MPG'S DAILY RAPSHEET AND BLOTTER  ON THE "GREAT GAME"  - links page

@ www.reficultnias.org
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Editor's note : From now on each weekly blog page will have several items culled from the past called  "9/11 - From The History File" : It's for those who didn't know, and also for those who forgot....or are trying to forget.

Editor's note - War Update, War Alert, War Warning, Red War Warning and War Imminent - refer to articles regarding the upcoming war with Iran.  In the order they appear as shown above, they  represent less serious to more serious possible threats of war. - mpg
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Monday March 17th 2008 - links page

Tomgram: Philip K. Dick Meet George W. Bush  ---  http://tomdispatch.com/post/174906/philip_k_dick_meet_george_w_bush
Must Read - A quote...."Blowing Them Away Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry -- Globalization Bush-style  --  Imagine, for a moment, that you live in a small town somewhere near the Southern California coast. You're going about your daily life, trying to scrape by in hard times, when the missile hits. It might have come from the Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) -- its pilot at a base on the outskirts of Tehran -- that has had the village in its sights for the last six hours or from the Russian sub stationed just off the coast. In either case, it's devastating."
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Raiding The Vault -- Part III: "Burn"  ---  http://winterpatriot.blogspot.com/2008/03/raiding-vault-part-iii-burn.html
A quote...."I almost managed to laugh back in January when I saw that the Washington Post had published a piece called "Democracy Activists Disappointed in Bush", because I knew the democracy activists in question must be foreigners. -- democracy activists in the USA have long been "disappointed" with Bush -- especially with the way in which he was supposedly twice elected -- but the Washington Post has hardly shown any interest in such stories."
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Rageh Omaar on Iraq: A nation in pieces - posted at BuzzFlash  ---  http://www.buzzflash.com/
  ---  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/03/15/sm_iraq15.xml&page=1
On the Ground Report - A quote...."Five years after the invasion of Iraq, Rageh Omaar, who made his name reporting on the fall of Saddam for the BBC, returned to Baghdad to find out how life has changed for the friends and colleagues he has known since his first trip there in 1997"
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Iraq War as War Crime (Part One)  ---  http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/031708.html
A quote...."Editor’s [Consortium News] Note: The Iraq War – now ending its fifth bloody year – represents not only a human tragedy of enormous consequence and possibly the greatest strategic blunder in U.S. history but also a systemic failure of American political and journalistic institutions.....*Robert Perry*
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Beware an Attack on Iran  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8371
A quote...."Is the Bush administration ramping up for an attack on Iran? The signs seem to point in that direction. On March 11, Navy Adm. William Fallon, commander of the U.S. forces in the Middle East, retired early because of differences with Washington on Iran policy. And now, Dick Cheney's current Middle East tour may be designed to prepare our Arab allies for an imminent "preemptive" war against Iran."
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Why the US sees Iran as a threat  ---  http://www.therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1163&thisview=item
Must View - Video - Commentary - War Warning - A quote...."Aijaz Ahmad: The main reason is the geopolitics of the region and the global economy"
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World cold shoulders Iran sanctions  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=47924&sectionid=351020104
A quote..."Less than 50 percent of the United Nations member states have filed mandatory reports on their measures taken to enforce Iran sanctions. - The UN committee monitoring sanctions against Iran has announced that only %45 of member states have filed their mandatory reports to the body."
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Partick Cockburn: A gross failure that ignored history and ended with a humiliating retreat
  ---  http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/partick-cockburn-a-gross-
  ---  failure-that-ignored-history-and-ended-with-a-humiliating-retreat-796775.html
A quote...."The war in Iraq has been one of the most disastrous wars ever fought by Britain. It has been small but we achieved nothing. It will stand with Crimea and the Boer War as conflicts which could have been avoided and were demonstrations of incompetence from start to finish."
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Keep Away From America!  ---  http://watchingamerica.com/News/2008/03/17/america-very-large-very-small/
A quote...."The American administration is incapable of making or sponsoring any peace projects."  --  It took awhile, and a lot of tragedy, but everybody in the Middle East, in fact across the whole world is finally learning the bitter truth, America now stands for war, death and destruction....and many who live in this country are oblivious to it. Everyone should be warned however....many others in this country revel in it. - mpg
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Japanese MP Yukihisa Fujita Speaks at 9/11 Truth Conference in Sydney  ---  http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=2008031794713470
A quote...."Japanese MP Yukihisa Fujita of the Democratic Party of Japan, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet of Japan - Japanese MP Yukihisa Fujita of the Democratic Party of Japan, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet of Japan (national legislature), spoke at the 9/11 Truth conference in Sydney today."
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25 Intolerable Contradictions: The Final Undoing of the Official 9/11 Story  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8374
A quote...."At last there is a book about 9/11 that politicians and journalists can openly discuss without fear of being labeled "conspiracy theorists". - 9/11 Contradictions advances no theories. It simply exposes 25 astonishing internal contradictions that will haunt the public story of this unparalleled event for all time."
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9/11 - From The History File...The 911 Mystery Plane
  --- http://www.rense.com/general76/missing.htm
New Details About The 9/11 Mystery Jet Plane
  ---  http://www.huliq.com/34171/new-details-about-the-9-11-mystery-jet-plane
The White Jet E-4B filmed near the WH at Washington - (YuTb 3m11s 082507)
  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFNY8r_lrIs
CNN: New details on 9/11 mystery plane over D.C.
  ---  http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/september2007/130907_b_plane.htm
CNN: New details on 9/11 mystery plane over D.C.
  ---  http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/september2007/130907_b_plane.htm
War Games: The Key to a 9/11 USAF Stand Down
  ---  http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/usaf_911.html
PROMIS Connections to Cheney Control of 9/11 Attacks Confirmed
  ---  http://www.copvcia.com/free/ww3/012005_ptech_pt1.shtml
911 Commission - Trans. Sec Norman Mineta Testimony - (YuTb 3m54s 022006)
  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDfdOwt2v3Y
Mineta testimony on Cheney stand down/shoot down censored
  ---  http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/july2005/270705testimonycensored.htm
NORAD Tapes Only Intensify Implausibility Of 9/11 Official Story
  ---  http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/august2006/020806tapesintensify.htm
9/11 Live: The NORAD Tapes
  ---  http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/63/21542
The 9/11 USAF Stand Down
  ---  http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/911stand.html
9/11 War Games by the US military & CIA
  ---  http://www.oilempire.us/wargames.htmlhttp://www.oilempire.us/wargames.html
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Iraq: UK teachers told to rewrite history (Update: Teachers threaten a boycott)  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/159172
A quote...."Britain's biggest teachers' union has accused the Ministry of Defence of breaking the law over a lesson plan drawn up to teach pupils about the Iraq war. The National Union of Teachers claims it breaches the 1996 Education Act, which aims to ensure all political issues are treated in a balanced way."
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Murdered Bishop was staunch opponent to US Occupation and denounced President Saddam Hussein' execution  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/159405
Reliable sources in Mosul, asserted today, that the murdered Iraqi Bishop Paulos Faraj Rahho was a staunch opponent to the US occupation of Iraq, denouncing many times and publicly the assassination of the Iraqi legitimate President Saddam Hussein. - The mentioned sources explained that the late Archbishop of Nineveh, Paulos Faraj Rahho was one of the most outspoken Iraqi high graded clerics who rejected publicly and utterly the US' occupation of Iraq and denounced many a times President Saddam Hussein murder by the US."
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United States censors Guantanamo prisoner's sketch of force-feeding -- http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jVwGqYWMiTBxH46PsF9gQVEg-JzQ
A quote..."GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — The United States has censored a gruesome drawing by a Guantanamo Bay detainee depicting him as a skeleton being force-fed at the military prison, the man's lawyers said Monday as they released a recreation of the sketch. -- The detainee, Sami al-Haj, a Sudanese cameramen for the Al-Jazeera TV network, marked his 431st day on hunger strike Monday at Guantanamo...."  --  Ahhhh, another member of the press heard from, however unlike most of the ones in the US press who are either comfortably ensconced in the Green Zone, whoring around on K-Street or like the New York Times, selling themselves to the lowest bidder (in this case some hedge funds no less, what's up with that??), Mr. al-Haj is now enjoying forced cuisine courtesy of the US military precisely because he did his job as a "real" reporter should. --  For more on the US military's courtesy toward "real" reporters see.... US - Killing the Messenger -- http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/uskillingthemessenger-weblist-mpg-112907
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Video: Palestinian Mother & Daughter Meet Years after Sabra & Shatila  ---  http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m42130&s1=h1
Video - A quote...."Rehab Kanaan, a Palestinian poet born in Beirut in 1959, was seen numerous times on Arab satellite channels to read her patriotic poetry on Palestine, the Intifada and the suppression of the Zionist occupation, and so was dubbed al-Khansaa' of Palestine. She Lost 54 people from her family in the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon. Fate made her eight-year child named Maimana survive that massacre during which one of her neighbours in one of the camps in Lebanon raised and took care of her. The mother did not know that her daughter had survived the massacre, and no one in the life of the daughter had known that the mother also survived." -- For those who like a good cry....Hey!! It got me misty eyed. - mpg
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Red Cross: Iraq humanitarian situation one of the most desperate - posted at ICH  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
  ---  http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/news/article_1395703.php/Red_Cross_Iraq_humanitarian_situation_one_of_the_most_desperate
A quote...." Geneva - The humanitarian situation in Iraq five years after the US-led invasion is 'one of the most critical in the world,' the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a report issued Monday."
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Red Cross says millions of Iraqis lack water and healthcare - posted at ICH  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
  ---  http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnL14236988.html
A quote...."GENEVA (Reuters) - Five years after the United States led an invasion of Iraq, millions of people there are still deprived of clean water and medical care, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday."
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Hamas leader's popularity rises - opinion poll - posted at ICH  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
  ---  http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL17152192.html?rpc=401&
A quote...."JERUSALEM, March 17 (Reuters) - Israeli attacks in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip have boosted the popularity of the Islamist group's leader Ismail Haniyeh among Palestinians in the territory and in the West Bank, according to a poll on Monday.
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Bad Journalist Erases Evidence of Bad Journalism   ---  http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=54686
A quote...."As Joe noted earlier, Bill Kristol repeated some made-up stuff today in the NYT and then fabricated a thesis around it. Now Greg at TPM Election Central reports that Kristol's source got caught trying to wash his hands of the mess." - a.k.a. the NYT gets caught again, this editor can't wait 'till they hire Judy Miller back. - mpg
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Times Co. to Give Board Seats to 2 Hedge Funds - posted at BuzzFlash  ---  http://www.buzzflash.com/
  ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/17/business/media/17cnd-times.html?_r=1&8au&emc=au&oref=slogin
A quote..."The New York Times Company has struck a deal with a pair of hedge funds that want to shake up the company, giving the funds two seats on the board in order to avoid a proxy fight, the two sides announced Monday."  -- No doubt we'll soon be seeing a plethora of articles extolling the virtues of hedge funds, how beneficial they are for the economy and how our government would be well advised to give them trillions of dollars in loan guarantees and tax breaks.  My Oh My, how the mighty have fallen. When the Times was whoring around with the all powerful MIOC elites, at least they were in the "club", now they're out on the street hawking themselves for a ten spot.- mpg
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Time magazine invents facts to claim that Americans support Bush's domestic spying abuses
  ---  http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/03/17/time/index.html
A quote...."No matter how corrupt and sloppy the establishment press becomes, they always find a way to go lower. Time Magazine has just published what it purports to be a news article by Massimo Calabresi claiming that "nobody cares" about the countless abuses of spying powers by the Bush administration; " -- OH MY GAWD! - The presstitutes are running amok! - mpg
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Iran election results no victory for Ahmadinejad, says spokesman  ---  http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=89628
A quote...."Tehran (dpa) - The results of Iran's parliamentary elections should not be interpreted as victory for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a spokesman of one of the victorious conservative factions said Monday."
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CIA Increases Legal Liability Insurance  ---  http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/cia_increases_legal_liability.php
A quote...."The CIA announced Monday that it will now pay the full cost of legal liability insurance for about two-thirds of the agency workforce.... One shift is already looming: A change in administrations could make it more likely lawsuits will be filed against CIA interrogators for a controversial program approved by the Bush White House — the use of harsh interrogation techniques and the secret movement of prisoners, known as extraordinary rendition."
See also....Fun & Torture - It's a Pleasure.  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/funandtorture-blog-mpg-020307
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Israel to hold massive emergency drill  ---  http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1205420704459&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
False Flag Alert - War Alert - A quote...."In the face of a possible escalation with Syria and Iran's efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon, parts of the country will shut down next month in what security officials say will be the largest emergency exercise in Israel's history."
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The War and the Working Class  ---  http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031608D.shtml
A quote...."The government treats its soldiers the way most corporations treat their workforce - as an invisible, disrespected, disposable means to an end that is contrary to workers' interests. Members of the armed forces come mainly and disproportionately from the working class and from small-town and rural America, where opportunities are hard to come by. The "economic draft" operates, in effect, to recruit young people from these communities as they sign up to gain job skills, experience and educational opportunities absent from their civilian lives."
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Too Big to Bail - The Fed's Wall Street Dilemma  ---  http://counterpunch.com/martens03172008.html
Must Read - A quote...."Americans learned two new truths last week from the Bush Administration's version of Life's Little Instruction Book: if you're a Wall Street miscreant you're thrown a lifeline; if you're a Wall Street crime fighter you're thrown a land mine."
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Not many suitors left standing for U.S. banks  ---  http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1762787020080317
Special Note - A quote...."NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve is arranging shotgun weddings for failing financial institutions, but policy makers might find themselves running out of eligible suitors. - The Fed encouraged JPMorgan Chase & Co to take over Bear Stearns Cos Inc, which had experienced a run on the bank. The deal came two months after Bank of America Corp agreed to buy Countrywide Financial Corp, the largest mortgage lender in the U.S. The Fed also encouraged that deal. - With these acquisitions, top U.S. banks are either embroiled in big takeovers or wrestling with credit problems with their own." -- For more on this see....The Green Light 01-16-08 - mpg  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/thegreenlight-blog-mpg-011608
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MF Global tries to calm market after shares plunge
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/mf-global-shares-plunge-brokerage/story.aspx?
  ---  guid=%7B96F9602E%2D5D8E%2D4F1F%2DBDF2%2DF62D7147C3E2%7D
A quote...."SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- MF Global Ltd.'s shares lost nearly two-thirds their value Monday, prompting the largest broker of exchange-traded futures to assure investors that it was in good standing with trading and financial partners."
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Bear Stearns Fire-sale sends Global Markets Plunging; Dollar Routed - posted at ICH  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19552.htm
A quote...." 17/03/08 "ICH " -- -- “It's a snowball and it keeps getting bigger,” Peggy Furusaka, credit specialist at BNP Paribas SA in Tokyo. -  Last night, while America slept, investors and dollar-holders around the world held an impromptu election on US stewardship of the global economy. It was a spontaneous referendum triggered by the sudden collapse of Bear Stearns, but it covered many of the issues that have worried investors for the last seven years:"
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Bear Shareholders Already on the Prowl  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19552.htm
A quote...."It didn’t take long.  --  Today, securities-suit powerhouse Coughlin Stoia was again on its game with a shareholder suit alleging fraud by Bear Stearns and its top guns. The suit, filed on behalf of Bear shareholders who bought stock as recently as Friday, claims management misled them about the company’s financial condition. " -- Wow! That really was quick. - mpg
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Leading Economic Writer: Financial Meltdown A "Gigantic Fraud"  ---  http://infowars.net/articles/march2008/170308Fraud.htm
A quote...."A leading economic journalist has described the current financial crisis as a "gigantic fraud", the fallout of a deliberate and preconceived profit agenda to enslave the middle classes in a debt bubble."
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The dinosaur gold-standard economy  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JC15Dj01.html
A quote...."Peter Schiff of Euro Pacific Capital is justifiably upset that CNBC, on which he has appeared many, many times over the years, professes to be surprised at current events, even though they are the same things he has consistently predicted on their show! I know! I've seen him!"
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How bad is the mortgage crisis going to get?  ---  http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/14/news/economy/krugman_subprime.fortune/?postversion=2008031705
A quote...."What started in subprime is likely to continue cascading into the markets and keep the economy down until 2010, economist Paul Krugman forecasts. Bottom line for homeowners: An average drop of 25%."
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The Federal Reserve Is Destroying America  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=5915
A quote...."It is incredible to see the rampant devaluation of the U.S. Dollar. The Federal Reserve just hours ago made a rare cut of 25 basis points during the weekend which will cause even more inflation."
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Update on the Simmons-Tierney Bet - [about oil prices]  ---  http://www.theoildrum.com/node/3738
Special Note - A quote...."On August 23rd, 2005, shortly after the publication of Twilight in the Desert, New York Times columnist John Tierney announced a bet with author Matt Simmons on the future price of oil:" -- Highly technical and very interesting. - mpg
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Gulf States Creep Away From Plunging Dollar  ---  http://prisonplanet.com/articles/march2008/031708_creep_away.htm
A quote...."Gulf States are set to follow former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan's advice and dump their dollar peg following a benchmark meeting tomorrow, with analysts predicting a slow but deliberate creep away from the greenback rather than an imminent decoupling, a move that could have devastating consequences for the American economy."
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Dollar Falls Against Euro, Yen  ---  http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hiVtV2zuQIAFn_h-JnQjvVSfPTRgD8VFE33O0
A quote...."NEW YORK (AP) — The dollar fell to a record low against the euro and sank to its lowest level in more than 12 years against the yen Monday, as investors reacted to the latest emergency rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve and to news that JPMorgan Chase is buying rival investment bank Bear Stearns for a fraction of what it was worth last week."
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A major Fed rate cut now seems certain
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/fed-rate-cut-percentage-point/story.aspx?
  ---  guid=%7B47CD3B6D%2DCEFD%2D4AEB%2D9107%2DE3BA3A85C884%7D
A quote...."WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The Federal Reserve is expected to engineer an extremely rare cut of one percentage point in overnight interest rates on Tuesday, Fed watchers said." -- Let's put it this way....if the market doesn't get a one percent rate cut tomorrow, it will be extremely unhappy.  However since it's already factored in this rate cut....it may be unhappy anyway, just not as much as if didn't get it. - mpg
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New York Fed March Factory Index Falls to Record Low (Update1) ---  http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aiZzqsvkLuM0&refer=us
A quote...." March 17 (Bloomberg) -- A measure of manufacturing in New York state fell to the lowest level on record in March as new orders and shipments contracted for a second month. - The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's general economic index fell to minus 22.2 from minus 11.7 in February, the bank said today. Readings below zero signal contraction and the March level was the lowest since the New York Fed's index began in 2001. The index averaged 17.2 in 2007."
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Sunday March 16th 2008 - links page

A planetary country club of vampire elites and billions of symbiotic enablers.
  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_w__chris_080316_a_planetary_country_.htm
Must Read - A quote...."May we say that again? No enablers, no elites.  --  Enablers, as in: neighbors, relatives, colleagues at work, fellow church members, medical professionals, etc., etc., etc.  --  Yes, yes, we all know there are exceptions, but do we also know these exceptions profoundly prove the rule?  --  This planet is basically made up of two power modes: (1.) vampire elites, and (2.) billions of slothful, cowardly enablers of the elites, e.g., TV sitcom heads, religious fanatics, the "don't look at me" slobs, the political duh-brains . . . and a planetary country club of elites who are in control of EVERYTHING and always have been in the control of everything for the last, say, 6,000 years."  --  On the other hand, judging from what this editor has seen in Amerika during the last seven years, maybe the enablers deserve their elites, maybe they actually LIKE what's being done to them?  Maybe Amerikans are just out and out cowards?  This editor for one is running out of excuses for the people in this country. - mpg
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When did America become a nation of frightened wimps?
  ---  http://www.steve-olson.com/when-did-america-become-a-nation-of-frightened-wimps/
Related article - From the history file - A quote...."When did America become a nation of frightened wimps? When did we cross the line from courage to cowardice? Was it sometime in the 1990s? After the Oklahoma City bombing? After the Columbine shootings? After 911?  --  When did we decide to allow the police to smash into private homes without knocking and identifying themselves? Recently, in the suburb I live in, a special police force dressed in black Nazi style uniforms busted into a suburban home without warning and dragged a school teacher out of her house with an automatic weapon at the back of her head."
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Bush Clears the Way for More War  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/manion/manion84.html
A quote...."Bush’s supporters have known it for years, of course, but Admiral Fallon's firing makes it clear to the rest of us: Bush has not been telling us the truth. Dick Cheney is the only "commander on the ground" that he relies on. Clearly, Bush and Cheney are both spiteful about the resentment and outright contempt that a growing number of Americans now harbor against them. With that in mind, as he leaves office, Cheney’s moral compass would have no trouble sticking the country with a war in Iran – to serve his personal agenda, yes, but also to make the next administration look even worse than this one. "History will vindicate us," they crow.  --  Perverse? Of course. But Americans now understand that these are today’s zeroes, where there once walked heroes."
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Another year, another $300 billion -- http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/03/16/another_year_another_300_billion/?page=1
A quote...."THE SIXTH year of the Iraq war begins this week. The war is now the second-longest in US history - longer than any except Vietnam. So far, 1.6 million US troops have served, more than a third of them for two or more tours of duty. Almost 4,000 US service personnel have been killed, and 60,000 wounded, injured or contracted a serious disease. Many survive with severe multiple injuries ("polytraumas") that in previous wars would have almost certainly ended in death."
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Five years of failure  ---  http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/bianca_jagger/2008/03/five_years_of_failure.html
A quote...."If George Bush and Tony Blair had presided as CEOs over deceptive and fraudulent practices in the City comparable to those they are guilty of with regard to Iraq, they would have been immediately and unceremoniously sacked."
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Robert Fisk: Silenced by the men in white socks  ---  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/fisk/robert-fisk-silenced-by-the-men-in-white-socks-796359.html
A quote...."Shut them up. Accuse them. Imprison them. Stop them talking. Why is it that this seems to have become a symbol of the Arab – or Muslim – world? Yes I know about our Western reputation for free speech; from the Roman Empire to the Spanish inquisition, from Henry VIII to Robespierre, from Mussolini and Stalin to Hitler, even – on a pitiable scale – to Mr Anthony Blair. But it's getting hard to avoid the Middle East."
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"I Came, I Saw, I Destroyed!"  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19550.htm
A quote...." 16/03/08 "ICH" --- WHAT HAPPENED this week is so infuriating, so impertinent, that it stands out even in our familiar landscape of governmental irresponsibility. - On the near horizon, a de facto suspension of hostilities was taking shape. The Egyptians had made great efforts to turn it into an official cease-fire. The flame was already burning visibly lower. The launching of Qassams and Grads from the Gaza Strip into Israel had fallen from dozens a day to two or three."
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Annals of Liberation: Buried Truths, Bloody Lies and Our Expert Executioners  ---  http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1458/135/
A quote...."For a proper perspective on the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, check out Winter Patriot on the Winter Soldier hearings   ---  http://winterpatriot.blogspot.com/2008/03/live-blogging-from-winter-soldier.html  ---  in Washington DC. -- Because you're not going to get this information from the America's media mandarins. The New York Times has not deigned to mention the hearings at all. The Washington Post buried a story on it deep inside the paper on Saturday -- and a very skillful piece of dampening it was, too. Five of the first 11 paragraphs were given over to the handful of "counter-protestors" who showed up to denounce the veterans. It was not until the 19th paragraph that the Post mentioned any specific incident -- a gunship attack on an apartment building in November 2003. No details were given. --  There goes our most famous presstitutes again, the New York Times and the Washington Post, doing their whorish best to betray absolutely everything that was noble about the "fourth estate" in this country.  Remember folks, all you need to know about our "mass-media" is how they NEVER talk about PNAC, or how Bush's ENTIRE foreign policy is predicated on, and predicted by, PNAC,  or 9/11's inconsistencies, or the Saudi Royals' relationships to our elites, or our elites' relationships to the Military Industrial Oil Complex. - mpg
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More Torture Reports Leaking Out of Bush Dungeons  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_sherwood_080316_more_torture_reports.htm
A quote...."A guard held a shotgun to my head. ‘You are a terrorist!’ he screamed. ‘What kind of dumb stuff did you write about your treatment here?’ My hands and feet were bound, and someone kicked me from behind.“ - That’s just a sliver of the testimony of Murat Kurnaz, a 19-year-old Muslim from Bremen, Germany, abducted while traveling in Pakistan in the company of missionaries a few months after 9/11."
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Five Years of My Life  ---  http://www.amnestyusa.org/Torture/Five_Years_of_My_Life/page.do?n2=38&id=1551002&n1=3
Interview - Related article - Amensty International interviews Murat Kurnaz - A quote...."When he was 19, Murat Kurnaz quit moonlighting as a nightclub bouncer in his hometown of Bremen, Germany, began attending a nearby mosque and asked his parents to arrange his marriage. After his wedding in Turkey in 2001, he departed for Pakistan to study Islam. Worried that his parents would try to stop him from going, he left without saying goodbye."
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Inside Iraq - Iraq: Five years on - 14 Mar 08 Pt. 1 - (YouTube - 11 min 31 sec - March 15, 2008)
  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvVeCCu0-74
Inside Iraq - Iraq: Five years on - 14 Mar 08 Pt. 2 - (YouTube - 12 min 29 sec - March 15, 2008)
  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GltMo018Roc&feature=user
Must View - Videos - A quote...."Al Jazerra - With the advent of the sixth year of the US occupation, we look at Iraq's future."  --  Don't forget to check out Al Jazerra's YouTube Website.   ---  The US Embassy's spokeswoman throughout the interview basically expressed the opinion that since "security is improving", (actually the jury's still out on that.) everything is a-ok.  Let's speak bluntly again, this is as if someone broke into your home and after the inevitable altercation with the legal residents who lived there, killed the husband, the eldest son, forced the younger son to run off screaming into the night never to be seen again, beat up the wife, raped the daughter and than was surprised and delighted after he received no further resistance to his occupation of the home from those who were still left alive.  This attitude is what now passes for US foreign policy. - mpg
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A city is redrawn by the death squads, bombs and beheadings - Sectarian bloodshed has torn Baghdad into a patchwork of ghettos
  ---  http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m42084&s1=h1
A quote...."The Iraqi grew accustomed to seeing at least one dead body in the street every morning when he left his Baghdad flat for work. - His neighbourhood, known as Saddam District before the invasion and, ironically, Peace District afterwards, had become the site of gunfights, kidnappings and public executions as an avalanche of sectarian violence hit the city. - "There was heavy gunfire at night. The shops were shut. Rubbish and sewage was everywhere. The compound was a war zone," said Omer Nouri, a Sunni Arab who fled to northern Iraq in February last year with his wife and two-year-old son."
For more on this issue see....The Method - 05-07-07 - mpg   ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/themethod-blog-mpg-050707
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My Lai Probe Hid Policy that Led to Massacre  ---  http://www.antiwar.com/porter/?articleid=12531
Some  quotes...."For decades, it has been generally accepted that the My Lai massacre of as many as 400 Vietnamese civilians by U.S. Army troops on Mar. 16, 1968 was a violation of official policy directives on the treatment of civilians in South Vietnam." -- "Documentary evidence from U.S. army archives shows, however, that the Peers report misrepresented a key directive from the top commander in Vietnam, Gen. William C. Westmoreland...."
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Sadr City raids target civilians  ---  http://www.therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1131&thisview=item
Must View - Video - A quote...."We show this segment courtesy of http://www.aliveinbaghdad.org   ---  http://www.aliveinbaghdad.org/  ---  Alive in Baghdad employs Iraqi journalists to produce video packages each week about a variety of topics on daily life in Iraq. Through the work of a team of Americans and Iraqi correspondents on the ground, Alive in Baghdad shows the conflict through the voices of Iraqis. Alive in Baghdad brings testimonies from individual Iraqis, footage of daily life in Iraq, and short news segments from Iraq to you. Alive in Baghdad is a project of Small World News Ltd. Co. They have three production teams, in Iraq, Syria, and Mexico, for their two news programs, Alive in Baghdad and Alive in Mexico."
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Winter Soldier: An Iraqi perspective  ---  http://www.therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1164&thisview=item
Video - Real News Network - Sunday March 16th, 2008 - A quote...."Iraqi journalist Salam Talib describes the divide between the American and Iraqi perspective of the war - Salam Talib is an Iraqi citizen. He worked as a translator for US journalists after the war and started reporting from Iraq himself in 2005. He recently moved to California to study computer engineering at Berkley."
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Verifying Winter Soldier  ---  http://www.therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1133&thisview=item
Video - Real News Network - Sunday March 16th, 2008 - A quote...."Jose Vasquez talks about the process of verifying the stories of those testifying"  -- Don't forget to see the many other videos at Real News Networks  ---  http://www.therealnews.com/web/index.php
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Bush’s Mid-East Policy Is Driven by War, Not Peace
  ---  http://watchingamerica.com/News/2008/03/15/the-bush-administration%e2%80%a6and-its-one-sided-interest/
Must Read - A quote...."They say that the Bush administration has achieved what it has aimed to do, spreading chaos in the region and creating large fissures and divisions between the individual states and their societies. This is true. However, it failed to carry out its second aim, failing to stay at the helm of the spreading tide of chaos, which, had it maintained control, would have worked for American strategic interests and then on to Israeli interests. It is delusion for anyone to believe for a moment that America came to the defense of freedom and democratic rights in the region...."
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Pope: Enough with slaughters in Iraq  ---  http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Pope_Enough_with_slaughters_in_Iraq_03162008.html
A quote...."At the same time, I make an appeal to the Iraqi people, who for the past five years have borne the consequences of a war that provoked the breakup of their civil and social life," Benedict said. - He urged them to raise their heads and reconstruct their life through "reconciliation, forgiveness, justice and coexistence among tribal, ethnic and religious groups." - The Vatican strongly opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. In its aftermath, Benedict has frequently criticized attacks against Iraqi Christians by Islamic extremists. Last year, he urged President Bush to keep the safety of Iraqi Christians in mind."
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Over 70% of Iraqis: US forces out!  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=47791&sectionid=351020201
A quote...."An opinion poll suggests that more than two-thirds of Iraqis believe US-led coalition forces should leave the war-torn country. "
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Red Crescent warns of a new wave of Iraqi refugees  ---  http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news%5C2008-03-15%5Ckurd.htm
A quote...."The Iraqi Red Crescent Society is warning of a massive exodus if U.S. and Iraqi troops go ahead with plans to attack Mosul, the country’s second largest city with nearly 3.8 million people."
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Samantha Power and Democratic evasion on Iraq  ---  http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=89924
A quote...."There is a passage in Samantha Power's "A Problem from Hell," her Pulitzer Prize And-the-Winner-Is-Them-Again -winning book on how the United States dealt with genocide throughout the 20th century, worth pondering for what it says about hypocrisy in the formulation of foreign policy. "
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London: 50000 join anti-war protest (Update)  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/159276
A quote...."Thousands of people have joined demonstrations in London and Glasgow, to mark the fifth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq.  -  Demonstrators called for troops to be withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan and for Gaza's borders to be re-opened.  -  Organisers said 40,000 people took part in London but police said 10,000. A Stop the War spokesman said Iraq had made the world a more dangerous place."
Don't forget to check out the PHOTOS of the protest.  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mpgrapsheet-blogpg-mpg-012707#PROTESTS ---  mpg
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Sarkozy suffers setback in French local polls: projections  ---  http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=220587
A quote...."President Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing party suffered losses in French local elections Sunday that were the first major test of his popularity since he took office, projections from polling firms showed. - Sarkozy's opinion poll ratings have plummeted since his triumphant presidential victory last May and these elections, while fought mostly on local issues, were seen as a referendum on his achievements."  -- Bush's newest "pet poodle" takes a bath. - mpg
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Latin America Rejects Bush Doctrine  ---  http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/3274
A quote...."Reeling from the blow that it received in the aftermath of the Colombian military’s illegal incursion on March 1 into Ecuador — which resulted in the brutal massacre of a number of civilians and members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), including its chief negotiator Raul Reyes — US imperialism has once again raised the ante in its struggle to undermine the growing process of Latin American integration."
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Wiretapping's true danger - BuzzFlash  ---  http://www.buzzflash.com/
  ---  http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-sanchez16mar16,0,4039194.story
A quote...."As the battle over reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act rages in Congress, civil libertarians warn that legislation sought by the White House could enable spying on "ordinary Americans." Others, like Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), counter that only those with an "irrational fear of government" believe that "our country's intelligence analysts are more concerned with random innocent Americans than foreign terrorists overseas."
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Three Easy Pieces: The Dollar, Paulson, and Carlyle Capital  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19542.htm
Must Read - A quote...."16/03/08 "ICH' -- - So far, so bad. On Wednesday, crude-futures topped $110 for the first time, the dollar slipped to $1.55 per euro, and gold zoomed to a new high of $1,000 per ounce. Yikes. The dollar has been shoved off a cliff and no one knows where it will land. Last week, the G-7 nations announced that if “irrational” prices movements persisted, they would “collectively take suitable measures to calm the financial markets.” Their statement was taken to mean that foreign central banks will secretly intervene in the currency markets to stop the dollar from crashing. But can they do it? Only the Fed can raise interest rates and the market is betting that Bernanke will slash another 75 basis points at its next meeting. That ought to send the sinking greenback to Davey Jones Locker in a hurry."
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Virtual Paper, Part 1  ---  http://thewolfatthedoor.blogspot.com/2008/03/virtual-paper-part-1.html
Must Read - Some quotes..."Woozy and boozy in the waning days of the second four year term of the idiot son of an idiot father, that is to say George W. Bush as sired by Ronald Reagan, US capitalism staggered across the stage of global finance, looking and sounding like Britney Spears at the MTV music awards-- bumping into everything, knocking over food and drink, spraying blood and filth on those conga-lined up to feast, and swap more than spit, at the pig's trough called leverage....."  --  "Reeling under its weightless cargo of strips, tips, tranches, zeros, coupons, CDSs, CMOs, CDOs, CLOs, ABCPs, ARMs, SIVs -- in one word junk, but junk packaged in an infinite variety of ways, the bankers carioced their way through that wacked out Minny Mouseketeer's repertoire, beginning and ending the show with their favorite lyric: "Oops, I did it again."
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A deluded Wall Street threatens the world economy  ---  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/mar/16/creditcrunch.useconomy
A quote...."If you'd been in Volare restaurant in downtown Chicago on Monday night, you would not have thought a US recession was imminent; the place was packed, as, earlier, was most of Michigan Avenue, the principal shopping street, despite the freezing winds. -- But that was before Friday as news spread of the collapse of Bear Stearns, America's fifth largest investment bank...."
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The Fed's Desperation Move  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north613.html
A quote...."I do not have a new message here; we have known for a long time that advance preparation and a strong balance sheet are the keys to riding out a financial storm. As I have emphasized before, the Federal Reserve can deal with liquidity pressures but cannot deal with solvency issues. -- *William Poole*, President, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (February 29, 2008)"
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Fed acts Sunday to prevent global bank run Monday
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/fed-acts-sunday-prevent-global/story.aspx?
  ---  guid=%7B43265631%2D1656%2D4697%2D8377%2D55F05D859B76%7D
Fed Action Alert - A quote...."Last update: 10:38 p.m. EDT March 16, 2008 -- WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Acting quickly to prevent a run on major global financial firms, the Federal Reserve cut its discount rate by a quarter percentage point to 3.25% and offered to lend money to a longer list of firms than ever before."
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Bearly Alive: Investment Giant Rushed To I.C.U.  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19541.htm
A quote...."16/03/08 "ICH" -- - On Friday, Bear Stearns blew up. It was the worst possible news at the worst possible time. A day earlier, the politically-connected Carlyle Capital hedge fund defaulted on $16.6 billion of its debt. Carlyle boasted a $21.7 billion portfolio of AAA-rated residential mortgage-backed securities, but was unable to make a margin call of just $400 million. (Where did the $21.7 billion go?) The news on Bear was the last straw. The stock market started reeling immediately; shedding 300 points in less than an hour. Then, miraculously, the tide shifted and the market began to rebound. If there was ever a time for Paulson's Plunge Protection Team to come to the rescue; this was it...."
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Bear Stearns Forced to Sell for $2 per Share.  ---  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/16/bear-stearns-forced-to-se_n_91792.html
A quote..."The New York Times is reporting that Bear Stearns has agreed to be bought out by JPMorgan Chase: Bear Stearns, pushed to the brink of bankruptcy by what amounted to a run on the bank, agreed late Sunday to sell itself to JPMorgan Chase for a mere $2 a share, narrowly averting a collapse that threatened to cascade through the financial system. - The price represents a startling 93 percent discount to Bear Stearns' closing stock price on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange."  -- Ouch!! - mpg
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My Goat Ate the Economy  ---  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marty-kaplan/my-goat-ate-the-economy_b_91759.html
A quote...."If George W. Bush had read The Pet Goat to his Economic Club of New York audience on Friday, his speech would have been no less infantile. If the first 9/11 was caused by a massive failure of intelligence about terrorism, the second 9/11 -- the slow-motion collapse of the American, and maybe the global, economy -- has been caused by a catastrophic failure of intelligence about Wall Street rapacity. If the now five-year-old Iraq war was the inevitable, tragic consequence of the neoconservatives' Project for the New American Century, then the subprime mortgage quagmire, the Bear Stearns bailout, and the foreclosure fiasco are the foreordained outcome of the Republican ideology which holds that regulation of corporate financial behavior is the domestic equivalent of Islamofascism."
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Venezuela opts for oil contracts in euros: report  ---  http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/newsmlmmd.b6e74411a6add50855f9fe9f0eb2899d.d61.html
Special Note - A quote...."CARACAS (AFP) - Venezuelan state oil giant PDVSA has decided to sign some oil contracts in euros in the face of a plummeting dollar, local media reported, citing officials."
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Argentina, Brazil to drop U.S. dollar in bilateral commercial transactions  ---  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/16/content_7800121.htm
Special Note - A quote...."BUENOS AIRES, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Argentina and Brazil are to scrap bilateral commercial transactions in U.S. dollars and start using their own currencies from August, an official in charge of currency settlement at the Argentine Central Bank said here Saturday."
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Dollar plunges on jitters about financial system
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/dollar-plunges-jitters-about-financial/story.aspx?
  ---  guid=%7BCC923915%2D19B4%2D4E5F%2DB6F5%2DE3C9DC34D5AA%7D
A quote...."Last update: 3:33 a.m. EDT March 17, 2008 - LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The dollar remained sharply lower Monday morning but trimmed overnight losses after plunging to a new round of historic lows against major counterparts."
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GOP Gags Witnesses on Credit Card Woes  ---  http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/gop-gags-consumers
A quote...."Partisan maneuver blocked testimony on fee hikes"
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Video: Tent Cities Popping Up In California  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=5900
Video - A quote...."Tent cities much like we saw during the Great Depression are now popping up in California. Check out this BBC report on the issue."
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Obama Converts to Judaism  ---  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-borowitz/obama-converts-to-judaism_b_91687.html
Satire - A quote...."Buffeted by criticism of his controversial Christian pastor while continuing to quell rumors that he is a Muslim, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) took a bold step today to settle questions about his religious faith once and for all. -- "I am converting to Judaism, effective immediately," Mr. Obama told reporters at a press conference in Scarsdale, New York, adding that he would change his middle name from "Hussein" to "Murray."
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Saturday March 15th 2008 - links page

International Demands for a New 9/11 Investigation Challenge the “War on Terror”  ---  http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/03/14/18485608.php
Action Alert - A quote...."In Japan, in Europe, in the Congress of the United States, in New York City, in Australia, elected officials and citizens are questioning the events of 9/11, the obstacles that the Administration placed before the Kean/Hamilton Commission. The official narrative that the US has used to justify the “War on Terror,” and dismantle domestic civil liberties and international laws is being challenged."
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Griffin Takes Powerful New Approach to 9/11 Truth  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8352
Book Review - A quote...."9/11 CONTRADICTIONS by David Ray Griffin is the fifth of his books to examine the official account of the events of September 11, 2001. This brilliant and highly readable book takes a new yet simple approach to the truth about 9/11. It focuses entirely on contradictory statements made by members of the Bush administration, government departments and agencies, and official bodies such as the 9/11 Commission. All the statements that Griffin examines are official claims in direct conflict with other official claims. How could this be? Why would the government keep changing "the official story"? The public, of course, is expected to take all the statements as incontrovertibly true, yet they directly conflict with one another."
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As US Freedoms Dissolve, Mainstream media Lies and Distracts
  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_winston_080315_us_msm_acting_as_pro.htm
Must Read - A quote...."The US common people, God bless us all, were told that Hussein was involved in 9/11. Later big bro 43 admitted that wasn't accurate, but his president of vice, the v.p., "Feckless, Reckless, Impotent" Cheney continues until today with that lie."
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More blows to US image  ---  http://www.sundaytimes.lk/080316/Columns/inside.html
A quote...."NEW YORK - The Bush administration's disastrous Middle East policy took a more severe beating last week as it remained crippled by increasing political setbacks in Palestine, Iraq and Iran. With the escalation of the conflict between Hamas and Israel, a collective Arab plan unveiled six years ago, to declare peace with the Jewish state, has been indefinitely suspended."
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Over One Million Murdered -- and Nothing Has Been Learned http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2008/03/over-one-million-murdered-and-nothing.html
Must Read - A quote...."To mark the fifth anniversary of the war crime against Iraq, The New York Times "asked nine experts on military and foreign affairs to reflect on their attitudes in the spring of 2003 and to comment on the one aspect of the war that most surprised them or that they wished they had considered in the prewar debate." All nine entries are listed here. - Of course, neither the NYT nor any of the "nine experts" refer to the invasion and ongoing occupation as a war crime. Not a single one of these eminent personages acknowledges that Iraq had never attacked us, that Iraq constituted no threat to the U.S. of any consequence whatsoever, and that those facts -- which are the only facts relevant to a determination of whether the U.S. had any justification at all to launch this criminal war -- could have been known in the winter and spring of 2002-2003, and that those facts were known to many "ordinary" persons in the United States and around the world. But none of the "ordinary" persons who understood the truth were "experts." None of them belonged to the ruling class."
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The Ruthless American Empire  ---  http://www.countercurrents.org/gatto140308.htm
A quote...."I cannot watch the news on television anymore. I am tired of the lies told baldly to my face and the “spin” put on everything that is not in the Empires best interests. That is what we are; an Empire that rules the world in order for the benefit of The United States. Listen further my fellow Americans, when I say for the benefit of the United States, I am not talking about the people of the United States, rather I am talking about those that own and manage the United States. These people are the people in our government, our corporate leaders, and our mega-wealthy ruling class. The people of the United States are no more or less important to these people than anyone else in this world save for the fact that we pull the lever to put them in power."
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Istanbul protest against US occupation in Iraq  ---  http://www.worldbulletin.net/image_gallery_detail.php?id=56
Photos - A quote...."Members of an Islamist group dressed as Guantanamo prisoners participate in a demonstration in Istanbul March 14, 2008, as part of protests ahead of the upcoming fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion in Iraq."
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Anti-War Protests (Yahoo photos)
  ---  http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/invasion-of-Iraq-Afghanistan-Iraq-Trafalgar-Square/photo//080315/481/7d5e33d175644887b064837059f8a90c/
173 photos - mpg
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Anti-war Protests Day 2 (Sky News)  ---  http://news.sky.com/skynews/picture_gallery/picture_gallery/0,,30100-1084604,00.html
6 photos - mpg
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Anti-war Protest - People Around World Angry At War (Sky News) - http://news.sky.com/skynews/picture_gallery/picture_gallery/0,,30100-1084438-1,00.html
11 photos - mpg
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Anti-war protest - Photo Gallery: Eureka, CA Peace March 3/15/08
  ---  http://wedonotconsent.blogspot.com/2008/03/photo-gallery-eureka-peace-march-31508.html
10 photos - mpg
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Protesters across the world condemn Iraq war  ---  http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/newsmlmmd.b6e74411a6add50855f9fe9f0eb2899d.6d1.html
A quote...."LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Thousands of protestors marched against the Iraq war in Los Angeles on Saturday as part of a global day of action that drew huge crowds in London and smaller protests elsewhere in Europe and Canada."
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Protests meet Condoleezza Rice in Brazil  ---  http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/192220,protests-meet-condoleezza-rice-in-brazil.html
A quote...."Brasilia - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with protests as she arrived in Brazil Thursday for a visit of less than 24 hours. Some 50 members of the National Student Union (UNE) shouted slogans against the invasion of Iraq and against Rice's presence in Brazil. The protesters gathered opposite the Itamaraty Palace, the seat of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, as Rice met with Foreign Minister Celso Amorim."
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US/IRAQ:  Rules of Engagement "Thrown Out the Window"  ---  http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41605
A quote...."SILVER SPRING, Maryland, Mar 15 (IPS) - Garret Reppenhagen received integral training about the Geneva Conventions and the Rules of Engagement during his deployment in Kosovo. But in Iraq, "Much of this was thrown out the window," he says."
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Coverup of Extensive War Crimes: 40th Anniversary of the My Lai Massacre  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8339
Photos (warning - graphic) - A quote...."In a bitter irony, Colin Powell, who was responsible for the coverup of the My Lai massacre acceded to a "brilliant" career in the Armed Forces. In 2001 he was appointed Secretary of State in the Bush administration. Although never indicted, Powell was also deeply implicated in the Iran-Contra affair."
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Reviving Vietnam War Tactics  ---  http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080331/hayden
A quote...."The top counterinsurgency adviser to Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq advocates practicing a "global Phoenix Program," alluding to the notorious Vietnam-era CIA operation that provoked a worldwide uproar because of the detention, torture and execution of thousands of Vietnamese."
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Conservatives sweep 71% of Iran’s parliament seats as Tehran hails 65% turnout.  ---  http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=24852
A quote...."The resilience of the reformist vote in the face of the mass veto comes as hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seeks re-election in 2009 to continue his controversial mandate amid discontent over double-digit inflation. - Friday's vote was also marked by divisions in the conservative camp which led to two coalitions of "principalists," with one less enthusiastic about the populist president."
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Russian aviation industry keeps its grip on the Indian market  ---  http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080314/101367335.html
A quote...."MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti military observer Ilya Kramnik) - On March 11, 2008 Russia and India signed a contract for the modernization of India's Mig-29s. After the modernization the machines, delivered to India by the former U.S.S.R., will remain in service for another 20-25 years with greatly enhanced combat characteristics."
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Tension high, security lockdown in riot-hit Tibet  ---  http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSSP10739920080316
A quote...."BEIJING (Reuters) - Police and troops locked down the capital of Tibet on Sunday as tension remained high, two days after ugly street protests against Chinese rule that the contested region's government-in-exile said had killed 80 people."
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China re-elects Hu Jintao as president  ---  http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-03-15-china-president_N.htm
A quote...."BEIJING (AP) — China's legislature re-elected Hu Jintao president Saturday, giving him a second five-year term as leader of the world's most populous country. It also returned Hu as head of the Central Military Commission, the body overseeing the armed forces."
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Colombia-Ecuador-Venezuela: A Close Call  ---  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0803/S00117.htm
A quote...."As last week's diplomatic crisis between Venezuela and Colombia demonstrates, Chávez has once again sought to appropriate historical symbols in an effort to score political points. Employing explosive language, Chávez remarked "Some day Colombia will be freed from the hand of the (U.S.) empire. We have to liberate Colombia."
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Army judge in Guantánamo Bay rebukes government  ---  http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_dade/story/457582.html
A quote...."GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- In a rebuke to the government, an Army judge Friday issued five successive orders instructing the Pentagon to do more to help lawyers for Canadian captive Omar Khadr build a defense case."
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ACLU Appeals Dismissal Of Extraordinary Rendition Lawsuit Against Boeing Subsidiary (3/14/2008)
  ---  http://www.aclu.org/safefree/rendition/34482prs20080314.html
A quote...."SAN JOSE, CA - The American Civil Liberties Union today announced it will appeal a federal court decision to throw out a lawsuit against Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen Dataplan for its role in the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” program. Mohamed et al. v. Jeppesen, filed by the ACLU on behalf of five victims of the rendition program, was dismissed in February after the government intervened, once again misusing the “state secrets” privilege to avoid legal scrutiny of an unlawful program."
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The Deployment of US Troops inside Canada  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8323
A quote...."On February 14th, Canada and the US signed an agreement which allows for the deployment of US troops inside Canada. - There was no official announcement nor was there a formal decision at the governmental level. - In fact the agreement was barely mentioned by the Canadian media."  --  For more on this issue see....White Man's Burden - 12-20-06 - mpg  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/whitemansburden-blog-mpg-122006
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U.S. Cocaine-Plane Invasion Spooking Latin America  ---  http://narconews.com/Issue51/article3031.html
A quote...."Trail of Evidence Points to Major Covert Operation Targeting Venezuela - Two Florida-based companies that have exported a total of at least 11 aircraft to Venezuelan buyers since 2003 are linked to four cocaine planes and what appears to be an elaborate covert intelligence operation, an ongoing Narco News investigation shows."
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The five stages of collapse  ---  http://www.energybulletin.net/40919.html
Must Read - A quote...."Elizabeth Kübler-Ross defined the five stages of coming to terms with grief and tragedy as denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, and applied it quite successfully to various forms of catastrophic personal loss, such as death of a loved one, sudden end to one's career, and so forth."
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Debt Serfdom Comes to America  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_ellen_br_080314_today_we_re_all_iris.htm
Must Read - A quote...."Today We're All Irish. - March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day, when people of all national origins raise a glass and declare, "Today we’re all a bit Irish!" This may be truer than we know. The Irish were driven to America by debt, and they are leading the Western world in household debt today. "
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"My God, gas prices these days are just ridiculous!"  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_jeremy_f_080313__22my_god_2c_gas_prices_.htm
Must Read - A quote...."Have you found yourself saying this? What American hasn't? I know I have. And then a certain Congressman (he shall remain nameless) made an interesting point. With a little research you will find that in fact, no, the price of gasoline has not gone up. The cost of gasoline has stayed almost exactly the same with virtually no price difference between now at an average of $3.20 a gallon and in 2000 when it was $1.15 a gallon. Allow me to explain." -- This is a real nice, simple, easily understandable example, of what our elites have done to the money supply. - mpg
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The Federal Reserve System is Rotten to the Core  ---  http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=6575
A quote...."Look behind the curtain and take a good hard look at the characters pulling levers in the current financial crisis. Is this any way to run a national monetary system? -- The largest mortgage lender (Countrywide) is insolvent, the two largest bond insurers (MBIA and Ambac) are insolvent, the largest bank/brokerage (Bear Stearns) is now insolvent, and hedge funds are “snapping like twigs”. -- The Fed is furiously swapping cash for trash, trying to explain away the lifeless parrot (Bear) at the bottom of the cage. “It’s not dead; it’s just stunned.”
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Fed Takes Rare Path to Aid Bear Stearns  ---  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/03/14/national/w072924D23.DTL&type=politics
A quote...."The Federal Reserve invoked a rarely used Depression-era procedure Friday to bolster troubled Bear Stearns Cos. and said it will provide even more help to combat a serious credit crisis."
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More Rate Cuts From Fed Expected Tuesday  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=5896
A quote...."Desperate to aid an economy in crisis, the Federal Reserve is ready to deliver yet another big interest rate cut. - How big? One-half of a percentage point, some economists say. Investors and others hope for even more, a three-quarters cut or perhaps a full point, given the turmoil on Wall Street. It will be a close call, Fed watchers say."
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Inflation Is a Policy that Cannot Last  ---  http://www.mises.org/story/2901
A quote...."To Austrian economists, the so-called international credit market crisis is a prima facie case of the inherent destructive tendency of government-controlled paper money: it is the consequence of an excessive expansion of credit and money, which encourages uneconomic investment and leads to unsustainable debt burdens. The inflation-provoked cluster of errors (this time in the financial sphere) eventually triggers an economic and political disaster."
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Inflation under control - for now  ---  http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/14/news/economy/cpi/index.htm?section=money_news_economy
A quote...."NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Consumer prices held steady in February, with milder-than-expected inflation giving the Federal Reserve some leeway in its interest rate-cutting campaign."  --  Editor's note: most readers seeing this headline will probably say something like "that's highly unlikely" or perhaps something a lot less polite.  The Fed as everyone knows has been playing all sorts of tricks on how the CPI is calculated, along with the figures determining the actual money supply.  Nevertheless assuming they're consistent with their lies, than these recent calculations could indicate that whatever the actual inflation rate IS, it may well have remained unchanged for the month of February.  As such, these figures could portend eventual deflation. (although stagflation is a much more likely outcome for the economy.)  As a result February’s CPI should be considered a War Alert. If however deflation actually ever occurs in this economy, it would be considered a War Warning.
For more on this issue see....
Standard Disclaimer  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/disclaimer-blog-mpg-070207
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Bush to meet with financial policymakers  ---  http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSN1546284420080315?sp=true
a.k.a. The Plunge Protection Team  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/theplungeprotectionteam-blog-mpg-030707
A quote...."WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush plans to meet on Monday with top U.S. financial policymakers, the White House said, at a time of increased strains in credit markets and fears of a recession."
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Friday March 14th 2008 - links page

Questioning 9/11 Is a Waste of Time Which Distracts us from the Real Problems, Right?  ---  http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=6554
A quote...."Some people argue that questioning 9/11 is a waste of time -- which distracts us from the many real problems our country is facing. - There's the economic downturn, the Iraq war, terrorist threats, loss of liberties and a lot of other problems that need fixing. So stop wasting time and distracting everyone with all this stuff about 9/11, right? - Well, before I address that argument, let me ask you one question: how did we get here? How did we get into the economic downturn, the Iraq war, the war on terror, spying and the loss of liberties, and the other problems?"
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9/11 - From The History File...Leo Strauss, the "Noble" lie and 9/11
  ---  http://www.corbettreport.com/articles/20070901_neoconnecting_the_dots.htm
Noble lies and perpetual war: Leo Strauss, the neo-cons, and Iraq
  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5010.htm
Leo Strauss and the Noble Lie: The Neo-Cons at War
  ---  http://www.logosjournal.com/issue_3.2/mason.htm
Leo Strauss - Source Watch
  ---  http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Leo_Strauss
Lies Of The Neocons -From Leo Strauss To Libby -The Philosophy Of Mendacity
  ---  http://www.rense.com/general68/lies.htm
Leo Strauss' Philosophy of Deception
  ---  http://www.alternet.org/story/15935/
PNAC Revisited: Road Map to Iraq
  ---  http://www.knowledgedrivenrevolution.com/Articles/200709/20070910_PNAC_Revisited_Iraq.htm
America ‘Pearl Harbored’
  ---  http://www.americanfreepress.net/12_24_02/America_Pearl_Harbored/america_pearl_harbored.html
PNAC - Rouges Gallery
  ---  http://tvnewslies.org/html/pnac_neo-con_artists.html
PNAC Members Appointed to Bush Administration
  ---  http://911review.com/motive/pnac.html
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Eliot’s Mess  ---  http://www.gregpalast.com/elliot-spitzer-gets-nailed/
Must Read - A quote...."The $200 billion bail-out for predator banks and Spitzer charges are intimately linked - While New York Governor Eliot Spitzer was paying an ‘escort’ $4,300 in a hotel room in Washington, just down the road, George Bush’s new Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Ben Bernanke, was secretly handing over $200 billion in a tryst with mortgage bank industry speculators. - Both acts were wanton, wicked and lewd. But there’s a BIG difference. The Governor was using his own checkbook. Bush’s man Bernanke was using ours."
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Hallmarks of a "hit job" ordered from the very top: Forget Spitzer, fire Bernanke  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8335
Related Article - A quote...."In another one of those nice coincidences that seem to happen whenever Wall Street is down and out, the unpopular governor of New York was found consorting with prostitutes through a Federal investigation that has all the hallmarks of a "hit job" ordered from the very top. Spitzer was deeply unpopular in the corridors of power, and especially with the current Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, for daring to take various Wall Street firms down a few notches earlier this decade."
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Bear Stearns bailed out by Fed, J.P. Morgan
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/bear-stearns-goes-life-support/story.aspx?
  ---  guid=%7BFB1471C5%2D8532%2D4893%2DB2A6%2D4869733CCD98%7D
Some  quotes...."SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Bear Stearns Cos. Inc. went on life support Friday, forced to accept an extraordinary bailout package after being deserted by the clients and counterparties at the heart of the Wall Street firm's business." -- "Bear's crisis is the latest sign that the U.S. financial system is cracking under the weight of a global credit crunch that was sparked by last year's subprime mortgage meltdown. The Fed has slashed interest rates and central banks have injected roughly $1 trillion into the banking system since then, but the crunch continues." - bold by website editor
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Bear Stearns' plunge drives down financials
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/wall-street-banks-under-attack/story.aspx?
  ---  guid=%7BCEDB813B%2D9408%2D4B7B%2D9B4B%2D3CC1D30EBBE7%7D
A quote...."NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Investors hammered financial stocks on Friday, as Bear Stearns lost more than half its value at one point after an elaborate bailout by the New York Federal Reserve Bank and J.P. Morgan, triggering sector-wide selling."
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Bear Stearns wilts, traders smell trouble at Lehman - Other financials also hit, including UBS and Citibank
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/lehman-options-lead-financials-hit/story.aspx?
  ---  guid=%7BA90A0DAD%2D1C9E%2D4FA8%2DA197%2DC68C3D394523%7D
A quote...."GREENWICH, Conn. (MarketWatch) -- The following is options-market commentary from Interactive Brokers detailing the most active options contracts of the day on Friday." -- Besides Bear Stearns, based on the actions in the options market, the following companies may also be in trouble - Lehman Brothers, UBS, Citigroup and NCT. - mpg
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Dollar drops to fresh lows  ---  http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4166e570-f1b4-11dc-9b45-0000779fd2ac.html
A quote...."The dollar’s decline threatened to turn into a rout this week as the currency fell to a series of record lows. - Fears over the health of the US financial system and data suggesting that the US economy was headed into a recession weighed on the dollar, sending it down against the euro and the Swiss franc and pushing it below Y100 against the yen for the first time since 1995."
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Dollar Rebounds From Record Versus Euro on Intervention Concern http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a_CD0yASs4bQ&refer=home
A quote...."March 14 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar rose from a record low against the euro and traded above 100 yen as securities firms speculated central banks will collaborate to shore up the U.S. currency for the first time in 13 years."
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Weak dollar costs U.S. economy its No. 1 spot  ---  http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL1491971920080314
A quote...."PARIS (Reuters) - The U.S. economy lost the title of "world's biggest" to the euro zone this week as the value of the dollar slumped in currency markets."
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Powerless on oil prices  ---  http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/dilip_hiro/2008/03/powerless_on_oil_prices.html
A quote...."With oil prices soaring to $109 a barrel in an election year, the White House is getting jittery. President Bush is despatching vice-president Dick Cheney to Riyadh on Sunday to urge King Abdullah to raise the kingdom's oil output to reverse the price rise."
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IMF tells states to plan for the worst  ---  http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ee21ddbc-f08b-11dc-ba7c-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1
A quote...."Governments might have to intervene with taxpayers’ money to shore up the financial system and prevent a “downward credit spiral” from taking hold, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday."
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Betting the Bank  ---  http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031408T.shtml
War Warning - A quote...."Four years ago, an academic economist named Ben Bernanke co-authored a technical paper that could have been titled "Things the Federal Reserve Might Try if It's Desperate" - although that may not have been obvious from its actual title, "Monetary Policy Alternatives at the Zero Bound: An Empirical Investigation."
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U.S. faces severe recession: NBER's Feldstein  ---  http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSN1438837520080314
War Warning - A quote...."BOCA RATON, Florida (Reuters) - The United States is in a recession that could be "substantially more severe" than recent ones, National Bureau of Economic Research President Martin Feldstein said on Friday." -- Why are the two articles shown above War Warnings?
See....
Standard Disclaimer  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/disclaimer-blog-mpg-070207
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The Wages of Peace  ---  http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080331/pollin
A quote...."There is no longer any doubt that the Iraq War is a moral and strategic disaster for the United States. But what has not yet been fully recognized is that it has also been an economic disaster. To date, the government has spent more than $522 billion on the war, with another $70 billion already allocated for 2008."
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House seeks debt limit increase to $10.2 TRILLION
  ---  http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1441909020080314?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true
Special Note - ALL RIGHT !!  WAY TO GO !!  You finally got it past the big TEN-O.  Hip Hip Hooray !!  Congratulations to the DemoRepubs, the Bush Neocons and the US Military....we as a nation couldn't have done it without your constant, unceasing, unstinting, support !!! - mpg
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FACTBOX: U.S. marched to Iraq with inaccurate intelligence  ---  http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1156594020080314
A quote...."(Reuters) - The Bush administration marched to war with Iraq armed with inaccurate intelligence, mistaken assumptions and extravagant hopes that have cost the United States dearly in blood and treasure. - Following is a series of quotations, statements and subsequent outcomes of some of the main justifications that led the United States to invade Iraq on March 19, 2003:
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Pure Fantasy: Colombia's Laptop Revelations - The globalization of war propaganda  ---  http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=12521
A quote...."Yet I suppose this was inevitable: the globalization of war propaganda. Serendipitous acquisition of enemy laptops has been a consistent theme of American war propaganda in the information age. Remember the "laptop of death" that supposedly contained vast and convincing evidence that Tehran was accelerating its nuclear project and aiming at military domination of the Middle East? Turned out to be a red herring, promulgated by an Iranian exile group of crypto-Marxists that has long been on the State Department's official list of terrorist organizations. There's a whole industry that specializes in phony documentation of "weapons of mass destruction": recall that Ahmed Chalabi and his gang had a factory-like operation that churned out grist for the neoconservative propaganda mill. Remember the Niger uranium forgeries, that caused the US government – especially its chief executive – so much embarrassment. The Colombian laptop revelations are in the same league."
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NATO Expansion, and a Bush Legacy, Are in Doubt
  ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/15/world/europe/15nato.html?_r=1&ex=1363233600&en=
  ---  091352b1047c02d2&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin
Special Note - A quote...."WASHINGTON — President Bush’s efforts to cement a trans-Atlantic legacy by adding three nations to NATO appear in disarray as the alliance struggles with internal political divisions, new tensions with Russia and the combat mission in Afghanistan that have exposed disparities of might and will among current members, officials, diplomats and analysts said."
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Another Act of Evil: Slow Murder at Gitmo  ---  http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1457/135/
A quote...."One grows weary, so weary, of plowing through filth, day after day – the unspeakable, blood-soaked, stinking filth of torture, murder, lies and degradation that pours in a relentless, unending stream from the belching pits of the Bush Regime. And let's be clear: we speak here of deliberate evil – not good works gone wrong, not mere "incompetence," not misguided policies or ignorance or even ideological blindness– but fully concious acts of evil which the perpetrators themselves know are evil."
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Suddenly, a Dangerous Turn  ---  http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/031408.html
War Warning - A quote...."Two seemingly disconnected events have created a suddenly dangerous turn regarding the future of U.S. wars in the Middle East. -- The second is the ugly direction that the Democratic presidential competition has taken, with Hillary Clinton’s campaign intensifying its harsh rhetoric against Barack Obama, reducing the likelihood that he can win the presidency – and thus raising the odds that the next president will be either John McCain or Sen. Clinton, both hawks on Iran."
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Iraq: teachers told to rewrite history  ---  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/iraq-teachers-told-to-rewrite-history-795711.html
A quote...."At the heart of the union's concern is a lesson plan commissioned by an organisation called Kids Connections for the Ministry of Defence aimed at stimulating classroom debate about the Iraq war.  --  In a "Students' Worksheet" which accompanies the lesson plan, it stresses the "reconstruction" of Iraq, noting that 5,000 schools and 20 hospitals have been rebuilt. But there is no mention of civilian casualties."

It's truly amazing; next the British military will be expressing disappointment at the Iraqis ingratitude for their largess.

So let's get this straight shall we, if a person falsely accuses you, fakes evidence against you, breaks into your house, ignores the neighbors pleas to use restraint, smashes the place to bits, kills half your relatives, doesn't leave, doesn't intend to leave, is attempting to confiscate your utilities (oil), but after awhile, as a gesture of good will, puts up some sheetrock and a coat of paint in one of your rooms,  he’s actually "helping" you???

It’s pretty obvious that the British military have now caught the American disease, a sort of geopolitical version of rabies combined with syphilis.  It is therefore extremely advisable for all peoples in all nations everywhere to stay as far away from these two infected psycho countries as they possibly can, or these countries might try to "help" you too. - mpg
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Winter Soldier: Bitter Truths From Those Who Know  ---  http://winterpatriot.blogspot.com/2008/03/winter-soldier-bitter-truths-from-those.html
Photos - A quote...."This weekend, as we approach the fifth anniversary of the American invasion of a defenseless oil-rich country which never threatened us, Iraq Veterans Against the War are presenting the testimonies of soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and of civilians who have lived through the invasion and occupation of their country."
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Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan 2008  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19536.htm
Audio - Video - A quote...."Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan., features testimony from U.S. veterans who served in those occupations, giving an accurate account of what is really happening day in and day out, on the ground."
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Why George W. Bush Should Stand Trial for Capital Crimes  ---  http://existentialistcowboy.blogspot.com/2008/03/why-george-w-bush-should-stand-trial.html
Video - A quote...."There is probable cause now to try George W. Bush for capital crimes in connection with the US program of torture at Abu Ghraib as well as the war of aggression against Iraq. There is evidence that George W. Bush ordered this program which most certainly resulted in numerous violations of the Geneva Conventions and the Nuremberg Principles."
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Cheney Five Years Ago: ‘We Will, In Fact, Be Greeted As Liberators’  ---  http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m42027&s1=h1
Much apologies, this editor completely forgot, besides bringing "freedom and democracy" and "helping" people...we also "liberated" them too.  Anybody out there want the US to help "liberate" your country? - mpg
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EU demands Israel halt all construction in W. Bank, E. J'lem  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=964405&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1
A quote...."European Union leaders on Friday condemned Israeli plans to build hundreds of new homes in a West Bank settlement, and called on Israel to act swiftly to keep peace efforts alive."
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Israel: Time To Boycott, Divest and Sanction  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/159164
Special Note - Action Alert - A quote...."The White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) power structure that exercised much control over the U.S. government through the middle of the twentieth century has since been replaced by the Jewish Lobby [Actually, according to the author's own words which follow, it should be called the Israeli lobby - mpg]. And though many critics insist on calling it just another lobby, it is unlike any other , past or present. It doesn't support industries, as most commercial lobbies did under WASP control, nor does it represent ethnic, racial or religious groups , as do lobbies which originated after the WASP era ended and identity group politics, no threat to their power, began. It stands exclusively for the interests of a foreign country, and it exercises an antidemocratic control over the American political process to an extreme that has become more threatening with time." -- underline by website editor.
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One German Man Buys Three Full Pages of New York Times in Attempt to Educate Americans About American Wars
  ---  http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/31805
Jürgen Todenhöfer says on his website   ---  http://www.warumtoetestduzaid.de/en/home.html  ---  that he has drafted 10 theses to be printed in 3 parts. The first 2 parts, containing the first 5 theses, were printed on two full pages of today's New York Times, pages 6 and 7, and in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the Al-Quds Al-Arabi. The third part is to be printed on Sunday. These hugely expensive ads refer readers to this website: www.why-do-you-kill-zaid.com"
  ---  http://www.why-do-you-kill-zaid.com/
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EFF Applauds House Passage of Surveillance Bill with No Telecom Immunity  ---  http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/31819
DON'T CHEER YET!  The House bill has to go to conference with the Senate and the Senate bill HAS telecom immunity in it. This is exactly the sort of trick the DemoRepubs have pulled before;  pass a bill with lots of publicity to get credit, than behind closed doors become the pathetic, little, groveling, whores, they've always been for the past year. - mpg
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Veep case smelling ripe now - posted at BuzzFlash  ---  http://www.buzzflash.com/
  ---  http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_8552359
A quote...."Something stinks about Howards vs. Reichle. - Secret Service agents are accusing each other of falsifying documents and testimonies in a criminal probe involving a Golden environmental consultant and Dick Cheney. -  Accusations stem from a 15-second encounter in Beaver Creek in which Steven Howards approached the vice president to call his Iraq policy "disgusting."
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Pub Think MTV Holocaust metro Vid #1 - (YouTube - 33 sec -  Added:  March 07, 2008)  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTOuq4pY10o
Pub Think MTV Holocaust metro Vid #2 - (YouTube - 32 sec -  Added:  March 07, 2008)  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5oKqQmGYHQ
Video - Some MTV videos about America's impending police state, the person who posted these posed several questions such as, why would a bona fide member of the "mass-media" put these on the air?  Who financed them?  What are the msm's trying to accomplish?  What are their real motives? Good questions. But they're still fun to watch. - mpg
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Iran, Pakistan to hold pricing talks on gas pipeline  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2008/mar2008/pipe-m15.shtml
A quote...."The Iranian and Pakistani governments will hold final talks next month on pricing natural gas to be sent through a pipeline connecting Iran’s South Pars natural gasfields to the Pakistani cities of Karachi and Multan. The deal, arrived at despite intense US opposition to pipeline deals involving Iran, highlights the increasingly bitter struggle over energy and strategic influence in Central Asia."
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Iran's Majlis election turnout over 65%  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=47539&sectionid=351020101
A quote...."Early results from Friday's Majlis elections indicate a massive voter participation of over 28 million, representing a turnout of more than 65%."  --  Dang!! Those "towel heads" are still holding elections....gosh darn it, we all know we can’t have them there uppity “rag heads” holding elections when we ain’t supervising them.  It makes us look bad.....like they don’t need us.  Can't we just bomb them or sump’in?  --  Say what....so we're going to do it soon? -- OK. - mpg
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UK and al-Qaeda should talk  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=47529&sectionid=351020601
A quote...."A close aid to former British premier Tony Blair says the government should make preparations to talk to al-Qaeda and the Taliban."  --  He means in public for a change, no more of those "private" conversations. - mpg
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Chavez goads U.S. over terrorism blacklist, sanctions  ---  http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Chavez_goads_U_S_over_terrorism_bla_03142008.html
A quote...."They threatened to put us on the list of terrorists that they've got there. Great, let them make their list and shove it in their ... pocket," Chavez said with a pause for comic effect."
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Venezuela: U.S. Government is “Terrorist Government Par Excellence”  ---  http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3266
A quote...."Caracas, March 12, 2008, (venezuelanalysis.com) - The United States government is "the terrorist government par excellence," Venezuela's representative in the Organisation of American States (OAS), Jorge Valero said in response to Washington's threats to list Venezuela as a "terrorist" nation for supposedly funding the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)."
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Ecuador challenges Bush to send US troops or “shut up”  ---  http://www.mercopress.com/vernoticia.do?id=12903&formato=HTML
A quote...."Ecuador's president challenged US President George W. Bush to send troops to the Andean nation's border with Colombia "or shut your mouth" following on further claims that his country is a sanctuary for the cocaine funded Colombian rebel group FARC."  -- Bush....making more friends in Latin America. - mpg
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Indian carmakers ready to enter Russian market  ---  http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080314/101356286.html
A quote...."ST. PETERSBURG, March 14 (RIA Novosti) The Indian automotive industry is ready to enter the Russian market, and soon Russians will also see other industrial goods from India, Rakesh Shah, chairman of the Engineering Export Promotion Council of India, told RIA Novosti in an interview"
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Thursday March 13th 2008 - links page

'Magic is over' for U.S., says French foreign minister  ---  http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=54325
A quote...."PARIS: Bernard Kouchner, the foreign minister of France and a longtime humanitarian, diplomatic and political activist on the international scene, says that whoever succeeds President George W. Bush may restore something of the United States' battered image and standing overseas, but that "the magic is over."
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Global Public Opinion Turns Against the U.S. on Iran's Nuclear Program
  ---  http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/world/2008/03/11/global-public-opinion-turns-against-the-us-on-irans-nuclear-program.html?s_cid=et-0312
A quote...."For months, diplomats and analysts have been suggesting that the Bush administration-led effort to pressure and isolate Iran over its nuclear defiance was losing steam. Now, with the release Tuesday of a BBC World Service Poll, there are some hard indications that indeed—at least in terms of global public opinion—that has been happening."
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All the President's Lies  ---  http://existentialistcowboy.blogspot.com/2008/03/all-presidents-lies.html
A quote....
“When a man takes an oath, Meg, he's holding his own self in his own hands. Like water. And, if he opens his fingers then -he needn't hope to find himself again.”  --*Thomas More*, A Man for All Seasons, pg. 140

"Bush lied when the took his oath of office. He has failed to execute the office of President in a lawful manner, exceeding his power and authority. Most egregiously, he has not merely failed to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States", he has worked overtly to destroy it. This is high treason."
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New Study finds No Link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda  ---  http://winterpatriot.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-study-finds-no-link-between-saddam.html
A quote...."Conspiracy theorists [i.e. realists - def. "those who follow the money" - mpg] have been saying for years that there was no link between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and al Qaeda; that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were antagonists; that Saddam had nothing whatsoever to do with the attacks of 9/11. It may not seem like a big deal, since after all Saddam [seen here in a sandbagged bunker] is now dead, and the attacks of 9/11 happened a long time ago. But these assertions are at odds with statements made repeatedly by the president, the vice president, many other White House officials, and other supporters of the ongoing war in Iraq."
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[Americans] Support for war effort highest since 2006  ---  http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9016.html
Special Note - A quote...."According to late February polling conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 53 percent of Americans — a slim majority — now believe “the U.S. will ultimately succeed in achieving its goals” in Iraq. That figure is up from 42 percent in September 2007. - The percentage of those who believe the war in Iraq is going “very well” or “fairly well” is also up, from 30 percent in February 2007 to 48 percent today."

Proof positive that the average American is utterly and completely oblivious to reality.  It doesn't matter how many people get killed, how much money is spent, or how long the occupation drags on.  They could take this poll ten years from now with fifteen thousand Americans dead, two million Iraqis slaughtered, and ten trillion dollars spent....and they'd get exactly the same results.

This poll will be devastating to many anti-war activists out there, but it should not have come as a surprise.  Most Americans simply do not have the capacity or the desire to understand the consequences of this nation’s foreign policy.  They can not empathize with, or comprehend anything, that does not immediately impact their lives.  They’re not conscious of their past nor their future, if it didn’t happen to them, and if it didn't happen recently, than it didn’t happen at all -- And they prefer existing this way, it is an integral part of their very nature, they cannot, and will not change....ever.
  -  mpg
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Silent Scream: Anguish Grows in the Terror War's Forgotten Victim  ---  http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1455/135/
A quote...."With each passing week, anguish and atrocity are deepening in Somalia, the third "regime change" target of George Bush's Terror War. Thousands of innocent people have been killed and a million have been driven from their homes by an Ethiopian invasion backed, funded and armed by the Bush Administration, which has also intervened directly with air strikes, naval shelling, renditions of fleeing refugees (including U.S. citizens) to Ethiopia's notorious prisons and, on at least one occasion, with a U.S. death squad sent in after an airstrike with orders to "kill anyone left alive."
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China hits back at US on rights, says Iraq war a disaster  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19528.htm
A quote...." 13/03/08 -- -- BEIJING (AFP) - China on Thursday accused the United States of human rights hypocrisy, as it branded the US invasion of Iraq the "greatest humanitarian disaster" of the modern world. - In an annual response to Washington's criticism of China's human rights record, the Chinese government labelled the United States arrogant, and highlighted what it said were widespread US failures at home and abroad. - "(America's) arrogant critique on the human rights of other countries are always accompanied by a deliberate ignoring of serious human rights problems on its own territory," said the report, released by the state Xinhua news agency. - "This was not only inconsistent with universally recognised norms of international relations, but also exposed the double standards and downright hypocrisy of the United States on the human rights issue, and inevitably impaired its international image."
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Target Venezuela!  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8322
A quote...."Just days after president Hugo Chávez affirmed at the Rio Group summit that "our government only wants peace," the U.S. is now seeking to have Venezuela declared "a state sponsor of terrorism."
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Pakistan resists capitulating to new US demands  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_abdus_sa_080312_pakistan_resists_cap.htm
A quote...."In September 2006, while launching his book – In the Line of Fire – President Pervez Musharraf revealed that soon after 9/11, US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage warned Lt. Gen. Mahmud Ahmed, head of ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence service, the US would “bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age” if it did not accept the following seven demands:"
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Pakistan says U.S.-led Afghan force kills 4 villagers  ---  http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=84038
A quote...." Up to 2,000 villagers protested against the strike that happened on Tuesday night in Pakistan's North Waziristan border region where militants opposed to both the Afghan and Pakistani governments are based. - "They fired five rounds which landed in our territory and in the process a house was destroyed resulting in the deaths of two women and two children," said military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas. - Pakistan had lodged a "very strong" protest with international forces in Afghanistan over the attack on the house, which was about 2 km (1.25 miles) inside Pakistan, he said."
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LEBANON:  Political Crisis Set to Worsen  ---  http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41568
Some quotes...."Everyone feels there is a war coming," said Salman Ismael, a 22-year-old university student. "Especially after the killing of (Hezbollah commander) Imad Mughniyeh and what is happening in Gaza. And now U.S. ships come to the waters of Lebanon. Israel wants to improve her army in the Middle East after its defeat in 2006, she wants the Arabs to be scared of her." -- "The arrival of the USS Cole in support of (Prime Minister Fouad Sinoira's ruling coalition) has really had a traumatic effect on people," says Crooke, co-founder of the Beirut-based Conflicts Forum which brokers dialogue between Islamist movements and the West. "This has really bad memories for the Lebanese."
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Defeat: British Journalist Jonathan Steele on Why America and Britain Lost Iraq
  ---  http://www.democracynow.org/2008/3/13/defeat_british_journalist_jonathan_steele_on
A quote...."As the fifth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq approaches, we speak with Jonathan Steele, one of the journalists who has covered the Iraq war since 2003. Steele is the senior foreign correspondent and in-house columnist on international affairs for the London Guardian. His latest book is Defeat: Why America and Britain Lost Iraq. [includes rush transcript]"
Real Video Stream  ||  ---  http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2008/march/video/dnB20080313a.rm&proto=rtsp
Real Audio Stream  ||  ---  http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2008/march/audio/dn20080313.ra&proto=rtsp
MP3 Download  ||  ---  http://media.switchpod.com/users/democracynow/ftp/dn2008-0313-1.mp3
More...  ||  ---  http://www.democracynow.org/2008/3/13/stream
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Israel raises the ante against Iran  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JC14Ak02.html
War Warning - A quote...."Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is on a speaking tour in the United States, putting her considerable personal charm in the service of a shrewd salesmanship - of a US war on Iran.  --  Although considered a dove by Israeli standards, Livni is now on a historic mission that has begun with a pre-travel warmer in the form of a highly publicized telephone call to the Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, assuring him that there is direct linkage "between Iran and the terror groups".
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Warriors welcome Fallon's resignation  ---  http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20080313/NATION/442198655/1002
War Warning - Some quotes...."Current and former military officials welcomed the resignation of Navy Adm. William J. Fallon, the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, saying he failed to prevent foreign fighters and munitions from entering Iraq. - They said "there was no misperception" regarding Adm. Fallon's "non-warrior" approach to handling foreign involvement in the region." -- "No matter what [Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates] said [Tuesday], we know for a fact Admiral Fallon was fired," said a former senior Defense official who works closely with military officials in the region. "We have kids — soldiers — getting killed because Iran, Syria and other foreign fighters are coming across the border into Iraq, and yet Fallon was unwilling to do anything to hold [those nations] accountable."
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Members of the US military have just now OPENLY declared war on Iran and Syria.  Which is a little odd considering
only one to two percent
  ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/22/world/middleeast/22fighters.html?hp  ---  of the insurgents in Iraq are composed of foreign fighters, and forty one percent   ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/22/5390/  ---  of those foreign fighters come from
Saudi Arabia.
  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/27/5456/  ----  Meanwhile the US is currently paying and arming
over eighty five thousand "former" insurgents.
  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/151616  ---  These figures by the way are derived from the
Military's own studies,
  ---  http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N19629188.htm  ---  but what the heck , with the military lowering their recruitment standards every year it's possible those commenting on Fallon's departure aren't able to read very well, and they weren't able to comprehend their own reports. - mpg -- For more on this issue see.... Go Build Your Neo-Roman Empire - Just Leave Us Out Of It - 10-14-07 - mpg    ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/gobuildyournre-mpg-blog-101407
See also....
US Support of Terror  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/ussupportofterror-weblist-mpg-090306

For more on the two War Warnings shown above, and why things appear to be heating up again with Iran,
 see....
Effective Fed Funds Rate & Total Nonfarm Payrolls - 03-24-07 - mpg
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/fedfundschart-photopg-cached-032407
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The Gitmo Tape Flim-Flam  ---  http://www.atlargely.com/2008/03/the-gitmo-tape.html
Some quotes...."Compare the following two statements. || "All interrogations are videotaped" -- *Lieutenant General Kevin C. Kiley, M.D.* || “This is not a widespread practice,” -- *Mr. [Geoff] Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary* || I'm trying to figure some way in which these two are consistent, yet it seems to me that they directly contradict each other."
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Anti-war protesters chant "war criminal" at Rice - posted at BuzzFlash  ---  http://www.buzzflash.com/
  ---  http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N12204353.htm
A quote...."WASHINGTON, March 12 (Reuters) - Chanting "war criminal," anti-war protesters waved blood-colored hands at U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday, but police held them back as she left a Capitol Hill hearing room."
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Make the World Safe for Hope  ---  http://buchanan.org/blog/?p=961
A quote...."Can Barack Obama, who campaigns as an icon of peace, actually be more bellicose than Bush? Yes, he can.  --  Obama-mania is getting out of hand. Full-grown and well-educated men—from swooning Andrew Sullivan to the entire staff of GQ magazine—are developing “man crushes” on Barack Obama, going weak in the knees for his immaculately pressed suits, oratorical skills, and shameless hope-mongering." - This one was fun to read - mpg
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Olbermann Takes On Clinton’s Racism  ---  http://progressivedailybeacon.com/pdb/?p=409
Olbermann goes after the Clintons....regretfully. - mpg
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Cluster Bombs Are Not Good for Children, Hillary  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/13/7655/
A quote...."The human soul is difficult to fathom. One person alone is capable of both compassion and cruelty. - In her autobiography, Living History, Senator Hillary Clinton portrays herself as an advocate for children, a defender of women and human rights. In fact, the Clintons have a long history of sacrificing the rights, even the lives of children, for political expediency. It is time to set the record straight."
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Data Says 2.5 Million Less Watching TV  ---  http://infowars.net/articles/may2007/090507Data.htm
Special Note - A quote...."Maybe they're outside in the garden. They could be playing softball. Or perhaps they're just plain bored. In TV's worst spring in recent memory, a startling number of Americans drifted away from television the past two months: More than 2.5 million fewer people were watching ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox than at the same time last year, statistics show."  -- It appears many Americans, who desperately hung on and continued to watch as the content of broadcast TV plunged into a mental cesspool of absolute prurient garbage, have finally thrown in the towel.  Even the dumbed down, raised on infotainment generation can't stomach the crap peddled by the networks anymore and have given up even trying. - mpg
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Philly 9/11 Truth takes control of the A28 Impeachment Rally  ---  http://www.911blogger.com/node/8442
Video - A quote...."April 28, 2007, thousands of patriots gathered around the nation calling for impeachment of the Bush administration. Philly 9/11 Truth joined their local event and with the approval of the host, World Can't Wait, delivered a powerful speech educating the open minded about state sponsored terrorism and 9/11."
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U.S. falsely implicates Guantanamo prisoner: lawyer  ---  http://ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idCAN1333765020080313
A quote...."GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - A U.S. military report on a battle in which a U.S. soldier died in Afghanistan was altered after the fact to falsely blame a young Canadian prisoner, his lawyer said on Thursday."
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F.B.I. Made ‘Blanket’ Demands for Phone Records
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/washington/13fbi.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=us&adxnnlx=1205457151-3V9hmYoCClkJIdoDRdmmLw
A quote...."WASHINGTON — Senior officials of the Federal Bureau of Investigation repeatedly approved the use of “blanket” records demands to justify the improper collection of thousands of phone records, according to officials briefed on the practice."
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IP Addresses Are Personal Data, E.U. Regulator Says  ---  http://www.gnn.tv/headlines/16524/IP_Addresses_Are_Personal_Data_E_U_Regulator_Says
A quote...."IP addresses, strings of numbers that identify computers on the Internet, should generally be regarded as personal information, the head of the European Union’s group of data privacy regulators said Monday."
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Plan To Spray Toxic Biological Chemicals Over San Francisco Announced  ---  http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=54333
A quote...."(NaturalNews) People of the world, the US Government is planning to poison more than two million people, in California, using an untested biological "pesticide" this summer. The chemical to be sprayed is classified by the EPA as a "pesticide" and the plan is to douse cities with this chemical designed to stick on everything for 90 days or longer. This application is not a one time event, but will continue every 1-3 months for as long as five years."
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Watching the Dollar Die  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19530.htm
A quote...."  13/03/08 "ICH " -- - I’ve been watching the dollar die all my life.  I sometimes think I will outlast it. - When I was a young man, gold was $35 an ounce.  Today one ounce gold bullion coins, such as the Canadian Maple Leaf, cost more than $1,000. - Our coinage was silver.  Our dimes, quarters, and half dollars had purchasing power.  Even the nickel could purchase a candy bar, ice cream cone or soft drink, and a penny could purchase bubble gum or hard candy.  If a kid could collect 5 discarded soft drink bottles from a construction site, the 2 cents deposit on the returnable bottles was enough for the Saturday afternoon movie. Gasoline was 32 cents a gallon.  A dollar’s worth was enough for a Saturday night date."
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In phony-baloney money we trust?  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JC14Dj01.html
A quote...."My emotions ran the gamut as I prepared to learn of the latest level of Total Fed Credit, ranging from a carefree, "What in the hell do I care? I'm rich! Or at least I will be when gold soars in response to the Inflationary Bonfires From Hell (IBFH) that the Fed is unleashing on us with their disastrous, 'the-sky's-the-limit' monetary policy!", to the distinctly more hostile, "Kill everyone and burn their houses to ashes before they can get me!", which is where you always get bogged down wrestling with that old question, "Does this include family members, too?"
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Dollar losing clout around the world  ---  http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=54323
A quote...."SAO PAULO, Brazil - Antique store owners in lower Manhattan, ticket vendors at India's Taj Mahal and Brazilian business executives heading to China all have one thing in common these days: They don't want U.S. dollars."
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Going, going, gone: a rising auction of scary scenarios  ---  http://www.thought-criminal.org/article/node/1377
Special Note - Charts - A quote...."What am I bid on financial sector losses from the US subprime mortgage crisis? Do I have advances on the $100bn suggested by Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, only last July? Yes, I now have $500bn from the gentlemen from Goldman Sachs. Any advances on $500bn? Yes, I have $1,000bn-$2,000bn from Nouriel Roubini of New York University’s Stern School of Business. Any advances? Going, going, gone."
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Carlyle Fund's Assets Seized - Leaders Fail to Stop Securities Sell-Off
  ---  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/13/AR2008031300061.html?hpid=topnews
A quote...."A publicly traded affiliate of the Carlyle Group said yesterday that lenders were seizing its assets, sending the fund, Carlyle Capital, into insolvency. - The collapse of Carlyle Capital is the first time a Carlyle Group fund has failed and is a stinging embarrassment for the District private-equity powerhouse, which has built an international reputation with a client list that reaches around the world. - The high-profile downfall, part of the broad turmoil in credit markets worldwide, followed a week of frantic negotiations between the Carlyle Group and a number of lenders...."
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When oil bubble bursts  ---  http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080312/101187625.html
Special Note - A quote...."The key reason behind this situation [oil's rise] is the continued fall of the U.S. dollar against other national currencies, which naturally fuels the rise in oil denominated in dollars. The U.S. Federal Reserve is cutting interest rates in a desperate attempt to rescue the country's economy, which effectively makes investment in the dollar even less attractive. The FRS has cut interest rates from 5.25% to 3% since last August, and is expected to bring it own to 2.25% this month, according to estimates."
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Gold at $1,000 on Weak Dollar, High Oil  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=5869
A quote...."NEW YORK (AP) -- Gold futures hit $1,000 an ounce for the first time Thursday, pushed past the benchmark by the sinking dollar and record crude oil prices."
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Budget deficit widens to record $175.6 billion
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/budget-deficit-widens-record-1756/story.aspx?
  ---  guid=%7BB89B022F%2D9B83%2D4978%2D804C%2D3C4983D1C12F%7D
Special Note - A quote...."The monthly deficit of $175.6 billion was close to the $174 billion expected by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The old record deficit for any month was set last February at $120 billion."
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Retail sales sink 0.6% in February
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/retail-sales-sink-06-february/story.aspx?
  ---  guid=%7BD0889B9F%2D61F1%2D4DC2%2DBDFB%2DC36E24A1215A%7D
A quote...."Most kinds of retail stores reported lower seasonally adjusted sales in February even before the impact of inflation was counted. The figures were weaker than expected by Wall Street economists, who forecast no change in retail sales."
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Wednesday March 12th 2008 - links page

As General Smedley D. Butler Said: War Is A Racket  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_ed_encho_080312_as_general_smedley_d.htm
A quote...."“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902–1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested.”  --  “During those years, I had as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best that he could do was operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”  --  *General Smedley D. Butler*
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Pentagon Report on Saddam's Iraq Censored?  ---  http://blogs.abcnews.com/rapidreport/2008/03/pentagon-report.html
Special Note - A quote...."ABC News' Jonathan Karl Reports: The Bush Administration apparently does not want a U.S. military study that found no direct connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda to get any attention.  This morning, the Pentagon cancelled plans to send out a press release announcing the report's release and will no longer make the report available online. -- The report was to be posted on the Joint Forces Command website this afternoon, followed by a background briefing with the authors.  No more.  The report will be made available only to those who ask for it, and it will be sent via U.S. mail from Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Virginia. -  It won't be emailed to reporters and it won't be posted online." -- And the cover-up continues, see also....

Exhaustive review finds no link between Saddam and al Qaida  ---  http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/29959.html
Special Note - A quote...."WASHINGTON — An exhaustive review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime had any operational links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network." -- posted 03-10-08
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Appalling Spread of False Information Requires Stronger Media Accountability  ---  http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/79465/
A quote...."A free press is supposed to function as our democracy's immune system against . . . gross errors of fact and understanding," wrote Al Gore in his book, The Assault on Reason. But it doesn't - as Gore explains -- and that is what makes the mass media one of the most important obstacles to social and economic progress in the 21st century."
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The Iraq Follies  ---  http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2008/03/the-iraq-follies.html
A quote...."In putting together my new book, So Wrong for So Long, on Iraq and the media, I revisited the good, the bad, and the ugly in war coverage from the run-up to the invasion through the five years of controversy that followed. Even though I monitored the coverage closely all along, I was continually surprised to come across once-prominent names, quotes, and incidents that had faded to obscurity. Here is a list of 18 of those nearly forgotten episodes, in roughly chronological order." - bold by website editor. -- check out the comments   ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/12/7646/  ---  over at CommonDreams.
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United States of Amnesia: What about Cheney's DC Madam Problem
  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_gustav_w_080311_united_states_of_amn.htm
Special Note -- Some quotes...."How soon we forget the blockbuster ABC News scoop that was - and then wasn't - much bigger and more explosive then Governor Spitzer's, because it alleged Dick Cheney was a client." -- "Perhaps more sinister then the prostitution allegations are the questions of complicity in a media wash-out by ABC, whose in-house staff was originally given call records directly by Madam Palfrey." -- "This network cover-up mirrors similar allegations made in Dan Rather's lawsuit against CBS News/Viacom. Hopeful his $70 million suit will go forward, Rather claims his controversial Texas Air Guard story was killed not because of the infamous disputed memo, but because of a call made from the White House. Rather too, will likely name who in the Bush Administration made the call, and who at Viacom took it, also claiming CBS News quashed the Abu Ghraib detainee abuse scandal to curry White House favor, until it was reported by Australian news." -- Madam Palfrey has her clients, and the Presstitutes have theirs.  Madam Palfrey however is a lot more honest about her profession and her relationship to her clients.  And she and her employees have done infinitely less harm to this country than those degraded, sycophantic, charlatans who lay claim to the mantle of this nation's “fourth estate”. - mpg
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How the press failed on Iraq  ---  http://www.salon.com/books/excerpt/2008/03/11/greg_mitchell/
A quote...."March 11, 2008 | Stephen Colbert's routine at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2006  -- *(YuTb 10mn15sc - 082607)
  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSE_saVX_2A
was celebrated or lamented for his pointed barbs at the president while Bush sat just a few feet away. What many may forget, however, is that his critique of the press was just as biting -- and widely resented by many of the journalists in attendance. Some of the same guests had attended a similar dinner two years earlier and roared with laughter when the president aired a goofy video which showed him looking around the White House for those darn missing WMDs (as dozens of American kids were dying in Iraq that month)." -- link added by website editor.
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Three Navy ships to Persian Gulf in June  ---  http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/2008/03/three-navy-ships-to-persian-gulf-in.html
War Update - Saturday, March 01, 2008 - A quote...."VICTORIA -- The Canadian navy is deploying three war ships to the Persian Gulf, one of the largest single naval contribution to the war against terrorism since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001."
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The American landing force will stay out of sight  ---  http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080312/101191268.html
War Update - A quote...."MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti military observer Ilya Kramnik) - The recent beefing up of the US Navy in the Mediterranean has caused concern in Russia and some Mediterranean countries. Experts believe the appearance of US warships off the coast of Syria and Lebanon presages a US military operation in the region."
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Vice President Cheney to Visit Middle East  ---  http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=53323
War Update - Monday , 10 March 2008 - A quote...."Vice President Dick Cheney will visit the Middle East later this month to meet with various leaders in the region. -- A White House statement Monday says Cheney will leave on March 16, and make stops in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank and Turkey."
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6 Signs the U.S. May Be Headed for War in Iran  ---  http://www.usnews.com/blogs/news-desk/2008/03/11/6-signs-the-us-may-be-headed-for-war-in-iran.html
War Update - March 11, 2008 06:52 PM ET  - A quote...."Here are six developments that may have Iran as a common thread. And, if it comes to war, they may be seen as clues as to what was planned. None of them is conclusive, and each has a credible non-Iran related explanation: 1) Fallon's resignation  2) Vice President Cheney's peace trip  3) Israeli airstrike on Syria [last Oct 2007]  4) Warships off Lebanon  5) Israeli comments  6) Israel's war with Hezbollah
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'Fox' Fallon Fired - And we're f*cked…  ---  http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=12503
War Warning - March 12, 2008 - A quote...."That was Adm. William "Fox" Fallon speaking, top U.S. commander in the Middle East, last of the Vietnam vets in the high command, and, yes, the very same Adm. Fallon who has just submitted his resignation as head of Central Command. What makes this particularly ominous is that, according to former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst Patrick Lang, Fallon told him, upon taking over at Centcom, that war with Iran "isn't going to happen on my watch."...."  -- Fallon's dismissal, is still classified as a war warning. - mpg

Click here for current "US Naval Status"   ---  http://www.navy.mil/navydata/navy_legacy_hr.asp?id=146  ---   updated daily
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China puts its trust in Putinism  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/JC13Ag01.html
A quote...." Perhaps more than any other capital in the world, Beijing has closely observed the change of the guard in the Kremlin. There are many reasons for Beijing's concerns: Russia's revival as a major power, its petro-politics approach to foreign relations, managing the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), not to mention the stability of the 4,300-kilometer Sino-Russian border."
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USA soldiers murder 10 year old Iraqi girl  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/159036
Complete quote...."US soldiers kill 10-year-old Iraqi girl - US soldiers have shot and killed a young Iraqi girl in the volatile Diyala province north of Baghdad, a US military statement says. - The shooting took place Wednesday afternoon in Diyala, said the statement which didn't give the exact location. - The girl appeared to be around 10, Maj. Brad Leighton, a military spokesman said early Thursday. - Leighton said preliminary reports indicated that soldiers didn't believe the girl posed a threat of being a suicide bomber, but rather "they were afraid she was signaling to someone" along a stretch of road "the convoy was going by," where roadside bombs had recently been found."  -- It's called SoFoBeIr, pronounced so-fo-beer....Shot For Being Iraqi. - mpg
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War in the Congo  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8310
A quote...."This report examines the current war and genocide in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which started in the mid-1990s, placing emphasis on the roles of Western covert operations, corporations and the plundering of resources that has resulted."
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Was the U.S. Involved in Killing the FARC-EP Leaders?  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/brittain03122008.html
A quote...."While virtually every country in Central and South America, including the Caribbean, has waged in on the debate of the Colombian state conducting an illegal military campaign within Ecuadorian sovereign territory, resulting in the deaths of various high ranking officials in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo, FARC-EP), the United States have remained virtually silent. Such silence from the US is quite perplexing consdiering the administrations of Ronald Regan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush have wielded a twenty-two year old assault on this insurgency movement."
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Iraq to sue Halabja weapon supplier  ---  http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3F941EEF-18C9-4F87-9041-1455C5BBE86C.htm
A quote...."Iraq plans to take legal action against the suppliers of chemicals used in a poison gas attack on the town of Halabja in Iraq's Kurdish north, which killed 5,000 people in 1988." -- Hey Rumsfeld, Bush and Cheney....you're next. - mpg
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Khadr lawyers raise torture suspicions  ---  http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=368413
A quote...."GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA - Lawyers for Omar Khadr are seeking the names of his interrogators following his July, 2002, capture in Afghanistan, suspecting they subjected him to techniques similar to those that led to the deaths of two other detainees in the same detention centre."
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Russia to extradite Israeli wanted by Colombia for allegedly training guerillas
  ---  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=963590&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1
A quote...."Russia will extradite a former Israel Defense Forces officer to Colombia where he has been convicted of training paramilitaries, a Moscow city court spokeswoman said on Wednesday."
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Russia slams US report as biased  ---  http://www.denverpost.com/ci_8548577
A quote...."The [Russian Foreign Ministry] ministry said the report reflected the "double standards" of a country it claimed uses human rights as a "foreign policy tool" while balking at scrutiny of its own actions. -- "How else can one explain that the United States—which has essentially legalized torture, applies capital punishment to minors, denies responsibility for war crimes and massive human rights violations in Iraq and Afghanistan, refuses to join a series of treaties in the sphere of human rights—distortedly comments on the situation in other countries?" it said. -- "Meanwhile, the U.S. uses the struggle to spread democracy and the defense of human rights as a cover, with no regard to systemic problems within its own country,"
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RUSSIA:  In a Quick New Embrace with Germany  ---  http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41575
A quote...."MOSCOW, Mar 12 (IPS) - In his first week as president-elect, Dmitry Medvedev has sought to build new bridges with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The reinforced relations rest on the pillar of a major energy deal."
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French municipal elections: A setback for President Sarkozy  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2008/mar2008/sak-m13.shtml
A quote...."A clear swing to the left and a repudiation of the reactionary policies of right-wing Gaullist president Nicolas Sarkozy was registered in the first round of elections for the municipal councils and mayors of the country’s 36,785 communes last Monday."
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Iran to Ink Gas Deal with Pakistan in April  ---  http://www.farsnews.com/English/newstext.php?nn=8612220688
A quote...." TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran will sign a final agreement to export gas via pipeline to Pakistan in April, an official from the National Iranian Gas Company said.Iran has completed half of the pipeline, which will have a capacity to carry 110 million cubic meters of gas a day to Pakistan, Vahid Zeydifard, a senior pipe-lines expert at the National Iranian Gas Company, said in an interview at the Gastech conference in Bangkok yesterday."
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Justice Department says legal opinion on Executive orders is classified  ---  http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Justice_Department_says_legal_opinion_on_0312.html
Special Note - a.k.a. Franz Kafka meets 1984 and they become one seamless world view. - mpg - A quote...."Refuses to provide legal opinions on executive power - The Bush Administration's Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel is refusing to turn over a document providing its analysis of Bush's justification for executive orders. - Responding to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Federation of American Scientists, the office said the document was "classified." - Steven Aftergood, who writes the Secrecy News blog for the Federation, requested the legal opinion after a Democratic senator referenced it on the Senate floor."
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The Return of Total Information Awareness  ---  http://www.deepjournal.com/p/7/a/en/1328.html
A quote...."Yesterday’s report in The Wall Street Journal about the NSA’s domestic spy dragnets should be major, major news. It is nothing less than the return of TIA: "Total Information Awareness." Yet there has been barely any followup coverage of the story in the mainstream media. I know the media thinks the sexual behavior of the governor of New York is earth-shatteringly important for American life – but this NSA report actually is."
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Spitzer's Sex Life Is Weapon of Mass Distraction for Bunch of Bad News for Bush  ---  http://www.legitgov.org/spitzer_sex_life_weapon_mass_distraction.html
A quote...." CLG exclusive: 'It is the latest hunting ground.' 'DC Madam' comments on Spitzer scandal 12 Mar 2008 Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the so-called DC Madam, shared her thoughts on the Spitzer scandal with CLG's Lori Price on Wednesday. Ms. Palfrey said, "Without question in my mind, escort and adult service businesses – which cater to high-powered and influential clients – are being used as the new weapon of choice in American politics. It is the latest hunting ground."
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Meltdown Looms Larger as Credit Markets Freeze  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney03132008.html
Special Note - A quote...."Yesterday's action by the Federal Reserve proves that the banking system is insolvent. It also shows that the Fed is willing to intervene directly in the stock market if it keeps equities propped up. This is clearly a violation of its mandate and runs contrary to the basic tenets of a free market. Investors who shorted the market yesterday, got clobbered by the not so invisible hand of the Fed chief."
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Hedge funds on the brink as US Federal Reserve cash fails to ease crisis
  ---  http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article3542723.ece
Special Note - A quote...."Several hedge funds with assets of more than $4 billion (£2 billion) were on the brink of collapse last night or had halted withdrawals, despite moves by the US Federal Reserve this week to ease America’s deteriorating credit crisis with a $200 billion collateral lending facility."
See also....The Green Light - 01-16-08 - mpg  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/thegreenlight-blog-mpg-011608
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Tomgram: Michael Klare, The Permanent Energy Crisis Hits Home
  ---  http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174904/michael_klare_the_permanent_energy_crisis_hits_home
Special Note - A quote...."By this Tuesday, the price of oil had crested above $109 a barrel, more than doubling since 2005, and a gallon of regular was already averaging $3.22 at U.S. gas pumps with the latest price leaps yet to register. Estimates for oil at $130 a barrel this year and $150 in 2009 are now common. Something else had changed as well -- the mood of the Saudis and the leaders of many other petro-powers. Last week, OPEC officially rejected the President's entreaty to immediately increase the oil supply without even a polite nod, instead suggesting that the Bush administration was mishandling the American economy. Ali al-Naimi, the Saudi oil minister, couldn't have been blunter. There was no need, he insisted, to increase global supplies by "even one barrel of oil."
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Investors file US suit against French bank SocGen  ---  http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Investors_file_US_suit_against_Fren_03122008.html
A quote...."A class-action suit filed Wedneday against Societe Generale alleges the French bank misled investors about its exposure to risky US mortgage securities and failed to clamp down on a rogue trader who ran up massive losses."
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The Fall of the American Consumer  ---  http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080324/ehrenreich
A quote...."How much lower can consumer spending go? The malls are like mausoleums, retail clerks are getting laid off and AOL recently featured on its welcome page the story of a man so cheap that he recycles his dental floss--hanging it from a nail in his garage until it dries out."
Check out the comments over at CommonDreams  --- 
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Bad oil news here to stay  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JC13Dj03.html
A quote...." On Monday March 3, the price of crude oil reached US$103.95 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, surpassing the record set nearly 30 years ago during another moment of chaos in the Middle East. Will that new mark prove distinctive in the annals of world history or will it be forgotten as energy prices drop, just as they did following their April 1980 peak?"
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Euro hits new record against the dollar  ---  http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/12/business/econ.php
A quote...."PARIS: The dollar resumed its slide into record territory Wednesday, a day after the Federal Reserve led central banks in flooding the global financial system with liquidity, as investors remained skeptical about the impact of the Fed's move."
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Oil rallies to record $110 as dollar plumbs new low - http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSSYD3274320080312?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews
A quote...."NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil pierced $110 a barrel on Wednesday, marking the sixth straight day of record highs, as the dollar sank to new lows and outweighed large increases in U.S. crude inventories."
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Inflation; The Silent Robber:  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_mike_fol_080312_inflation_3b_the_silen.htm
A quote..."Good Morning Middle America, your King of Simple News is on the air. -- U.S. NEWS: I like to start the day with a joke and some good news; today I can do both at once. A new report by some deranged economists says a recession in the U.S. is unlikely. Now that’s funny!"
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Tuesday March 11th 2008 - links page

The World As It Is  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19514.htm
Must Read - A quote...."11/03/08  -- - War creates a world without empathy. Those who have empathy cannot, as did Palestinian gunman Alaa Hisham Abu Dheim, coldly  murder students in a Jerusalem library. Those who have empathy cannot drop tons of iron fragmentation bombs on crowded Palestinian refugee camps in Gaza, killing more than 120 Palestinians in a week, of whom one in five were children and more than half were civilians. Those who have empathy do not, as Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai did, thunder at the Palestinians that they  face a shoah, meaning catastrophe or holocaust. Those with empathy are unable to rejoice, as many leaders of Hamas did, over slaughter, as if the murder of the other’s innocents is justified by the murder of your innocents.
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Another Milestone on the Road to Serfdom  ---  http://harpers.org/archive/2008/03/hbc-90002574
Must Read - A quote...."This weekend, the darkness continues to descend in Washington, the powers of the state continue to grow and the mechanisms of accountability rot away unused. Americans are focused on the selection of a new president. Many of them share the naïve assumption that on January 20, 2009, when a new leader takes the oath of office from the south steps of the Capitol Building, the Founders’ constitutional order will once more be set aright and the extra-constitutional excesses of the Bush years will be but a bad memory. But whoever is installed as the new guardian of presidential power will not likely part with many of the rights that Bush claimed and was allowed to use, unchallenged."
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UK top cop who led CIA probe found dead - Manchester Police Chief Who Cleared Britain of Helping Secret CIA Flights Is Found Dead
  ---  http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/UK_top_cop_who_led_CIA_probe_found__03112008.html
Must Read - Assassination Alert - A quote...."A city police chief who led an investigation into charges that Britain cooperated with secret CIA flights to transport terrorism suspects without formal proceedings has been found dead, his deputy said Tuesday. -- Manchester Chief Constable Michael Todd, 50, was found dead in Snowdonia, about 240 miles northwest of London, Deputy Chief Constable Dave Whatton said. He had been missing since going out for a walk Monday during his day off."  --  If they say this was a "suicide" or some sort of "mugging" this editor is going to barf. - mpg
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Two 9/11-related Qui Tam Cases Filed in U.S. District Court, SDNY  ---  http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=6519
A quote...."A nearly complete set of briefs and affidavits have been filed in U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, by the attorney for Dr. Judy Wood in the case entitled Dr. Judy Wood ex rel. USA vs. Applied Research Associates, Inc. et al. 1:07cv3314 (Hon. George B. Daniels, Judge). Similar affidavits were filed by Dr. Morgan Reynolds ex rel USA vs. SAIC et al 1:07cv4612 one month previously, also pending with J. Daniels."  -- Editor's note: click here for a definition of Qui Tam  ---  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qui_tam
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Ex-DEA Head Admits CIA Imported Cocaine  ---  http://www.911blogger.com/node/14310  ---  (YouTube - 46 sec -  Added:  March 10, 2008)
Video - A quote...."Material contained in this video constitutes 'fair use' of copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material is distributed without profit for research and educational purposes."  --  Check out the comments and refrences -- Just wait folks, twenty years from now they'll be talking about the twenty, thirty, or five hundred tons of heroin the US shipped out of Afghanistan, the reason being it just "has to happen because of the money".  Huge amounts of untraceable cash, PERFECT for black ops, false flag ops, and to support dozens of "terrorist" groups worldwide.  This is YOUR government in action. - mpg
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The Ant Man Exits: War Crime Accomplice Canned for Insufficient Groveling  ---  http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1453/135/
Special note - A quote...."If Admiral William Fallon really was the only man standing between us and a new war with Iran, as Esquire magazine claimed recently -- well, he's gone now.  --  As we noted here the other day, the magazine's view of Fallon as some kind of secret peacenik was laughable: after all, Fallon, as head of U.S. Central Command, has been directing Bush's murderous and illegal Terror War actions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia for the past year.  Multitudes of innocent people have died in the imperial satrapy under his command. And while it's true that he voiced some disagreement over the timing and tactics of the White House's bellicose approach to Iran, he also made his true opinion of the possibility of an assault on Iran abundantly clear, telling Esquire: "These guys are ants. When the time comes, you crush them."
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Mideast military chief resigns after magazine article  ---  http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Mideast_military_chief_resigns_after_magazine_0311.html
Related article - A quote...."Gates described as "ridiculous" any notion that Fallon's departure signals the United States is planning to go to war with Iran. And he said "there is a misperception" that Fallon disagrees with the administration's approach to Iran."  - underline by website editor --  This article is classified as a War Warning  - mpg
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Childhood Is Dying In Iraq  ---  http://www.countercurrents.org/jamail110308.htm
A quote...."BAQUBA, Mar 10 (IPS) - Iraq's children have been more gravely affected by the U.S. occupation than any other segment of the population. - The United Nations estimated that half a million Iraqi children died during more than 12 years of economic sanctions that preceded the U.S. invasion of March 2003, primarily as a result of malnutrition and disease. - But childhood malnutrition in Iraq has increased 9 percent since then, according to an Oxfam International report released last July."
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UN expert raps US for barring prison access in Iraq  ---  http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m41926&s1=h1
A quote...."GENEVA (AFP) — The top United Nations expert on torture on Tuesday chided Washington for refusing to grant him access to prisoners held by US troops in Iraq while stating that he hoped to visit Baghdad this year."  --  Yep, just keep saying to yourself gentle reader..."we don't do torture". - mpg
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A way to stave off Iran sanctions  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JC12Ak01.html
A quote...."Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is in Tehran this week, enhancing Iran-Indonesia bilateral relations, particularly in the economic and energy fields. Yet in light of Indonesia's historic vote of abstention on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1803, which imposed a third round of sanctions on Iran, his trip has a symbolic importance that transcends Tehran-Jakarta ties: it touches directly on the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). "
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Int'l Support Ebbs for West's Nuclear Hard Line  ---  http://www.antiwar.com/lobe/?articleid=12497
A quote...."Public support for stronger measures, including possible military strikes, to curb or destroy Iran's nuclear program has declined significantly in most countries around the world compared to 18 months ago, according to a new survey of public opinion [.pdf] released Tuesday by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)"
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Iran Strikes New Azadegan Oil Find  ---  http://www.farsnews.com/English/newstext.php?nn=8612210710
A quote...." TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran has discovered a new oil layer holding a potential 2.2 billion barrels of oil in the Azadegan oil field. - National Iranian Oil Company's (NIOC) director for exploration, Mahmoud Mohaddes, said that the new layer was discovered during drilling of the seventh exploration well at the field." -- One would hope Iran knows this just makes them more of a target? - mpg
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Iran, Indonesia to Sign Contract on Oil Refinery  ---  http://www.farsnews.com/English/newstext.php?nn=8612210707
A quote...." TEHRAN (FNA)- Tehran said that it would sign a contract with Indonesia this week to help the Far-East state construct an oil refinery and a chemical fertilizer plant."
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The Peacemaker  ---  http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/3259
A quote...."President Chávez's diplomatic tone and calm demeanor brokered peace between Andean nations on the brink of war at the Rio Group Summit in Santo Domingo late last week, yet the media portrays him as a "dictator" and "threat to the region".  -- Exactly.  Who the heck would want to have peace, when you could have that infinitely much more profitable state of human relations called war?  Those South Americans are a bunch of really strange and silly people.  - mpg
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Comcast in Hot Water with FCC: Commission Mulls Taking Action Against Cable Giant for Policing Net Traffic
  ---  http://bulldogreporter.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod
  ---  =Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id
  ---  =A840A3C5C60949158AA1002EDFB2CE3B&AudID=213D92F8BE0D4A1BB62EB3DF18FCCC68
A quote...."The Federal Communications Commission  is edging toward taking action against cable operator Comcast  for monkeying with its customers' peer–to–peer traffic, according to several news reports. Last week, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin  indicated during a speech at Stanford University's Law School that the commission may take action against the cable operator, which has been accused of blocking or slowing down the peer–to–peer file sharing service BitTorrent on its broadband network, CNET  reports."
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Whistleblower: Cellular carrier giving FBI unfettered access  ---  http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20080310122552706
A quote...."Computer security analyst Babak Pasdar says that a major mobile telecommunications carrier has a built-in backdoor that provides an undisclosed third-party with unfettered access to its internal technical infrastructure, including the ability to eavesdrop on all calls through its network. In an affidavit that describes the circumstances and basis for the allegations, Pasdar provides evidence which could indicate that the FBI is on the other side of the secret line, engaging in warrantless surveillance of mobile communications."
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End of Nations - EU Takeover & the Lisbon Treaty - (Google - 1 hr 22 min - Mar 5, 2008)
  ---  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4291770489472554607&hl=en
Video - A quote...."We set out to make a video about the pros and cons of the Lisbon Treaty and found out to our horror the lies, manipulations and deceit  ... all » behind the EU. From MEPs, legal experts and EU researches the true nature of the EU unfolded, how it really operates from behind closed doors and away from prying eyes. We discovered the massive power grab away from citizens and nations to the elites that is being proposed in this treaty. Most shocking of all was how our elected representatives are willingly handing us over to this emerging Totalitarian Superstate by deception , propaganda and outright lies."
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Gulf War Illness Strongly Linked to Chemical Exposure  ---  http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=54075
A quote...."MONDAY, March 10 (HealthDay News) -- A new scientific review finds a strong association between exposure to certain chemicals and the Gulf War illness suffered by many veterans."

Again to repeat, they're not GIs, they're GEs (Government Experiments).  And by now after all the horror stories of required injections, vaccinations, tests, pills, medical experimentation, not to mention the current administration's attempts to cut the VA benefits every year, their refusal to get armored-up HumVees into combat for three years, not giving the troops the proper body amour, etc. etc. etc. you would think by now, after all this time, people signing up for military service would be aware of these problems.

But they're not, they don't care, they're not informed, they don't want to be informed, some of these retards still believe there were WMDs in Iraq, or al Qaeda was in Iraq (before we got there) or that Saddam personally flew one of the planes into the World Trade Center....to put it bluntly "day wuvs dare weeders"  Worst of all they don't mind making themselves into amoral, biological weapons components to service this nation's MIOC elites, to become their property, in other words....to become their cannon fodder.  They're stupid, they're dangerous....and they simply don't care.

After five years of watching people sign up to kill, and get themselves killed, to make a bunch of filthy rich old bastards even richer than they all ready are, this website editor has lost all sympathy for those in the armed forces.  It’s hard to have sympathy for people who don’t want to help themselves, who have deliberately chosen to make themselves into ignorant, blind, immoral, egregiously stupid, killers for hire.  So regarding the fact they've also been used as government guinea pigs, in additional to all the other things they've allowed themselves to be used for....we should all just get over it and chalk this whole set of programs up as a project to help improve the human gene pool.
- mpg
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Media Overlook Fed Bailout in Plain View
  ---  http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/beat_the_press_archive?month=03&year=2008&base_name=media_overlook_fed_bailout_in
Must Read - A quote...."Can’t the media find any economists who don’t think that handing hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to the big banks and the incredibly rich people who own and manage them is a good idea? Apparently not, given the coverage so far to the Fed’s proposal to lend $200 billion to the banks using mortgage backed securities as collateral.
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Check out the two articles below....

NYSE Short Interest Hits Record Lead By Huge Increases In Financials
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/story.aspx?guid=%7B2A7B1B71-E992-4F53-9071-
  ---  0BD67D3453D7%7D&link=http://www.247wallst.com/2008/03/nyse-short-inte.html
A quote...."Last update: 3:02 a.m. EST March 7, 2008 -- The short interest on the NYSE hit an all-time record for the period ending February 29. Figures by company compare to shares sold short on Ferbruary 15.- Financial firms had significant increases in short interest."

And four days later....
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Fed plan sparks big gain for bellwether gauge
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/fed-plan-sparks-biggest-gain/story.aspx?
  ---  guid=%7B55C0AF0D%2D1DA0%2D45DA%2DBF37%2D80A9A3EED6D6%7D
A quote..."Last update: 4:34 p.m. EDT March 11, 2008 -- SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - A bellwether gauge of financial services stocks on Tuesday posted its strongest one-day percentage gain in six weeks after the Federal Reserve said it would inject more cash into the banking system to try to limit the damage from the broadening credit crunch." - DOW up 416 points NASDAQ up 86 points

It almost makes one want to laugh, those poor little shorts didn't know what hit them, they didn't understand they'd placed themselves in this huge vise, and Bernanke was the one with his hand on the lever just itching to squeeeezzzeeee them.  And clever Bernanke even waited till the markets had reached a technical support level.  Boy oh boy, the whole thing looks really painful from here.

Just remember folks, it's a rigged game, it's not a free market and it never has been, if you keep that in mind when you're investing, there'll be less chance of you getting hurt. -
mpg - underline by website editor
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Bush family private equity fund in deep trouble as Financial Tsunami rolls on  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8295
A quote...."Carlyle Capital Corp. Ltd., a subsidiary of one of the most influential USA private equity funds and closely tied to the Bush family, is in default on several of its securities. Carlyle is an offshore subsidiary of the Washington-based Carlyle Group, one of the most politically powerful private equity firms of the past two decades. The severity of its liquidity problems indicates that the unfolding financial crisis is taking major parts of the US financial and political elite down with it. Among the leading partners of the Carlyle Group in recent years have been George H.W. Bush, father of the President; James Baker III, the Bush family’s attorney and ‘fixer;’ former UK Prime Minister John Major." -- And here's another reason Bernanke acted to "save the markets" - mpg
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A rich free-market legacy - for some  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JC12Dj04.html
A quote...."The sight of businessmen such as E Stanley O'Neal of Merrill Lynch and Citigroup's Chuck Prince pocketing millions of dollars as they quit companies losing billions in value sticks in the throat of those whose money has been lost. Even some congressmen have figured something is wrong with such rewards for failure. Fair game, say others."  --  Ha, ha , ha, hee, hee, hee.....it really is a racket. - mpg
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Derivatives the new 'ticking bomb' - Buffett and Gross warn: $516 trillion bubble is a disaster waiting to happen
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/derivatives-new-ticking-time-bomb/story.aspx?
  ---  guid=%7bB9E54A5D-4796-4D0D-AC9E-D9124B59D436%7d&print=true&dist=printTop
A quote...."We try to be alert to any sort of mega-catastrophe risk, and that posture may make us unduly appreciative about the burgeoning quantities of long-term derivatives contracts and the massive amount of uncollateralized receivables that are growing alongside. In our view, however, derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal."
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Credit-Bubble Bulletin - What is left that is sellable?  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JC11Dj01.html
A quote...."The release of the Federal Reserve Board's Flow of Funds data for the fourth quarter and full-year 2007 underscores the continuing bursting of numerous economic bubbles, with no end in sight. The root of the problem, of course, can be traced to faltering real estate finance. As the year ended, even the booming commercial mortgage sector slowed markedly and we can safely forecast that numbers there will fall off a cliff in this quarter."
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Jan trade gap widens as oil prices rise  ---  http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/reuters/2008/03/11/jan-trade-gap-widens-as-oil-prices-rise
A quote...."WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. trade deficit widened slightly in January, as oil prices averaging $84 per barrel pushed imports to an all-time high even though slow U.S. economic growth reduced demand for many foreign goods."
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VIDEO: Press Secretary Ordered Not To Discuss Dollar  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=5846
Video - A quote...."White House Press Secretary Dana Perino mentioned in a press conference that she is not allowed to talk about the value of the U.S. Dollar. She says that the Treasury Secretary is the only one allowed to discuss the U.S. Dollar. She even said that she would be fired if she talked about the U.S. Dollar."
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Gasoline prices hit a new record high  ---  http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=54122
A quote...."Gas prices at the pump rose overnight to a record national average of $3.2272 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. That’s a tad higher than the previous record of $3.2265, set last May."  -- Important note:  Check out the chart!  Just eyeballing it, it looks like the median price of gas (except for a few bumps here and there) if charted, would form an almost perfect 30 to 35 degree upward slope since 2002.  That's a little weird, and would tend to indicate a lot of market control by the majors. - mpg
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