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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Tuesday June 10th 2008 - links page

The Truth is Out There  ---  http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=61431
A quote...."When Cynthia McKinney speaks the words of Martin Luther King Jr, they resound through the church with some of King’s cadence. “A time comes,” declares the former US congresswoman from Georgia, “when silence is betrayal.” The congregation answers with whoops and calls of “That’s right!” King was talking about America’s war in Vietnam. More than 40 years later, before the packed pews of the Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, McKinney is speaking of the American government’s war on its own people. The shock and awe phase of this conflict, we had been told earlier, began on September 11 2001, when the Bush administration launched attacks on New York and Washington, or at least waved them through."
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Bush Political Prisoner Gets Her Day in Court  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/Bush-Political-Prisoner-Ge-by-Michael-Collins-080610-137.html
Special Note - A quote...."A year after her last letter to Card, Lindauer contacted staff for Senator John McCain and Senator Trent Lott offering to testify before the committees investigating intelligence activities prior to the Iraq invasion. At that point, the government turned her file over to a grand jury. Lindauer notes, "They failed to tell the grand jury that I'd been working for them for nine years." -- For more on this issue see....Fake Intel / Propaganda - Intell Process
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/fakeintell-weblist-mpg-090206#INTELL_PROCESS
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WPost's Enduring Bush Cover-up  ---  http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/061008.html
 posted at ConsortiumNews  ---  https://secure.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/consortiumnews/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=2043
A quote...."In a kind of Watergate in reverse, the Washington Post has rallied once again to defend George W. Bush’s honesty, with the paper’s editorial-page editor swatting away the latest swarm of evidence showing how the President took the nation to war in Iraq via a series of lies."
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NYT circulates fear-mongering claims on FISA debate  ---  http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/06/10/lichtblau/index.html
A quote...."The New York Times' Eric Lichtblau has a long, prominent article today on the pending debate over FISA and telecom amnesty -- headlined: "Return to Old Spy Rules Is Seen as Deadline Nears" -- that features (and endorses) virtually every blatant falsehood that has distorted these spying issues from the beginning, and which is built on every shoddy journalistic practice that has made clear debate over these issues almost impossible. The article strongly suggests that a so-called "compromise" is imminent, a "compromise" which will deliver to the President virtually everything he seeks in the way of new warrantless eavesdropping powers and telecom amnesty."
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Wyo. Guard team heading to Denver for convention  ---  http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=61476
False Flag Alert - A quote...."CHEYENNE -- Amid the thousands of spectators, delegates and Secret Service, a select group of Wyoming National Guard soldiers and airmen will be present during the Democratic National Convention in Denver from Aug. 25-28."
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Likud MK: Israel will no longer fund terror against its own citizens  ---  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/991520.html
A quote...."The bill, initiated by Justice Minster Daniel Friedmann, attempts to circumvent a High Court of Justice ruling to the contrary. The High Court has already anulled the first "Intifada Law" which aimed to similarly exempt the state from responsibility. - The law, if approved in the second and third readings, would make it impossible for Palestinians living in what is termed enemy territory to sue the state for damages incurred during Israel Defense Forces operations." -- For more on this sort of issue see....
Rule Thirteen - Go After the Money 05-14-08 - mpg  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/rulethirteengoafterthemoney-blog-mpg-051408
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On “farewell tour” of Europe: Bush steps up threats against Iran  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2008/jun2008/bush-j11.shtml
A quote...."The meeting came on the first day of George W. Bush’s final tour of the European continent as US President. The six-day, six-nation visit is expected to yield little else in terms of substantive agreements. With barely seven months left in the White House, most European governments see Bush as a lame duck whose departure cannot come soon enough."
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EU to freeze Iranian bank assets if nuclear enrichment continues  ---  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/10/iran.eu
A quote...."European Union member states have agreed to intensify financial sanctions against Iran, going beyond existing UN measures aimed at containing Tehran's nuclear programme, it emerged last night. Diplomats said the agreement was reached last week and would be announced today in a joint communique at the US-EU summit in Slovenia."
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Iran pulls assets out of European banks  ---  http://www.payvand.com/news/08/jun/1073.html
A quote...."Iran has withdrawn a huge sum of its foreign exchange reserves from European banks and has deposited some of it into Asian banks."
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Iran to Start Development of Arash Oil, Gas Field  ---  http://www.farsnews.com/English/newstext.php?nn=8703211170
A quote...." TEHRAN (FNA)- Manager of the National Iranian Oil Co. Seifollah Jashnsaz said that NIOC will start development work on the offshore Arash oil and gas field."
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Pervez Musharraf: The fall of a dictator
  ---  http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1655&updaterx=2008-06-10+12%3A02%3A36
Video - A quote...."The fall of a dictator is always a great pleasure to watch. Nominally, of course, Pervez Musharraf continues to be the president of Pakistan. After some nine years of great power, though, the sun seems to be setting for the general. Asif Zardari, self-appointed chairman of the party that heads the government in Parliament, calls Musharraf a relic of the past. His party's spokesman refers to Musharraf now as a de facto president and a one-man demolition squad who demolished the Constitution, the judiciary, and the Parliament."
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Pakistan at the mercy of marching lawyers  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JF11Df01.html
A quote...."KARACHI - Pakistan is engulfed in its own version of the Long March, and just as that pivotal event changed the face of China in the mid-1930s, Pakistan's political landscape could be significantly altered, as could that of its neighbor Afghanistan. -- Thousands of black-suited lawyers gathered in Karachi on Monday for the beginning of a country-wide protest that is scheduled to finish outside parliament in the capital Islamabad on Thursday."
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No In NOvember!!!  ---  http://www.truthawaits.com/no_in_november.html
A quote...."The world has given us the benefit of the doubt for a long time, hoping that we as a people were not as corrupt as our government. But I chat with activists all over the world online every day and they're wondering why we continue to vote in rigged elections where peace candidates cannot win, and the candidates who win cannot be held accountable. If we oppose crimes against humanity, they want to know why we keep delegating our power to those who do not." -- Editor's Note:  This editor agrees with the sentiments, but not the prescription, it's your right to vote - just vote right....how about the phrase "Anybody but a DemoRepub"?? - mpg
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Stimulus" Spending: Making The Dead Parrot Twitch  ---  http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2008/06/stimulus-spending-making-dead-parrot.html
A quote...."Last week, published comments by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert regarding the likelihood of war between the U.S. and Iran caused the price of oil to surge to roughly $138 a barrel -- and the Dow to shed nearly 400 points. -- Delphic utterances delivered today by Federal Reserve commissary Ben Bernanke, and Timothy Geithner of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York prompted a mild market rally and lent some transient luster to the ever-depreciating greenback."
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Swiss banks eager to attract Muslim investors  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLo7aApbRPc
Video - A quote...."Islamic Banking is well on it's way to becoming the world's fastest growing financial sector. -- The Islamic banking sector is now thought to be worth up to 800 billion dollars and it's growing by around 20 percent each year on the back of soaring oil prices."
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Most World Stock Markets to End 2008 in Redhttp://en.epochtimes.com/news/8-6-10/71660.html
A quote...."LONDON—Global stock markets will not be able to overcome a lethal mix of rising inflation and a spill-out from the global credit crisis this year, with most indexes likely to end 2008 with annual losses, a Reuters poll showed."
See....Standard Disclaimer and the Ten Year Cycle  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/disclaimer-blog-mpg-070207
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The U.S. Has No Remaining Grain Reserves  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=6899
A quote...."According to the May 1, 2008 CCC inventory report there are o­nly 24.1 million bushels of wheat in inventory, so after this sale there will be o­nly 2.7 million bushels of wheat left the entire CCC inventory,”
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Trade deficit hits $60.9b in April - Oil is crucial factor, as both imports and exports set records
  ---  http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/06/11/trade_deficit_hits_609b_in_april/
A quote...."WASHINGTON - The US trade deficit widened in April as the surge in oil prices propelled imports to a record, overshadowing the biggest gain in exports in four years."
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Brazil GDP expands 5.8% in first quarter; overheat concern  ---  http://mercopress.handsoft.com.uy/vernoticia.do?id=13663&formato=HTML
A quote...."Brazil's Gross Domestic Product, GDP, expanded 5.8% in the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago, and 0.7% over the previous quarter, according to the latest release from the Brazilian Statistics and Geography Institute, IBGE."
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Japan's economy surges ahead in first quarter  ---  http://www.axilltv.com/at/news.php?id=11360
A quote...."It was the third straight positive quarter for the world's second-largest economy, which is gradually recovering from a series of slumps since the 1990s. Growth was also much faster than the initial estimate of 3.3 percent."
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Monday June 9th 2008 - links page

Pentagon blocked Cheney's attack on Iran  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JF10Ak01.html
Special Note - A quote...."WASHINGTON - Pentagon officials firmly opposed a proposal by Vice President Dick Cheney last summer for airstrikes against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) bases by insisting that the administration would have to make clear decisions about how far the United States would go in escalating the conflict with Iran, according to a former George W Bush administration official." -- bold by website editor -- For more on this issue see....False Flag Ops - Barksdale  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/falseflagops-weblist-mpg-082006#BARKSDALE
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The 911 stink that won't go away  ---  http://www.opednews.com/Poll/The-911-stink-that-wont-go-by-Michael-McCoy-080607-552.html
A quote...."Considering the extensive body of verifiable evidence that sharply contradicts the official version of the 911 attacks, if you were one person in a group that is preparing to address a large audience of fence-sitters, what single aspect of the crime would you find most compelling and choose to explore?"
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Senator Karen Johnson Blasts Congress for Failure to Defend U.S.  ---  http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20080609232458306
A quote...." In a formal Floor speech in the Arizona Senate tomorrow (Tuesday, June 10), Senator Karen S. Johnson plans to blast Congress for their failure to defend U.S. citizens who were killed on September 11, 2001, and their failure to properly investigate those attacks. -- “It has been nearly seven years,” says Johnson, “and we are faced with new evidence that turns the conclusions of the 9/11 Commission upside down. We are fighting a war because of 9/11 – and we still don’t really know what happened. We have spent billions of dollars on the war, with an additional $340 million per day. Thousands of U.S. servicemen and women have lost their lives, not to mention the lives of innocent Iraqi and Afghan civilians.”
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9/11 - From The History File...Dick Cheney commanded NORAD - (YouTube - 3 min 34 sec - December 26, 2006)
  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw_XDxnciGs
Minetta tells 9/11 Comm Cheney knew exact flight path - (YuTb - 3m55s - Jan 13 '07)
  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO-9LQDFE2Y&feature=related
9/11 Contradictions: When Did Cheney Enter the Underground Bunker?
  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8788
Secret Service--No Records of Cheney's Arrival in the Bunker on 9/11
  ---  http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=2008050770616110
Dick Cheney Impassive as Twin Towers Crumbled, Thousands Died
  ---  http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/06/dick-cheney-imp.html
Michael Chertoff and the sabotage of the Ptech investigation
  ---  http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=82712
FAA Managers Destroyed 9/11 Tape
  ---  http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A6632-2004May6
FAA Manager Mangled, Cut, Destroyed 9/11 Tapes
  ---  http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/briefs/187259-1.html
F.A.A. Official Scrapped Tape of 9/11 Controllers' Statements
  ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/06/national/06CND-TAPE.html?ex=1213243200&en=c1a3db97cfea797c&ei=5070
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Guantánamo Bay: Interrogators told to destroy torture notes, US lawyer claims  ---  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/09/guantanamo.humanrights
A quote...."Interrogators at Guantánamo Bay were told to destroy their notes to stop them potentially being used to highlight the mistreatment of detainees, according to a US military lawyer." -- Also posted at CommonDreams   ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/09/9496/  ---  The destruction of the notes may not have been due solely to the US military's cover-up of torture, they may have done it to cover-up other things.  For more on this issue see....The Convenient Silence of Guantanamo Bay - 05-31-08 - mpg
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/theconvenientsilenceofgitmo-blog-mpg-053108
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Kucinich presents Bush impeachment articles  ---  http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Kucinich_presents_Bush_impeachment_articles_0609.html
Video - A quote...."An Ohio Democratic lawmaker and former presidential candidate has presented articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush to Congress. - Thirty-five articles were presented by Rep. Dennis Kucinich to the House of Representatives late Monday evening, airing live on C-SPAN."
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Castrated U.S. Media Remains Obediently Silent On Bilderberg  ---  http://prisonplanet.com/articles/june2008/060908_castrated_media.htm
A quote...."The mainstream American corporate press has once again proven itself to be no better than the state controlled media in places like Communist China or Zimbabwe, by steadfastly refusing to print even a mention of over a hundred global power brokers meeting in secret to discuss the future of the planet."
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Bilderbergers Leave Confab To Initiate Fresh Orders  ---  http://infowars.net/articles/june2008/090608Bilderberger.htm
Special Note - A quote...."For all those who still deny Bilderberg is a major player in terms of international policy making, this provides another example of the influence and sway the elite group has on the rest of the political and corporate world -- Despite this weekend gathering of so many heads of global finance, as well as David Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, the secretary general of NATO, CEO's of the world's biggest corporations, U.S. politicians and European royalty, the corporate media has stayed completely silent, a factor that cannot fail to worry even the most staunch naysayers."
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Records Could Shed Light on Iraq Group  ---  http://www.truthout.org/article/records-could-shed-light-iraq-group
Some auotes...."There is an important line in last week's Senate intelligence committee report on the Bush administration's prewar exaggerations of the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. It says that the panel did not review "less formal communications between intelligence agencies and other parts of the Executive Branch." -- "One obvious target for such an expanded inquiry would have been the records of the White House Iraq Group (WHIG), a group set up in August 2002 by then-White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr."
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Some Call It 'Counterinsurgency' - It sounds better than 'brutal military occupation'  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig9/bacon4.html
Must Read - A quote...."It is widely reported that the US military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, continuing on for over five years, have been "counterinsurgencies" (COIN) led in Iraq by the expert on COIN General David Petraeus. Petraeus has been highly praised for his COIN abilities and soon will be able to expand his influence to Afghanistan, the almost-seven-year quagmire."
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U.S. seeking 58 bases in Iraq, Shiite lawmakers say  ---  http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/40372.html
A quote...." BAGHDAD -Iraqi lawmakers say the United States is demanding 58 bases as part of a proposed "status of forces" agreement that will allow U.S. troops to remain in the country indefinitely. -- Leading members of the two ruling Shiite parties said in a series of interviews the Iraqi government rejected this proposal along with another U.S. demand that would have effectively handed over to the United States the power to determine if a hostile act from another country is aggression against Iraq. Lawmakers said they fear this power would drag Iraq into a war between the United States and Iran."
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Iraqi MPs against US bases
  ---  http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1643&updaterx=2008-06-09+10%3A35%3A37
Video - A quote...."Nadim al-Jaberi is a senior member and former secretary-general of Fadhila, a Shiite party that controls the Basra provincial government. The group, which holds 15 seats in parliament, withdrew last year from talks to join al-Maliki's cabinet after complaining of US interference. - Khalaf al-Ilyan is one of the three leaders of the Iraq Accordance Front, parliament's largest Sunni Arab bloc with 44 of the House's 275 seats. Last year, he played a prominent role in the Sunni decision to walk out of the Cabinet in protest of al-Maliki's policies."
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Iraq Tells US It Wants Troops Back in Barracks  ---  http://rinf.com/alt-news/war-terrorism/iraq-tells-us-it-wants-troops-back-in-barracks/3773/
A quote...."American troops in Iraq would be confined to their bases and private security guards subject to local law if Iraq gets its way in negotiations with the US over the future status of American forces. -- According to a senior Iraqi official, the negotiations between the two allies became so fraught recently that President Bush intervened personally to defuse the situation. On Thursday he telephoned Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, to assure him that Washington was not seeking to undermine Iraq’s sovereignty and that America would reconsider any contentious part of the agreement." -- And Maliki believed him?  What an idiot! - mpg
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Iraq seeks to allay Iran's concern over U.S. bases  ---  http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=203392
A quote...."TEHRAN, June 8 (Reuters) - Iraq's prime minister used a visit to Tehran on Sunday to soothe Iranian concerns that negotiations between Baghdad and Washington on a new military agreement will lead to permanent U.S. bases across its border."
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The Iran Trap  ---  http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080608_the_iran_trap/
Must Read - A quote...."The failure by Barack Obama to chart another course in the Middle East, to defy the Israel lobby and to denounce the Bush administration’s inexorable march toward a conflict with Iran is a failure to challenge the collective insanity that has gripped the political leadership in the United States and Israel.  -- Obama, in a miscalculation that will have grave consequences, has given his blessing to the widening circle of violence and abuse of the Palestinians by Israel and, most dangerously, to those in the Bush White House and Jerusalem now plotting a war against Iran. He illustrates how the lust for power is morally corrosive. And while he may win the White House, by the time he takes power he will be trapped in George Bush’s alternative reality."
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Obama, Israel and AIPAC  ---  http://jevdet.blogspot.com/2008/06/obama-israel-and-aipacsay-it-aint-so.html
A quote...."After months of a tough and bitter race, a merciless struggle, Barack Obama has defeated his formidable opponent, Hillary Clinton. He has wrought a miracle: for the first time in history a black person has become a credible candidate for the presidency of the most powerful country in the world. -- And what was the first thing he did after his astounding victory? He ran to the conference of the Israel lobby, AIPAC, and made a speech that broke all records for obsequiousness and fawning."
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New forces fraying U.S.-Saudi oil ties  ---  http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-ussaudi8-2008jun08,0,169219.story
A quote...."In the 1980s, the U.S.-Saudi bond that kept oil prices low was credited with helping weaken the Soviet Union during the waning days of the Cold War. And it helped keep markets stable after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. -- But the Saudi government has been dismayed by the consequences of the war in Iraq and by what it sees as a weak Bush administration commitment to the Palestinians."
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U.S. quits as observer at UN Human Rights Council under war-crimes accusations  ---  http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/alerts/357
A quote...."The White House quietly pulled out of the UN Human Rights Council as the Bush Administration came under fire by the House of Representatives for possible war crimes violations. Separately, Guantanamo Bay prosecutors prepare for their own war-crimes tribunals and secret negotiations continue over the role of the U.S. in Iraq."
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Broken Engagement: Rare Honesty from Bush Gang  ---  http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1529/135/
A quote...."Human Rights Watch has issued a denunciation of the Bush Administration for its disengagement from the UN's Human Rights Council. As HRW puts it:"
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Supporting Palestinian Farmers: Olive Oil Until They're Free  ---  http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=13867
A quote...."Mahmud was a tall, strong young man. His black hair and thick eyebrows hinted at a shy nature, but he was a born leader. His popularity reigned among the families of Jenin’s refugee camp, the West Bank, and the surrounding Arab countries. Mahmud feared nothing but submission to Israeli occupation. Working to end this occupation, which encapsulated his every breath on Earth, was how he spent his waking hours."
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U.S., German lawyers seek extraditions of CIA agents  ---  http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-06-09-Germany-CIA_N.htm
A quote...."BERLIN (AP) — A group of German and American civil rights attorneys on Monday sued the German government to demand that it pursue the extradition of 13 CIA agents sought in the alleged kidnapping of a German citizen." -- For more on this issue see....Fun & Torture - It's a Pleasure.
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/funandtorture-blog-mpg-020307
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[UK] ‘Big Brother’ database for phones and e-mails  ---  http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/telecoms/article3965033.ece
A quote...."A massive government database holding details of every phone call, e-mail and time spent on the internet by the public is being planned as part of the fight against crime and terrorism. Internet service providers (ISPs) and telecoms companies would hand over the records to the Home Office under plans put forward by officials."
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Abramoff Had Closer Ties to Bush  ---  http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/060908a.html
A quote...."Imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff was photographed with President George W. Bush at least five times and had hundreds of lobbying contacts with White House staff, a House committee’s draft report says. -- Hundreds of pages of documents, released Monday by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, show that Abramoff regularly communicated with former White House political adviser Karl Rove and his deputies regarding the administration’s domestic agenda."
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Warning to Sen. Vitter: DC Madam Case Not Over?   ---  link posted at CLG  ---  http://www.legitgov.org/#contribute
  ---  http://blog.washingtonpost.com/sleuth/2008/06/warning_to_sen_vitter_dc_madam.html
A quote...."Maybe Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) isn't completely off the hook when it comes to the late "D.C. Madam," Deborah Jean Palfrey. And other Washington Johns who used the late Palfrey's escort service and whose names remained below the radar screen may want to find a nice hiding place."
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Cindy Sheehan Salutes Ron Paul and Exposes Obama - (YouTube - 1 min 43 sec - Added:  April 06, 2008)
  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ptu81SGQfLw&feature=related
Video - A quote...."Cindy Sheehan at the libertarian church in San Francisco March 16, 08. talks about Obama, the war and her son."
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Ron Paul: Nancy Pelosi pulled Iran bill on orders of Israel - (YouTube - 58 sec - Added:  June 08, 2008)
  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWLBhgTQ46o
Video - A quote...."In a speech given on 06 June 2008, in Reston, Virginia, at the Hyatt Regency, Reston, to the Future of Freedom Foundation, 'restoring the republic 2008: foreign policy and civil liberties' conference, congressman Ron Paul, tells how speaker of the house, Nancy Pelosi, 'deliberately' pulled a supplemental bill requiring congressional approval for attacking iran on orders of israel and AIPAC."
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Potential Future Hyperinflation  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/Potential-Future-Hyperinfl-by-Stephen-Lendman-080609-867.html
A quote...."Walter "John" Williams thinks out of the box. He makes disquieting reading, but you won't find him in the mainstream. At least not often. He runs a "Shadow Government Statistics" site with an electronic by-subscription newsletter. Anyone can access some of his data and occasional special reports. They can also assess his reasoning. In his judgment, government data are manipulated, corrupted and unreliable. He's not alone thinking that." -- Also posted at GlobalResearch  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9256
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Mortgages With No Money Down Still Available -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/08/AR2008060801426.html?hpid=topnews
A quote...."Despite the bursting of the housing bubble, it's still possible to buy homes with no money down. In fact, it's possible to borrow up to 105 percent of the purchase price, leaving the buyer with more debt than the house is worth."
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More losses and fresh funding for US banking system  ---  http://mercopress.handsoft.com.uy/vernoticia.do?id=13655&formato=HTML
A quote...."United States investment bank Lehman Brothers is raising 6 billion US dollars to boost its finances after predicting a loss of 2.8 billion in the second quarter of 2008."
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Credit Default Swaps the next crisis -- subprime is just a ‘Vorspeise'  ---  http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_3356.shtml
A quote...."The next phase of the unravelling crisis in the US-centered “revolution in finance” is emerging in the market for arcane instruments known as Credit Default Swaps or CDS. Wall Street bankers always have to have a short name for these things."
Also posted at GlobalResearch  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9202
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Sunday June 8th 2008 - links page

The Empire -- A Status Report  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20053.htm
Must Read - A quote...."  07/06/08 "ICH" -- - There are a number of expressions and slogans associated with the Nazi regime in Germany which have become commonly known in English.

     "Sieg Heil!" -- Victory Hail!
     "Arbeit macht frei" -- Work will make you free.
     "Denn heute gehört uns Deutschland und morgen die ganze Welt" -- Today Germany, tomorrow the world
     But none perhaps is better known than "Deutschland über alles" -- Germany above all.
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War and Inflation  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/war-and-inflation.html
Must Read - Special Note - A quote...."The U.S. central bank, called the Federal Reserve, was created in 1913. No one promoted this institution with the slogan that it would make wars more likely and guarantee that nearly half a million Americans would die in battle in foreign lands, along with millions of foreign soldiers and civilians. No one pointed out that this institution would permit Americans to fund, without taxes, the destruction of cities abroad and overthrow governments at will. No one said that the central bank would make it possible for the U.S. to be at large-scale war in one of every four years for a full century. It was never pointed out that this institution would make it possible for the U.S. government to establish a global empire that would make Imperial Rome and Britain look benign by comparison." -- For more on this issue see....Effective Fed Funds Rate 03-24-07 - mpg
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/fedfundschart-photopg-cached-032407
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Notes From a Convention  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/shaffer/shaffer174.html
A quote....
If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were once our countrymen. -- *Samuel Adams*
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War, Inc.  ---  http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/33956
A quote...."When John Cusack’s film, “War, Inc.” opened in June 2008, I considered suing him for stealing my title and distorting the number of web hits for my “War, Inc.,” from a stable, long-standing total of about a dozen, to a million and a half...but decided my time could be better spent updating the original piece."
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Robert Fisk: The West's weapon of self-delusion  ---  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/fisk/robert-fisk-the-wests-weapon-of-selfdelusion-842117.html
A quote...."So they are it again, the great and the good of American democracy, grovelling and fawning to the Israeli lobbyists of American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), repeatedly allying themselves to the cause of another country and one that is continuing to steal Arab land." -- Also posted at ICH  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20055.htm
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Israeli officials: We will invade Gaza before truce deal takes effect - http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m44723&s1=h1- Just think about the title for a moment. - mpg
A quote...."Israeli army officials told the Jerusalem Post news paper that the Israeli government will conduct a medium range ground offensive targeting Gaza before any truce deal with the Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza takes effect."
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Legislating Tyranny  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts248.html
A quote...."The George W. Bush administration responded to the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon with an assault on U.S. civil liberty that Bush justified in the name of the “war on terror.” The government assured us that the draconian measures apply only to “terrorists.” The word terrorist, however, was not defined. The government claimed the discretionary power to decide who is a terrorist without having to present evidence or charges in a court of law."-- Also posted at ICH  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20056.htm
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Bill Moyers addresses NCMR 2008 - (YouTube - 39 min 56 sec - Added:  June 07, 2008)
  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0r71L7cojE&eurl=http://www.truveo.com/Bill-Moyers-addresses-NCMR-2008/id/1588701838
Must View - Video - A quote...."Legendary journalist Bill Moyers address the National Conference for Media Reform in Minneapolis, June 7, 2008. Presented by FreePress.net. For more speakers, press coverage, and info, visit: http://www.freepress.net/conference"
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Dan Rather addresses NCMR 2008 - (YouTube - 21 min 38 sec - Added:  June 08, 2008)
  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97SzcumnYdc&eurl=http://www.truveo.com/Dan-Rather-addresses-the-NCMR-2008/id/2112299572
Video - A quote...."Dan Rather addresses the National Conference for Media Reform in Minneapolis, June 7, 2008. Presented by FreePress.net. For more speakers, press coverage, and info, visit: http://www.freepress.net/conference
Click here for a transcript  ---  http://www.truthout.org/article/dan-rather-slams-corporate-news-conference
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FCC Urged to Probe Pentagon Propaganda Program  ---  http://www.democracynow.org/2008/6/6/fcc_urged_to_probe_pentagon_propaganda
A quote...."Lawmakers are urging the Federal Communications Commission to investigate the Pentagon’s propaganda program to determine if the major TV networks or the Pentagon-backed analysts violated federal law. We speak to FCC Commissioner Michael Copps. [includes rush transcript]"
Real Video Stream  ||  ---  http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2008/june/video/dnB20080606a.rm&proto=rtsp&start=24:38
Real Audio Stream  ||  ---  http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2008/june/audio/dn20080606.ra&proto=rtsp&start=24:38
MP3 Download  ||  ---  http://media.switchpod.com/users/democracynow/ftp/dn2008-0606-1.mp3
More…  ||  ---  http://www.democracynow.org/2008/6/6/stream
For more on this issue see....Fake Intel/Propaganda - NYT Article
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/fakeintell-weblist-mpg-090206#NYT_ARTICLE
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Detained journalist sues Bush administration  ---  http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h6IvbUF4uz5ljalZB4C9i9uZy-1gD913HKS01
Special Note - A quote...."WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for a Canadian television journalist being held as an enemy combatant in Afghanistan filed a lawsuit Wednesday accusing the Bush administration of holding him illegally and demanding his release." -- For more on this issue see....Rule Thirteen - Go After the Money 05-14-08 - mpg  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/rulethirteengoafterthemoney-blog-mpg-051408
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The People Who Did 911...Support Obama....News&Opinion  ---  http://www.nowpublic.com/world/people-who-did-911-support-obama-news-opinion-2
A quote...."People who believe the election is going to change America are in for a major awakening knowing that these guys are never going to be brought to Justice for the crimes these, Most Wanted have committed. Now that Hillary has conceded the race, she was the last hope for bringing on Impeachment. The news is Obama who promises change is leaving these guys in power as he rakes in his payoff from them. No matter who wins in November Obama or McCain, the Republicans have won already."
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9/11 - From The History File...Armed pilots banned 2 months before 9-11
  --- http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27647
FAA began 'disarming' pilots in '87
  ---  http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27765
9/11: Real World or Exercise?
  ---  http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/9-11_exercises.html
9/11 recordings chronicle confusion, delay
  ---  http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/06/17/911.transcript/index.html
9/11 War Games by the US military & CIA
  ---  http://www.oilempire.us/wargames.html
US & DOD ongoing and scheduled operations and exercises for Sept. 11 - wikipedia
  ---  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_games_in_progress_on_September_11,_2001
Complete 911 Timeline BMI and Ptech Investigations
  ---  http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_
  ---  timeline&financing_of_al-qaeda:_a_more_detailed_look=bmiPtech
PTECH, 9/11, and USA-SAUDI TERROR - Part I
  ---  http://www.copvcia.com/free/ww3/012005_ptech_pt1.shtml
PTECH, 9/11, and USA-SAUDI TERROR - Part II
  ---  http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/012705_ptech_pt2.shtml
9/11 – US Complicity: Implausible, or Very Probable?
  ---  http://tvnewslies.org/html/9_11_-_us_complicity__implausi.html
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Genocide by design?' Bush Administration Plans to 'Stay' in Iraq for the Oil
  ---  http://existentialistcowboy.blogspot.com/2008/06/genocide-by-design-bush-administration.html
A quote...."Just as Bush's attack and invasion of Iraq had nothing to do with WMD, the Iragi resistance has nothing to do with 'terrorism'. The original code name --Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL) --gave the game away and was changed. Never called 'resistance', the Orwellian linguists inside the Bush White House called the resistance 'insurgents'. a term which implies an opposition to a 'legitimate' authority. But there is nothing legitimate about the US occupation, in fact, a theft of Iraq's most valuable natural resource. The US presence is, in fact, a war crime. Those resisting the US occupation are, therefore, not terrorists nor are they 'insurgents'"
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Ayatollah 'sets conditions for US pact'  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=58791&sectionid=351020201
A quote...."Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has set four conditions for any security pact between the US and Iraq, top Iraqi politician says." The cleric stressed that any long-term pact in Iraq should maintain four key terms including safeguarding Iraqis' interests, national sovereignty, national consensus and being presented to the Iraqi parliament for approval." leader of the largest bloc in Iraq's parliament, Seyyed Abdul Aziz al-Hakim said quoting Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani."
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Iraq May Request Extension For U.S.  ---  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/05/AR2008060503687.html
A quote...."The Iraqi government may request an extension of the United Nations security mandate authorizing a U.S. military presence, due to expire in December, amid growing domestic criticism of new bilateral arrangements now being negotiated with the Bush administration, according to senior Iraqi officials."
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Demonstrations, Speeches Against Security Agreement; PM Faces Split in Own Party -- http://www.juancole.com/2008/06/demonstrations-speeches-against.html
A quote...."Thousands of Shiites demonstrated on Friday after prayers against the security agreement being imposed on Iraq by the Bush administration. In Sadr City, crowds set fire to the American flag. -- Even Iraqi government officials close to Washington are rejecting US demands that troops be allowed to undertake military missions without getting a go-ahead from the Iraqi government."
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Ex-Premier Is Expelled From Governing Party in Iraq  ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/world/middleeast/08iraq.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin
Special Note - A quote...."BAGHDAD — In a shakeup at the top of Iraq’s Shiite power structure, former Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari was expelled from the governing Dawa political party, officials said Saturday."
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Iraq's Maliki says wants stronger ties with Iran  ---  http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=202608
A quote...." TEHRAN, June 7 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Saturday that Iraq wanted to strengthen ties with Iran, a news agency reported. -- Maliki arrived in Tehran on Saturday evening for a three-day visit. Iran is accused by the United States of supporting Shi'ite militias in Iraq."
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Iraqi Premier al-Maliki arrives in Tehran
  ---  http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1409876.php/Iraqi_Premier_al-Maliki_arrives_in_Tehran
A quote...." Tehran - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki arrived in Tehran, official news agency IRNA reported early Sunday. -- He is to meet later Sunday morning with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to discuss the latest developments in Iraq, including an agreement between Iraq and the United States to be finalized next month."
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Iraqi PM assures Iran on security  ---  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7441329.stm
A quote...."Iraq will not allow its territory to be used to attack Iran, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has said during a visit to Tehran." -- bold by website editor.
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Poland to leave Iraq by October: minister  ---  http://rawstory.com/news/2008/_Poland_to_leave_Iraq_by_0607.html
A quote...."WARSAW - Polish forces will be out of Iraq by the middle of October, Defence Minister Bogdan Klich confirmed in a radio interview Saturday. -- "At the end of June, I will hand over to the Iraqis responsibility for the whole province" of Diwaniyah, south of Baghdad, Klich told Radio RMF FM."
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Will Dick Cheney be punished for the Nuclear B-52 Incident at Minot Air Force Base  ---  http://www.chycho.com/?q=node/1745
Special Note - A quote...."Two articles in September of 2007, one by  Project Censored award winning writer  Dave Lindorff entitled “Was That Nuclear-Armed B-52 Flight Destined for Iran?”, and the other by  Dr. Michael Salla, an international politics scholar, entitled “Was a Covert Attempt to Bomb Iran with Nuclear Weapons foiled by a Military Leak?”, both reported that the  August 2007 B-52 Incident in the United States  was an attempt to start a nuclear  war with Iran." -- For more on this issue see....False Flag Ops - Barksdale  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/falseflagops-weblist-mpg-082006#BARKSDALE
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House Democrats Want Bush Administration Investigated [by Bush Administration] for War Crimes  ---  http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/33957
A quote...."House Democrats sent a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey Friday requesting that he appoint a special prosecutor to investigate whether White House officials, including President Bush, violated the War Crimes Act when they allowed interrogators to use brutal interrogation methods against detainees suspected of ties to terrorist organizations."
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IAEA slams Mofaz remark that attack on Iran seems 'unavoidable'  ---  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/990867.html
A quote...."Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Mohammed ElBaradei on Saturday rebuked remarks made by Transportation Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz, saying an attack against Iran seemed "unavoidable."
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A Cluster of Fallacies  ---  http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5270
A quote...."Well over half the world’s governments agreed last week to “consign cluster munitions to the trash bin of history,” in the words of the Cluster Munition Coalition, the civil society collective that delivered the treaty. Meeting in Dublin, Ireland, representatives of 110 governments completed negotiations on a new international treaty that bans the production, use, and export of all existing cluster munitions and commits them to destroy their stockpiles within eight years."
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United States pulls out of UN human rights body  ---  http://rawstory.com/news/2008/United_States_pulls_out_of_UN_0608.html
A quote...."In a State Department briefing on Friday, it was announced that the United States will no longer be regularly attending meetings held by the United Nations' Human Rights Council unless specifically compelled to, citing the Council's stance on relations between Israel and Palestine."
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Election Hypocrisy  ---  http://watchingamerica.com/News/1308/election-hypocrisy/
A quote...."Obama’s Zionist speech, the strongest of its kind, no doubt surprised many people who had placed their hopes in that young candidate, that he might save them from the legacy of one of the most evil American administrations (and for Arabs and Muslims the most dangerous); and that he might open a new page in relations with America which would end the state of war declared between the two sides for the last seven years. The outcome of this state of war is that, until now more than a million people have fallen in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon."
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Obama, McCain and the world
  ---  http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1642&updaterx=2008-06-08+04%3A35%3A05
Video - Must View - Special Note - A quote...."I have grave concerns about Senator McCain and I’ll give you evidence of those concerns by saying I probably won’t vote for him - and I’m a Republican.”
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Oil, Israel, Iran, America and the High Cost of a Single War-Like Remark
  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/Oil--Israel--Iran--America-by-Dave-Lindorff-080607-223.html
A quote...."One remark by a minor Israeli cabinet officer hinting at a possible US or Israeli attack on Iran has sent oil prices up by a record $11/barrel to a record $139 per barrel Friday. That should tell us what would happen if the Bush administration were crazy enough to attack Iran, or to let its vassal state of Israel do it."
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Iran negotiating on Nabucco pipeline  ---  http://www.upi.com/Energy_Resources/2008/06/05/Iran_negotiating_on_Nabucco_pipeline/UPI-30151212717859/
Special Note - A quote...."BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 5 (UPI) -- Iranian Economic Minister Alireza Attar told officials in Azerbaijan Thursday joining the Nabucco natural gas pipeline project was in negotiations. -- Attar, the Iranian deputy foreign minister for economic affairs, spoke with officials in Azerbaijan, noting Iranian involvement in the planned project, intended to diversify regional gas supplies away from Russia, was good for bilateral relations. "Iran's participation in the Nabucco pipeline is (being) negotiated," he told the Azeri daily Today. -- Editor's note: This is both a carrot to the Europeans to lay off Iran on the sanctions, and a stick to get Russia to give Iran more support.  Only time will tell who gets the prize of Iranian energy cooperation.
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Afghan BBC journalist found dead in Afghanistan a day after he went missing - link posted at CLG  ---  http://www.legitgov.org/#contribute
  ---  http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5i6HXX2jcrkzhW_cRyL2UcluYOVJg
A quote...."Taliban insurgents have kidnapped and killed Afghan journalists in recent years, but a spokesman for the militants, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said the Taliban was not behind the Rohani's killing. Ahmadi said that the Taliban did not have any problem with Rohani's reporting and that he was upset about the reporter's death."  -- Nobody should be killing journalists....period. - mpg
For more on this issue see....US - Killing the Messenger  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/uskillingthemessenger-weblist-mpg-112907
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Chávez Suffers Military and Policy Setbacks
  ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/world/americas/08venez.html?_r=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin
A quote...." Amid festering tension with Colombia, including claims that Colombian paramilitaries were fomenting destabilization plots, President Chávez quietly unveiled his intelligence law in late May, which would have abolished the DISIP secret police and DIM military intelligence, replacing them with new intelligence and counterintelligence agencies. -- But in a rare act of self-criticism on Saturday, Mr. Chávez acknowledged the ire that his intelligence overhaul had provoked among legal scholars and human rights groups, which said Mr. Chávez was attempting to introduce a police state by forcing judges to cooperate with intelligence services and criminalizing dissent. -- “Where we made mistakes we must accept that and not defend the indefensible,” Mr. Chávez said at a campaign rally in Zulia State for gubernatorial and mayoral candidates from his Socialist party."  --  It's just amazing how this "dictator" keeps bowing to political pressure, while here in the New Roman Empire (formally known as the United States) not one single politician pays the slightest attention to what the "people" (sheep, peons, cannon fodder, what-have-you) think or have to say. -mpg
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Ncmr2008 Video Collection  ---  http://www.truveo.com/tag/ncmr2008
Videos - From Truveo - mpg
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U.S. Corporate Media Blackout On Bilderberg Meeting  ---  http://prisonplanet.com/articles/june2008/060708_media_blackout.htm
A quote...."Ben Bernanke, Condoleezza Rice, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton amongst a host of other global power brokers have all convened in Chantilly Virginia to secretly discuss the future of the world - yet not one mainstream U.S. corporate media outlet has uttered a single word about the 2008 Bilderberg conference. -- Bilderbergers seem to enjoy visiting the U.S. because they can be assured that in the "land of the free," the American "free press" are certain to follow orders and not print even a puff piece about a confab of over 125 of the globe's most influential movers and shakers."
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Hillary & Obama In Secret Bilderberg Rendezvous  ---  http://prisonplanet.com/articles/june2008/060608_hillary_obama.htm
A quote...."According to news reports, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton went out of their way to hold their long-awaited private meeting in a very specific location - not at Hillary's mansion in Washington - but in Northern Virginia, which also just happens to be the scene of the 2008 Bilderberg meeting."
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US is 'the world's leading jailer:' HRW  ---  http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_is_the_world_s_leading_jailer_HR_06062008.html
Some quotes...."The United States has 2.3 million people behind bars, more than any other country in the world and more than ever before in its history, Human Rights Watch said Friday. -- The number represents an incarceration rate of 762 per 100,000 residents, compared to 152 per 100,000 in Britain, 108 in Canada, and 91 in France, HRW said in a statement commenting on Justice Department figures also released Friday." -- "The newly released figures show a sharp racial imbalance in the US prison population, with blacks outnumbering whites by six to one."
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Bush v. Chavez: Washington's War on Venezuela  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9245
Book Review - A quote...."Building on her earlier book "The Chavez Code" (Olive Branch Press, 2006), Eva Golinger has written "Bush vs. Chavez, Washington's War on Venezuela," (Monthly Review Press, 2008), a riveting, comprehensive rundown on continuing U.S. assaults against the Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chavez. Golinger is a lawyer living in Venezuela who grew up and was educated in the United States."
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Frost over the world -Rory Stewart - 07 June 08  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgFzruCrQOY
Video Interview - Note: only about half the video is about Rory Stewart - A quote...."In 2002 writer and historian, Rory Stewart, walked across Afghanistan. The following year, at the tender age of 30, he went on to become the deputy governor of two provinces in Southern Iraq.Stewa..."  -- This website editor's impressed. - mpg
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Russia blames U.S. for global financial crisis  ---  http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Russia_blames_U_S_for_global_financ_06072008.html
A quote...." ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev blamed "aggressive" United States policies on Saturday for the global financial crisis and said Moscow's growing economic muscle could be part of the solution. -- "Failure by the biggest financial firms in the world to adequately take risk into account, coupled with the aggressive financial policies of the biggest economy in the world, have led not only to corporate losses," Medvedev told Russia's main annual event for international investors in St Petersburg." -- The Russians just don't understand....little Bushy wanted to be "da'war president" and "da'great decider" along with using his toy soldiers to kill millions of "dem dare Aaaa-rabs".....now what's more important - the economic welfare of the entire planet, or Bushy's happiness? - mpg
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Day of economic shocks for the US  ---  http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/06/07/day_of_economic_shocks_for_the_us/
Charts - A quote...."An unexpected surge in the national unemployment rate set off shock waves that washed over financial, currency, and oil markets yesterday and delivered another blow to hopes that the sliding US economy would soon begin to rebound."
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Investors' Growing Appetite for Oil Evades Market Limits
  ---  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/05/AR2008060504322.html?hpid=topnews
A quote...."Hedge funds and big Wall Street banks are taking advantage of loopholes in federal trading limits to buy massive amounts of oil contracts, according to a growing number of lawmakers and prominent investors, who blame the practice for helping to push oil prices to record highs."
Also posted at BLN  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=6865
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Gas hits national average of $4 for first time  ---  http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-gas-at-4,0,7274382.story
A quote...."NEW YORK - Drivers are paying an average of $4 for a gallon of gasoline for the first time. AAA and the Oil Price Information Service say the national average price for a gallon of regular gas rose to $4.005 overnight from $3.988. But consumers in many parts of the country have already been paying well above that price for some time."
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Saturday June 7th 2008 - links page

No posts - mpg

Friday June 6th 2008 - links page

U.S. Calls a Straw Poll in Iraq: It May Not Like the Result
  ---  http://tonykaron.com/2008/06/05/us-calls-a-straw-poll-in-iraq-it-may-not-like-the-result/
Must Read - A quote...."In the TV gameshow bubble that substitutes for foreign policy discussion on the U.S. presidential campaign trial, there’s a lot of talk these days about how the U.S. is “winning” in Iraq. The evidence to back this claim is a comparative lull in the death rate in recent months, and the fact that Iraqi government forces are taking more casualties than the Americans. Those proclaiming “victory,” of course, are invariably the same crowd that enthusiastically backed the invasion of Iraq in the first place, and their desire for vindication for their part in authoring what all serious analysts agree has been the most catastrophic strategic blunder in America’s history is all too understandable."
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Cheney blocked talks with Iran
  ---  http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1617&updaterx=2008-06-06+14%3A34%3A32
Video - Must view - Special Note - A quote...."Colin Powell's former Chief of Staff Larry Wilkerson on how Cheney turned down talks with Iran -- Wilkerson says what Dr. Rice has been saying is fairly consistent with what the administration‘s position has been and that is, that Iran must stop enrichment before talks can happen. I think that’s absurd. Setting such conditions is a route to no talks at all, which is why Cheney advocates such a policy. Iran made a serious approach in 2003 to talk, Cheney made the State department turn it down. The plan was for regime change throughout the Middle East."
Also posted at ICH   ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20048.htm  ---  For more regarding "regime change" throughout the Middle East see....The Plan -- according to U.S. General Wesley Clark (Ret.)  ---   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXS3vW47mOE  ---  YouTube - 1.37 min
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U.N. experts rap U.S. "cruelty" to child prisoners  ---  http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=201134
A quote...."GENEVA, June 6 (Reuters) - United Nations experts on child rights criticised the United States on Friday over detention of juveniles at Guantanamo, in Afghanistan and Iraq, and voiced concern that some may have suffered cruel treatment."
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Iraqi Officials Oppose US-Iraq Treaty  ---  http://www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/327163
Special Note - A quote...."At an extraordinary hearing on Capitol Hill yesterday, members of the Iraqi parliament hand-delivered a letter to members of Congress that rejected the idea of a US-Iraq agreement unless the United States agrees to a specific timetable to get out of Iraq. The letter was signed by a majority of the 270-member parliament, reflecting a broad consensus among Iraqi factions. Said the letter:

"The majority of Iraqi representatives strongly reject any military-security, economic, commercial, agricultural, investment or political agreement with the United States that is not linked to clear mechanisms that obligate the occupying American military forces to fully withdraw from Iraq."  -- *Members of the Iraqi Parliment*
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Iraq says it wants to restrict movement of US troops  ---  http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL06935676
A quote...."BAGHDAD, June 6 (Reuters) - Iraq said on Friday it would not grant U.S. troops freedom of movement for military operations in a new agreement being negotiated on extending the presence of American troops on its soil."
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Iraqis protest US security deal  ---  http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2207AA77-FCA7-4AA4-B9C8-D2D8148AEB6E.htm
A quote...."Thousands of Iraqis have taken to the streets in the Sadr City district of Baghdad, denouncing a proposed deal that would keep US troops in Iraq beyond 2008. -- Protesters set fire to a US flag and to an effigy of George Bush, the US president, following Friday prayers."
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Iraqi Parliamentarian: 70 Percent Of Iraqis Want Withdrawal, Huge U.S. Embassy Not A ‘Positive Signal’ --  http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/04/iraq-parliament/
A quote...."Today, the House held a hearing featuring two members of the Iraqi Parliament in order “to hear their assessment of the proposed U.S.-Iraq Security Agreement,” an agreement proposed by the Bush administration permitting combat forces in Iraq for an unspecified period of time. Iraq is currently seeing “growing and widespread protests…over the scope of the agreement.” -- Also posted at InfoWars  ---  http://infowars.net/articles/june2008/050608Withdrawal.htm
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Mahdi Army Using 'Flying IEDs' in Baghdad  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/166603
New Tactics Alert - A quote...."Based on the images of the launchers used in the April 28 attacks see slideshow, the IRAM looks to be a large canister, perhaps a propane or fuel tank, filled with explosives and propelled by 107mm rocket booster. These types of improvised weapons — essentially flying IEDs — would have a short range and would be highly inaccurate. -- So, in a sense, what we're looking at is a remote controlled, improvised multiple-mortar system. Kinda like an insurgent version of the Non-line of sight Launch System, or NLOS-LS..."
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Bush, Like Bin Laden, on the Sidelines  ---  http://tonykaron.com/2008/05/21/bush-like-bin-laden-on-the-sidelines/
A quote...."By measure of each man’s negligible influence over events in the Middle East — despite florid denunciations of all compromise and accomodation with those each brands as evil — President George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden appear to have more in common than either would care to admit. And not just because Bush and Bin Laden are on the same page regarding the influence of Iran."   ---  http://tonykaron.com/2008/05/20/the-bin-laden-bush-consensus/  ---
For more on this issue see....Al Qaeda - Always There for the US Elites - 03-09-08 - mpg
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/alqaedaalwaysthere4theuselites-blog-mpg-030908
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Obama Capitulates......to the Israel lobby  ---  http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=12944
Special Note - War Alert - A quote...."Don't look to Barack Obama for deliverance from this looming conflict. In his speech to AIPAC, he clearly signed on to the Lobby's latest project, departing from his prepared text to declare:

"I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Everything in my power. Everything." -- *Barack Bombs away O-bomb-A"

"Everything" includes murdering tens of thousands of Iranians, mostly civilians – driving the price of oil up above $300 a barrel and destroying the US economy – and involving us in a war that will make the Iraq conflict look like a Sunday school picnic. And for what?
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Arabs shocked by Obama speech  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9239
A quote...."Barack Obama said he spoke as a "true friend" of Israel [EPA] - Arab leaders have reacted with anger and disbelief to an intensely pro-Israeli speech delivered by Barack Obama, the US Democratic presumptive presidential nominee. - Obama told the influential annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Council (Aipac): "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided." - His comments appalled Palestinians who see occupied East Jerusalem as part of a future Palestinian state."
See also....Degrees of Significance: The Nomination of Barack Obama  ---  http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1525/135/
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The US vs. Obama, McCain, and AIPAC  ---  http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_3340.shtml
Related Article - A quote...."Some one million Arab and Muslim Americans, including some in my own family, voted for Obama in the primaries. I was not one of them and I will likely vote for a third party candidate in November."
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Only 7 percent support taking military action against Iran.  ---  http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/05/only-7-percent-support-taking-military-action-against-iran/
A quote...."According to a new poll from Public Agenda, nearly 50 percent of those who follow the situation in Iran say “the one” best way to deal with Iran is through using diplomacy “to establish better relations.” Only five percent favor threatening military action, down from nine percent in fall 2007. Seven percent support taking military action:" -- Also posted at InfoWars  ---  http://infowars.net/articles/june2008/060608support.htm
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Olmert raises spectre of [another] full-scale Gaza operation  ---  http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m44658&s1=h1
A quote...."TEL AVIV (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Friday raised the spectre of a full-scale military operation in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip despite [because of] Egyptian attempts to mediate a truce."
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MIDEAST:  Palestinian Rivals Step Towards Reducing Rift  ---  http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42692
Related article - A quote...."As the Israeli military invasions and attacks continue unabated in the occupied Gaza strip, movement towards a so-called Palestinian national unity government seem possible, according to local politicians."
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US Air Force purge: Growing tensions within a militarized state  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2008/jun2008/airf-j07.shtml
A quote...."The sudden sacking of both the senior civilian and military commanders of the US Air Force Thursday is symptomatic of the growing tensions within an American government dominated by militarism and torn by divisions over what strategy Washington should pursue to defend its global interests."
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Regional US military headquarters in Africa put on a slow track  ---  http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Regional_US_military_headquarters_i_06072008.html
A quote...."Controversy surrounding the US military's new Africa Command has forced the Pentagon to put plans for establishing a headquarters in the continent on a slow track, US defense officials have said." -- Another useless, dangerous boondoogle that's going to get a lot of people killed. - mpg -- For more on this issue see....Africa - the Next Target - 02-28-08 - mpg  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/africathenexttarget-blog-mpg-022808
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Criticism rages with accused 9/11 conspirators in court  ---  http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5glMdcuLxh8E5Js3MrdVFSy2li5aA
A quote...."GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba (AFP) — The appearance before a military judge of accused 9/11 conspirators has done little to quiet critics of the tribunal system conceived by the US government to try suspected terrorists."
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French army falling apart, documents show
  ---  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/2084832/French-army-falling-apart%2C-documents-show.html
A quote...."Most of France's tanks, helicopters and jet fighters are unusable and its defence apparatus is on the verge of "falling apart", it has emerged."
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Colombia, Ecuador to restore diplomatic relations  ---  http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=201206
A quote...."Colombia and Ecuador are restoring diplomatic ties at the charge d'affaires level following mediation by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Colombia's presidential spokesman said Friday."
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A Whole School of Trout in the Milk: What We Already Know About Iraq From the People Who Launched the War
  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/04/9450/
Must Read - A quote...."Anyhow, all the true believers watching Fox will continue to truly believe. As the mayhem of the Bush years dwindles into numbed, robotic destruction and the tragedy of once noble national aspirations not only ruined but now also forgotten, it becomes ever more painfully obvious why these folks cannot let go, no matter how compelling nor how broad the growing mountain of evidence."
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The War, the Truth, and the New York Times  ---  http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m44662&s1=h1
Must Read - A quote...."So finally the truth is acknowledged by the mother of all main stream media, the New York Times. -- The June 6 editorial, 'The Truth About the War’ of the media giant begins with these words, "It took just a few months after the United States’ invasion of Iraq for the world to find out that Saddam Hussein had long abandoned his nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programs. He was not training terrorists or colluding with Al Qaeda. The only real threat he posed was to his own countrymen." That it took more than five years for the leading light of a servile American media to finally find it out, is a fact glossed over most shamelessly."
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The Future of Media Doesn't Belong to Murdoch; It Belongs to Us  ---  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-silver/opening-remarks-from-the_b_105721.html
A quote...."More and more reporters, including major tv correspondents like Jessica Yellin and Chris Matthews have recently admitted that their bosses were pro-war and that it slanted their coverage. - These Johnny-come-lately confessions confirm what's been obvious to everyone in this room for years: The corporate media is not a watchdog protecting us from the powerful, it is a lapdog begging for scraps. - But for us here today, being right is no consolation in the face of the damage done by the media's love affair with the White House. - Government and corporate propaganda have laid waste to journalistic integrity." -- Also posted at CommonDreams  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/02/9460/
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Time for Congress to Stand Up in Its Own Defense: Impeach Bush and Cheney Now!
  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/Time-for-Congress-to-Stand-by-Dave-Lindorff-080606-775.html
A quote...." The last couple of weeks have brought confirmation—as if it were needed—even in the corporate media, that President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and the gang of thugs and sycophants around them in the White House, engaged in a massive conspiracy to lie the country into a war in Iraq."
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Blackwater's Private Spies  ---  http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080623/scahill
A quote...."This past September, the secretive mercenary company Blackwater USA found its name splashed across front pages throughout the world after the company's shooters gunned down seventeen Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square. But by early 2008, Blackwater had largely receded from the headlines save for the occasional blip on the media radar sparked by Congressman Henry Waxman's ongoing investigations into its activities." -- Also posted at CommonDreams  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/04/9456/
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Machiavelli Was Right  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese463.html
A quote...." Do you really believe that the men who had just fought a long and bloody war against the British and were writing what we call the Bill of Rights had this conversation: - "Well, let's see. We've guaranteed freedom of assembly, of religion, of speech and of the press. Oh, my gosh, we've forgotten the duck hunters. They'll raise heck if we leave them out, so we'd better write an amendment for them." - The Second Amendment has nothing whatsoever to do with hunting. It states: "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
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Q&A:  'Unlike the Wolf, Sheep Are Afraid of Freedom'  ---  http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42686
A quote...."BEIJING, Jun 6 (IPS) - The censored world of Chinese contemporary writing is an unlikely place for the rise of literary mystery. But ‘Wolf Totem’, which has sold millions of copies in China and won the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize last fall, is the ultimate whodunit."
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Jobless spike deepens economic pain  ---  http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/06/news/economy/jobs_may/index.htm
A quote...."NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A spike in the unemployment rate - the biggest in more than two decades - raised new concerns Friday that a weak labor outlook, high oil prices and continuing woes in the housing and credit markets are leading the U.S. economy into a painful recession. -- The government said Friday that the unemployment rate soared to 5.5% in May from 5% in April - much higher than economists had forecast."
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Jobless rate soars to 5.5% in May
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/jobless-rate-soars-55-largest/story.aspx?
  ---  guid=%7B6B9B2E20%2D06E8%2D4FC0%2DAD5A%2D3029D5057F89%7D
A quote...."WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. unemployment rate jumped by half a percentage point in May -- to 5.5%, the highest since October 2004 -- on the biggest increase in seasonally adjusted unemployment in 33 years, government data showed Friday." - bold by website editor
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Despite Interest Rate Cuts, Foreclosures Hit Record High
  ---  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/05/AR2008060501501.html?hpid=sec-business
A quote...."Even though lower interest rates have made many adjustable-rate mortgages more affordable, foreclosures continue to reach new heights as more than 1 million homeowners face losing their home, according to industry figures released yesterday. -- That's because what began as a mortgage crisis focused largely on subprime borrowers has spread and is being fed by the slowing economy it helped create."
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Americans $1.7 trillion poorer  ---  http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/05/news/economy/fundflows/index.htm
A quote...."NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Americans saw their net worth decline by $1.7 trillion in the first quarter - the biggest drop since 2002 - as declines in home values and the stock market ravaged their holdings. -- Meanwhile, the amount of equity people have in their homes fell to 46.2%, the lowest level on record."
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Oil rises more than $8 to new record high  ---  http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i5TtajgUpSm7KY5jf-lCJGHBB-tAD914N9LO0
War Warning - A quote...."NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices shot up nearly $10 to a new record above $137 a barrel Friday after a Morgan Stanley analyst predicted prices could hit $150 by the Fourth of July. The meteoric surge builds on a huge gain the previous day and sets the stage for the biggest two-day gain in the history of the New York Mercantile Exchange." -- Editor's caution : obviously these guys have a vested interest in driving up oil prices, just remember the old Wall Street adage...."pigs get slaughtered."  But on the other hand this market action could be due not just to yesterdays public comments from Israel about attacking Iran, but more importantly, private assurances that they will.  If so this sort of market action constitutes a War Warning. - mpg
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Fed's Bullard: Inflation expectations likely to worsen
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/feds-bullard-inflation-expectations-likely/story.aspx?
  ---  guid=%7BCE2F9DB2%2D1ECC%2D452C%2D8EFC%2D86DDCAA7A1AE%7D
A quote...."WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The inflation outlook is likely to be a more pressing concern for the Fed in the second half of the year as the U.S. economy gains steam and financial market turmoil wanes, said James Bullard, the newest president of a regional Federal Reserve bank, at a Friday event."
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Has the Government Looted the Gold at Fort Knox?  ---  http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2008/06/gold-gate.html
A quote...."A group called the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee claims that the U.S. government has defrauded the American people out of the nation's wealth. Specifically, the group claims that the U.S. has secretly sold, leased or otherwise frittered away half of its entire gold reserves to pay for past military adventures abroad and other ill-conceived actions. Furthermore, the group claims that the government has intentionally covered up this loss of gold reserves through accounting fraud."
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The Derivatives Market is Unwinding!  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=6850
A quote...."A couple of months ago, a financial analyst who sells derivatives told me that fears about a meltdown in the derivatives market were unfounded. -- Yesterday, he told me - with a very worried look - "THE DERIVATIVES MARKET IS UNWINDING!" -- Editor's note: of course the derivatives market is unwinding, most of the market is based on bogus securities....however the Fed which is currently loaning out seventy five BILLION dollars a week to the banks in exchange for these bogus securities will simply loan out a hundred and seventy five billion a week, or two hundred and seventy five billion a week to prevent a collapse.  There really is no limit for "Helicopter Bernanke".  Of course in the end it's just going to make everything much, much, worse.- mpg
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“Many airlines will not survive” oil crisis warns IATA  ---  http://mercopress.handsoft.com.uy/vernoticia.do?id=13628&formato=HTML
A quote...."The leaders of the world’s airlines unanimously agreed to a resolution calling for governments, airports and labour to take immediate action to help the industry survive the growing financial crisis."
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Thursday June 5th 2008 - links page

Degrees of Significance: The Nomination of Barack Obama  ---  http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1525/135/
Must Read - A quote...."At the very least -- until the novelty wears off (and novelty wears off very, very quickly in America)-- if Obama wins the presidency, there will be some aesthetic relief in seeing a different kind of face on the tee-vee mouthing various pieties, refusing to take any options off the table, etc., in place of the long procession of pasty white males of Northern European descent. -- As for the substantial significance of Obama's nomination win, there is none. The only thing that really matters is what the human being named Barack Obama will do with power (if he gets it), and not his skin color. Or to put it another way: What difference did Colin Powell's status as a non-white person in the highest cabinet office make when the question of aggressive war was on the line? None. He was later replaced not only by another non-white person, but by a non-white female, Condi Rice. What difference did Rice's ethnicity and gender make to her collusion with the Bush faction's brutal policies of aggressive war, torture, rendition, state terror, etc.? None."
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Engaging Syria: Losing Ground  ---  http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=13863
A quote...."Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's decision to engage Syria has been met with much scepticism in Israel and the Arab world. There, media discussions of Olmert's intentions fall between the following parameters: breaking the Iran-Syria-Hizbullah alliance, isolating the Palestinian opposition headquartered in Damascus, and diverting attention from heated corruption scandals dogging him at home. -- As outspoken as hawks (both in Israel and the US) might be about the "need" for another war, many know by now that a full-scale invasion of Iran would be political, if not also military suicide. Iran has a stable and popular government with ample resources and many years of mental and physical preparations for a military showdown. It also has plenty of options for retaliation and great influence among Iraqi militias that would, on a whim, turn their weapons on US occupation forces."
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Five Years on, Saddam's Successor Resurfaces Heading Iraq Resistance, Al-Baath
  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/Five-Years-on--Saddam-s-Su-by-Nicola-Nasser-080605-18.html
A quote...."For the first time since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in April 2003, the deputy of Saddam Hussein, the late President of Iraq, Izzat Ibrahim Addouri has resurfaced, despite a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head, in a lengthy interview with Abdel-Azim Manaf, the editor-in-chief of the Egyptian newspaper Al-Mawqif Al-Arabi, not a mainstream, on May 26 to lay out the strategy and tactics of the Iraqi resistance led by the former ruling party, Al-Baath. Addouri's resurface and the resistance strategy he has laid out represent a direct challenge to the U.S. occupying power."
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IAEA on Iran's Nuclear Program: Reality vs. US media myth
  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-IAEA-Report-on-Iran-s--by-Jeremy-R--Hammond-080605-232.html
A quote...."When the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) sent its follow-up report on the implementation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Safeguards Agreement in Iran to the United Nations Security Council on May 26, the response from the U.S. media was pretty much along predictable lines."
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Boeing Subsidiary Scot Free, Hayden, Bradbury On The Hot Seat  ---  http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=61073
A quote...."As the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency acknowledged it had erroneously denied using British territory to transport victims of “extraordinary rendition,” a federal court earlier this year bowed to pressure from the Bush administration to dismiss a case against a Boeing subsidiary being sued for providing the aircraft that carried the suspected terrorists." -- For more on this issue see....Come Fly the Un-Friendly Boeing Skys
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/rapsheetarch/mpgrap-052207-053107#BOEING
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The torturous truth about Guantanamo’s 9/11 hearing  ---  http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_3344.shtml
A quote...."So, here we have Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in his first public showing since his 2003 capture, a man who has to confessed to everything but the torching of the Reichstag now telling an American judge he doesn’t want his American legal team, that is, his Pentagon-appointed legal team. “I want to represent myself,” he said. How can that be?" -- For more on this issue see....The Convenient Silence of Guantanamo Bay - 05-31-08 - mpg
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/theconvenientsilenceofgitmo-blog-mpg-053108
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Beautiful Lies  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/Beautiful-Lies-by-sherry-clark-080605-512.html
A quote...."Within hours of Pat Tillman's death, the Army went into information-lockdown mode, cutting off phone and Internet connections at a base in Afghanistan, posting guards on a wounded platoon mate, and ordering a sergeant to burn Tillman's uniform." -- For more on this issue see....Fake Intel / Propaganda - Pat Tillman  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/fakeintell-weblist-mpg-090206#TILLMAN
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Senate Hits Bush, Cheney on Iraq Intel  ---  http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/060508c.html
Special Note - A quote...."President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney knowingly lied to Congress and the public about the threat that Iraq posed to the United States in the months leading up to the March 2003 invasion, according to a long-awaited report from the Senate Intelligence Committee. -- Separately, a second report said former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld set up an intelligence office within the Defense Department known as the Office of Special Plans "without the knowledge of the Intelligence Community or the State Department" to promote alleged links between Iraq and al-Qaeda and cooked intelligence about Iraq's weapons cache. -- The Office of Special Plans was headed by Douglas Feith, former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy and a chief architect of the Iraq War." -- For more on this issue see....Fake Intel / Propaganda - Rumsfeld's Office of Special Plans
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/fakeintell-weblist-mpg-090206#OSP
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Video shows bystanders ignoring hit-and-run victim  ---  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080605/ap_on_re_us/ignored_hit_and_run
A quote...."HARTFORD, Conn. - A 78-year-old man is tossed like a rag doll by a hit-and-run driver and lies motionless on a busy city street as car after car goes by. Pedestrians gawk but appear to do nothing. One driver stops briefly but then pulls back into traffic. A man on a scooter slowly circles the victim before zipping away." -- What the heck!  This is a capitalist society, "dog eat dog", "survival of the fittest" you know?  The pitiless system where only money and profit count.  For God's sake people, this country allowed it's rich and powerful to set up and murder three thousand of their fellow citizens so they could go kill a million other people to steal their oil....what the hell did you expect.  We're all fellow capitalists now.  Here's the fun part, this is only the beginning of this society's decent into darkness.  Welcome to the New Roman Empire. - mpg
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House Democrats cut unemployment extension to fund wars  ---  http://rawstory.com/news/2008/House_Democrats_cut_unemployment_extension_to_0604.html
A quote...."Seeking to find a way to win over fiscally conservative "Blue Dog" members of their own caucus, House Democrats are planning to ax a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits to find a way to pay for the Iraq war."
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US issues threat to Iraq's $50bn foreign reserves in military deal
  ---  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/us-issues-threat-to-iraqs-50bn-foreign-reserves-in-military-deal-841407.html
Must Read - A quote...."The US is holding hostage some $50bn (£25bn) of Iraq's money in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to pressure the Iraqi government into signing an agreement seen by many Iraqis as prolonging the US occupation indefinitely, according to information leaked to The Independent." -- “You don't'a do business wi'us, we break'a your face, we break'a your kids, we break'a your whole Goddamn country....and we take'a all your money too.  You unnerstanz us?!?!” ---  If it hasn't already become abundantly clear yet to everyone out there, this is what will happen EVERY SINGLE TIME you do "business" with American banks, American corporations or its Neo-Roman Elites...every single time. - mpg
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textPowerful Iraqi cleric flirting with Shiite militant message  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/166431
A quote...."BAGHDAD - Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric has been quietly issuing religious edicts declaring that armed resistance against U.S.-led foreign troops is permissible — a potentially significant shift by a key supporter of the Washington-backed government in Baghdad. -- The edicts, or fatwas, by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani suggest he seeks to sharpen his long-held opposition to American troops and counter the populist appeal of his main rivals, firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia."
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Hamas 'will win Palestinian polls'  ---  http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F0CA5ED5-D43C-474A-AFDC-190CEA9323BF.htm
A quote...."Hamas says it retains the support of the Palestinian people despite facing an Israeli blockade on Gaza and an international boycott. -- "If elections were to occur tomorrow, we would win," Mahmoud Zahar, the co-founder of Hamas, the largest Palestinian Islamist resistance movement, told journalists."
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To fight future cyberbattles, Air Force recruiting part-time geeks
  ---  http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2008/06/05/to-fight-future-cyberbattles-air-force-recruiting-part-time-geeks/
A quote...."The Air National Guard is drawing from Microsoft, Cisco, and other high-tech firms. -- The Air Force’s new emphasis on cyberwarfare is raising questions abroad. What happens if the US moves from defensive measures – protecting the Pentagon’s website from hackers, for example – to offensive operations aimed at foreign websites? -- The Air Force is already hinting that it may engage in offensive actions. -- “The pervasive nature of pro-jihad Web sites represents a tangible and highly visible example of how our adversaries use elements of cyberspace against us,” wrote Wynne in his recent article. “We cannot allow our adversaries to operate freely there.”
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Attention Geeks and Hackers - Uncle Sam's Cyber Force Wants You! -- http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174940/william_astore_militarizing_your_cyberspace
A quote...."Recently, while I was on a visit to Salon.com, my computer screen momentarily went black. A glitch? A power surge? No, it was a pop-up ad for the U.S. Air Force, warning me that an enemy cyber-attack could come at any moment -- with dire consequences for my ability to connect to the Internet. It was an Outer Limits moment. Remember that eerie sci-fi show from the early 1960s? The one that began in a blur with the message, "There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission…." It felt a little like that."

For more on the two articles shown above see....Attempts to Control the Internet
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/attempttocontroltheinternet-weblist-mpg-053006
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A paralyzing rise in money supply  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JF04Dj01.html
Some quotes...."Money of Zero Maturity (MZM) is considered to be a reasonable proxy for watching the movement of M3, which is the broadest measure of the money supply, which is important because inflation in the money supply means that inflation in consumer prices is coming. -- Now that we have the academic stuff out of the way, the truly horrifying part of it all is when Mr Hamilton says, "Absolute annual MZM growth peaked at a staggering 16.7% in March 2008", and that "Bernanke's Fed has been ramping money-supply growth so fast that actual MZM is starting to look parabolic even on a short-term chart. In just over two years under him, MZM has ballooned 25.1% unchecked!"  --  "He goes on to say that these rates of growth in the money supply "defy the imagination. At 12% growth compounded annually, it only takes six years for something to double. At 16%, this drops to well under five years."
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Crude Oil Rises More Than $5 After Dollar Drops Against Euro  ---  http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=azTa3NS8bwNc
A quote...."June 5 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose more than $5 a barrel as the dollar dropped against the euro on statements that the European Central Bank may boost interest rates to cut inflation." -- Keep in mind regarding the dollar, the Fed is hinting at raising rates....but it's mostly talk and no action will be taken till after the elections.  Than they'll hand Obama (assuming he's still around and he's been elected) the empty bag, looted safe, bare cupboard, filled with worthless pieces of paper and IOUs that was once called the US economy. - mpg
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Wednesday June 4th 2008 - links page

Presidential Bloodlust - The Movie-Made War World of George W. Bush
  ---  http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174938/kill_them_we_are_going_to_wipe_them_out_
A quote...."Usually Ronald Reagan, an actual actor, is seen as the president who spent his time in office playing the role of a lifetime, but, as it happens, he had nothing on George W. Bush. From the moment the attacks of September 11, 2001 gave him his "calling" as a "wartime" president, he has been deeply embroiled in acting out his cartoonish version of the role of the century. In fact, he has often seemed like little more than an overgrown boy plunged into his own war movie and war-play memories." -- Also posted at AsiaTimes  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JF04Ak05.html
&
ICH  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20033.htm
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Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under US control
  ---  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/revealed-secret-plan-to-keep-iraq-under-us-control-840512.html
A quote...."A secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election in November. -- The terms of the impending deal, details of which have been leaked to The Independent, are likely to have an explosive political effect in Iraq. Iraqi officials fear that the accord, under which US troops would occupy permanent bases, conduct military operations, arrest Iraqis and enjoy immunity from Iraqi law, will destabilise Iraq's position in the Middle East and lay the basis for unending conflict in their country."-- Also posted at CommonDreams  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/05/9429/
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Marine acquitted in Haditha deaths  ---  http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m44607&s1=h1
A quote...."LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A U.S. Marine officer was acquitted by a military jury on Wednesday on charges he tried to cover up the shooting deaths of two dozen unarmed Iraqi men, women and children at Haditha in 2005."
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Iraq lawmakers want U.S. forces out as part of deal
  ---  http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN0430491220080605?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews
A quote...."WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A majority of the Iraqi parliament has written to Congress rejecting a long-term security deal with Washington if it is not linked to a requirement that U.S. forces leave, a U.S. lawmaker said on Wednesday."
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McCain Has Never Failed (to Be Wrong) on Iraq  ---  http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion/324843
A quote...."Last fall was a great time for official optimism when it came to Iraq. The military "metrics" looked ever better and, as had happened at crucial moments in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007, Bush administration and military statements turned practically peachy with the blush of "success." Progress was announced (repeatedly). Corners were once again about to be turned. Tipping points were on the absolute verge of being reached."
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Rumors of War: Is Bush Gearing Up to Attack Iran?  ---  http://www.alternet.org/audits/87079/
War Alert - A quote...."The May 8 letter from U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., chair of the House Judiciary Committee, to George W. Bush received virtually no media coverage, in spite of the fact that it warned the president that an attack on Iran without Congressional approval would be grounds for impeachment. Rumor has it several senators have been briefed about the possibility of war with Iran."
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Report: U.S. to order limited raid on Iran  ---  http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=60838
War Alert - A quote...."WASHINGTON, June 3 (UPI) -- The United States is moving closer to ordering a limited attack on Iranian Revolutionary Guard installations, a military intelligence group reports. -- The operation would target training camps and munitions factories that assist Iraqi insurgents, Hezbollah and terrorist groups in Gaza, DEBKAfile.com, a military intelligence Web site, reported Tuesday, quoting sources in Washington."

Let's make this as abundantly clear as possible, Iran is not Iraq, it has almost three times the population and land area as Iraq and they're not just going to sit still if they're attacked.  Just as the US falsely accused Iraq of having WMD's, involvement with 9/11 and ties to al-Qaeda, they're also falsely accusing Iran of supporting the insurgents.  They're not (at present), and when you accuse a country of supporting insurgents and attack them because of that false accusation, it's liable to get them really pissed off....and they just might decide if they're going to get attacked anyway for supporting the insurgents they might as well support them....preferably in a way that would really be effective.

The ONLY reason the US has had ANY success in Iraq is because the insurgents can't fight back, sure they have a few IEDs and EFPs, locally made from surplus hardware
---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/fakeintell-weblist-mpg-090206#IEDS__EFPS  ---  But they don't have cheap, effective and highly accurate man-portable anti-aircraft and anti-armor missiles.  If the US wants to see tens of thousands of these missiles in circulation in Iraq and elsewhere throughout the Middle East, than all this nation would have to do is launch an attack against Iran.  To put it as bluntly as possible, such a course of action would have regrettable, long-lasting and intractable consequences. - mpg -- For more on this issue see....The Iran Game - All Over Again - 05-27-08 - mpg  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/theirangamealloveragain-mpg-blog-052708
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Iran and EFPs - Chronology of a Lie  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/leupp06042008.html
A quote...."In his Antiwar.com columns investigative journalist and historian Gareth Porter has been doing a masterful job of exposing Dick Cheney’s relentless campaign to vilify Iran, build a case for an attack, bomb the country and produce regime change before the administration’s term ends. The campaign as many have noted parallels in several ways the propaganda blitz that preceded the War in Iraq. Cheney and his neocons cabal seek to skew the reports of mainstream intelligence agencies to confirm their allegations (in this case, the existence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program as an immanent threat to Israel and the U.S., Iranian Quds Force training of Iraqi “insurgents” in Iranian camps, Iranian provision of explosively formed projectiles (EFPs) to these “insurgents,” Iranian contacts with al-Qaeda, etc.). If they fail to do this, they circumvent the intelligence community and find ways of disseminating disinformation through their own announcements, editorials by their supporters, and stories planted in the corporate press.  Since Cheney got Bush to sign an Executive Order giving his office the same powers to classify as the president has, his operations are shrouded in secrecy." -- For more on this issue see....Fake Intel/Propaganda - IED's & EFP's
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/fakeintell-weblist-mpg-090206#IEDS__EFPS
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More US, Israeli threats against Iran  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2008/jun2008/iran-j05.shtml
War Update - A quote...."Strident remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Tuesday once again raised the prospect of a military attack on Iran before the end of the Bush administration. -- Olmert, who met with President Bush yesterday, bluntly told the pro-Israeli lobby group: “Israel will not tolerate the possibility of a nuclear Iran, and neither should any country in the free world.” Dismissive of current international sanctions against Iran’s nuclear programs, Olmert called for their dramatic increase but then left no doubt that military strikes had to be put on the agenda."
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9/11 Victims' Families Send Letter Decrying Politicization Of Guantánamo Military Commissions  http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=2008060471959187
A quote...."NEW YORK — Family members of 9/11 victims have sent a letter today to Susan Crawford, Convening Authority of the Guantánamo military commissions, sharply criticizing the politicization of the system. According to news reports, a Pentagon representative secretly invited an outspoken supporter of the military commissions to Guantánamo Bay for Thursday’s arraignment of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other detainees on terrorism-related charges, but did not make this option available to family members who have expressed criticism of the commissions. This type of politicization is symptomatic of the unconstitutional and biased tribunal system, according to the American Civil Liberties Union." -- For more on this issue see....The Convenient Silence of Guantanamo Bay - 05-31-08 - mpg  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/theconvenientsilenceofgitmo-blog-mpg-053108
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Australia group seeks ICC war crimes charges against ex-PM for Iraq deployment  ---  http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=60954
A quote...."[JURIST] Australian advocacy group International Criminal Court Action   ---  http://www.iccaction.com/  ---  (ICCACTION) [official website] sent a brief   ---  ttp://www.blogger.com/www.iccaction.com/ICC%20BRIEF%20MAY%202008.doc  ---  [text] to the International Criminal Court   ---  http://www.icc-cpi.int/home.html&l=en  ---  (ICC) [official website] Friday requesting charges be laid against former Australian Prime Minister John Howard for war crimes in connection with his deployment of Australian troops to support the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. The brief alleges Howard committed crimes in violation of the ICC's foundational Rome Statute - PDF   ---  http://www.icc-cpi.int/library/about/officialjournal/Rome_Statute_120704-EN.pdf  ---  [text, DOC]:
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AIPAC and the American right  ---  http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1611
Video - Special Note - A quote...."AIPAC has over 100,000 members and an operating annual budget which now soars above $100 million dollars. Over 7,000 of these members are attending the conference, and AIPAC has scheduled over 500 meetings with members of Congress to do their lobbying work on behalf of Israel."
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Cluster bombs: Hell from above
  ---  http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1594&updaterx=2008-06-04+10%3A27%3A06
Video - A quote...."Cluster bombs are literally hell from above. Anyone who has seen the effects of cluster carpet bombing on innocent civilians - in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, and in the 60s and 70s in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam - cannot help but be horrified."
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The US [cluster] bomb legacy in Laos
  ---  http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1588&updaterx=2008-06-04+10%3A26%3A49
Video - A quote...."During the Vietnam war, the US illegally bombed Laos as part of a secret war to disrupt Vietcong supply routes. 30 years later, 78 million unexploded cluster bombs remain scattered across the country, placing thousands at risk of death or injury every day. 111 countries gathered in Dublin this week to adopt a treaty banning cluster bombs. 5 countries - the US, Russia, Israel, India and Pakistan - were notable in their absence."
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Politics of Murder and the 'A' Word  ---  http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/060308a.html
A quote...."Republican Governor Mike Huckabee at the American Rifle Association heard a backstage noise and joked that it was Senator Obama diving to the floor to avoid gunfire. -- A week later came some imitators: Senator Clinton underscored her point that one never knows whether one's luck might take a fortuitous turn, by citing Robert Kennedy's assassination in June 1968, just two months after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr."
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So why, six years ago, did the CIA give the Iranians blueprints to build a bomb?
  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/So-why--six-years-ago--did-by-James-Risen-080603-295.html
Book Excerpt - A quote...."State of War, [GolgBks]  ---  by James Risen - She had probably done this a dozen times before. Modern digital technology had made clandestine communications with overseas agents seem routine. Back in the cold war, contacting a secret agent in Moscow or Beijing was a dangerous, labour-intensive process that could take days or even weeks."
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Bernanke's Speech: "It's all China's fault. Really"  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20043.htm
Must Read - A quote...."04/06/08 "ICH" -- - He's at it again. Bernanke, that is. Yesterday the Fed chief delivered a rambling 45 minute speech at the International Monetary Conference in Barcelona, Spain laying out all the reasons why the Federal Reserve is NOT responsible for the present crisis in the financial markets. Here's what he said:" -- And DON'T EVER FORGET FOLKS how Bernanke has reduced interest being paid by the government for "borrowing" all that Social Security   ---  http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/fundFAQ.html#n3  ---  money based on his phony inflation figures   ---  http://www.tampabay.com/news/article473596.ece  ---  and what he's also done to the Social Security COLA.  Every year he rakes-off five or ten percent from the fund for interest the government's not paying-in for borrowing all that money and than he goes ahead and rakes-off another five or ten percent in the reduced pay-outs to recipients, all because of his inflationary policies and his lying phony inflation figures. - mpg -- For more on this see also....What Ben Bernanke Said - 03-18-08 - mpg   ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/whatbenbernankesaid-blog-mpg-031808  ---  & 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
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Joseph Stiglitz on Recession  ---  http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080603_joseph_stiglitz_on_recession/
Audio Interview - Truthdig's James Harris interviews Joseph Stiglitz - A quote...."James Harris: This is Truthdig. James Harris here with Nobel Prize winner and author of the new book, “The Three Trillion Dollar War,” [GoglBks]   ---  http://books.google.com/books?id=TivxIAAACAAJ&dq=The+Three+Trillion+Dollar+War  ---  Joseph Stiglitz. Some of you may recall that we did talk to his co-author, Linda Bilmes, about a month ago, and she shared with us some of the horrible economic realities around the Iraq war, around spending with this war. And we didn’t get on any particular administration too much, but we talked about some ways perhaps to recover, and we will do so again today with Mr. Stiglitz. But first I want to take a turn. All the papers—the Wall Street Journal has forecast, pretty much, the seventh [interest] rate cut [by the Fed]. People are losing homes at alarming rates. The economy is—to put it lightly—in shambles. What’s it going to take, and how long is it going to take, for us to rebound?
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The Trillion Dollar Meltdown by Charles Morris and The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means by George Soros:
  ---   http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article3991026.ece
A quote...."For several years, debt has been growing faster than incomes in most corners of the English-speaking world. Our economic high priests claimed there was nothing to fear. Sure, there was more debt around, but the architecture of the financial system was more robust and could bear more strain. Then last summer, the great edifice of credit started to collapse. How we arrived here and what it means is the subject of two timely books."
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Cheap talk, pricey banks  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JF05Dj01.html
A quote...."US Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday broke with a long-held convention and discussed the Fed's concerns over the declining US dollar (see also  Dead dollar sketch,   ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JC04Dj07.html  ---  Asia Times Online, March 4, 2008). -- Typically, only the US Treasury, now led by Hank Paulson, is supposed to talk about the dollar, but then again perhaps the Fed chairman was peeved with his counterpart's lack of enthusiasm for pushing up the US currency. In any event, the scuttlebutt in Washington has been that Paulson is too busy interviewing for Wall Street jobs that may see him emerge as the head of a banking colossus early next year; with time running out on the Bush administration he doesn't have long before facing the risk of joining the unemployment queue himself."
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What's Driving Skyrocketing Oil Prices?  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/weissman06022008.html
A quote...."Market manipulation may be contributing to the recent oil price spike -- though even in the worst case, it is only part of the story. The most important factor is supply and demand: supply is having trouble keeping up with unabated demand growth. -- Are Wall Street firms and hedge funds in fact manipulating the oil market? Perhaps. There are certainly enough conflicts of interest, and unregulation, to make such activity plausible. These aren't exactly guys with an honorable track record."