Monday July 14th 2008

They Didn’t Attack Switzerland
Must Read - A quote...."Switzerland has not been in a foreign war of any kind since 1815. This would be astounding, even miraculous, for any nation. But Switzerland borders Germany. And France. And Italy. And Austria. And Liechtenstein. Now Liechtenstein has rarely lashed out in Blitzkrieg in a desperate bid to reign über alles, but ALL of Switzerland's other neighbors have spent their entire histories invading other countries." -- Also posted at InfoWars

Worries About War Crimes Heat up in the White House
Must Read - Contains Videos - A quote...."We know what a criminal White House looks like from “The Final Days,” Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s classic account of Richard Nixon’s unraveling. The cauldron of lies, paranoia and illegal surveillance boiled over, until it was finally every man for himself as desperate courtiers scrambled to save their reputations and, in a few patriotic instances, their country."

Murdering God: Of Shotguns, American Capitalism, and Moral Expediency
Must Read - A quote...."No doubt about it. We have made our Faustian bargain and are "the murderers of all murderers." Collectively speaking, we US Americans savagely shoved a 12 gauge into the face of God as He stood, mouth agape, stunned at the depth of the depravity and barbarism of our capitalistic ways. We then unceremoniously splattered His brains across the sky that once served as His canvas at sunrise and sunset." -- Also posted at UnCommonThought & PeoplesVoice

The Wedding Crashers - A Short Till-Death-Do-Us-Part History of Bush's Wars
A quote...."It was a tribal affair. Against a picture-perfect sunset, before a beige-colored cross and an altar made of the very Texas limestone that was also used to build her family's "ranch," veil-less in an Oscar de la Renta gown, the 26 year-old bride said her vows. More than 200 members of her extended family and friends were on hand, as well as the 14 women in her "house party," who were dressed "in seven different styles of knee-length dresses in seven different colors that match[ed] the palette of… wildflowers -- blues, greens, lavenders and pinky reds." -- Also posted at CommonDreams & AsiaTimes & TruthOut & AlterNet

Afghanistan's 'sons of the soil' rise up
A quote...."KARACHI - The resilient Taliban have proved unshakeable across Afghanistan over the past few months, making the chances of a coalition military victory against the popular tide of the insurgency in the majority Pashtun belt increasingly slim."

Obama aims to send 10,000 more troops to Afghanistan
Special Note - A quote...."Barack Obama today pledged to increase US troops in Afghanistan by a third if he becomes president, sending 10,000 more to reinforce the 33,000 already there." - Hah, hah, hah, ho, ho, ho....suckers. - mpg

How Britain Wages War
A quote...." The final photograph is of an Iraqi man, Baha Mousa, who was tortured to death by British soldiers. Taken during his post-mortem, it shows some of the 93 horrific injuries he suffered at the hands of men of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment who beat and abused him for 36 hours, including double-hooding him with hessian sacks in stifling heat. He was a hotel receptionist. Although his murder took place almost five years ago, it was only in May this year that the Ministry of Defence responded to the courts and agreed to an independent inquiry. A judge has described this as a "wall of silence"." -- Also posted at CounterCurrents
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Iran, US, Israel: No War This Year - Maybe. - mpg
Must Read - A quote...."If you want to understand the policy of a country, look at the map - as Napoleon recommended. - Anyone who wants to guess whether Israel and/or the United States are going to attack Iran should look at the map of the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. - Through this narrow waterway, only 34 km wide, pass the ships that carry between a fifth and a third of the world's oil, including that from Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain. - Most of the commentators who talk about the inevitable American and Israeli attack on Iran do not take account of this map." -- Also posted at CounterCurrents

Iran: Battlefront In The New World War?
A quote...." 14/07/08 "ICH" -- - It is difficult to imagine why the Bush administration dares- pretends- to threaten Iran with military confrontation. On its face, war with Iran is a preposterous proposition. This administration’s Iraq foray hardly provides an inspiring model to build on. How can Bush and company possibly expect that US military efforts in Iran would fare better?"

Iran, Russia's Gazprom sign energy cooperation deal
A quote...."TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran and Gazprom Sunday signed an agreement for the Russian energy giant to help Tehran develop its oil and gas fields, days after Total dropped out of a multi-billion-dollar gas deal."

OPEC Blames US Threats against Iran for Soaring Oil Prices
A quote...." TEHRAN (FNA)- Oil prices, which reached a new record last week, will keep rising if the dollar continues to fall and if oil producer Iran is attacked, the president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said."
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Iraq [Still!!] wants troop withdrawal deadline
Must View Video - A quote...."July 13, 2008 - Baghdad insists a full timetable for US troop withdrawal must be part of any security pact deal."

Nouri al-Maliki ready to oust US from Iraq green zone - link posted at ICH
A quote...."The green zone of Baghdad, a highly fortified slice of American suburbia on the banks of the Tigris river, may soon be handed over to Iraqi control if the increasingly assertive government of Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, gets its way."

Iraqi government to prevent Israel using airspace
Full quote...."The government in Iraq has told the US Military it will not tolerate Israel over-flying the country in an attack on Iran. The government has asked the United States to prevent Israel from using Iraqi airspace in any possible military event. Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari conveyed a message to the US ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan Crocker. He said the American forces, being responsible for preserving the sovereignty of Iraq’s airspace, should not allow any violation by Israeli warplanes. Tensions between Israel and Iran have been increasing over the past few weeks with Tel Aviv threatening to carry out attacks to stop Tehran’s nuclear program."

Anti-U.S. sentiments rise in Iraq
A quote...."Many Iraqi Shiites are turning against the Americans, expressing their anger and indignation at U.S. policies and practices in increasingly violent ways. - The Shiites generally and particularly their political factions were ostensibly pleased with America’s invasion of the country and its removal of former leader Saddam Hussein. -  But that ‘marriage of convenience’ did not continue and the Shiites like their Sunni brethren have come to realize that U.S.’s strategic interests lie somewhere else."
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U.S. visit feeds Pakistani worry over U.S. attack
ISLAMABAD, July 13 (Reuters) - The Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, visited Pakistan on the weekend, fueling speculation that the United States was about to take action against militants in northwest Pakistan.

Is the Fourth Estate a Fifth Column? -  posted at ICH
A quote...."Our dominant media are ultimately accountable only to corporate boards whose mission is not life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for the whole body of our republic, but the aggrandizement of corporate executives and shareholders. -- These organizations’ self-styled mandate is not to hold public and private power accountable, but to aggregate their interlocking interests. Their reward is not to help fulfill the social compact embodied in the notion of “We, the people,” but to manufacture news and information as profitable consumer commodities." -- Bold/underline by website editor. -- Also posted at 911Truth & IntheseTimes

The Great Social-Political Divide: Left or Right and The Crowded Rightwing Life Rafts
A quote...."(Rome) After the fall of Soviet Communism some political scientists came to believe that the terms Left and Right no longer made sense, that they were actually the same. Before his death in 1980, Jean-Paul Sartre went so far as to speak of Left and Right as “empty boxes,” as if they had been buried by Stalinism. Other political thinkers began using in their place terms such as progressive and conservative."

Syria basks in diplomatic breakthrough
A quote...."DAMASCUS - "Matters began shifting in Syria's favor after the Israeli war on Lebanon in 2006. The Europeans - more so than the United States - realized that "isolating" Syria had led nowhere, except to empower groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. If anything constructive was going to be done in the Middle East with regard to Arab-Israeli peace, it needed to include the Syrians. "

Kicking Sand In Russia’s Face
Must Read - A quote...."Last week’s utterly useless and hugely expensive G8 summit in Japan was at least a welcome comic relief after all the bombast and threats flying back and forth between the US, Israel and Iran. -- The world leaders dined on caviar as they earnestly discussed hunger and the global food crisis. They agreed to do something about global warming by 2058. That’s real courage and leadership." -- Also posted at ICH & BLN

Russian oil supplies to Czech Republic cut after missile defence deal with US
A quote...."Russian cut oil supplies to the Czech Republic have been cut by half, just days after the United States signed an agreement to build a missile shield radar station on Czech territory."

Latin America Experts Condemn U.S. Detention and Search of Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba
A quote...."The following letter was sent to members of relevant committees in the U.S. Congress today in reaction to the recent detention and search of Senator Piedad Cordoba of Colombia upon her arrival at JFK International Airport on June 27, 2008. U.S. Customs and Immigration Services agents detained Senator Cordoba for approximately three hours and searched her belongings. During this time, the agents also photocopied private documents she was carrying. These documents could put in danger the lives of political activists if turned over to the Colombian government."

Peru declares state of emergency after protests -  link posted at ICH
A quote...."LIMA, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Peruvian President Alan Garcia on Sunday declared a state of emergency for 60 days in Madre de Dios province, in southeastern Peru, where the regional government offices were set on fire during a national strike."

Africa: The Next Victim in Our Quest for Cheap Oil
A quote...."Whether or not we have fully arrived at peak oil can be left to the nitpickers and bean counters to decide. What we know for sure is that the cost of black gold has exponentially risen in just a few short years, and the global economy it is built upon is currently straddling a razor waiting for the inevitable slice. That final cut may come from Nigeria, where all the major oil companies have done business, dirty and otherwise, for the last five decades, degrading the environment and depressing the general population along the way." -- For more on this issue see....Africa - the Next Target - 02-28-08 - mpg
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US Terrorism Watch List Tops 1 Million
A quote...."WASHINGTON - A U.S. watch list of terrorism suspects has passed 1 million records, corresponding to about 400,000 people, and a leading civil rights group said on Monday the number was far too high to be effective."

Pakistani General Who Wired $100,000 to Mohammad Atta Met with a "Senior Representative from the Joint Chiefs of Staff" Right Before 9/11  --  Special Note - Full quote...."In response to a Freedom of Information Act Request submitted by Kevin Ryan, Mick Harrison and Paul Smith, the government has disclosed documents confirming that Pakistani ISI General Ahmed - the guy who wired $100,000 to lead hijacker Atta -- met with a "Senior Representative from the Joint Chiefs of Staff", Centcom Commander General Tommy Franks, the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Wolfowitz, Feith, other PNAC members, and probably Intelligence Committee members Graham and Goss, and others in the week before 9/11."

U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs turns soldiers into lab rats
A quote...."A joint investigation by the Washington Times and ABC News reveals that the government has been testing drugs known to cause psychosis and suicidal tendencies on hundreds of veterans with post traumatic stress disorder. --
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has recruited nearly 1,000 veterans in a study testing different methods to stop smoking. Of those, James Elliott, 38, was one of 143 veterans who were paid $30 a month and placed on an anti-smoking drug called Chantix. Elliott began taking the drug in October 2007 and soon after began experiencing suicidal thoughts and severe hallucinations." -- And there's been all these suicides lately...Hmmmmmmm. - mpg

RESISTANCE
A quote....
"Resistance requires company. It requires companions in order not to be alone. Otherwise, fear wins out. But once you are on the inside of resistance, once you are involved and committed, each step becomes easier, your step becomes lighter. Resistance gradually comes to feel normal. You are not crazy; society is." -- *Gaither Stewart*

Libertarians: A (Not So) Lunatic Fringe
A quote...."....just because he obeys the rules doesn't mean he likes them. Parshall is dissatisfied with a lot of what government does. He hates our gun laws. Hates the war in Iraq. He doesn't use drugs, but he sees the fight against them as another government power grab. Growing up as a Mormon in Salt Lake City, Parshall was a Barry Goldwater Republican. Now he's the kind of voter who should scare the GOP most--and he's not alone."
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The death rattle from Washington is coming from the offices of the Post
A quote...."(WMR) -- There is an eerie death rattle emanating from the offices of The Washington Post on 15th Street in Washington -- it is the final gasps from a dying newspaper -- one that has, in spite of its sycophantic relationship with Washington’s power elites over the years, managed to bring down a Nixon administration that systematically violated the Constitution and helped expose a Reagan era arms-for-hostages deal that was linked to the Oval Office itself."

Two Leaders to Step Down at Tribune Newspapers
A quote...."The upheaval at the Tribune Company continued Monday as the publisher of The Los Angeles Times and the top editor of The Chicago Tribune stepped down, both at a time when their papers were preparing for major redesigns and deep cuts in their newsroom staffs."
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Let the Lawsuits Begin: Banks Brace for a Storm of Litigation
A quote...."The sole goal of the [interest rate] freeze is to prevent owners of mortgage-backed securities, many of them foreigners, from suing U.S. banks and forcing them to buy back worthless mortgage securities at face value – right now almost 10 times their market worth. The ticking time bomb in the U.S. banking system is not resetting subprime mortgage rates. The real problem is the contractual ability of investors in mortgage bonds to require banks to buy back the loans at face value if there was fraud in the origination process." -- bold by website editor -- For more on this issue see....Debt Doesn't Matter When the Rubes Pay 02-29-08 - mpg

Analysts Say More Banks Will Fail
A quote...." As home prices continue to decline and loan defaults mount, federal regulators are bracing for dozens of American banks to fail over the next year. -- But after a large mortgage lender in California collapsed late Friday, Wall Street analysts began posing two crucial questions: Just how many banks might falter? And, more urgently, which one could be next?"

Citigroup's $1.1 Trillion of Mysterious Assets Shadows Earnings
A quote...."July 14 (Bloomberg) -- At an investor presentation in May, Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit said shrinking the bank's $2.2 trillion balance sheet, the biggest in the U.S., was a cornerstone of his turnaround plan." -- Also posted at BLN

Sweet Bernanke-Paulson’s Baadassss Song
A quote...."Bernanke and Paulson have now sung their very own baadassss song. They have sold out themselves and the American people in a futile attempt to keep two burnt-out cases, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, alive and nubile. They are the male prostitutes in this real-life drama. In a state of intellectual darkness, these leaders of Fed and Treasury have engineered a rape. It is a rape of helpless American taxpayers, the shenanigans of their benighted political financial leadership being well beyond their control."

Fannie, Freddie equity holders may be wiped out
A quote...."SAN FRANCISCO (Marketwatch) -- If the U.S. government has to buy stakes in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, current equity holders may be wiped out, experts said on Monday."

Five Ways Wall Street and Washington Set Us Up for the Crash: Author Nomi Prins Explains Where Congress Went Wrong on Lending -- A quote...."The worst of the economic crisis may be far from over. That was the message of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Tuesday. He indicated that the housing and financial turmoil will persist deep into next year. The Senate, meanwhile, is deliberating a bill this week that would provide government-backed loans to 400,000 homeowners on the brink of foreclosure. We speak with former investment banker turned journalist and author, Nomi Prins, about “Why the Economy Went South.” [includes rush transcript]" -- ||  Real Video Stream  ||  Real Audio Stream  ||  MP3 Download  ||  More…  || 

The Crash of the King of Liquidity
A quote...."I've been gawking at the Devaney hedge fund wreck for a long time. The festive charitable giving to needy causes (inoculation from scrutiny by the mainstream press). The entertaining of then Senate majority leader Bill Frist and other luminaries. The mysteries of making a few hundred million trading asset backed securities formed from junk aka "the ownership society."

Sunday July 13th 2008

No posts. - mpg

Saturday July 12th 2008

Manufacturing a global economic collapse in the buildup to World War III
Must Read - A quote...."There is also one major setback to this proposal of a war with Iran:  An attack on Iran would be nothing less then World War III. But then again maybe that is what the US economy needs to stay alive, a World War: The Perfect Consuming Machine. After all it was  World War II that decisively ended the great depression, and since most economic indicators are worse now then they were then, it would be reasonable to assume that the  United States will start World War III  for nothing other then to continue the  American lifestyle, maintain the banking plutocracy, and consolidate world assets into the corporate coffer."

As America Collapses US Government Secret Plans Revealed
Special Note - A quote...."On March 13th 2008 there was a secret closed door meeting of The United States House Of Representatives in Washington. In the history of The United States this is only the fourth time a secret meeting was held by the house. Even though Representatives are sworn to secrecy by House Rules XVII, some of the members were so shocked, horrified, furious, and concerned about the future of America by what was revealed to them inside the secret meeting, that they have started to leak this secret information to independent news agencies around the world."
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FISA Bill's Real Target: What Remains of Our Open Society
A quote...."The new FISA Amendments Act nearly eviscerates oversight of government surveillance. It allows the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to review only general procedures for spying rather than individual warrants. The court will not be told specifics about who will be wiretapped, which means the law provides woefully inadequate safeguards to protect innocent people whose communications are caught up in the government's dragnet surveillance program."

Fighting the Unconstitutional Spying Law
A quote...."This week, a cynical and sniveling Congress handed President Bush a crowning jewel in his career-long attack on civil liberties in the form of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (FAA). As a result, the Fourth Amendment was essentially eviscerated."

Democrats lose on FISA
Video - A quote...."After vowing in January to filibuster any FISA bill that included retroactive immunity for telecommunication companies, Obama changed his mind, voting on Wednesday for a FISA bill that included immunity. Obama was one of 22 Democratic Senators who voted for the bill, while Senator Clinton and Majority Leader Reid voted nay."
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Torture and the rule of law
A quote....
"This is what a country becomes when it decides that it will not live under the rule of law, when it communicates to its political leaders that they are free to do whatever they want — including breaking our laws — and there will be no consequences. There are two choices and only two choices for every country — live under the rule of law or live under the rule of men. We’ve collectively decided that our most powerful political leaders are not bound by our laws — that when they break the law, there will be no consequences. We’ve thus become a country which lives under the proverbial “rule of men” — that is literally true, with no hyperbole needed — and Mayer’s revelations are nothing more than the inevitable by-product of that choice."  -- *Glenn Greenwald* -- Also posted at CommonDreams

'We've come to this ignoble moment.'
Must View Video - A quote ....'We have become like Serbia.' 12 Jul 2008 'I never thought I would say this, but I think it might, in fact, be time for the United States to be held internationally to a tribunal. I never thought in my lifetime I would say that, that we have become like Serbia, where an international tribunal has to come to force us to apply the rule of law... So we've come to this ignoble moment, where we could be forced into a tribunal and forced to face the rule of law that we've refused to apply to ourselves.' --Constitutional Law expert Jonathan Turley, on MSNBC's Friday 'Countdown,' discussing accountability behind US war crimes at Guantanamo." -- Paragraph posted at CLG

Law School Dean Calls Conference to Plan Bush War Crimes Prosecution
A quote...."17 Jun 2008 The dean of Massachusetts School of Law at Andover is planning a September conference to map out war crimes prosecutions, and the targets are President [sic] Bush and other administration officials. The dean, Lawrence Velvel - PDF, says in a statement that "plans will be laid and necessary organizational structures set up, to pursue the guilty as long as necessary and, if need be, to the ends of the Earth." Other possible defendants, he said, include federal judges and John Yoo, the former Justice Department official who wrote one of the so-called torture memos. "We must insist on appropriate punishments," he continued, "including, if guilt is found, the hangings visited upon top German and Japanese war criminals in the 1940s." -- Paragraph posted at CLG

Book Cites Secret Red Cross Report of C.I.A. Torture of Qaeda Captives
A quote...."WASHINGTON — Red Cross investigators concluded last year in a secret report that the Central Intelligence Agency’s interrogation methods for high-level Qaeda prisoners constituted torture and could make the Bush administration officials who approved them guilty of war crimes, according to a new book on counterterrorism efforts since 2001."

New War Powers Plan Skirts the Constitution’s Clear Wording
A quote...."For the past year, former secretaries of state James A. Baker III and Warren Christopher have chaired the bipartisan National War Powers Commission seeking to replace the 1973 Act. On July 8, they unveiled their proposal while claiming that the Constitution “ambiguously divides war powers” between the president and Congress. -- No it does not! Congress is given sole authority to send the nation to war; the role of the president is to guide the military once war has begun. There is no division of the war-making authority; all of it resides in Congress. Baker and Christopher want Congress to enact a new “War Powers Consultation Act” that will establish rules for “consultation” between the president and Congress before sending the nation into war." -- Also posted at InfoWars

Internet Users Stop Comcast, Net Neutrality Win on the Horizon - A small victory, but a victory nontheless. - mpg
A quote...."Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is taking action against Comcast for illegally violating Net Neutrality, after a coalition of Net users and activists caught the cable giant blocking open access to the Internet." -- Also posted at CommonDreams -- For more on this issue see....Attempts to Control the Internet
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McCain says you're a disgrace if you receive Social Security
A quote...."John McCain says that the Social Security system where working people pay into the system in order to receive Social Security benifits when they retire is a disgrace." -- For more on this issue see....Go Build Your Neo-Roman Empire - Just Leave Us Out Of It - 10-14-07

Reuters seeks U.S. army video of staff killed in Iraq
A quote...."BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Friday it was still processing a request by Reuters for video footage from U.S. helicopters and other materials relating to the killing of two Iraqi staff in Baghdad a year ago." -- For more on this issue see....US - Killing the Messenger

Iraqis tortured by UK military settle case for $6M
A quote...."LONDON - A major case involving the abuse and torture of 10 Iraqi civilians at the hands of the British military was settled Thursday, with lawyers for the victims saying the Ministry of Defense agreed to pay them just under $6 million."

Britain's defence ministry investigating alleged sexual assault of Iraqi boy
Full Quote...."AP - Saturday, July 12, 2008  - LONDON - Britain's defence ministry says it's investigating the alleged sexual assault of a 14-year-old Iraqi boy by British soldiers. The ministry says military police have launched an inquiry into an alleged incident in May 2003 in southern Iraq. It said in a statement the boy was allegedly assaulted by British troops at a former British base called Camp Breadbasket near the southern city of Basra. The boy is now 19. In a separate case, four soldiers were found guilty of mistreating of Iraqi prisoners at Camp Breadbasket by forcing them to simulate sex." -- Must be more of them there "Western Values" the New Roman Empire is trying to export to the benighted natives of the Middle East. - mpg

Anti-Gay Republican Caught Having Gay Sex
Tales from the New Roman Empire - A quote...."King, a conservative Republican, was reportedly caught by his wife Paige King having sex with a male assistant in their Montgomery home. Reports say King was kicked out of his home by his wife and is set to resign over the scandal."

TIME MAGAZINE - Israelis Blocking Medical Care in Gaza
A quote...."The Erez Crossing looks like the empty set of a sci-fi film, an alien spaceship that crashed into a field of rubble. This gleaming metal structure is the sole entry and exit point for human traffic between Israel and Gaza, a territory of 1.5 million Palestinians held by Hamas Islamic militants. Erez was built in more optimistic times, when it was envisioned that every day 30,000 Palestinian laborers, merchants and students would be flowing in and out of Israel." -- Also posted at BLN

United States, Eritrea, and the Horn of Africa: The Political Rhetoric of Democracy and the Era of Hegemony - Lessens to Be Learned -- Special Note - A quote...." Eritrea is, as Marcus Aurelius would say, “Like the promontory against which the waves continually break, but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it”. -- The Horn of Africa has been a turbulent region of giants locked in tragic war or the fevered preparations for war. The region has seen proxy wars fought on behalf of big powers and ethnic cleansings committed by unscrupulous leaders. Sweet and good is the name of peace."

Friday July 11th 2008

Worse than McCain
Must Read - A quote...." 11/07/08 "ICH" ---  For nearly a year now, the public has been treated to regular doses of Mr. Obama's grandiloquent oratory and his sweeping "Follow me to Shangri-la" promises. These flourishes are usually followed by "clarifications" on the central issues which identify Obama as a center-right conservative with no intention of disrupting the status quo."  -- Regarding the authors comment...."so they [the voters] can continue to hold on to the crazy notion that the system really isn't broken and that it can be fixed by simply pulling a lever on election day"  Well...the system truly is broken but it "can be fixed by simply pulling a lever on election day" as long as the voters pull the lever for anyone BUT a Demo/Repub. - mpg -- Also posted at CounterPunch

U.S. air strike kills 47 civilians -official - More regarding Sunday's airstrike. - mpg
A quote...."JALALABAD, Afghanistan, July 11 (Reuters) - A U.S. coalition force air strike on Sunday killed 47 civilians, including 39 women and children, in the eastern province of Nangarhar, an Afghan official said on Friday.

Steel Rain
Must Read - Some Quotes...."Civilian casualties have been a continuing issue in Afghanistan, and President Karzai has rebuked American and NATO forces for what he has called carelessness in their military operations.” - This is the genteel, bloodless language of geopolitics, spoken by the Gray Lady and the heads of state and makers of policy whom she serves. You wouldn’t know that “carelessness” referred to killing a bride (and twenty-some guests) on her wedding day...."  --  "What you would never guess is that “carelessness” meant a deliberate U.S. policy of waging the war on terror from the air. But that has been our policy all along, from “shock and awe” and “mission accomplished” to “the surge is working.” It is undebated, unreported, unquestioned, this policy conceived with the vacuous single-mindedness of serial killers."

Marine's graphic interview describes killing of prisoners in Iraq
Some quotes...."CAMP PENDLETON -- A graphic, vulgarity-laced interview in which a Marine described how he and two other Marines killed four unarmed prisoners in Iraq was played today during a preliminary hearing in the case."  --  "Nelson told the investigator that Nazario told him, "I'm not doing all this [expletive] by myself. You're doing one and Weemer is doing one."

Double standards of our ‘war on terror’
A quote...."Western governments like to depict terrorism as a uniquely moral evil which democratic states do not engage in. But history is filled with instances in which even democratic governments have sanctioned or perpetrated acts of violence that would ordinarily be described as 'terrorist', from bombings and assassinations to black ops and 'dirty wars'."  --  For more on this issue see....US Support of Terror - MEK PKK Others

CIA Funded Warlords Turn Guns On U.S. Troops  - Gee....what a suprise. - mpg
A quote...."....amid a well-coordinated assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai and large-scale bombings last week in the capitals of both Afghanistan and Pakistan, U.S. forces are keenly aware that they are facing an increasingly complex enemy here—what U.S. military officials now call a syndicate—composed not only of Taliban fighters but also powerful warlords who were once on the payroll of the Central Intelligence Agency."

Court Documents Shed Light on CIA Illegal Operations in Central Asia Using Islam & Madrassas - Gee....what a surprise....again. - mpg -- A quote...."In a recent immigration court case involving Turkish Islamic Leader, Fetullah Gulen, US prosecutors exposed an illegal, covert, CIA operation involving the intentional Islamization of Central Asia."

Disorderly Conduct: Subverting the Bipartisan Paradigm on Iraq
A quote...."William Pfaff is one of the sanest writers in the mainstream media, and in his latest piece in the International Herald Tribune, he succinctly subverts the arguments for a continuing American presence in Iraq."

US strike' hits Pakistan troops
A quote...."Eight Pakistani soldiers have been injured after being hit by a shell fired from across the Afghan border, officials and witnesses said."

Militants sign peace pact in Pakistan's Khyber: officials
A quote...."PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — Militants and authorities in a troubled northwest Pakistan tribal district signed a peace pact Wednesday after a 10-day military operation to clear the area of Islamic militants."

Lebanon forms unity government with Hezbollah
A quote...."BEIRUT, July 11 (Reuters) - Lebanon ended weeks of wrangling on Friday and formed a unity government in which Hezbollah and its allies hold effective veto power, as agreed under a deal that ended a paralysing political conflict in the country."

The US-Iran game is just getting serious
A quote...."If the tensions in the Middle East between the American-Israeli-led side and the Iranian-Syrian-led side were a baseball game, this would be the fourth inning of a regulation nine-inning game. The players are warmed up, they have had a good look at each other's strengths and weaknesses, and they are now prepared to get to the nitty-gritty of the contest."

OPEC Secretary General Warns against War on Iran
A quote...." TEHRAN (FNA)- The head of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries warned on Thursday that oil prices would experience an "unlimited" increase in the event of a military conflict involving Iran because the group's members would be unable to make up the lost production." -- Now that's just great!!  Now Bush and his oil buddies will be even more eager to attack Iran. - mpg

What should Russia do to counter U.S. missile defense in Europe?
A quote...."MOSCOW. (Novosti military commentator Ilya Kramnik) - A U.S. missile defense system in Europe is gradually becoming reality. On July 8, the United States signed an agreement with the Czech Republic to build a missile tracking radar on its territory, and is in discussions with Poland about the deployment of missile interceptors."
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Seven Republican Members of House Judiciary Call for Impeachment out of Duty to the Constitution
A quote...."GOP Reps. Smith, Sensenbrenner, Coble, Gallegly, Goodlatte, Chabot, and Cannon after much deliberation put the Constitution and rule of law before politics. Rep. Lamar Smith stated, “As much as one might wish to avoid this process, we must resist the temptation to close our eyes and pass by. The president's actions must be evaluated for one simple reason: the truth counts.” Read their statements below."

FISA ‘compromise’ completes transformation of US into full police state
A quote...."On Wednesday, the US Congress overwhelmingly passed legislation permitting government spying, including giving immunity to telecommunications companies involved in secret domestic surveillance programs. With the stroke of George W. Bush’s pen, the US is now a police state by definition." -- Also posted at GlobRsch & DissentMag

Rep. Dennis Kucinich talks with Truth Movement -- Listen now/Transcript
A quote...."Last night 911Truth.org hosted a conference call with Rep. Dennis Kucinich. If you missed it, or would like to listen again and forward to friends, listen to the audio here. In addition, NoLiesRadio.org will rebroadcast this conversation at 11am Pacific Saturday. Following are the questions we asked him, with a few links and very brief commentary, which we're posting for convenience and further study, as well as the full transcript."

WTC 7 Emergency Head Was Building Collapse Specialist
Special Note - A quote...."The former New York City chief emergency manager Jerome Hauer, whose office was on the 23d floor of WTC 7, was also a building collapse specialist, according to a recently uncovered New York Times article. Hauer has attracted suspicion from the 9/11 truth movement because of his zeal to push the official story in the hours after the attack when details were still sketchy."

Allegations - Blogger fired for criticizing the US Attorney
A quote...."The abrupt dismissal of a veteran University of Alabama employee who blogged about the firing of seven US Attorneys has added a bizarre new twist to allegations that the state's US Attorneys targeted political opponents for prosecution."
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Recession: With War or Without It?
Must Read - A quote...."The good news is there is going to be an international recession, rising corporate bankruptcies, bank failures, and retrenchment by consumers because they can no longer pay the rising cost of energy. - The bad news is that the State of Israel is increasingly likely to launch an air strike on suspected Iranian nuclear weapons production facilities."

Here's a Little Straight Talk, My Friends. John McCain Hates Social Security
A quote...."So why did you backtrack yesterday when asked about it from reporters? Instead of saying that you hate the founding principle of Social Security, you revised your remarks: "They are paying into a system that they won't receive benefits from on the present track that it's on - that's the point." --     That's not even Straight Talk™! As the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities explained after the last Social Security trustees report, "Social Security is structurally sound and does not require drastic changes." -- Pssssssssst, why does McCain say people won't receive their benefits from Social Security? Because he and his MIOC, PNAC'ing, murderous little friends spent much of the money trying to take over Iraq's oil fields.  - mpg

Black Friday:
A quote...."Good Morning Middle America, your King of Simple News is on the air. - I searched for some good news to start out your Friday and could only come up with the facts that it is in fact Friday, and the sun once more rose in the East. - It appears that we may have turned that corner that I have been warning about, you know, dead man's curve."

Don't worry America, it's nowhere near as grim as the author depicts in his article above.  Because if you work really, really, really, r e a l l y hard, save your pennies, pay more in taxes, take cuts in your standard of living, your social security benefits, your health benefits and education for your children....the economy will pick up in ten to twenty years just in time for our elites to go stage another false flag event or some other similar excuse to start another murderous war so they can take all that "stored" capital away from you.....all over again.

And you know what the best part is, you get to have your sons and daughters go torture and murder little brown, yellow or black people while getting themselves blown to pieces -- all over again too!

Ain't life grand?  Isn't that just great? Makes yu'all feel really smart now doesn't it?

Welcome to the New Unholy Roman Empire....suckers. - mpg

For more on this issue see....Effective Fed Funds Rate 03-24-07 - mpg
 & Obama, the Yang to Bush's Yin - 06-20-08 - mpg
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They Rob You With a Fountain Pen
A quote...."The Federal Reserve, he estimates, has traded the banks about $500 billion in Treasuries (US bonds, backed by the good faith of American taxpayers) in exchange for dubious instruments, about $200 billion for mortgage backed securities.  It is paying 98 cents on the dollar for securities that may be worth 60 cents, or may be worthless. -- Meanwhile, the government is considering a bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, two private government sponsored entities that finance about ½ of the $12 trillion US housing market.  In the fourth quarter of last year and the first quarter this year, Morris reports, these entities have been financing mortgages at about twice the level of actual mortgage borrowing.  Where did the extra money go?  It went to take more of the worthless paper off the hands of banks and investors."

Fed doesn't want you to get a raise, Crandall says - After all, we've got to pay for the Neocon's wars. - mpg
Special Note - A quote...."WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The Federal Reserve has signaled that it's now watching wages more than core prices as it battles to keep inflation under control, says Lou Crandall, chief economist for Wrightson ICAP, and the co-winner of the June Forecaster of the Month award from MarketWatch."

The Continuous Housing Free Fall
A quote...."Financial markets have finally internalized the brutal fact that house prices still have a long way to fall. The full-year price drop in 2007 was 8.5 percent. From January through April of this year, the most recent data available, prices fell by another 8.2 percent -- a remarkable rate of acceleration. - Can they fall further? Unfortunately, yes. By conventional ratios of prices to rental values and prices to incomes, they may still be 20 percent too high."

Freefall: California median home prices down 35% in May
Missed this one, was on vacation at the time. - mpg  -- A quote...."Posted on June 25, 2008 -- California's housing market continued its historic decline in May, as a flood of foreclosed homes for sale drove down the median price paid for a single-family home by a stunning 35% from year-earlier levels, the California Assn. of Realtors reported today. - The median price paid for a single-family home in the state dropped by almost $210,000, from $594,530 in May 2007 to $384,840 in May 2008, the association reported."

Stocks end lower amid worries on Fannie, Freddie
A quote...."The well-being of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is crucial because they hold or guarantee about $5 trillion worth of mortgages, or about half the outstanding mortgages in the United States. Their troubles are just the latest depressing turn in a year-old credit crisis that shows no sign of ending, disappointing some stock traders who thought just months ago that the worst was perhaps over." - Hah!  It's just beginning. - mpg

The Dollar is Doomed and the Fed's Days are Numbered
Video - A quote...."In this very recent interview with Bloomberg Jim Rogers says Asia is the future, the dollar is a terribly flawed currency and he doesn't want to own any, oil will certainly pass $200/barrel soon, and the (privately owned) Federal Reserve will disappear within the next decade." -- This website editor is not so sure the dollar is "doomed", the American elites lie better, cheat better, threaten better, steal better and murder better than anyone else in the whole world, as a result the dollar may still have some staying power yet. - mpg

IndyMac Bank seized by federal regulators
A quote...."The Pasadena-based thrift's failure is the second-biggest by a U.S. bank. Doors will reopen Monday."

Thursday July 10th 2008

Government of the Rich, by the Rich, for the Rich.
Must Read - A quote...."....the Bush/Cheney junta believes they are saving the Muslim nations from themselves, [Not really, it's just their excuse.] using the old adage from the Native American period: we must save the Indians from the Indians.  The logic behind this thinking is the same logic the United States used to over-throw 14 sovereign nations, to tenderize them into capitalists [a.k.a. crony-oligarchic-crime-syndicate capitalism, which is NOT a free market system] so a small group of elite investors could exploit the natural resources of the countries in question, putting must of the indigenous population in poverty. A perfect example is the aforementioned genocide and the resulting internment of the Native American population onto reservations in America. The Native Americans survived US government programs of Sterilization and Termination, and are now gaining political power to enforce treaties that removed them from their own lands, in methods that were brutal and sub-human.  Termination was the “legal process of depriving an Indian of his Indian-ness, divesting him of all his inherited treaty rights, usually in exchange for a cash settlement representing his per-capita share of his or her tribes ‘liquidated assets!’” 2 - bold by website editor -- For more on this issue see....The Method - 05-07-07 - mpg ....

And The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism - (YouTube - 55 min 24 sec - Added:  Sept. 30, 2007)
From the history file -- Must View - A quote...."“My book is now being criticized for drawing too many connections….but of course (pause) my friend Shamus Mill who is the op-ed editor at the Guardian….he calls it the “cock-up theory of history".  I didn’t realize there was a cock-up theory of history.  But the theory is that everything happens just because of some big “cock-up”  Some big mess-up, it’s a series of mistakes…..and if you actually say that there are motives and interests behind it [i.e. follow the money] you are a conspiracy theorist.” -- *Naomi Klein*, speech given September 27, 2007 at Town Hall Seattle.

Divide and Conquer: The Anglo-American Imperial Project
Related article - A quote...."Many would be skeptical that the Anglo-Americans would be behind terrorist acts in Iraq, such as with the British in Basra, when two British SAS soldiers were caught dressed as Arabs, with explosives and massive arsenal of weapons.[1] Why would the British be complicit in orchestrating terror in the very city in which they are to provide security? What would be the purpose behind this? That question leads us to an even more important question to ask, the question of why Iraq was occupied; what is the purpose of the war on Iraq? If the answer is, as we are often told with our daily dose of CNN, SkyNews and the statements of public officials, to spread democracy and freedom and rid the world of tyranny and terror, then it doesn’t make sense that the British or Americans would orchestrate terror. -- However, if the answer to the question of why the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq occurred was not to spread democracy and freedom, but to spread fear and chaos, plunge the country into civil war, balkanize Iraq into several countries, and create an "arc of crisis" across the Middle East, enveloping neighboring countries, notably Iran, then terror is a very efficient and effective means to an end. -- For more on this issue see....US Sponsored Civil Wars
 & US Support of Terror

The New Era - Editor's note: when anyone predicts "a new era"....watch out. - mpg
A quote...." 10/07/08 "Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report" -- - As students of geopolitics, we at Stratfor tend not to get overexcited when this or that plan for regional peace is tabled. Many of the world’s conflicts are geographic in nature, and changes in government or policy only rarely supersede the hard topography that we see as the dominant sculptor of the international system. Island states tend to exist in tension with their continental neighbors. Two countries linked by flat arable land will struggle until one emerges dominant. Land-based empires will clash with maritime cultures, and so on."

Al-Maliki or U.S. Forces? - Who Will Leave Iraq First?
A quote...."Recently, Washington's man in Baghdad Nouri al-Maliki has been making noises about the need to set a "hard" timetable detailing the departure of US occupation forces from Iraq.  One wonders if Mr. al-Maliki is sincere in his demand or if he is posturing for the anti-occupation vote in the upcoming provincial elections in Iraq, much like Barack Obama attracted the antiwar vote in the primaries only to back away from an immediate withdrawal once he received the necessary votes for his party's nomination.  If he is sincere and truly is demanding that Washington remove its forces within a given time, the question arises as to how long al-Maliki will remain at his post."

POLITICS-US:  Pull-out Demand Signals Final Bush Defeat in Iraq
A quote...."WASHINGTON, Jul 10 (IPS) - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's demand for a timetable for complete U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq, confirmed Tuesday by his national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie, has signaled the almost certain defeat of the George W. Bush administration's aim of establishing a long-term military presence in the country."

Security firms lose immunity in Iraq deal
A quote...."The Iraqi armed services are likely to target widely-hated American security contractors when they lose their immunity to Iraqi law under a new agreement between the US and the Iraq." -- Sue them, arrest them, try them, convict them and imprison them.  It's the right thing to do. - mpg

One out of five Iraqis is a refugee, U.N. says
A quote...."An international conference on the plight of Iraqis displaced in the years since the U.S. invasion says there is little hope at the end of the tunnel for millions of Iraqi refugees. -  The conference organized by the Ministry of Immigration and attended by U.N. Refugee Agency estimated that about five million Iraqis are now refugees out of a population of more than 25 million." --  That's the equivalent of sixty million Americans being displaced.  Guess we'll just call it the US's version of "freedom" for the Iraqis.  "Freedom" from their homes, "freedom" from their jobs and "freedom" from their very lives.  Aren't we such a kind and generous people? - mpg

Italy Warns against Attack on Iran
A quote...." TEHRAN (FNA)- Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities would be disastrous for the Middle East."

Should Bush be tried for war crimes?
A quote...."I had a good laugh when my friend Seth Gitell reported in the New York Sun on a campaign by the dean of the obscure Massachusetts School of Law to put George Bush and other top White House officials on trial for war crimes. - Lawrence Velvel, Gitell notes, wrote last month that his model was the Nuremberg trials held after second world war. Velvel went so far as to say that "we must insist on appropriate punishments, including, if guilt is found, the hangings visited upon top Germans and Japanese." Oh, my. - Though I found Velvel's apparently earnest quest as ridiculous as Gitell did, the idea of holding our leaders accountable for the crimes and constitutional violations of the past seven and a half years isn't ridiculous in the least."

Karzai 'axes leader for US rebuke'
A quote...."An Afghan governor who criticised a recent US air raid which killed at 15 civilians has been sacked by Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, Al Jazeera has learned." -- Karzai's simply stupid. - mpg

AP Shocked by Cameraman's Further Detainment for 'Security' Reasons
A quote...."BAGHDAD, Iraq  An Associated Press television cameraman who was detained by U.S. and Iraqi forces in early June was ordered held for at least six more months Tuesday for "imperative reasons of security," the U.S. military said. -- The decision came as a surprise to the AP, which had earlier been led to believe that the cameraman, Ahmed Nouri Raziak, was likely to be released because of lack of any evidence against him."

'This is like apartheid': ANC veterans visit West Bank
A quote...."Veterans of the anti-apartheid struggle said last night that the segregation endured by Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories was in some respects worse than that imposed on the black majority under white rule in South Africa."

State Department’s Iran democracy fund shrouded in secrecy
Special Note - A quote...."Since 2006, Congress has poured tens of millions of dollars into a State Department program aimed at promoting regime change in Iran. -- The “Democracy Program” initiative has been shrouded in secrecy since its inception and many critics of the initiative (who are also outspoken critics of the Iranian government) believe that it is directly linked to a spate of arrests of dozens of Iranian dissidents suspected of working secretly with the Bush administration to topple the Iranian government."

Mexican torture videos reveal ties with US military contractors
Special Note - A quote...."On July 1, videos surfaced on the Internet and Mexican television depicting police officers practicing torture techniques in the city of León, Guanajuato. The videos reveal ongoing ties between Mexican authorities and US military contractors, and an escalation of repressive measures against the Mexican working class, youth and peasantry. The tapes show an English-speaking private contractor training the officers, a chilling image that brought back memories of the “Dirty War” of the 1970’s and 80’s, when the Mexican government systematically hunted down and tortured left-wing students and peasants with the complicity and assistance of the United States."

Putting Her Foot Down and Getting the Boot
A quote...."When Gina Gray took over as the public affairs director at Arlington National Cemetery about three months ago, she discovered that cemetery officials were attempting to impose new limits on media coverage of funerals of the Iraq war dead - even after the fallen warriors' families granted permission for the coverage. She said that the new restrictions were wrong and that Army regulations didn't call for such limitations. -- Six weeks after The Washington Post reported her efforts to restore media coverage of funerals, Gray was demoted. Twelve days ago, the Army fired her."

Russia starts large-scale naval exercise in the Pacific
A quote...."VLADIVOSTOK, July 8 (RIA Novosti) - Over 20 combat and auxiliary ships from Russia's Pacific Fleet started on Tuesday a large-scale naval exercise in the Sea of Japan, which includes live firing drills, a fleet spokesman said."

Russia, Kazakhstan to sign three-year war games deal
A quote...."GVARDEISKY (Kazakhstan), July 11 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and Kazakhstan are to sign a three-year agreement on joint military drills in the near future, the Russian defense minister said on Friday."

Russian planes fly over South Ossetia to avert Georgia invasion
A quote...."MOSCOW, July 10 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian military planes were flying over South Ossetia to avert a possible invasion from Georgia, the information and press department of the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on Thursday."

Gazprom is raising prices... for everybody!
A quote...."MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti economic commentator Oleg Mityayev) - On July 8, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller reported his company's plans to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. He spoke about a steady, long-term growth of gas prices for all consumers, be it in Western Europe, next-door neighbors, or at home."

Sarkozy Moves to Control French Media
A quote...."President Nicolas Sarkozy has benefited more than almost any other politician from the media's growing obsession with celebrity. France's “téléprésident” orchestrates politics like a reality show -- and now he intends to tighten his grip on public television." -- Survivor Politics comes to France....Oh the poor French; once upon a time they used to actually take their politics seriously, not anymore, now they've caught the American disease of mindless, vacuous, meaningless infotainment substituting for thoughtful discussion of real issues. - mpg
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Foreclosures Rose 53% in June, Bank Seizures Tripled (Update3)
A quote...."July 10 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. foreclosure filings increased 53 percent in June from a year earlier and bank seizures rose the most on record as deteriorating property values and higher rates on adjustable mortgages forced more people to give up their homes."

Crisis wipes $1 trillion from financial stocks
A quote...."NEW YORK - U.S. financial companies have lost more than $1 trillion in value this year, and yet another decline on Monday shows concerns aren't going away soon."

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac shares slide for third day
A quote...."WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac plunged for the third time in four days on Thursday, raising fears about the viability of the two big mortgage buyers as speculation swirled that the government may step in to help the companies raise capital."

OPEC oil earnings expected to reach 1.25 trillion USD
A quote...."The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries earnings from oil exports are expected to reach a record 1.251 trillion US dollars this year, about 73 billion more than previously estimated, according to the US Energy Information Administration."

Wednesday July 9th 2008

Ricorso on the Potomac: The Murderers of Democracy Return
Must Read - A quote...."Today the United States Senate voted by a wide margin to gut the Fourth Amendment and give the president dictatorial powers to violate the privacy of every American citizen, while also granting immunity to wealthy corporations who colluded with the president for years in a patently illegal program of warrantless surveillance. The vote was 69-28, with Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama breaking with the (slim) majority of Senate Democrats who voted against the measure and joining instead with the Republicans, who voted in their usual zombified lockstep with the president's wishes. "

Barack Obama’s Whitewashed History of U.S. Foreign Policy
Must Read - A quote...."09/08/07 "Znet." -- - The United States has a solution for avoiding discussion of the many crimes it has committed against weaker nations: denial. “It never happened,” say the Americans, when confronted with the facts. Barack Obama is as skilled in the denial arts as anyone, and so are his advisors. “In Obama's world view, as in that of his Harvard friend and former foreign policy adviser Samantha Power, American crimes generally don't exist. They didn't happen.” Denial is serious business. “Candidate Obama's foreign policy pronouncements have been loaded with promises of future criminality under an Obama administration.”

Betrayed again.  To all true "Americans", you must understand that these politicians will keep betraying every principal this nation aspires to if you keep voting them into office....so stop voting for them!!  Just don't vote for Demos or Repubs.  This time around simply vote for someone else -- anyone else -- it's your last chance to stop the madness.

Remember "anyone BUT a Demo/Repub."  - mpg
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Today's coverup of surveillance crimes and Barack Obama
A quote...."What we learned in December, 2005 that George Bush and the telecoms were doing -- listening in on the private conversations of American citizens without warrants -- is a felony under clear U.S. law, punishable by up to 5 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine for each offense. Anyone can go read the section of FISA -- right here -- that says that as clearly as can be:" -- Also posted at CommonDreams

Nuclear 'scare' against Iran exposed
A quote...."WASHINGTON - A 15-page paper on the process requirements for casting and machining of uranium metal into hemispherical forms - said to useful only for making the core of a nuclear weapon - has been raised by the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in recent months as evidence of an alleged Iranian intention to build nuclear weapons."

A last throw of the dice ...?
A quote...."When President George W Bush was sworn in as US president in the first year of a new millennium and a new century, the United States appeared to be at the height of its powers - astride the world stage like a colossus. Some time elapsed before it was realized that Bush had entrusted his foreign policy to a group of mostly unelected conservative ideologues whose world views had been shaped during the Cold War. Playing on the imperial associations of the Roman and British empires, they aimed to lay the foundations for a century of unbroken American political, military, and economic pre-eminence to be known as "Pax Americana"."

Averting Catastrophe: When the Leaders are the Problem
A quote...."....in my own experience in government, and in my study of national security policy catastrophes in the decades since, I have come to believe that the most dangerous practices in the national security realm reflect priorities, in general, that are set by top officials: getting reelected, avoiding condemnation for past actions, or other political or bureaucratic objectives. Those priorities generally take great precedence over safety or preventing public harm. -- The behavior of the people down below in the hierarchy is generally responsive to those priorities, because the way for them to keep their jobs and get ahead is self-evidently to conform to the priorities of their superiors, and especially the top boss. It isn’t as though the lower people in the organization themselves profit by adopting those priorities over other priorities, such as safety. But they want to keep their jobs, and they keep them by delivering to their superiors what they want."

US costly quest for resources
A quote...."President George W Bush, like many an ambitious political leader the world has known, has been keen to see his name go down in history as someone who accomplished a great deed for the good of his nation and, as leader of the solitary superpower, for the entire world. But, thanks to his poor grasp of the global political dynamics and reliance on the dyed-in-the-wool neoconservatives in his administration rather than saner elements, he is going to end up as "the worst president" in US history."

Former Pakistan Army Chief General Retired Mirza Aslam Baig says Iran and Pakistan under siege of western conspiracies -- A quote...."Former Pakistan Army Chief General ''Retd'' Mirza Aslam Baig on Tuesday said that Iran and Pakistan are under siege of western conspiracies. - He said that intelligence agencies of allied forces are very active in Afghanistan and working against the interests of Iran, Pakistan, China and Russia."

Pakistan rejects foreign troops
Special Note - A quote...."Pakistan's top diplomat Wednesday rejected the idea of any foreign troops operating inside Pakistan, reinforcing its refusal to accept U.S. military aid in battling insurgents near the Afghan border."

Iraq toughens stance on U.S. troop withdrawal
Special Note - A quote...."BEIJING, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Iraq will reject any security pact with the United States unless a specific date for withdrawal of U.S.-led troops is set, Iraqi national security advisor Muwafaq al-Rubaie said in Najaf on Tuesday."

15,000 more Iraq detainees by year-end (in addition to the 60,000 so far)
A quote...."According to the Army, the US is planning to imprison 15,000 more "detainees" in Iraq over the next six months. (60,000 people have been detained so far.)"

U.S. Troops in Iraq Face A Powerful New Weapon - Use of Rocket-Propelled Bombs Spreads
A quote...."BAGHDAD, July 9 — Suspected Shiite militiamen have begun using powerful rocket-propelled bombs to attack U.S. military outposts in recent months, broadening the array of weapons used against American troops. - U.S. military officials call the devices Improvised Rocket Assisted Munitions, or IRAMs. They are propane tanks packed with hundreds of pounds of explosives and powered by 107mm rockets."

Reality Bites Back Why the U.S. Won't Attack Iran
A quote...."It's been on the minds of antiwar activists and war critics since 2003. And little wonder. If you don't remember the pre-invasion of Iraq neocon quip, "Everyone wants to go to Baghdad. Real men want to go to Tehran..." -- then take notice. Even before American troops entered Iraq, knocking off Iran was already "Regime Change: The Sequel." It was always on the Bush agenda and, for a faction of the administration led by Vice President Cheney, it evidently still is" -- Also posted at CommonDreams

Iran test fires more missiles
Breaking News - 10:06 am BST - A quote...."TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran tested more missiles in the Gulf on Thursday, state media reported, a day after drawing Western criticism for test-firing nine rockets."

The Wrong Questions on Iran - Again
A quote from page one...."Neither Sy Hersh’s reports of stepped up proxy warfare nor the tit for tat saber-rattling (Israeli practice mass long-distance bombing raids and Iranian medium-range missile testing) suggest that anything has changed in the basic equation that says neither Israel nor the U.S. will attack Iran. -- Besides the backlash that the U.S. military isn’t prepared to risk by initiating a new war of aggression in the Middle East; besides the fact that the U.S. economy could not absorb the shock of oil shooting past $200 a barrel; besides the difficulties in eliminating a nuclear infrastructure dispersed in hardened facilities, no all of which may be known; there is a simple truth: It’s already too late. The objective, remember, according to Bush, was to prevent Iran mastering the “know-how” to make weapons-grade material. The bad news, then, is that Iran has already mastered that know-how, and it can’t be reversed by bombing. Time for some grownup diplomacy then, eh?"

Iran’s top nuclear negotiator faces charges over Halliburton ties
A quote...."Tehran, Iran, Jul. 29 – Iran’s judiciary has arrested several executives of a privately-owned oil drilling company over their dealings with the U.S.-based oil giant Halliburton and one of the country’s top nuclear negotiators is facing charges of involvement in an oil scam, a semi-official news agency reported." -- For more on this sort of issue see....US - Nukes for Everyone

McCain Jokes About Killing Iranians Again
A quote...."Does a historical pretext even exist against which to measure potential Presidents who find killing hundreds of thousands of people funny? -- Hitler, Pol Pot, and Osama Bin Laden liked to talk about slaughtering masses of people on a regular basis, but they stopped short of cracking jokes about it."

Cheney blocked talks with Iran - (1 of 3)
Iranian influence is a fact, negotiations a must - (2 of 3)
Obama, McCain and the world - (3 of 3)
Special Note - Must View - Videos - A quote from part one...."Colin Powell's former Chief of Staff Larry Wilkerson on how Cheney turned down talks with Iran."

Cheney and the Oil Bigs Planned U.S. War Policy Before 9/11
Special Note - A quote...."You may have heard that the Energy Task Force chaired by Dick Cheney prior to 9/11 collected maps of Iraqi oil, Saudi and United Arab Emerates fields and potential suitors for that oil. And you might have heard that the oil bigs attended the Task Force meetings. -- But you probably haven't heard that a secret document written by the National Security Council (NSC) on February 3, 2001 directed NSC staff to cooperate fully with the Energy Task Force as it considered the “melding” of two seemingly unrelated areas of policy:" -- For more on this issue see....War Resource 9/11

What's a rational American foreign policy? - Pt1
Why does US need military bases around the world? - Pt2
Is the US 'encircling' China? - Pt3
Videos - A quote...."Aijaz Ahmad: What would a rational American foreign policy look like?"

U.S. Finds It's Getting Crowded Out There
A quote...."China plans to conduct its first spacewalk in October. The European Space Agency is building a roving robot to land on Mars. India recently launched a record 10 satellites into space on a single rocket. -- Space, like Earth below, is globalizing. And as it does, America's long-held superiority in exploring, exploiting and commercializing "the final frontier" is slipping away, many experts believe." -- QUICK!! Let's bomb everybody! - mpg

Nearly Half of Americans Think President Can Suspend Constitution - Land of the slave, home of the stupid. - mpg
A quote...."Ah, yes. Public eduction has performed an essential wonder, that is a wonder in the minds of our globalist rulers: Nearly half (49%) of Americans think the president has the authority to suspend the Constitution, according to Rick Shenkman’s new book, “Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter.”

Other astounding and disturbing facts:

    – Only 2 in 5 voters can name the three branches of the federal government.

    – Only 1 in 7 can find Iraq on a map.

    – Only 1 in 5 know that there are 100 federal senators.

I can forgive them for not knowing the number of senators, but not knowing the three branches of government?
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The Goodbye Republic
A quote...."Imagine mainstream media reliably telling Americans the truth about the most vital issues of our time. Indeed, that’s quite a stretch—but try forgetting for a moment the millions of Americans oblivious to rampant omission; citizens who, after so much manipulation and deceit, also still believe lies on the fresh list. Just envision a well-informed population that knows their way past omission, while knowing the difference between lies/propaganda, and the truth. Envision the New World Order dead in its tracks."

BBC's Third Tower: 30 Pieces of Good News
A quote...."The one-hour BBC program The Third Tower should have a positive effect on spreading the truth about what happened to WTC 7.  Despite its attempt to debunk by twisting and omitting facts, there is much to cheer about."

When You Shoot The Messenger
A quote...."GAZA CITY, Jul 3 (IPS) - The assault of IPS Gaza correspondent Mohammed Omer has left Israeli security personnel with a lot of explaining to do. And they are not doing a very good job of it."
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Bernanke: He's Reviewing the Situation
A quote...."Every time I read a Bernanke speech, I cannot screen out my memory of Ron Moody as Fagin in Oliver! "I'm reviewing the situation." Fagin was boxed in, facing tough decisions. Every option was a looming disaster. But Fagin remained confident that there was a way out, somewhere, somehow. Moody's performance was pure Bernanke, four decades early. He even had a beard. See the video. I wish every member of Congress would. It would help dissipate the illusion."

Bernanke, Paulson outline strategy to make working class pay for Wall Street crisis
A quote...."In speeches delivered Tuesday, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson outlined the ruthless class policy being carried out to place the burden for the financial and housing crisis on the backs of working people."

If Fannie, Freddie Nationalized, Shareholders Lose ALL - Hah, that'll be the day. - mpg
A quote...."On Monday, Freddie and Fannie shares plummeted after a Lehman Brothers analyst said a new FASB rule could require the two firms to write-down as much as $75 billion. -- Rather than the accounting rules, what's really got investors spooked is a growing realization the government will have to nationalize Fannie and Freddie, says Kevin Depew, executive editor of Minyanville.com."

[British] Mortgage rates at highest level for eight years
A quote...."Mortgage rates have hit their highest level in more than eight years, according to official figures. - Data from the Bank of England show the average monthly repayment has risen nearly £50 in the past month alone."

Trichet warns Euro nations of inflation price spiral
A quote...."European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet warned Wednesday that Euro nations are already seeing the first signs of an inflation price spiral and called on governments to help contain wage hikes that could fuel further price rises."

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