to-air missiles and Iskander tactical missile systems to Iran, and said that Tehran had arranged to transfer some of the systems to Syria. "As far as S-300 and Iskander [missiles] are concerned, these complexes cannot be exported without my approval. There is not a single contract or project related to these systems that I have been asked to approve. This is utter nonsense," Alexander Lukashenko said. He added that Belarus "has no Iskander missiles, while S-300s are all in operational service."

Caspian Nations Reject EU Nabucco Deal
Special Note - A quote...."News number: 8802190697 | 13:28 | 2009-05-09TEHRAN (FNA)- Three Caspian Sea nations failed to sign an agreement with the European Union to develop the Nabucco gas pipeline project. -- Diplomats said the decision by Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan at a summit in Prague was due to pressure from Russia, which sees the Nabucco project a strong rival to the Moscow-backed South Stream pipeline, press tv reported."

North Korea 'preparing for second nuclear test'
A quote...."North Korea has begun preparations for a second nuclear test at a site in the north of the country, South Korean government sources have said, raising the diplomatic stakes over stalled nuclear disarmament talks."
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Democrats were routinely briefed on Bush ‘torture’ techniques, document shows
A quote...."The CIA has released a devastating document detailing the dates and explicit details of secret Congressional briefings in which members of Congress were told of the Bush administration’s torture techniques and when they had been used."

History of CIA Torture: Unraveling the Web of Deceit, Part I
A quote....""When any modern state tortures even a few victims, the stigma compromises its majesty and corrupts its integrity. Its officials must spin an ever more complex web of lies that, in the end, weakens the bonds of trust and the rule of law that are the sine qua non of a democracy. And, beyond its borders, allies and enemies turn away in collective revulsion." -- *Prof. Alfred W. McCoy*, A Question of Torture (2006).

Police Investigate Man With Civil Liberties Sticker As Possible "Extremist"
A quote...."Louisiana police pulled over and detained a man for half an hour, believing him to be a possible "extremist" because of a bumper sticker on his car that read "Don't Tread On Me". -- The man, whose identity is undisclosed for privacy reasons, was reportedly subjected to a thorough background check after he purchased the iconic sticker from The Patriot Depot. -- The details were related to conservative website americanvision.org by the man's sister-in-law Rosemarie, a resident of Ball, Louisiana."
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Criminalizing criticism of Israel is the end of free speech
Must Read - A quote...."On October 16, 2004, President George W. Bush signed the Israel Lobby’s bill, the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act. This legislation requires the US Department of State to monitor anti-Semitism worldwide. -- To monitor anti-Semitism, it has to be defined. What is the definition? Basically, as defined by the Israel Lobby and Abe Foxman, it boils down to any criticism of Israel or Jews. -- Rahm Israel Emanuel hasn’t been mopping floors at the White House. As soon as he gets the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 passed, it will become a crime for any American to tell the truth about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and theft of their lands. -- It will be a crime for Christians to acknowledge the New Testament’s account of Jews demanding the crucifixion of Jesus. -- It will be a crime to report the extraordinary influence of the Israel Lobby on the White House and Congress, such as the AIPAC-written resolutions praising Israel for its war crimes against the Palestinians in Gaza that were endorsed by 100 percent of the US Senate and 99 per cent of the House of Representatives, while the rest of the world condemned Israel for its barbarity." -- For more on this entire issue see....Judeo-Christian C/C & US

International Human Rights Workers to accompany Palestinian farmers near buffer zone in Gaza Strip
A quote...."8am, Thursday 7 May 2009: Six International Human Rights Workers will be accompanying 12 Palestinian farmers Laytamaat area near Khoza’a, east of Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza strip, as they harvest crops several hundred metres from the Green Line."

Palestinians rebuild with mud - Tough people. - mpg
A quote...."RAFAH, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - Jihad al-Shaar is pleased with his mud-brick house in the Moraj district of Gaza. The 80-square meter home is a basic one-story, two-bedroom design, with a small kitchen, bathroom and sitting room, made mostly with mud and straw."

“Food Security” in Palestine
A uqote...."The recent increase in the number of check points, as well as the devastating consequences brought on by the latest Israeli Cast Lead Operations on the Gaza Strip, are affecting the life of the Palestinians in many different ways. The Palestinian economy is a “stifled economy” where the occupation is exacerbating the level of poverty and unemployment, and decreasing the standard living of the people."
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Depression Interruptus - Has Bernanke Pulled the Economy Back From the Brink?
Must Read - On the one hand.....Some quotes...."Fed chief Ben Bernanke's understanding of financial crises may have kept the country from sliding into another Great Depression. That doesn't mean that he's fixed the credit system, removed the non-performing loans from the banks, or stopped housing prices from crashing. It simply means that pumping liquidity into the system -- via huge increases in the money supply, zero-percent interest rates, and multi-trillion dollar lending facilities -- has either slowed or reversed the rate of decline in many sectors of the economy. Monetary stimulus works. Manufacturing, industrial output, world trade and global stock markets had all been falling faster than during the Great Depression. Bernanke changed that. His aggressive monetary policy helped to stabilize the financial system and pull the economy back from the brink."

On the other hand...."The economy is now in a downward spiral. Tightening in the credit markets has made it harder for consumers to borrow or businesses to expand. Overextended financial institutions are forced to shed assets at firesale prices to meet margin calls from the banks. Asset deflation is ongoing with no end in sight. Price declines in housing have reached 30 per cent already and are accelerating on the downside. Unemployment is at a 40 year high and headed higher. There are no jobs; home equity and retirement funds are shrinking and prospects for a quick recovery are nil. -- The stock market surge doesn't help working people who get paid by the hour and don't have the extra money to bet on equities. They can't move numbers from one ledger to another and magically show a profit. They have to balance their check books, show up on time. For these people -- the bulk of working Americans -- the future has never been grimmer and less certain."
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America's "Money Machine"
Book Review - Must Read - A quote...."This is the second of several articles on Ellen Brown's remarkable book titled "Web of Debt....the shocking truth about our money system, (how it) trapped us in debt, and how we can break free." It's a multi-part snapshot. Reading the entire book is strongly recommended - easily obtainable through [GoglSrch] or Brown's webofdebt.com site." -- also posted at AftrDnwngSt

Beware of Obamanomics
Must Read - A quote...."The market, in short, is trying to move consumers away from personal finance models based on indebtedness and too much (and/or the wrong kinds of) consumption, and toward more saving and a sustainable level of consumption. To accommodate this shift, labor and capital will need to be reallocated out of some sectors and into other ones. "Stimulus" spending only disrupts and confuses this purgative process, by misdirecting resources into arbitrary projects and artificially stimulating politically favored industries at the expense of the economy’s healthy and productive sector. Obama’s program for recovery, such as it is, looks instead to reinflate the bubble, keep the spending spree going, and give still more artificial stimulus to debt while providing disincentives to save. It refuses to allow the market to correct the unsustainable excesses in the economy. "No scheme which has ever been devised by them has ever made a collapsed boom go up again," said William Graham Sumner in 1896. Nothing in the historical record since then has altered that verdict."

Banks Won Concessions on Tests - Fed Cut Billions Off Some Initial Capital-Shortfall Estimates; Tempers Flare at Wells
A quote...."The Federal Reserve significantly scaled back the size of the capital hole facing some of the nation's biggest banks shortly before concluding its stress tests, following two weeks of intense bargaining. - In addition, according to bank and government officials, the Fed used a different measurement of bank-capital levels than analysts and investors had been expecting, resulting in much smaller capital deficits."

Subprime lobbyists in $370m battle
A quote...."The top 25 US originators of subprime mortgages – the risky assets that sparked the global financial crisis – spent almost $370m in Washington over the past decade on lobbying and campaign donations as they tried to ward off tighter regulation of their industry, an investigation has shown." -- For more on this issue see....Having Fun With Your Tax Dollars

Why the Government's Attempt to Instill False Confidence Will Backfire
Special Note - A quote...."The government is doing its best to try to "restore confidence" in the economy. Indeed, Obama's top economics advisors believe they can fool people into believing that everything is fine, and then the economy will recover. - And for that reason, defenders of the status quo think that it is important for everyone to keep quiet about how severe the crisis really is. - Are they right? - No."

Website Editor's Note:  What's really bothersome, and what gives one a sense of deep foreboding, is the fact that almost every single mass-media outlet, every single financial firm, and every single government official who is coordinating and promulgating these talking points is using the EXACT SAME language, assurances, conceptual outlook, turgid explanations, and outright distortions of fact they used a little more than two years ago right before this entire fiasco revealed itself.

There is an extremely strange and spooky feeling of déjà vu one gets while witnessing this spectacle of spin. One would sincerely hope that government officials are not engaging in this effort all over again in an attempt to bilk foreign investors, sovereign wealth funds, or the common investor in this country as has already happened once before. – mpg

Jobless rate jumps to 8.9% even as job losses throttle back
This really isn't good news, but it's not bad either, and the numbers were slighty better than expected. - mpg -- Some quotes.... "WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The unemployment rate jumped to a 26-year high of 8.9% in April as the U.S. economy shed 539,000 more jobs, the Department of Labor reported Friday. -- The nonfarm payrolls report was largely as expected, reflecting a slight easing in the pace of massive job destruction that had averaged 680,000 over the previous five months. Since the recession began in December 2007, payrolls have fallen by 5.7 million, or 4.1% of payrolls, the largest percentage decline since the 1958 recession. -- April's loss of 539,000 jobs was the smallest decline since October's 380,000. However, job losses in February and March were revised higher by a total of 66,000."  --  "Average hourly earnings rose 1 cent to $18.51 an hour, the smallest increase in three years." - bold by website editor

China fears bond crisis as it slams quantitative easing
A quote...."China has given its clearest warning to date that emergency monetary stimulus by Western governments risks setting off worldwide inflation and undermining global bond markets." -- also posted at BLN

Beijing accumulates minerals to substitute the dollar with the Yuan
A quote...."Millions of tones of Iron ore, copper nickel and alluminium to deversify China’s portfolio, over dependent on the dollar. In the interim an increasing number of nations use the Yuan for trade currency." -- For more on this issue see.... Tangible is Better Than In-Tangible - 04-30-09 - mpg

Bank [of England] to print extra 50 billion pounds
A quote...."LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England stepped up its campaign to boost the struggling economy, raising the size of its asset purchase programme on Thursday in a surprise move tantamount to printing an extra 50 billion pounds to get banks lending again."

Worst annual loss for world’s biggest carmaker
A quote...."Toyota, the world’s biggest carmaker, has made its worst annual loss as the global economic downturn has hit demand for its vehicles. The Japanese company said it made a net loss equivalent to 4.4 billon US dollars in the year to 31 March, compared with a record profit the year before.  Toyota said it expected to make a bigger loss in this financial year."

Thursday May 7th 2009

Secretary Doomsday and the Empathy Gap - The Everyday Extremism of Washington
Must Read - A quote...."A front-page New York Times headline last week put the matter politely indeed: "In Pakistan, U.S. Courts Leader of Opposition." And nobody thought it was strange at all. -- In fact, it's the sort of thing you can read just about any time when it comes to American policy in Pakistan or, for that matter, Afghanistan. It's just the norm on a planet on which it's assumed that American civilian and military leaders can issue pronunciamentos about what other countries must do; publicly demand various actions of ruling groups; opt for specific leaders, and then, when they disappoint, attempt to replace them; and use what was once called "foreign aid," now taxpayer dollars largely funneled through the Pentagon, to bribe those who are hard to convince." -- also posted at CommonDreams & LewRockwell

Pirates vs. Emperors
Must Read - A quote...."History shows that when a powerful empire sets sail overseas its spokespeople often depict the undertaking as an effort to create order and bring peace. When a pirate ship ventures into the open seas, by contrast, the empire portrays the endeavor as a crime against humanity. The difference is not so much what emperors and pirates do—both pillage and plunder, albeit to vastly different degrees. What matters most is which of the two is in a position to effectively define right and wrong."

Obama Means No Change - Bush By Another Name
Must Read - Obama™ Update - A quote...."Christopher King argues that President Barack Obama is no different in substance from his predecessor, George W. Bush, and that the European Union should detach itself from the coattail of the USA and develop constructive national and foreign policies based on the European culture and geo-political situation. -- We’ve now seen Barack Obama’s first 100 days. I said I wasn’t hopeful that he would bring any change in US foreign policy but I’m disappointed nevertheless. Deep down I was hoping for the best, although the evidence was against it. Barack Obama is America’s Anthony Blair: looks good but rotten inside. To approve an escalation of killing in Afghanistan has to be rotten but, to be fair, he did warn us. So what has the president given the world so far?"
China takes steps towards full convertibility of the yuan
Must Read - Financial Warning -- A quote...."China recently announced a series of measures to protect its economy against a possible devaluation of the US dollar by decoupling the Asian currencies from the American currency and using the Chinese yuan to gain access to raw materials from South America, the Caribbean and, most importantly, Russia. -- The Chinese government has serious reasons to be alarmed. As the financial crisis deepens and the US debt multiplies to unprecedented levels, the possibilities of the US dollar failing to maintain its privileged position as the world reserve currency are very real." - also posted at AtheoNews

The Prospects of a New Cold War? Towards the Consolidation of the Russian-led CSTO Military Alliance
Must Read - A quote...."We are not afraid of anything, including the prospect of a new Cold War, but we don’t want one" --  *Dmitriy Medvedev*, President of Russia  ---  In his 1997 book entitled The Grand Chessboard American geostrategist Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote that if Russia ever attempted to launch its own defense pact, it would include, "at most", Belarus and Tajikistan[1]. Twelve years later, his list turned out to be incomplete. Moreover, the attempts being made in order to enhance the Russian-led CSTO's actual power projection capabilities and the efforts undertaken to bring the organization's members closer together is something Brzezinski failed to anticipate and it seems that the latest developments concerning CSTO demonstrate that his triumphalism was premature.
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Afghans riot over air-strike atrocity
A quote...."Shouting "Death to America" and "Death to the Government", thousands of Afghan villagers hurled stones at police yesterday as they vented their fury at American air strikes that local officials claim killed 147 civilians. - The riot started when people from three villages struck by US bombers in the early hours of Tuesday, brought 15 newly-discovered bodies in a truck to the house of the provincial governor. As the crowd pressed forward in Farah, police opened fire, wounding four protesters. Traders in the rest of Farah city, the capital of the province of the same name where the bombing took place, closed their shops, vowing they would not reopen them until there is an investigation."

Massacre of civilians overshadows “AfPak” summit
Related Article - A quote...."A summit meeting in Washington between President Barack Obama and his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts, Hamid Karzai and Asif Ali Zardari, has been overshadowed by the worst massacre of Afghan civilians since the US invaded the country in October 2001."

Record [number of] bombs dropped in Afghanistan in April
A quote...."Air Force, Navy and other coalition warplanes dropped a record number of bombs in Afghanistan during April, Air Forces Central figures show."

Robert Fisk: Civilians pay price of war from above
A quote...."Of course there will be an inquiry. And in the meantime, we shall be told that all the dead Afghan civilians were being used as "human shields" by the Taliban and we shall say that we "deeply regret" innocent lives that were lost. But we shall say that it's all the fault of the terrorists, not our heroic pilots and the US Marine special forces who were target spotting around Bala Baluk and Ganjabad." -- also posted at CommonDreams

On regret
Special Note - Obama™ Update - Some quotes...."Listening to Hillary Clinton express "deep regret" yesterday over the american massacre of over 100 Afghan civilians I couldn't help but think about the meaning of regret...."  --  "For me, regret does not merely express sorrow or empathy. it also means learning from your mistakes and doing what you can to not do that thing that caused you to regret what you did in the first place. But, of course, Clinton and Obama want to create more such occasions for regret given their desire to place more american troops on afghan soil, which will only bring us promises of more massacres in the future. Jeremy Scahill shows us precisely why this "regret" is complete hogwash:" - bold by website editor

The Missing Exit Strategy for Afghanistan
Obama™ Update - A quote...."President Obama said it best when he talked about U.S. policy in Afghanistan on the CBS news program 60 Minutes last month: "There's got to be an exit strategy". -- Well, there isn't one. [That's because the US-NRE intends to stay there....forever - mpg] There is an escalation of 21,000 US forces and there is a wartime spending bill requesting $94.2 billion more for Iraq and Afghanistan. But, as of today, there isn't even a hint of what the President believes we need-an exit strategy. The Appropriations Committee is expected to dutifully vote out their bill Thursday and send it to the floor of the House for a vote next week."
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Muqtada comes in from the cold
A quote...."DAMASCUS - In a surprising move that took observers off-guard, Iraqi Shi'ite leader Muqtada al-Sadr showed up in Istanbul at the weekend with a delegation of 70 supporters, including members of the 30-man Sadrist bloc in the Iraqi parliament."

Attackers blow up north Iraq oil pipeline
A quote...."An oil pipeline near the disputed oil-rich northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk was blown up early on Wednesday, interrupting pumping from 15 wells but not affecting exports, an official said."

Zero Hour: Calibrating the Case for [Pakistan] Intervention
Obama™ Update - A quote...."As Juan Cole and many others have noted, the picture now being painted of Pakistan on the verge of a Taliban takeover is wildly off the mark, and completely ignores the reality (there's that damn thing again!) of Pakistan, which, as I pointed out yesterday, is actually filled with millions upon millions of ordinary, literate, peace-loving people, committed to democracy and the rule of law: principles for which they courageously risked their lives and liberties in ousting an American-backed military tyrant just a few months ago. -- But now, suddenly -- because it serves the needs of a militarist empire trapped in the worsening quagmire of another pointless, murderous, destablizing, hate-breeding "intervention" next door -- these same Pakistanis are being painted as a mob of barbarians who are either cravenly capitulating to terrorists – or becoming terrorists themselves."

Blogsphere Wakes Up On Obama's War
Obama™ Update - A quote...."Over the last month I have written lots of pieces on Pakistan and U.S. interference there. In the 'Links' posting I titled pieces about the administration's talk on Pakistan as War propaganda, Pakistan panic and War preparation campaign. The build up was obvious to me, but I missed the rest of the blogsphere on this theme.Now finally others are waking up too."

Iran to construct road links to Iraq
A quote...."Iranian contractors are slated to partner with Iraqi companies to construct new roads linking different Iraqi and Iranian cities. -- According to an accord signed between the two countries, Iranian contractors will collaborate with their Iraqi counterparts in building roads between Iraqi and Iranian cities of Al Amara, Sheib, Mehran Kut, Haaj Emran, Bashmaq and Seyyed Sadeq."

Germans want trade with Iran
A quote...."Iranian Ambassador to Germany Ali-Reza Sheikh-Attar says German firms are unwilling to lose trade ties with Iran because of sanctions. - He said that German firms welcomed recent meetings with Iranian officials and made clear their willingness to boost commercial links with Iran." - also posted at AtheoNews
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US strategy in Latin America was wrong
A quote...."Three years ago I wrote an article arguing that the political changes sweeping across Latin America were epoch-making and probably irreversible, and that they would fundamentally alter the relationship between the region and the United States. Some of the most important economic causes of the region's shift to the left – including the unprecedented long-term growth failure since 1980 – were unrecognised then and remain mostly unacknowledged to this day."

The Fun House Mirror: Distortions and Omissions in the News on Bolivia
A quote...."In August, Bolivian president Evo Morales won a referendum on his term in office with 67% of the vote. The opposition, having failed to unseat Morales in the face of the largest electoral majority in Bolivian history, embarked on a campaign of violent destabilization that culminated in riots, economic sabotage, and the massacre of more than 20 indigenous Morales supporters in September. Just a day before the massacre, at the height of opposition violence, the Bolivian government expelled U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg, following revelations that the U.S. Embassy in La Paz had asked Peace Corps volunteers and a Fulbright scholar to spy inside Bolivia, together with growing evidence, amid official secrecy, of U.S. funding for violent opposition groups.1" -- also posted at Creative-i

Dole sued over links to Colombian death squads
A quote...."Dole Food Company is being sued by the families of 57 people allegedly murdered by paramilitaries hired by the US firm at its banana plantations in Colombia. - A lawsuit filed in Los Angeles alleges that Dole hired the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) despite the fact that the group had been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the US State Department."

NY Trial to Decide Shell's Role in Nigerian Deaths
A quote...."A civil trial that will judge any involvement by oil giant Royal Dutch Shell in the executions of protesters in Nigeria will start this month in New York City, more than 13 years after their deaths."
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Zionist Settlers in Hebron - Apartheid Crimes
Video List

Israeli navy arrests 5 Palestinian fishermen off northern Gaza
Man, those Israelis just love to HATE those Gazan fishermen. - mpg -- A quote...."GAZA, May 7 (KUNA) -- Israeli Navy arrested on Thursday five Palestinian fishermen in the open sea off the north of Gaza Strip. - Palestinian security sources said to Kuwait news agency (KUNA) Israeli navy personnel aboard gunboats intercepted a Palestinian fishing boat carrying five fishermen who were engaged in fishing in the Sudanese region oFf northern Gaza Strip. - The Israeli naval personnel opened fire towards the fishermen and arrested them, the sources said, adding that the fishermen boat and equipment were damaged." -- also posted at WarInIraq

Israeli activist to be jailed for caring
A quote...."Ezra Nawi was ridiculed and arrested for trying to protect people's homes. Only international attention can help him now." - also posted at CounterCurrents & CommonDreams

Israel's war on dissent
Special Note - A quote...."About six months after Israel's attorney general publicly announced an effort to criminalize dissent, state authorities have upped the ante in their "war" -- as the Israeli daily Haaretz called it last September -- against Israel's youth; against the broad, grassroots movement slandered by officials as "draft shirkers." On 26 April, a day before Israel's Memorial Day, Israeli police produced a hyperbolic piece of political theater. As if facing down a dangerous organized crime "family," they "raided" -- to quote their press release -- the homes of six activists in different parts of Israel, who were detained for interrogation. Exploiting the ritual emotions of a day of mourning for military dead, the police action singled out and branded anti-militarist activists as non-members of the legitimate community, implying that they (we) are fair game."

Israel 'Suffocates' Jesus Birthplace: UN - posted at the Palestine Chronicle
A quote...."Israeli restrictions, separation wall and settlements are virtually suffocating the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, restricting its growth, undermining its economy and compromising its future, the UN has warned. - "Israeli measures have radically reduced the space available to the inhabitants of Bethlehem, compromising the future economic and social development of the governorate," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said in a report released on Thursday, May 7."
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Informants say Blackwater guards tried to unload arms
Cover-Up Alert - A quote...."Shortly after a 2007 shooting incident in a Baghdad traffic square that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, Blackwater contractors allegedly transferred a number of machine guns to another contractor who is now charged with trying to smuggle them out of Iraq."

Director of National Intelligence Busts Pelosi on Torture
A quote...."Many people (including me) have repeatedly pointed out that Pelosi was complicit in torture. Pelosi has repeatedly denied that she was briefed on torture. - But the Director of National Intelligence just busted Pelosi."

Is Everyone In Washington Being Blackmailed?
Cover-Up Alert - Full  quote...."Obama's Attorney General - Eric Holder - approved "extraordinary renditions" during the Clinton presidency. -- And so now Republicans are blackmailing Holder, saying they will focus the spotlight on his role in approving renditions if Holder pulls back the cover too far on torture under the Bush administration. -- This ties into Sibel Edmonds' allegations that virtually everyone in Washington is being blackmailed not to rock some boat or another. -- Are most members of Congress being blackmailed on torture, spying, and other issues of national security? Is the Justice Department? The White House? -- What a swamp." -- also posted at OhBummer

Holder says he approved Clinton-era renditions
A quote...."Under fire from Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, Attorney General Eric Holder revealed that he had approved of rendition — essentially, legalized kidnapping — apparently more than once during his tenure as President Bill Clinton’s deputy attorney general."

Government Could Destroy Records in Hundreds of Guantanamo Cases
Cover-Up Alert - A quote...."Government Could Destroy Records in Hundreds of Guantanamo Cases. - also posted at CommonDreams & AtheoNews & Uruknet

"Although the lawyers are forbidden to reveal classified details, they could include prisoners' personal accounts of abuses [3] and interrogation procedures [4] that have recently been described in secondhand reports. These voices have been missing, the New York Times noted [5] today, because the government refuses to disclose prisoners' statements and their lawyers operate under a gag order."

For more on this issue see the article shown below....

Torture and Treason
Must Read -- For one of the key concepts of the Neocons' criminal enterprise) - This is the very heart of the matter folks, don't lose sight of it.  The Neocons set it all up and that includes murdering people to start their various wars for profit. - mpg -- A quote...."Let us pause the news cycle here and strip away the desperate delicacy of this language. The Gitmo intelligence crew was being told, from the highest levels of the Bush White House and the Pentagon - think Cheney, think Rumsfeld - to keep slamming these guys' heads against the wall, to keep pouring water down their throats, to keep tormenting them with dogs and insects, until they blubbered, in their pain and terror, a word or two that would justify the long-planned (and completely pointless) invasion of Iraq. -- This drags the torture "debate" out of the fog that mainstream pundits are paid to generate - does it work? is it legal? is it cruel? is it counterproductive? - and exposes something that is troubling at the level of the soul, and begs only one question. - posted 04-30-09 -- Is it treason?" -- For more on this issue see....The Convenient Silence of Guantanamo Bay - 05-31-08 - mpg

Exposed: MI5's secret deals in Camp X-ray
A quote...."MI5 secretly tried to hire British men held in Guantanamo Bay and other US prison camps by promising to protect them from their American captors and help secure their return home to the United Kingdom, The Independent has learnt."

Justice Department drops case against Fort Lewis war objector
Special Note - Someone everyone should deeply admire, he stood up to the ENTIRE Military Industrial Complex and the Bush Regime, defended himself in court using phenomenal logic, along with his steadfast moral convictions....and won. – mpg --  A quote...."SEATTLE (AP) - The Justice Department is dropping its appeal of a judge's decision that blocked the Army from retrying a Fort Lewis lieutenant who refused to deploy to Iraq. - Army spokesman Joe Piek said Wednesday that Fort Lewis officials learned late last week of the department's decision in the case of Ehren Watada, who claimed the war was illegal and publicly denounced President George W. Bush when he skipped his deployment in 2006."

Indira Singh Testimony on the Global Information Grid(PTECH)
Must View Video - For more on this issue see....9/11 - NORAD
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The End of Free Speech? - Criminalizing Criticism of Israel
The New Roman Empire run by the Jews of Israel, one would guess turn-about really is fair play.  It only took them two thousand years to switch roles.  Goes to show that with enormous patience, hard work and one hell of a lot of group cohesion you can do astounding things.  Maybe the so-called "Christians" in this country should convert to Judaism, heck they've sold or violated every one of their values already; they've only got one thing left to give up, their deluded  pretense that they're still Christians. - mpg -- A quote...."On October 16, 2004, President George W. Bush signed the Israel Lobby’s bill, the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act.  This legislation requires the US Department of State to monitor anti-semitism world wide. - To monitor anti-semitism, it has to be defined.  What is the definition?  Basically, as defined by the Israel Lobby and Abe Foxman, it boils down to any criticism of Israel or Jews. " -- also posted at AmericanEveryman & AtheoNews & OnlineJournal

House Demands Full Disclosure On DHS "Right-wing Extremism" Report
A quote...."Republican Representatives have demanded answers from the Department of Homeland Security over the origins of the leaked security intelligence assessment which equates veterans and gun owners with violent terrorists. - House Minority Leader John A. Boehner filed the request using a little known legislative procedure called "a resolution of inquiry", which ensures that the Democratic leadership will publicly resolve the issue within 14 days."

LaRouche: Another Cover-up By Nancy Pelosi
A quote...."May 7, 2009 (LPAC)—American statesman Lyndon LaRouche, briefed on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's treasonous "deep-sixing" of legislation for a Senate Select Committee modeled on the 1933 Senate Banking Committee's investigation of financial crimes led by prosecutor Ferdinand Pecora, in favor of a hand-picked 10-member commission appointed by the congressional leadership, which will issue its report on Dec. 15, 2010 (!), declared, "This is another cover-up by Nancy Pelosi. She should go back for another facelift." -- also posted at AmericanEveryman

Thought police muscle up in Britain
A quote...."BRITAIN appears to be evolving into the first modern soft totalitarian state. As a sometime teacher of political science and international law, I do not use the term totalitarian loosely. -- There are no concentration camps or gulags but there are thought police with unprecedented powers to dictate ways of thinking and sniff out heresy, and there can be harsh punishments for dissent."
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No, the Free Market Did Not Cause the Financial Crisis
A quote...."The truth of the matter is that intervention in the market, rather than the market economy itself, was the driving factor behind the bust."

The Unions and the Economy
Real News Video - A quote...."The future success -- or failure -- of the U.S. economy rests on the dual nature of the American worker, both as someone who makes products and as a consumer who buys them."

Group names 25 lenders responsible for economic meltdown
A quote...."US and foreign banks were not unwitting victims of circumstance but deliberately culpable in the financial meltdown that engulfed the United States last year, a campaign group said Wednesday. -- The Center for Public Integrity named 25 “subprime” mortgage companies whose risky lending was blamed for the US property market collapse and the subsequent global economic crisis."

New York Fed chairman Friedman abruptly resigns
Oh-oh, Goldman Sachs has lost one of their many minions. - mpg -- A quote...."Stephen Friedman, chairman of the board at the Federal Reserve bank of New York, abruptly resigned Thursday, days after The Wall Street Journal pointed out his approval of a request by Goldman Sachs was in violation of policy because of his considerable holdings in Goldman shares." -- For more on this issue see....Does Goldman Sachs run the government? - posted 04-30-09

10 out of 19 US banks fail stress tests
A quote...."The results of long-awaited bank stress tests show only nine out of nineteen US biggest banks have enough fund to survive if the recession worsens [a tiny bit] in the future. -- Under "stress tests" unveiled by US regulators, the ten giant banks need a total of $75 billion [more like $750 billion more] in new capital to boost their cash reserves in the event of a [slightly] deeper economic slump. - [] added by website editor

G.M., Leaking Cash, Faces Bigger Chance of Bankruptcy
A quote...."DETROIT — Even after receiving $15.4 billion in federal loans, General Motors is once again on the brink of financial collapse. The automaker’s first-quarter earnings released Thursday showed that G.M. was losing more money and sales than it was in late December, when the government began its bailout." - bold by website editor

Consumer borrowing falls in March at fastest pace in over 18 years, Americans saving more
Financial Alert - Chart - A quote...."WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer borrowing plunged in March at the fastest pace in 18 years as Americans put away their credit cards and hoarded cash amid the worst recession in decades. - The Federal Reserve said Thursday that consumer borrowing dropped 5.2 percent in March, the biggest decline since an 8.1 percent fall in December 1990. - In dollar terms, consumer borrowing plunged by $11.1 billion. That's the largest dollar amount on records dating to 1943, and more than three times the $3.5 billion drop that economists expected."

Jobless claims decline - A little more good economic news, for what it's worth. - mpg
A quote...."WASHINGTON, May 7 (UPI) -- First-time claims for U.S. unemployment insurance declined by 34,000 last week, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday. - The 601,000 initial benefits claims contributed to a four-week rolling average of 623,500, which was a decrease of 14,750 from the previous week's rolling average of 638,250. - The U.S. unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.5 percent."

Wednesday May 6th 2009

It's National Nancy Off the Table Day
Must Read Satire -- A quote...."That's right, children, it's national Nancy Day, honoring the occasion on May 7, 2006, when Nancy Pelosi first allowed Tim Russert to badger her into agreeing that she wouldn't permit the impeachment of Saint George or Father Dick, not even if they barbequed children on the White House lawn."

US interrogators may have killed dozens, human rights researcher and rights group say
Special Note - A quote...."United States interrogators killed nearly four dozen detainees during or after their interrogations, according a report published by a human rights researcher based on a Human Rights First report and followup investigations. - In all, 98 detainees have died while in US hands. Thirty-four homicides have been identified, with at least eight detainees — and as many as 12 — having been tortured to death, according to a 2006 Human Rights First report that underwrites the researcher’s posting. The causes of 48 more deaths remain uncertain." -- For more on this issue see....US - Murder & Mayhem & US - Torture & Sex Perv.

Torture? Rudman to the Rescue
Cover-Up Alert - Related Article - Obama™ Update - A quote...."The announcement in mid-March that CIA Director Leon Panetta had picked former Sen. Warren Rudman to act as CIA “liaison” with the Senate Intelligence Committee during its “review” of interrogation and detention practices has drawn virtually no criticism from the Fawning Corporate Media (FCM). -- Yet, it is a dead give-away as to how congressional leaders plan to go through the motions for a year or so, and then let everyone off the hook."
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Iraqi army kills U.S.-allied Sunni militiaman
A quote...." BAGHDAD, May 5 (Reuters) - Iraqi soldiers killed a Sunni Arab fighter from a U.S.-allied local militia unit on Tuesday and arrested his brother, Iraqi police said. - Basim Mohammed was shot during a raid in Abu Ghraib, a predominantly Sunni district on the western outskirts of Baghdad, a police source in the district said." -- It's what happens when you call in the US-NRE Feds or do "business" with them -- you, your family, your tribe, your people and your nation will be utterly betrayed and ruined beyond all recognition, and it will happen every single time. - mpg

Democracy [Neo-Colonization] at Gunpoint Guarantees U.S. Defeat
A quote...."An account from the Taliban side of the Afghanistan war, which was published in The New York Times on May 5, provides devastating evidence of the failure that almost certainly will eventually overtake the United States and NATO. It is a long interview with a young Taliban “logistics tactician” who has been speaking with Jane Perlez and Pir Zubair Shah of the Times for many months about the Taliban view of the war, and about what he sees as their inevitable victory." -- also posted at ICH & AntiWar

Fighting Erupts as Swat Valley Peace Deal Crumbles
A quote...."The 11 day military operation in Lower Dir lingers on, and with the militants having seized key portions of the Swat Valley (including its principle city of Mingora), it seems safe to say at this point the peace deal is in tatters. Signs are that matters will only get worse."

Taliban Seize City as Up to 500,000 Civilians Flee
A quote...."The Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has reportedly wrested control of the Swat Valley’s largest town, Mingora, from the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) government and Pakistani security forces. The move comes just one day after the group announced that it was formally withdrawing from the controversial Swat Valley peace deal in response to ongoing military offensives in and around the valley."

Israel ‘Enraged’ by UN Gaza Report
Oh the poor little Israelis, they must be in an agony of suspense.  After deliberately targeting and murdering woman and children in Gaza with white phosphorous, DIME, flechette and dart weapons, they then to have to deal with  a bunch of sanctimonious, law-based, reality-based, fact-based, internationalists who have the nerve to actually call them on it, to actually bombard the Israelis with (gasp!!)  HARSH LANGUAGE. Oh the unfairness of it all, oh the humanities, oh the tragedies, it makes one almost misty eyed just thinking about the horror of it all. That’s not supposed to be the way the world works we've all been told.  Whatever happened to the "vaunted" Israeli mass-infotainment-complex? (also known as the US-NRE mass-media complex) – mpg -- A quote...."The Israeli Foreign Ministry is reportedly “enraged” [poor little baby] tonight, after the United Nations released a report regarding its attacks on UN facilities in the Gaza Strip during this year’s war. The inquiry accused Israel of “gross negligence and recklessness” in the attacks." -- For more on this issue see.... Gaza Invasion of 12/27/08

Who Will Stop the AIPAC Jews Before it is Too Late? - Not I says AIPAC's lackey Obama. - mpg
Special Note - A quote...."While I was being tackled by security guards at Washington's Convention Center during the AIPAC conference for unfurling a banner that asked "What about Gaza?," my heart was aching. I wasn't bothered so much by the burly guards who were yanking my arms behind by back and dragging me-along with 5 other CODEPINK members-out of the hall. They were doing their job. -- What made my heart ache was the hatred I felt from the AIPAC staff who tore up the banner and slammed their hands across my mouth as I tried to yell out: "What about Gaza? What about the children?" -- "Shut the f--- up. Shut the f--- up." one staffer yelled, red-faced and sweating as he ran beside me. "This is not the place to be saying that shit. Get the f--- out of here." - also posted at ICH & AmericanEveryman - For more on this issue see....Judeo-Christian C/C & US

Stanford Antiwar Alums Call for War Crimes Investigation of Condoleezza Rice
A quote...."May 06, 2009  -- During the Vietnam War, Stanford students succeeded in banning secret military research from campus. Last weekend, 150 activist alumni and present Stanford students targeted Condoleezza Rice for authorizing torture and misleading Americans into the illegal Iraq War."

Pentagon inspector: Probe of planted media stories bogus -- A VICTORY FOR THE TRUTH!! - mpg
Special Note -- A quote...." In a highly unusual reversal, the Defense Department’s inspector general’s office has withdrawn a report it issued in January exonerating a Pentagon public relations program that made extensive use of retired officers who worked as military analysts for television and radio networks. -- Donald M. Horstman, the Pentagon’s deputy inspector general for policy and oversight, said in a memorandum released on Tuesday that the report was so riddled with flaws and inaccuracies that none of its conclusions could be relied upon. In addition to repudiating its own report, the inspector general’s office took the additional step of removing the report from its Web site." -- For more on this story see....The New York Times Article -- Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon's Hidden Hand

This is How Your New “Change” Government Works: Single Payer Advocates Laughed At During Senate Hearing on Healthcare Reform -- Video - Obama™ Update - A quote...."Single payer health care advocate: “We want Single Payer Health Care.” -- Senate Hearing Chairman: “We want police.”  --  The Senate Finance Committee is working on their health care proposal without one single advocate for single payer health care or “real” universal health care. But they have several representatives of the health insurance companies, their lobbyists, and members of congress who’s pockets are fat with their contributions."

Police Terror Stops Occur Every Three Minutes In London
A quote...."London Police stop and search a member of the public every three minutes under anti-terrorism laws, new figures have revealed. Potential terrorists clearly lurk around every corner as statistics released to the BBC show that the Metropolitan Police used section 44 of the Terrorism Act more than 170,000 times in 2008 to stop people in the capital."
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The Obama [non]-recovery
Must Read - Financial Warning - Obama™ Update - A quote...."In an extraordinary interview published in Sunday’s New York Times magazine, President Obama outlined his vision for the US economy in a piece entitled “After the Great Recession.” The interview was conducted by economic columnist David Leonhardt after Obama had delivered a major speech on restructuring the US economy at Georgetown University on April 14. -- In the interview, Obama makes clear that there will be no serious structural reform of the banking system. Any regulatory changes introduced to rein in “some of the massive leveraging and the massive risk-taking” that precipitated the financial crash will be designed to restore “confidence and trust” in the financial sector, including the “market for securitized products.” -- Obama specifically rejects restoring the barrier between investment banking and commercial banking put in place by the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, the most important financial regulatory reform of the Depression era. The act was one of the victims of the financial deregulation of the late 1990s, carried out by then-President Bill Clinton’s treasury secretary and current top Obama economic adviser Lawrence Summers."  - bold by website editor - also posted at AmericanEveryman -- They intend to build even bigger bubbles. - mpg  -- For more on this issue see....Enforcing the Rules -- Too Little, Too Late - 02-27-09 - mpg & The Virtual Economy - 05-01-09 - mpg

Will Obama Seize Americans' 401k and IRA Funds - [And Give Them All to the Banksters?]
A quote...."There is a rumor floating around that Obama will seize Americans' retirement funds, like Argentina and some other countries have done."

Bank of America comes up $34bn short in stress test
A quote...."The US government has told Bank of America that it needs to bolster its capital cushion by as much as $34bn (£22.6bn) after a stress test found weaknesses in the bank's ability to withstand any further shocks."

20% of homeowners 'underwater' - When it gets to one third, we'll be at the bottom. - mpg
A quote...."NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- More than 20% of American homeowners owe more on their mortgage debt than they can sell their homes for, according to an industry report released Wednesday."

Rich Default on Luxury Homes Like Subprime Victims (Update1)
A quote...."May 6 (Bloomberg) -- Chuck Dayton put down a quarter of the $950,000 purchase price when he bought his house in Newport Beach, California, in 2004. He was making $500,000 a year with his drywall company and he expected home values to keep rising. "

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