Tuesday May 19th 2009

U.S. Economy: The Cancer is Still There - Article also posted at ICH
Must Read - Obama™ Update - A quote...."How does one restore the Lords of Capital to their former positions as dictators of the U.S. and global economies, while keeping their seats warm as de facto political rulers of the American state? Saving the finance capital oligarchy has emerged as President Obama’s central mission – the guiding focus of his young administration. Obama has found new and myriad ways to go where no American president has ever gone before, in funneling somewhere around $13 trillion of national treasure to the parasitical class that goes by the shorthand, Wall Street."

Obama's Warfare State
Obama™ Update - Some quotes...."Not even the prospect of a $3.1 trillion combined budget deficit for this year and next deters him. Let them chop the budget for black colleges and police officer death benefits, the Pentagon and its contractors continue to feast at the champagne-and-caviar table." -- "Obama’s new $664 billion Pentagon budget is $21 billion higher (4 percent) than the final Bush budget. It includes $65 billion for Afghanistan and $61 billion for Iraq. Why?"

Obama Steers Toward Endless War With Islam - posted at AntiWar
Obama™ Update - A quote...."In just over 100 days, President Obama is on the verge of ensuring that militant Islam’s war on America will be waged for decades to come and its forces will never suffer manpower or money shortages. How did he accomplish so much in some little time? He simply behaved as all U.S. political leaders behave; that is, as an ignorant and arrogant interventionist." -- also posted at ICH

Obama's embrace of Bush terrorism policies is celebrated as "Centrism"
Obama™ Update - A quote...."I wonder how many people from across the political spectrum will have to point this out before Obama defenders will finally admit that it's true.  From Harvard Law Professor and former Bush OLC lawyer Jack Goldsmith, systematically assessing Obama's "terrorism" policies in The New Republic:" - also posted at CommonDreams

"Many people think Cheney is scare-mongering and owes President Obama his support or at least his silence.  But there is a different problem with Cheney's criticisms: his premise that the Obama administration has reversed Bush-era policies is largely wrong. The truth is closer to the opposite: The new administration has copied most of the Bush program, has expanded some of it, and has narrowed only a bit. Almost all of the Obama changes have been at the level of packaging, argumentation, symbol, and rhetoric. . . ."

Jeremy Scahill: “Little Known Military Thug Squad Still Brutalizing Prisoners at Gitmo Under Obama” - Audio @ ICH
Obama™ Update - A quote...."Jeremy Scahill reports the Obama administration is continuing to use a notorious military police unit at Guantanamo that regularly brutalizes unarmed prisoners, including gang-beating them, breaking their bones, gouging their eyes and dousing them with chemicals. This force, officially known as the Immediate Reaction Force, has been labeled the “Extreme Repression Force” by Guantanamo prisoners, and human rights lawyers call their actions illegal. [includes rush transcript]" -- ||  Real Video Stream  ||  Real Audio Stream  ||  MP3 Download  ||  More…  || 

American Death Squad -- Obama inherits Cheney's army of assassins – and promotes their commander - @ AntiWar
Obama™ Update - A quote...."As the story of Bush administration’s war crimes comes out in fits and starts, it appears that torture is only one aspect – and not the worst, by any means – of this horrific history. In an interview in mid-March, Seymour Hersh let slip the following:"

"After 9/11 – I haven’t written about this yet – but the Central Intelligence Agency was very deeply involved in domestic activities against people they thought to be enemies of the state. Without any legal authority for it. They haven’t been called on it yet. That does happen."

"Well, yes, that’s hardly surprising. The PATRIOT Act and other legislation [.pdf] passed by Congress gives the government the legal "right" to spy on American citizens and, in the case of Jose Padilla, lock them up without a trial and throw away the key. But, as Hersh reveals, it gets worse. Much worse:"

The Humanitarian Face of the State, With Fangs
Obama™ Update - A quote...."The glorious Barack Obama, broad-minded humanitarian universalist that he is, promised to reverse the wickedness of the Bush administration, which ran a prison camp in Guantánamo Bay and kept pictures of ruthless abuse from public view to save the face of Bush.  ---  Bush the despot!  ---  Obama the savior!  ---  And sure enough, after taking office, Obama did something or other toward closing that prison camp just off our shores, along with its secret military trials and abuse. How the partisans cheered on one side and booed on the other. Except that just the other day, Obama quietly reversed himself. Now the camps must stay. After all, there are real enemies there, the "worst of the worst." The trials will still be in secret. The military will still run them, because, you know, you just can't trust those civilian courts to arrive at the right verdict."
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Mystery surrounds prison death of terrorist whose testimony was key to Iraq invasion
Special Note - Obama™ Update - A quote...."THE ISLAMIST terrorist who was the key source of the false intelligence used to trigger the US and UK 2003 military invasion of Iraq has been found dead in a Libyan prison cell. -- Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi allegedly commited suicide by hanging in the prison where he was being held in the Libyan capital, Tripoli. His death followed a visit by a team from Human Rights Watch, one of the world's leading independent organisations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights."

Guantanamo Investigator Confirms Torture/Iraq Connection
Special Note - Obama™ Update - A quote...."On Saturday, I wrote about a new and important McClatchy story that revisited remarks Cheney made to the Rocky Mountain News in 2004, confirming then that they tortured extracted false confessions information from Guantanamo detainees about Al Qaeda/Iraq ties."

For more on the two articles shown above see....Making Up Stories - With Torture
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Obama's Problems With Gas
Must Read - Maps & Charts -- Some quotes...."Obama thinks a lot about gas in Asia. - Pakistan, and Afghanistan, would benefit from the proposed TAPI pipeline, if it follows the route above. - The USA is in favour of the TAPI pipeline, which could take gas from Turkmenistan to India." -- "What's really going on in Pakistan, India, Iran, Afghanistan and other such places in Asia with links to oil, gas and pipelines? - Is the USA trying to cause divisions between Pakistan and India?" -- also posted at BLN

'Iran, Pakistan to sign gas deal next month'
Related Article - A quote...."A senior advisor to Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has declared that Pakistan and Iran will sign a gas deal next month. - Assim Hussein noted that the deal would be part of the planned Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline that will carry Iran's natural gas to Pakistan and India."

Iraq Rejects $8Bln Nabucco Deal
Related Article - A quote...."BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi government on Monday rejected an $8 billion Kurdish plan to fill the Nabucco pipeline with gas for Europe, a major setback to a project designed to reduce the continent's reliance on Russian energy. - Opposition in Baghdad to the deal to obtain gas from Iraq's Kurdistan region hands Russia the initiative as it races to complete its own alternative to the Western-backed pipeline and tighten its grip on European energy markets." -- also posted at WarInIraq & AtheoNews

Moscow sets out to conquer Mongolia’s gold, coal and copper
Related Article - A quote...."The centrepiece of Russian premier Vladimir Putin's visit on May 13 was a deal worth potentially $7 billion, under which the Russia agreed to upgrade and expand Mongolia's rail network. The payoff for the Russian railway company includes mining licenses for the Tavan-Tolgoi copper coal mine and the Oyu-Tolgoi cooper-gold mine. -- According to experts Russia’s real aim is to gain primacy in access to uranium deposits in Mongolia for the development of its own nuclear industry."
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McChrystal's Rise: More Secrets, Less Daylight
A quote...."All along there were two US wars in Iraq. There was the public war, in which the Pentagon tried to manipulate the mainstream media into being a "message amplifier," while some intrepid reporters and bloggers fought back. Then there was the secret war carried out by the Special Operations forces, whose existence was denied even by the Pentagon. -- Now the secret operations threaten to completely compromise what remains of the public war in Afghanistan and Pakistan with the ascension of Gen. Stanley McChrystal to top commander from his classified role in running Special Ops in Iraq for five years." -- also posted at Uruknet

History Channel Ads You Won't See In The US Or Online - Click on the photos to enlarge them. - mpg - @ ICH
A quote...."May 19, 2009 "Business Insider" -- Huge ad agency Ogilvy and executive creative director Fran Luckin created these three ads for History Channel to run in South Africa. Certainly thought-provoking, possibly anti-American, the poster-sized print ads are engaging in just the way online advertising struggles to be. Click to expand the images:"

Blackwater guards shoot civilians in Afghanistan
A quote...."Four guards employed by Blackwater (now renamed Xe), a company founded by Michigan native Erik Prince, have sparked yet another international incident by opening fire on a vehicle full of Afghani civilians after a car accident in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Wall Street Journal reports:" - bold by website editor -- A murderous bunch of thugs by any other name would still be a menace to decent people everywhere. - mpg

What’s Netanyahu Really Afraid Of? - posted at AntiWar
A quote...."Although the Obama administration has made it clear that it wants to pursue diplomacy with Iran and the president himself has made overtures toward Iran, Israel continues to threaten Iran with military attacks. Its lobby in the United States, led by AIPAC and its supporters in the War Party, continues to issue dire warnings about Iran’s nuclear program and the danger that it allegedly poses to not just Israel and the Middle East, but the entire "free world." Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reaffirmed time and again that all of Iran’s known nuclear facilities and nuclear materials, including its stockpile of low-enriched uranium, are safeguarded and monitored by the agency; there is no evidence for a secret parallel nuclear program, or one that is aimed at developing nuclear weapons; and all the issues regarding Iran’s six cases of noncompliance with its obligations under its Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA have been resolved to the agency’s satisfaction."

'Israel will have to take on Iran alone once Obama's efforts fail'
War Alert - A quote...."Israel will be forced to take on Iran's contentious nuclear program alone once U.S. President Barack Obama's overture for dialogue with Tehran fails, an Israeli official said on Tuesday."

Lebanon charges five more Israeli spies - Whoops, somebody spilled the beans. - mpg
A quote...."Five more suspected Israeli agents have been charged in Lebanon amid the spread of a recently launched crackdown aimed at dismantling Israeli espionage networks in the county. - "They (spies) are accused of collaborating with Israel, entering its territory, and providing it with information on military posts and Lebanese individuals," a judicial source was quoted as saying on condition of anonymity Tuesday."

Hezbollah on Alert for Israel's Largest-ever Maneuvers
A quote....."Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned late Monday that his Lebanese Shiite party was ready to fight a new war with Israel as the Jewish state prepares for one of its largest military exercises ever later this month."

China's top legislator: China-Russia partnership enjoys fast growth
A quote...."The strategic partnership of cooperation between China and Russia is currently showing all-round momentum and rapid growth as high-level contacts remain frequent, China's top legislator said in Moscow on Wednesday."

Grisly Video May Slow Nuclear Pact - link posted at AntiWar
A quote...."The emergence of a videotape depicting a grisly beating administered by a member of the royal family of the United Arab Emirates has complicated a U.S. effort to create the Arab world's first nuclear energy program, officials said. -- The Obama administration had been preparing to send a U.S.-UAE energy accord to Congress for review. Then came the tape. Screened for a stunned congressional audience last week, it shows a robed sheik heaping sand into the mouth of a writhing Afghan merchant pinned to the ground by uniformed police. -- The sheik later slams a board with a protruding nail into the Afghan's naked backside. In a gruesome conclusion, a black SUV is driven over the victim's bruised and bleeding body."

Brazil eying base for its first nuclear sub
A quote...."Months after reaching an agreement with France, Brazil is taking more steps towards building its first nuclear-propelled submarine."

Africa Violence Uproots Over 11 M
A quote...."United Nations, May 19 (Prensa Latina) More than 11 million persons are either refugees or displaced from their territories as a result of violence in 16 central and eastern nations of Africa, informed the UN agency for Humanitarian Aid (OCHA)."
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Arms From U.S. May Be Falling Into Taliban Hands
A quote...."KABUL, Afghanistan — Insurgents in Afghanistan, fighting from some of the poorest and most remote regions on earth, have managed for years to maintain an intensive guerrilla war against materially superior American and Afghan forces.

Who’s afraid of the CIA?
Related Article - A quote...."Elizabeth Cheney worked in 2002 for a secretive office charged with using U.S. tax-payer dollars to support “unnamed groups” in the Middle East with the express purpose of helping foster “democracy” in the region. Translation: she funneled cash to “terrorists” to stir up trouble in countries that weren’t friendly to Western Business interests." -- For more on the two articles shown above see....US Support of Terror

"7/7 bomber tracked by intelligence officers since 2001 -- Chances to prevent 7/7 attacks were missed 19 May 2009 Police and the MI5 spy agency likely missed chances to identify the key men behind the 2005 London bombings [an inside job six ways to Sunday], but could have done little more to halt the attacks given their limited resources, lawmakers said today. A detailed report into what was known before the attacks, which killed 52 people on three subway cars and a bus, reveals how one of the bombers was tracked by intelligence officers as early as 2001." -- Paragraph quoted from CLG

"Court: White House doesn't have to turn over e-mail records --The decision was a victory for the Bush regime, which sought to shield its internal communications. 19 May 2009 A unit of the White House that was accused of misplacing [destroying] perhaps millions of office e-mails does not have to make its records public, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. In Tuesday's decision, the appeals judges -- David Sentelle, Thomas Griffith and Raymond Randolph -- were all named by Republican presidents." -- Paragraph quoted from CLG

Supreme Court Detainee Decision May Not Block Suits Against Top Officials
A quote...."In denying the right of a Muslim Pakistani immigrant to sue former Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI director Robert Mueller for his prolonged imprisonment and harsh treatment based on his religion and national origin, the Supreme Court on Monday raised the bar for plaintiffs seeking to sue high-level government officials for policies carried out by their subordinates. -- Some in the media have reported that the decision revokes a detainee’s right to sue a public official for wrongful detention or mistreatment. In fact, the ruling was tailored narrowly, leaving the door open to such suits in the future. Yet it remains unclear how specific the plaintiff’s claims must be for a court to allow the case to proceed against high-level officials who condone unconstitutional practices." -- bold by website editor

The Tortuous Logic of Nancy Pelosi
Special Note - A quote...."Even I – quintessentially cynical when it comes to politics and politicians – was shocked (shocked!) by the ease with which the Democratic talking heads and their blogger auxiliary took up the defense of Nancy Pelosi. Her obvious culpability in the unfolding story of how torture was legitimized in the eyes of seemingly reasonable people is such a challenge to supposedly anti-torture Democrats that one’s response to it represents a veritable litmus test of one’s honesty, integrity, and ideological consistency. It’s sad, but true, that not many alleged progressives with a public platform are earning a passing grade. " -- Everyone in that faux-liberal, Neo-Roman inhabited, Pompeii-by-the-Bay, enclave of the decadent wealthy elites, should have voted for Cindy Sheehan (see article shown below).  But they didn't, and she ain't running again, and that means we're ALL gonna be stuck with that embalmed, aged, fossilized, crone of a political hack Nancy Pelosi for the rest of our frigging lives!!! – mpg

Cindy's Nightmare - posted at ICH
Cindy Sheehan challenged "Nancy - take impeachment off the table - Pelosi", for California's 8th district U.S. House of Representatives during the 2008 election.  She garnered 46,118 votes (16.14%) of the total. - mpg - A quote...."May 19, 2009 "Information Clearing House" -- -I am not running for Congress against Nancy Pelosi in California's 8th District in 2010. -- I was honored by the overwhelming amount of financial support that we received from all over the nation, but clearly, 650,000.00 is not enough to wage a credible battle against the political establishment that owns, controls, and pre-ordains outcomes by either outright fraud or manipulation. If 650,000.00 wasn't enough (the Republican raised 100 grand more and got about half as many votes as I did), then I don't want to raise or spend the kind of money that it would take to defeat the system."

The Trials of Ehren Watada
If anybody wants a hero, this guy is IT.  He bravely stood his ground, against the system, on his own principals (something you rarely see nowadays) and actually WON. - mpg -- A quote...."As Americans are inundated with revelations about the lies, torture and other crimes that accompanied the US-led war in Iraq, many who resisted continue to be punished for refusing to participate in those crimes. First Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned military officer to refuse deployment to Iraq, won a significant legal victory last week when the US Department of Justice dropped efforts to retry him after a bungled court-martial. But his legal problems continue. -- As America struggles with how to hold its homegrown war criminals accountable, those who resisted provide lessons for how to prevent war crimes in the future." -- also posted at CommonDreams

Youtube Restores The Alex Jones Channel
A quote...."Youtube has restored the official Alex Jones Youtube channel after legal counter claims were filed against the original claims of copyright violation. It took two weeks for this issue to be resolved, with Youtube examining and determining exactly who had filed the original complaint."
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The Swine Flu Outbreak and Other Bio-Warfare Matters....

Prison Outbreak? 4 More Have Swine Flu At Rikers
Number of H1N1 cases nears 10,000
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Terror' Channels Face Freedom Threat
Special Note - Censorship Alert - A quote...."The perception that many American policies are influenced by Israel has been given a further boost with the latest attempt by the US Congress to silence free speech. - The current move to ‘cleanse’ the airwaves involves pro-Israeli members of the congress who are in the process of submitting a bill that seeks to target satellite stations as “terrorist organizations”. -- For more on this issue see....Judeo-Christian C/C & US - Media

Ministry of prisoners: Israel deliberately kidnaps and maltreats children
A quote...."GAZA, (PIC)-- The Palestinian ministry for prisoners’ affairs in Gaza said Tuesday that the IOF troops deliberately kidnap Palestinian children under age 18, physically attack them and use violent ways to interrogate them."

Palestinians demand Obama action follow words
A quote...."A key Palestinian official demanded Tuesday that President Barack Obama follow up his tough talk with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and force Israel to stop West Bank settlement construction and accept creation of a Palestinian state." - also posted at Yahoo(AP) -- Hah!!  For more on Obama's "unstated" position regarding the Palestinian people, and their long terrible suffering, see....No Leadership From Obama. - Oh Contraire! 12-28-08 - mpg

The Siege on Gaza is Not Over
A quote...."Since the end of Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, the humanitarian situation there has been constantly worsening. And although Israel unilaterally declared an end to the war, the violence has not stopped in Gaza." -- also posted at Uruknet & WarInIraq

Returning to the scene of a Gaza war crime
A quote...."KHUZAA, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - Khuzaa is a small farming village perched on a gentle slope east of Khan Younis. Its fertile farmland once produced fruit and vegetables for export to Israel, whose own lush plains are just 500 meters from Khuzaa's center, and are visible through the town's narrow streets." - also posted at WarInIraq -- For more on this issue see....Gaza Invasion of 12/27/08

Israel bans books, music and clothes from entering Gaza
A quote...."srael allows only food, medicine and detergent into the Gaza Strip. Thousands of items, including vital products for everyday activity, are forbidden." -- also posted at WarInIraq

The State of Iron Fear - Intimidation and Interrogation in Tel Aviv
A quote...."My computer, today, is still at Tel Aviv police headquarters where it stayed after my two-hour interrogation last week. I am not given, I believe, to conspiracy thinking but the thought crossed my mind, comically rather, whether I’d ever written anything unkind about my neighbor or his family......"

PLO Negotiations Affairs Dept. -- Did you know?
Some little known facts about Israel and the Palestinians....mpg

UK medics go on hunger strike after being refused entry into Gaza
A quote...."Three British medics began a hunger strike in Egypt today to protest against being refused entry into Gaza for a humanitarian mission." - also posted at ISM

Gaza: Rising Again After the Assault
A quote...."KHUZA'A, Gaza, May 18, 2009 (IPS) - Khuza'a is a small farming village perched on a gentle slope east of Khan Younis. Its fertile farmland once produced fruit and vegetables for export to Israel, whose own lush plains are just 500 metres from Khuza'a's centre, and are visible through the town's narrow streets."
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The Weimar Hyperinflation? Could it Happen Again?
A quote...."Is the United States, then, out of the hyperinflationary woods with its “quantitative easing” scheme? Maybe, maybe not. To the extent that the newly-created money will be used for real economic development and growth, funding by seigniorage is not likely to inflate prices, because supply and demand will rise together. Using quantitative easing to fund infrastructure and other productive projects, as in President Obama’s stimulus package, could invigorate the economy as promised, producing the sort of abundance reported by Benjamin Franklin in America’s flourishing early years. -- There is, however, something else going on today that is disturbingly similar to what triggered the 1923 hyperinflation. As in Weimar Germany, money creation in the U.S. is now being undertaken by a privately-owned central bank, the Federal Reserve; and it is largely being done to settle speculative bets on the books of private banks, without producing anything of value to the economy." - bold by website editor

US treasury secretary rejects limits on executive [bankster] pay
A quote...."Timothy Geithner, US treasury secretary, said on Monday he opposes caps on executive pay in companies receiving bailouts from the federal government under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)." -- For more on this issue see....Having Fun With Your Tax Dollars

Banks Use Life Insurance to Fund Bonuses
A quote...."Banks are using a little-known tactic to help pay bonuses, deferred pay and pensions they owe executives: They're holding life-insurance policies on hundreds of thousands of their workers, with themselves as the beneficiaries."

FEATURE-Blue collar U.S. males lose more ground
A quote...." One statistic that stands out in America's recession-stung economy is the unemployment rate for adult men: in April for the second month in a row it surged ahead of the national average to 9.4 percent versus 8.9 percent for all workers. The jobless rate for adult women was 7.1 percent. -- The reasons are clear: male-heavy sectors such as construction and manufacturing have been hard hit. But the implications may be dire for the broader economy and hamper the recovery as families that once had male breadwinners struggle."

US banks bailout is robbery in progress – Naomi Klein
Contains Video - A quote...."Obama’s Wall Street bailout the greatest heist in monetary history, believes Naomi Klein – an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist, and international bestselling author."

Credit where Credit is Due - Economic Recovery? We're not out of the woods yet.
A quote...."The faux-prosperity of the last decade was largely the result of a wholesale credit system which created a humongous amount of credit via sketchy debt instruments, off-balance sheet operations, massive leverage and derivatives. (The Fed's liquidity and conventional bank loans play a very small part in the modern credit system) Securitization--which is the conversion of pools of loans into securities--is at the center of the storm. It formed the asset-base upon which the investment banks and hedge funds stacked additional leverage creating an unstable debt-pyramid that couldn't withstand the battering of a slumping market. After two Bear Stearns funds defaulted 20 months ago, the securitization markets froze, credit dried up and the broader economy went into a tailspin. Now that investors know how risky securitized instruments really are, there's little chance that assets will regain their original value or that the market for structured debt will stage a comeback." -- also posted at CounterPunch & ICH

Housing Starts, Permits Both Unexpectedly Lower
A quote...."New U.S. housing starts and permits unexpectedly fell to record lows in April, a government report showed on Tuesday, denting hopes that stability in the housing market was imminent. - The Commerce Department said housing starts fell 12.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 458,000 units, the lowest on records dating back to January 1959, from March's upwardly revised 525,000 units."

Local Banks Face Big Losses
Financial Warning - A quote...."Total losses at those banks could surpass $200 billion [it will be much more than that. - mpg] over that period, according to the Journal's analysis, which utilized the same worst-case scenario the federal government used in its recent stress tests of 19 large banks. Under that scenario, more than 600 small and midsize banks could see their capital shrink to levels that usually are considered worrisome by federal regulators. The potential losses could exceed revenue over that period at nearly all the banks analyzed by the Journal."

Japan economy worst in 50 years
A quote...."The world's second-largest economy contracted by four per cent in the three months to March this year compared with the previous quarter, resulting in an annual GDP drop of 15.2 per cent, the government said on Wednesday."

Fossil Ida: extraordinary find is 'missing link' in human evolution
Photo - A quote...."Scientists have discovered an exquisitely preserved ancient primate fossil that they believe forms a crucial "missing link" between our own evolutionary branch of life and the rest of the animal kingdom. - The 47m-year-old primate – named Ida – has been hailed as the fossil equivalent of a "Rosetta Stone" for understanding the critical early stages of primate evolution."

Monday May 18th 2009

Buyer's Remorse: Is it too late to swap Obama for McCain? - posted at ICH
Must Read - Obama™ Update - A quote...."Anyone who has ever wasted good money on a clunker only to drop the transmission 15 minutes after leaving the car-lot, knows the feeling. It's like a swift-kick in the groin followed by weeks of fist-pounding rage. It's called buyer's remorse; "Gawd, I wish I hadn't bought that piece of dogshite!" -- There are probably a lot of former-Obama supporters feeling that same agonizing sense despair now that President Rainbow has done an about-face on every campaign promise he made. So much for "truth in advertising", eh? -- What a disaster. Did anyone know it was gonna be this bad? -- For the record; I didn't vote for Obama because I didn't like the way he backpedaled on wiretapping and because he promised to escalate the war in Afghanistan. (Like everyone else who voted for Ralph Nader; I got loads of grief for it) But that doesn't mean I didn't want Obama to succeed. I did. The country is in too big a mess NOT to hope that he would succeed. But now...?" -- also posted at GlobRsrch & WarInIraq

We Are the 'Enemy of the State'
Must Read - A quote...."From its very infancy, our government has made a vital part of its existence the theft of property that belongs to others and the demonization of those who would resist, or those who see the state for what it really is. From the American Indian to the veterans who have fought the state’s illegal wars, resistance to, or speaking out against the criminality of the state will bring down the full force of the state’s wrath, up to and including elimination. -- Henry Clay, whose protégé was Abraham Lincoln, said of the American Indian, " The Indians' disappearance from the human family will be no great loss to the world. I do not think them, as a race, worth preserving." Clay saw the Indian as an impediment to the desires of the state: acquisition of the lands possessed by the American Indian."

The Disease of Permanent War - Article also posted at ICH
Must Read - A quote...."The embrace by any society of permanent war is a parasite that devours the heart and soul of a nation. Permanent war extinguishes liberal, democratic movements. It turns culture into nationalist cant. It degrades and corrupts education and the media, and wrecks the economy. The liberal, democratic forces, tasked with maintaining an open society, become impotent. The collapse of liberalism, whether in imperial Russia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire or Weimar Germany, ushers in an age of moral nihilism. This moral nihilism comes is many colors and hues. It rants and thunders in a variety of slogans, languages and ideologies. It can manifest itself in fascist salutes, communist show trials or Christian crusades. It is, at its core, all the same. It is the crude, terrifying tirade of mediocrities who find their identities and power in the perpetuation of permanent war." -- also posted at CommonDreams
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Spanish Investigation Reveals 'An Approved Systematic Plan of Torture' Under Bush
A quote...."While Obama and the US Congress refuse to hold Bush-era torturers accountable, a Spanish judge fights for accountability and uncovers more US atrocities." -- also posted at CommonDreams

The 13 people who made torture possible
A quote...."The Bush administration's Torture 13. They authorized it, they decided how to implement it, and they crafted the legal fig leaf to justify it." -- also posted at CommonDreams

Coalition Files Disciplinary Complaints Against Twelve Bush Administration Lawyers Who Advocated Torture
A quote...."On Monday, May 18, 2009, a broad coalition of organizations dedicated to accountable government, and representing over one million members, filed disciplinary complaints with state bar licensing boards against twelve attorneys who advocated the torture of detainees during the Bush Administration. These detailed complaints with over 500 pages of supporting exhibits have been filed against John Yoo, Jay Bybee, Stephen Bradbury, Alberto Gonzales, John Ashcroft, Michael Chertoff, Alice Fisher, William Haynes II, Douglas Feith, Michael Mukasey, Timothy Flanigan, and David Addington. The complaints, filed with the state bars in the District of Columbia, New York, California, Texas and Pennsylvania, seek disciplinary action and disbarment. Copies of the complaints and exhibits are available at www.disbartorturelawyers.com."

Gen Stanley MacChrystal, America's new army chief in Afghanistan, under fire over rough tactics and 'prisoner abuse'
Obama™ Update - A quote...."The general chosen by Barack Obama to run the war in Afghanistan permitted abusive treatment and interrogation of detainees in Iraq, according to human rights investigators." -- also posted at CommonDreams

Right-wing rampage by Obama administration
Obama™ Update - A quote...."The past week has provided a definitive demonstration of the subservience of the Obama administration and the Democratic Party to the military-intelligence apparatus of American imperialism. Day by day, the White House and the Democratic-controlled Congress delivered decisions along the lines demanded by the Pentagon and CIA, in many instances directly repudiating the campaign promises made to win popular support during the 2008 election."

ACLU: Obama admin. will defend Patriot Act ‘gag order’ letters
Obama™ Update - A quote...."The Obama administration will not ask the Supreme Court to review the national security letter provision of the Patriot Act, which has been criticized as unconstitutional by civil rights groups and curtailed by a lower court following a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union."

U.S.:  Lawyers, Rights Groups Outraged by Gitmo Decision
Obama™ Update - A quote...."NEW YORK, May 17 (IPS) - Human rights advocates are furious at President Barack Obama’s decision to prosecute some Guantanamo detainees through the same military commissions he criticised during his campaign as a "flawed" system that "has failed to convict anyone of a terrorist act since the 9/11 attacks"."

Re-Discovered: Video of Torture and Sexual Abuse in Iraq Prison
I have located a 2006 documentary from the Australian television show Dateline. which discusses and may provide context to the newly-rediscovered torture pictures which are making the rounds (judge for yourself whether or not you believe the government's explanation for the photos, or what is being left out)." -- For more on this issue see....Making Up Stories - With Torture

Guantánamo: A Prison Built on Lies - posted at AntiWar
A quote...."As the Obama administration prepares to relaunch Dick Cheney and David Addington’s reviled military commissions (with claims that they will be used for less than 20 of the 241 prisoners still held), senior officials have been largely silent about the eventual fate of the rest of the prisoners, with the exception of a few recent remarks indicating that they are also thinking of pressing for a form of "preventive detention" for 50 to 100 of the prisoners."
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Report on pre-7 July surveillance
A quote...."A report examining what MI5 knew about the 7 July London bombers before their 2005 attacks is published later. The parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee report was ordered after a trial heard ringleader Mohammad Sidique Khan had been followed in 2004. The fresh report is expected to detail the nature of MI5's surveillance of him and accomplice Shehzad Tanweer."

US journo claims Bhutto was killed on Cheney’s orders
A quote...."New York, May 18 (ANI): A special death squad assassinated Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on the orders of former US Vice-President Dick Cheney, an Arab TV channel has reported. -- “Cheney was the chief of the Joint Special Operation Command and he cleared the way for the US by exterminating opponents through the unit and the CIA. General Stanley was the in-charge of the unit,” The Nation quoted US columnist Seymour Hersh, as saying." -- Updated: Hersh did not say Cheney ordered Bhutto assassination

Like Iraq, the "Facts" Regarding 9/11 Were "Fixed Around the Policy"
Must Read - A quote...."3 facts show that the government "fixed the facts" regarding 9/11 around a policy decision to exonerate the government from any blame whatsoever.

1. "9/11 Commission's Chief Counsel says Official Story "Almost Entirely Untrue . . . There Was an Agreement Not to Tell the Truth about What Happened"

"As Daily Kos notes in a recent recommended story, the senior counsel to the 9/11 Commission - John Farmer - states in a new book that the official story of 9/11 "almost entirely untrue". -- also posted at GlobRsrch

40 U.S. intelligence and counter-terrorism agents challenge official account of 9/11
Special Note - A quote...."More than 40 U.S. intelligence and counter-terrorism agents have publicly raised serious questions challenging the official account of 9/11. Respected researcher Alan Miller of patriotsquestion911.com has compiled photos and statements of these 40 plus dedicated agents in regards to 9/11. Many of these agents are open to being interviewed by serious journalists. Below is the beginning of an article on this vital topic written by Alan. For the entire message, click here - PDF. And to read the revealing comments of over 100 distinguished professors challenging the 9/11 official account, click here."

Norad Flight Exercise Planned for Washington, D.C.
False Flag Alert - A quote...."The North American Aerospace Defense Command and its geographical component, the Continental United States NORAD Region, will conduct exercise Falcon Virgo 09-07, on May 19 and 20 between midnight and 6 a.m. EDT in the National Capital Region (NCR), Washington, D.C." -- For more on this sort of issue see....9/11 - NORAD

Guardian Writer Hounded And Threatened Over Bilderberg Reporting
A quote...."London Guardian writer Charlie Skelton has further detailed the constant harassment and stalking he has been forced to endure for daring to cover the 2009 Bilderberg meeting near Athens."

Bilderberg Fears Losing Control In Chaos-Plagued World
A quote...."Investigative journalist Daniel Estulin, whose information from inside Bilderberg has routinely proven accurate, states that the global elite's plan to completely destroy the economy and ultimately lower global population by two thirds has stoked fears even within Bilderberg itself that the fallout from such chaos could ultimately result in the globalists losing their control over the world. -- In a telephone interview, Estulin re-iterated his original points about Bilderberg's 2009 agenda, which were released in a pre-meeting booklet to members. These include the notion that investors, whipped up into a false state of euphoria by the belief that the economy is recovering, are being suckered into ploughing their money back into the system as a set up for "massive losses and searing financial pain in the months ahead" as the stock market reverses its uptrend and plummets to new lows."

2009 Bilderberg Attendance List
Database - List -- The names are in Greek, (yeah, that's funny) almost all of them have been translated though....mpg

Spies Placed Among Political Activists
A quote...."According to a published report, both an FBI informant and an undercover Minnesota sheriff's deputy spied on political activists in Iowa City last year before the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. -- The Des Moines Register reports in Sunday's editions that it has obtained confidential FBI documents that show an informant was planted among a group described as an "anarchist collective" that met last year in Iowa City."

Saudi 'Killer Chip' Implant Would Track, Eliminate Undesirables - More "good things" from "our friends". - mpg
A quote...."It could be the ultimate in political control — but it won't be patented in Germany. - German media outlets reported last week that a Saudi inventor's application to patent a "killer chip," as the Swiss tabloids put it, had been denied. - The basic model would consist of a tiny GPS transceiver placed in a capsule and inserted under a person's skin, so that authorities could track him easily. - Model B would have an extra function — a dose of cyanide to remotely kill the wearer without muss or fuss if authorities deemed he'd become a public threat."
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McKiernan Takes the Fall - posted at AntiWar
A quote...."The recent announcement of Gen. Mark McKiernan’s transfer to Fort Palooka is the latest punch line in our Bananastan farce. Defense Secretary Robert Gates claims that McKiernan’s relief as commander in Afghanistan merely reflected a need for "fresh thinking," but even the war mongrels on the rabid Right can see it was a stratagem to make McKiernan the fall guy for all the collateral damage caused by the air strikes that President Obama authorized."

Why Do Afghans Have a Life Expectancy of Only 44 Years? -- Thirty Years of Tragedy in Afghanistan
Special Note - A quote...."Afghanistan was almost self-sufficient in food before the Soviet invasion in 1979. The leftist government had instituted many economic and social reforms. But the Soviets went in for the bait [a.k.a. "the Great Game"] set up by the US to take revenge for the Vietnam war, as bragged about by Zbigniew Brzezinski, former US President Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor. -- That was the beginning of the Afghan tragedy 30 years ago. Since then, the country has not seen a day of peace except for the brief brutal peace of Taliban era. -- America trained, financed and equipped Afghan refugees to become Mujahideen to kill the Communist Soviets. Along the way, we created a cadre of fighters, including Osama bin Laden. Then, we supported and financed the Taliban and now we are trying to kill them as well. -- In seven years of US occupation of Afghanistan, the government of Hamid Karzai and American influence have remained limited to Kabul and a few other smaller areas."

Pakistan fighting displaces 1.45 million civilians: UN - link posted at ICH
A quote...."GENEVA: The UN refugee agency says fighting in Pakistan between the military and Taliban militants has displaced more than 1.45 million people since May 2. UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond says that is in addition to the more than 550,000 people who were displaced earlier by the military offensive in northwest Pakistan, meaning the total is now more than 2 million."

Pakistani Military Killing Fleeing Swati Civilians - posted at AntiWar
A quote...."As the Pakistani military’s offensive against the Swat Valley continues, around 1.45 million are reported to have successfully fled. For several families today attempting to leave their homes, that trek ended in disaster as the Pakistani military attacked and killed several of them, and wounded an unknown number of others. Women and children were among the slain." -- It ALWAYS pleases the Neo-Roman elites in this country when they can get the little brown people to "do it" to their own. - mpg

Destroying Pakistan to Make It Safe
Special Note - A quote...." PARIS – The US keeps kicking hornet’s nests around the globe and wondering why it continues getting stung. -- The latest example: Pakistan’s once beautiful Swat Valley has been turned into a battlefield. Last week, Pakistan finally bowed to Washington’s angry demands to unleash its military against rebellious Pashtun tribesmen of Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) – who are collectively mislabeled "Taliban" in the west. They are not the Afghan Taliban, but it’s convenient for the western media and Pentagon to slap that label on them."

Maliki breaks with Shi'ite coalition
A quote...."DAMASCUS- There are signs from Iraq that the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), the all-Shi'ite coalition that has controlled parliament since 2005, faces difficult times as it prepares for parliamentary elections in December. -- The Da'wa Party, headed by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, appears to have withdrawn from the coalition. According to Hasan al-Sneid, a senior member of Da'wa, "We are working for a broader nationalist consensus, wider than that of the UIA."

Iraq Arrests 2 Sunni Leaders, Raising Fears of Violence - link posted at AntiWar
A quote...."BAGHDAD — Iraqi government security forces arrested two prominent Sunni leaders in Diyala Province on Monday, according to local security officials, leading to renewed concerns that sectarian tensions in the area could once again erupt into greater violence."

Israeli point man on Iran gets the boot
A quote...."The Israeli point man on Iran affairs, Uri Lubrani, has been forced into early retirement amid incessant power struggles between Mossad and the Israeli Defense Ministry. Senior defense officials told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak decided to shut down Lubrani's office after coming under excruciating pressure from the notorious Mossad spy agency. According to the senior officials, who were speaking on condition of anonymity, Mossad spymasters had grown weary of Lubrani's interference in intelligence affairs and had demanded his dismissal. The dismissal, which is likely to end the operations of Israeli Radio's Farsi service, has been met with an angry response in Tel Aviv."

Obama courts Israel with pact against Tehran
War Alert - A quote...."PRESIDENT Barack Obama hopes to tempt Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli leader, into making concessions to the Palestinians by holding out the prospect of a “grand alliance” of moderate Arab states against a nuclear Iran." -- For more on this issue see....The True Axis of Evil - 10-10-08 - mpg & The Kingdom of Leprosy - 10-07-08 - mpg

Obama says Iran war not off the table
War Alert - A quote...."Ahead of the Israeli premier's trip to Washington President Barack Obama says the US has not taken military action against Iran over its nuclear program off the table."

The U.S. to Raise Military Aid to Israel
War Alert - A quote...."Despite expectations that the Obama administration will pressure Israel to accept a two-state solution and implement practical measures, the U.S. administration has sent signals that aid to Israel will, in fact, be raised. At the same time, the budget also imposes harsh conditions on the Palestinian Authority in order to receive aid."

Israel practicing for new war?
War Alert - A quote...."Tel Aviv has embarked on another round of large-scale military exercise as speculations of an Israeli-initiated war run high. - Israel's Air Force has begun a large-scale military exercise as right-wing parties are insisting on more militaristic approaches."

Mediators: Russia quits peace talks with Georgia - posted at AntiWar
A quote...."Peace talks aimed at healing rifts from the Russia-Georgia war broke down Monday when the delegations from Russia and Georgia's two separatist provinces refused to take part, mediators said."

South Ossetia follows Abkhazia out of Geneva talks
A quote...."MOSCOW, May 18 (RIA Novosti) - South Ossetia has joined Abkhazia in pulling out of the fifth round of Geneva talks on security in the Caucasus, the head of the South Ossetian delegation said Monday." 

Russia not to join EU-Ukraine Brussels declaration – Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said
A quote...." MOSCOW, May 18 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia will not join the Brussels declaration signed by the European Union and Ukraine, Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said. -- “But this does not mean that we refuse to work and cooperate with our partners,” he told a vide conference between Moscow and Berlin on Monday."

Russia says to finish oil pipeline before Nabucco project
Special Note - A quote...."Russia said it would finish its scheme before a rival EU-backed project. -- The race to build new gas pipelines to Europe accelerated on Monday as Russia, keen to maintain its grip on the continent's market, said it would finish its scheme before a rival EU-backed project. -- The West's Nabucco pipeline secured a deal at the weekend to obtain gas from Iraq's Kurdistan region, to help cut dependence on Russia's gas supply, but the central government in Baghdad on Monday voiced opposition to the agreement. -- "I consider South Stream to have every chance of being realised earlier than Nabucco," Russia's Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko told reporters on Monday, speaking of the Moscow-backed pipeline plan. -- "Nabucco has a range of issues which still need to be resolved."

Brazil president arrives in Beijing
A quote...."Brazil's president has arrived in China for three days of talks expected to focus on broadening ties between two of the world's largest developing economies and moves to decrease their dependency on the US dollar. -- The visit by Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva is his second in 12 months, highlighting the importance of China which recently overtook the US as Brazil's most important trading partner." -- bold by website editor -- also posted at Al Jazeera

Argentina, Strategic Venezuela Partner
A quote...."Buenos Aires, May 18 (Prensa Latina) Argentina is today a strategic partner, an ally we can count on to develop our agro-industry, affirmed the Venezuelan minister of Science, Technology and Industry, Jesse Chacon. "But we do not intend to receive it free. We are able to offer everything we have developed regarding energy development," he told local press."

USAID's Silent Invasion in Bolivia
A quote...."Recently declassified documents obtained by investigators Jeremy Bigwood and Eva Golinger reveal that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has invested more than $97 million in “decentralization” and “regional autonomy” projects and opposition political parties in Bolivia since 2002. The documents, requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), evidence that USAID in Bolivia was the “first donor to support departmental governments” and “decentralization programs” in the country, proving that the US agency has been one of the principal funders and fomenters of the separatist projects promoted by regional governments in Eastern Bolivia."
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Israel's security is paramount, don't misunderestimate the power of "change" - click here for a larger version
Cartoon - Great cartoon - mpg. -- A quote...."By John Cole, The Scranton Times-Tribune - “I have said from the outset that when it comes to my policies toward Israel and the Middle East, that Israel’s security is paramount, and I repeated that to Prime Minister Netanyahu,”

3 - Palestine the world's largest open air prison - Alt - (YouTube - 4 min 55 sec - May 18, 2009)
Video - A quote...."Third episode : In West Bank checkpoints manned by Israeli military : why? In a few slides reasons why are shown. Its not true that theres nothing to do about it and peace is not possible there. There are identified reasons that stand in the way of peace. -- Pictures from International Solidarity Movement (ISM), NadPLO, Free Gaza Movement, MachsomWatch -- The film in the video : Arson in the Fields of Burin Village by Machsom Watch
Filmed by Yehudith Levin. -- Edited by Hadass Shuve"

The Right of Return: the heart and soul of the Palestinian cause
A quote...."Sixty-one years ago,  one of the greatest crimes in the annals of human history occurred when European Ashkenazi Jews, aided by western powers, took over Palestine and expelled and dispersed  its native inhabitants to the four corners of the world."

Edinburgh film fest returns Israeli funding
A quote...."Press release, Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, 18 May 2009 -- The 2009 Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) organizers announced on Friday they were returning money donated by the Israeli embassy. The return of the money was accompanied by an admission that it had been "a mistake to accept the 300 [British pounds] from the Israeli embassy" and followed a torrent of angry letters expressing incomprehension, fury or sadness at the EIFF being associated with the Israeli state. Many pledged to support Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) pickets of screenings throughout the 2009 Festival, and an initial public protest planned for the following day."

ICC to hear Israeli war crime case
A quote...."A Human Rights group has filed a lawsuit against Israeli leaders at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the war crimes they have committed in the Gaza Strip."

UN Watchdog Demands Answers - How Many Secret Prisons Does Israel Have?
A quote...."The United Nation’s watchdog on torture has criticised Israel for refusing to allow inspections at a secret prison, dubbed by critics as “Israel’s Guantanamo Bay”, and demanded to know if more such clandestine detention camps are operating." -- also posted at PalestineChron
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The Swine Flu Outbreak and Other Bio-Warfare Matters -- From CLG

US health officials troubled by new flu pattern
Expert Warns of Swine Flu-Bird Flu Mix Virus
W.H.O. May Raise Alert Level as Swine Flu Cases Leap in Japan
New York Reports Its First Swine Flu Death
Malaysian air crew quarantined over swine flu

Other Articles.....

CDC Claims Swine Flu Everywhere In The U.S.
China reports flu case in Guangdong. Man returned from United States.
Dengue fever epidemic hits South America
Greece confirms first swine flu case
New York City closes 17 schools over flu scare

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The Economy’s Search for a "New Normal"
A quote...."When the reality of the economic crisis first made itself known, many who realized what was happening dubbed it “the greatest crisis since the Great Depression.” This description was more than bombast; it was a sober analysis of the immensity of the economic problems in the country — problems that had been building up for years. -- The mainstream media is now — for political reasons — in a constant clamor for the economy’s elusive “rock bottom.”  This is so people will be more hopeful, less agitated, and more willing to let those who destroyed the economy continue running the country un-challenged.  Every time a new economic indicator comes out that wasn’t “as bad as expected,” Wall Street cheers and politicians give their “we’ve turned the corner” speeches.  Reality is thus turned on its head."

Government Has Pledged $12.8 Trillion on Bailouts - 14 Times as Much as the $899.8 Billion Dollars of Currency in Circulation -- A quote...."Bloomberg has a good article comparing the amounts pledged in the bailouts with relevant figures:"

"The U.S. government and the Federal Reserve have spent, lent or committed $12.8 trillion, an amount that approaches the value of everything produced in the country last year ...  The money works out to $42,105 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. and 14 times the $899.8 billion of currency in circulation. The nation’s gross domestic product was $14.2 trillion in 2008."

"For background, see this and this."

Obama’s Health Care Charade - posted at Black Agenda Report
Obama™ Update - A quote...."President Obama has gone to extraordinary lengths to suppress advocates of single-payer health care. He has choreographed a grand theater of faux-change, in which he "seeks to create a façade of unity along lines that do not threaten corporate power." The goal is to "sidetrack, possibly for decades, the most broadly supported idea in American politics, today." This "requires elaborate reconstructions of reality," starting with "methodically erasing single-payer advocates from the picture, with the enthusiastic collaboration of the corporate media." Thus, Obama and compliant Democrats on The Hill stage "summits" and "public roundtable discussions" on health care from which majority U.S. opinion is totally excluded."

Bailing out banks drains Social Security and Medicare - posted at the Online Journal
A quote...."Recession Drains Social Security and Medicare was a headline from the New York Times that seemed to me a distortion of facts in order to scare people. -- After all, what caused the recession but the criminal behavior of predatory mortgage companies and banks who made unfair subprime loans, collateralized them, shipped them downstream to investment banks that securitized them and sold them knowing what junk they were to investors. That combined with a shark tank of hungry salespeople who went at the assets of poor and not so poor homebuyers with time-bomb mortgages whose interest exploded at some point, scattering them into massive indebtedness. Neither Social Security nor Medicare did this."

The Almighty Renminbi? - Article also posted at ICH
A quote...."THE 19th century was dominated by the British Empire, the 20th century by the United States. We may now be entering the Asian century, dominated by a rising China and its currency. While the dollar’s status as the major reserve currency will not vanish overnight, we can no longer take it for granted. Sooner than we think, the dollar may be challenged by other currencies, most likely the Chinese renminbi. This would have serious costs for America, as our ability to finance our budget and trade deficits cheaply would disappear."

U.S. Homebuilder Confidence Rises to Eight-Month High (Update3)
A quote...." May 18 (Bloomberg) -- Confidence among U.S. homebuilders in May increased to the highest level since September, providing further evidence that the housing slump that started in 2006 may be closer to a floor. - The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index of builder confidence rose to 16 from 14 [ on a scale from 1 to 100 ] the prior month, the Washington-based NAHB said today, capping the first back-to-back gain since February 2008. A reading below 50 means most respondents view conditions as poor."

China will meet economic growth target of 8%: senior economic planner
A quote...."HONG KONG, May 18 (Xinhua) -- China will definitely be able to meet the target of achieving eight percent economic growth in 2009, a senior official of the country's top economic planning body said here Monday. "

Sunday May 17th 2009

No posts. - mpg

Saturday May 16th 2009

Barack Obama, Murderer and War Criminal-in-Chief
Must Read - Obama™ Update - Quote of the Day...."I will be blunt, for certain conclusions are now inescapable, even this early in the miraculous, transcendent Age of Obama. Insofar as those who regularly follow political matters are concerned, and especially with regard to those people who write about politics and foreign policy -- which is to say, insofar as commentators and reporters in the mainstream media and on blogs are concerned -- to continue to believe that Barack Obama represents any kind of "improvement" over the abomination of George W. Bush is not an innocent error. To persist in delusions of this kind requires that one intentionally and deliberately blind oneself to evidence that assaults us every day." -- *Arthur Silber*

Obama’s Animal Farm: Bigger, Bloodier Wars Equal Peace and Justice - Article also posted at ICH
Must Read - Obama™ Update - A quote...."“The Deltas are psychos…You have to be a certified psychopath to join the Delta Force…”, a US Army colonel from Fort Bragg once told me back in the 1980’s. Now President Obama has elevated the most notorious of the psychopaths, General Stanley McChrystal, to head the US and NATO military command in Afghanistan. McChrystal’s rise to leadership is marked by his central role in directing special operations teams engaged in extrajudicial assassinations, systematic torture, bombing of civilian communities and search and destroy missions. He is the very embodiment of the brutality and gore that accompanies military-driven empire building. Between September 2003 and August 2008, McChrystal directed the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations (JSO) Command which operates special teams in overseas assassinations."

The Media’s Collective Yawn Over Torture for War
Must Read - A quote...."Faced with what could be the biggest foreign policy bombshell since the Gulf of Tonkin lies cleared the way for Vietnam, the Washington-New York media establishment has chosen to do nothing. Much as D.C. reporters decided several years ago that they were no longer interested covering the Bush administration's duplicity in the run-up to the Iraq war (nor are the David Gregory's of the world interested in revisiting their profession's complicity with the former administration in that regard,) "the press," it seems, has decided to take a pass. And what they're passing on is truly stunning. -- In short, evidence is quickly piling up suggesting that the torture of terrorism suspects, and even the alleged request from no less than the office of the vice president of the United States, to waterboard an Iraqi official, had less to do with protecting Americans from further attack after 9/11, than it had to do with bolstering a phony case for invading Iraq." -- For more on this issue see....Making Up Stories - With Torture

The NYT sums up Obama's civil liberties record in one paragraph
Must Read - Obama™ Update - A quote...."Among progressives, Democrats, liberals, Obama supporters and the like, there seems to be some debate about the extent to which Obama deserves criticisms for what he has done thus far in the realm of civil liberties, restoration of Constitutional principles, and reversing the severe imbalance between "security" and liberties -- major planks of his two-year-long campaign and among the most frequent weapons used to criticize the Bush presidency.  On that topic, here is the first paragraph of this New York Times article this morning by David Sanger, summing everything up:" -- also posted at CommonDreams

"President Obama’s decisions this week to retain important elements of the Bush-era system for trying terrorism suspects and to block the release of pictures showing abuse of American-held prisoners abroad are the most graphic examples yet of how he has backtracked, in substantial if often nuanced ways, from the approach to national security that he preached as a candidate, and even from his first days in the Oval Office."
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The lies of the CIA and Nancy Pelosi
A quote...."Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi charges the CIA with lying to her about torture in a 2002 briefing, a charge denied by the agency. What it is certain is that she and the Democrats have lied systematically to the American people to obscure their complicity in the crimes of the Bush administration." - also posted at AxisOfLogic

Torture is a Form of Terrorism
A quote...."An article today in Der Spiegel describes a study on the use of torture over the last couple of thousand years:

A new book, ["Extreme Violence in the Visuals and Texts of Antiquity"] by Martin Zimmerman, a professor of ancient history in Munich, looks at current research into the kinds of violence that inspired "loathing, dread, horror and disgust." -- In the ancient Far East, where there were large states peopled by many different ethnicities, leaders demonstrated their might by inventing ingenious new tortures and agonizing methods of execution -- as a way to keep the population obedient... -- The issue of state-sanctioned torture to achieve political goals is still a current one.

Giving Some Love to the Inquisition
A quote...."At a Senate hearing this past week, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, rallied to the defense of ex-President George W. Bush’s torture techniques by implicitly endorsing the Spanish Inquisition’s brutal treatment of Jews, Muslims, Protestants and other alleged heretics from the 15th to 17th centuries." - also posted at Uruknet - It's all just too funny for words. -  Welcome folks, to the New Roman Empire. - mpg
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Who Rules America?
Must Read - A quote...."What do you suppose it is like to be elected president of the United States only to find that your power is restricted to the service of powerful interest groups? -- A president who does a good job for the ruling interest groups is paid off with remunerative corporate directorships, outrageous speaking fees, and a lucrative book contract. If he is young when he assumes office, like Bill Clinton and Obama, it means a long life of luxurious leisure."

US Army Scandal – Sending Teenagers to die for Uncle Sam
A quote...."Antiimperialist Media - 15-05-2009 -- No one talks about the US Causalities in public. So far, the official numbers are:"
"CNN reports: ”Every day, five U.S. soldiers try to kill themselves. Before the Iraq war began, that figure was less than one suicide attempt a day. 2,100 soldiers tried to commit suicide in 2007.“

US Drone Strike in North Waziristan Kills 40 - Missiles Attacked Village Religious School - posted at AntiWar
A quote...."A US drone fired two missiles at a religious school (madrassa) in Pakistan’s North Waziristan Agency today, killing at least 40 and wounding an as yet undetermined number of others. Villagers are reportedly still recovering people from the debris of the destroyed school, and several of the wounded are in critical condition, so the final death toll may yet rise."

Rumsfeld's renegade unit blamed for Afghan deaths
A quote...."A single American Special Forces group was behind at least three of Afghanistan's worst civilian casualty incidents, The Independent has learnt, raising fundamental questions about their ongoing role in the conflict." -- also posted at BLN & CommonDreams & Uruknet

Pakistani Army Poised to Invade Mingora;
Contains Videos - A Juan Cole Pakistan Round-Up -- A quote...."The Pakistani army is preparing to invade and reduce the city of Mingora (pop. 200,000), the largest city in the Swat valley. - During the course of the current military campaign, which pits 15,000 infantry of the regular army against 4,000 Pushtun fundamentalist irregulars, the Pakistani army claims to have killed 800 'Pakistani Taliban.' - During the course of the recent fighting, a million Pakistanis have now been displaced by the fighting since last fall."

Israeli war on Iran 'completely insane'
A quote...."The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general says Israel would be making a 'completely insane' move, should it stage a war on Iran."

McChrystal's Pat Tillman Connection
A quote...."When NFL player-turned-Army Ranger Pat Tillman died at the hands of US troops in a case of "friendly fire," the spin machine at the Pentagon went into overdrive. Rumsfeld and company couldn't have their most high-profile soldier dying in such an inelegant fashion, especially with the release of those pesky photos from Abu Ghraib hitting the airwaves. So an obscene lie was told to Tillman's family, his friends and the American public. The chickenhawks in charge, whose only exposure to war was watching John Wayne movies, claimed that he died charging a hill and was cut down by the radical Islamic enemies of freedom. In the weeks preceding his death, Tillman was beginning to question what exactly he was fighting for, telling friends that he believed the war in Iraq was " [expletive] illegal." He may not have known what he was fighting for, but it's now clear what he died for: public relations." -- For more on this issue see....US Fake Intel / Propaganda - Pat Tillman

Lebanon arrests 13th Israeli spy in 2 months - Looks like they're rolling up one of Israel's networks. - mpg
A quote...."Lebanese troops have detained another suspected Israeli spy in the eastern Bekaa valley as Beirut pushes ahead with a campaign to end Israeli espionage in the country. "

AFRICOM’s $6 billion fiasco in Djibouti - posted at the Online Journal
A quote...."ASMARA, Eritrea -- The USA African Command (AFRICOM) is building their new African megabase in the tiny Horn of African country of Djibouti. The first phase is costing $2 billion, according to reports, and eventually another $4 billion will be spent. This latest expansion of USA imperial might, this time on African soil, is turning into a fiasco for the Pentagon and US State Department."
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Bilderberg: News Blackout Continues - Remember the "Pink Elephant" folks, this is a prime example. - mpg
A quote...."One single short article in the Wall Street Journal  that merely acknowledges this weekend’s Bilderberg Group meeting in Athens is the only US media coverage of a confab involving around 150 of the globe’s most influential movers and shakers."

Florida officials: 43 children zapped by stun gun during prison tour
It was just an "instructional" demonstration. - Maybe it's their version of "spare the stun-gun, spoil the child"? - mpg -- A quote...."According to information released Saturday by the Florida Department of Corrections: During “Take Our Children to Work Day” events at three prison facilities, 43 children were hit with stun guns while others were exposed to tear gas."

Americans Divided by Hate Crimes Bill
A quote...."Despite lingering concerns about threats to Constitutional protections such as freedom of religion and freedom of speech, the Federal Hate Crimes bill, HR 1913, passed recently in the House of Representatives. -- If passed by the Senate, the legislation will expand the federal definition of such crimes to include those motivated by gender identity and permit increased federal power to investigate and prosecute crimes as “hate crimes.” The meat of the hate crimes bill is a $10 million grant for the establishment of a federally funded surveillance centre." - bold by website editor - also posted at OhBummer- Let's be honest folks, in five years time it will be a hundred million dollars, in ten, it will be five to ten billion. - mpg

Flu Bug
Must Read - A quote...."If you sell crack, join a gang, or rob the mob you can expect to die a violent death, but if you listen to your mother, eat all the right foods, and study hard in college to become a microbiologist, you should expect to live to a ripe old age and die peacefully. -- That being the case, a few eyebrows were raised when five microbiologists either disappeared or died mysteriously violent deaths in 2001. A short time later the number rose to 19, and then 29. -- They were found stabbed to death in the trunks of cars, thrown off bridges, or they wrapped their cars around trees after their brake fluid disappeared. Once again, this is the stuff of Hollywood spy stories, and not the way you would expect a microbiologist to give up the ghost." -- For more on this issue see....CLG's Flu 'Oddities'Archives

Lab didn't tell police 22 vials stolen -- Former researcher in U.S. custody accused of cross-border smuggling
A quote...."WINIPEG – No one from Winnipeg's National Microbiology Laboratory bothered to report the theft of 22 vials of biological material to police, despite an international uproar over a former researcher accused of smuggling the substances across the U.S. border. -- On Wednesday, scientific director Dr. Frank Plummer confirmed RCMP alerted lab staff about the stolen materials on May 5 -- the same day a former vaccine researcher was arrested by FBI special agents after U.S. Customs discovered the vials stuffed in a glove in the trunk of his car at the Manitoba-North Dakota border crossing." -- also posted at BLN
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Turkey pushes Israel on Golan Heights
A quote...."Turkey's President Abdullah Gul has urged Israel to resume peace talks with Syria as Tel Aviv says it will not return the occupied Golan Heights to Syria. - Speaking at a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad on Friday, Gul called on Israel to accept its responsibilities in forging peace, saying "Israel has to show clearly it is a partner."

Norwegian Trade Union Calls to Renew Israel Boycott - Boycott Israel!! - Hip Hip Hooray for the Norwegians!!
A quote...."Norway's largest labor union called on Saturday to boycott Israel until "the occupation of the Palestinian Territories is lifted." -- The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, whose members constitute more than a third of the country's employees, said in a statement that "both Israel and the Palestinians deserve to live in peace and security, and as long as this is not achieved, the Israeli government is to be held accountable." - also posted at AtheoNews
 & WarInIraq

Video: EuroPalestine, “Action Boycott Israel in Montigny, Paris Region” - Boycott Israel!! - Viva La France!!
Must View Video -- Alt - (YouTube - 5 min 17 sec - May 11, 2009) -- A quote...."This action was led by the Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA), especially Omar Slaouti, who heads the NPA list in Île-de-France, as well as by Senator Alima Boumediene-Thiery (Greens), conducted in a clear, educational fashion, with the participation of many local politicians.  The NPA walks the walk, demonstrating that the call for the boycott of Israel, launched by the Palestinian civil society and Israeli dissidents, is an integral part of its campaign for respect for law and justice in the world, including the Middle East." -- For more on how to boycott Israel see the upper-left-corner of the "Front Page" of this website. - mpg

Wa’ed: Israel practices the ugliest torture methods in secret prisons
A quote...."GAZA, (PIC)-- The Wa’ed society for detainees and ex-detainees reported Saturday that all information available indicates that Israel practices the most heinous methods of torture against Palestinian prisoners in its secret jails, expressing disappointment at the Red Cross’s failure to visit these prisons where hundreds of Palestinians are locked up."

Months On, Gazans Still Homeless
A quote...."Despite billions of dollars of international aid pledges, thousands of Palestinian families in Gaza Strip still live in open air, months after Israel's deadly war in the besieged strip."We are living in a corridor and a bedroom," said 46-year-old Majid Jumeh told the Washington Post on Saturday, May 16."

Human Rights Organizations Warn of Obstacles to Gaza Reconstruction (Report)
A quote...."After the passage of more than a hundred days since the end of the Zionist war on the Gaza Strip, international humanitarian and human rights organizations are warning of the consequences of an alarming humanitarian situation in the Strip."

Remember Gaza End the siege now, London Protest Photos16.05.2009 - Alt
Must View Video - (YouTube - 8 min 24 sec - May 16, 2009) - More From: sal64london

Don't forget to check out Palestine Chron's - VIDS

Gazans Remember 1948 Exodus
A quote...."Thousands of Palestinians have gathered in the Gaza Strip to mark the 61st anniversary of the "Nakba", or "catastrophe", which describes the dispersal of hundreds of thousands of refugees following the creation of Israel."
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Global Systemic Crisis: "Financial Surrealism at the Heart of Stock Market Trends"
Must Read - A quote...."When the world steps out of a 60 year old referential framework  -- The financial surrealism which has been at the heart of stock market trends, financial indicators and political commentaries in the past two months, is in fact the swan song of the referential framework within which the world has lived since 1945. -- Just as in January 2007, the 11th edition of the GEAB described that the turn of the year 2006/07 was wrapped in a « statistical fog » typical of an entry into recession and designed to raise doubts among passengers that the Titanic was really sinking (1), our team today believes that the end of Spring 2009is characterized by the world’s final stepping out of the referential framework used for sixty years by global economic, financial and political players in making their decisions, in particular of its “simplified” version massively used since the fall of the communist bloc in 1989 (when the referential framework became exclusively US-centric). In practical terms, this means that the indicators that everyone is accustomed to use for investment decisions, profitability, location, partnership, etc ... have become obsolete and that it is now necessary to find new relevant indicators to avoid making disastrous decisions."

How War Caused the Crash
Must Read - A quote...."US government crimes against the people of the US amount to organized high treason! Millions are now out of work amid declining prospects. US troops still occupy Iraq, a war of aggression that the US has not begun to pay for. Unfortunately, neither people nor media have made the connection. Even worse, the US has yet to either win or pay for any war waged since World War II. Since World War II, Republican regimes have not merely run up the highest debts and deficits, they have failed to retire them with tax hikes. What John Maynard Keynes stated the US has proven: war transfers wealth upward! Wealth flowing upward equals economic depression." -- For more on this issue see....Effective Fed Funds Rate & Total Nonfarm Payrolls, specifically see....Some Tentative Laws - 07-20-08 - mpg

Taming the Speculators: What Should Countries Do With Their Central Bank Reserves?
Must Read - A quote...."Last week Izvestiya published an interview with former Premier Yevgeny Primakov, now president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. (Johnson’s Russia List published a translation on May 8). The discussion centered on a universal problem – what China and other Asian countries, as well as OPEC and Europe should do with the export surpluses and proceeds mounting up in their central banks from mortgaging or selling off their real estate and industry. Or to put matters in retrospect, what should they have done to avoid the neoliberal monetarist ideology that governments should do nothing at all with these surpluses, not even use them to fuel economic growth." -- also posted at Creative-i

Who, Me? Yes You!
A quote...."When, during the invasion of Iraq, the United States Government issued its famous deck of playing cards with the 52 arch villains of the Iraqi police state, Saddam Hussein’s face adorned the Ace of Spades. If the Obama Administration wanted to engage in a similar public relations campaign for the real estate crisis, the top card should be reserved for Alan Greenspan. -- Yet in a speech this Tuesday before the National Association of Realtors, Sir Alan “the-bubble-blower” claimed that his low interest rate policies in the early and middle years of this decade had no effect on mortgage rates or real estate prices."

Consumer price drop is biggest since '55
Deflation Alert - A quote...."NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A key index of prices paid by consumers fell at the sharpest rate since August 1955 due to historically low energy prices, the government said Friday. -- The Labor Department said the Consumer Price Index declined 0.7% on an annual basis in April, only the second year-over-year decline in nearly 54 years following March's 0.4% drop."

GM's bankruptcy near inevitable -  Check out the photo. - mpg
A quote...."General Motors (GM) is barreling towards a court-supervised bankruptcy, which is expected to come into affect for the ailing US automaker by the end of the month. - On Thursday, GM's Vice President of North American sales Mark LaNeve suggested that the company was very likely to miss its June 1 federal deadline to restructure."

Sad End to the Immigration Issue
A quote...."A standard test of a country’s well-being is whether people want in or out. Whether you have an immigration issue or an emigration issue is telling. For example, people wanted out of East Germany and wanted into West Germany. People wanted out of Russia and into Estonia. People once wanted out of China, whereas now they want in. -- These demographic flows tell more about a country and its economic prospects than all the political speeches combined. People vote with their feet. -- Data from Mexico is extremely telling in this regard. There has been a massive plummeting in immigration from Mexico to the United States within the last year. A quarter of a million people who would otherwise have come to the U.S. for work have decided to stay away."

California's Day of Reckoning: May 19
A quote...."Hasta la vista." ~ Terminator 2 -- On May 19, Californians will go to the polls to decide the fate of six propositions. These propositions all deal with the tax code. Passage of all five of them is required to ratify the compromise that was hammered out by Governor Schwarzenegger and the legislature. That compromise was facilitated by the vote of one Republican, who switched sides after weeks of deadlock. A two-thirds vote is required by law in each house. Three Republicans in each house voted for it – the bare necessity. The last man to switch was Abel Maldonado, a businessman."

The Exuberance Glut Or The Dollar-Euro Short Squeeze Race
Chart - Some quotes...."Much speculation lately focuses not so much on what the stock market will do (the answer to that should be self-evident, especially once shorting stocks again becomes a practical reality), but what the impact of recent economic policies will be not just on inflation (regional or global), but also on that most sacrosanct piece of paper, the U.S. dollar." -- "In order to fully understand currency and price movements, one has to realize that the securitization of debt, and creation of derivatives amounted to a huge virtual printing press, primarily fueled by a massive increase in risk appetite which allowed for a huge expansion in the value of claims on financial assets and goods and services. It is worth pointing out, that the Fed has little to no control over this "printing press" at this point, which at last count was responsible for over 90% of the liquidity in the system."

Friday May 15th 2009

We wouldn't want to inflame anti-American sentiment
Must Read - A quote...."There are many bizarre aspects to Obama's decision to try to suppress evidence of America's detainee abuse, beginning with the newfound willingness of so many people to say:  "We want our leaders to suppress information that reflects poorly on what our government does."  One would think that it would be impossible to train a citizenry to be grateful to political officials for concealing evidence of government wrongdoing, or to accept the idea that evidence that reflects poorly on the conduct of political leaders should, for that reason alone, be covered-up:  "Obama and his military commanders decide when it's best that we're kept in the dark, and I'm thankful when they keep from me things that reflect poorly on my government because I trust them to decide what I should and should not know."  It's the fantasy of every political leader to have a citizenry willing to think that way ("I know it's totally unrealistic, but wouldn't it be great if we could actually convince people that it's for their own good when we cover-up evidence of government crimes?")." - also posted at CommonDreams

Obama’s 48-Hour Makeover - President Departs From Last Vestiges of Change Mantra - posted at AntiWar
Must Read - Obama™ Update - A quote...."President Obama’s tenuous claim to the antiwar community was already unraveling long before he formally took office. Shortly after the election his national security team’s extremely hawkish makeup was drawing concern. Two days after his inauguration, he had backed off his campaign promise to have all US troops out of Iraq in 16 months. Still, his supporters could find some measure of solace in his halting of the military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay and his promises of a more transparent administration. -- Or at least they used to be able to. In the past 48 hours the administration has backed off of the few scraps of significant policy revisions thrown to an electorate hungry for his campaign’s mantra of change. First, he overruled the Pentagon’s decision that undisclosed photos of detainee abuse could be released. Perplexingly, he insisted that the photos did not contain anything “particularly sensational,” before cautioning that making them public would imperil the troops and inflame anti-American opinion."

Deconstructing Obama's Excuses
Must Read - Obama™ Update - A quote...."In trying to explain his startling decision to oppose the public release of more photos depicting detainee abuse, President Obama and his aides yesterday put forth six excuses for his about-face, one more flawed than the next.

Pull the other one.
Must Read - A quote...."Pres. Obama's decision to resist the release of long-withheld images of U.S. torture in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo is yet another self-inflicted injury to the idea that his administration is willing to be "transparent". The excuse offered adds insult -- an insult to the intelligence:"

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters yesterday that President Obama has "great concern" about the impact that releasing the photos would have on soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Puhleeze. His great concern is about the impact on the U.S. public, half of which is already far more interested in accountability for torture than he is, and the other half unwilling or unable to conceive of U.S. torture unless shown pictures. The Iraqi and Afghan public don't need five-year-old pictures of torture to loathe and wish harm to U.S. troops: they've lived it, they've heard the survivors' accounts, and they're still experiencing massacres by air strikes, house raids, checkpoints, lawless detention, and the multiple humiliations of occupation. The only things that could dampen their anger are the departure of U.S. troops and trials, conviction and long sentences for higher-ups responsible for the crimes committed against their peoples." 

Tortured Logic, Tortured Results
Must Read - A quote...."The evidence, however, is to the contrary, now clear that torture did what it has always done, extracted false confessions, in this case the “proof” that George W. Bush wanted to justify invading Iraq, as historian William Loren Katz notes in this guest essay:"

Obama on torture photos: cover-up and complicity
Must Read - A quote...."President Obama’s repudiation of his promise to comply with a court order and release Pentagon torture photos marks a qualitative deepening of the cover-up of the crimes carried out under Bush as well as their continuation under the new administration in only slightly altered form. -- The president’s decision amounts to the deliberate suppression of evidence that the US military-intelligence apparatus, at the direction of the White House, carried out systemic torture." -- also posted at AmericanEveryman

Human Rights Investigator, Attorney John Sifton: Torture Investigation Should Focus on Estimated 100 Prisoner Deaths -- Must Read/View - A quote...."We get reaction to the Senate hearing on torture from private investigator and attorney John Sifton, executive director of One World Research, which carries out research for law firms and human rights groups. Sifton has conducted extensive investigations into the CIA interrogation and detention program. He says any investigation of Bush administration torture and rendition should include an estimated 100 homicides of prisoners in US custody. [includes rush transcript]" -- ||  Real Video Stream  ||  Real Audio Stream  ||  MP3 Download  ||  More…  || 

Little Known Military Thug Squad Still Brutalizing Prisoners at Gitmo Under Obama
Must Read - Obama™ Update - Maybe Obama enjoys watching the videos like Rumsfeld used too?  Remember Rumsfeld's "high-speed" video link to Gitmo, in which he directed all the "action"?  What a proud day it is for the New Roman Empire. - mpg -- A quote...."As the Obama administration continues to fight the release of some 2,000 photos that graphically document U.S. military abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, an ongoing Spanish investigation is adding harrowing details to the ever-emerging portrait of the torture inside and outside Guantánamo. Among them: "blows to [the] testicles;" "detention underground in total darkness for three weeks with deprivation of food and sleep;" being "inoculated … through injection with 'a disease for dog cysts;'" the smearing of feces on prisoners; and waterboarding. The torture, according to the Spanish investigation, all occurred "under the authority of American military personnel" and was sometimes conducted in the presence of medical professionals." -- also posted at CommonDreams
 & Uruknet

One of the Main Sources for the 9/11 Comm Report was Tortured Until He Agreed to Sign a Confession that He Was NOT EVEN ALLOWED TO READ -- Special Note -- A quote...."A special report from NBC news states:  The NBC News analysis shows that more than one quarter of all footnotes in the 9/11 Report refer to CIA interrogations of al-Qaida operatives who were subjected to the now-controversial interrogation techniques. In fact, information derived from the interrogations is central to the Report’s most critical chapters, those on the planning and execution of the attacks. The analysis also shows - and agency and commission staffers concur - there was a separate, second round of interrogations in early 2004, done specifically to answer new questions from the Commission."

We tortured to justify war
Must Read - A quote...."Dick Cheney keeps saying "enhanced interrogation" was used to stop imminent attacks, but evidence is mounting that the real reason was to invent evidence linking Saddam Hussein to al-Qaida." -- also posted at CommonDreams

Death in Libya, betrayal in the west
Must Read - A quote...."News of the death, in a Libyan jail, of Ibn al-Shaikh al-Libi, a US terror suspect who was the subject of an extraordinary rendition, then tortured in Egypt and Jordan as well as CIA prisons in Afghanistan and Poland has, understandably, raised questions about whether he committed suicide – as the Libyan authorities claimed – or whether he was murdered. Just two weeks ago, representatives of Human Rights Watch saw him in Tripoli's Abu Salim prison, and although he refused to speak to them, they reported that he "looked well." -- also posted at CommonDreams
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Leaked torture photos published in 2006 went largely unseen - also as a photo galery
WARNING - GRAPHIC PHOTOS - This website editor is perfectly aware these types of photos will "please" many so-called "Christians" in this country, along with a very large portion of the population in San Francisco, and of course, our very own illustrious Neo-Roman elites.  As such, except for the database-weblists shown below, photos like these are usually never posted on this website. -- This is a very rare exception. --  mpg -- A quote...."A little over three years ago, SBS Dateline, an Australian television program, released leaked photographs from the U.S. prison in Iraq, Abu Ghraib. -- It is believed that the pictures being held back by the Obama administration may include some of these shots that most of the US press ignored, although RAW STORY ran them in 2006." -- For more on this issue see....US - Torture & Sex Perv & US - Murder & Mayhem

Obama Mulls ‘Indefinite Detention’ -- Gitmo Detainees May Spend Life in Prison Without a Trial - posted at AntiWar
Obama™ Update - A quote...."With the announcement that President Obama is going to restart the military tribunal system at Guantanamo Bay, it is now also being reported that the administration is floating in Congress the idea of holding some of the detainees on American soil, indefinitely and without trial."

Obama Is Becoming an Accessory after the fact to War Crimes
Obama™ Update - A quote....Barack Obama is fast becoming an accessory after the fact to the war crimes that the Bush Administration has committed. -- By not prosecuting the torturers and those who ordered the torture, and now by not even going public with the photo tortures he’d already agreed to release, Obama is doing Dick Cheney’s business for him."

"CIA Contractors Played Big Role In Interrogations (NPR) 15 May 2009 Congressional testimony this week showed that private CIA contractors mercenaries were a driving force behind harsh interrogations torture. Although there are lawsuits against military contractors involved in detainee prisoner abuse, there has been far less legal action against contractors who worked for the CIA. American Civil Liberties Union attorney Ben Wisner believes this is largely because of the secrecy that has surrounded the CIA's interrogation and detention program." -- Paragraph quoted from CLG

Pentagon’s Black Budget Grows to More Than $50 Billion
Obama™ Update - A quote...."The Pentagon wants to spend just over $50 billion on classified programs next year, newly-released Defense Department budget documents reveal. “That’s the largest-ever sum,” according to Aviation Week’s Bill Sweetman, a longtime black-budget seer — a three percent increase over last year’s total. -- It makes the Pentagon’s secret operations, including the intelligence budgets nested inside, “roughly equal in magnitude to the entire defense budgets of the UK, France or Japan,” Sweetman adds. All in all, about seven and a half percent of the Defense Department’s total spending is now classified." -- bold by website editor -- For more on this issue see....US Support of Terror - Money and Guns For Everyone

House passes $96.7 billion bill funding wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - posted at AntiWar
Obama™ Update - A quote...."The House has approved $97 billion for military and diplomatic efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The measure also would pay for anti-flu programs and for additional cargo planes the Pentagon doesn't want." -- See video below....

Democrats Were Elected On A Promise To End The War In Iraq! Dennis Kucinich
Must View Video -- Alt - (YouTube - 1 min 30 sec - May 14, 2009) -- Kucinich, telling it like it is. - mpg
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From My Lai to Bala Baluk - Obama Picks Up Where Bush Left Off
Must Read - A quote...."Barack Obama is aggressively stepping up the war in Afghanistan. He's intensified the cross-border bombing of Pakistan and he is doubling the number of U.S. troops to 68,000 by 2010. He's also a strong proponent of pilotless drones even though hundreds of civilians have been killed in bombing raid blunders. -- On May 4, 2009, 143 civilians were killed in a bombing raid in Bala Baluk, a remote area south of Herat. Obama brushed off the incident with terse apology never intimating that the US policy for aerial bombardment would be reviewed to avoid future mishaps."

Caught in a Lie: US Uses Phosphorus Weapons in Afghanistan
A quote...."When doctors started reporting that some of the victims of the US bombing of several villages in Farah Province last week—an attack that left between 117 and 147 civilians dead, most of them women and children—were turning up with deep, sharp burns on their body that “looked like” they’d been caused by white phosphorus, the US military was quick to deny responsibility."

U.S. air strike victims say Taliban long gone
A quote...."HERAT, Afghanistan | Afghans who lost family members in a U.S. bombardment last week say Taliban militants fled hours before the U.S. attack -- an account that contrasts with Pentagon claims about an incident that has come to encapsulate an uphill battle for Afghan hearts and minds."

On the Ground in Pakistan
Must View Video - Bill Moyers interviews Jaun Cole & Shahan Mufti -- A quote...."As the world follows the violence and unrest in Pakistan, Bill Moyers speaks with historian Juan Cole and journalist Shahan Mufti about the U.S. relationship with Pakistan, how it relates to the war in Afghanistan, and why they think Pakistan is not likely to become a failed state anytime soon." -- ||  Transcript  ||  Podcast Mp3  ||

America Creating 'Talibanization' in Pakistan, Say Arab Media
A quote...."The specter of a Taliban takeover of Pakistan has been haunting Western media. As the fighting between Pakistani forces and the Taliban intensifies, Arab media are pointing the finger at the United States. The Obama Administration does not understand Pashtun cultural traditions, say the media. It is using force first, just as the Bush administration had done. In fact, the air strikes killing many civilians are actually creating more "Talibanization," say Arab media."

Struggle to re-supply Afghan frontline - link posted at AntiWar
This is the KEY, and the insurgents know it. - mpg -- A quote...."LONDON (AFP) – The Ministry of Defence is struggling to meet its targets for quickly resupplying frontline troops in Afghanistan, the National Audit Office said in a report Thursday. -- Shortages of spare parts for helicopters have also led to "cannibalisation" of equipment to keep aircraft flying in southern Afghanistan, where NATO-led troops are battling Taliban insurgents. -- There have been improvements in supply chains, but overall only 57 percent of consignments reach their destination on time, said the office, which audits the accounts of all government departments."

US to be buried in 'Graveyard of Empires'
A quote...."US efforts to cut out a friendly Afghan administration could end up as disastrous as the previous international approaches on the country, says a former presidential assistant. - "The idea of trying to establish a central government…that is going to be pro-American is foolish," said political analyst and former special assistant to ex-US president Ronald Reagan, Douglas Bandow on Thursday."

Islamists linked to al-Qaeda on verge of toppling Somali government - link posted at AntiWar
A quote...."Insurgents linked to al-Qaeda are on the verge of toppling Somalia's Western-backed government amid the worst fighting in the country's capital in more than a year."

Nasrallah: Don't sell Lebanon to Israel again
A quote...."Hezbollah has condemned factional extremism and the concept of a federal Lebanon, urging a strong Lebanese state and a national unity cabinet. In his Friday speech in Beirut, Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah highlighted the significance of a united nation despite the existence of a confessional regime. The Shia leader denounced racial arrogance as "ignorance", saying no party or religious group had the right to think they were “more Lebanese” than the rest. Nasrallah further ruled out any form of government other than a unity cabinet where "all Lebanese factions are appropriately represented.”

Does Obama Want 'Hitler' To Win Reelection?
Special Note - A quote...."In case you haven’t heard, the Iranian "Hitler," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is up for reelection in June. And you would think that nothing could possibly be more important on the international front than defeating "Hitler" at the ballot box. Isn’t he "Hitler," after all? And not just any old "Hitler" – the way, say, Muammar al-Gaddafi and Manuel Noriega and Saddam Hussein were seen as "Hitlers" in their day. No, Ahmadinejad is treated as the worst of all the "Hitlers." Namely, a "Hitler" who has openly, sort of, said that he wants to "wipe Israel off the map" (or so the gross misquotation goes) as soon as his mad Muslim minions can develop a nuclear warhead and a missile to deliver it. That is why Israel is talking about launching a preemptive strike against this "Hitler’s" nuclear strikes, is it not?" -- For more on this issue see the quote shown below....

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*, posted 05-10-09

With Murmurs of Change, Sultan Tightens Grip - From one of the US-NRE's erstwhile "friends" - mpg
Gee!  This sounds sooooo familiar!! - mpg -- A quote....".....Oman has a very young population, a generation that did not experience the deprivations of the not-too-distant past. They are generally educated and aware. They want political change, rule of law, freedom of speech, institutions, a voice."

"Moscow wants greater security role for Shanghai Organization"
RT  Video - A quote...."Russia wants the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to assume a greater security role, says Aleksandr Lukin, the Head of the SCO Research Centre at Moscow State University of International Relations."

Celebrities join protests in Georgia
RT Video -- A quote...."Georgian protests pressing for president Saakashvili's resignation have gone into their second month. As opposition leaders stand firm, artists and celebrities join in, feeling obliged to put out a political message."

Superpower (Film Trailer) -- "The only thing new in the world is the history you don't know."
Video - A quote...."Superpower is a well-executed and comprehensive film that asks tough questions and goes behind the scenes of America's national security apparatus and military actions. Far from a conspiracy film about the dangers of government secrets and regime change, this well-balanced film straddles the philosophical divide and allows viewers to understand the US quest for global dominance through economic and military strategy that is exposed through review of historical events, personal interviews, and analysis of US foreign policy."
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Constitutional Rubbish
Must Read - A quote...."Make no mistake. Either in theory or practice is there any basis whatsoever for believing that the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the federal government are coequal. It also defies common sense. -- Historical analysis has always shown that the Founders, if anything, intended for Congress to be preeminent, and not the President and the executive branch. For example, only Congress has the constitutional power to remove the President and other high officers of the executive branch as well as the judiciary, but the latter cannot remove any member of Congress. And Congress has control of raising and spending government funds as well as the power to overrule any presidential attempt to veto legislation. That Congress does not always choose to fully exercise its constitutional powers does not remove them."

America's growing surveillance state
A quote...."The US department of homeland security has once again run afoul of cultural and political conservatives. Last month, a leaked report on rightwing extremism sparked an outcry for suggesting that returning veterans from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq could become domestic terrorists – the next Timothy McVeigh. Now, another document has come to light, and conservatives are having another aneurism." -- also posted at CommonDreams

Bilderberg blackout, media more obsessed with Hoggs moat costs
A quote...."The media have been locked out of the meeting Athens, and a total blackout is operating in Greece, with local media in many cases not even covering the event.  One local journalist who spoke with the London Daily News correspondent in Athens said: "We have been told by senior government officials that covering the event could cost us our jobs.  Greece is in the depths of a major recession and I cannot afford to lost my job". -- also posted at RogueGov

Bilderberg: One mention of Sylvester McCoy and it all kicks off
A quote...."Charlie Skelton is menaced by police with guns (and mirrors on sticks) in his third dispatch from (near) the Bilderberg summit of the global elite"
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Israeli soldier shoots 12-year-old girl with live fire in Ni'lin
A quote...."A 12-year old Palestinian girl was shot with .22 calibre live ammunition in Ni'lin by Israeli forces on Friday afternoon, sources told Ma'an. -- The girl, Summer Amira, was shot by Israeli forces as she was standing near the window of her home. Amira was shot in her lower arm, near her elbow, around 4:30pm and was taken to a hospital in Ramallah about 15 minutes afterward."

Nakba Day…"They Killed Anyone They Saw"
A quote...."OCCUPIED WEST BANK -- Mohammed al-Saghir Abu Sharar was 37 when the Hagana and other Jewish terrorist gangs attacked al-Dawayema, a village located 18 kilometers northwest of Al-Khalil (Hebron) in 1948."

West Bank closed by IOF  -- Yisrael Beiteinu seeks to criminalise marking the Nakba
A quote...."OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Ehud Barak, the Israeli war minister ordered a general closure on West Bank on the occasion of the 61st anniversary of the Nakba, while Lieberman threatened criminalising the marking of Nakba."

EU obligated to prosecute [Israeli] war crime suspects
A quote...."In the midst of the Gaza invasion, numerous experts pointed out that Israel was committing severe and massive violations of international humanitarian law. The Hague regulations and Geneva conventions specifically mention the illegality of collective punishment, targeting civilians during wartime and rules on military necessity and proportionality. Israel did not allow journalists and international monitors to enter Gaza during the invasion, and these opinions were based on limited eyewitness and media reports. In order to come to a full understanding of the operations and assess the harm done, human rights organizations, UN bodies and the Arab League have undertaken fact-finding missions and investigations. As the conclusions from these various investigations are released, it is now apparent that Israel does indeed have a case to answer to on many alleged war crimes." -- For more on this issue see....Gaza Invasion of 12/27/08

Pope's 'Pilgrimage' Mired in Politics
A quote...."Pope Benedict XVI upset the schedule on his first day in Israel by leaving an interfaith meeting in Jerusalem early on Monday night after a leading Muslim cleric called on him to condemn the “slaughter” of women and children in the recent assault on Gaza."
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The Swine Flu Outbreak and Other Bio-Warfare Matters -- From WMR.....

Researcher arrested at U.S.-Canadian border with stolen vials of Ebola virus
H1N1 shuts down three NYC public schools
New CDC director named
WHO Director Margaret Chan warns against "false security" over H1N1
Second case of H1N1 reported in Poland
Malaysia confirms first case of H1N1
H1N1 suspected in Indonesia
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The Bailout Bubble – the Bubble to End All Bubbles
Must Read - A quote...."Phantom dollars, printed out of thin air, backed by nothing ... and producing next to nothing ... defines the Bailout Bubble. Just as with the other bubbles, so too will this one burst. But unlike Dot-com and Real Estate, when the Bailout Bubble pops, neither the President nor the Federal Reserve will have the fiscal fixes or monetary policies available to inflate another. With no more massive economic bubbles left to blow up, they'll set their sights on bigger targets. Given the pattern of governments to parlay egregious failures into mega-failures, the classic trend they follow, when all else fails, is to take their nation to war. Since the Bailout Bubble is neither called nor recognized as a bubble, its sudden and spectacular explosion will create chaos. A panicked public will readily accept any Washington/Wall Street/Main Stream Media alibi that shifts the blame for the catastrophe away from the policy makers and onto some scapegoat."

The Secrets of the Federal Reserve
A quote...."Recently we discovered that $101.4 billion was originally secretly funneled through AIG to AIG counterparties - parties that were owed these sums by AIG, which had not collateralized derivative contracts. That is like writing insurance and having no collateral reserves set aside for losing events. The Federal Reserve in their wisdom paid off AIG’s debt with what eventually will be taxpayer debt. This is wrong and it should not have been done secretly. When demanded by a Federal Judge to reveal to whom these monies were paid and under what circumstances, the Fed said it would harm their reputations and it was a “state secret.”

Is the Financial Crisis More Like the 90s, 70s, 30s, 1349 or 1294?
Full quote...."Forget Japan's "lost decade" of the 1990s. -- Forget the 1970s. -- Forget the Great Depression. -- Finance professors Adrian Bell and Chris Brooks have just written a paper arguing that the current financial crisis is like the credit crunch of 1294. -- Personally, as I've previously written, I think the current crisis is more like the great crash of 1349, which was apparently many times worse than the Great Depression (and see this)."

U.S. credit card defaults keep rising in April
A quote...."NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. credit card defaults rose in April to record highs, with Citigroup and Wells Fargo posting double digit loss rates, as the recession slashed more than 2 million jobs since the beginning of the year. -- "U.S. card credit quality continues to struggle," John Williams, an analyst at Macquarie Research, said in a note to clients."

U.S. Economy: Jobless Claims Rise Amid Auto Closings (Update1)
A quote...." May 14 (Bloomberg) -- More Americans than forecast filed unemployment-insurance claims last week because of the Chrysler LLC bankruptcy that is likely to reverberate through the economy for months. -- Initial jobless claims rose by 32,000 to 637,000 in the week ended May 9, the Labor Department said today in Washington. A good part of the jump was from states reporting an increase in auto-related claims, a Labor official said without providing a more precise estimate." - bold by website editor

GM, Chrysler to cut up to 3,000 dealers: sources
A quote...."DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – General Motors Corp and Chrysler aim to drop as many as 3,000 U.S. dealers and are expected to begin sending notifications as early as Thursday, three people briefed on the still developing plans said."

U.S. Consumer Prices Unchanged; Core Prices Increase (Update1)
Special Note -- A quote...."Demand simply remains too weak for most businesses to find any success in pushing through price hikes at this point, Russell Price, a senior economist at Ameriprise Advisor Services in Detroit, said before the report. “Widespread price cuts however, are also unlikely especially given the recent evidence that the economy may be stabilizing.”

Paul Krugman Says Rapid Recovery ‘Extremely Unlikely’ (Update1)
A quote...."It looks to me now as if the markets are now pricing in a rapid recovery, that they’re pricing in a V-shaped recession, which I consider extremely unlikely,” Krugman, 56, said at a forum in Shanghai today. “The market seems to be looking as if this is going to be an average recession, but it’s not.”

Roubini: Chinese Yuan Will Take Over as World's Reserve Currency; U.S. Must Rebuild Real Economy...
More insights from "Dr. Doom" - mpg -- A quote...."Nouriel Roubini -- This decline of the dollar might take more than a decade, but it could happen even sooner if we do not get our financial house in order. The United States must rein in spending and borrowing, and pursue growth that is not based on asset and credit bubbles... -- Now that the dollar’s position is no longer so secure, we need to shift our priorities. This will entail investing in our crumbling infrastructure, alternative and renewable resources and productive human capital — rather than in unnecessary housing and toxic financial innovation. This will be the only way to slow down the decline of the dollar..." -- bold by website editor -- For more on this issue see....Enforcing the Rules -- Too Little, Too Late - 02-27-09 - mpg

Thursday May 14th 2009

No posts. - mpg

Wednesday May 13th 2009

>>>  Making Up Stories - With Torture  <<<

Article #1 -- Silent as the Grave: A Timely Demise Draws the Curtain on a Deeply Rooted Evil
Must Read - A quote...."As Scott Horton at Harper's reports -- drawing on the reporting of Andy Worthington -- the Terror War captive who would have provided the most damning evidence of the direct connection between the Bush administration's torture program and its concoction of false evidence to "justify" its Hitlerian act of aggression in Iraq has suddenly, somehow, come over all dead-like. -- Ali Mohamed al-Fakheri -- more usually known as Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi -- was captured in Afghanistan in late 2001 and subjected to a series of horrific tortures designed to make him "confess" to non-existent ties between Iraq and al Qaeda. These torture-induced fantasies were then used over and over by top Bush officials -- including the sainted Colin Powell in his infamous "Gleiwitz Incident" appearance at the UN in February 2003, which "sealed the deal" on the war for the bipartisan political and media elites. After this, al-Fakheri was deep-sixed into the blackest quadrants of the American gulag, then secretly "renditioned" to the tender mercies of America's new best friend, Libyan dictator Moamar Gadafy."

Article #2 -- The “Suicide” Of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi: Why The Media Silence?
Must Read - Related Article -- A quote...."The Brad Blog, which picked up on the story of the strange death of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi shortly after I published the first account in the Western media on Sunday evening, asked a question yesterday evening that I had been asking myself throughout the day...." -- also posted at CommonDreams

"So, it’s been about 16 hours since we covered indie journalist / historian / blogger Andy Worthington’s detailed report on the reported suicide of the man who falsely “confessed,” during torture, to a false tie between Iraq and al-Qaeda … As of this moment, not a single mainstream US newspaper or broadcast outlet has reported on the story. Is it not notable? Or are our newspapers just dead set on ensuring their irrelevance by continuing to not report on news that actually matters, no matter how widely it’s being reported in other parts of the world?"

Article #3 -- More Broken Promises: Obama’s Military Commissions, Detainee Photos Betrayal
Special Note - Obama™ Update - A quote...."During the election, Obama said Guantanamo should be closed and habeas corpus restored for the detainees. He said the United States should have “developed a real military system of justice that would sort out the suspected terrorists from the accidentally accused.” -- In fact, Obama never seriously considered substantially modifying policies of the previous administration, as is now obvious. His opposition to the “counter-terrorism” policies of the Bush neocons during the election was little more than posturing intended to bamboozle anti-war Democrats and those outraged by human rights abuses. Obama continued the policies of his predecessor after the election, much to the chagrin of Democrats and self-described progressives who bought into his “change” rhetoric."

Article #4 -- Report: much of 9/11 Commission’s findings cite intelligence garnered by torture
Must Read - Possible 9/11 Cover-Up -- (Obama's now up to his neck in this stuff. - mpg) -- Obama™ Update - A quote...."Much of the material cited in the 9/11 Commission’s findings was derived from terror war detainees during brutal CIA interrogations authorized by the Bush administration, according to a Wednesday report. -- “More than one-quarter of all footnotes in the 9/11 Report refer to CIA interrogations of al Qaeda operatives subjected to the now-controversial interrogation techniques,” writes former NBC producer Robert Windrem in The Daily Beast. “In fact, information derived from the interrogations was central to the 9/11 Report’s most critical chapters, those on the planning and execution of the attacks.”

Article #5 -- We tortured to justify war
Must Read - A quote...."Dick Cheney keeps saying "enhanced interrogation" was used to stop imminent attacks, but evidence is mounting that the real reason was to invent evidence linking Saddam Hussein to al-Qaida." - also posted at CommonDreams -- added/posted - 05-15-09

Article #6 -- One of the Main Sources for the 9/11 Comm Report was Tortured Until He Agreed to Sign a Confession that He Was NOT EVEN ALLOWED TO READ -- Special Note -- A quote...."A special report from NBC news states:  The NBC News analysis shows that more than one quarter of all footnotes in the 9/11 Report refer to CIA interrogations of al-Qaida operatives who were subjected to the now-controversial interrogation techniques. In fact, information derived from the interrogations is central to the Report’s most critical chapters, those on the planning and execution of the attacks. The analysis also shows - and agency and commission staffers concur - there was a separate, second round of interrogations in early 2004, done specifically to answer new questions from the Commission." -- added/posted - 05-15-09

Article #7 -- Death in Libya, betrayal in the west
Must Read - A quote...."News of the death, in a Libyan jail, of Ibn al-Shaikh al-Libi, a US terror suspect who was the subject of an extraordinary rendition, then tortured in Egypt and Jordan as well as CIA prisons in Afghanistan and Poland has, understandably, raised questions about whether he committed suicide – as the Libyan authorities claimed – or whether he was murdered. Just two weeks ago, representatives of Human Rights Watch saw him in Tripoli's Abu Salim prison, and although he refused to speak to them, they reported that he "looked well." -- also posted at CommonDreams -- added/posted - 05-15-09

Article #8 -- The Media’s Collective Yawn Over Torture for War
Must Read - A quote...."Faced with what could be the biggest foreign policy bombshell since the Gulf of Tonkin lies cleared the way for Vietnam, the Washington-New York media establishment has chosen to do nothing. Much as D.C. reporters decided several years ago that they were no longer interested covering the Bush administration's duplicity in the run-up to the Iraq war (nor are the David Gregory's of the world interested in revisiting their profession's complicity with the former administration in that regard,) "the press," it seems, has decided to take a pass. And what they're passing on is truly stunning. -- In short, evidence is quickly piling up suggesting that the torture of terrorism suspects, and even the alleged request from no less than the office of the vice president of the United States, to waterboard an Iraqi official, had less to do with protecting Americans from further attack after 9/11, than it had to do with bolstering a phony case for invading Iraq." -- added/posted - 05-16-09

Article #9 -- Like Iraq, the "Facts" Regarding 9/11 Were "Fixed Around the Policy"
Must Read - A quote...."3 facts show that the government "fixed the facts" regarding 9/11 around a policy decision to exonerate the government from any blame whatsoever.

1. "9/11 Commission's Chief Counsel says Official Story "Almost Entirely Untrue . . . There Was an Agreement Not to Tell the Truth about What Happened"

"As Daily Kos notes in a recent recommended story, the senior counsel to the 9/11 Commission - John Farmer - states in a new book that the official story of 9/11 "almost entirely untrue". -- also posted at GlobRsrch - added/posted 05-18-09

Article #10 -- Mystery surrounds prison death of terrorist whose testimony was key to Iraq invasion
Special Note - A quote...."THE ISLAMIST terrorist who was the key source of the false intelligence used to trigger the US and UK 2003 military invasion of Iraq has been found dead in a Libyan prison cell. -- Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi allegedly commited suicide by hanging in the prison where he was being held in the Libyan capital, Tripoli. His death followed a visit by a team from Human Rights Watch, one of the world's leading independent organisations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights." - added/posted 05-19-09

Article #11 -- Guantanamo Investigator Confirms Torture/Iraq Connection
Special Note - Obama™ Update - A quote...."On Saturday, I wrote about a new and important McClatchy story that revisited remarks Cheney made to the Rocky Mountain News in 2004, confirming then that they tortured extracted false confessions information from Guantanamo detainees about Al Qaeda/Iraq ties." - added/posted 05-19-09

Regarding the eleven articles shown above: Obama is now making an attempt to cover up the Bush regime's criminal policy of torturing thousands of "suspects", much of which appears to have been deliberately implemented to manufacture false, erroneous and misleading information along with out-right propaganda.

It appears both the Bush and Obama administrations can not afford to shed the bright light of discovery -- an open, public, examination, in a court of law, under the rules of evidence -- regarding their now "joint" conspiracy, for fear of what might actually come out.

A conspiracy that has now morphed into one of enforced silence, intimidation, obstruction and lies.

If so, this would make Obama an accessory after the fact in regards to covering-up torture (a war crime), torture to extract false testimony to launch an illegal war of aggression (a crime against humanity), and finally, torture to extract false information which quite probably prevented, most likely intentionally, the identification of the true perpetrators of 9/11, (treason).

Obama is now just a step away from becoming directly involved in covering up what actually occurred on 9/11....this is treason, plain and simple. – mpg

For more on this issue see....The Convenient Silence of Guantanamo Bay - 05-31-08 - mpg
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Nuremberg is Valid Precedent for Iraq Trials
Must Read - A quote...."The Nuremberg Principles, a set of guidelines established after World War II to try Nazi party members, were developed to determine what constitutes a war crime. The principles could also be applied today, when judging the conditions that led to the Iraq war and in the process to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, many of them children, and to the devastation of a country's infrastructure."

The Benefit Bonanza - A Culture of Abuse
Must Read - Quote of the Day -- “The roots of violence: wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, politics without principles.” - *Mahatma Gandhi*  ---  "Poverty is a form of violence. When an abusive culture has set in and people in power have become comfortable in their own self-serving environment , their interests fly against the needs of the wider society. The consequence is more acute poverty, disruption and chaos. The cause is rich feeding off poor. The effect a state of failure, as we see today."
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U.S.: McChrystal Choice Suggests Special Ops Strikes to Continue
Obama™ Update - A quote...."WASHINGTON, 12 May (IPS) - The choice of Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal to become the new U.S. commander in Afghanistan has been hailed by Defence Secretary Robert Gates and national news media as ushering in a new unconventional approach to counterinsurgency. -- But McChrystal's background sends a very different message from the one claimed by Gates and the news media. His long specialisation in counter-terrorism operations suggests an officer who is likely to have more interest in targeted killings than in the kind of politically sensitive counterinsurgency programmes that the Obama administration has said it intends to carry out." - bold by website editor -- also posted at ICH & CounterPunch & GlobIssues & DandySalad

Did newly announced top Afghan general run Cheney's assassination wing?
Obama™ Update - Related Article - A quote...."It was reported on Tuesday that Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal will be taking over command of US forces in Afghanistan, pending Senate approval. - McChrystal is presently director of the Joint Chiefs staff, but from September 2003 to August 2008, he headed the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), which oversees such elite units as the Army's Delta Force and the Navy SEALs."

Suspected war criminal to lead U.S. forces in Afghanistan
Obama™ Update - Related Article - A quote...."On July 22 2006, Human Rights Watch issued a report titled “No blood, no foul” about American torture practices at three facilities in Iraq. One of them was Camp Nama, which was operated by the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), under the direction of then Major General Stanley McChrystal."
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Sadistic . . . Violent . . . Inhuman?
Obama™ Update - A quote...."No, the release of the photos and videos in question would do more than "inflame anti-American sentiment and endanger U.S. troops." If we are to believe reports that began circulating four years ago, reports from investigative journalists such as Seymour Hersh, their release would unleash a wave of anti-American hatred that would endanger the lives of not just U.S. soldiers, but the lives of all Americans, civilians as well as military personnel."

Obama Justice Department continues to cover up Bush-Era crimes
Obama™ Update - A quote...."Something very questionable is happening in Obama’s Department of Justice. I don’t know if it is simply institutional loyalty that is the reason for a once admired office of justice to simply abdicate from its official duty. Whatever the reason, there is one question that no one will answer and this question only grows more urgent as new developments are made public. -- Why is no one being held accountable? It is one thing to overlook a series of bad choices made in good faith. But the issues at hand have nothing to do with good faith or even bad choices. The allegations of criminal activity and extreme and willful abuses of power by officials of the Bush administration fall directly under the very definition of high crimes. The crimes are not small ones either."
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EXCLUSIVE - List of 140 Afghan Killed In US Attack Includes 93 Children
Special Note - Obama™ Update - A quote...."KABUL (Reuters) – Ninety-three children and 25 adult women are among a list of 140 names of Afghans who villagers say were killed in a battle and U.S. air strikes last week, causing a crisis between Washington and its Afghan allies. - The list, obtained by Reuters, bears the endorsement of seven senior provincial and central government officials, including an Afghan two-star general who headed a task force dispatched by the government to investigate the incident. - Titled "list of the martyrs of the bombardment of Bala Boluk district of Farah Province", it includes the name, age and father's name of each alleged victim. - The youngest was listed as 8-day-old baby Sayed Musa, son of Sayed Adam. Fifty-three victims were girls under the age of 18, and 40 were boys. Only 22 were men 18 or older." - bold by website editor

Barack Obama – Mass Murderer
Obama™ Update - A quote...."The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names" ~ *Chinese Proverb*
If you are a poor, hapless Afghan civilian whose family's bodies were ripped apart by U.S. bombs, does it really make a difference to you if the air "strikes" were ordered by the Moron from Texas, George W Bush, or the Agent of Change, Barack Obama? I would think not. If you were a Pakistani civilian whose village had been bombed by the U.S. would your heart be comforted by the fact that the mad bombers have a new, young, hip "Commander-in-Chief" who makes funny jokes to all the stenographers known as "The Washington Press Corps"? I sincerely doubt that as well." -- also posted at ICH & Uruknet

How U.S. Officials Circumvented the Bill of Rights
Obama™ Update - A quote...."In another embrace of President Bush’s war-on-terrorism policies, President Obama has announced that he might retain the Pentagon’s military-commission system to try people accused of terrorism. Apparently, the president, like the U.S. military, lacks confidence in the federal judicial system established by the Framers to handle criminal cases involving terrorism."

'It's perfectly Orwellian... It's just more evidence that this Administration is becoming the greatest bait-and-swich in history. He's morphing into his predecessor.--law professor jonathan turley, referring to barack obama 13 may 2009 (msnbc) - Paragraph quoted from CLG

"Indefinite Detention Weighed 14 May 2009 The Obama administration [soon to be dubbed 'regime' by the CLG] is weighing plans to detain some terror suspects on U.S. soil -- indefinitely and without trial -- as part of a plan to retool military tribunal trials that were conducted for prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The proposal is being floated with members of Congress... Sen. Lindsay Graham (R., S.C.), who met this week with White House Counsel Greg Craig to discuss the administration's plans, said among the proposals being studied is seeking authority for indefinite detentions, with the imprimatur of some type of national-security court." - Paragraph quoted from CLG

"Gee, looks like Michael Rectenwald was right. -- I'm Barack Obama, and I approve this bailout! To Barack Obama I say: you are a fraud on public credulity. You are no more a "change" agent than I am the Pope. With your support of this bailout, you have acted in direct contradiction to your promise of change-your promise of opposing special interests, of putting Main Street before Wall Street, of finding a way forward that does not beg, borrow or steal from the very people you claim to represent. If you cannot do more than cave to special interests now, what "hope" have we that you will resist them when in office? (More 'Rec Reports' here and more of Mike's writings here.) -- It's not just the bailout. Obusha has burned us on Guantanamo, Bagram, tribunals, torture, killer drones, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, investigation of the previous Administration's role in the aforementioned, 'don't ask, don't tell,' banks, bailouts, bonuses, polar bears and wolves. --LRP" - Paragraph quoted from CLG

Judge Condemns ‘Mosaic’ of Gitmo Intel and Unreliable Witnesses - posted at AntiWar
A quote...."David Remes, an attorney for 16 Yemeni prisoners in Guantánamo, claimed today that the government’s detention policy was "in tatters," after District Court Judge Gladys Kessler comprehensively demolished the Justice Department’s case against a Yemeni prisoner held in Guantánamo without charge or trial for seven years (PDF)."

US Finally Wins Bogus Conviction in Miami ‘Plot’
A quote...."After two juries refused to convict or acquit 6 of the so-called “Miami 7″ (which then became the “Liberty City Six” after one was acquitted in the first trial but then deported anyway), five were convicted today of involvement in an al Qaeda plot to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago."

Pelosi the Enabler
A quote...."Nancy Pelosi is no Dick Cheney, nor a George W. Bush. She was neither the author of a systematic policy of torture nor has she been, like Cheney and most top Republicans in Congress, an enduring apologist for its practice. It is a nonsensical distraction to place her failure to speak out courageously as a critic of the Bush policies on the same level as those who engineered one of the most shameful debacles in U.S. history." -- also posted at CommonDreams
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US Iraq Casualties Jump to 72,175
A quote...."US military occupation forces in Iraq under Commander-in- Chief Obama suffered 11 combat casualties in the eight days ending May 13 as the official total jumped sharply to at least 72,175 with an update of "non-combat" victims. The total includes 34,696 dead and wounded from what the Pentagon classifies as "hostile" causes and more than 37,479 dead and medically evacuated (as of April 4, 2009) from "non-hostile" causes.*"

Trucks torched at NATO supply terminal in Pakistan
A quote...."PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - Suspected Taliban stormed a depot handling supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan on Wednesday and torched eight trucks, as Pakistani troops and warplanes battled militants in a swath of the northwest."

Delays in Afghanistan supply chain
A quote...."The Ministry of Defence is still struggling to get essential equipment to troops on the front line in Afghanistan on time, the Whitehall spending watchdog has warned." -- also posted at WarInIraq

Pakistani Public Sees Taliban as Dangerous; New Front Opened at Peochar
A quote...."A Gallup poll done in Pakistan in December, 2008, reveals that the presence of the Taliban in some areas of the country is viewed as a negative by nearly half of Pakistanis, with only 1 in 6 saying it is positive and another large bloc refusing to state an opinion."

Saberi 'had classified document'
Special Note - A quote...."(In fact, she made a copy of it, took it home with her, and at one time confessed to sharing it with the Americans) Ahhh… that’s called “Spying” " --  This appears to have been a pathetic attempt by the US-NRE to set up a "casus belli" using Saberi as a patsy.  "Sure honey, just take this top-secret document and give it to the Israelis....".  The attempt was as childish and immature as it was stupid and wrong.   It would even be funny if the US-NRE hadn't already murdered over a million people in their never ending quest to conquer the oil resources of the Middle East. The Iranians saw right through it of course....they're smart people. – mpg

Russia, Japan sign nuclear energy pact
A quote...."TOKYO: A nuclear energy agreement signed by Japan and Russia on Tuesday will pave the way for contracts worth billions of dollars, the head of Russia’s state nuclear agency said on Tuesday. The accord, which was inked during Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit to Tokyo, will allow for the transfer of Japanese technology to Russia and the sale of more nuclear fuel to energy-poor Japan." -- also posted at WarInIraq

Fun and Games - NATO in Georgia
A quote...."As Russian troops marched to celebrate the victory over Nazi Germany 8 May, NATO troops — 1,300 of them from 10 member countries and six “partners” — were beginning their month-long Cooperative Longbow/Lancer war “games” on Russia’s southern border. In deference to Moscow, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Serbia decided not to participate in the NATO exercises, preferring to send their diplomats to Red Square in homage to the untold Russian sacrifice in pursuit of world peace. According to Russian MP Sergei Abeltsev, the NATO decision to hold the drills in Georgia during the WWII Victory Day celebrations was a “total revision of the history of the Great Patriotic War”."

India
A quote...."India is a land of contradictions. The country produces some of the world's brightest minds and the single most successful immigrant community in the United States. Yet roughly 50 percent of its own population is illiterate. It's a country recognized by global leaders as a high-tech superpower. Still, I often couldn't make a local phone call. There's a lot of talk among those in power in India about how the Internet super-highway will speed them to prosperity. Meanwhile, endless traffic jams and a deteriorating national highway system kept us creeping along at a snail's pace as my wife and I traveled through countryside. Goods-carrying trucks can only average about 10 miles an hour crossing the country and often can be held up for days by the bureaucracy just trying to cross state lines."
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Palestinians and Israeli Jews to reach equal number by 2016, data shows
A quote..."May 13, 2009 "Haaretz" -- The Jewish and Arab populations in Israel and the Palestinian territories will reach an equal number by 2016, according to figures released on Wednesday by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.  - The data, which was published as part of a special study to mark 61 years since Israel's independence ? or Naqba, as referred to by Palestinians ? cites a growth of more than nine million self-identified Palestinians since 1948."  -- Well, the Israelis will have to do something about that.....oh they are, see article below. - mpg

MIDEAST:  [Gaza - a.k.a. the Mid East's new Warsaw Ghetto] Families Down to a Meal a Day
A quote...."GAZA CITY, May 13 (IPS) - Um Abdullah cannot remember the last time she was able to feed meat to her eight children. She does know that for the past week the single meal she cooked for them each day consisted only of lentils. And that on one day, she had received aid coupons from the United Nations, which she subsequently sold to buy tomatoes and eggplant at the local market."

Pope Urges Palestine State, Gaza Siege End
A quote...."Pope Benedict XVI called on Wednesday, May 13, for an independent state for the Palestinian people, hoping the long-running siege slapped on the impoverished Gaza Strip would come to an end soon. -- "The Holy See supports the right of your people to a sovereign Palestinian homeland in the land of your forefathers, secure and at peace with its neighbors, within internationally recognized borders," he told a joint press conference with President Mahmoud Abbas. -- "In particular I call on the international community to bring its influence to bear in favor of a solution."

Pope shows courage against being used, Palestinian leader says
A quote...."Pope for being so resolute in his decision to make this trip and resist so many pressures against it at such a difficult time,” said Bernard Sabella, a Palestinian Catholic and Fatah lawmaker, as he spoke about the success of the Pontiff’s visit to the Holy Land."

Palestinian Authority popularity at all-time low
A quote...."RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Yet another sign of the growing unpopularity of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA) was evident on the streets of Ramallah last weekend."
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Geithner Cold Open
Must View Saturday Night Live Video - Geither like you've never seen him before....telling the honest truth. - mpg

The $33,000,000,000,000 Question
Must Read - Charts - Graphs - Tables - (By the numbers.  Hang on to your hats folks....the numbers do NOT look good. - mpg) -- A quote...."Of course US banks made good money in Q1. The environment created for them is the equivalent of the US government reducing the cost of goods to zero for its embattled car manufacturers and then going on to buy - courtesy of the US tax payer - a couple of million cars that nobody really needs. Even Detroit would make money given those conditions! -- Liquidity is trapped -- The problem for the rest of us is that the banks are not sharing the candy they have been handed. Much of the liquidity created by the central banks remains trapped in the financial sector (see chart 1). Quite simply, the multiplier is not doing its job, as many banks prefer to hoard cash rather than increase lending at this juncture. -- This is both good and bad news at the same time. Good because it implies that we probably do not have to worry too much about the inflationary effect of the aggressive monetary easing currently taking place; bad because it means that the economy is not going to kick back to life as quickly as everyone would like – and expect."

Our Awesomeness in Numbers
Must Read - More numbers.  Isn't it just awful when those pesky facts constantly keep getting in the way of your own mythic "national greatness" and other assorted hallucinations? - mpg -- A quote...."The OECD report is out. Like a pack of hungry wallabies, the media pounced immediately on the only item worth reporting: the French eat and sleep longer hours than anyone, and yet they're among the thinnest. The Americans work the longest hours, spend half as much time eating as the French, and they're the fattest! No wonder everybody hates the French. Oh, and something the wallabies missed. The French (like most Europeans) are now taller than the Americans. No doubt the nativists will blame short immigrants, except that science has conclusively debunked that myth. Americans are shrinking (in height, not width) because of poor diet and lousy prenatal/infant care..."

Infant Deaths: 28 out of 30 (Mexico, Turkey).
Life Expectancy: 24 out of 30 (Mexico, Turkey, Hungary, Poland, Czech & Slovak Republics).
Health Expenditures: 1 out of 30.
Poverty Rates: 28 out of 30 (Mexico, Turkey).
Child Poverty: 27 out of 30 (Mexico, Turkey, Poland).
Income Inequality: 27 out of 30 (Mexico, Turkey, Portugal).
Obesity: 30 out of 30.
Incarceration: 30 out of 30.
Work Hours: (ranked in ascending order): 30 out of 30.
Height (women): 25 out of 30 (Mexico, Turkey, Korea, Portugal, Japan).
Height (men): 24 out of 30 (Italy, Spain, Mexico, Portugal, Korea, Japan).

Video: Federal Reserve Cannot Account for $9 Trillion
A quote...." The Federal Reserve apparently can't account for $9 trillion in off-balance sheet transactions. -- When Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Orlando) asked Inspector General Elizabeth Coleman of the Federal Reserve some very basic questions about where the trillions of dollars that have come from the Fed's expanded balance sheet, the IG didn't know." -- also posted at BLN & RougeGov

Sucker's Rally, Not Green Shoots
A quote...." The rally has been based on the rise in bank stocks. To understand the rise in bank stocks, you must understand the stress test. Saturday Night Live understands this quite well. View it now. David Rosenberg, the chief economist at Merrill Lynch, retired last week. He may still be bullish on America, as the old Merrill slogan went. He is not bullish on the present U.S. stock market. He calls the rally a sucker's rally. From the beginning of this rally, he has maintained that it will not be sustained. He has not changed his mind."  --  Website Editor's Caution: regarding the article 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 Quadrillion (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

Retail sales fall 0.4% in April - Sales down 9.4% in the past year as recession squeezes harder
Deflation Alert - A quote...."WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. consumers pulled back again in April, as retail sales dropped a seasonally adjusted 0.4%, the eighth decline in the past 10 months, the Commerce Department estimated Wednesday."

No progress on bloated inventories in March
Deflation Alert - A quote...."WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - U.S. businesses pared their inventories in March, but sales fell even faster and companies made no progress in bringing bloated inventories back into line with demand, according to Commerce Department data released Wednesday."

RealtyTrac: April foreclosures rise 32 percent
A quote...."MIAMI (AP) -- The number of U.S. households faced with losing their homes to foreclosure jumped 32 percent in April compared with the same month last year, with Nevada, Florida and California showing the highest rates, according to data released Wednesday. Ohio was in the top 10."

U.S. Foreclosure Filings Hit Record for Second Month (Update1)
A quote...."May 13 (Bloomberg) -- Foreclosure filings in the U.S. rose to a record for the second consecutive month in April as banks increased efforts to seize homes from delinquent borrowers."

[Federal] Budget falls into red in April for the first time in 26 years
A quote...."WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- With the recession undermining income-tax receipts, the U.S. government recorded a $20.9 billion deficit last month, the first April deficit in 26 years, the Treasury Department reported Tuesday." - bold by website editor

State Tax Revenues Fall 12.6%
Table - A quote....""The decline was biggest in the Far West (-18.1%) and smallest in the Plains (-5.0%).  Here are the states with the ten biggest and smallest declines in tax revenues:"
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Senate Rejects Limit on Credit-Card Interest Rates - All you Obamatrolls, what do you think of that??? - mpg
Obama™ Update - A quote...." Despite complaints that banks and credit card companies are gouging customers by charging outrageous interest rates, the Senate on Wednesday easily turned back an effort to cap interest rates at 15 percent. - The effort by Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, drew only 33 votes and needed 60...."

US: Cuts in Social Security, Medicare to pay for bank bailouts. -- Haaaa, Ha, Haaa... it just never ends. - mpg
Obama™ Update - A quote...."A government report made public Tuesday indicates that Social Security and Medicare will deplete their trust funds more quickly than previously forecast. This has sparked new demands from within the US financial elite for substantial cuts in the two entitlement programs, which pay retirement and medical benefits for tens of millions of working class Americans."

Obama’s Health Care Charade -- Obamatrolls are such fools. - mpg
Obama™ Update - A quote...."The president feigns amazement at popular demands for a change in the industrial world’s most expensive and dysfunctional health care system. "We're doing some stuff on health care because I think the country is geared up, businesses are geared up, families are geared up to go ahead and start solving some our extraordinary health care system problems," Obama fairly gushed, as if his own corporate-friendly proposals accurately reflect the public will. In reality, the Administration is engaged in an elaborate charade designed to sidetrack, possibly for decades, the most broadly supported idea in American politics, today: single-payer health care.
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Germany Has $800 Billion Euros in Toxic Assets
Financial Alert - Full quote...."Nouriel Roubini's RGE Monitor reports that an internal report by a German banking regulator states that the total of bad assets in the German banking system is $816 billion Euros. -- Thus number includes both includes toxic securitized assets and also bad loans. -- As one example, half of all assets of a particular Landesbank are classified as toxic."

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051309-051909 - links page

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