FRONT PAGE - Archive File - 02-01-09 to 03-31-09

Does US Face G20 Mutiny? - Financing the Empire
A quote...."Strange as it may seem – and irrational as it would be in a more logical system of world diplomacy – the “dollar glut” is what finances America’s global military build-up. It forces foreign central banks to bear the costs of America’s expanding military empire – effective “taxation without representation.” Keeping international reserves in “dollars” means recycling their dollar inflows to buy U.S. Treasury bills – U.S. government debt issued largely to finance the military. -- To date, countries have been as powerless to defend themselves against the fact that this compulsory financing of U.S. military spending is built into the global financial system."

[British] Treasury reserves will have to be raided to fund Afghan surge
A quote...."[British] Treasury officials are expected to take a critical look at plans to send additional British troops to Afghanistan as it becomes clear that reserves will have to be raided to cover the extra cost." -- And so the US-NRE, and Britain with the help of their "friends" the Saudi Royals and the Israelis, continue their efforts to establish a Neo-Colonial Empire over the entire Middle East.  This whole thing is totally ridiculous, funding almost every Salafist, Whahhabist, Fundamentalist terrorist group out there for the last thirty years with one hand, while using these agent provocateur's actions as justification to bomb, occupy and kill millions of Muslims with the other, is not only a seriously sick and twisted policy of pure evil.....it's also extremely expensive.  If the world continues to buy US-NRE and British bonds to help fund these campaigns of conquest and terror, their economies will go right down the tubes along with the bonds they've bought.  It's about time the world's nations put a stop to these antics. - mpg

Scott Horton Interviews Pepe Escobar
Audio Interview - A quote...."Pepe Escobar, writer for the Asia Times, discusses the importance of home-field advantage in the fossil fuel Great Game, how the U.S. empire of bases is used to dominate access to critical energy resources, the IPI (Iran, Pakistan, India) pipeline proposal that defies U.S. influence and the increasing cooperation of Russia and China on energy issues."

Real Journalism Versus "Professional Journalism"
A quote...."If Jon Stewart left his studios with his camera crew, went to where establishment figures were speaking, and threw tough questions at them, you'd get something like We Are Change. -- The We Are Change reporters have asked the tough questions - a la Stewart (well, minus the comedy) - to former presidents, secretaries of defense, leading Neocons and Iraq war architects, and all of the other establishment figures they could find. -- So their interviews are syndicated nationally and they've all received Pulitzer prizes, right? -- Not exactly . . .We Are Change founder Luke Rudowski was arrested for trying to ask New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg about his refusal to pay for the health care of 9/11 first responders. -- The charges? Trespassing and "impersonating a member of the press."

Geithner's Hog-wallow: the US Treasury's Cash Giveaway Bonanza
A quote...."There's depressing news this week that the big banks are up to their old shenanigans again. This time they've zeroed in on Geithner's cash giveaway bonanza, the "Public Private Investment Partnership" (PPIP). As expected, Bank of America and Citigroup have angled their way to the front of the herd, thrusting their pig-heads into the public trough and extracting whatever morsels they can find amid a din of gurgling and sucking sounds. Here's the story from the New York Post:"

Stocks Will Drop; Banks Will Go Belly Up - Roubini
War Alert - A quote...."March 27, 2009 "Charting Stocks" -- - The stock market will drop as major banks go belly up says Nouriel Roubini, the NYU economist that successfully predicted the current economic collapse. Below is the text from an interview Mr. Roubini gave today on Bloomberg TV. -- U.S. stocks will fall and the government will nationalize more banks as the economy contracts through the end of 2009, said Nouriel Roubini, the New York University professor who predicted last year’s economic crisis." -- Editor's caution: regarding the comment "stocks will drop" - see..... Standard Disclaimer and the Ten Year Cycle & What Ben Bernanke Said - 03-18-08 - mpg

Bill Moyers Interviews William Greider
Video - A quote...."For years best-selling author William Greider sounded the alarm about Washington's unholy alliance with Wall Street and the failure of the Federal Reserve and other regulators to take preventive measures to avoid disaster. Now, he offers some suggestions to the question everyone is asking: "What do we do now?" -- ||  Transcript  ||  Mp3  ||

World Depression: Regional Wars and the Decline of the US Empire
A quote...."All the idols of capitalism over the past three decades crashed. The assumptions and presumptions, paradigm and prognosis of indefinite progress under liberal free market capitalism have been tested and have failed.  We are living the end of an entire epoch:  Experts everywhere witness the collapse of the US and world financial system, the absence of credit for trade and the lack of financing for investment.  A world depression, in which upward of a quarter of the world’s labor force will be unemployed, is looming.  The biggest decline in trade in recent world history – down 40% year to year – defines the future.  The imminent bankruptcies of the biggest manufacturing companies in the capitalist world haunt Western political leaders.  The ‘market’ as a mechanism for allocating resources and the government of the US as the ‘leader’ of the global economy have been discredited."

Leaving Iraq
A quote...."It will cost more to leave Iraq than to continue to occupy it, according to the latest GAO report. -- The headline from the bankrupt Washington Post yesterday read, "GAO Calls Iraq Pullout A 'Massive,' Costly Effort." Many of us, weary from years of watching the American way of war and those of us personally impacted by the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq, recall that the asinine Post and moronic New York Times reliably echoed the White House. An invasion of Iraq would cost us little to nothing. One vaguely remembers the term "cakewalk" and recalls the flowers and candy to be thrown at our liberating troops."

Ted Rall: Obama doesn’t talk like Bush; he just acts like him
Obama™ Update -- A quote....""NEW YORK — You can’t blame Dick Cheney for being annoyed at Barack Obama. Obama is closing Guantánamo. He’s ordering the CIA to interrogate prisoners according to the rules written in the Army Field Manual, which doesn’t allow torture. He’s even phasing out such classic Bushian phrases as “enemy combatant” and “war on terror.” -- But the dark prince of neoconservatism should relax. Obama’s inaugural address may have promised to “reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals,” but — in all the ways that matter — he’s keeping all of Bush’s outrageous policies in place. Sure, he talks a good game about “moving forward.” But nothing has really changed. From reading your e-mails to asserting the right to assassinate American citizens to bailing out companies whose executives pay themselves big bonuses, Obama’s changes are nothing but toothless rhetoric."

Credit Bubble Bulletin -- Mistakes Beget Greater Mistakes
A quote...."Our federal government has set a course to issue trillions of Treasury securities and guarantee multi-trillions more of private-sector debt. The Federal Reserve has set its own course to balloon its liabilities as it acquires trillions of securities. After witnessing the disastrous financial and economic distortions wrought from trillions of Wall Street credit inflation (securities issuance), it is difficult for me to accept the shallowness of today's analysis. In reality, the paramount risk today has very little to do with prospective rates of consumer price inflation. Instead, the critical issue is whether the Treasury and Federal Reserve have set a mutual course that will destroy their creditworthiness - just as Wall Street finance destroyed theirs." -- For more on this issue see....Enforcing the Rules -- Too Little, Too Late 0- 02-27-09 - mpg

The American Empire: A Finale
A quote...."I am not cheered by the subject of my talk here today, which is the decline and fall of the American empire, first, because I am an American, and, second, because the description of America as an empire fits it all too well. When you remember that the American Revolution was fought against an imperial power, that U.S. was born in a struggle against an occupying army, and that its victory against the British was an inspiration to anti-imperialist liberals everywhere, it is a shaming thing to have to come here to describe how it ended in tragedy, betrayal, and a short and ugly decline."

The Big Takeover
A quote...."It's over — we're officially, royally f-cked. no empire can survive being rendered a permanent laughingstock, which is what happened as of a few weeks ago, when the buffoons who have been running things in this country finally went one step too far. It happened when Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was forced to admit that he was once again going to have to stuff billions of taxpayer dollars into a dying insurance giant called AIG, itself a profound symbol of our national decline — a corporation that got rich insuring the concrete and steel of American industry in the country's heyday, only to destroy itself chasing phantom fortunes at the Wall Street card tables, like a dissolute nobleman gambling away the family estate in the waning days of the British Empire." -- also posted at RogueGov

War On Terror Within - The End of Jewish History
A quote...."March 20, 2009 "Information Clearing House" ---  The issue I am going to discuss today is probably the most important thing I’ve ever had to say about Israeli brutality and contemporary Jewish identity. I assume that I could have shaped my thought into a wide-ranging book or an analytical academic text but instead, I will do the very opposite, I will make it as short and as simple as possible. --  In the weeks that have just passed we had been witness to an Israeli genocidal campaign against the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza. We had been witnessing one of the strongest armies in the world squashing women, elderly people and children. We saw blizzards of unconventional weapons bursting over schools, hospitals and refugee camps. We had seen and heard about war crimes committed before, but this time, the Israeli transgression was categorically different. It was supported by the total absolute majority of the Israeli Jewish population." - bold by website editor -- For more on this issue see....A Mortal Threat – Europe’s New Frankenstein Monster - 01-26-09 - mpg

The Mother of All Bells
Financial Warning - Some quotes...."This week the Federal Reserve finally made clear what should have been obvious for some time – the only weapon that the Fed is willing to use to fight the economic downturn is a continuing torrent of pure, undiluted, inflation. The announcement should be seen as a game changer that redirects the fury of the financial storm directly onto our shores." -- "Rather than solving our problems, more inflation will only add to the crisis. Falling asset prices, the credit crunch, declining consumer spending, bankruptcies, foreclosures, and layoffs are all part of the necessary rebalancing of our economy. These wrenching movements, however painful, are the market’s attempts to resolve the serious problems at the root of our bubble economy. Attempts to literally paper-over these problems will lead to disaster."

It's All Good: Media Reports for Duty as Militarists Plan More Wars
A quote...."Surely there is no one who still needs to be apprised of the fact that the New York Times is one of the chief organs of the American Empire, operating in a semi-official fashion to disseminate the intentions and wishes of our rulers. The fact that the paper also publishes some excellent reporting -- and can even, on occasion, assume an adversarial stance against one faction of the elite or another -- in no way undermines its essential function in the imperial power structure. After all, Pravda and Izvestia did the same under the Soviets.  --  [Of course, the dead hand of state censorship was heavier under the Soviets than in our ultra-modern, low-carb authoritarian system. We prefer witless diversion over outright repression, tasers over bullets, and the eager self-censorship of cozy, coddled media dullards over direct intervention by government functionaries -- although, to be sure, if repression, bullets and direct intervention (along with KGB-style torture, rendition, detention without trial, etc.) are deemed necessary, our elites are more than willing to oblige.]"

Reforming the Global Financial System - Flushing the Parasites
A quote...."When Benjamin Franklin was called before the British Parliament in 1757 and asked to account for the prosperity in the American colonies. He replied, "That is simple. In the colonies we issue our own money. It is called Colonial Scrip. We issue it in proper proportion to the demands of trade and industry to make the products pass easily from the producers to the consumers. In this manner, creating for ourselves our own paper money, we control its purchasing power, and we have no interest to pay to no one." It was the struggle for financial sovereignty that precipitated the American Revolution when the (Rothschild) Bank of England forced the colonists to give up their own currency. -- That war never ended." -- For more on this issue see....Arron Russo's "Freedom to Fascism" -- (Google Video - 1hr:51min:16sec  - May 5, 2007)

Alex Jones - The Obama Deception - (Full Length - GglVid - 1h/51m/21s  - 031209)
Video - Obama™ Update -- A quote...."The Obama Deception is a hard-hitting film that completely destroys the myth that Barack Obama is working for the best interests of the American people. The Obama phenomenon is a hoax carefully crafted by the captains of the New World Order. He is being pushed as savior in an attempt to con the American people into accepting global slavery. We have reached a critical juncture in the New World Order's plans. and only by exposing the con can we help to save freedom in America. The Obama Deception is not about Left or Right: it's about a One World Government. The international banks plan to loot the people of the United States and turn them into slaves on a Global Plantation." -- Other than Alex Jones stance against "Global Warming" (the science for which seems to be well proven) it's pretty good. - mpg

Previewing the Superpower Summit
Video - A quote...."David Brancaccio interviews Kenneth Rogoff, Harvard economics professor and former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, about how high we should raise our hopes and what's at stake for America and the world." -- For more on this issue see....Enforcing the Rules -- Too Little, Too Late - 02-27-09 - mpg

The Crisis and the Consolidation of Class Power - Is This Really the End of Neoliberalism?
A quote...."What happened in the US was that 8 men gave us a 3 page document which pointed a gun at everybody and said ‘give us $700 billion or else’. This to me was like a financial coup, against the government and the population of the US. Which means you’re not going to come out of this crisis with a crisis of the capitalist class; you’re going to come out of this with a far greater consolidation of the capitalist class than there has been in the past. We’re going to end up with four or five major banking institutions in the United States and nothing else. Many on Wall Street are thriving right now. Lazard’s, because it specialises in mergers and acquisitions, is making megabucks. Some people are going to be burned, but overall it’s a massive consolidation of financial power. "

Seven Years in Iraq - The War is Not Over
A quote...."The day we human shields rolled into Baghdad in February 2003, 12,000,000 protestors were pounding the pavement all over the world in a global tidal wave of protest aimed at stopping the criminal U.S. invasion of Iraq before it began and for once I entertained a sliver of hope that we would be heard.  Fat chance.  Bush dismissed the rest of the planet as a "focus group" and proceeded to eviscerate the cradle of civilization."

We don’t torture’ ... right now
Obama™ Update -- A quote...."It was creepy listening to President Barack Obama speak to Congress recently. He said, “The United States of America does not torture.” This was followed by Congress jumping to its feet in another round of idiotic applause. But before we all get swept away in jubilation, let’s remember a couple of things. - The U.S. government most certainly has engaged in torture and depravity. We’ve seen the pictures: naked men getting punched; men handcuffed against their cells with women’s underwear pulled over their head; prisoners forced to feign masturbation; people getting attacked by dogs." -- And much, much worse....think snuff movies. - mpg -- For more on this issue see....US - Torture & Sex Perv.  & US - Murder & Mayhem

Haircut Time For Bondholders
Chart - A quote...."March 12, 2009 "Information Clearing House" -- When George Soros recently said that the financial system had "effectively disintegrated", it caused quite a flap. But Soros was not exaggerating. The financial system has disintegrated. What we are experiencing now is just the fallout from that event. This is easier to understand by using an analogy. Imagine watching the demolition of a hundred-story skyscraper. After the explosives detonate and the building implodes, the chunks of debris and the shattered glass begin to fall to the ground below. That's where we are right now. The financial super-structure has already been blown to bits, but a thick shower of fragments keeps raining down on earth. Rising unemployment, falling consumer confidence, severe contraction of the economy, growing pessimism; these are all the knock-on effects of a full-blown system collapse."  -- For more on this issue see....Enforcing the Rules -- Too Little, Too Late - 02-27-09 - mpg

The mission of the Beltway journalist
A quote...."Imagine if you walked into a random class in a journalism school and asked one of the students why they enrolled in journalism school, and they replied this way:"  ---  "I want to become a journalist so that I can help the Government conceal its secrets.  Especially when high political officials break the law, I think it's really important that nobody find out about it.  In particular, I think it's crucial that victims of government torture and illegal spying be prevented from uncovering what was done and imposing accountability on our Government leaders.  And the most important thing is that when government leaders break the law, they not be investigated." -- also posted at CommonDreams

Killing the Song: Unholy Alliances and Hate-Spawning Surges in the Terror War
A quote...."William Dalrymple has been one of the more insightful Western historians of South Asia -- especially when it comes to the region's centuries-long encounter and enmeshing with Islam. In the light of the recent terror attack in Pakistan, Dalrymple has penned two articles in the UK press which draw attention to one of the most neglected aspects of the rise of Islamic extremism in the modern era: the vast resources and ceaseless energy applied by the Saudi royals to propagate the harsh, unbending sect of Wahhabi Islam around the world." -- Just think about it this way folks, for every dollar the US-NRE / Military Industrial Complex gives to support terrorist groups throughout the Middle East, it generates for itself about two hundred dollars in funding for the "war on terror".  That's a pretty good rate of return, and a very well designed, highly profitable business model. - mpg

Britain's bizarre [as apposed to the US's] reaction to war crimes allegations: investigations [are] needed - Obama™ Update -- A quote...."Notice what is missing from these accounts.  There is nobody arguing that the dreary past should simply be forgotten in order to focus on the important and challenging future.  There's no snide suggestion that demands to investigate serious allegations of criminality are driven by petty vengeance or partisan score-settling.  Nobody suggests that it's perfectly permissible for government officials to commit serious crimes -- including war crimes -- as long as they had nice motives or were told that it was OK to do these things by their underlings, or that the financial crisis (which Britain has, too) precludes any investigations, or that whether to torture is a mere "policy dispute."  Also missing is any claim that these crimes are State Secrets that must be kept concealed in order to protect British national security." -- also posted at CommonDreams

Debt Relief and Regulation
A quote...."There’s a growing sense of frustration, even panic, over Mr. Obama’s failure to match his words with deeds. The reality is that when it comes to dealing with the banks, the Obama administration is dithering. Policy is stuck in a holding pattern.... -- Why do officials keep offering plans that nobody else finds credible? Because somehow, top officials in the Obama administration and at the Federal Reserve have convinced themselves that troubled assets ... are really worth much more than anyone is actually willing to pay for them — and that if these assets were properly priced, all our troubles would go away. ..." -- For more on this issue see....Enforcing the Rules -- Too Little, Too Late - 02-27-09 - mpg

The U.S. Financial System Is Effectively Insolvent
Financial Warning - A quote...."By Nouriel Roubini - [a.k.a. Dr. Doom] -- There is, in fact, a rising risk of a global L-shaped depression that would be even worse than the current, painful U-shaped global recession. Here's why: -- First, note that most indicators suggest that the second derivative of economic activity is still sharply negative in Europe and Japan and close to negative in the U.S. and China. Some signals that the second derivative was turning positive for the U.S. and China turned out to be fake starts. For the U.S., the Empire State and Philly Fed indexes of manufacturing are still in free fall; initial claims for unemployment benefits are up to scary levels, suggesting accelerating job losses; and January's sales increase is a fluke--more of a rebound from a very depressed December, after aggressive post-holiday sales, than a sustainable recovery." -- also posted at ICH

CNBC Gives Financial Advice
Video - Jon Stewart takes on Rick Santelli, along with the ENTIRE financial industry. - mpg -- For more on this issue see....Enforcing the Rules -- Too Little, Too Late - 02-27-09 - mpg

9/11: Explaining the Project for a New American Century
Must View Video - One of the best all-around videos of the thirty year PNAC plan this website editor has ever seen - mpg -- A quote...."Under the leadership of Paul Wolfowitz, the plans were laid for the attack on New York and Washington D.C., the psychological attack on the American people, and the diversion of billions of dollars from the American people to the defense industry, under the capable leadership of Halliburton (Cheney), Bechtel, etc. The group was called the Project for a New American Century. PNAC's ideology can be found in a White Paper produced in September of 2000 entitled "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century." In it, PNAC outlines what is required of America to create the global empire they envision.
 This video describes the plan: The Planning of 9/11 - The New Pearl Harbor." -- For more on this issue see....  ||  9/11 - NORAD  ||  9/11 - WTC7  ||  9/11 - Commission  ||  Flights 9/11  ||  9/11 - Punish or Reward  ||  9/11 - WTC-1&2  ||

Obama's War - Liberal interventionism in the age of Obama
Obama™ Update -- A quote...."Illusions die hard. Especially the ideological kind. When the illusion of Barack Obama, the peacemaker, is finally dispelled, we are going to wake up and find ourselves waist-deep in a war that will soon threaten to dwarf the disastrous invasion of Iraq, both in human and material cost."

When Securitization Blew Up; So Did the Economy
A quote...."March 04, 2009 "Information Clearing House" - --- One thing is certain, this isn't a normal recession. In a normal recession aggregate demand declines, economic activity slows, and GDP shrinks. While those things are taking place now, the reasons are quite different. The present slump wasn't brought on by a downturn in the business cycle or a mismatch in supply and demand. It was caused by a meltdown in the credit system's central core. That's the main difference. Wall Street's credit-generating mechanism, securitization, has broken down cutting off roughly 40 percent of the credit that had been flowing into the economy. As a result, consumer demand has collapsed, inventories are growing, and manufacturing has contracted for the 13th consecutive month. The equities markets are in freefall and all the economic indicators are pointed south. The so called "shadow banking system" which provided wholesale funding for mortgages, car loans, student loans, and credit card debt, has stopped functioning entirely."

"We Will Remain a Pariah in the Middle East" - (YuTb - 4m 15s - March 04, 2009)
Video - A quote...."Ron Paul on the house floor Wednesday 04 march 2009 -- A US puppet government protected by 50,000 American soldiers is not the road to peace."

The Imperial Unconscious
Some quotes....""U.S. goals in Afghanistan must be 'modest, realistic,' and 'above all, there must be an Afghan face on this war,' Gates said."  ---  "And yet, make no mistake, this is Empire-speak, American-style. It's the language -- behind which lies a deeper structure of argument and thought -- that is essential to Washington's vision of itself as a planet-straddling goliath. Think of that "Afghan face"/mask, in fact, as part of the flotsam and jetsam that regularly bubbles up from the American imperial unconscious. -- Of course, words create realities even though such language, in all its strangeness, essentially passes unnoticed here. Largely uncommented upon, it helps normalize American practices in the world, comfortably shielding us from certain global realities; but it also has the potential to blind us to those realities, which, in perilous times, can be dangerous indeed. So let's consider just a few entries in what might be thought of as The Dictionary of American Empire-Speak." -- also posted at CommonDreams & LewRockwell

Campaign to close down School of The Americas & Part 2
(RNN-YouTube - aprox 11 min - Feb. 26, 2009)
Videos - A quote...."Pablo Ruiz: US tax dollars are used to train Latin American soldiers how to oppress their own people"

It’s Obama’s War Now - [All of Them, the New Ones, and Even The Old Ones]
Obama™ Update -- A quote...."Barack Obama has shown that he is as capable of doublespeak as any other politician when he announced an end to the war in Iraq. Combat troops are to be pulled out of Iraq by August 2010, he said, but some 50,000 occupation troops will remain behind. Someone should let the Iraqis know the distinction. I doubt any soldier or Marine in Iraq will notice much difference in 19 months. Many combat units will simply be relabeled as noncombat units. And what about our small army of well-paid contractors and mercenaries? Will Dyncorp, Bechtel, Blackwater (which recently changed its name to Xe), all of whom have made fortunes off the war, pack up and go home? What about the three large super-bases, dozens of smaller military outposts and our imperial city, the Green Zone? Will American corporations give up their lucrative control of Iraqi oil?"

America's Fiscal Collapse
Obama™ Update -- A quote...."This is a "War Budget". The austerity measures hit all major federal spending programs with the exception of:  1. Defence and the Middle East War: 2. the Wall Street bank bailout,  3. Interest payments on a staggering public debt. -- The budget diverts tax revenues into financing the war. It  legitimizes the fraudulent transfers of tax dollars to the financial elites under the "bank bailouts". -- The pattern of deficit spending is not expansionary. We are not dealing with a Keynesian style deficit, which stimulates investment and consumer demand, leading to an expansion of production and employment."

Sermon From The Corporate Church
A quote...."March 03, 2009 "Information Clearing House" -- -Hurricane winds pound at the gates of Fortress America and our leaders send out the order for more straw and sand to pound into the widening cracks. The harder the winds of change blow the more apparent it becomes that our “leaders” cannot lead, when they themselves await orders from above. As our house of cards flies apart at the seams, the master planners send their minions scrambling to salvage their disintegrating investments, worrying only about their “property,” caring less about the human life that is huddled in fear within."

Preaching To The Choir?
A quote...."March 03, 2009I "Information Clearing House" -- There are so many of my fellow countrymen that wish Barack Obama were really the answer to this nations errant wandering. So far, since World War II, we have seen this nation violate just about every humanitarian principle ever developed by a modern civilization. We have overthrown governments for monetary gain, for the industrialists and the agricultural elite, for resources and markets, defying international law, and succeeding. We have become not a representative republic; the form of government proposed in The Constitution by our forefathers, instead we seem to have opted for a military oligarchy."

Obama please note: Those who fail to 'master the past' are guilty, too
Obama™ Update -- A quote...."In "Guilt About the Past," [SkBks, Abbys, BkOffrs, BkTopia] based on guest lectures that Bernhard Schlink gave at Oxford University last year, the University of Berlin law professor describes the "long shadow" cast by the perpetrators of war crimes on their descendants. -- "The act of not renouncing, not judging and not repudiating carries its own guilt with it," he states in the book published in January by University of Queensland Press." -- also posted at CommonDreams

Who Will Rescue Us? No One Seems To Know Or Be Willing To Say How Bad Things Are -- A quote...."“WASHINGTON – The economy’s downhill slide at the end of last year was likely much steeper than the government initially thought and it is probably doing just as poorly now — if not worse — as a relentless slew of negative forces feed on each other, pushing the country deeper into recession.” -- Reread the sentence and you can see, as a famous Hollywood Screen writer wrote years ago “nobody knows nothing.” The operative phrases are “likely much steeper than the government initially thought” and “it is probably doing just as poorly now.” What? Duh?"

Harry Shutt, “Redistribution and Stability: Beyond the Keynesian/Neo-liberal Impasse”
A quote...."As the financial crisis that erupted in 2007 unfolds in an economic cataclysm which, it is now clear, is unprecedented in the history of capitalism, world leaders without exception reveal themselves as politically and ideologically bankrupt in their efforts to bring it under control.  This is most obviously demonstrated by their insistence on the need for individuals and enterprises to boost their levels of consumption and fixed investment — with the aid of new loans from the financial sector — even though it is obvious that the immediate cause of the crisis has been the creation of excessive credit leading people (and businesses) to spend well beyond their means. -- For more on this issue see....Enforcing the Rules -- Too Little, Too Late - 02-27-09 - mpg

Obama's efforts to block a judicial ruling on Bush's illegal eavesdropping
Obama™ Update -- A quote...."The Obama DOJ's embrace of Bush's state secrets privilege in the Jeppesen (torture/rendition) case generated substantial outrage, and rightly so.  But it's now safe to say that far worse is the Obama DOJ's conduct in the Al-Haramain case -- the only remaining case against the Government with any real chance of resulting in a judicial ruling on the legality of Bush's NSA warrantless eavesdropping program.  Here's the first paragraph from the Wired report on Friday's appellate ruling, which refused the Obama DOJ's request to block a federal court from considering key evidence when deciding whether Bush broke the law in how he spied on Americans:" -- also posted at CommonDreams

Obama embraces Bush’s “war on terror” policy without naming it so
Obama™ Update -- A quote...."Asked in a CNN interview why he hasn't used the oft-repeated "war on terror" phrase coined by the Bush administration, Obama said he believes the U.S. can win over moderate Muslims if he chooses his words carefully. "Words matter in this situation because one of the ways we're going to win this struggle is through the battle of hearts and minds," Obama said." -- bold by website editor

Well....this website editor isn't quite so sure about that.  A normal decent, sane, rational, truthful, fact-based, reality-based, person would probably think that funneling tens, if not hundreds of billions of dollars to almost every single radical Jihaddist, Wahhabist, Salfist group throughout the Middle East under United States auspices for the last thirty years, with the cheerful support of the Saudi Royals, till quite recently (a few years ago) Pakistan's ISI and even a helping hand from the Israelis, in a never ending quest to disrupt moderate, nationalist, movements throughout that region, not to mention the mistreatment, imprisonment, torture, and continuous bombing of millions of Muslims, might just have more of an effect on the formation and motivation of radical Islamist groups then Obama's recent attempts at "Orwell Speak" -- But what the heck, you go gal, or guy, 'scuse me....whatever you are. You just keep shuffling and jiving right along wi'all ol'your happy, hope-headed, changey, joy-joy-feel-good, baby babble.  Some of your more drugged-out, glazed eyed,  Obamatrolls might even still believe you. – mpg

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Enforcing the Rules -- Too Little, Too Late - 02-27-09 - mpg

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The war on Wall Street terror
A quote...."It’s funny that during the run-up to the first War on Terror, Wall Street had such an active hand in exploiting the tragedy of 9/11. Thousands upon thousands of puts short-sold United and American Airlines stocks and WTC-based Morgan Stanley stock plunged; similarly calls (bets to rise) on defense and related stocks sent them soaring on that awful day, the War on Terror’s inciting incident. -- Today, we can count on Wall Street again to supply us with what Warren Buffett calls Weapons of Mass Financial Destruction to strike terror not just in the hearts of investors, but workers, businessmen, retired people, the unemployed, the middle-and-working classes and the poor, leaving our financial system like another Ground Zero, with masses of open-mouthed crowds and teary-eyed families hovering about it, losing resources and jobs that took a lifetime to grow."

Empire - Israel and the US - 25 Feb 09 - (2 Parts)
Videos - A quote...."In this episode of Empire, Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, and his guests zero in on the special relationship between the US and Israel. They explore who benefits from the special relationship and whether the status quo will prevail." -- For more on the "Humpty Dumpty" of Palestine and how it just "happened" to "fall off the wall and break into two parts" see....US Sponsored Civil Wars - Palestine

The Oscar for Denial, And the winner is – The American People
A quote...."Now the United States faces a new moral crisis, the subversion of our own legal and moral values by high officials of our own government.  We are, in this moment. as awash in complicity and willful denial as the principled middle-class denizens of the Third Reich.  We are the Good Germans of the new millennium in Bush America because we knew about the illegal kidnappings and tortures, the self-serving legalisms that subverted the Geneva accords and papered over Constitutional lapses, the lies that led us into conquest and occupation.  Starting well before the invasion of Iraq - which millions around the globe protested in unprecedented numbers before it occurred - we knew the "weapons of mass destruction" and Saddam's connections to al-Qaeda were bullshit excuses.  But many millions of us tried to pretend that we really weren't sure."

"For This I Blame America" Afghanistan: Chaos Central
A quote...."Back then, this beautiful city was the ideal place for a bit of post-conflict profiteering. Hastily-created NGOs continued to flood in, eager for a slice of the action. So did journalists determined to write about democracy, the suave English-speaking president and the local golf course. It was the calm before the storm. Victory had been declared and, while Afghans were starting to feel the weight of its baggage, the rest of the world was still having fun at their expense. -- But the decadence and ignorance were never going to be allowed to last for long, and the Taliban knew their time was coming again. The warning signs were around for anyone who cared to look."

The Case That Wars Fuel U.S. Economic Booms
A quote...."In the great debate about the stimulus package -- which, underneath all the cant is really nothing more than a debate about how America's scarce wealth should be divided --  one of the right wing's favorite mantras was their claim that the New Deal did nothing to end the Depression. Instead, they argue, it was World War Two that ended the Depression." -- For more on this issue see....Effective Fed Funds Rate 03-24-07 - mpg

Obama's War
Obama™ Update -- A quote...."Vietnam was, of course, a disaster. The proposals that constituted LBJ's Great Society agenda arguably amounted to the broadest social program put forward by any president since FDR's New Deal. And yet, by the end of his term, LBJ couldn't appear in many major American cities without fear of setting off massive protests. This was LBJ's fate because he inherited the war from JFK and embraced it. And given that JFK had also embarked upon escalating it when Dwight Eisenhower bequeathed it to him, this might well have been his fate as well, had he not been assassinated. -- This is still a pretty uncomfortable topic with a lot of Obama's supporters. They voted for Hope and all of this talk questioning his foreign policy is so negative. Certainly it's not their fault if they voted for decency at home and peace abroad and don't seem to be getting both, but it is their responsibility to recognize that fact. And unfortunately it may soon be the case that there are more Americans fighting Bush's wars than there were when Bush left the White House."

Focus on Gaza: A Crime of War? - 20 Feb 09  - (YuTb - 23 min 23 sec - Feb 20, 2009)
Video -- A quote...."Human rights investigators continue to look into allegations that Israeli soldiers may have committed crimes of war during their Gaza military campaign. -- As the first Focus on Gaza A Crime of War? looks at the story of an alleged war crime that occurred during the war in the small village of Khuzaa, half a kilometre from the Israeli border."

A Message to Israel: - Time to Stop Playing the Victim Role
A quote...."I can understand that after centuries of persecution it's satisfying for a Jewish state to be the aggressor for a change, but there's a codicil that goes with that role. You don't get to act like a victim any more. "Poor little Israel" just sounds silly when you're the dominant power in the Middle East. When you've invaded several of your neighbors, bombed and defeated them in combat, occupied their land, and taken their homes away from them, it's time to stop acting oppressed. Yes, Arab states deny your right to exist, threaten to drive you into the sea, and all the rest of their futile, helpless rhetoric. The fact is, you have the upper hand and they don't. You have sophisticated arms and they don't. You have nuclear weapons and they don't. So stop pretending to be pathetic. It doesn't play well in Peoria."

The American Tradesmen: Weary Cogs in the Engine of the American Empire
A quote...."It was extremely easy in previous years to forget that the empire required constant maintenance and massive amounts of fuel. Tradesmen, businessmen, and private employees of all other stripes in the United States were able to go about their daily business without bothering their busy little minds about the latest foreign and domestic schemes and boondoggles of the political classes in Washington and New York. "What goes on in the gilded halls of our government has nothing to do with my own life," many no doubt thought to themselves in the smug years of the past two decades. This sentiment led many to the false idea that every individual American was the sole master of his own destiny – that each man could "do anything" with his life if he simply worked hard enough, got a college degree, or started a small business. It also led to the equally false idea that government spending for war and welfare is irrelevant to the enterprising individual American, and that he need never worry that his life’s work could be wrecked in an instant by inflation by the Federal Reserve."

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Try Predatory Lenders - It Fits Better - 02-21-09 - mpg

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From One Assault on the Constitution To Another
Obama™ Update - Some quotes...."During the first eight years of the 21st century, the Republicans mercilessly assaulted civil liberties. The brownshirt Bush regime ignored the protections provided by habeas corpus. They spied on American citizens without warrants. They violated the First Amendment. They elevated decisions of the president above US statutory law and international law. They claimed the power to withhold information from the people’s representatives in Congress, and they asserted, and behaved as if, they were unaccountable to the people, Congress, and the federal courts. The executive branch claimed the power to ignore congressional subpoenas. Republicans regarded Bush as a Stuart king unaccountable to law." -- "Now we have the Democrats, and the assault on civil liberty continues. President Obama doesn’t want to hold Bush accountable for his crimes and violations of the Constitution, because Obama wants to retain the powers that Bush asserted. Even the practice of kidnapping people and transporting them to foreign countries to be tortured has been retained by President Obama."

Remove Our Grandmother's Name from the Wall at Yad Vashem
A quote...."Following the example of Jean-Moise Braitberg, we ask that our grandmother's name be removed from the wall at Yad Vashem.  Her name is Gertrud Neumann.   Your records state that she was born in Kattowitz on  June 6, 1875 and died in Theresienstadt."

Israeli Military Shoot Gaza Farmer - (YouTube - 2 min 34 sec - February 20, 2009)
Video - A quote...."Israeli Military Shoot Gaza Farmer - 18th February 2009 -- Israeli forces shot a twenty year-old Palestinian farmer as he worked his land in the village of Al-Faraheen, east of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. -- International Human Rights Activists were accompanying the group of farmers at the time as they worked approximately 500m from the Green Line."

The Joan Walsh Syndrome -- Liberals jump on Obama's war wagon
A quote...."Joan Walsh, the Salon.com political editor who appears often on MSNBC with Chris Matthews, is emblematic, for me, of a type I know all too well: the well-meaning Bay Area liberal. Her politics exemplify the psychology of our opinion elites who got behind Barack Obama in a big way. Exuding reasonableness from every pore, she radiates a kind of diffuse benevolence modified only by a slight wrinkling of the brow – a measure of her concern that someone, somewhere, is suffering from an overlooked injustice. As President Obama takes on the burden of office, and, in the process, sheds his campaign promises like yesterday's fashions, it's fascinating to observe the reaction of his most ardent supporters, of which it is fair to say Ms. Walsh is one."

The U.S. and Afghan Tragedy
A quote...."The United States sent more than $8 billion to Pakistani military dictator Zia al-Huq, who dramatically increased the size of the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) to help support Afghan mujahedeen in their battle against the Soviets and their puppet government. Their goal, according to the late Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, was "to radicalize the influence of religious factions within Afghanistan." The ISI helped channel this American money, and billions more from oil-rich American allies, from the Gulf region to extremists within the Afghan resistance movement. ---  Extremist Education - The Reagan administration sensed the most hard-line elements of the resistance were less likely to reach negotiated settlements, but the goal was to cripple the Soviet Union, not free the Afghan people. Recognizing the historically strong role of Islam in Afghan society, they tried to exploit it to advance U.S. policy goals. Religious studies along militaristic lines were given more importance than conventional education in the school system for Afghan refugees in Pakistan. The number of religious schools (madrassas) educating Afghans rose from 2,500 in 1980 at the start of Afghan resistance to over 39,000. The United States encouraged the Saudis to recruit Wahhabist ideologues to come join the resistance and teach in refugee institutes." - For more on this sort of issue see....US Support of Terror

IDF: War crime charges over Gaza offensive are 'legal terror'
Must Read - (for the WARNING) - Last update - 08:24 19/02/2009 -- Almost all Israelis should now be considered as people suffering from some form of acute psychosis or presently undergoing a long term psychotic episode; they appear to be lost in a deranged mental fantasy of lebensraum (living space) along with Friedrich Nietzsche’s übermensch  (overmen or supermen) ideology, just as the Nazis were during the thirties and forties.  They have already publicly stated that ALL other peoples are üntermensch (literally, under man, sub-man, or sub-human) to them.  They have now become an EXTREME and GROWING THREAT to the ENTIRE international community along with all the other peoples throughout the Middle East. - mpg -- For more on this issue see....A Mortal Threat – Europe’s New Frankenstein Monster - 01-26-09 - mpg

The Roots of Hatred in the Zionist Ideology
Some quotes...."In 1939 Europe turned a blind eye to the rise of Nazism. The British foreign minister Neville Chamberlain believed that a policy of appeasement would work with Hitler; it did not. Hitler attacked Poland, giving the world a costly lesson - a policy of appeasement does not work with fascism. The outcome is well known: Europe was ruined and around 50 million lost their lives." --- "The rise of fascism in the Zionist culture is, as I shall explain below, an aspect entrenched in Zionist culture from its earliest establishment; the recent Israeli election (in February 2009) has only made it more visible to public opinion. For years Zionists have used the phrase "Israel is the only democracy in the middle east" as an ideological weapon to demonize Arabs and to justify its crimes. ---  Today, after the war on Gaza which showed the world the ugly face of Zionism, the rise of Israeli fascism is yet evidence that Zionism and racism, as the UN declared in 1975, are twins; the recent elections in Israel showed us that Zionism and fascism are synonyms. --- Yet I must note that there is a major difference between the Nazi and the Zionist fascist, this difference does not lie in the culture of hate, which is the basis of both, but rather in the fact that the Zionist fascist has nuclear capability, enough, according to military analysts, to destroy a  large percentage of the human population globally; this fact has, unsurprisingly, raised serious concerns both in the Middle East and around the world." -- For moe on this issue see....A Mortal Threat – Europe’s New Frankenstein Monster - 01-26-09 - mpg

Reflections of War - 14 Feb 09 - Part 1-- Part 2 -- Part 3 -- Part 4
Video -- (AJ YouTube - aprox 10 min each - February 14, 2009) -- A quote...."On December 27, 2008, Israel's already crippling siege on the neighbouring Gaza Strip escalated into a brutal war. Al Jazeera was the only global news network reporting from both inside Gaza and Israel for the entirity of the conflict. Throughout Ayman Mohyeldin and Sherine Tadros brought news of the human tragedy unfolding to living rooms throughout the English speaking world. They found themselves as vulnerable as the civilians of Gaza and now they give their full accounts of what it was really like to report that war."

It's time to rethink Zionism
A quote...."The results of last week's parliamentary elections in Israel brought to the surface some of the most rotten fruits of a debate that has been going on throughout the state's existence: the idea that a mono-ethnic Jewish state is feasible, legitimate and desirable. In other words, it enhanced the predicament of the moral and practical consequences of the Zionist state ideology."

PJB: Metrics of National Decline
A quote...."“Bush Boom Continues” trilled the headline over the Lawrence Kudlow column, as George W. Bush closed out his seventh year in office. -- “You can call it Goldilocks 2.0,” purred Kudlow. -- Yes, you could. But what a difference 12 months can make. -- Final returns are now in on the eight years of George Bush. Charles McMillion of MBG Information Services has crunched the numbers. And, pace Kudlow, the only relevant comparison is to Herbert Hoover."

9/11 ‘Truth Force’
A quote...."The strongest element in the campaign for 9/11 truth is the very fact that we have truth on our side (and however “9/11 truth” became the consensus slogan of the movement, it was brilliant marketing). Seven years of independent research and investigation by thousands of concerned patriots, expert and amateur alike, have turned up enough evidence to make the official story of what happened on September 11, 2001, look highly implausible -- and prosecutable." -- For more on this issue see....9/11 - NORAD & 9/11 - WTC7 & 9/11 - Commission & 9/11 - Punish or Reward

Finance Capitalism Hits a Wall - The Oligarchs’ Escape Plan – at the Treasury’s Expense
A quote...."The financial “wealth creation” game is over. Economies emerged from World War II relatively free of debt, but the 60-year global run-up has run its course. Finance capitalism is in a state of collapse, and marginal palliatives cannot revive it. The U.S. economy cannot “inflate its way out of debt,” because this would collapse the dollar and end its dreams of global empire by forcing foreign countries to go their own way. There is too little manufacturing to make the economy more “competitive,” given its high housing costs, transportation, debt and tax overhead. A quarter to a third of U.S. real estate has fallen into Negative Equity, so no banks will lend to them. The economy has hit a debt wall and is falling into Negative Equity, where it may remain for as far as the eye can see until there is a debt write-down." -- For more on this issue see....Effective Fed Funds Rate 03-24-07 - mpg

Do we still pretend that we abide by treaties?
This country, (more a sick twisted empire) hasn't abided by a single treaty, international commitment or even its OWN CONSTITUTION  for more then a decade. - mpg -- A quote...."On Friday in Salon, Joe Conason argued that there should be no criminal investigations of any kind for Bush officials "who authorized torture or other outrages in the 'war on terror'."  Instead, Conason suggests that there be a presidential commission created that is "purely investigative," and Obama should "promis[e] a complete pardon to anyone who testifies fully, honestly and publicly."  So, under this proposal, not only would we adopt an absolute bar against prosecuting war criminals and other Bush administration felons, we would go in the other direction and pardon them from any criminal liability of any kind. -- bold by website editor

An American Foreign Legion - Is the U.S. Military Now an Imperial Police Force?
A quote...."A leaner, meaner, higher tech force -- that was what George W. Bush and his Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld promised to transform the American military into. Instead, they came close to turning it into a foreign legion. Foreign as in being constantly deployed overseas on imperial errands; foreign as in being ever more reliant on private military contractors; foreign as in being increasingly segregated from the elites that profit most from its actions, yet serve the least in its ranks." -- For more on this issue see....Join army, be a US citizen in 6 months

Gaza Crisis Appeal - (YouTube - 4 min 39 sec - February 11, 2009)
Video - A quote...."Israel's War Against Palestinian Civilians"

Socialism Part Three: Warfare and Welfare
Some quotes...."As is the case with empires throughout history the Warfare arm of the United States government is pure and simple, a form of Socialism. Our government owns the munitions, buildings, production facilities, tanks, fighter planes, intelligence operations, technology, the vast resources used on a daily basis to sustain our military endeavors." -- "There has been little evidence of human civilization without the accompaniment of a war or defense machine. It seems only the strong survive. And ownership has been predominately socialized. For obvious reasons placing the safety of a society in the hands of a well armed private contracted army has usually proven to be detrimental. It is not long before that army no longer contracts with the State but becomes the State!"

It Couldn't Happen Here -- Could It?
A quote...."PARIS--Most Americans don't care what happens in France. But the oldest country in "Old Europe" remains the Western world's intellectual capital and one of its primary originators of political trends. (Google "May+1968+Sorbonne.") -- The French are reacting to a situation almost identical to ours--economic collapse, government impotence, corporate corruption--by turning hard left. National strikes and massive demonstrations are occurring every few weeks. How far left? This far: the late president François Mitterand's Socialist Party, the rough equivalent of America's Greens, is considered too conservative to solve the economic crisis."

To Alter or Abolish
A quote...."Dear Federal Government,"

"Drop dead."

"Excuse us. Some may consider such bluntness to be indecorous, but why beat around the bush? In any case, we've been around this bush (Bush?) too many times to count already. It's time to let you know what we really think of you, what we say behind your back, what we whisper to each other when you leave the room."

"We hate you. We want you to drop dead. Or, anyway, to go away and never come back. You are not welcome anymore. We have tolerated you – and we emphasize "tolerated" – for a long time, long after whatever romance there may have been was gone. We can pretend no more. You are disgraceful, boorish, nauseating, corrupt, shameful, arrogant, dishonest, self-serving, parasitic, disgusting, hypocritical, and rotten to the core. You have not even one redeeming quality. There is nothing you offer that we want any longer. We're not even sure what it is we ever saw in you to begin with."

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PJB - Obama and the Great Game
Analysis - Bang on target -- Assuming Obama and the elites really want to settle things down in the Middle East and not stage another false flag event to gin up more wars so they can avoid the coming Depression. Something unlikely to occur given the consistent regularity of this nation's ten year cycle. - mpg -- A quote.... "Earlier, there was talk of 30,000, bringing the U.S. total to 63,000. Now, there are reports Obama may commit no more than the three brigades promised in 2008, and only one brigade now. - Clearly, the United States is checking its hole card. Can we draw to a winning hand? Or is this hand an inevitable loser – and we must cut our losses and cede the pot? No longer, anywhere, is there talk of "victory"."

Shock Absorbers: Progressives Stunned by Obama Non-Surprises
A quote...."There is certainly a great deal of slack-jawed shock going around these days, especially in progressive circles, where pundits, commentators, analysts and kibitzers continually find themselves reeling from yet another "inexplicable" move by the Obama Administration to uphold the core principles of their predecessors: enriching the rich, extending the empire, and enhancing the authoritarian power of a thoroughly militarized state."

Boomers - Your Crisis has Arrived
A quote...."Turnings last about 20 years and always arrive in the same order. Four of them make up the cycle of history, which is about the length of a long human life. The first turning is a High, a period of confident expansion as a new order becomes established after the old has been dismantled. Next comes an Awakening, a time of rebellion against the now-established order, when spiritual exploration becomes the norm. Then comes an Unraveling, an increasingly troubled era of strong individualism that surmounts increasingly fragmented institutions. Last comes the Fourth Turning, an era of upheaval, a Crisis in which society redefines its very nature and purpose." -- For more on this issue see....The Great Game - In 3D - 06-15-08 - mpg

Obama's 'War on Terror' - A "long list" of crimes Bombs Away will commit for the elite's "long war". - mpg -- A quote...."The language is softened and deceptive. The strategy and tactics are not. The "war on terror" continues. Promised change is talk, not policy. Just look at Obama's "war cabinet," discussed in an earlier article. It assures:"

Base Instincts: Kyrgyzstan Drops Out of the Great Game
Analysis -- A quote...."A look at the geostrategic background makes things clearer. Since the voluntary dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the US has been engaged in a dangerous power play in Central Asia, eastern Europe and the Caucasus, three contiguous regions that, for geostrategic reasons, are lumped together as Eurasia. -- Washington's geopolitical bible is "The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives," in which former US National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski stresses the necessity and the means for the US to establish complete domination over Eurasia.  Brzezinski, from Poland, says by creating instability in every country in Russia’s neighbourhood, especially in the Central Asian Stans and Ukraine, and disrupting the flow of oil and gas, the US can isolate Russia, so that Moscow ceases to be a great power." -- For more on this issue see....US Support of Terror

"Yes I am emotional about torture SIR!" - (YuTb - 2m44s - Feb. 06, 2009)
Video - A quote...."Shami Chakrabarti SAVAGES UK Minister Geoff "Buff" Hoon -- The judges reveal that the secret documents at the centre of the case give rise to an arguable case of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. It is also disclosed that a British intelligence official may have been present when Mr Mohamed alleges he was tortured. The judgement raises the prospect of criminal charges being brought against British officials."

Channel 4 covers Bush admin. National Security threat
Videos - A quote...."(and Obama™ ’s secretary of state goes along with suppressing the evidence of the Bush administration’s crimes of torture.  Is this more of Obama™ ’s age of transparency and accountability?)"

For more on this sort of activity by those in the US-NRE government, see the quote shown below......

"A word to the wise for all those in the US military participating in these "interrogations" and "trials", if ANY of the evidence being withheld or altered indicates US government complicity with 9/11, or would support or imply in any way such a suspicion....all personnel who have cooperated in withholding or altering such evidence would automatically become an accessory after the fact in the murder of three thousand Americans.  ---   More importantly, tainting such evidence, creating any evidence, suborning perjury or extracting false confessions from prisoners even if it DOES NOT DIRECTLY INVOLVE U.S. government or administration official’s complicity regarding 9/11...IN AND OF ITSELF could be legally construed as obstruction of justice and possibly make someone an accessory after the fact regarding 9/11 if it prevents the identification of the true perpetrators or the facts involved." -- *mpg* -- quote from The Convenient Silence of Guantanamo Bay -- 05-31-08 - mpg

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Christian Support for Killing Iraqis
A quote...."Among the things about the Iraq War that I have never been able to understand is how American Christians have been able, in good conscience, to support this war. After all, no one can deny that neither Iraq nor the Iraqi people ever attacked the United States. That makes the United States the aggressor — the attacker — in this particular conflict. How could American Christians support the killing of Iraqis in such a war of aggression? How could they reconcile this with God’s sacred commandment, Thou shalt not murder." -- also posted at ICH & MWC

One disagreement with the author, by doing what they have done, by their support for murder, mayhem and other abominations, many people in this country can no longer be described as Christian, or even be called Christian.  They have irrevocably broken that covenant and have now made a new pact, or  "contract", with something much darker.  They have condemned themselves by their own voluntary actions to what awaits them. They have fallen into the abyss.  – mpg -- For more on this issue see....Judeo-Christian C/C & US - The Abyss

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Economic Fascism and the Bailout Economy
A quote...." The second event that I regard as almost comparable in importance to the collapse of the Soviet Union was the collapse of the American banking system that took place in September and October of 2008. -- No one saw that collapse coming in August. The senior rulers of the United States – I do not mean politicians – have watched in horror as institutions that had survived since the mid-19th century went down: investment banks. These were banks that did not take deposits from the general public. They pooled large quantities of capital from private, wealthy investors. Within a matter of weeks, that business model collapsed. The investment banks scrambled to restructure their legal operations so as to be defined as commercial banks and therefore become eligible for the Federal bailout money. Meanwhile, huge commercial banks almost went bankrupt. They did not go bankrupt only because of government intervention and because larger banks absorbed them. Wachovia went down. Washington Mutual went down. The share prices of the two largest banks in the United States, the Bank of America and Citigroup, are still close to penny share status."

Whistling Past the Afghan Graveyard -- Where Empires Go to Die
A quote...."It is now a commonplace -- as a lead article in the New York Times's Week in Review pointed out recently -- that Afghanistan is "the graveyard of empires." Given Barack Obama's call for a greater focus on the Afghan War ("we took our eye off the ball when we invaded Iraq..."), and given indications that a "surge" of U.S. troops is about to get underway there, Afghanistan's dangers have been much in the news lately. Some of the writing on this subject, including recent essays by Juan Cole at Salon.com, Robert Dreyfuss at the Nation, and John Robertson at the War in Context website, has been incisive on just how the new administration's policy initiatives might transform Afghanistan and the increasingly unhinged Pakistani tribal borderlands into "Obama's War."

Moscow Reacts to US Buildup in Afghanistan
A quote...."Moscow has correctly assessed that the announced Obama troop buildup in Afghanistan has no relevance to the stated aim of combatting the ‘Taliban’, but rather with a new attempt by the Pentagon strategists to encircle both Russia and China on Eurasia in order to retain US global military dominance. It is not waiting for a new policy from Washington. Rather Russia is acting to secure its perimeter in Central Asia through a series of calculated geopolitical moves reminiscent of the famous Great Game of more than a Century ago. The stakes in this geopolitical power game could not be higher—the issue of world war or peace in the coming decade."

Israeli Version of Anatomy of a Murder -- Cast of Thousands - (YuTb - 6m8s - 012909))
Video - A quote....."February 4, 2009 at 2:15 pm -- The following was sent to me in the form of a comment ….. a video definitely worth watching. The Holocaust was a tragedy and the Zionist will never allow us to forget it therefore we too should never forget what happend in Gaza, Lebanon and let’s face it the last 60 years of Palestinian occupation. I created this video on Gaza, please have a look and pass it around.

Gaza villages Wiped off the map - (YouTube - 8 min 21 sec - January 21, 2009)
Video -- A quote...."Another excellent report by Jonathan Miller. Telling the story of destruction and killing in Gaza."

No I Can’t: A Dissident to U.S. Empire But A Fighter For Humanity
A quote...."Just because Barack Hussein Obama is the 44th President of the United States doesn’t make the U.S. any less of an empire. And it doesn’t mean that this empire has any intentions of ending its control and expansion. Under the Bush Regime many people began to see the methods and means in which the U.S. maintains its super power status, while for years before it was easy to ignore. The methods and means under the Bush Regime were so escalated that people in the U.S. took notice and were horrified. People wanted it to end. And it seemed the only way to end it was to vote in someone who was nothing like Bush. -- Bush was a public relations nightmare for the empire, so the ruling class of the empire put Barack Obama in front of the people. He promised hope and change, and while many good people who care about humanity thought this meant an end to the wars for empire and torture what he really promised was a change in methods and means in maintaining an empire."

The Anti-Empire Report: Change (in rhetoric) we can believe in.
A quote...."I've said all along that whatever good changes might occur in regard to non-foreign policy issues, such as what's already taken place concerning the environment and abortion, the Obama administration will not produce any significantly worthwhile change in US foreign policy; little done in this area will reduce the level of misery that the American Empire regularly brings down upon humanity. And to the extent that Barack Obama is willing to clearly reveal what he believes about anything controversial, he appears to believe in the empire."

Al-Attatra Village in Gaza : Then Came the Foreshadowing Silence
Photo Slide Show - A quote...."Jan 30, 2009 -- GAZA - Twenty-eight letters of the Arabic language aare no longer sufficient to create a the new vocabulary capable of describing the horrible stories of the Israelis Cast Lead Operation - Massacre in Gaza. The great pain from her grief will last for a long time. Nor can the creation of even 100 letters in the repetoire of the English language express the deep trauma in Ismail's face, a face washed by a thousand tears. I am looking into the eyes of a man's face, aged but still so young. In just a few days many years were added to his face."

Operation "Cast Lead" - For the Record - For History
Photo Slide Show - Some of these are very grim. - mpg

The Obama Crossroads: Neo-Liberal Coup or Responsible Government
A quote...."When the U.S. Treasury gave away $700 billion to Wall Street banks with no strings attached in October of 2008, the Obama team gave a green light. A popular insurgence was soon silenced, with public wrath directed instead at the U.S. auto producers (and unions) who followed with a request for $25 billion. The auto companies ended up with a loan of about 1/50th the amount that went to Wall Street as a gift. The subtext message was disturbing. Wall Street firms produce nothing, no-one is required to explain what they are doing with all the public money they received, and no criteria of public benefit are applied." - bold by website editor

Un-plug from the ObaMatrix and Tune-in to Reality!
Some quotes...."By Cindy Sheehan --

"You call it hope- that fire of fire!
It is but agony of desire." -- *Edgar Allan Poe*, Tamerlane:1827

"The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. …..You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it."-- * Morpheus*, The Matrix

"The American matrix is the fantasy that claims that war criminals like Colin Powell and John McCain are "war heroes." You know the matrix I am talking about---the one where leaders of the USA can literally get away with murder and live comfortable lives of peace, instead of being held accountable. Yes, this is the same matrix that is telling you that a tax evader like Timothy Geithner can effectively lead our Treasury and robber barons that contributed to the current economic collapse, like Lawrence Summers, Paul Volcker, Ben Bernanke and Robert Rubin, can cure the crisis. Where war supporters like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Rahm Emanuel can be trusted with the delicate balance of foreign relations. Where we "hope" that lobbyists (turned federal employees) for war and robbery are going to serve our interests and not the interests of the matrix. This American matrix relies on the sad fact that info-tainment passes for unbiased-hard news these days."

Connecting the Dots: Israel's Blood Fest Meets the Voice of the People as the Obama Show Begins -- A quote...."January 2009 will go down in human history as the month when the leaders of the state of Israel showed their true colors. If anyone doubted that Israeli politicians deserved a place next to the likes of Stalin, Hitler or Pol Pot, their storm troopers put those doubts to rest by displaying a brutality and callousness to shock even the most apathetic."

Sionistas imitando a Hitler - (YouTube - 5 min 6 sec - January 29, 2009)
Video - A video presentation made from this Photo Gallery (posted below) and accompanied by John Lennon's famous song "Imagine", from his 1971 album of the same name. - mpg

A Palestinian Woman
Video - A quote...."This documentary short film brings the viewer close to the conditions isolating Palestinians within their communities. It is filmed next to the separation barrier that Israel continues to build in the occupied Palestinian territories." See related article -- Secret Israeli database reveals full extent of illegal settlement

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