Wednesday September 9th 2009

IMF: stop funding Honduras
By the way, to the IMF....any loans YOU make to, or any agreements YOU sign with, the illegal Junta that unconstitutionally and violently sized power in Honduras are NULL AND VOID.  So go ahead and be clever, bribe the local generals to sign agreements for loans at ridiculous and usurious rates, the people of Honduras don't have to pay you back SQUAT!   Got that you blood sucking leeches! – mpg -- A quote....".... it's looking more and more like the same old IMF on steroids. Last week the IMF disbursed $150m to the de facto government of Honduras, and it plans to disburse another $13.8m on 9 September. The de facto government has no legitimacy in the world. It took power on 28 June in a military coup, in which the elected President Manuel Zelaya was taken from his home at gunpoint and flown out of the country. -- The Organisation of American States suspended Honduras until democracy is restored, and the UN also called for the "immediate and unconditional return" of the elected president. -- No country in the world recognises the coup government of Honduras." - bold by website editor - also posted at CommonDreams -- posted 09-04-09

Tuesday September 8th 2009

America the Imperial - posted at Online Journal
Must Read - A quote...."Was that the ironic if not pyrrhic victory of “saving the world” and somehow losing our national soul in this new Superpower role, even pushing us to the moon and back to plant our flag on the first man-touched island in space, and intimating all worlds beyond were ours to follow? -- Was it the sum total of this history that interfered with small-town America’s future, building bigger and bigger cities, roadways, industrial complexes, the world’s leader to the future, assassinating a president (our own), his brother, civil rights leaders on our way, at home, and offing all shapes and forms of leaders and governments abroad to heal to our ever-increasing needs for resources for our consumption and interests in OPB (other people’s business)?"

Europe’s Complicity in Evil
A quote...."There is a widespread supposition that Obama, being black and a member of an oppressed race, will imbue US foreign policy with a higher morality than the world experienced from Bush and Clinton. This is a delusion. -- Obama represents the same ideology of American "exceptionalism" as other recent presidents. This ideology designates the United States as The Virtuous Nation and supplies the basis for the belief that America has the right, indeed the responsibility, to impose its hegemony upon the world by bribery or by force. The claim of American exceptionalism produces a form of patriotism that blinds the US population to the immorality of America’s wars of aggression."

Transatlantic airline plot: The case that “couldn’t be allowed to fail”
A quote...."Three men have finally been found guilty of the 2006 transatlantic airline terror plot, which it was claimed at the time threatened imminent mass carnage. -- It has taken three years, two trials, and the largest ever counter-terrorism investigation in British history at the cost of £40 million to convict anyone for the plot, which caused panic and mayhem at airports internationally. -- The second trial was, according to Sean O’Neill in the Times of London, “the court case that could not be allowed to fail”.

What Happened to Mohamed al-Hanashi?
A quote...."NEW YORK – Mohammed al-Hanashi was a 31-year-old Yemeni citizen who was held at Guantánamo Bay without charge for seven years. On June 3, while I was visiting Guantánamo with other journalists, the press office there issued a terse announcement that al-Hanashi had had been found dead in his cell – an “apparent suicide.”  -- also posted at CommonDreams

Judges siding with detainees in Guantanamo habeas cases
A quote...."WASHINGTON — In one federal courtroom last month, a defense lawyer argued that the U.S. military had coerced a false confession out of a 50-year-old Kuwaiti who has been at Guantanamo for seven years."
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Afghanistan by the Numbers - Measuring a War Gone to Hell
Special Note - A quote...."Imagine for a moment, as you read this post, what might have happened if Americans had decided to sink the same sort of money -- $228 billion and rising fast -- the same "civilian surges," the same planning, thought, and effort (but not the same staggering ineffectiveness) into reclaiming New Orleans or Detroit, or into planning an American future here at home. Imagine, for a moment, when you read about the multi-millions going into further construction at Bagram Air Base, or to the mercenary company that provides "Lord of the Flies" hire-a-gun guards for American diplomats in massive super-embassies, or about the half-a-billion dollars sunk into a corrupt and fraudulent Afghan election, what a similar investment in our own country might have meant." -- also posted at Uruknet & AftrDwngSt & CommonDreams

Enduring Freedom until 2050
Special Note - A quote...."NATO's "mission" in Afghanistan is extremely unpopular in Germany. According to Kunduz locals, the NATO air strike killed more than 100 villagers; NATO says no more than 25; all this while insisting it made sure no civilians were in the area before the hit. It's the same mini-Guernica scenario of Herat in August 2008 and Farah in May 2009. -- None of this slows down the relentless Gates/Mullen/McChrystal gravy train - the Pentagon superstar trio obsessed with milking a Vietnam-style escalation of Obama's self-described "necessary war" whose final objective, according to super-envoy Richard Holbrooke, is of the "we'll-know-it-when-we-see-it" kind."

Men With Guns in Kabul and Washington
Special Note - A quote...." For those who believe in making war, Kabul is a notable work product. After 30 years, the results are in: a devastated city. -- A stale witticism calls Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai "the mayor of Kabul." Now, not even. On block after block in the Afghan capital, AK-47s are conspicuous in the hands of men on guard against a near future. Widely seen as corrupt, inept and - with massive election fraud - now illegitimate, Karzai's government is losing its grip along with its credibility." -- also posted at Uruknet & Creative-i & CommonDreams

As Vote Count Gives Karzai a Majority, a Recount Is Ordered
A quote...."KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan election officials declared that President Hamid Karzai had won a majority of the vote based on preliminary results announced Tuesday, even as the United Nations-backed commission serving as the ultimate arbiter of the elections said it had found “clear and convincing evidence of fraud” in a number of polling stations and ordered a partial recount." -- also posted at Uruknet

US: Afghan Election Results ‘Could Take Months’ - Awww Com'on, this isn't an election, it's a negotiation.
A quote...."In perhaps the clearest sign yet that the September 17 deadline for releasing the results of last month’s Afghan election is off the table, the US State Department is now saying that it will likely take “months” to sort out the many allegations of fraud and determine if there will need to be a run-off vote."

Karzai Ahead in Ballots, Amidst Charges of Fraud; Russia Fears Heroin
A Juan Cole round-up -- A quote...."Jonathan Landay of McClatchy reports as an eye-witness on the guerrilla attack in Kunar Province  on an Afghan Army expedition to Ganjgal village that killed 4 US marine trainers. AFP says that 10 Iraqi army personnel and one policeman were killed and ten others wounded. Landay's powerful, Hemingwayesque account of the ambush reveals the flinty violence and casual betrayal that beset the US/NATO mission in those godforsaken hills. The Ganjgal elders whom the Afghan army personnel asked for consultations on allowing the establishment of a government police station may have tipped the Taliban; or the tip may have come from one of the Afghan officers, serving as a double agent. We saw hundreds of such incidents in Vietnam, and for the same reasons-- nationalism trumps foreign intervention."

Iraqi shoe thrower Muntazer al-Zaidi innundated with offers and gifts
Here's a guy that did more for "old fashioned American" values in a few seconds than most Americans will ever do in their life times. - mpg -- A quote...."As his size 10s spun through the air towards George W Bush, Muntazer al-Zaidi – the man the world now knows as the shoe-thrower – was bracing for an American bullet. -- "He thought the secret service was going to shoot him," says Zaidi's younger brother, Maitham. "He expected that, and he was not afraid to die." -- Zaidi's actions during the former US president's swansong visit to Iraq last December have not stopped reverberating in the nine months since. Next Monday, when the journalist walks out of prison, his 10 raging seconds, which came to define his country's last six miserable years, are set to take on a new life even more dramatic than the opening act."

George Galloway vs. the US Senate May 2005 - (47 min 27 sec)
Video - From the History File - A quote...."George Galloway taking on the US Senate; "In everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right, and in everything you said about Iraq, you turned out to be wrong".

Maliki purge of top Iraqi security officials creates a storm
A quote...."BAGHDAD, Iraq — Government critics and independent legislators accused Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki on Tuesday of launching a purge of senior security officials in order to weaken political rivals ahead of winter elections."

NYrs! Phillies! Iraqi Labor Tour Schedule Released for Your Cities! Mark Your Calendars!
Action Alert - A quote...."Learn how Iraqi labor unions are trying to re-build Iraq -- Remember this past Spring, when IVAW members Aaron Hughes and T.J. Buonomo went to Iraq for the First International Iraq Labor Conference? There they met with union leaders representing all sectors of the economy from across Iraq. Well, this month, IVAW is excited to host five of those same leaders in an East Coast tour as they head to the AFL-CIO National Convention in Pittsburgh. We kick off this tour today in Washington, D.C., then on to New York City, and Philadelphia."

Official: Russia, China scuttled bid to slap more sanctions on Iran
A quote...."Russia and China have rejected a proposal by the United States, Britain, France and Germany to impose more sanctions on Iran should a dialogue over its nuclear program fail, a senior official in Jerusalem said. -- The two nations refused to discuss the possibility of further pressuring the Islamic Republic, according to the official, during high-level six power talks held last week in Germany."

POLITICS:  With Pipelines, China’s Footprint in Burma Expands
Oil / Gas Geo-Politics - A quote...."BANGKOK, Sep 8 (IPS) - If military-ruled Burma needed a stark symbol of China’s growing dominance in the country, then it would be poised to get one soon. The Asian giant is about to start building two pipelines – for gas and oil – that will span the breadth of the South-east Asian nation."

Spanish judge resumes torture case against six senior Bush lawyers
A quote...."The Spanish newspaper Público reported exclusively on Saturday that Judge Baltasar Garzón is pressing ahead with a case against six senior Bush administration lawyers for implementing torture at Guantánamo."

Going Nuclear - Brazil Flexes Its Muscles
Special Note - A quote...."Brazil is flexing its muscles in international trade, muscles fueled by an oil and gas bonanza that promises to change north-south power relations in the 21st century."

BRAZIL:  Military Deal with France Strengthens Multipolar Focus
A quote...."RIO DE JANEIRO, Sep 8 (IPS) - With the announcement of a multi-billion-dollar military technology-sharing deal with France, Brazil is projecting itself as a future regional military supplier, while sending out a clear signal about the multipolar focus of its foreign policy."

Latin America moves to reduce reliance on US weapons
Related Article - A quote...."BRAZIL’S plans to buy French fighter jets confirms a trend across Latin America, a region once under the thrall of the United States that overwhelmingly prefers to buy European military hardware. The main reason is the proclivity of US lawmakers to put political restrictions on what customers can and cannot do with their purchases. In Brazil’s case, that explained in part why France’s Rafale emerged victorious over the US F/A-18 Super Hornet and Sweden’s Gripen NG, according to the planned purchase announced Monday." -- also posted at WarInIraq

UN: Over 1.5 million displaced in Somalia - Wherever the US-NRE goes, there goes the neighborhood. - mpg
A quote...."Over 250,000 people have fled violence in Mogadishu since May, bringing the total number of displaced within Somalia to over 1.5 million, the UN says." -- also posted at WarInIraq
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More On The Palestinian Situation....

Minister accuses Israel of organ theft
A quote...."A PALESTINIAN minister has accused Israel of trafficking in the organs of Palestinians, after a similar claim by a Swedish newspaper triggered a diplomatic row. -- Israel "is hiding the bodies of Palestinian martyrs to remove the proof of their crimes, including organ trafficking," prisoner affairs minister Issa Qaraqae said." -- For more on this issue see....Israeli Organ Thefts

UN: Israeli destruction of Gaza costs $4 billion
A quote...."UNCTAD: $4.5 billion in international pledges for Palestinian reconstruction not yet paid out. --  GENEVA - The Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip in December and January caused four billion dollars of losses to the Palestinian economy, a UN think tank said Tuesday." -- also posted at WarInIraq

The Real Deal/ George Galloway interviews Ghada Karmi - Alt - (YouTube - 8 min 43 sec - September 08, 2009)
A quote...."George Galloway Interviews Ghada Karmi on current issues concerning Palestine"

In Support of the Free Gaza Movement
Action Alert - A quote...."By former Malaysian Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad."
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More on the Iranian Election.....

An American conspiracy in Iran? What American conspiracy in Iran?
The Saban Center  - Options for a New American Strategy toward Iran - PDF
Full quote...."June 2009 -- "The United States could play multiple roles in facilitating a revolution. By funding and helping organize domestic rivals of the regime, the United States could create an alternative leadership to seize power. As Raymond Tanter of the Iran Policy Committee argues, students and other groups “need covert backing for their demonstrations. They need fax machines. They need Internet access, funds to duplicate materials, and funds to keep vigilantes from beating them up.”52 Beyond this, U.S.-backed media outlets could highlight regime shortcomings and make otherwise obscure critics more prominent. The United States already supports Persian language satellite television (Voice of America Persian) and radio (Radio Farda) that bring unfiltered news to Iranians (in recent years, these have taken the lion’s share of overt U.S. funding for promoting democracy in Iran).53 U.S. economic pressure (and perhaps military pressure as well) can discredit the regime, making the population hungry for a rival leadership." (p. 105)"
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Baucus Plan Allows for Fines Up to $3,800 for Failing to Get Health Insurance
On the health care issue - A quote...."Families who fail to get health insurance could be fined up to $3,800 under a health care reform plan proposed by a top Senate negotiator."

Death Bonds: Wall Street Teams Up With Insurance Companies to Kill People, Reap Profits
Special Note - On the health care issue - A quote...."Any remaining doubt that a for-profit, private monopoly of our nation's health care system is a dangerous idea should be removed by the recent news that Wall Street plans to reap profits from people not living to collect their life insurance policies."

Wall Street Bets It Can Make Fortunes from Death
Special Note - Related Article - A quote...."Jenny Anderson reported several days ago for the New York Times that Wall Street plans to bundle life insurance policies into securitized financial instruments. While the piece carefully considers the costs and benefits of literally gambling on the lives of millions of human beings via vulturous pickings from the 26-trillion-dollar life-insurance market, the only "predatory" effects mentioned in the Times article concern the unscrupulous marketing of such policies to seniors. (Policies the short-expectancied will be urged to trade for immediate cash, with the purchased policy going in the betting pool.)"
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Possible October surprises
Must Read - A quote...."Perpetual motion machines being impossible in the physical world, one's natural skepticism supposes them to be impossible in the economic world. Hence the adverse effects of excessive money creation and budget deficits must either be delayed or be appearing in some novel form, so that observers looking for a repetition of the 1970s do not spot them. -- As soon as the problem is posed in this way, the evidence becomes obvious. Commodities prices are far higher in real terms than they were at the top of the 2000 boom, while gold is on the verge of breaking through its record high and soaring into unknown territory. In itself, that makes no economic sense; in a deep recession such as the current one, where markets are allegedly fearful of deflation, commodities and gold prices should be extremely weak."

Gold Jumps to 18-Month High on Weaker US Dollar, Inflation Outlook
It's too early for inflation, especially in the US-NRE which still appears to be in a deflationary death spiral.  More likely gold and other commodities are going up because of all that loose money (we'll just call it Bernanke's commodities bubble) which is causing some weakness in the dollar, (you'd think it would implode, but it never does).  But, given past actions in the markets, if the world economy starts to take another tumble, which is VERY likely, the dollar will go up even if the US-NRE’s economy has completely collapsed.  Something no one has yet explained to anyone’s satisfaction besides using the vague term of “safe haven buying”, what this website editor likes to call “rushing toward an implosion”.  But again perhaps that’s why the Chinese are making arrangements to get out of the dollar, they know all this short term stimulus isn’t going to work, and they’re tired of rushing to buy dollars and US bonds only to see Bernanke smirk like good’ol George and print even more.  They want off this crazy merry-go-round. - mpg

The Great Fakeroo Recovery
A quote...."There is something affected, something not believable, something agitpropish, about all the cheers for the glorious economic recovery we are experiencing. Some of its biggest boosters don't even quite believe it."

CREDIT BUBBLE BULLETIN - No exit
A quote...."Central bankers are becoming practiced at talk of creating an "exit strategy" from their various monetary interventions in their crisis-hit economies. In reality, government-created market distortions have been going on for so long and have become so systemic that "No Exit" signs hang on all fronts. "

Job outlook hits worst-ever level - This is a forward looking indicator.  - mpg
A quote...."SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Employers' hiring plans for the upcoming fourth quarter dropped to their lowest level in the history of Manpower's Employment Outlook Survey, which started in 1962."

A year after financial crisis, the consumer economy is dead - Good call, see article shown below. - mpg
A quote...." WASHINGTON — One year after the near collapse of the global financial system, this much is clear: The financial world as we knew it is over, and something new is rising from its ashes. -- Historians will look to September 2008 as a watershed for the U.S. economy."

Consumer Credit Plunges By Record $21.6 Billion As The Main Driver For GDP Growth Says "Enough"
Deflation Alert - Related Article - A quote...."A record plunge in consumer credit, and the American middle class has just given the new and improved Obama-endorsed "spend spend spend" recovery and confidence plan the middle finger. -- $6.1 billion decline in revolving credit, and a $15.4 billion drop in non revolving credit, on a $4 billion expected decline! June's decline was revised downward to a $15.6 billion reduction in credit."

4 Signs that China is Moving Out of the Dollar
A quote...."There are 3 recent signs that China is moving out of the dollar. -- First, in June, China was a net seller of U.S. Treasury bonds (and shorter term notes) for the first time ever. As Mike Larson writes: --     A few days ago, the U.S. Treasury Department revealed that China actually REDUCED its note and bond holdings by $25 billion in June. Although China did NOT sell shorter-term Treasury bills — and isn’t expected to — it’s still the largest amount of Treasuries China has ever sold in a single month."

Islamic banks' assets grow by 66% in 2008
A quote...."Despite the global financial crisis, assets held by the 100 largest Islamic banks in the world raised by 66 percent in 2008 compared with previous year."

Monday September 7th 2009

Killing America's Kids - Regarding the "photo". - mpg
Must Read - A quote...."I thought a long time before writing about this matter, and was not pleasant to be around. The photo resonated with me, as we say. You see, long ago, in another pointless war, promoted by another conscienceless Secretary, I too was a Marine Lance Corporal of twenty-one years. I too got shot, though not nearly as badly as this kid, and spent a year at Bethesda Naval Hospital. At this point I am legally blind following my (I think) thirteenth trip to eye surgery as a result of an identical foreign policy."

US Hypocrisy Astonishes the World
Special Note - Related Article - A quote...."September 07, 2009 "Information Clearing House" -- Americans have lost their ability for introspection, thereby revealing their astounding hypocrisy to the world. -- US War Secretary Robert Gates has condemned the Associated Press and a reporter, Julie Jacobson, embedded with US troops in Afghanistan, for taking and releasing a photo of a US Marine who was wounded in action and died from his injury. -- The photographer was on patrol with the Marines when they came under fire. She found the courage and presence of mind to do her job. Her reward is to be condemned by the warmonger Gates as “insensitive.” Gates says her employer, the Associated Press, lacks “judgment and common decency.” -- also posted at PJB & CounterPunch

Anatomy Of American Ignorance - Part 2 -- And Part 1
Special Note - A quote...."I wish I could say I was disappointed, but none of this is a surprise. While the President continues his efforts to reach some kind of farcical “bipartisan” agreement with people who continue to call and pray for his death, the people who actually  risked their lives to get him elected are rapidly losing their patience - and so am I. In the brief six month or so since his election, this president hasn't missed a single opportunity to sacrifice the desires of the electorate on the altar of the Corporation, and certainly this embarrassing healthcare reform debacle is yet another prime example. The demands of the people to see accountability for a decade of stolen elections, accountability for the home grown crime of 9-11, accountability for the destruction of privacy, accountability for the destruction of constitutional rights, accountability for torture, an end to the war crime in Iraq, an end to the war crime in Afghanistan, and a host of other malignancies in this country, have all been summarily dismissed by this president in the typical American manner of denial. Ten years of crimes against the people of this country and this planet, and this president has the audacity to suggest we “move on.”

Meet the Press's idea of a "debate"
Presstitution Alert - A quote...."Yesterday, Meet the Press hosted a panel discussion to debate two primary issues:  (1) foreign policy -- specifically, the war in Afghanistan, and (2) health care.  The panel:  Rudy Giuliani, Tom Friedman, Harold Ford, Jr., and Tom Brokaw (as Jay Rosen often notes, Meet the Press is doing a fantastic job of fulfilling its pledge to present "fresh voices" in its discussions)."

The Congress and Afghanistan: Rubber-Stamping Yet Another War?
Old Fashioned Prostitute (male, mostly) Alert - A quote...."On August 7, 1964, the United States House of Representatives voted 416-0, and the U.S. Senate voted 88-2, to support President Lyndon Johnson's decision to bomb North Vietnam in response to the alleged attacks three days earlier on two U.S. war ships—the Maddox and Turner Joy—in the Gulf of Tonkin. The congressional resolution also authorized the "Commander in Chief to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression." The nearly unanimous "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution" marked the start of the U.S. commitment to large-scale U.S. military involvement in Vietnam."

From ‘Do No Harm’ to Torture
A quote...."Torture is a delicate business. The aim is to injure but not incapacitate—to inflict precisely enough pain and terror to break a subject’s will, but no more. To calibrate the proper degree of abuse, the torturer must have an accurate sense of how much agony the subject’s mind and body can tolerate. -- In the Bush administration’s program of “enhanced interrogation,” this expertise was provided by doctors and psychologists—professionals who are supposed to heal and comfort." -- also posted at CommonDreams

Where have All the broad Shoulders Gone? Or, Labor Day in a Kleptocracy
Must Read - A quote...."The unemployment rate as I write is inching toward 10 percent nationally, and that is only counting people who were still looking for a job recently. A vast bank robbery by the corrupt on Wall Street has deprived them of the credit that made the economy go. Labor Day was passed by Congress under Grover Cleveland to celebrate not only the individual American laborer but the labor movement-- yes, unions, workers' parades, hard hats and blue jeans (before the youth movement of the 1960s appropriated them, blue jeans were working class clothing, and my working class relatives upbraided me for wearing them as an undergraduate). It is to celebrate all those icons that shills for the barracuda billionaires, such as Glenn Beck, now castigate as "fascist" and "communist." It is to celebrate what Carl Sandberg did in his poem, "Chicago:"
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Gordon Brown faces Labour motion to pull out troops from Afghanistan
A quote...."Gordon Brown faces fresh questions over the war in Afghanistan at this month's Labour party conference, with grassroots activists circulating a motion demanding that troops be withdrawn."

Afghanistan: Further evidence of massive electoral fraud
A quote...."Amid widespread evidence of fraud, the Afghan presidential election has become a political debacle for the US-led occupation. While President Hamid Karzai appears on the brink of officially achieving an absolute majority, the final results could take weeks as electoral officials deal with hundreds of complaints. Even if Karzai is finally declared the winner, the Obama administration may decide to dispense with his administration."

At some Afghan polling places, Karzai got every vote
Related Article - A quote...."KABUL, Afghanistan — Detailed polling records released by an Afghanistan election commission reveal numerous polling places in Kandahar Province where all the votes were delivered to a single candidate — incumbent President Hamid Karzai." -- also posted at Yahoo

Officials: Fake Poll Sites Helped Karzai
Karl Rove probably thought of doing the same thing in the US-NRE, he just didn't think he could get away with it. - mpg -- A quote...."KABUL | Afghan election workers loyal to President Hamid Karzai set up hundreds of fictitious polling sites where no one voted but that still registered hundreds of thousands of ballots toward the president's re-election, according to senior Western and Afghan officials here."

Karzai Blames US for Accusations of Poll Fraud
A quote...."In an interview today in the major French newspaper Le Figaro, Afghan President Hamid Karzai defended himself from the mounting evidence of widespread fraud in last month’s election and claimed that the United States was secretly behind the accusations." -- bold by website editor

U.S., U.N. officials urge Karzai to allow vote fraud investigation - And it looks like his accusation is true. - mpg
A quote...."WASHINGTON (CNN) — Increasingly credible allegations of vote fraud were the topic of conversation Monday night for a meeting between U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, U.N. officials and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, senior State Department officials said."

Afghanistan: Back Door to War on Iran
A quote...."The Obama administration has made Afghanistan the focus of its foreign policy, significantly escalating the war effort there. (Though there is division within the administration regarding the degree of escalation sought. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/us/politics/04military.html) Obama’s motive for expanding the war in Afghanistan seems to be a desire to appear strong in foreign policy combined with the idea that war in Afghanistan is much safer than a war on Iran-the primary target of Israel and its Lobby." -- also posted at AtheoNews

'Rivers of Blood:' The West Could Care Less for Deaths of Afghans
A quote...."As American and European big wigs harp about fighting in Afghanistan to secure their own streets, Afghans pay the price with rivers of innocent blood - the blood of civilians, their children and their women. The latest in this incessant bloodbath was Friday's NATO air strike in Kunduz Province . The attack claimed at least 90 lives, mostly civilian, which the NATO command is reluctant to own up."

Obama "bestial and anti-human"
A quote...."Ramadan 14, 1430 A.H, September 5, 2009 -- In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate -- It is to be said with great sorrow and grief that the merciless crusaders once again resorted to killing tens of common people in Haji Abdur Rahman village, Ali Abad district, Kunduz province last night as a result of a ruthless bombardment. Those who were killed belonged to this area and the surrounding villages." -- also posted at WarInIraq
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Anti-Americanism rises in Pakistan over U.S. motives
A quote...."ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — For weeks now, the Pakistani media have portrayed America, its military and defense contractors in the darkest of lights, all part of an apparent campaign of anti-American vilification that is sweeping the country and, according to some, is putting American lives at risk." -- also posted at AQLounge

US Ambassador Accuses Pakistan’s Jang Media Group of Endangering Americans
Censorship Alert - Related Article - A quote...." Patterson’s [US Ambassador to Pakistan] very public clash with Jang was brought to the attention of much of Pakistan late last week, when she managed to get Jang’s “The News International” newspaper to pull the weekly column of top analyst Dr. Shireen Mazari over the article’s reference to Blackwater contractors operating in Pakistan on the behalf of the US government. The article was made available on the paper’s website, but was not published. -- The pulling of the article caused a major stir in Pakistan’s blogosphere, with many seeing the US embassy’s ability to block coverage of a story as an ominous sign of America’s growing influence in the impoverished, war-ridden nation. Ambassador Patterson made it clear, however, that her problems with Jang did not begin and end with the article, and said she objected to the content of two popular talk shows on the group’s Geo TV station, which she accused to spreading “conspiracy theories.” -- also posted at OhBummer

Targeting Pakistan and silencing the critics
Censorship Alert - Related Article - A quote...."While US diplomats target their critics in Pakistan with a new ferocity, the US media and politicians target the Pakistan's nuclear and military capability. Taking the latter first, Dr Khan had barely gained his "freedom" when that murderous former Vice-President Dick Cheney, in a pre-taped interview to Fox News (Aug 30), declared that the Obama Administration should use the CIA to find out what Dr Khan was up to. Cheney also expressed pride in the Bush administration's aggressive use of drones in FATA. So should we assume that the increased presence of Blackwater and other unidentified US personnel in Islamabad may also have Dr Khan as a possible target?"
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Ahmadinejad to go to UN General Assembly, seeks Obama debate (Roundup)
A quote...."Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday that he would attend the United Nations General Assembly this month and declared his readiness to debate US President Barack Obama. --    'As I said before, I am ready to have a debate [with Obama] at the UN and refer to the roots of today's global dilemmas and listen to other viewpoints as well,' Ahmadinejad said at a press conference."

Iran clerics tell Ahmadinejad to tone it down
Well, we'll see what he does at the UN, (Pssssst, go ahead, give em'hell!) - mpg -- A quote...."TEHRAN - A leading Iranian conservative clerical group told President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday to avoid "provocative" comments, in a first such message to the hawk whose disputed re-election has bitterly divided the political elite. -- "We ask the president and the government to seriously try to solve people’s problems and the country’s economic and social issues and avoid talking about unnecessary and provocative issues," the Society of Militant Clergy said in a statement."

Ahmadinejad nominates another woman for cabinet
A quote...."TEHRAN - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Sunday nominated another woman for the post of education minister after his first choice, also a female, failed to win the support of parliament, a report said."

Brazil's Lula rejects Iran sanctions, urges talks
A quote...."PARIS (Reuters) - Western powers should stop punishing Iran over its nuclear program and instead talk to it in order to foster peace, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Sunday."

US leads world in weapons sales
A quote...."The United States snatched the lion share of the global arms sales in 2008 which amounted to more than two-thirds of all foreign armaments deals, a government report says. -- According to the report, Washington inked arms deals valued at $37.8 billion in 2008, or 68.4 percent of all business in the global weapons market, up significantly from American sales of $25.4 billion last year, New York Times reported."

Saudis eyeing more than Russian choppers
A quote...."As Russia closes in on a $2 billion deal to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, reports reveal Riyadh's shopping list could include more than combat helicopters. -- "All technical and financial issues have been practically coordinated," an undisclosed source privy to the negotiations told the Moscow-based Interfax news agency."

Russia oil production overtakes Saudi Arabia
A quote...."Russia is extracting more oil than Saudi Arabia, making it the biggest producer of "black gold" in the world, figures show. - The statistics, from the oil cartel Opec, reflect a trend that has seen the Russians periodically surpass the Saudis as the world's biggest oil producers on and off since 2002." -- also posted at GlobRsrch & BLN

China grooms new breed of journalists
A quote...."BEIJING - In the beginning, there was the word. The word was with Deng Xiaoping. And Deng, paramount leader from 1978 to the early 1990s, said, "Let there be economic reforms!" And there were economic reforms. But Deng's reforms didn't stop there. Rummaging through Deng's legacy, one encounters an intriguing footnote. Deng not only opened China to the outside world through economic reforms, he also started a very ambitious pilot graduate program for professional journalists."

Venezuela ready to supply Iran with gasoline - agency
A quote...."MOSCOW, September 7 (RIA Novosti) - Venezuelan authorities announced its readiness to supply Iran with 20,000 barrels of gasoline per day, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported. - "A strategic decision has been made to export 20,000 barrels of gasoline per day from Venezuela to Iran," the agency quoted Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as saying. - The agency added that according to Chavez, who has been recently on an official visit to Iran, the deliveries of gasoline will start in October." - also posted at WarInIraq - By the way folks, FYI, those seven US-NRE military bases being established in Columbia....that's what they're being established for, to stop any Venezuelan support for Iran. - mpg

Venezuela's Chavez drops in on Venice film festival
A quote...."VENICE, Italy (AFP) – Hugo Chavez stole the show at the Venice film festival Monday as he paid a surprise visit for the screening of veteran US director Oliver Stone's documentary on the Venezuelan president. -- The leftist leader was expected to walk down the red carpet at around 5:00 pm (1500 GMT) to attend the official screening of "South of the Border", a look at Chavez's role in the bottom-up change sweeping South America."

Oliver Stone: 'The truth about Hugo Chávez'
Contains Video - A quote...."South of the Border is Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone's record of a trip to Venezuela to meet the president, Hugo Chávez. Ahead of the film's premiere at the Venice film festival on Monday, Stone writes about his hopes for the film, and the future of US foreign policy in the region."

DAS worked together with paramilitaries, former official repeats
Special Note - A quote...."Monday, 07 September 2009 12:43 -- The former ICT director of Colombia's intelligence service DAS confirmed a leaked testimony wherein he alleged that the DAS was engaged in drug trafficking by paramilitary organization AUC and wiretapping government critics. President Alvaro Uribe was aware of the service’s illegal activities, the director said. -- "The only thing I can say is that during [former director Jorge] Noguera’s tenure, drug trafficking was carried out by the Das with the participation of senior DAS officials," Garcia said to Noticias Uno." -- bold by website editor -- Just to let everyone know, those planes loaded with TONS of cocaine that occasionally crash while making their way to the US-NRE, "our" government knows all about them. – mpg

Neoliberalism needs death squads in Colombia - posted at OnlineJournal
Related Article -- A quote...."In her new book, "Blood & Capital: The Paramilitarization of Colombia", [GoglBkSrch] author Jasmin Hristov writes: “For roughly forty years, the Colombian state has been playing a double game: prohibiting the formation of paramilitary groups with one law and facilitating their existence with another; condemning their barbarities and at the same time assisting their operations; promising to bring perpetrators of crime to justice, while opening the door to perpetual immunity; convicting them of narco-trafficking, yet profiting from their drug deals; announcing to the world the government’s persecution of paramilitary organizations, even though in reality these ‘illegal armed groups’ have been carrying out the dirty work unseemly for a state that claims to be democratic and worthy of billions of dollars in US military aid.”

The Name That Must Not Be Mentioned - More of that WWI & WWII stuff. - mpg
Special Note - Historical Analysis - A quote...."Among the neoconservatives’ kept pontificators on modern history, Victor Davis Hanson may well be the most ridiculous. A respectable scholar when writing about Greek hoplites and other aspects of ancient military history, Hanson becomes a raving maniac as soon as he puts on his neocon spectacles. His latest syndicated column, "World War II: Unfashionable Truths" illustrates this process of transformation. "
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Airline bombings were just days away - UK police
A quote...."LONDON, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Just how close were the three Britons, found guilty on Monday of plotting to kill thousands by blowing up transatlantic airliners, to putting their deadly plan into action? -- Two of the men were waiting for new passports, no viable bomb or explosives had been made, no tickets had been bought and there was little to indicate that an attack was imminent. -- But intelligence that one of the men would attempt to bypass security and board a plane with the components for a bomb forced detectives to act -- perhaps sooner than they would have liked. -- The lack of evidence against four other men accused of being would-be suicide bombers meant they were cleared by a jury in London of planning to blow up planes."

Scottish Justice Secretary under pressure to release Megrahi appeal files
A quote...."KENNY MACASKILL IS UNDER growing pressure to order the release of secret files which cast doubt on the conviction of the Lockerbie bomber. -- The justice secretary has the legal power to force the disclosure of material held by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) into the trial of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Sunday Herald has learned. -- Last night, Jean Couper, chairwoman of the SCCRC, confirmed the law which established the Commission allowed MacAskill to disclose hitherto confidential papers."

UN Judicial Observer Found Lockerbie Trial a Miscarriage of Justice
Related Article - A quote...."Statement by Dr. Hans Koechler, international observer of the International Progress Organization, nominated by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, at the Lockerbie trial in the Netherlands (2000-2002), on the agreement between the United States, the United Kingdom and the Libyan Jamahiriya on the remaining issues relating to the fulfilment of all Security Council resolutions resulting from the bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie"  -- For more on this issue see....

Outrageous Behavior: Bogus Bluster From Bigwigs Hides Lockerbie Truth
Lockerbie: Megrahi Was Framed - Alt - Alt
"The Civilized Community of Nations"

Even the Bravest Couldn’t get to Ground Zero
Special Note - Contains Video - A quote...."For those people who think that the towers couldn’t have been demoed because no demolition equipment or other evidence was found in the rubble by the “volunteers” who worked “for months and months” at Ground Zero, I got news for you; that didn’t happen."

Two more key 9/11 players - Exposed: The Carlyle Group
Special Note - Videos -- A quote...."Shocking documentary uncovers the subversion of Americas democracy with true stories about the depth of corruption and deceit within the highest ranks of our government."

FBI Whistleblower: Hastert, Burton, Blunt, Other Members of Congress 'Bribed, Blackmailed'
A quote...."Breaking Down the Under-Oath Disclosures of the Formerly-Gagged Sibel Edmonds... -- It has now been over a week since the video tape and transcript from the remarkable 8/8/09 deposition of former FBI translator-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds was publicly released. Previously, the Bush Administration invoked the so-called "state secrets privilege" in order to gag Edmonds, in attempting to keep such information from becoming public." -- also posted at DProgram
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More On The Palestinian Situation....

Amira versus Israel - Alt - (YouTube - 5 min 50 sec - September 05, 2009)
Must View Video - A quote...."On August 31st this year, a 15 year-old girl from Gaza made history by filing a law suit against Israel at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Amira Alquerem lost her father, brother and sister during the 22-day Israeli war on Gaza at the turn of the year. She's accusing Israel of homicides against members of her family, war crimes and crimes against humanity."

GRITtv with Laura Flanders » Gaza Under Siege - Alt - (GRITtv - 7 min 52 sec - Wed Sept 2 '09 10:30 am)
Must View Video -- A quote...."Filmmakers Lily Keber and Jordan Flaherty set out to see for themselves what happened in Gaza after the Israeli invasion in January of this year. Nine months later, rebuilding has barely begun and the Israeli blockade continues. In Gaza Under Siege they speak to the people of Gaza about what they need to rebuild their towns and cities."

[Israeli] Military Police begin probing Gaza 'white-flag' deaths - It'll be the usual white wash. - mpg
A quote...."The IDF Military Police has opened an investigation into Palestinian allegations that soldiers opened fire and killed two children who were waving a white flag during Operation Cast Lead earlier this year, The Jerusalem Post has learned."

UN blames Israel for blocking food aid to Gaza
A quote...."As Israel claims its imposed siege on Gaza is for security reasons, basic foodstuffs are being blocked from reaching the impoverished strip." -- also posted at AtheoNews

Kawther Salam – Palestinian Organs for Sale and Experiments
A quote...."Many Palestinian bodies which had their organs removed are still in the refrigerators of the Israeli jails and hospitals, and many Palestinian bodies (about 300) which had their organs removed are still in secret and cemeteries with numbered graves. Israel is the only State in the world which continues holding the bodies of Palestinian victims and pursues it’s criminal policies as a cover for concealing up the proof of the theft of Palestinian organs. Since the seventies, Israel refuses to give these bodies back to their families in a clear violation to basic norms of human behavior, Israeli laws, the Geneva conventions and other international treaties”.organ-02.jpg (Click on pictures to see them bigger)." - also posted at Creative-i -- For more on this issue see....Israeli Organ Thefts

Negev prison refuses to treat Palestinian detainee with gangrene - Isrealis are just sick, they're really a sick people
A quote...."NABLUS, (PIC)-- The Israeli Negev prison authority refused to allow treatment of a Palestinian detainee who has been suffering from gangrene for five months, his relatives said."

Musings from a fishing boat: Gaza Ramadan day 15
Photo Gallery - A quote...."Palestinian fishermen and farmers are some of the livelier, slightly crazier, people I’ve met. Maybe it’s the constant exposure to the dangers of Israeli shooting and shelling. Come to think of it, Palestinian medics share these dangers and this zaniness as well. -- Fishermen have little to no other option but to risk the assault of the IOF gunboats as they fish in their own waters. But they do it with flair. -- F. is the liveliest of today’s crew. Mischievous, with endless energy, he captains the boat and jumps in to help with the different tasks on board." -- also posted at AtheoNews

Israel enters Gaza, kidnaps shepherds
Fisherman, farmers, shepherds....Gawd Dang! Those Israelis sure hate agricultural workers! - mpg -- A quote...."At least four Bedouin Shepherds have been arrested after a special Israeli army unit stormed a village in the northern Gaza Strip. -- On Sunday, the four men were herding their flock near the town of Beit Lahiya located a few hundred meters from the Gaza Strip's northern border with Israel, eye witnesses said." -- also posted at AtheoNews & WarInIraq

Israel destroys Gaza boats and lives - Ditto. - mpg
A quote...."GAZA CITY, Sep 3 (IPS) - Until Monday, Omar and Khaled Al-Habil were the owners of a 20m fishing trawler staffed by five or six fishermen at a time, but employing around 18 in cycles. But that morning the vessel came under heavy Israeli navy machine-gun fire, and then shelling. The trawler caught fire." - also posted at ElectIntifada

Settlers uproot olive trees from Palestinian land near Ramallah - And for some reason, the Israelis hate olive trees!
A quote...."Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli settlers uprooted 50 olive trees near the Palestinian village of Al-Maghayir, north of the city of Ramallah on Monday afternoon, according to Israeli radio. -- Israel’s military believes the attack was a preemptive response to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to reduce construction in West Bank settlements."

Why we back the boycott call
Action Alert - A quote...."When we decided to pull our film Looking for Eric from the Melbourne International Film festival following our discovery that the festival was part-sponsored by the Israeli state, we wrote to the director, Richard Moore, detailing our reasons. Unfortunately he has misrepresented our position and did so again last week on the Guardian's Comment is free by stating that "to allow the personal politics of one filmmaker to proscribe a festival position ... goes against the grain of what festivals stand for," and claiming that "Loach's demands were beyond the pale." -- For more on how to boycott Israel see the upper-left-corner of the "Front Page" on this website. - mpg
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More on the US-NRE's Honduran Coup....

Honduran Front Strengthens Structures
A quote...."Tegucigalpa, Sep 7 (Prensa Latina) The National Front against the coup d' Etat in Honduras started Monday a reorganization process to strengthen people's struggle against the June 28 military action."
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Go Long the Death Bonds: Wall Street to Securitize Life Insurance Policies That Elderly People Sell for Cash
Special Note - A quote...."The purpose of expanding the regulatory machinery is to facilitate even vaster amounts of fraud. This is what happens when big organizations fail, but aren’t allowed to die. A small number of people makes off with unthinkable amounts of plundered money—and then the government gets bigger! The people who are left walking funny at the end of all of this get the bill." - As stated yesterday, this "securitization" would make it in the financial interests of Wall Street Banksters and the elites of this nation to see people in this country die at higher rates, (to give them a "higher rate of return")....as for example, in having less public health care programs, or more swine flu outbreaks, or another 9/11 type of attack involving biological or nuclear weapons.   Think about it folks, you were warned about letting them get away with 9/11, this time they may want to see a lot more "blood in the streets", real blood....your blood. - mpg

China alarmed by US money printing
A quote...."The US Federal Reserve's policy of printing money to buy Treasury debt threatens to set off a serious decline of the dollar and compel China to redesign its foreign reserve policy, according to a top member of the Communist hierarchy."

Chinese sovereign wealth fund dumping dollars for strategic investments like gold
Editor's Caution:  Regarding commodities, there's a one hundred percent chance the US-NRE elites will FAIL to make this "ten year cycle", and we'll have a long term Great Recession (Japan's "lost decade" style).  There's a thirty percent chance we might even experience another Great Depression.  Commodities don't do very well in long term recessions or depressions.  Of course the US-NRE is no longer an industrial power, and there are a lot of other countries out there that will do better economically during the next decade whose growing demand might give commodity prices an upward bias.  It's your money and it's your call folks. – mpg -- A quote...."Several reports are coming out of China that there is pressure on state-controlled organisations - notably the country's main sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corporation (CIC) to rapidly build investment in non-Chinese enterprises.  While the CIC itself, with apparent access to some $300 billion in funds - and the possibility of more from the government - may be concentrating on hedge funds and other investment entities, there is another sector for Chinese state-owned companies looking at major investment in commodities.  Indeed with the funds available as China seems to be dumping its US dollars in favour of more concrete assets, virtually no minerals sector is safe from Chinese participation." -- also posted at DProgram

China’s view on the US dollar and the price of gold
Related Article - A quote...."Mr Cheng (and Beijing) takes a dim view of Ben Bernanke’s monetary experiments at the Federal Reserve.  “If they keep printing money to buy bonds it will lead to inflation, and after a year or two the dollar will fall hard. Most of our foreign reserves are in US bonds and this is very difficult to change, so we will diversify incremental reserves into euros, yen, and other currencies,” he said."

UN: New Currency Is Needed to Fix Broken ‘Confidence Game’
Related Article - A quote...."Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) — The dollar’s role in international trade should be reduced by establishing a new currency to protect emerging markets from the “confidence game” of financial speculation, the United Nations said." -- Now exactly which country is it that prints the dollar, and is therefore the only one responsible for the "confidence game"? - mpg

British August retail sales slip, BRC says. - Yeah, "wet weather", that's what it was....sure, right....
Deflation Alert - A quote...."LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Wet weather dampened British retail sales activity in August, with sales values at comparable stores falling 0.1% from a year ago, the British Retail Consortium said Tuesday."
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We're sick; the system's even sicker
On the health care issue - A quote...." It's easy to get distracted by the vaudevillian aspects of the health-care debate. -- My favorites are the few beet-faced droolers who show up at town-hall meetings to rail against government involvement, while simultaneously warning President Obama to ``keep your hands off my Medicare'' -- the biggest, costliest, most socialistic government program in U.S. history."

Sen. Baucus produces health reforms, sans public option
On the health care issue - A quote...."Instead of providing the poor with public access to health care, key Dem’s plan would reduce ‘overuse of medical services,’ levy new taxes." - bold by website editor -- Are all you ObamaTrolls happy now?? From a previous quote.....

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Sunday September 6th 2009

"[To the possessor of money capital] “the process of production appears merely as an unavoidable intermediate link, as a necessary evil for the sake of money-making. All nations with a capitalist mode of production are therefore seized periodically by a feverish attempt to make money without the intervention of the process of production.”—  *Karl Marx*, Capital, Volume II, “The Circuit of Money Capital”

Saturday September 5th 2009

Friday September 4th 2009

Deeper Into the Tunnel
Must Read - A quote...."As General Stan McChrystal plans his march on Washington to demand more troops in Afghanistan the antiwar movement lies on the sidewalk, as inert and forlorn as a homeless person in the rain at a street corner, too dejected even to hold up a sign. This is at a time that as Mark Ames has just pointed out, “Obama is doubling down in Afghanistan with more troops deployed now than the Soviets ever had.” Yes, add up US troops and contractors and you get a US invasion of Afghanistan bigger than the Soviet force at its peak. -- Is there any sign of life in a movement that marshaled hundreds of thousands to march in protest against war in Iraq?  Ah, but those were the Bush years. Now we have a Democrat in the White House."

Progressives Pay the Price for Confusing a Party With a Movement
Must Read - A quote...."The difference between parties and movements is simple: Parties are loyal to their own power regardless of policy agenda; movements are loyal to their own policy agenda regardless of which party champions it. This is one of the few enduring political axioms, and it explains why the organizations purporting to lead an American progressive “movement” have yet to build a real movement, much less a successful one." -- also posted at CommonDreams

Obama to Cindy Sheehan: Get Lost
Special Note - A quote...."I spent but a short time with Cindy Sheehan as she carried her antiwar protest from an earlier time at Crawford, TX, to Martha’s Vineyard, vacation spot for Obama and many other Democrat Party elite. As Cindy remarked, the real story was not that she was protesting Obama’s wars but that the “leadership” of the peace movement did not support her protest. When the target was Bush in Crawford, she was all the rage with antiwar celebrities, but not so now that the target is Barack Obama. While there is considerable enthusiasm for her anti-Obama protest on the part of the rank and file in the anti-war movement, a refusal of its “leaders” to notify their members far and wide, high and low, crippled the action.
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Lockerbie: Megrahi Was Framed
Must Read - A quote...."September 04, 2009 "Information Clearing House" -- The hysteria over the release of the so-called Lockerbie bomber reveals much about the political and media class on both sides of the Atlantic, especially Britain. From Gordon Brown’s "repulsion" to Barack Obama’s "outrage," the theater of lies and hypocrisy is dutifully attended by those who call themselves journalists. "But what if Megrahi lives longer than three months?" whined a BBC reporter to the Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond. "What will you say to your constituents, then?"

CIA Atrocities Revealed to a National Shrug - We Have met The Nazis, And They Are Us
Must Read - A quote...."September 04, 2009 "Information Clearing House"  -- NEW YORK--Nazis. Americans are Nazis. We are Nazis. -- Godwin's Law be damned--it's impossible to read the newly-released CIA report on the torture of Muslim prisoners without thinking of the Third Reich. -- Sadism exists in every culture. A century ago, for example, Western adventurers who visited Tibet reported that the authorities in Lhasa, that supposed capital of pacifism, publicly gouged out criminals' eyes and yanked out their tongues. But Nazi atrocities were stylistically distinct from, say, the Turkish genocide of the Armenians or the Rwandan massacres of the early 1990s. German war crimes were characterized by methodical precision, the application of "rational" technology to increase efficiency, the veneer of legality and the perversion of medical science."

Nat Hentoff: What is the CIA still hiding about interrogations?
Special Note - A quote...."What is the CIA hiding? Keep in mind that of the 109 pages on the widely discussed CIA inspector general report, 36 pages were completely blacked out, and 30 more were largely blacked out (ABC News, Aug. 25). Moreover, ABC's Brian Ross and Matthew Cole alarmingly disclose: -- "The CIA and the Obama Administration continue to keep secret some of the most shocking allegations involving the spy agency's interrogation program: three deaths and several other detainees whose whereabouts could not be determined, according to a former senior intelligence official who has read the full, unredacted version." -- also posted at ICH -- The CIA is NOT trying to hide their use of gross, brutal and medieval interrogation techniques, what they're trying to hide is their use of these techniques to fabricate lies, falsify intelligence and wring fake confessions from their prisoners to justify the Neocons' plans of world wide mayhem and murder.  -- mpg -- For more on this issue see....9/11 - Iraq - Torture Fables - comment posted 09-01-09

Jeremy Scahill Exposes Blackwater on Bill Maher - Alt - (YouTube - 10 min 21 sec - August 22, 2009)
Must View Video - This was a very spirited discussion with Jeremy Scahill (author of "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army" [GoglBkSrch], Bill Maher, Jay Leno, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (Dem Illinois) and Chuck Todd (co-author, "How Barak Obama Won") -- A quote...."[On] the political ramifications of this privately operated, publicly funded military group and its effect on our government's control over operations in foreign countries."

CIA used Blackwater-linked mercenaries as journalists
Special Note - This is a major threat to ALL journalists everywhere.  If professional journalists don't want to get themselves killed the moment they step foot outside of the US-NRE, they'd better investigate this issue and if it's found to be true, put a stop to it immediately.  It's just a suggestion folks. – mpg -- (WMR) -- The CIA used credentialed journalists to engage in counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism operations from 2003 to 2005. -- WMR has learned that two individuals working as subcontractors to the CIA had significant links to Blackwater’s CIA-approved and sanctioned operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Iran. Both traveled with credentials issued by United Press International (UPI), the wire service owned by News World Communications, owned by South Korean cult leader Reverend Sun Myung Moon."
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Assassination in Afghanistan: The Taliban's Big Get
Special Note - The funny thing is, it's not satire, it's the truth - mpg -- A quote...."Years of war and uncertainty have turned Afghans into masters of reinvention. Take, for example, Abdullah Laghmani, the late deputy chief of intelligence who was killed by a suicide bomber on Wednesday, Sept. 2, after praying at a mosque in the hills east of Kabul. -- Laghmani started his career in the dreaded secret police of the former pro-Soviet regime. Then he switched sides, grew a beard and joined the Islamic warriors of the mujahedin. When the Americans chased out the Taliban, the ever adaptable Laghmani volunteered his unique set of skills to the new rulers of Kabul. His credentials as a new breed of Afghan democrat may have been questionable, as were a few of his interrogation techniques, but Laghmani's death is a severe blow to U.S.-led efforts to quell the rising Taliban and dismember al-Qaeda."

POLITICS:  Taliban's Tank-Killing Bombs Came from U.S., Not Iran
Special Note - More lies from the Pentagon's lie factory - mpg --  A quote...."The JIEDDO response said TC-6 mines are being "arrayed in two or three in tandem to ensure the charge is large enough to inflict damage against Coalition vehicles." The TC-6 mines "continue to pose a significant threat to Coalition Forces", JIEDDO said. -- The combining of two or three anti-tank mines into a single, more destructive bomb would account for the increased lethality of the anti-tank mines being used by the Taliban. -- The claim by the alleged Taliban commander of new, more effective weaponry supplied by Iran appears to have been deliberate misinformation for the Western press. -- British writer Jason Elliot, who has traveled extensively in Afghanistan since 1979, reported in a 2001 book "Min(d)ing Afghanistan" that the Italian-made TC-6 was the most commonly used anti-tank mine used in Afghanistan. The 15-pound charge of TNT, wrote Elliot in the TC-6, he wrote, could "flip a tank the way a seagull flips a baby turtle." - also posted at CounterPunch - For more on this issue see....US Fake Intel / Propaganda - IEDS_&_EFPS

Stench of death hangs over Afghan riverbank
A quote...."The stench of burnt flesh hung over the banks of the Kunduz river in the early hours of Friday, the ground scattered with the body parts of villagers who just wanted something for free. " - also posted at ICH

US Kills at Least 90 in Afghan Air Strike - Scores of Civilians Killed as US Targets Hijacked Tankers
A quote...."At least 90 people were killed this morning, a large number of them civilians, in a US air strike in Kunduz Province, Afghanistan. Though the US denied that any of the people killed were civilians, NATO acknowledged that there was “a possibility” that some civilians were killed."

Gordon Brown rocked as aide quits over war in Afghanistan
A quote...."The British Government's strategy in Afghanistan was thrown into crisis last night after the Defence Secretary's right-hand man resigned in protest about the handling of the war."

Pentagon extends Army unit in Afghanistan
A quote...."WASHINGTON — The Army has ordered a headquarters unit in Afghanistan to remain up to 50 days past its yearlong tour in what officials say could be the start of longer postings in the war."
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The Firestorm Ahead
Must Read - A quote...."Originally, there was supposed to be a referendum in the beginning of July on popular approval of the SOFA agreement. The United States was afraid of losing the vote, which would have meant that all US forces would have had to be out of Iraq by Dec. 31, 2010, one full year earlier than the theoretical date in the SOFA agreement. -- The United States thought it was very clever in persuading al-Maliki to postpone this referendum to January 2010. Now it will be held in conjunction with the national elections. In the national elections, everyone will be seeking to obtain votes. No one is going to be campaigning in favor of a "yes" vote on the referendum. Lest this be in any doubt, al-Maliki is submitting a project to the Iraqi parliament that will permit a simple majority of "no" votes to annul the agreement. There will be a majority of "no" votes. There may even be an overwhelming majority of "no" votes. Odierno should be packing his bags now. I'll bet he still has the illusion that he can avoid the onset of the firestorm. He can't." -- also posted at CommonDreams

Iraq Masses Security Forces Along Syria Border as Tensions Mount
A quote...."Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has ordered thousands of additional national police deployed to the border with Syria, saying it was needed to prevent insurgents from infiltrating into the nation. Tensions between Iraq and Syria have been rising in recent weeks as Iraq has sought to implicated Syria in last month’s major Baghdad suicide bombings."

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to visit Spain
A quote...."MADRID, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will visit Spain next week, the government said Friday. -- Chavez will be in Spain on Sept. 11 and will meet with Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero at Madrid's Moncloa Palace. -- The visit will be another opportunity for Spain and Venezuela to mend their relations after King Juan Carlos lost his temper and shouted "Why don't you shut up?" at Chavez during the Ibero-American summit in November 2007. -- Chavez is on an 11-day trip to Libya, Algeria, Syria, Iran, Belarus, Spain and Russia."

Excellent interview with former CIA field officer Philip Giraldi - Mp3
Audio Interview - A quote...."....about coming war with Iran which will be for Israel as well:"

Chavez on his 7th visit to Iran
A quote...."The Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will visit the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran on Saturday for the seventh time since coming into power. -- During his official visit to Tehran he will meet high-ranking Iranian officials to discuss matters of mutual interest, the Mehr News agency reported late on Friday."

Iran to manufacture Ukrainian chopper
A quote...."Iran and Ukraine have reportedly reached an agreement to manufacture the AK1-3 ultra-light multi-purpose helicopter in Iran, according to an Iranian official."

Bric countries gather in London to discuss world economy, fiscal and monetary policy
A quote...."LONDON, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- The finance ministers and central bank governors of Brazil, Russia, India and China -- the so-called Bric countries -- gathered in London on Friday to discuss the current situation of the world economy, as well as their fiscal and monetary policy responses."

BRIC countries call for reform of international financial institutions
A quote...."LONDON, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- The finance ministers and central bank governors from China, Brazil, Russia and India -- the so-called BRIC countries -- on Friday called for a substantial shift of quotas and shares in the international financial institutions in favor of emerging market and developing countries."

New Probe Ordered in Killing of Russian Journalist [Anna Politkovskaya]
A quote...."MOSCOW — Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday canceled the retrial of four men accused of involvement in the murder of the investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya and ordered prosecutors to begin a new investigation. -- The decision appeared to reverse a ruling by the same judges, who in June overturned a jury’s acquittal of the men and ordered them retried. All four were accused of peripheral roles in Ms. Politkovskaya’s death. -- In Thursday’s decision, the court sided with the slain reporter’s family, which had argued that a retrial would deflect attention from the search for the real killers."
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Court Says 9/11 Witnesses Can Sue Ashcroft
A quote...."A federal appeals court has ruled that former Attorney General John Ashcroft may be held liable for people who were wrongfully detained as material witnesses after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.In a harshly worded ruling handed down Friday, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals called the government's use of material witnesses after Sept. 11 "repugnant to the Constitution and a painful reminder of some of the most ignominious chapters of our national history."

Did Hitler Want War?
Must Read - Historical Analysis - A quote...."Creators Syndicate – On Sept. 1, 1939, 70 years ago, the German Army crossed the Polish frontier. On Sept. 3, Britain declared war. -- Six years later, 50 million Christians and Jews had perished. Britain was broken and bankrupt, Germany a smoldering ruin. Europe had served as the site of the most murderous combat known to man, and civilians had suffered worse horrors than the soldiers."

Obama Regulation Czar Advocated Removing People’s Organs Without Explicit Consent
US-NRE (future) Organ Thefts? - A quote...."(CNSNews.com) – Cass Sunstein, President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), has advocated a policy under which the government would “presume” someone has consented to having his or her organs removed for transplantation into someone else when they die unless that person has explicitly indicated that his or her organs should not be taken."
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More On The Palestinian Situation....

Yehuda Hiss: Missing Link in Palestinian Organ Theft?
Israeli Organ Thefts - A quote...."The hyperventilating by Israel's leaders [1] over a story published in a Swedish newspaper last month [2] suggesting that the Israeli army assisted in organ theft from Palestinians has distracted attention from the disturbing allegations made by Palestinian families that were the basis of the article’s central claim." -- For more on this issue see....Israeli Organ Thefts - New Weblist!!

The Missing Link in Israeli Organ Theft? - The Autopsy Surgeon Aftonbladet Forgot
Israeli Organ Thefts - A quote...."The Swedish reporter should instead have concentrated on the valid question raised by the families about why the Israeli army, by its own admission, took away the bodies of dozens of Palestinians killed by its soldiers, allowed autopsies to be performed on them without the families’ permission and then returned the bodies for burial in ceremonies held under tight security."

US Audacity of Hope Falters: Settlement Freeze No Longer Required
A quote...."(This is exactly what I predicted would happen. As soon as the spotlight is off of Obama, after he made his grandstanding speech in Eqypt that is, his Chief of Staff, the son of an admitted Zionist terrorist, and his self-proclaimed non-Jewish Zionist Vice President, would ease up on the rhetoric and look the other way as the crimes against humanity continue unimpeded by the current administration in the White House.  Even one simple little demand (”stop stealing the land and homes of people living in a sovereign nation”) cannot be enforced when it comes to “the beacon of democracy in the region”.)"

Israeli forces shoot dead Gaza boy
A quote...."GAZA, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian boy died early Saturday, hours after being shot by Israeli troops in northern Gaza Strip, a health official said. -- Mo'aweya Hassanein, Gaza emergency chief, said 15-year-old Ghazi al-Za'aneen died from his severe wounds at the Shifa hospital. -- Witnesses said the boy was injured when the Israeli forces opened fire at a car traveling in the border town of Beit Hanoun after sunset Friday."
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More on the US-NRE's Honduran Coup....

Law Abiding Hondurans on Day 69
A quote...."Tegucigalpa, Sep 4 (Prensa Latina) The people's resistance against the June 28 military coup in Honduras has reached Friday its 69 consecutive days of protests, same number than that of the 1954 strike against US banana companies."

Opinion: Honduran coup has been far from bloodless
A quote...."A myth has already taken root about the June 28 military coup in which Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was carted off to Costa Rica: that it's been a quiet, peaceful affair and hardly anyone's been hurt. Despite enormous evidence to the contrary, many commentators are now even referring to a "bloodless coup," or, worse, suggesting that Honduras is already such a violent country that any further violence is just normal."

IMF: stop funding Honduras
By the way, to the IMF....any loans YOU make to, or any agreements YOU sign with, the illegal Junta that unconstitutionally and violently sized power in Honduras are NULL AND VOID.  So go ahead and be clever, bribe the local generals to sign agreements for loans at ridiculous and usurious rates, the people of Honduras don't have to pay you back SQUAT!   Got that you blood sucking leeches! – mpg -- A quote....".... it's looking more and more like the same old IMF on steroids. Last week the IMF disbursed $150m to the de facto government of Honduras, and it plans to disburse another $13.8m on 9 September. The de facto government has no legitimacy in the world. It took power on 28 June in a military coup, in which the elected President Manuel Zelaya was taken from his home at gunpoint and flown out of the country. -- The Organisation of American States suspended Honduras until democracy is restored, and the UN also called for the "immediate and unconditional return" of the elected president. -- No country in the world recognises the coup government of Honduras." - bold by website editor - also posted at CommonDreams
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Which Flation Will Get Us?
Must Read - A quote...."One of them will. That's if things work out really well. Two or three will if things go according to the Austrian theory of the business cycle. -- Americans have been living in the eye of the monetary hurricane. Prices have been stable. In July, both the Consumer Price Index and the Median CPI were flat compared to June. -- There are five flations to consider."

• Deflation
• Inflation
• Stagflation
• Mass inflation
• Hyperinflation

"We had better consider all of them."
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Obama’s Job Hemorrhaging, Union-Busting “Recovery” Rolls On
What unions? Union participation is the lowest it's been since 1929. - mpg -- A quote...."As the corporatist shills drone on about the “success” of the Obama Stimulus Package, more and more jobs melt away like the steel trusses in the Twin Towers.  The lucky few that still cling to their paychecks by their fingernails are “persuaded” to accept less and less for each day of their labor by the relentless pressure of their mortgage payments, their ballooning insurance premiums and co-pays,  and their constantly rising utility costs."

Payroll Losses Moderate; [Compared to what?] Unemployment Rate Hits 26-Year High
A quote...."Job losses moderated in August but the 20th straight monthly decline in payrolls caused the unemployment rate to climb three-tenths to 9.7%, a fresh 26-year high. -- The official employment report said the economy shed 217,000 jobs in August, a slightly better figure than the consensus forecast of -225k. Historically that remains an awful print, but the trend has been in the right direction since the labor market lost 741,000 jobs in January." -- However...."Revisions to the prior two months were negative, with 49k fewer jobs than previously reported. In June payrolls fell by 463,000 (compared with an original estimate of 443,000), and in July payrolls fell 276,000 (compared with 247,000). - bold by website editor

People Staying Unemployed Longer - Click on the chart to view it completely. - mpg
Chart - A quote...."The following chart from the St. Louis Fed shows that people are staying unemployed much longer than they have in any previous economic downturn since 1950:"

1.3 million to lose jobless benefits by year's end
By The Numbers - A quote....

• In the past year 5.5 million people exhausted their standard 26 week unemployment benefits, the highest on record.
• 3.4 million people depend on extended benefits which last about 20 weeks, also a record.
• Extended benefits vary by state, ranging from 20 weeks to 53 weeks. More than half of states have triggered the 53 week benefits.
• According to the National Law Employment Project 402,000 Americans will exhaust their benefits by the end of September. That figure will more than triple by the end of October.

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MSM: Food stamp list soars past 35 million – USDA
A quote...."(Reuters) – More than 35 million Americans received food stamps in June, up 22 percent from June 2008 and a new record as the country continued to grapple with the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s."

Five banks closed by U.S. regulators
A quote...."WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bank regulators closed four Midwestern banks and one in Arizona on Friday, bringing to 89 the number of U.S. banks to fail this year as deteriorating loans continue to take their toll on financial institutions."

Wells' Imploding Loan Portfolio
Tables - A quote...." The fine folks over at WLMLab Bank Loan Performance have done a great job at updating FDIC loan data by various banks. Some of their conclusions:

• Total US Loans outstanding have dropped by another $110 billion QoQ
• Yet, there is an ever increasing mountain of charge offs coming in 1-4 Family First Liens
• At the same time CRE early stage delinquencies have dropped from 1.37% to 1.17%

Yet the most significant observations is the ticking time bomb that is Wells Fargo's 1-4 Family 90+ past due loans.

Thursday September 3rd 2009

IRAQ:  'Not Our Country To Return To'
A quote...."DAMASCUS, Mar 3 [2008] (IPS) - More Iraqis continue to flee their country than the numbers returning, despite official claims to the contrary.  --  Thousands fleeing say security is as bad as ever, and that to return would be to accept death.  --  "Return to Iraq?" asks 35-year-old Ahmed Alwan, an Iraqi engineer now working at a restaurant in Damascus. "There is no Iraq to return to, my friend. Iraq only exists in our dreams and memories."  --  The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported September last year that there are between 1.2 and 1.4 million Iraqi refugees in Syria alone.  --  Most, like Alwan, do not intend to return."  --  underline by website editor.

Oh, this is the perfect story to highlight the complete hypocrisy of our elites' glorious adventures in Iraq.

One) Remember all those thousands of stories trumpeted across this land describing how Iraqis were returning to their homes....they were all complete fabrications by our illustrious mass-media.  In other words, they lied to us again.

Two)  Syria has taken in 1.4 MILLION Iraqi refugees, the US, under our elites magnanimous generosity is trying (and failing) to admit twelve thousand this year, the best year ever if they can do it....WOW, this editor is at a loss for words, rendered speechless by this nation’s consideration for all those poor helpless Iraqis.

This country bombs Iraq for five long years, kills more than a million Iraqis, displaces five million more, and has been constantly threatening to bomb Syria, the very country now sheltering the 1.4 million Iraqis whom we were kind enough to drive out of there homes in the first place.  My aren’t WE a generous nation?  Awe inspiring isn't it? - mpg -- posted 02-03-08

Last Iraqi refugees leave Saudi Arabia
Syria is still hosting well over ONE MILLION Iraqi refugees, yet two members of the true axis of evil, the US (NRE) is hosting just a few tens of thousands, while the Saudi Royals are now hosting none.  Yet Syria, which is straining under the refugee load NEVER gets praised as a country, or as a people, or as a government, for what it has done all these years. Hardly any stories are ever written about the issue. How hypocritical, how typical, how smug.  The NRE is "good" for helping kill over a million Iraqis and displacing over five million more while Syria is never mentioned for sheltering many, if not most of them. Naturally the NRE and Israel (the third and final member of the axis of evil) want to bomb Syria....figures doesn't it. - mpg -- A quote...."The Rafah Refugee Camp in Saudi Arabia is now empty of its Iraqi refugees who had fled there during the 1991 Gulf War." -- posted 11-11-08