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November  2008 

 Former Georgian Ambassador reveals military secrets to Russia [11/30/08 ] (Russian loosely translated into English)  "Erosi Kitsmarishvili, who worked as Georgian Ambassador to Russia from February to August, offered testifying before the ad hoc commission on investigation of the August war. The hearing in the Parliament lasted for three hours and finished with a big scandal, which was prompted by the former Ambassador’s statements about his having information on Georgia’s preparing a military assault on Tskhinvali. “I got this data from high-ranking officials,” Mr. Kitsmarishvili said refusing to name his sources however. “They also told me that certain western governments greenlighted a military operation against South Ossetia and Abkhazia.”

 Freedom From Religion Foundation sues Rancho Cucamonga over removed billboard [11/29/08 ]  "A group that promotes separation of church and state filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the city of Rancho Cucamonga after a billboard on Route 66 that read "Imagine No Religion" was taken down and destroyed ... the city had received 90 complaints about the billboard and added, "We didn't say they had to (take it down), but they respected the concerns of residents ... "Because there was no ordinance violated, it didn't involve city business," she said. "They were contacting them to chill our speech." The group has displayed billboards with similar messages in 11 states, and although none had ever been taken down, some billboard companies have refused to put up the billboards because of concern over controversy..."   Note: Awww .. they got their little belief systems bruised ....  wait until they see what's coming for them ...    Related: Kentucky Anti-terror law requires 'god' be acknowledged

 U.S. Military Recruiting Children [11/29/08 ]  "In violation of its pledge to the United Nations not to recruit children into the military, the Pentagon “regularly target(s) children under 17,” the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says. The Pentagon “heavily recruits on high school campuses, targeting students for recruitment as early as possible and generally without limits on the age of students they contact,” the ACLU states in a 46-page report titled “Soldiers of Misfortune.” This is in violation of the U.S. Senate's 2002 ratification of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Pentagon recruiters are enrolling children as young as 14 in the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps(JROTC) in 3,000 middle-, junior-, and high schools nationwide, causing about 45 percent of the quarter of million students so enrolled to enlist, a rate much higher than in the general student population. Clearly, this is the outcome of underage exposure."

 Isn't That Uncle Bob?  Donated Corpses Used in Auto Impact Tests [11/29/08 ]  "A four-month-long investigation by the Scripps station in Kansas City has uncovered government videos, photos, and thousands of pages of reports detailing human corpses being used like impact test dummies in National Highway Traffic Safety Administration funded tests. Experts agree that the research saves lives, but disagree on the what type of disclosure willed body programs should give donors and their families prior to the tests ... When Bob Morris, and years later, his wife Helen both decided to donate their bodies to a science, their kids supported the decision. The family never considered the same release form allowing “medical research” could possibly be interpreted as allowing scientists to do impact tests with the bodies of their parents."  Note: All the whining and weeping over bodies and their disposal. Hilarious.

 Pentagon's definition of combat-related disabilities is narrowed [11/29/08 ]  "In a little-noticed regulation change, the Pentagon's definition of combat-related disabilities is narrowed, costing some wounded veterans thousands of dollars in lost benefits."

 A complex terrorist situation in India [11/29/08 ]   Video [3:40] "An assessment of the security situation in India and the possible political fallout."  Interesting analysis.   Related: Mumbai violence seen as a sign of inner turmoil

 Pakistan U-turns on sending spy chief to India [11/29/08 ]  "Pakistan on Saturday withdrew an offer to send its spy chief to India to help investigate the Mumbai terrorist attacks, damaging efforts to head off a crisis between the nuclear-armed rivals."

 Press, "Psy Ops" to merge at NATO Afghan HQ [11/29/08 ]  "The U.S. general commanding NATO forces in Afghanistan has ordered a merger of the office that releases news with "Psy Ops," which deals with propaganda, a move that goes against the alliance's policy, three officials said. The move has worried Washington's European NATO allies -- Germany has already threatened to pull out of media operations in Afghanistan -- and the officials said it could undermine the credibility of information released to the public."

 Financial Disaster Will Lead to Civil Disorder in 2009 or 2010, Says Secret Citibank Memo [11/29/08 ]  "An internal memo from a top Citibank analyst reveals what the banks really think about the global financial situation, and the outlook is grim. "The world is not going back to normal after the magnitude of what they have done. When the dust settles this will either work, and the money they have pushed into the system will feed through into an inflation shock," wrote Tom Fitzpatrick, Citibank's chief technical strategist. He goes on to explain that the massive money creation efforts by the Federal Reserve and other central banks will end with one of two things: A resurgence of inflation, or a fall into "depression, civil disorder and possibly wars." Either outcome, he says, will cause the price of gold to skyrocket. Gold will push to well over $2,000 per ounce, he explains. The timing on all this? Sometime in either 2009 or 2010, said the analyst."

 U.S. Would Control Profits from Iraqi Oil Exports Under Agreement [11/28/08 ]  "The terms of the status of forces agreement would effectively allow the U.S. to continue to control billions of dollars of proceeds from the sale of exported Iraqi oil held in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. It also contains numerous loopholes that could allow the continuing long-term presence of U.S. military forces and would effectively maintain U.S. jurisdiction over crimes committed by American soldiers." Related: Iraqi Parliament passes US security pact  "Iraqi Parliament has approved by majority vote a security pact between Baghdad and Washington that calls for US troops withdrawal by 2011." Iraqi parliament OKs US security agreement "The deal also strips foreign security companies such as Blackwater USA of their special status, making them subject to Iraqi laws and courts." New Blackwater Iraq Scandal: Guns, Silencers and Dog Food "Under State Department rules, Blackwater is prohibited from using certain assault weapons and silencers in Iraq because they are considered "offensive" ..." Iraq-US Accord Wipes Out Contractor Immunity, May Raise Costs |  Blackwater Guards May Be Indicted In Iraqi Deaths

 Psychiatry and Big Pharma: The Zombie Factory [11/28/08 ]  "Filmmaker Kevin Miller has just launched a shocking new documentary that exposes the crimes and deceptions of modern psychiatry and the drug companies that now control the industry. His film, entitled GenerationRx sheds light on the shadowy practices of psychiatric doctors who are increasingly drugging children with mind-altering drugs. The film features an impressive collection of interviews with skeptical physicians, industry critics and even the former deputy director of the FDA. Together, their testimony paints a disturbing picture of the deceitful — even predatory — behavior of the psychiatry industry, calling into question the very existence of so-called “disorders” that have been used to put tens of millions of children on dangerous mind-altering drugs that have earned billions of dollars in profits for Big Pharma. ... Kevin Miller’s movie, GenerationRx, explains how this massive chemical conspiracy manages to keep operating today. It’s all based on a system of under-the-table payments to hospitals, journalists, med schools, medical journals, politicians and physicians. It’s a network of bribery and corruption so large that it has now even invaded the media ..."

 Monsanto: Number One Enemy of Humanity [11/28/08 ]  "The World According to Monsanto is an in-depth look at the domination of the agricultural industry from one of the world’s most insidious and powerful companies. A bold, brilliant film and a definite must-see for anyone who is interested in learning more about the multi-billion dollar, omni-powerful, and highly dangerous Monsanto. French filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin spent some 20 years hearing about Monsanto before she set out to understand just what Monsanto was all about. Robin posits that perhaps the company’s past can shed some light on what the company is all about today. Monsanto started out as one of the world’s largest chemical companies and is responsible for the creation of Agent Orange (used during the Vietnam War), Aspartame, Bovine Growth Hormone, Polystyrene, PCBs and GE crops (genetically-engineered). No other filmmaker has ever created such a compelling and damning case against Monsanto. The only other individual to come close to exposing the ugly reality of Monsanto’s contribution to the planet is the best-selling author Jeffrey Smith with his of Seeds of Deception book.." 

 Thai PM declares state of emergency [11/28/08 ]  "Thailand has declared a state of emergency at Bangkok's two main airports which were earlier taken over by anti- government protesters."

 US debt triggered global crisis  [11/28/08 ]  "The US has imported 5 trillion dollars more than it produced in the past decade and this was a major cause of the global financial crisis."  All corporate-caused.

 UK: 'Sci-Fi Film' CCTV 'Predicts' Crime     [11/28/08 ]  "The CCTV system has gone up in sites across Portsmouth and it will reportedly help predict crimes before they actually happen. The city's council has set up the network of "intelligent" cameras that can alert an operator to suspicious behaviour. The system is able to spot "unusual" incidents like somebody loitering or a vehicle travelling too fast.

 President John F. Kennedy, The Federal Reserve And Executive Order 11110    [11/27/08 ]  "On June 4, 1963, a little known attempt was made to strip the Federal Reserve Bank of its power to loan money to the government at interest. On that day President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order No. 11110 that returned to the U.S. government the power to issue currency, without going through the Federal Reserve. Mr. Kennedy's order gave the Treasury the power "to issue silver certificates against any silver bullion, silver, or standard silver dollars in the Treasury." This meant that for every ounce of silver in the U.S."

 FDA Finds Traces Of Melamine In US Infant Formula   [11/27/08 ]  "Traces of the industrial chemical melamine have been detected in samples of top-selling U.S. infant formula, but federal regulators insist the products are safe. The Food and Drug Administration said last month it was unable to identify any melamine exposure level as safe for infants, but a top official said it would be a "dangerous overreaction" for parents to stop feeding infant formula to babies who depend on it."

 3,000 dead from cholera in Zimbabwe   [11/27/08 ]  "A senior official in the health ministry told The Independent yesterday that more than 3,000 people have died from the water-borne disease in the past two weeks, 10 times the widely-reported death toll of just over 300. "But even this higher figure is still an understatement because very few bother to register the deaths of their relatives these days," said the official, who requested anonymity."

 Sovereign wealth funds switch from Western investments   [11/27/08 ]  "Sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf are switching their focus away from Western stock markets to shore up ailing economies in the Middle East and protect themselves from losses in the City and on Wall Street. Sovereign wealth funds are among the few sources of liquid capital available worldwide and many companies have sought cash injections from the Middle East. However, investments in banks such as Citigroup and Merrill Lynch have cost the funds dearly and regional bankers are said to feel that they were lured into investing before the full extent of the crisis was known."

 UK: Social services ’set up CCTV camera in couple’s bedroom’   [11/27/08 ]  "Council staff are said to have spied on the young parents at night as part of a plan to see if they were fit to look after their baby, who was sleeping in another room. The mother and father were forced to cite the Human Rights Act, which protects the right to a private life, before the social services team backed down and agreed to switch off the surveillance camera while they were in bed together."

 Court Backs Warrantless Searches Abroad   [11/27/08 ]  "The authorities may lawfully conduct searches and electronic surveillance against United States citizens in foreign countries without a warrant, a federal appeals court panel said on Monday, bolstering the government’s power to investigate terrorism by ruling that a key constitutional protection afforded to Americans does not apply overseas."

 Britains Say Israel Staged 1976 Hijacking   [11/26/08 ]  "Documents recently made public by the British government reveal that Israel played a direct role in the notorious hijacking of an Air France plane to Idi Amin?s Entebbe in 1976 and cooperated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in staging the event remembered today as ?the Entebbe Incident ? In documents recently released and now sitting in the National Archives in London, D.H. Colvin?a British diplomat working in Paris?wrote that, according to sources he knew, ?the hijacking was the work of the PFLP, with help from the Israeli Secret Service, the Shin Bet?"

 Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is Not Pollution   [11/26/08 ]  "Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is not pollution and Global climate change has nothing to do with pollution."

 Pfizer Implicated in Human Drug Experimentation on Critically Ill Children in Nigeria   [11/26/08 ]  "Did Pfizer recruit critical ill Nigerian children for illegal drug experiments? That’s what the Nigerian government is charging in an $8.5 billion lawsuit against the drug maker .."

 Cost Of Bailout Hits $8.5 Trillion   [11/26/08 ]  "The total cost of funds committed to the bailout in its various guises has now hit $8.5 trillion dollars, up from $7.7 trillion in just two days after the federal government committed an additional $800 billion to two new loan programs on Tuesday."

 Mumbai Attacks To Be Linked To Obama Target Pakistan?   [11/26/08 ]  "Coordinated attacks across Mumbai, India’s financial capital, which have killed up to a hundred people and injured hundreds more, are likely to be blamed on a terrorist organization linked to the Pakistani ISI, providing further justification for controversial U.S. bombings inside Pakistani territory and heightened rhetoric against Pakistan on behalf of President elect Barack Obama."

 Judge yelled ‘tyrant’ before Mukasey collapsed    [11/26/08 ]  "Before Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapsed last week at a speech to the conservative Federalist Society, one audience member could not contain his disapproval with the speech’s subject matter. Mukasey’s defense of President Bush’s policies on prisoner treatment and their indefinite detention at Guantanamo Bay was too much for Washington State Supreme Court Judge Richard Sanders. He shouted, “Tyrant! You are a tyrant!” Sanders acknowledged his conduct in an interview with The Seattle Times. “Frankly, everybody in the room was applauding or sometimes laughing, and I thought, ‘I’ve got to stand up and say something.’ And I did,” he told the paper. “I stood up and said, ‘Tyrant,’ then I sat down again, then I left.”

 UK: EU membership costing Britain $200,000 per minute   [11/25/08 ]  "The European Union is costing Britain a staggering £106,000 a minute, a think-tank has revealed. As the UK teeters on the brink of what experts predict will be the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression, the Government has surrendered £55.8billion to Brussels this year ... Shadow agriculture minister Jim Paice said: 'The Government gave up £7billion of taxpayers' money for vague promises of common agricultural policy reform which it has signally failed to achieve. 'The failure to secure sustainable reform comes with a huge price-tag, at a time when the UK economy can ill afford it.' He said it was 'absolutely indefensible' that UK ministers did not attend the crunch talks. 'The UK should be at the forefront of these talks on the CAP, food security and environmental protection, not just to promote the interests of British farming, but to ensure that EU policy most effectively responds to the challenges of rising demand for food,' he said."

 Saudis got U.S. farm subsidies    [11/25/08 ]  "A sports-team owner, a financial-firm executive and residents of Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia were among 2,702 millionaire recipients of farm payments from 2003 to 2006 - and it's not even clear they were legitimate farmers, congressional investigators reported Monday. They probably were ineligible, but the Agriculture Department can't confirm that ..."

 GAO, Obama Hit Farm Subsidy Abuse    [11/25/08 ]  "The U.S. Department of Agriculture wrongly paid over $49 million in farm subsidies to ineligible wealthy individuals from 2003 through 2006 because it lacks the management conrols to enforce rules on means testing, according to a newly released Government Accountability Office report. President-electBarack Obama cited the report today in laying out the need to scrub the federal budget to eliminate wasteful spending."

 German Intelligence Agents Caught Staging False Flag Terror  [11/24/08 ]  "German intelligence agents have been caught staging a false flag terror attack against an EU building in Kosovo, apparently in an attempt to create a pretext for EU police to be deployed in Kosovo after government leaders rejected the UN-mandated proposal."

 DEA complicit in drug trade, says Morales  [11/24/08 ]  "Bolivian leader Evo Morales on Thursday accused the US government of encouraging drug-trafficking as he explained his decision to banish the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Morales, a staunch opponent of the Washington government, said the staff from the US agency had three months to prepare to leave the country, because "the DEA did not respect the police, or even the (Bolivian) armed forces." "The worst thing is, it did not fight drug trafficking; It encouraged it," the Bolivian leader said, adding that he had "quite a bit of evidence" backing up his charges."

 “World Wide Web Health Awards” Exposed as Having Ties to Pharmaceutical Industry   [11/24/08 ]  "According to an article posted on the Consumer Reports WebWatch site, the “World Wide Web Health Awards” are administered by a company with major financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry."

 UK: Speed traps set by your neighbours - police recruit residents in road safety war   [11/24/08 ]  "The decision to encourage speed trap volunteers follows the move by local councils to recruit members of the public to watch for breaches of rubbish collection and recycling rules. That has been condemned by critics as an attempt to get neighbour to spy on neighbour. Acpo spokesman Trevor Hall said the guidelines would encourage national consistency in the schemes."

 The 10 Worst Corporations of 2008  [11/24/08 ]  "2008 marks the 20th anniversary of Multinational Monitor's annual list of the 10 Worst Corporations of the year."

 Iranian revolutionary guards 'arrest Mossad-linked agents'   [11/24/08 ]  "Tehran - Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) recently arrested agents linked to the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, IRGC commander Mohammad-Ali Jafari said Monday." 

 Can George W. Bush 'Self-Pardon' Himself?  [11/24/08 ]  "There's no definitive legal consensus on whether a president can pardon himself. But Bush may well give the theorists an answer."

 Britain ready to take advantage of fading American influence  [11/24/08 ]  "Last week's report from the National Intelligence Council only served to confirm the fear that the age of America is drawing to a close, with the Iraq invasion standing as the final act of imperial hubris. As the Pentagon securocrats rightly predict, the emerging economies of the Bric nations - Brazil, Russia, India and China - are starting to flex their political and military muscles. The dollar's financial dominance is crumbling. Meanwhile, Bollywood and Nollywood (Nigeria's nascent film industry) are beginning to challenge the cultural prowess of Hollywood. In the coming decades, globalisation will no longer stand as a byword for Americanisation. But what of Britain, the sturdy outrider of the American imperium so willing to offer the 'blood price' of the special relationship? For the collapse of American ascendancy presents us with just as testing a challenge." 

 Bush To Give Afghan Air Force $3.5 Billion  [11/24/08 ]  "Around 3.5 billion U.S. dollars have been earmarked for reviving the wrecked air force in post-Taliban Afghanistan, Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi said Sunday. "In line with building the capacity of national army, 3.5 billion U.S. dollars have been allocated to rebuild the air force and in this connection, 19 transport planes C-27 would soon be given to our air force," Azimi said at a news conference here. However, he did not disclose who will provide the fund, only added that the C-27 planes are manufactured in the United States and Italy. Azimi also emphasized that so far 200 pilots have been trained and under training. As a lead nation in rebuilding Afghan new brand army, U.S. has contributed some 11 billion dollars to train and equip Afghanistan National Army (ANA) which boast the current strength of 80,000 while the government has been trying to boost up to 134,000 by 2011." 

 Micosoft Builds Software For DHS & Terror War  [11/24/08 ]  "Microsoft and GIS vendor ESRI have announced that they are constructing a suite of collaboration tools for intelligence gathering and processing, intended for deployment at the Department of Homeland Security's national fusion centers. The software is built on top of Microsoft's SharePoint server platform and ESRI's ArcGIS Advanced Enterprise server ..." 

 NYC Churches Ordered Not To Shelter Homeless  [11/23/08 ]  "City officials have ordered 22 New York churches to stop providing beds to homeless people. With temperatures well below freezing early Saturday, the churches must obey a city rule requiring faith-based shelters to be open at least five days a week -- or not at all. Arnold Cohen, president of the 'Partnership for the Homeless', a nonprofit that serves as a link with the city, said he had to tell the churches they no longer qualify.

 Ex-AIG CEO gives $2.2B in stock to wife  [11/23/08 ]  "Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, who last month relinquished his posts as chairman and chief executive of American International Group Inc. ( AIG) amid intense regulatory scrutiny, reported Tuesday a gift of 41.4 million company shares to his wife, Corinne P. Greenberg."

 Iraq told: Keep US troops or face martial law  [11/23/08 ] Paulson: "Pass the bailout bill or face martial law"  Same pattern.

 Bush appointees managing scientific policies have no training or science background  [11/23/08 ]  "The president of the nation's largest general science organization yesterday sharply criticized recent cases of Bush administration political appointees gaining permanent federal jobs with responsibility for making or administering scientific policies, saying the result would be "to leave wreckage behind." "It's ludicrous to have people who do not have a scientific background, who are not trained and skilled in the ways of science, make decisions that involve resources, that involve facilities in the scientific infrastructure," said James McCarthy, a Harvard University oceanographer who is president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. "You'd just like to think people have more respect for the institution of government than to leave wreckage behind with these appointments." His comments came as several new examples surfaced of political appointees gaining coveted, high-level civil service positions as the administration winds down. The White House has said repeatedly that all gained their new posts in an open, competitive process, but congressional Democrats and others questioned why political appointees had won out over qualified federal career employees." 

 The Judeo-Russian Mafia: From the Gulag to Brooklyn to World Dominion  [11/23/08 ]  "While the FBI and major media obsess about the Sicilian Mafia (the “Cosa Nostra”) a far more powerful and sinister force is in existence that has controlled most of the globe’s organized crime for at least two decades—the Jewish mafia from Russia (a “Kosher Nostra”). Yet there is not even a desk at the FBI for their crimes, which dwarf those of the Italian gangsters in scope, violence and depth ..." 

 Fuck U.S. Jobs: General Motors to Invest $1 Billion in Brazil Operations from U.S. Rescue Program  [11/23/08 ]  "General Motors plans to invest $1 billion in Brazil to avoid the kind of problems the U.S. automaker is facing in its home market, said the beleaguered car maker. According to the president of GM Brazil-Mercosur, Jaime Ardila, the funding will come from the package of financial aid that the manufacturer will receive from the U.S. government and will be used to "complete the renovation of the line of products up to 2012."  Related: Ford's Most Advanced Factory In Brazil -Video | GM begging money here in the US while making huge profits in other countries  "The LAAM division of General Motors (GM) that includes Brazil, earned profit of $ 1.3 billion last year, growth of 128% on the result of 2006. The excellent performance, according to the chairman of the assembly for the region, Jaime Ardila, was provided by strong growth of Mercosur, especially Brazil, where the company sold around 500 thousand units."

 Chambliss Skips Vote On Unemployment Benefits While Giving A Campaign Speech On Unemployment    [11/22/08 ]  " Chambliss was so busy campaigning that day that he actually skipped the Senate’s vote on the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2008, which extended unemployment benefits “by 13 weeks in states with an unemployment rate of at least 6 percent.” Chambliss was one of just four senators to miss the vote. WCTV reported that Chambliss later sent out a press released praising “the passage of the law and [said he] hopes it will help laid-off workers get by while seeking a new job.” Related: California unemployment rate jumps to 8.2 percent, third highest in U.S.

 Palin Gives Alaskan Turkey a "Pardon', then does Interview while slaughtering goes on in background    [11/22/08 ] Video  

 The reeking soul of US justice   [11/22/08 ]  " ....The US is now a carceral state that imprisons eight to 12 times more people (2.5m) per capita than the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany or Japan. US justice has become a command economy based on the avarice of private prison companies, a gigantic prison service industry and politically influential correctional officers’ unions that agitate for an unlimited increase in the number of prosecutions and the length of sentences. The entire “war on drugs”, by contrast, is a classic illustration of supply-side economics: a trillion taxpayers’ dollars squandered and 1m small fry imprisoned at a cost of $50 billion a year; as supply of and demand for illegal drugs have increased, prices have fallen and product quality has improved ..."

 US bank worker pleads guilty to killing dog   [11/22/08 ]  "A banker who was accused of stomping and beating his landlord's Boston terrier to death pleaded guilty Wednesday to misdemeanor animal cruelty charges ... Tafik Habib, 40, pleaded guilty to "overdriving, torturing and injuring'' an animal, a violation of the state's agricultural law. He admitted to the court he kicked the 15-pound (6.8-kilogram) dog and beat her with an umbrella."  Related: Baghdad plans to kill stray dogs  I thought they all would have been eaten by now. 

 US defense moves to enhance ties with Indonesia   [11/22/08 ]  "After 13 years of estrangement, the United States has been trying to improve military relations with Indonesia, which can play a key role in a region dominated by worries about North Korea's nuclearambitions and China's military buildup."

 Myanmar Gives Comedian 45-Year Sentence (Life) for Cyclone Comments    [11/22/08 ]  "A secret court run by Myanmar’s (Burma) military leadership on Friday sentenced a prominent Burmese comedian and activist to 45 years in prison, continuing a recent crackdown on dissidents. The comedian, U Maung Thura, 47, better known by his stage name Zarganar, or the Tweezers, was detained in June after he organized a private assistance effort to help victims of the May cyclone, which killed more than 130,000 Burmese. With aid organizations and Western governments, he criticized Myanmar’s handling of the disaster. Mr. Maung Thura’s conviction was handed down by a court in Insein prison in Yangon, where many political prisoners are held. He was found guilty of violating several statutes, including the Electronic Act, which regulates all forms of electronic communication in the country. The act has increasingly been used by the ruling junta to justify long prison sentences against democracy advocates and others. Some 150 critics of the government have received prison sentences of from 2 to 65 years in the past three weeks. On Thursday alone, 35 critics were sentenced to long prison terms, including Ashin Gambira, a Buddhist monk and a leader of the September 2007 antigovernment protests, who was sentenced to a total of 68 years, the Web site Irrawaddy reported. Those sentenced have included some 70 members of the opposition National League for Democracy, the party of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained Nobel laureate. Some of the most severe sentences were handed out to 23 members of the 88 Generation Students group who had been spearheading nonviolent protests for the past several years. Bloggers, musicians and poets have also been sent to prison. On Thursday, a hip-hop singer, Zeyar Thaw, was jailed for six years, and 14 members of Ms. Suu Kyi’s party were sentenced to two and a half years each for calling for her release on her birthday in June, said a party spokesman, Nyan Win."  Related: 50,000 Minions demonstrate in favor of intolerance of others  Planetary chaos pits 'immortality strategies' against each other.

 Estonian Spy Scandal Shakes NATO and EU   [11/21/08 ]  "For years an Estonian government official has apparently been collecting the most intimate secrets of NATO and the EU -- and passing them on to the Russians. The case is a disaster for Brussels."

 The New World Order’s Fascist Pedigree   [11/21/08 ]  "This 57-cent stamp shows an eagle, which according to Al Martin is an exact copy of the symbol of the Nazi Waffin-SS. The US Postal Service introduced it in February 2001 as the innocuous sounding “art deco” eagle but in light of Sept. 11, its symbolism is ominous. Similarly, John Ashcroft christened another homeland security force the “Freedom Corps”, evoking the “Freicorps,” the German army’s “irregulars” that cleared the way for Hitler. These allusions are sinister because the Third Reich was an early attempt at a “New World Order,” and the Anglo American business elite was involved up to its ears. Are these fascist allusions coincidental? Or, is the business elite coming out of the closet? Economist Robert Brady defined the Nazi state as “a dictatorship of monopoly capitalism. Its ‘fascism’ is that of business enterprise organized on a monopoly basis, and in full command of all the military, police, legal and propaganda power of the state ...."   Very interesting article.

 National ID Card: A License To Own You   [11/21/08 ]  " ....When you present your National ID to complete a transaction, you will actually be asking the Federal Government for its permission. It converts most significant transactions that you make from private ones to public ones. It creates a government license for all jobs, all travel, all medical care, and many purchases. This is a profoundly troubling departure from American traditions ... As convenient as a National ID card seems for law enforcement, it is an un-American notion. It comes from a political system explicitly rejected by those men who founded this country. The English language has a word for a system in which the central government of a country must authorize in advance all of its citizen’s activities. That word is totalitarian."

 America The Illiterate   [11/21/08 ]  "We live in two Americas. One America, now the minority, functions in a print-based, literate world. It can cope with complexity and has the intellectual tools to separate illusion from truth. The other America, which constitutes the majority, exists in a non-reality-based belief system. This America, dependent on skillfully manipulated images for information, has severed itself from the literate, print-based culture. It cannot differentiate between lies and truth. It is informed by simplistic, childish narratives and clichés. It is thrown into confusion by ambiguity, nuance and self-reflection. This divide, more than race, class or gender, more than rural or urban, believer or nonbeliever, red state or blue state, has split the country into radically distinct, unbridgeable and antagonistic entities ..."

 Chinese Automakers may buy GM and Chrysler   [11/20/08 ]  "A take-over of a large overseas auto maker would fit perfectly into China’s plans. As reported before, China has realized that its export chances are slim without unfettered access to foreign technology. The brand cachet of Chinese cars abroad is, shall we say, challenged. The Chinese could easily export Made-in-China VWs, Toyotas, Buicks. If their joint venture partner would let them. The solution: Buy the joint venture partner. Especially, when he’s in deep trouble."

 Paulson Was Behind Bailout Martial Law Threat Extortion   [11/20/08 ]  "Senator James Inhofe has revealed that Henry Paulson was behind the threats of martial law and a new great depression prior to the passage of the bailout bill, having made such warnings during a conference call on September 19th, around two weeks before the legislation was eventually approved by both the Senate and Congress ... Inhofe said that Paulson told members of Congress the crisis would be "far worse than the great depression" if Congress didn't authorize the bill to buy out toxic debt, a proposal "which he abandoned the day after he got the money," added Inhofe. Inhofe is referring to the controversy last week when it emerged that the bailout money was not going to buy up toxic debt but instead Paulson, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, had pulled a bait and switch and ordered the money be injected directly into banks. Senator Inhofe has slammed the secrecy surrounding the destination of the bailout money, saying that Hank Paulson could have given it to his friends and that the “blank check” must be cancelled now ..."  See Video [1:09] of Inhofe and his comments.

 CIA Misled Congress, Justice Dept. Over 2001 Incident, Probe Finds   [11/20/08 ]  "The CIA repeatedly misled Congress and the Justice Department in their investigations of the 2001 shoot-down of a Peruvian plane carrying U.S. missionaries, according to findings of an internal CIA probe released today by congressional officials."

 Strange 'Cheney' case takes a strange twist   [11/20/08 ]  "Lawyers for Vice President Dick Cheney and former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales were bewildered Wednesday when the prosecutor in a slew of indictments against them failed to appear in court. Willacy County prosecutor Juan Angel Guerra's no-show ruined hopes their motions would quickly quash cases against their clients and stumped the presiding judge as well. “At the very least, I expected the district attorney to be here,” Manuel Bañales said, asking Guerra's office manager, “Do you know where he is?”

 Peres to receive honorary knighthood during 3-day UK visit   [11/20/08 ]  "President Shimon Peres arrives in the UK on Monday for a three-day state visit with a packed itinerary of meetings and events, highlighted by his being awarded an honorary knighthood. After a few days of meeting dignitaries, visiting Parliament, and delivering a lecture at Balliol College, Oxford University's oldest college, Peres will meet Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on Thursday. There he will be awarded a Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George (KCMG), the sixth-most senior award in the British system, used to honor individuals who have rendered important services in relation to foreign nations."  He has served London well.

 Ex-UN diplomat extradited to Russia   [11/20/08 ]  "A Russian former UN diplomat found guilty of money laundering in 2007 has arrived in Moscow after being extradited from a Pennsylvania prison in the U.S. According to Russian authorities, Vladimir Kuznetzov will be held at a pre-trial detention centre until the Russian court decides where he will serve the remaining 16 months of his sentence."

 Piracy payback: UN plans blitz on Somali bases   [11/20/08 ]  "The United Nations is reportedly planning military action against east African pirates. A source close to the UN Security Council told RT it’s considering authorising a raid on bases along the Somali coast. If this happens, armed strikes could target land bases of known pirates threatening boats in the Gulf of Aden."

 Head of Interpol Mexico arrested for drug ties   [11/19/08 ]  "Mexico arrested its head of Interpol on Tuesday for allegedly working for a powerful drug cartel and sent the military to take over police duties in the city of Tijuana in another step to flush out corrupt law enforcement."

 Declassified Papers: DOJ Accepted AIPAC Parent's Demand for Secrecy   [11/19/08 ]  "Papers kept secret for 43 years show that the US Department of Justice attempted to register the parent organization of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, as the foreign agent of Israel. Such a registration could have changed the course of Middle East history by giving the president, State Department and American public more insight and leverage over the Israel lobby during peace negotiations to compensate displaced Palestinians and avert Israel's covert development of nuclear weapons." 

 30 reasons for Great Depression 2 by 2011  [11/19/08 ]  "By 2011? No recovery? No new bull? "Hey Paul, why do you keep talking about a bigger crash coming by 2011?" Readers ask that often. So here's a sequel to my predictions of 2000 and 2004, with a look three years ahead ..."  However ... we won't be here.

 Why Gold Is Down, But You Can't Get Your Hands on Any  [11/19/08 ]  "A two tiered market has developed where speculators have been badly burned trading gold futures, while some investors holding actual physical gold have not only managed to keep their shirts, but have held on to gains for the year. Dealers and analysts are calling it an “upside down” market where physical gold, including coins and bars, are in short supply and far more expensive than the price quoted on New York Mercantile Exchange’s COMEX division .... In recent trading, the active December contract has traded in the area of $740 per ounce, while one-ounce bars of gold have been trading at or near 20% premiums to the front-month futures contract, according to gold dealers. Usually the premium is only about 5%. The same goes for silver, where Comex paper futures are trading at just over $9 an ounce, compared to physical supplies commanding prices above $12 an ounce. There’s an even greater discrepancy involving average uncirculated one-ounce late 19th and early 20th century gold coins known as $20 Liberty and $20 St. Gaudens coins. These particular gold coins, which normally attract a price of about $70 an ounce above spot, are attracting bids of at least $1,100 a piece."

 Israeli mob swears vengeance as it buries boss  [11/19/08 ]  "It was after leaving the Tel Aviv District Court where his son Dror was being indicted on extortion and other charges on Monday that Yaakov Alperon, probably Israel's most famous crime boss, was killed. His rented car was blown up by a remote-control explosive device which also injured two bystanders, including a 13-year-old boy. Police are bracing themselves for vengeance after the dead man's sister said at his grave: "These are murderers, bad people. The ones who did this will have the same done to their kids." The case has thrown a fresh and unwelcome spotlight on a spate of mob violence. In July, an innocent 31-year-old woman was shot dead in front of her children on a beach near Tel Aviv in a botched assassination attempt on another underworld figure. The Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, addressed public concern yesterday, saying that police operations targeting organised crime needed "shaking up". Alperon was something of a Tony Soprano-like celebrity among Israeli crime bosses, often giving wisecracking television interviews in which he would deny any wrongdoing. He even appeared on a reality TV show. But much of the clan's money-making activities were in deadly earnest. They reportedly included a protection racket in Netanya, in which restaurateurs paid in bottles which the Alperons sent for recycling and then pocketed the profits: no paper trail, no tell-tale cash handovers, and reputedly a $5m (£3.3m) business. There have also been struggles for control of betting rings; gambling is illegal in Israel."

Trial Begins over California Prison Crowding  [11/19/08 ]  "Attorneys for the state and inmates' rights groups clashed Tuesday at the opening of a high-stakes trial over whether California's jam-packed prisons have led to unconstitutionally poor medical and mental health care. If the special panel of three federal judges rules against the state, another trial will be held next year to determine remedies. Possible solutions include an order to release inmates before they have completed their full sentences, a move opposed by the Schwarzenegger administration ..."  Related: Growing Inmate Population Is Boon to Private Prisons

Banker Manipulation Of Gold And Silver Prices Further Exposed   [11/19/08 ]  "Commodities experts are in agreement that the price of gold and silver is being manipulated by bankers and government officials in order to halt a mass abandonment of paper currencies and the debt based economy." 

 Most Subprime Lenders Weren’t Subject to U.S. Lending Law  [11/19/08 ]  " ... A Register analysis of more than 12 million subprime mortgages worth nearly $2 trillion shows that most of the lenders who made risky subprime loans were exempt from the Community Reinvestment Act. And many of the lenders covered by the law that did make subprime loans came late to that market – after smaller, unregulated players showed there was money to be made. Among our conclusions: Nearly $3 of every $4 in subprime loans made from 2004 through 2007 came from lenders who were exempt from the law ...."

Decorated U.S. Agent Arrested on Drug Charges      [11/19/08 ]  "Government officials say a decorated federal immigrations officer has been arrested on drug distribution charges. The officials tell The Associated Press that Special Agent Kevin Merkel is accused in a secret indictment of possession and intent to distribute crystal methamphetamine. They spoke on condition of anonymity because charges have not been unsealed. It is not clear if Merkel has been cooperating with authorities since his arrest ..."

China Passes Japan as Biggest U.S. Treasuries Holder    [11/19/08 ]  "China surpassed Japan in September to become the biggest foreign holder of U.S. Treasuries, as foreign investors sought the relative safety of government debt as stocks plunged 9.1 percent that month."

Cheney, Gonzales Indicted By South Texas Grand Jury   [11/18/08 ]  "A South Texas grand jury has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in Willacy County's federal detention centers. The indictment criticizes Cheney's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees by working through the prison companies. Gonzales is accused of using his position while in office to stop an investigation into abuses at the federal detention centers. Another indictment charges state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. with profiting from his public office by accepting honoraria from prison management companies."

Howard Zinn: “I Don’t Care” If 9/11 Was An Inside Job   [11/18/08 ]  "World renowned peace activist and left-wing anti-war icon Howard Zinn recently told an audience that he didn’t care if 9/11 was an inside job, echoing the disdainful and apathetic rhetoric of fellow liberal gatekeepers Noam Chomsky and Alexander Cockburn in dismissing the efforts of the 9/11 truth movement."

Obama [master of ambiguity] worries national security hawks   [11/18/08 ]  "One of Barack Obama's former University of Chicago colleagues, Rashid Khalidi, had this to say last spring about having a policy discussion on the Middle East with the president-elect: "You may come away thinking, 'Wow, he agrees with me.' But later, when you get home and think about it, you are not sure." It was noted more than once during the presidential campaign that Obama has a quality enabling all sorts of folks to project their aspirations on him. That has helped make him the most phenomenally successful politician in a generation. While artful ambiguity can work wonders in winning votes and political friends, it can make for trouble in the complex world of international relations ..."

The verdict is in   [11/18/08 ] Video  "Judge Andrew Napolitano discusses the Treasury’s new plans to buy stakes in the banks, rather than their original plan which was to purchase the toxic assets and how the Treasury Secretary’s actions are not constitutional. However, he doesn’t stop there." 

Top judge: US and UK acted as 'vigilantes' in Iraq invasion  [11/18/08 ]  "One of Britain's most authoritative judicial figures last night delivered a blistering attack on the invasion of Iraq, describing it as a serious violation of international law, and accusing Britain and the US of acting like a "world vigilante". Lord Bingham, in his first major speech since retiring as the senior law lord, rejected the then attorney general's defence of the 2003 invasion as fundamentally flawed. Contradicting head-on Lord Goldsmith's advice that the invasion was lawful, Bingham stated: "It was not plain that Iraq had failed to comply in a manner justifying resort to force and there were no strong factual grounds or hard evidence to show that it had." Adding his weight to the body of international legal opinion opposed to the invasion, Bingham said that to argue, as the British government had done, that Britain and the US could unilaterally decide that Iraq had broken UN resolutions "passes belief"."

Washington's handling of the bailout may well be illegal  [11/18/08 ]  "The more details emerge, the clearer it becomes that Washington's handling of the Wall Street bailout is not merely incompetent. It is borderline criminal. In a moment of high panic in late September, the U.S. Treasury unilaterally pushed through a radical change in how bank mergers are taxed -- a change long sought by the industry. Despite the fact that this move will deprive the government of as much as $140 billion in tax revenue, lawmakers found out only after the fact. According to the Washington Post, more than a dozen tax attorneys agree that "Treasury had no authority to issue the [tax change] notice."

Clinton to accept offer of secretary of state job  [11/18/08 ]  No surprise there. These people are addicted to power and control.

Sopranos actor Brancato goes on trial for killing of police officer  [11/18/08 ]  "Lillo Brancato made a name for himself playing mob characters on the small and big screen. With his Italian New York upbringing, and an uncanny ability to imitate the tough dialect of local crime families, he was recruited to play opposite Robert De Niro and appeared in six episodes of the TV series the Sopranos as a wannabe mobster who was killed before he could achieve his dreams. Now Brancato's own ambitions face extinction as he goes on trial for the second degree murder of a police officer in 2005. Brancato is alleged to have been involved in a bungled robbery in search of prescription drugs, in which his accomplice, Steven Armento, shot the officer at close range."

[Lack of Intelligence] Policy to Stay Largely Intact  [11/17/08 ]  "Barack Obama is unlikely to radically overhaul controversial Bush administration intelligence policies, advisers say, an approach that is almost certain to create tension within the Democratic Party."

UK: PM Gordon Brown Pushes Harvesting of Organs of Population By Presumed Consent  [11/17/08 ]  "Gordon Brown is not ruling out a change in the law on organ donation even though a panel of experts has rejected the idea of "presumed consent". Note: I get the image of a bunch of lizards waving livers over their heads.

Brazilian Trader Shoots Himself On Exchange Floor  [11/17/08 ]  "Paulo Sergio Silva, 36, a trader for the brokerage arm of Brazilian banking giant Itau, shot himself in the chest during the afternoon trading session, the exchange said, and hospital staff said he was in critical condition." 

Iraq Dismisses Oversight Officials Despite Soaring Corruption  [11/17/08 ] "The government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is systematically dismissing oversight officials who were installed to fight corruption in Iraqi ministries by order of the American occupation administration, which had hoped to bring Western standards of accountability to the notoriously opaque and graft-ridden bureaucracy here ..." 

UK: Police officers stay in jobs despite serious convictions  [11/17/08 ] "Dozens of officers at a single force are patrolling the streets despite convictions for gun crimes, actual bodily harm, theft and other offences."

Panel finds widespread Gulf War illness  [11/17/08 ] "The extensive body of scientific research now available consistently indicates that ’Gulf War illness’ is real, that it is the result of neurotoxic exposures during Gulf War deployment, and that few veterans have recovered or substantially improved with time,” said the report, being released Monday by a panel of scientists and veterans."

Palin Book Deal Said To Be Worth $7 Million [To The Neurologically Impaired]  [11/17/08 ] "She failed to save John McCain from presidential election doom, but Sarah Palin, the Republican senator's controversial running mate, may yet emerge as the savior of the American publishing industry. Literary agents are queuing up to sign her to a book deal that could earn her up to $7m ..."

G20 heads set rescue deadline  [11/17/08 ] "World leaders in the US have set an end of March deadline for concrete proposals on tightening global financial regulation and oversight while boosting market transparency. The heads of state and government from the world's 20 largest economies are to task their finance ministers with drawing up a series of proposals and recommendations to be put forward by March 31, a source close to the G20 talks said."  Related: Financial Meltdown Summit Featured Lavish Dinner Menu, $300 Bottles of Wine | G-20 Meets, Dines in DC, Does Nothing to Save the World Economy

Things are not going the US’s way   [11/17/08 ] "Nothing much is going right for the US these days. Leaving aside the troubles with its financial system..."

Secret Directed-Energy Tech Protecting the President?  [11/16/08 ] "The Secret Service is tasked with protecting the President of the United States from assailants; and given that President-elect Obama has already been the target of assassination plots they may have their work cut out after January. But they have more than earpiece radios and armored limos to help them; the Secret Service can call on the very latest technology. Documents from a recent court case indicate that they have advanced directed-energy devices which are highly classified." 

Justice department flooded with requests for pardons and commutations  [11/16/08 ] "The Justice department is getting flooded with a new wave of requests for pardons and commutations from convicted felons hoping for clemency from President Bush before he leaves office. A number of politically connected Washington lawyers have been retained to push the cases, but there are few signs that Bush will be open to anything resembling the last minute "pardon party" that marked President Clinton's final days in office. Bush has taken a stingy stand on pardons, granting fewer of them—just 157, and none of them high profile—than any president in modern history. He has directed all hopefuls to submit applications to the Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney, which evaluates all requests using strict, longstanding guidelines, including a requirement that applicants have finished serving their sentences and expressed remorse. The office received a record 555 pardon requests during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 and an additional 103 in the past month."

Anti-Prop. 8 Protests Spread Across the Country  [11/16/08 ]  Justifiable resistance to group manipulation of people's lives.

Bill Clinton's Foreign Deals May Pose Issue For Hillary Clinton As Secretary Of State  [11/16/08 ] "Former President Bill Clinton's globe-trotting business deals and fundraising for his foundation sometimes put his activities abroad at odds with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and could cause complications if President-elect Barack Obama picks her to be secretary of state ..."

Chicago Mayor: Prepare For Mass Layoffs in November, December  [11/16/08 ] "The warning is out – Mayor Richard M. Daley says a parade of corporate chief executives have told him huge layoffs are planned around the city and will carry into next year. The news is especially alarming because the discussion concerns not just city jobs, but the private sector. Thus, it seems the City That Works is about to become the city that gets laid off." 

Poverty, Pension Fears Drive Japanese Seniors to Shoplift, Pick Pockets  [11/16/08 ] "More senior citizens are picking pockets and shoplifting in Japan to cope with cuts in government welfare spending and rising health-care costs in a fast-ageing society." 

U.S. Postal Service Billions In The Red  [11/16/08 ] "The Postal Service ended its fiscal year $2.8 billion in the red, battered by a faltering economy that cut the amount of mail being sent. Postmaster General John Potter said the agency is making sharp cuts in hours and overtime but added there are no plans for layoffs. The mail being sent dropped by 9.5 billion items. "We expect the new fiscal year to be another difficult one," Potter said, adding: "We're not panicking here." The cost of sending packages will go up in January, and the annual increase in the cost of letter mail is still scheduled for May. By cutting back on spending the post office had a net operating income of $2.7 billion in 2008, but still ended up in the red because of the requirement for a $5.6 billion payment to a health benefit fund for retirees. Even so, the $2.8 billion loss was well short of last year's $5.1 billion postal deficit."

Signals from secret US-Australian navy base may have caused Qantas jet dive  [11/16/08 ] "An investigation into the incident by Australia's air safety agency said it was possible that the aircraft's flight computers had been affected by strong bursts of electromagnetic interference. The Airbus, with 303 passengers and 10 crew, was cruising at 37,000 feet (11,200m) from Singapore to Perth on October 7 when it suddenly gained altitude, then plummeted more than 1,000 feet in little over a minute. Passengers on board, including babies and children, were flung around the cabin and crashed against rooftop luggage compartments before the pilots regained control and made an emergency landing ... The navy base on Australia's northwest coast is the most powerful transmission station in the southern hemisphere and has been a frequent target of peace protests since it opened in 1963." 

Fake News Epedemic  [11/16/08 ] "The Center for Media Democracy and Free Press today exposed an epidemic of fake news infiltrating local television broadcasts across country. At a press conference in Washington with FCC Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein, the groups called for a crackdown on stations that present corporate-sponsored videos as genuine news to an unsuspecting audience. CMD, which unveiled the results of a 10-month investigation, found scores of local stations slipping commercial "video news releases," or VNRs, into their regular news programming. The new multimedia report released today includes footage of 36 separate VNRs and their broadcast as "news" by TV stations and networks nationwide, including those in the nation's biggest markets."

Blackwater Busted: Six Guards May Be Charged in Iraq Massacre  [11/16/08 ] "After more than five years of rampant violence and misconduct carried out by the massive army of private corporate contractors in Iraq -- actions that have gone totally unpunished under any system of law -- the US Justice Department appears to be on the verge of handing down the first indictments against armed private forces for crimes committed in Iraq ..."

No missiles in Europe until OSCE summit, urge EU, Russia  [11/16/08 ] "Russia and the United States should both refrain from siting any new weapons systems in Europe before a major summit of European and North American powers in June or July 2009, the French and Russian presidents said on Friday."  Related: Russian President Calls For Talks With Obama | Russia Backs Off On Europe Missile Threat

Freddie, JPMorgan in Dispute Over Bad WaMu Loans  [11/16/08 ] "JPMorgan, which took over Washington Mutual's assets after the thrift collapsed, told Freddie it won't buy back mortgages sold by WaMu that failed to match promises made about their quality, McLean, Virginia-based Freddie said today in a regulatory filing." 

2009 (False Flag) Terror Attack Being Peddled By Establishment Media, Intelligence Sources   [11/15/08 ] "The notion that terrorists will attack America shortly after Barack Obama takes office is again being vigorously pushed by the corporate media as well as shadowy intelligence sources, and has reached the same crescendo that preceded 9/11, a disturbing sign that the public is being prepared for a newly manufactured mass casualty event ... "  Related: Barack Obama told to expect early 'al-Qaeda' attack 

Wikipedia deletes Benjamin Emanuel entry  [11/15/08 ] "Wikipedia has delete Rahm Emanuel’s father’s page. Benjamin M. Emanuel’s entry was recommended for deletion shortly after Obama named the younger Emanuel as his Chief of Staff, and it looks like it had already been deleted (or recommended for deletion) once before in January of 2007."  Note: Actually, this happened a week or so ago, but not before I went in there and made a PDF file of it.

Lawmaker Joins Fight To Outlaw Human Microchip Implants [11/15/08 ] "A Pennsylvania Lawmaker has joined a growing movement of representatives in seeking to outlaw identification implants in humans." 

Baron David de Rothschild sees a New World Order in global banking governance  [11/15/08 ] "Among the captains of industry, spin doctors and financial advisers accompanying British prime minister Gordon Brown on his fund-raising visit to the Gulf this week, one name was surprisingly absent. This may have had something to do with the fact that the tour kicked off in Saudi Arabia. But by the time the group reached Qatar, Baron David de Rothschild was there, too, and he was also in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Although his office denies that he was part of the official party, it is probably no coincidence that he happened to be in the same part of the world at the right time. That is how the Rothschilds have worked for centuries: quietly, without fuss, behind the scenes. “We have had 250 years or so of family involvement in the finance business,” says Baron Rothschild. “We provide advice on both sides of the balance sheet, and we do it globally ..." 

Hedge fund D-Day - Nov 15th  [11/15/08 ] "Anxiety is sweeping the hedge fund industry before a crucial deadline on Nov 15th, when investors angered by recent heavy losses are expected to demand the return of billions of dollars. "Managers have a pretty good feeling for what is coming, and there are significant redemption requests out there,'' said Stewart Massey, founding partner of Massey, Quick & Co, an investment consultant that puts money into hedge funds. Saturday is the last day for thousands of investors to notify hundreds of hedge funds if they want their money back by year's end. Hedge funds that require three months notice from investors who wanted to exit by year's end had a similar deadline on September 30 - also known in the industry as "D-Day.'' More such deadlines loom for funds that allow investors to give less notice before taking their money out, fund managers said ..."

At Bailout Deadline, 60 Banks Approved for $173 Billion  [11/14/08 ] "November 14th was the last day that public banks could apply for an infusion of the Treasury Department’s bailout dollars. According to our running tally, 60 banks have so far announced preliminary approval, a commitment of about $173.4 billion by Treasury. Of course, that total is bound to rise. Although today is the deadline for banks to apply, it’s not the deadline for Treasury to approve those applications. Judging from regulatory filings and news stories, more than 20 banks have announced an intention to apply for the program. That’s not quite the "thousands" of banks that Treasury officials anticipated applying. But perhaps that’s picking up. Execs with the country’s biggest banking association say that there has been significant interest in the program; about 40% of the industry wants in, they say."

Attractive Period for Israel to strike Iran?  [11/14/08 ] "Israel might strike Iran between November 5 and January 19, 2009. This Israel did on December 8, 1988 when it targeted a cave-based headquarters 20 km. south of Beirut, serving the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, headed by Ahmed Jibril, writes Yaakov Lappin. His article is published in Jerusalem Post on November 6, 09. . Title of the article is "Might Israel strike at Iran before Obama takes over? Mr. Lappin quotes historian Benny Morris about the likely attack. "Speaking to The Jerusalem Post this week, Morris said he continued to believe that time period [November 5 and January 19] was a "reasonable" one for Israeli action. There is certainly a friendly president in the White House until January 20." 

Fearing Taliban, Pakistani Cops resign   [11/14/08 ] "Ismaeel Khan is one of hundreds of cops in the restive valley of Swat who have recently resigned after being threatened by Taliban militants to either quit or face "dire consequences ..."

Colombian pyramid scam leads to rioting  [11/14/08 ] "Colombians have lost hundreds of millions of dollars in pyramid schemes that are collapsing around the country, sparking deadly riots and threatening to hurt an economy already slowed by global financial turmoil. The schemes flourished until the swindlers started disappearing with the uninsured deposits. Investors this week stormed and looted the offices of the agencies and battled riot police as they clamored for repayment ..." Related: Rioting over pyramid scheme kills 1 in Colombia "At least one man was killed in rioting over the collapse of a pyramid scheme that offered 70 percent returns and fleeced its mostly poor investors out of millions of dollars, Colombian authorities said Thursday. The victim was shot dead Wednesday evening in a southern cocaine-producing region where angry investors were demanding their money back from a company called "Dinero Rapido Facil Efectivo," or DRFE. Related: 2nd death tied to failed Colombian pyramid scheme "A security guard for a Colombian investment company that collapsed under pyramid scheme was shot and killed, police said Friday, the second victim of rioting by investors who lost millions in savings. Police said a total of 600 million pesos ($270 million) is believed to have been lost in the scheme. Authorities had a hard time on Friday explaining why they hadn't stopped the scheme, which involved at least 240 offices offering absurdly favorable returns. In some cases, the company promised to at least double people's money in a month. The scheme collapsed this week as rumors spread that its owner, Carlos Alfredo Suarez, fled the country, and fleeced investors rioted across southern Colombia after the company shut down. Police confiscated some 57 billion pesos ($26 million), but said most of the money was gone, and that Suarez's whereabouts are unknown. At least 13 towns were put under curfew because of rioting, said Gen. Orlando Paez, national police operations chief."  Riots in Columbia, as 'investment firms' make off with public savings Video (Real News) [1:44]  

 FBI informant becomes co-conspirator, promoting violence and embellishing conspiracy for own profit  [11/14/08 ] "The FBI informant who infiltrated a band of alleged South Jersey terrorists complained in September 2006 that one suspect "was gonna have a problem with me" because he kept refusing to plan, train or arrange meetings to discuss an attack. The comment by the informant, Mahmoud Omar, was recounted for jurors this morning in Camden, where five Muslim immigrants are being tried on charges of plotting to kill U.S. soldiers. Defense attorneys contend that Omar, an Egyptian national and convicted felon, concocted and encouraged the conspiracy so he could keep collecting a paycheck. In his fifth-day of cross-examination, attorney Rocco Cipparone continued to highlight for jurors dozens of conversations where Omar appeared to complain about the pace of the plotting, the lack of training or other concrete steps by the defendants. "We didn't conduct a good reconnaissance on that site," Shnewer said. "We need to do surveillance of the area two or three more times." But Shnewer never again proposed the surveillance and it never occurred, Omar testified. Prosecutors say Shnewer, a laborer and cab driver from Cherry Hill, and his four codefendants were "jihadist" Muslim immigrants who drew inspiration from Al Qaeda and wanted to launch an attack within the United States. The other suspects include brothers Shain, Eljvir and Dritan Duka, roofers from Cherry Hill, or Serdar Tatar, a convenience store clerk in Philadelphia."

 Auto Industry bankruptcy protection won't work  [11/14/08 ] "A Chapter 11 restructuring bid by one of the three top U.S. automakers is unlikely to succeed due to the damaged economy and frozen credit markets, and may even result in the company folding, billionaire investor Wilbur Ross told Bloomberg in an interview."

 Maddow: New rule kicks Patriot Act foes 'right in the teeth'  [11/14/08 ] "The Bush administration has been planning since last spring to issue a final burst of federal regulations just before leaving office. It was recently announced that over 90 new regulations would be finalized before November 22 -- 60 days prior to the end of Bush's term -- making them difficult, though not impossible, for President Obama to reverse. Although many of the regulations have to do with energy and the environment, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow noted on Tuesday that there's also "one that'll kick opponents of the Patriot Act right in the teeth." The proposed regulation "would allow state and local law enforcement agencies to collect intelligence on individuals and organizations even if the information is unrelated to any criminal matter," Maddow explained. She added, "Even if they weren't already watching you -- they soon could be."

 3 to 4.3 Billion Barrels of Technically Recoverable Oil Assessed in North Dakota and Montana’s Bakken Formation  [11/14/08 ] "North Dakota and Montana have an estimated 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil in an area known as the Bakken Formation. A U.S. Geological Survey assessment, released April 10, 2008, shows a 25-fold increase in the amount of oil that can be recovered compared to the agency's 1995 estimate of 151 million barrels of oil."

 UK falsely brands 12,000 as criminals  [11/14/08 ] "A government agency in Britain has a lot of explaining to do after it wrongly accused 12,000 people of being convicted criminals, reports the Daily Mail. The innocent victims, according to the newspaper, were labelled by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) as paedophiles, thieves and violent thugs ..."

 Euthenasia killing gets green light in Italy  [11/13/08 ] "The President of Iraq's Kurdistan local government has warned of a 'civil war' if Baghdad refuses to sign a security agreement with the US. "If the pact is not signed, the situation in the country may deteriorate to the point of a civil war," Voices of Iraq news agency quoted Masoud Barzani as saying at a press conference on Wednesday. Barzani had earlier said his region will provide the US with military bases if the Iraqi government refuses to sign the Status of Forces

 85,000 homes lost in October  [11/13/08 ] "As government and industry scrambled to stem the housing crisis, another 84,868 homes were lost to foreclosure in October, according to a report released Thursday. Last month 279,561 struggling borrowers received foreclosure filings, including default notices, notices of auction sales and bank repossessions, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosures. That's a 5% increase from September, and up 25% from October 2007 ..." 

 Barzani: sign SOFA or face civil war  [11/13/08 ] "The President of Iraq's Kurdistan local government has warned of a 'civil war' if Baghdad refuses to sign a security agreement with the US. "If the pact is not signed, the situation in the country may deteriorate to the point of a civil war," Voices of Iraq news agency quoted Masoud Barzani as saying at a press conference on Wednesday. Barzani had earlier said his region will provide the US with military bases if the Iraqi government refuses to sign the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). Baghdad and Washington are negotiating the deal to provide a legal basis for the presence of US troops in Iraq after their UN mandate expires in December 2008. Based on the agreement's provisions, the US would be granted the permission to build military bases, camps and prisons inside Iraq. The deal, however, has met fierce opposition from the country's political and religious leaders who are concerned about those SOFA provisions which would "violate Iraq's sovereignty". Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has also declared that any agreement with the United States should consider the country's sovereignty and national interests."  Related: Syria: SOFA threatens regional stability

 Iraq to vote on US pact at weekend  15-16 Nov  [11/13/08 ] "The Iraqi cabinet will vote on a controversial military pact (SOFA) to govern the presence of US troops in the country on either Saturday or Sunday, Iraq's finance minister said. "We received the last draft from the Americans and now it is being discussed between the American and the Iraqi committees and the prime minister's office," Baqer Jabr Solagh told AFP on Wednesday. "The cabinet will meet (Saturday or Sunday) to see the last draft and then the cabinet will vote ... They have to vote, yes or no."  Note: I can't wait to see what happens if they vote "no". Dec 31 is the end of the UN mandate.   

 Iranian diplomat kidnapped in Pakistan  [11/13/08 ] "Unidentified gunmen have reportedly abducted an Iranian diplomat and killed his driver in an ambush in the Pakistani city of Peshawar." 

 US stocks fall over Paulson's remarks  [11/13/08 ] "US stocks have plunged after Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said his department would consider capital needs of non-bank institutions." 

 Jarrah's spy equipment found in Lebanon  [11/13/08 ] "The Lebanese Army has raided the residence of two Lebanese brothers accused of spying for the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad."

 Bush Push To Lock Policy For Obama Has Loophole    [11/13/08 ] "Last May, White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten instructed federal agency heads to make sure any new regulations were finalized by Nov. 1. The memo didn’t spell it out, but the thinking behind the directive was obvious. As Myron Ebell of the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute put it: “We’re not going to make the same mistakes the Clinton administration did.” ... But that strategy doesn’t account for the Congressional Review Act of 1996. The law contains a clause determining that any regulation finalized within 60 days of congressional adjournment — Oct. 3, in this case — is considered to have been legally finalized on Jan. 15, 2009. The new Congress then has 60 days to review it and reverse it with a joint resolution that can’t be filibustered in the Senate. In other words, any regulation finalized in the last half-year of the Bush administration could be wiped out with a simple party-line vote in the Democrat-controlled Congress. Given how often the Bush administration have sidelined Congress to push their own policies, the notion that a majority of Congress can so easily sideline Bush's last six months in office has a delicious sense of 'karma' about it."  See Video Keith Olbermann explains.

 Treasury continues to harpoon the Real Economy    [11/12/08 ] "With the ever increasing amount of taxpayers' money handed over to "bail out" Financial Firms, manufacturing firms and Insurance firms, the Treasury has given a new meaning to the term "Venture Capital".

 Gun sales and the paranoid: A sucker born every minute    [11/12/08 ] "Before Election Day, the NRA was doing what it always does: Raising the specter of the liberal bogeyman -- you know, the Incipient Dictator Who Wants To Take Your Guns Away -- in the person of Barack Obama. So it shouldn't really be a big surprise that, after the election, one of the only segments of the retail economy that did well was in guns ... There is also a racial component to these fears, which surfaces in attitudes like those voiced in a NYT piece about the decline of the South's political influence ...It's worth remembering, perhaps, that the NRA is largely underwritten by the arms-manufacturing industry." 

 Cheney And Biden To Meet Privately At VP Residence   [11/12/08 ] "Thursday Nov 13, at the Naval Observatory" Bring bagels, cream cheese, leather pants and a whip.

 King Abdullah Tries to Use UN To Push Global 'Blasphemy Law'   [11/12/08 ] "World leaders gathering at the United Nations this week for a special session of the General Assembly to advance interfaith dialogue should have no illusions that their efforts will miraculously promote mutual respect between religious communities or end abuses of religious freedom. Saudi King Abdullah, who initiated this week's special session, is quietly enlisting the leaders' support for a global law to punish blasphemy – a campaign championed by the 56-member Organization of Islamic Conference that puts the rights of religions ahead of individual liberties ... They undermine the standards codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the keystone of the United Nations, by granting greater rights to religions than to individuals ... Another stark irony hangs over the UN special session this week. Saudi Arabia is one of the world's worst abusers of religious freedom, a fact recognized by the Bush administration when it named it a "country of particular concern" under the International Religious Freedom Act in 2004 ..." Note: More nut cases and their sequentialized bullshit mind control. Interesting, in that the more chaotic society becomes, the more groups are trying to make their body-id "immortality strategy" the predominant one, and 'protect' it.  It's all a show about nothing!  Dumber than a box of rocks. Related: Atheists Want New DoD Rules on Prayer   [11/12/08 ] "A coalition of atheists and agnostics wants the new White House to protect young military members from what they see as rampant religious discrimination in the services. The Secular Coalition for America held a news conference Monday urging new rules against proselytizing and more training for chaplains on how to handle nonreligious troops. "When they say ‘there are no atheists in foxholes’ it’s slanderous," said Wayne Adkins, a former Army first lieutenant who served in Iraq in 2004 and 2005. "To deny their existence is to deny that they serve." Note: Aside from the fact that all these people on both sides are idiots, the use of the word "atheist" is loaded.  People normally think of the word as referring to someone who 'doesn't beLIEve in a 'god', however, Theism, in its most inclusive usage, is the belief in at least one deity. So if a person is a theist, the person beLIEves in a god. I find is strange, that of all the words in the English language, eliminating a 'space' between the 'a' and the 'theist' can convince people that it means the opposite. What this 'conundrum' really means is that everyone who deems themselves to be an "atheist", has been suckered into using a word which actually deems them to be the opposite, because in a 'god-believing' society, why have a word which permits real 'dis-beLIEf' to be an acceptable position linguistically? Layer upon layer of fools.

 Forget Red vs. Blue -- It's the Educated vs. People Easily Fooled by Propaganda   [11/12/08 ] "Millions of Americans live in a non-reality-based belief system informed by childish clichés - they can barely differentiate between lies and truth. We live in two Americas. One America, now the minority, functions in a print-based, literate world. It can cope with complexity and has the intellectual tools to separate illusion from truth. The other America, which constitutes the majority, exists in a non-reality-based belief system. This America, dependent on skillfully manipulated images for information, has severed itself from the literate, print-based culture. It cannot differentiate between lies and truth. It is informed by simplistic, childish narratives and clichés. It is thrown into confusion by ambiguity, nuance and self-reflection. This divide, more than race, class or gender, more than rural or urban, believer or nonbeliever, red state or blue state, has split the country into radically distinct, unbridgeable and antagonistic entities. There are over 42 million American adults, 20 percent of whom hold high school diplomas, who cannot read, as well as the 50 million who read at a fourth- or fifth-grade level. Nearly a third of the nation's population is illiterate or barely literate. And their numbers are growing by an estimated 2 million a year. But even those who are supposedly literate retreat in huge numbers into this image-based existence. A third of high school graduates, along with 42 percent of college graduates, never read a book after they finish school. Eighty percent of the families in the United States last year did not buy a book ... The core values of our open society, the ability to think for oneself, to draw independent conclusions, to express dissent when judgment and common sense indicate something is wrong, to be self-critical, to challenge authority, to understand historical facts, to separate truth from lies, to advocate for change and to acknowledge that there are other views, different ways of being, that are morally and socially acceptable, are dying ..."  Note: Of course, the "educated" people are easily fooled by the synthetic reality presented in the culture, which is again just another level of ignorance.

 Tony Blair's bodyguard triggers Israeli airport panic when gun goes off by accident   [11/12/08 ] "Tony Blair's bodyguard caused a major security scare at an Israeli airport yesterday when his gun went off by mistake. The police special protection officer was unloading his gun prior to boarding a plane to London with Mr Blair when he accidentally fired into the ground. No one was injured in the incident, but Israeli security guards and police rushed to the scene and detained him. An initial investigation revealed that the incident was due to an error by the bodyguard."    What? 

 Afghan War Plans May Run Into Weary Public, Deficits    [11/12/08 ]  "... Intensifying violence is ramping up U.S. involvement, costing money and lives when America faces a record budget deficit and the public is weary of war ... Meanwhile, the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated, with a reconstituted and emboldened Taliban mounting more attacks on American forces. Neighboring, nuclear-armed Pakistan -- threatened by domestic extremists, assassination attempts and a financial crisis -- hasn't been able to control border security in its autonomous tribal areas where militants take shelter. General David McKiernan, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, has asked for 20,000 more American troops next year; the 3,500-person 3rd Brigade Combat Team deploying in January from Fort Drum will be the tip of that spear ..." Related: We can't defeat Taleban, says Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith

 Lawmakers Demand to See Bailout Chief - Neel Kashkari to Testify Before Congress   [11/12/08 ] "The Treasury Department's top bailout official will testify before Congress Nov 14th, after two congressmen wrote to demand he appear."  

 Fed Hires Failed Bear Sterns Risk Management Officer to Gauge Health of Banks   [11/12/08 ] "The Federal Reserve Bank is drawing jeers for hiring a former top executive from the now-defunct investment bank Bear Stearns to help it gauge the health of other banks. Michael Alix was head of risk management for Bear Stearns for two years until the institution imploded this spring, a victim of its (risky) subprime-mortgage related investments. Last Friday, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York quietly announced it had hired Alix to advise it on bank supervision. "You're kidding me," said economic policy expert Dean Baker, of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Economic Policy and Research. While he didn't know Alix personally, he said, "You would think [his record] would be a big strike against him."  Related: Where Was the SEC? Video  ABC News  Investigative Report After IG Report  

 Internet attacks seen as more potent and complex   [11/11/08 ] "Attackers bent on shutting down large Web sites — even the operators that run the backbone of the Internet — are arming themselves with what are effectively vast digital fire hoses capable of overwhelming the world's largest networks, according to a new report on online security. In these attacks, computer networks are hijacked to form so-called botnets that spray random packets of data in huge streams over the Internet. The deluge of data are meant to bring down Web sites and entire corporate networks. Known as distributed denial of service, or DDOS, attacks, such cyberweapons are now routinely used during political and military conflicts, as in Estonia in 2007 during a political fight with Russia, and in the Georgian-Russian war last summer. Such attacks are also being used in blackmail schemes and political conflicts, as well as for general malicious mischief. A survey of 70 of the largest Internet operators in North America, South America, Europe and Asia found that malicious attacks were rising sharply and that the individual attacks were growing more powerful and sophisticated, according to the Worldwide Infrastructure Security Report. This report is produced annually by Arbor Networks, a company in Lexington, Massachusetts, that provides tools for monitoring the performance of networks ..."

 Video Clip: Report from the 2008 Davos World Financial Conference   [11/11/08 ]  The buzz in Davos. [5:21]

 Fed Hides Destination Of $2 Trillion In Bailout Money   [11/11/08 ] "The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return."  Related: Officials Refuse to Provide Details on Secret Previous Bailout  " ...Top government officials are refusing to provide details on a secretive deal it made to manage billions in assets from an earlier bailout. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has been pressing top officials for months to provide details on a deal the Federal Reserve made for a private firm to manage $30 billion in financial assets from the collapsed investment bank Bear Stearns, as part of an arrangement to facilitate J.P. Morgan Chase's purchase of the bank in March."  America Discovers That Bailout Will Be Used To Pay Wall Street Bonuses

 Bloomberg Picks a Fight With the Federal Reserve  [11/11/08 ] "Information provider Bloomberg has started a fight with the Federal Reserve that may turn some stones in the secretive private organization that has never been audited. Bloomberg had asked the Fed to see documents concerning the collateral the Fed accepts in exchange for freshly digitized credit in its bailouts. The Federal Reserve first insisted a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request and then said the data required is from the Fed New York which does not fall under the FOIA ... collateral may not prove to be worth as much as it was said to be at the time the loan was made. Inquiring minds are curious as to what, exactly the Fed has taken, particularly as the numbers are becoming stratospheric. Bloomberg has asked nicely for some of this information, and is now being forced to sue under to the Freedom of Information Act, and the Fed intends to fight ... If the Fed indeed was taking conservatively valued collateral as it has always claimed it was, there would be no reason for it to attempt to squash this request ... David Merkel's Aleph Blog was quick to come up with five reasons for the Fed's secrecy, all of them most alarming for believers in a free market system. Headlining "What Do You Have To Hide" he lists the following: The Fed is breaking its own rules, and lending on collateral that it publicly said that it wouldn’t lend against. They are playing favorites with institutions, and don’t want that to be revealed. The assets in question are technically in compliance with the rules of the Fed, but are worth far less than the amount loaned against them. Certain banks would be embarrassed by revealing what they own. It’s just a power game, and the Fed thinks it is above the law, particularly during a crisis (that it helped to cause) ..."  More info

 Secret Plan For IMF World Dictatorship: G-20 Summit In DC [11/11/08 ] "This is a confidential strategy paper for the November 15 G-20 summit in Washington DC. This is not a new Bretton Woods in any sense, but rather a British-steered attempt to impose the dictatorship of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the entire planet, wiping out all hope of economic recovery, the modernization of the developing countries, and national sovereignty at the same time. Under this plan, the IMF would dictate the economic policies of all states. The IMF orthodoxy is austerity, sacrifice, deregulation, privatization, union busting, wage reductions, free trade, the race to the bottom, and prohibitions on advanced technologies. These policies would strangle humanity ..."

 Iran test-fires newly-designed missile   [11/11/08 ] "The Iranian Armed Forces have been holding military exercises on a regular basis after Israel conducted a massive air maneuver over the Eastern Mediterranean and Greece in early June, which according to Pentagon officials, appeared to be a 'dress rehearsal' for a potential bombing attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. Israel, the sole possessor of a nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, accuses Iran - a signatory to the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) - of making efforts to develop a nuclear bomb ... An unnamed senior European Union diplomat said last week that a possible Israeli strike against Iran 'is not completely off the radar' ... "Israelis would consider a move such as this before Bush and Cheney leave," said the EU diplomat, adding that once Obama takes office, Israel's chances of striking Iran would become meager. Iran has warned that in case of coming under attack by either the US or Israel, it will target 32 American bases in the Middle East as well as the heart of Israel." 

 Postal Service Looks To Cut 40,000 Jobs In First Layoff In History  [11/10/08 ] "We lost 2 billion dollars and like any other business we have to stay afloat." And to keep from sinking, the United States Postal Service is considering cutting thousands of jobs nationwide. Lavelle Pepper with the post office in Shreveport says they too are feeling the affects of the same disease hitting the country... a struggling economy. "We employ about 685,000 people. If we do layoffs it would include clerks, carriers, mail handlers across all crafts." Pepper says the postal service is looking to eliminate 40,000 jobs nationwide. There's not an exact number on how many of those could be from the Ark-La-Tex. Pepper says workers who are not part of union with six or less years of service would likely be the first on the chopping block. "We've identified 16 thousand people that are not covered under contract. We'll see what those numbers add up to ..."  Related:  DHL halts US domestic service, cutting 9500 Jobs | Wall Street Could Slash 70,000 More Jobs: Report

 UK forces sent in to Helmand Province 'half-cocked' on 'con' mission, says officer [11/10/08 ] "British forces were sent into Afghanistan's troubled Helmand Province on a "half-cocked" campaign to "con" world opinion about the country's military strength, a former senior officer who resigned from the army has claimed."  Related: UK: MPs seek to censor the media  "Britain's security agencies and police would be given unprecedented and legally binding powers to ban the media from reporting matters of national security, under proposals being discussed in Whitehall." Note: Of course anything can be deemed a 'matter of national security", so the lockdown on the press will be total. It never occurs to these people that the 'national security state' is a paranoid concept that did the Romans no good, or anyone else, so why maintain it? Dumber than a box of rocks. But, that's the Orion way.| Obama's 'Hate Bill' Steals Right to Free Speech 

 Mikhail Khazin: U.S. will soon face second "Great Depression" [11/10/08 ] "... After becoming seriously consumed in our studies of the U.S. financial system, we found an unprecedented parallel (with what had happened in Russia). Just as our T-bill market had sucked all the juices out of the Russian economy, the U.S. financial market was sucking the resources out of the entire planet. We realized a similar fate awaited the U.S. financial system. Our article was published in the summer of 2000 in the "Ekspert" magazine, titled, "Is the U.S. Digging for an Apocalypse." We concluded that it was just as impossible to avoid an economic crisis in the U.S. as the financial collapse in Russia ... the U.S. did create a very high standard of living by stimulating consumer demand. Generations lived without having to experience poverty. But it's impossible to live forever in debt. Household debt has now surpassed the national economy — more than $14 trillion. Now it's time to pay up. Of course, Wall Street tried to postpone this collapse. I won't go into detail about derivatives and other such financial assets, but this was just a gasp for air before an inevitable death ... Another problem in the U.S. is that powerful industries were built around this growing demand. Whatever decision Wall Street takes right now, the demand is going to fall. What will happen to these industries? In 2000, we estimated that 25 percent of the U.S. economy would disappear. Today, we think the number is closest to one-third — if not more ... That's an incredible amount! But what exactly does this mean — the destruction of one-fourth of the U.S. economy? It means an uncontrollable increase in unemployment, a horrible depression, a sharp increase in the effect of social services on the budget... Now, the U.S. is jumping all over the place doing everything its can to rescue this fraction of the economy. The government is stimulating banks and manufacturing... But regardless, in 2-3 years, the U.S. will face a crisis similar to the Great Depression."  Note: The reptards figure it will happen by '2010'. Graduation, however, is an independent variable in this dynamic, not dependent on anything that goes on in planetary society.

 Dmitriy Medvedev makes first state-of-the-nation address [11/10/08 ]  Interesting to see where the 'perspective' is with Medvedev, and it will figure into an analysis of the current game dynamic, which of course has different 'teams' in the same 'club'. Some text from his speech, on liberties " ... The dramatic fluctuations in the political and economic climate and even the escalation of military and political tensions will not be used as a pretext for dismantling democratic institutions and nationalizing industries and banks. The political freedoms and private property of citizens are inviolable. I want to underline once more that the state will fulfill all its obligations before the people. According to Article 7 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, this is a social state that protects the free development of the individual, while maintaining guarantees on social safety. Thus, impinging civil liberties and impairing the material well-being of the people is not only immoral, but also illegal .... I advise whoever wishes to earn political capital on the global economic crisis, is intent on political gossip, or would like to destabilize society to achieve his personal ambitions, to read the Constitution. I consider it my personal duty to warn whoever hopes to aggravate the political situation. We will not permit the engendering of social and inter-ethnic discord, lying to the people or dragging them into unlawful acts. Constitutional order will continue to be assured by all legal means ... For centuries, the cult of the government and would-be wisdom of the administrative machine ruled in Russia. But the individual person, his rights and liberties, and his personal interests and problems, were at best viewed as a means and at worst a hindrance to the entrenchment of governmental might ... Once again, I will repeat that this is how things were for centuries ..." 

 Operation Vigilant Shield, running from Nov 12-18, 2008    [11/09/08 ] "Operation Vigilant Shield 08, renamed VS 09, is running from Nov 12-18, 2008, is much too big to ignore, as it will link multiple concurrent exercises including USSTRATCOM Global Lightning 09, Bulwark Defender 09, Canada Command Determined Dragon, California National Guard Vigilant Guard, and State of California Golden Guardian. Unfortunately, according to USNORTHCOM, specific information about Vigilant Shield scenarios will not be available for weeks, permitting less time to analyze the situation. Once an urban area has been designated an exercise target, that designation increases its odds of actually experiencing a future false flag attack. It takes considerable resources to corrupt an area, and false flag insiders like to get a return on investment. Since Houston, Chicago, Portland, Seattle, and Phoenix have already been “prepared” in prior exercises, they remain especially vulnerable. In addition, Vigilant Shield will probably add new areas in northern California to the potential target list. It's worth to remember that the 9/11 "terrorist attack" happened precisely the day an anti-terrorist exercise involved the US Air Force so that New York and Washington were practically deprived of their protecting combat jets... We also remember that the 7/7 "terrorist attack" in London happened precisely the day an anti-terrorist exercise was on in the area... What is going to happen now? All what is known from the Northcom is that the projected exercise beginning on November 18 will involve the simulation of three simultaneous nuclear explosions on the US territory..." More    

 FEMA sources confirm coming martial law     [11/09/08 ] "WMR has learned from knowledgeable Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sources that the Bush administration is putting the final touches on a plan that would see martial law declared in the United States with various scenarios anticipated as triggers. The triggers include a continuing economic collapse with massive social unrest, bank closures resulting in violence against financial institutions, and another fraudulent presidential election that would result in rioting in major cities and campuses around the country. In addition, Army Corps of Engineer sources report that the assignment of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team (BCT) to the Northern Command’s U.S. Army North is to augment FEMA and federal law enforcement in the imposition of traffic controls, crowd control, curfews, enhanced border and port security, and neighborhood patrols in the event a national emergency being declared. The BCT was assigned to duties in Iraq before being assigned to the Northern Command ... On April 3, 2008, WMR reported on a highly-classified document regarding the martial law scenario: WMR has learned from knowledgeable sources within the US financial community that an alarming confidential and limited distribution document is circulating among senior members of Congress and their senior staff members that is warning of a bleak future for the United States if it does not quickly get its financial house in order. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is among those who have reportedly read the document. The document is being called the "C & R" document because it reportedly states that if the United States defaults on loans and debt underwriting from China, Japan, and Russia, all of which are propping up the United States government financially, and the United States unilaterally cancels the debts, America can expect a war that will have disastrous results for the United States and the world. "Conflict" is the "C word" in the document. The other scenario is that the federal government will be forced to drastically raise taxes in order to pay off debts to foreign countries to the point that the American people will react with a popular revolution against the government. "Revolution" is the document’s "R word."

 Thousands of Indian farmers are committing suicide after using genetically modified crops    [11/09/08 ] "Shankara, like millions of other Indian farmers, had been promised previously unheard of harvests and income if he switched from farming with traditional seeds to planting GM seeds instead. Beguiled by the promise of future riches, he borrowed money in order to buy the GM seeds. But when the harvests failed, he was left with spiralling debts - and no income. So Shankara became one of an estimated 125,000 farmers to take their own life as a result of the ruthless drive to use India as a testing ground for genetically modified crops."

 US asks Venezuelan diplomats in Houston to leave    [11/09/08 ] "The State Department is asking officials at the Venezuelan consulate in Houston to leave the country after the South American government moved its offices in that city before receiving permission. The Venezuelan officials were being asked to depart because the unauthorized move violated international protocol, Nicole Thompson, a State Department spokeswoman, said Saturday."

 Royal Dutch Shell oil company and the Iraqi Oil Ministry have struck a secret deal    [11/09/08 ] "Royal Dutch Shell oil company and the Iraqi Oil Ministry have struck a secret, as-of-yet non-binding agreement that gives a monopoly over southern Iraq's natural gas to the energy giant. It marks the first time in over 35 years a Western oil company has played a major role in the country's most lucrative industry. Signed Sept. 22 and obtained by United Press International, the "Heads of Agreement" document -- basically a legal framework for a contract -- delegates Shell sole access to the reserves for the next 25 years, with an option to extend that term."

 Russia president tells police to crush crisis unrest     [11/09/08 ] "Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered police on Friday to stamp out any social unrest or crime arising from the global financial crisis."

 FBI finds most terrorism threat reports baseless     [11/09/08 ] "The FBI tracked about 108,000 potential terrorism threats or suspicious incidents from mid-2004 to November 2007, but most were found groundless, a Justice Department review found."

 Cities, States Questioning Wisdom of Adding Fluoride Chemicals to Public Water Supplies    [11/09/08 ] "Grand Rapids, Mich. has become the most recent city to question the practice of fluoridating public water, as part of a growing tendency for local governments to question the use of many chemicals that formerly been taken for granted." 

 Georgia fired first shot, say UK monitors     [11/09/08 ] "Two former British military officers are expected to give crucial evidence against Georgia when an international inquiry is convened to establish who started the country’s bloody five-day war with Russia in August." Related: New York Times report questions Georgia’s role in Ossetian war  | U.S. concedes Georgia attack attack in South Ossetia was a mistake 

 U.S. probes air strikes as Afghan fury grows    [11/08/08 ] "The U.S. military is investigating two airstrikes this week that Afghan officials say killed as many as 60 civilians. The latest incident happened Thursday morning in northwestern Afghanistan and left up to 30 civilians dead, according to officials in Badghis province."  Related: Afghanistan: the wrong war at any time  "For months now Afghanistan has been deadlier for U.S. troops than Iraq, even though there are 32,000 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan and 160,000 in Iraq."

 Sarah Palin blamed by the US Secret Service over death threats against Barack Obama    [11/08/08 ] "Sarah Palin's attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism provoked a spike in death threats against the future president, Secret Service agents revealed during the final weeks of the campaign." 

 ACLU: Undercover Cops Staged Confrontation Amid DNC    [11/08/08 ] "Undercover police officers posing as protesters staged a fight with a police commander during the Democratic convention, and it was so convincing they were pepper-sprayed by a deputy who wasn't in on the ruse, a civil liberties group says."

 Hague prosecutor says Bush-Blair could face war crimes charges: 1 million Iraqis killed    [11/08/08 ] "International Criminal Court prosecutor announced on Sunday that US President George W Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair could face war crimes charges at the Hague, after it emerged that up to one million Iraqis have been killed since the illegal invasion."

 US Imposes Banking Sanctions on Iran    [11/08/08 ] "The U.S. Treasury has moved to further restrict Iran's access to the U.S. financial system, by banning certain money transfers. The Treasury Department announced on Thursday that it will revoke Iran's so-called "U-Turn" license, which currently allows transfers to briefly enter the United States before being sent to offshore banks." 

Iraqis seek more ‘withdrawal' talks; U.S. says they're over    [11/08/08 ] "The United States delivered Thursday what it said was the final text of the controversial accord on the stationing of U.S. forces in Iraq, but Iraq said more talks are needed before the government can accept it. "We have gotten back to the Iraqi government with a final text. Through this step, we have concluded the process on the U.S. side," said Susan Ziadeh, the U.S. Embassy spokeswoman in Baghdad. "Iraq will now need to take it forward through their own process." 

 Dems Target Private Retirement Accounts    [11/07/08 ] "Democrats in the U.S. House have been conducting hearings on proposals to confiscate workers’ personal retirement accounts — including 401(k)s and IRAs — and convert them to accounts managed by the Social Security Administration ..."   Where the funds can be stolen by the government.

 Chinese Hack Into White House Network    [11/07/08 ] "Chinese hackers have penetrated the White House computer network on multiple occasions, and obtained e-mails between government officials, a senior US official told the Financial Times. On each occasion, the cyber attackers accessed the White House computer system for brief periods, allowing them enough time to steal information before US computer experts patched the system."

 Longer-term jobless benefits hit 25-year high   [11/07/08 ] "The number of out-of-work Americans drawing unemployment benefits has surged to a 25-year high, while shoppers turned extra frugal, further proof of the damage from sinking economy, credit problems and financial stresses."

 No George Bush sewage plant for San Francisco   [11/06/08 ] "Voters on Tuesday rejected Measure R, which would have changed the name of the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant to the George W. Bush Sewage Plant. With 98 percent of precincts reporting, more than 69 percent had voted against the idea."  Yes, they have enough shit to deal with, and don't need to be reminded of other shit.

 Last 100 days of Bush are the ones to watch   [11/06/08 ] "The Washington Post reports that the White House is “working to enact an array of federal regulations, many of which would weaken rules aimed at protecting consumers and the environment, before President Bush leaves office in January.” About 90 new rules are in the works, and at least nine are considered “economically significant” because they would impose costs or promote societal benefits that exceed $100 million annually. Many will make changes that the new administration will find it hard to reverse for years to come. More emissions from power plants; more exemptions from environmental-impact statements; permission to operate natural gas lines at higher levels of pressure — the changes could be the last calamities visited upon us by the Bush administration. Congress — the old one, not the new one just elected — comes back into special session right after the election. Representatives Henry Waxman and John Conyers would be well advised to convene special hearings to try to curb what Bush has cooked up for his last 100 days. Let’s not let the new dawn that is possible be dimmed by clouds left over from an old era that has failed."

 Major ethanol producer files for bankruptcy   [11/05/08 ] "VeraSun Energy, one of the major producers of ethanol in the U.S., has filed for bankruptcy after citing rising costs and liquidity problems."

 UK: Dog owners whose pets are too thin or too fat face jail under new rules    [11/04/08 ] " Pet owners are being reminded of their duties under new government guidelines which cover everything from canine toothpaste to spotting signs of stress." 

 CIA Mercenary Firm Offers To Detain Troublemakers   [11/04/08 ] "CIA-linked private military contractor Evergreen Defense & Security Services offered to post sentries at Oregon election offices on Tuesday, "detaining troublemakers" and making sure voters "do not get out of control." Evergreen's website describes its security arm as having "nearly five decades of experience working with the U.S. Armed Forces, the Department of Defense, the Department of Interior, the United Nations, NASA, and the U.S. Air Mobility Command. Many of our contracts include highly sensitive work-scope, and take place in locations ranging from the deserts of the Middle East to the jungles of South America to the highest peaks of Mt. McKinley in Alaska." According to the News Register, Evergreen "exudes the gung-ho patriotism that is associated with the company founder, a political conservative who enjoys close ties with the federal government and military." No kidding. Back in the late '80s, the company "acknowledged one agreement under which his companies provide occasional jobs and cover to foreign nationals the CIA wants taken out of other countries or brought into the United States." More recently, Evergreen's parent company flew Bill O'Reilly into Kuwait in 2006, according to SourceWatch." 

 US Manufacturing Shrinks To 26-Year Low in October   [11/04/08 ] " ... U.S. factory activity contracted sharply in October, falling to its lowest in 26 years as the financial crisis ravaged the world's largest economy, an industry report showed. U.S. factory activity contracted sharply in October, falling to its lowest in 26 years as the financial crisis ravaged the world's largest economy, an industry report showed ..."

 President Zardari demands halt to US drone attacks on Pak territory   [11/04/08 ] " ... President Asif Ali Zardari, terming drone attacks on Pakistani territory as counter-productive, said Monday that these raids should be stopped and focus should be more on enhanced coordination and intelligence-sharing. “Continuing drone attacks on our territory, which result in loss of precious lives and property, are counterproductive and difficult to explain by a democratically elected government. It is creating a credibility gap”, he said. The President was talking to Commander US Central Command Gen. David Petraeus and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, who called on him here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr." 

 China-Taiwan to hold high-level talks    [11/04/08 ] " ... Senior officials from Taiwan and China are scheduled to hold high-level talks this week as a sign of warming relations between the two countries."  Related: China ready for global financial crisis  "China acknowledges feeling the effects of the global financial crisis and pledges to use every means to keep its economy from stalling." That includes dumping the dollar as a medium of exchange, or calling debts due to China by the U.S. Taiwan's opposition march against China "Tens of thousands of opposition supporters in Taiwan have joined a major rally to protest against the government's growing ties with China." Leaders discuss economic crises in China "Asian and European leaders have come together in Beijing to discuss the ways to deal with the global financial crisis amid economic meltdown." 

 China, Russia, Belarus renounce the US Dollar?    [11/04/08 ] " ... The recent meeting between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabao, created a financial sensation. Wen said that the two nations could withstand the global financial crisis if they joined forces; Putin urged him to go farther and stop using U.S. dollars in Russian-Chinese settlements. This idea is nothing new. Russia and China reached a "framework" agreement in November 2007, which was followed by China's similar agreement with Belarus ... One has to bear in mind, though, that some other currency will need to be found to replace the dollar for international settlements. China is unlikely to use the ruble, and Russia would be equally reluctant to accept the yuan ... "They could opt for the euro, but its future is uncertain, especially considering current developments on global financial markets. It is also unclear whether China would be happy to start using the euro while most of its international reserves are held in dollars," he added." 

 MP: Ayatollah's SOFA conditions not met   [11/04/08 ] " ...An Iraqi lawmaker says none of the conditions set by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani for signing the US-Iraq security pact have been met. According to the MP, Ayatollah Sistani, the most revered Shia cleric in Iraq, along with other senior clerics had earlier set four conditions for the endorsement of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), otherwise they would oppose it. "The transparency of the agreement; national consensus on signing the pact; Parliament's endorsement; and provisions which would guarantee Iraq's sovereignty and independence are the four conditions set by Najaf's senior clerics," al-Anzi said. According to the Iraqi official, the country's senior Shia clerics would boycott any agreement which did not meet the conditions and in this case the majority of Iraqi political groups would not back "an agreement which is against the country's national interests."  Related: Mottaki: 'Iraq at fateful moment'  "Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says Iraq is currently at a fateful moment, as it should make an important historic decision." US insists on SOFA's controversial clause "The US has reportedly rejected an amendment to the security pact with Iraq which would change a clause on US citizens' legal immunity." 

 Americans Murdering Their Judges, and the US Crisis of Judicial Corruption   [11/03/08 ] " ... In the headlines are the appalling news stories of Americans carrying out murderous attacks on judges and their families. In a matter of days, one judge was shot and killed in his own courtroom, while another judge had family members brutally murdered in their home. These news stories are, however, related to another news story, which is the most taboo subject of the American media - the expanding crisis of corruption among American judges and lawyers. At question is whether the deepening despair of Americans about their own legal system, is fueling some of these violent attacks on judges...."

 World Shipping slowly grinding to a halt   [11/03/08 ] " ... The situation now is that for those shipping companies that can actually get letters of credit are now slowing down their ships to reduce fuel consumption, slashing crew numbers and leaving some of their tonnage in dock with the lights out. The problem with letters of credit, which are needed before a vessel leaves harbour, is that demands between banks are being denied as banks are not trusting each other ..."

 Hubris and Nemesis: The Financial Crisis and an Ordinary man   [11/03/08 ] " ... With all the facts and figures going around, I think it's time to talk about what has happened, but on a personal scale, ie the story of just one man and his family as they started out with hope and ended up reaping the whirlwind as so many families have so far. Let's take a guy called Joe, for example. Joe went to college and got his degree in Information Techonology. After graduation , Joe landed a really nice, well paid job with a software development company in Silicon valley, California. He enjoyed the good life, he went out with his friends and partied all night long and managed to produce the goods every day. Normal for a young guy in Silicon Valley, the Nirvana of Information technology in the States! One day, Joe meets Sarah, a gainfully employed, pretty blonde with Blue eyes and Joe is in love from the get go ...."

 The world awaits Obama   [11/03/08 ] " ... We are riveted by this marathon for the White House, unable to exhale until the finish line is finally crossed. We are witnesses of history, an epic that will no doubt become the subject of lengthy tomes and dramatic scripts. The digital age has immersed us in every single moment of this arresting race. As we watch the most unique candidate of our time in his ascendancy, we may lionize but be careful not to idolize (even if his infomercial surpassed the ratings for the finals of American Idol)..."  Related: The World Hopes for Its First President  Odd way to put it, but I am sure that would be a goal.

 The Fed as a central bank to the world   [11/03/08 ] " ... Nicolas Sarkozy may be pushing for a new financial order but Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson have beaten him to it. While the French President dreams of global economic cooperation ahead of the G20 summit in Washington, the Fed is quietly becoming central bank to the world, backed by the full might of the U.S. Treasury and a teflon-coated greenback..."

 Anonymous Government officials: McCain plans to purge CIA if elected, officials say   [11/03/08 ] " ... Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) plans to "purge" the CIA if elected Nov. 4, according to a report Sunday, potentially returning the agency to a model used during World War II...."  That's rich, and propaganda, too.  Related: What's the CIA afraid of?  "CIA Director, Michael Hayden, said that all of their interrogations were done within the legal limits of the law. He added that these and other interrogation techniques have been helpful in disclosure of information relevant to terrorist operations and was always conducted under supervision. Excuses for the destruction of these tapes according to the CIA were because they did not want to disclose the identities of the agents doing the interrogations of these suspects. Last month the CIA failed to hand over other tapes from interrogations as requested by the U.S. District Court."

 Pakistan warns Petraeus against missile strikes   [11/03/08 ] " ... Pakistani officials warned Gen. David Petraeus on Monday that frequent missile strikes on militant targets in Pakistan fan anti-American sentiment in an Islamic country vital to the struggle against terrorism ..."

 Russia decries Georgian military buildup   [11/03/08 ] " ... Russia's permanent representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said Georgia has deployed troops along its border ..."

 Report: Bush offers swift Golan withdrawal    [11/03/08 ] " ... US President George W. Bush suggested to Syrian President Bashar Assad that Israel would withdraw from the Golan Heights in exchange for a complete disbandment of the Syrian-Iranian alliance, Kuwaiti newspaper al-Jarida reported Friday ..."

 Pentagon Expects Cuts in Military Spending    [11/03/08 ] " ... After years of unfettered growth in military budgets, Defense Department planners, top commanders and weapons manufacturers now say they are almost certain that the financial meltdown will have a serious impact on future Pentagon spending." ... along with simply losing $2.3 trillion.... 

 CIA led mystery Syria raid that killed terrorist leader   [11/03/08 ] " ... The three U.S. officials, who all spoke on the condition of anonymity because the operation was classified, declined to reveal other details of the raid. A CIA spokesman declined to comment ..."

 EU Set to Move 'Internet of Things' Closer to Reality   [11/03/08 ] " ... If the world-wide trend continues, 'Web 3.0' will be tightly monitored, and will become an unprecedented tool for surveillance. The "Internet of Things", a digital representation of real world objects and people tagged with RFID chips, and increased censorship are two main themes for the future of the web.The future of the internet, according to author and "web critic" Andrew Keen, will be monitored by "gatekeepers" to 'verify the accuracy' of information posted on the web ..."

 The Anti-Empire Report   [11/03/08 ] by William Blum. Pointed comments about the world political situation and the election.

 Scotland: Pub Customers Bodies Pre-Scanned by Police As Condition of Entry  [11/03/08 ] "Officers in the force will be the first in Scotland to use an Itemiser - a device which can detect traces of drugs from hand swabs in a matter of seconds. The test is voluntary, but customers will be refused entry if they do not take part. They could be searched and even arrested if traces are found. The device was trialed by the police force in the area earlier this year." Related: Club buys drug-sniffer for police "The £32,000 Ion Track Itemiser [Ion Track ITEMISER {RT} contraband detector (United Kingdom)] is able to detect minute traces of any illegal substance on clothes or skin - and the result is displayed in seconds. It was first trialed at The Chapel nightclub and its owner was so impressed with the machine he bought a second for police to use. A police spokeswoman said its use delivered a strong anti-drugs message." New weapon in war against drugs  "The Ion Track Itemiser 3 is a drug-testing device, first launched in Suffolk in May during National Tackling Drugs Week, which can detect even the smallest traces of illegal substances on any object from hands to money. The machine works by officers brushing the surface with a swab, which is then fed into the Itemiser revealing any illegal substances such as cocaine, crack, heroin and ecstasy. The use of this equipment is not restricted to town centre venues and officers will be trained on their use so they can be deployed elsewhere in the county." 

 The U.S. is a "British" Financial Colony    [11/03/08 ] "The "Col. E.M. House Report", a chilling 10-page "progress report" dated June 10,1919, portrays the United States as in reality a British colony. The League of Nations was a facade for the British empire, which itself represents the hegemony of London-based international bankers. The Report unveils the reality behind globalization and the United Nations. If ever we needed proof of a long-term conspiracy to subvert national sovereignty and ensnare humanity, this is it ..." 

  McCain Did Not Disclose Keating Business Deal To Investigators    [11/02/08 ] "The New Republic published an explosive story Saturday evening detailing how John McCain, in all likelihood, leaked information to investigators of the Keating Five scandal that was designed to help his image at the expense of the other four Senators involved. If the allegation is true -- and TNR makes a healthy case as to its veracity -- it would mean that McCain violated Senate rules and could have been expelled from that body. "All five senators -- including McCain -- had testified under oath and under the U.S. penal code that the leaks did not come from their camps," Sahil Mahtani reports. "The leaks were also prohibited by rules of the Senate Ethics Committee; according to the rules of the Senate, anyone caught leaking such information could face expulsion from the body." But this is not be the only instance in which McCain defied the rules of the Senate when seeking to absolve himself of any wronging in the Keating affair. Public records in Arizona reveal that the Senator was also dishonest in discussing the extent of financial transactions he and his family had with the disgraced Savings and Loans chief .... "

Judge to Bush: Produce wiretap memos    [11/02/08 ] "A judge has ordered the Justice Department to produce White House memos that provide the legal basis for the Bush administration's post-Sept. 11 warrantless wiretapping program."

Blair helped Rupert Murdoch overcome an official investigation    [11/02/08 ] "A newly disclosed Downing Street memo has revealed how Tony Blair helped Rupert Murdoch overcome an official investigation which was jeopardising one of his big investments. It shows that Blair, while prime minister, immediately ordered his top officials to help the tycoon who was frustrated that a potentially lucrative scheme was being blocked by a long-running European commission investigation."

Absolutely Crystal Clear That Republican Rule Is Dangerous and Authoritarian   [11/01/08 ] "Republicans rule, rather than govern, when they are in power by imposing their authoritarian conservative philosophy on everyone, as their answer for everything. This works for them because their interest is in power, and in what it can do for those who think as they do. Ruling, of course, must be distinguished from governing, which is a more nuanced process that entails give-and-take and the kind of compromises that are often necessary to find a consensus and solutions that will best serve the interests of all Americans. Republicans' authoritarian rule can also be characterized by its striking incivility and intolerance toward those who do not view the world as Republicans do. Their insufferable attitude is not dangerous in itself, but it is employed to accomplish what they want, which it to take care of themselves and those who work to keep them in power ... "   Very well written.   

Voting abuses from the beginning of the republic to the present day   [11/01/08 ] " ... Election fraud in the U.S. traces back to the beginning of elections. There's a danger now that eligible voters will be disenfranchised by the thousands, because of efforts to prevent a few unlawful votes. Although the GOP's barrage of charges is unique, the apprehension of "unlawful votes" is hardly new, recalling fears as old as the republic -- or, indeed, even older..."

U.S. warns: Using bail-out money for pay and pensions to executives will be a criminal offence   [11/01/08 ] "Using bail-out money for anything other than lending - such as paying bonuses or pensions to Wall Street executives - will be a criminal offence, the powerful chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee has said. The news comes after reports financial giants owe bosses some $40billion in bonuses and pension promises." 

The Triumph of Ignorance: How Morons Succeed in U.S. Politics   [11/01/08 ] " ... Like most people on this side of the Atlantic, I have spent my adult life mystified by American politics. The United States has the world's best universities and attracts the world's finest minds. It dominates discoveries in science and medicine. Its wealth and power depend on the application of knowledge. Yet, uniquely among the developed nations (with the possible exception of Australia), learning is a grave political disadvantage ..."

UBS Watch: “Something very, very powerful is looming”   [11/01/08 ] "Whether it’s up or down, many traders sense the market is on the verge of a massive move, reports CBS News business correspondent Anthony Mason. “Something very, very powerful is looming,” Arthur Cashin, of UBS Financial Services, told CBS News. “And I suspect what happens over the next five to eight days will be something we talk about for generations.” [Oct 25-Nov 2]  

The Bush gang's parting gift: a final, frantic looting of public wealth   [11/01/08 ] "In the final days of the election many Republicans seem to have given up the fight for power. But don't be fooled: that doesn't mean they are relaxing. If you want to see real Republican elbow grease, check out the energy going into chucking great chunks of the $700bn bail-out out the door. At a recent Senate banking committee hearing, the Republican Bob Corker was fixated on this task, and with a clear deadline in mind: inauguration. "How much of it do you think may be actually spent by January 20 or so?" Corker asked Neel Kashkari, the 35-year-old former banker in charge of the bail-out ..."  Related: The Use of Knowledge of Covert Operations in the Stock Market

Waffen-WWF Death Planet Report   [11/01/08 ] "Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands was never much of a humanitarian. He first became enamored with the Nazi Party in 1934, during his last year of study at the University of Berlin. He went to work for the death camp chemical company, I G Farben, where, according to the 5th April, 1976 issue of Newsweek, he was working as a spy for a special SS intelligence unit. In 1937, Bernhard resigned from the SS. It was arranged that he would marry the Netherlands’ future Queen Juliana. His reluctant resignation letter is said to have been signed, “Heil Hitler!” So it will come as no surprise, then, that in their newly released “Living Planet Report 2008” (pdf), they promote death, famine and population reduction as the solution to the “looming ecological credit crunch.” Apparently, “(t)he good news is that we have the means to reverse the ecological credit crunch – it is not too late to prevent an irreversible ecological recession setting in. This report identifies the key areas where we need to transform our lifestyles and economies to put us on a more sustainable trajectory.” And the key areas that the report identifies are, “(r)eductions in population, individual consumption, and the resources used or wastes emitted in producing goods and services” to be achieved by the middle of the century. As is typical with such reports, the WWF offers an impressive number of pages of statistics, tables and graphs to back up their assertions. They give us a solution. But they don’t, not even in one sentence, give any clue how their solution should be implemented. Well, Bernhard is dead now. But Philip is still alive. Maybe we should write and ask him how population reduction, reduction of individual consumption and reduced production should be achieved, short of his being reincarnated as a virus." 

Chertoff: Nuclear or Bio Terror 'Next Threat' For US  Video  [11/01/08 ] "Nuclear and biological terrorism is the emerging threat the next US president should focus on, the US security chief has told Sky News. Homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff said sources of radioactive and biological materials must be secured. 

US defense secretary expands pre-emptive war doctrine to include nuclear strikes  [11/01/08 ] "In a remarkable speech on nuclear policy delivered October 28 at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), US Defense Secretary Robert Gates painted a dire portrait of international affairs and argued that Washington should expand the doctrine of pre-emptive war formulated by the Bush administration to include possible nuclear strikes."

U.S. Government Anticipates 'Bin Laden Election Tape'  [11/01/08 ] Seemingly desperate for Emmanuel Goldstein to remind Americans that they should still fear their own shadow, the corporate media is maniacally preempting the release of a Bin Laden tape before or after the election, despite there being no actual evidence that one is forthcoming. If the CIA really want to resurrect the ultimate boogeyman yet again as we sail past Halloween, they really ought to get a move on with the election just three days away.

Violations of Law May Be Classified, Court Rules  [11/01/08 ] "Information that would reveal a violation of the law may be properly classified as long as it is not deliberately classified for the purpose of concealing the violation, a federal judge indicated this week ... According to Judge Lambert, classifiers actually may conceal violations of the law as long as such concealment is not the specific purpose of the classification ..." Virtually everything classified hides a violation of something.  Related: Inspector General Confronts Overclassification | DoD Fails to Control “Controlled Unclassified Info”  These people are so mentally convoluted. Shhh. It's a secret. As long as we're talking about 'hiding' things, there's this: CIA Can Hide Torture Allegations, Court Rules

Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 2000-2007 PDF  [11/01/08 ]   

Russia responds to US nuke talk   [11/01/08 ] "Moscow reacts to US claims that Soviet-era nukes have leaked out of the country, fueling the war of words between the two superpowers." 

Lebanon: 12 IAF war jets violated our airspace   [11/01/08 ] "Lebanon said 12 Israel Air Force warplanes violated its airspace on Friday by flying reconnaissance missions over the country's North and South. The Lebanese army said in a statement carried by Lebanon's official news agency that six IAF jets flew over the border village of Alma al-Shaab and other southern towns and villages for about 30 minutes Friday ..." 

Bush launches last-minute deregulation push  [11/01/08 ] "The White House is working to enact a wide array of federal regulations, many of which would weaken government rules aimed at protecting consumers and the environment, before President Bush leaves office in January."  More

Half of Bank Bailout Money Going to Shareholders  [11/01/08 ] "Washington Post reports major US banks are on pace to spend more than half their bailout money on rewarding their shareholders. The thirty-three banks are set to receive some $163 billion in government bailouts. Half of that sum would go toward paying off shareholders over the next three years. The Bush administration touted the bank bailout as necessary to resume lending. But Treasury officials say the banks would never accepted loans if they weren’t allowed to redistribute dividends to shareholders."

CIA officers could face trial in Britain over torture allegations   [11/01/08 ] "Senior CIA officers could be put on trial in Britain after it emerged last night that the Attorney General is to investigate allegations that a British resident held in Guantanamo Bay was brutally tortured, after being arrested and questioned by American forces following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington in 2001. The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has asked Baroness Scotland to consider bringing criminal proceedings against Americans allegedly responsible for the rendition and abuse of Binyam Mohamed, when he was held in prisons in Morocco and Afghanistan."

'We're not going to win this war'   [11/01/08 ] "As the US public is dimly aware, things are not going very well in Afghanistan. Recall that it took years, US$5-6 billion in CIA funding matched dollar for dollar by the Saudis, and a concerted national effort by the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan assisting a variety of domestic and foreign fighters to expel the Soviet Union from Afghanistan. It also took officially sanctioned safe havens in Pakistan that the Russians wouldn't violate, and a supply of Stinger missiles to negate the vital Soviet advantage in helicopter-based mobility and firepower."  Related: McCain and Obama Advisers Briefed on Deteriorating Afghan War | Insurgents Increasingly Employing Complex Attacks in Afghanistan  Drugs and oil at stake.

Somalia's Pirates Flourish in Lawless Nation   [11/01/08 ] "This may be one of the most dangerous towns in Somalia, a place where you can get kidnapped faster than you can wipe the sweat off your brow. But it is also one of the most prosperous. Money changers walk around with thick wads of hundred-dollar bills. Palatial new houses are rising up next to tin-roofed shanties. Men in jail reminisce, with a twinkle in their eyes, about their days living like kings. This is the story of Somalia’s booming, not-so-underground pirate economy. The country is in chaos, countless children are starving and people are killing one another in the streets of Mogadishu, the capital, for a handful of grain ..."   Well, this could have been prevented from progressing to this point.

China Acts to Stem the Tide of Officials Fleeing with Cash   [11/01/08 ] "As many as 10,000 corrupt Chinese officials have fled the country over the past decade, taking as much as $100 billion of public funds with them, according to an estimate by Li Chengyan, head of Peking University's Anticorruption Research Institute."  

Never Mind Lisbon, Europe Is Dead   [11/01/08 ] "Germany has joined Ireland and Greece in declaring that private citizens’ savings will be protected by the state. In doing so, they seem to have dealt a massive blow to the very foundations of the Tower of Babel that is the Maastricht Treaty. At the very least, they have exposed European monetary union for the joke that it is."

Overhauling the US voting system   [11/01/08 ] "Way back in 1789, the framers of the US constitution were a bit nervous about "democracy". They decided to put a buffer between the people and the position of highest power. Nowadays, the electors have no power at all - they are usually party officials who get to go to Washington a few weeks after the election just to "certify" the result. The framers also never anticipated the rise of a two-party system. They figured that in every election there would be four, five, and maybe more candidates for president, representing different regions rather than different ideological orientations. They may have assumed that the electoral college would prevent any of these "sectional" candidates from winning outright ... The effect of the "winner takes all" system of the college is to give many voters a sense of disenfranchisement ..."