Wednesday May 5th 2010

No posts. - mpg

Tuesday May 4th 2010

The Revenant: Brief Glimpses of Empire's Reality
A quote...."Last week, the reappearance of a figure from the recent past briefly stirred the amnesiac fog that enfolds the brutal reality of the American empire. Former Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega was taken from the American prison which has been his home for the past 21 years and flown to Paris, where he is to stand trial for decades-old drug-trafficking charges."

37 children die every hour in Afghanistan
A quote...."22 children under the age of five and 15 children below the age of one die every hour. And every 30 minutes, a mother dies during childbirth. -- These statistics were announced by Dr. Suraya Dalil, Deputy Minister for Policy and Planning and Acting Minister of Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) in a press conference in Kabul with Dr. Eric Laroche, Assistant Director-General Health Action in Crises, World Health Organization (WHO)." -- also posted at Uruknet

The Count
A quote...."As of Tuesday, day 3,125 of the war in Afghanistan and day 2,579 of the war in Iraq … 965 American military service members (6 more than last week) have died in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001, and 4,397 (3 more than last week) have died in Iraq since that war began in 2003, according to the US Defense Department."

US Scrapped Kandahar Attack, Citing Lack of Afghan Leadership
A quote...."NATO commanders forced the US to scrap a planned helicopter attack on western Kandahar City last week, citing the lack of Afghan leadership in the raid. The attack was meant to send three companies of US troops and another company of Afghan troops into the city to “prepare the ground” for the June invasion."

The myth of Talibanistan
Special Note - A quote...."Apocalypse Now. Run for cover. The turbans are coming. This is the state of Pakistan today, according to the current hysteria disseminated by the Barack Obama administration and United States
corporate media - from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to The New York Times. Even British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said on the record that Pakistani Talibanistan is a threat to the security of Britain. -- But unlike St Petersburg in 1917 or Tehran in late 1978, Islamabad won't fall tomorrow to a turban revolution."
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Zombie bin-Laden Living in Iran
Propaganda Exposed - War Presstitute Alert - (Faux-news again) - A quote...."An article on Fox News details the work of some “documentary” film-maker who claims to have proof that bin-Laden is alive and well just north of Tehran. We thought he was in Afghanistan, so we attacked Afghanistan. Then he was hiding out in Pakistan, so the drones started killing people there too. Now, as luck would have it, after years of trying to find a reason to attack Iran, guess who ends up living just outside the Iranian capital? Zombie bin-Laden." - For more on this issue see....Judeo-Christian C/C & US - The Media & US Fake Intel / Propaganda - Osama bin long gone Laden

Top Media Lies About Iran
Propaganda Exposed - A quote...."The Peace Prize President in the White House continues to increase his empty, but angry rhetoric in an attempt to garner enough support for a strike on Iran. The propaganda juggernaut is in full action, and thousands of articles, TV shows, and politicians are beating the drums for a war against Iran. If this sounds eerily familiar, it’s because it is. In 2001, the London Observer ran a series of reports linking Iraq to the September 11 attacks and going as far as to claim there were secret bases in Iraq that produced anthrax as a weapon of mass destruction." - also posted at WarInIraq

US walkout on speech by Ahmadinejad 'shows West biased against Iran'
Video - posted at RussiaToday -- (RTYuTb - 5 min 56 sec - May 03, 2010) -- A quote...."The Iranian president has told the UN there's not a shred of credible evidence his country's developing nuclear weapons. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also attacked the US accusing it of double standards. He was speaking at the start of a conference reviewing the non-proliferation treaty."

Ahmadinejad gives exclusive interview to RT
Video - posted at RussiaToday -- (RTYuTb - 13 min 28 sec - May 04, 2010) -- A quote...."The U.S. is trying to put pressure on organizations like the UN Security Council in order to get its own way on major international issues. That's the view of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who's spoken exclusively to RT in an interview. He says that such pressure and new sanctions - if imposed - would harm the U.S. rather than Iran."

Indonesia Calls on Israel to Join NPT
A quote...."Indonesia has urged Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) voicing grave concern on the threat of nuclear proliferation across the globe."
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Rival Iraqi Shia blocs agree to merge
A quote...."Iraq takes a major step towards forming its next government as two Shia electoral rivals agree to merge after weeks of limbo which followed inconclusive elections."

Greek PM invites Putin to visit Greece
A quote...."MOSCOW, May 3 (Itar-Tass) -- Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou invited his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to make a working visit to Greece at any convenient time. - The invitation was passed to Putin during a telephone conversation on Monday initiated by the Greek prime minister."

Phone-tapping scandal hits Colombia
A quote...."A phone-tapping scandal has turned Colombian President Alvaro Uribe’s last months in office into a nightmare. His government is being accused of spying on journalists, political opponents and the supreme court."
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3rd-Party Candidate Wins UK Election Debate
A quote...."The leaders of both Britain's main political parties may be wishing they'd never agreed to the country's first American-style televised election debate. Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg—who offered up his party as a fresh alternative to Gordon Brown's Labour and David Cameron's Conservatives—is widely seen to have won the debate by a hefty margin, the Guardian  reports."

Election 2010: Nick Clegg makes last push for votes
Related Article - A quote...."The Lib Dem leader is expected to tell supporters that in 24 hours "we can change Britain forever". -- Mr Clegg is also understood to be focusing on voter turnout, believing it to be crucial to how the party fares. -- The Liberal Democrats say the constituencies Mr Clegg is due to visit on Thursday are ones they did not think they could win before the campaign started, and show the extent of their ambition. -- Mr Clegg is also expected to reinforce his message that only the Lib Dems are offering "real change". -- "In your heart of hearts you know that if either of the two old parties win this election, nothing will really change," Mr Clegg is due to say. " - bold by website editor

New Labour's Complicity in Torture - Truly Evil
A quote...."I have now obtained under the Freedom of Information Act a heavily censored copy of one of my telegrams from Tashkent protesting at the use by the UK government of intelligence obtained under torture. -- Every British person should read this telegram and hang their head in the deepest of shame. This is the pitch blackness of New Labour's embrace of authoritarianism. Read it, and remember I was both smeared and sacked for this attempt to apply simply the most basic of humane standards.  --  ||  Download file - PDF  ||  Page 2 Download file - PDF  || -- also posted at Uruknet
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Former Bush official runs secretive ‘Cockroaches’ group
A quote...."These are not the crunchy, skittery kind of cockroaches that terrorize your kitchen, but the well-shod Washington insider kind that gather several times a year for a high-powered confab on defense and intelligence matters. -- The Cockroaches are a venerable Washington, D.C., institution that has apparently never been written about, a kind of not-so-secret society for several hundred current and former defense intelligence officials, private-sector contracting firms, lobbyists, Congressional staffers and Members of Congress. The group meets every other month or so for off-the-record dinners to discuss new developments in defense and intelligence, and to swap war stories, literally and figuratively."

Secret Erik Prince Tape Exposed
A quote...."Erik Prince, the reclusive owner of the Blackwater empire, rarely gives public speeches and when he does he attempts to ban journalists from attending and forbids recording or videotaping of his remarks. On May 5, that is exactly what Prince is trying to do when he speaks at DeVos Fieldhouse as the keynote speaker for the "Tulip Time Festival" in his hometown of Holland, Michigan. He told the event's organizers no news reporting could be done on his speech and they consented to the ban. Journalists and media associations in Michigan are protesting this attempt to bar reporting on his remarks."

EXCLUSIVE…Secret Recording of Erik Prince Reveals Previously Undisclosed Blackwater Ops
Related Article - A quote...."Investigative journalist and Democracy Now! correspondent Jeremy Scahill obtains a rare audio recording of a recent, private speech delivered by Erik Prince, the owner of Blackwater, to a friendly audience in January. The speech, which Prince attempted to keep from public consumption, provides a stunning glimpse into his views and future plans and reveals details of previously undisclosed activities of Blackwater. In a Democracy Now! exclusive broadcast we play excerpts of the recording and speak with Scahill about the revelations. [Includes rush transcript]" -- ||  Real Video Stream  ||  Real Audio Stream  ||  MP3 Download  ||  More…  || 

Exposed: Christian leader caught with male escort says he needed help with his luggage
Hah!  "Christians", what a joke they've become.  What a New Roman Empire they've created. - mpg -- A quote...."A Christian leader and prominent neuro-psychiatrist who co-founded the Family Research Council with evangelist James Dobson took a ten-day European vacation with a callboy he met through RentBoy.com and was caught in an airport with the escort by a Miami newspaper." - Hey Kaaaarrrrrllllll, there's a web site for you....mpg

The Tea Party's Blind Eye on Torture
You want to know what Ann Coulter said about torture...."it's good and Christian-y" that's what she said.  Why don't those AIPAC butt-kissing Tea Partiers just get together with Karl Rove, Jeff Gannon, some of the boys from SERE (Sodomize Every Rectum Everywhere), James Dobson, a few of the Congressional pages, the Pope, half the Priests in the Catholic Church, half of San Francisco, that moronic cheer leader George Bush, (yeah, he was a male cheer leader, what, you didn't know?) put on some dueling banjo CD's and watch the hundreds of homo-sadistic torture/snuff videos from the CIA's and DoD's numerous black sites and dungeons across the world.  We'll televise the whole thing on Faux-news and call it Washington's coming out Tea Party.  Welcome folks, to the New Roman Empire.  It's your tax dollars at work AND "play". - mpg -- For more on this issue see....The Tea Party - Another False Front
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More On The Palestinian Situation....

The sadistic logic behind Israel’s siege of Gaza
Special Note - Told ya'all, we've now got the world's newest Mini-Nazis to deal with. Smaller, weaker, almost runt-like compared to true Nazis, in fact they're so pathetic they need the constant, unstinting, support of the world's only so-called "hyper-power" to crush five million practically un-armed, un-supported and utterly impoverished Palestinians.  How an entire people can be so craven, vindictive, cruel and cowardly is a complete mystery to this website editor and no doubt to the rest of the world. - mpg -- A quote...."Rules that allow the importation of cinnamon but not coriander might seem arbitrary and it’s unlikely that further documentation from the Israelis will show otherwise. But there does appear to be a sadistic logic at work here. Nothing more effectively reinforces a sense of powerlessness in a population than for the minutiae of everyday life to be under the constant, arbitrary and callous control of an invisible and inaccessible power. This is the logic and practice of subjugation. It is an exercise in the crushing of human will."

Regular Israelis are the ones perpetuating occupation
A quote...."Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unjustifiably draws fire for policies that move ahead without his involvement. The Jewish intellectuals, who suddenly saw the darkness and were terrified, should know: Even if not one more Jewish home is built in the occupied territories (including East Jerusalem), the enormous apparatus of domination continues to operate there with an inner logic of many years' duration. It moves along by itself, like some huge aircraft without a pilot."

[Israeli] Soldiers Level A Mosque Near Rafah
A quote...."Israeli soldiers invaded on Tuesday at dawn an area in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, leveled the Al Dahniyya mosque and uprooted farmlands." - also posted at WarInIraq & Uruknet

International solidarity activists accuse Israeli military of break-in
A quote...."When their apartment in Hebron was broken into on Saturday May 1st, the international solidarity activists stationed there said they have strong evidence that it was the Israeli military that carried out the illegal robbery." - also posted at AlethoNews

Israel detains 10 Palestinians in the WB
A quote...."West Bank, May 5, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) – Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detained today 10 Palestinians from Nablus and Toubas in the West Bank."

Settler Violence Out Of Control: Extremists Torch A Mosque
A quote...."Extremist Israeli settlers broke into a mosque in the Palestinian village of Luban al-Sharqiyya (near Nablus, North of West Bank) on Tuesday early morning, gathered flammables and set them fire, seriously damaging the 80% of the mosque."

Zionist settlers burn olive trees in Hawara
A quote...."NABLUS, (PIC)-- Zionist settlers from the notorious Yitzhar settlement on Tuesday set on fire tens of Palestinian dunums cultivated with fruitful olive trees in Hawara village, south of Nablus, eyewitnesses reported. -- They said that tens of settlers descended from hills overlooking the village and burnt the trees over almost ten dunums of land." -- For more on this sort of issue see....Israel's Scorched Earth

PFLP leader Leila Khaled blasts Palestinian Authority
A quote...."Comrade Leila Khaled, member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine called for dismantling the Palestinian Authority if that body is the cause of Palestinian division, speaking in Damascus on April 27, 2010." -- also posted at Uruknet
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Max Keiser On Goldman Sachs And Bill Clinton's Hypocrisy; Peter Schiff Interview
Video - Alt1 - Alt2 - (MKRTYuTb - 25m 15 sec - May 4, 2010) -- A quote...."Max Keiser is in his prime discussing Goldman and Bill Clinton's hypocrisy in defending Goldman. Which is not all that surprising considering Clinton's son-in-law Marc Mezvinsky is a Goldman Investment banker. A brief bio on Marc:"

Bernanke's Biggest Bailout
Special Note - A quote...."May 03, 2010 "Information Clearing House" - -The right-wing think-tank, the American Enterprise Institute, is helping the Federal Reserve to develop a strategy to transfer $1.25 trillion in toxic mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and non performing loans onto the public's balance sheet. Although it's unknown whether Fed chair Ben Bernanke will act on the AEI's recommendations, it does show that the Fed's Quantitative Easing program (QE)--which moved the bulk of garbage assets from the banks to the Fed's balance sheet--poses long-term problems that will need to be addressed. Bernanke never intended to keep these assets any longer than necessary. Now he is actively exploring options for getting rid of them."

Created Out Of Thin Air – That Is Where The Federal Reserve Got The 1.3 Trillion Dollars That It Bought All Of Those Mortgage Backed Securities With - Contains Videos - Special Note - A quote...."When the mainstream media told the American people that the Federal Reserve was going to “help” the housing industry by buying up hundreds of billions of dollars worth of toxic mortgage backed securities, very few people probably even stopped to wonder where all of that money was going to come from.  Well, the truth is that it did not come from anywhere.  It was made up out of thin air.  In fact, a total of 1.3 trillion dollars was just “printed into existence” so that the Fed could soak up these problematic securities (and help their buddies down on Wall Street in the process who were desperate to dump them).  During a recent Joint Economic Committee hearing on Capital Hill, U.S. Representative Ron Paul directly confronted Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about this 1.3 trillion dollars.  As Ron Paul described how this 1.3 trillion was just created out of thin air, all Bernanke could do was nod his head.  Why?  Because it was the truth."

Fed Documents Reveal Secret Lobbying Effort Against Audit Provisions
A quote...."The Federal Reserve is secretly engaged in an intense lobbying effort in an attempt to stave off moves to have the Government Accountability Office audit it, internal documents reveal."

Rahm Working With Fed To Beat Back Audit
A quote...."The White House, Federal Reserve and Wall Street lobbyists are kicking up their opposition to an amendment to audit the Fed as a Senate vote approaches, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the lead sponsor of the measure, said on Monday."

A Successful Bubble, Redux
Some quotes...."The savings rate fell to just 2.7%, the lowest since September 2008, as consumer spending rose in March. The banking system is financing the government deficit through leverage, which is how the US can handle a 12% deficit with a very low savings rate." -- "The PIIGS crisis no doubt helped, as European banks shifted towards safer American debt. - Even more interesting is that the Fed’s holdings of mortgage-backed securities rose from $1.068609 billion on March 31st — the day the Fed’s buying program was supposed to have ended — to $1.099763 on April 28th, the last reporting weak. That’s almost $30 billion in new purchases at a time when the Fed was supposed to have been selling." - bold by website editor

Is this what Leo Strauss and the neocons mean by hidden meaning?
A quote...."As top Federal Reserve officials debated whether there was a housing bubble and what to do about it, then-Chairman Alan Greenspan argued that dissent should be kept secret so that the Fed wouldn't lose control of the debate to people less well-informed than themselves.


Plunge in [California] state revenue dashes hopes of an easy budget fix
A quote...."Legislators were hoping revenue would continue to exceed projections, forestalling deeper cuts and further tax hikes. But April's total was 30% below what was expected, leaving them with few options."

Documents offer clues to [the Times Square] bomb suspect’s life
Some quotes...."At the time of his arrest, Shahzad and his wife, Huma Mian, were facing foreclosure on the compact home of gray vinyl shingles they owned on Long Hill Avenue near the center of Shelton, Conn., according to the Wall Street Journal. -- Shahzad purchased his house in July, 2004 for $273,000, brokers said, with 20 percent down and an 80 percent mortgage with Chase, the Journal said. -- Chase Home Finance filed a foreclosure action against the couple last September, and the court dockets indicate that neither Shahzad nor his wife showed up to defend themselves. They were listed as "non-appearing" parties. The most recent papers were filed in the case on April 23, according to the Journal."

European, world markets plunge on Greek debt fears
A quote...."World stock markets fell sharply on Tuesday, driven by fears that massive spending cuts in Greece will be insufficient to resolve the country’s debt crisis, which threatens to expand to other European countries. -- A strike of civil servants Tuesday, to be followed by a general strike of public and private sector workers on Wednesday, underscores the clash of social interests playing out in Greece and throughout the continent."

Monday May 3rd 2010

Sunday May 2nd 2010

David Ray Griffin on 9/11 & the war in Afghanistan  - Posted at DProgram
Must View Videos - RG(1/7) - RG(2/7) - RG(3/7) - RG(4/7) - RG(5/7) - RG(6/7) - RG(7/7) - (YuTb - 10min - April 30, 2010) -- An OUTSTANDING lecture - mpg - posted by WeAreChangeChicago  - For more on this issue see....Reficultnias's 9/11 Central

Wayne Madsen Reports CIA Control of Afghanistan’s Opium Fields on Alex Jones TV - Posted at DProgram
Videos - WM&AJ(1/2) - WM&AJ(1/2) - (AJYuTb - 10 min each - April 30, 2010) -posted by TheAlexJonesChannel -- A quote...."(April 30) – Alex also talks with Wayne Madsen, a Washington, D.C.-based investigative journalist, author and columnist. A former commissioned Navy ensign, Madsen worked as a government consultant on contracts for the National Security Agency and later joined the Electronic Privacy Information Center as a senior fellow. In late January 2005 Madsen left EPIC and began his career as an investigative journalist." - For more on this issue see....Reficultnias's 9/11 Central

U.S. skeptics to speak of 9-11 cover-up at three Canadian universities
A quote...."MONTREAL—Three Canadian universities will be used as a venue for a speaking tour by prominent 9-11 skeptics who believe controlled explosions — not airplanes — brought down the Twin Towers."

Analysis of Al Qaeda Yemen Tape Shows Not All Footage Is New
Propaganda Exposed - A quote...."The new al Qaeda video of accused [fizzle-pants] bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab at a desert training camp included footage that had been released previously, in January, 2009, according to a frame by frame analysis by terrorism expert Evan Kohlman of Flashpoint Global Partners. -- The al Qaeda propaganda video was provided to a Yemeni journalist working for ABC News earlier in the week. -- While the scenes of Abdulmutallab holding a weapon and speaking had not been previously made public, the footage of al Qaeda fighters firing weapons at targets including a Jewish star and the British Union Jack was included in an al Qaeda propaganda tape made public in January, 2009, according to Kohlman's analysis." -- For more on Mr. Fizzle-Pants see....US-False Flag Ops - Lap Bomber

Times Square Bomb Hoax, Israeli Intel Group Shows It's Hand
Propaganda Exposed - A quote...."Who would have believed it?  Only days after a warning of an Israeli “false flag” bombing against the US “in the works” a massive car bomb is discovered in Time Square!  Better yet, though no intelligence organization in the world could discover anyone claiming responsibility for this embarrassing failure, SITE Intelligence, a group rumored as the “voice of the Mossad” has placed the blame on the Pakistani Taliban. -- This is the same group that has come up with numerous bin Laden “audio” tapes, seemingly, though tiny and nearly totally unstaffed, whenever it is convenient for Israel to point a finger at someone, magically Site Intelligence, run by former IDF soldier Rita Katz, whose father was executed as a spy by Saddam Hussein, makes another “unbelievable” intelligence find."

Al-Qaeda Terror Tape Proven Fraudulent Once Again
Propaganda Exposed - A quote...."The announcement by New York authorities that there is no evidence to support an apparent claim of responsibility for Saturday’s attempted car bombing by a Pakistani based Taliban group underscores once again how Pentagon front groups are releasing fake and misleading “Al-Qaeda videotapes” in crass PR stunts to justify the expansion of the “war on terror” under Obama. -- As soon as Fox News reported that “the Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for the bomb plot,” we smelled a rat, especially as the so-called video claiming complicity was released by the Pentagon front group SITE, founded by the daughter of an Israeli Mossad spy."

For more about  S.I.T.E. & Rita Katz see articles shown below....
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9/11 - From The History File...SITE Institute - source watch

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Owner of S.U.V. Holding Bomb Material Is Located
A quote...."Raymond W. Kelly, the New York City police commissioner, said on Sunday that officers found gasoline, propane, firecrackers and simple alarm clocks in the Nissan sport utility vehicle, as well as eight bags of a granular substance, later determined to be nonexplosive grade of fertilizer, inside a 55-inch-tall metal gun locker. -- The bomb, Mr. Kelly said, “would have caused casualties, a significant fireball.” -- This article takes the place of a previously posted article and comments by this website editor which alluded that the incident might have simply been a vendor's truck, the firecrackers, fertilizer and alarm clock would make that highly unlikely. - mpg

A Tradition of Dehumanizing: The CIA's Psycho-War and Torture Schemes in The Philippines
A quote...."The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) occupies center-stage again in the Philippines, the laboratory in 1950-1960s for the Phoenix assassination program in Vietnam inspired by CIA agent Edward Lansdale who is credited for defeating the communist-led Huk uprising. Attention is being given to the CIA systematization of coercive techniques in handling prisoners, including diverse forms of torture, zealously implemented by the police/military officials of the corrupt, unpopular Gloria Arroyo regime."

Dems spark alarm with call for national ID card
A quote...."A plan by Senate Democratic leaders to reform the nation’s immigration laws ran into strong opposition from civil liberties defenders before lawmakers even unveiled it Thursday. -- Democratic leaders have proposed requiring every worker in the nation to carry a national identification card with biometric information, such as a fingerprint, within the next six years, according to a draft of the measure." - also posted at ICH

A "resounding [British] victory for freedom of speech"
Hip Hip Hooray!! At least Britain still respects the rule of law. - mpg -- A quote...."Foreign Secretary David Miliband today lost his attempt to block public disclosure of intelligence information relating to torture allegations in the case of former Guantanamo detainee Binyam Mohamed. -- Three of the country's highest-ranking judges dismissed his appeal against an earlier court ruling that summaries of information received by the British security services from United States intelligence should be disclosed."

High-Tech Death from Above: U.S. Drone Wars Fuel War Crimes
A quote...."As America continues its uncontrolled flight towards disaster, Israeli-style "targeted killings" (assassinations) of alleged militants and unarmed civilians in the "Afpak theatre" are on the rise. -- With indiscriminate attacks by armed drones soaring since President Obama was sworn into office, the Pentagon's mad dash to achieve what it describes as "full-spectrum dominance" in this regional "battlespace," has sought to leverage its dominant position as the world leader in robotized forms of state killing and obtain a decisive technological edge over their adversaries. -- Judging by proverbial "facts on the ground," they'll need it." -- also posted at Uruknet

Coverups in Afghanistan
A quote...."The conflict in Afghanistan, which will enter its 10th year this fall, shows no signs of abating. The United States has expended substantial blood and treasure to try and stabilize the country. [Website editor's note, for "stabilize" read "help", both terms in the "newspeak" of the New Roman Empire mean "to conquer", or in extreme cases, as Tacitus once said, "to ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace. ".] However, recent events suggest that U.S. efforts are problematic in themselves and that the chaos will only worsen. There are critical problems with accountability, transparency, and public scrutiny, all of which not only make it harder for the United States and NATO to shift away from unproductive policies. These also create serious domestic political issues in Afghanistan." - also posted at CommonDreams

Syrian FM slams U.S. for adopting Israel`s false allegations on missile transfer
A quote...."Syrian top diplomat here on Saturday slammed the United States for adopting Israel`s ``false allegations`` on Scud missile transfer, comparing it with the fabricated media campaign before the Iraq war, the official SANA news agency reported."

Hezbollah & the modern history of Lebanon Part 1 & Part 2
RNVideo - Hezb(1/2) - Hezb(2/2) - (RNYuTb - 11 min 18 sec - April 30, 2010) --  posted by TheRealNews -- A quote.... "Traboulsi: Wealthy elites directly control government, indebted the state to their own banks"

France implicated in Hariri murder case
A quote...."A witness who gave false testimony in the case of the murder of the former Lebanese premier says France had provided him with a forged passport to help him get away with perjury." - also posted at AlethoNews

Iran says develops short-range missile defense
A quote...."Iran, whose nuclear dispute with the West has raised the possibility of new regional conflict, has developed a short-range defense system to combat Cruise missiles, its defense minister was quoted as saying on Sunday."

No US visas for Iran press
Press Censorship Alert - (More ol'dat US-NRE free-dumb and da'mockery) -- A quote...."An Iranian press delegation slated to accompany President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his upcoming visit to New York have been denied US visas."

Kyrgyz authorities offer rewards for capture of former officials
A quote...."The Kyrgyz provisional government is offering rewards of up to $100,000 for information leading to the capture of ex-officials, including relatives of deposed President Kurmanbek Bakiyev."

Russian billions to save Ukraine
A quote...."The agreement on Russia's Black Sea Fleet continues to be the subject of heated debate in both Russia and Ukraine. However, the concerns expressed by opposition parties and the public differ significantly in the two countries. -- The agreement's detractors in Ukraine are worried that extending the foreign naval base's lease will undermine the sovereignty of their country. In Russia, opponents are mostly concerned about the agreement's high price tag."

Venezuela delivers first batch of crude oil to Belarus
A quote...."The first batch of Venezuelan oil arrived at an oil refinery in Belarus on Sunday under agreements reached between the presidents of both countries."

Bolivia Nationalizes 4 Power Companies
A quote...."LA PAZ – Bolivian President Evo Morales on Saturday nationalized three power companies with foreign capital and a local electricity cooperative during a ceremony to mark International Workers’ Day."
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More On The Palestinian Situation....

Nobel Laureates: ‘We are all peace makers, and we believe that no amount of dialogue without economic pressure can motivate Israel to change’ - The obvious stated by the noteworthy. - mpg -- A quote...."We the undersigned Nobel Women Peace Laureates support your courage and call on you to reaffirm the ASUC Bill in Support of UC Divestment from War Crimes. We stand united in our belief that divesting from companies that provide significant support for the Israeli military provides moral and strategic stewardship of tuition and taxpayer-funded public education money. We are all peace makers, and we believe that no amount of dialogue without economic pressure can motivate Israel to change its policy of using overwhelming force against Palestinian civilians."

ISRAEL ATTACKS IRISH IN WEST BANK
A quote...."One Word.........SCUM! -- link  Irish activist and documentarian Tommy Donnelan, 63, was this afternoon wounded and detained for two hours by the Israeli Military in the West Bank. - While filming a non-violent protest against the role of Irish cement multinational CRH in building Israel's apartheid wall in the village of Bil'in, Mr. Donnellan was rushed by an Israeli snatch-squad of 4 or 5 soldiers. His throat and shirt were grabbed, his gas mask was torn off, and after being wrestled to the ground he was arrested. During the arrest he sustained a 3 inch gash to his right leg and was bleeding hevaily from his left ear, from which a piece was torn off. About two hours later he was released without charge."

IDF Storm Troopers Murder Youth Peacefully Demonstrating
Contains Video - Alt - A quote...."A Palestinian youth, Ahmad Sliman Salem Dib, 19, died yesterday (28 April ‘10) after Israeli security forces shot him, in the morning, near the border fence with the Gaza Strip, while he was participating in a demonstration there."

IOF soldiers suppress Palestinian anti-wall march, wound 7 civilians
A quote...."BETHLEHEM, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) used violent means to suppress a peaceful Palestinian anti-wall march in Beit Jala village, Bethlehem district, on Sunday during which 7 Palestinian civilians were hurt."

PA police: [Israeli] Settlers set fire to Palestinian car, 2 injured
A quote...."Ramallah – Ma'an – A group of Israeli citizens living on illegal West Bank settlements threw a torch into a Palestinian-owned car on Saturday as the driver waited to cross the Atara checkpoint, the northern entrance to Ramallah, Palestinian Authority police said."

Israeli Police Demolishes Homes In Taybeh
A quote...."Scores of Israeli policemen invaded Taybeh Arab city, in the 1948 territory, and demolished a home after surrounding it and forcing the residents out, the Arabs48 news Website reported."
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CrossTalk on Goldman Sachs – Dog & Pony Show? - Posted at DProgram
RTVideo - CrsTlk - (RTYuTb - 23 min 41 sec - April 30, 2010) - posted by RussiaToday -- A quote...."(RussiaToday) – April 30 – On this edition of Peter Lavelle’s ‘CrossTalk’ he asks his guests whether the US Senate hearings humiliating Goldman Sachs are merely a show trial with the aim of watering down global financial reform."

Somali Pirates Say They Are Subsidiary of Goldman Sachs
Satire - A quote...."NORFOLK, Va.—Eleven indicted Somali pirates dropped a bombshell in a U.S. court today, revealing that their entire piracy operation is a subsidiary of banking giant Goldman Sachs. -- There was an audible gasp in the courtroom when the leader of the pirates announced, “We are doing God’s work. We work for Lloyd Blankfein.” The pirate, who said he earned a bonus of $48 million in doubloons last year, elaborated on the nature of the Somalis’ work for Goldman, explaining that the pirates forcibly attacked ships that Goldman had already shorted."

Stop Robert Rubin Before He Kills Again
If only this were satire. - mpg -- A quote...."Robert Rubin is poisoning Washington again. - The former Treasury Secretary who presided over the nearly-fatal deregulation of the financial industry -- then made $126 million nearly killing Citigroup -- had been keeping an appropriately low profile in the nation's capital ever since everything he wrought went pear-shaped. - But now he's back, and once again trying to influence public policy." -- also posted at CommonDreams

Think-tank suggests UK [income] tax rise
The Anglo-Sphere, after facilitating those long planned false flag events called 9/11 & 7/11, have now spent a LOT more money on their attempts to take over the Middle East and Caspian Basin than they bargained for, so now their populations are going to have to pay for it.  In the US-NRE they're thinking about a VAT tax because an immediate rise in the income tax under Obama would be highly problematical....for him and the Demo faction.  Obama and his Bankster economic team are also thinking about going after Social Security and Medicare to pay for that Empire fling they all had. We'll have to wait and see just how much the sheeple will tolerate.....probably more than any rational person would think possible, probbaly less than outright, total, abject, slavery.  Only time will tell. - mpg -- A quote...."Income taxes in the UK should rise considerably in the next decade to make inroads into its huge deficit, a think-tank that advises the British Treasury says."

Greece Bailed Out To Get In Even More Debt
Chart - A quote...."Does anyone have a problem with the attached chart? -- Ignore for a second the sheer lunacy of anyone who thinks that the Greek government can grow GDP and decline the budget deficit in a straight line now that the country will see crippling strikes and rolling riots (not to mention blackouts) on a daily basis. But do note the black line, which shows the projected Debt/GDP ratio for the country as part of the bailout package. In essence Greece will go from having "only" a 133% Debt/GDP ratio to an insane 149% in 2013 before presumably dropping to 144% lower in 2014, still a good 11% higher than currently. --  Greece just got bailed out so it can get into even more debt! What psychopath of the Keynesian school thinks that this unbelievable trajectory is anything but a complete and utter waste of money? -- German, and US taxpayers, are merely giving Greece money so it can increase it[s] debtor status with [the] French and a few other European banks. To say that this is a viable solution is something that only those who bow at the altar of Alan Greenspan can do." - bold by website editor

China to raise deposit reserve requirement ratio to rein in economy
A quote...."BEIJING, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, announced Sunday it will raise the deposit reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for most financial institutions for the third time this year amid growing concerns of asset bubbles and economic overheating."

Oil Spill Much Worse Than We've Been Told: "Official Estimates for the Flow of Oil ... May be Just a Drop in the Bucket" -- A quote...."As a story in the Christian Science Monitor shows, the Gulf oil spill is much worse than we've been told:"

Saturday May 1st 2010

Rising and Declining Economic Powers: The Sino-US Conflict Deepens
Must Read - A quote...."Will the intensified conflicts between the US and China inevitably lead to a global conflagration? If recent past history is any indication the answer is a resounding yes. The most destructive wars of the 20th century were the result of confrontations between established (EIP) and rising (RIP) imperial powers. The practices and policies of the former serve as guides to the latter." - also posted at DissidentVoice & AFP & AxisOfLogic

When will Israel attack the USA – again?
Must Read - A quote...."Jeff Gates looks at how the dual loyalists at the heart of the US government – Israel’s stooges in the Congress and elsewhere in the US government – are preparing to hoodwink the American public into another war on Israel’s behalf and against the interests of the United States. -- Israel has long been waging war on the US by way of deception. To date, its operatives have worked from the shadows, hoping not to be detected. Their duplicity typically includes the displacement of facts with what the American public can be deceived to believe. -- Thus, the need to create a widely held belief around Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, Iraqi ties to Al-Qaeda, Iraqi meetings in Prague, Iraqi mobile biological weapons laboratories and Iraq’s purchase of uranium from Niger. Though all five “facts” were false, only the last claim was conceded as phony prior to inducing our invasion of Iraq. -- There lies our national security challenge as the groundwork is being laid for another 911." - also posted at AlethoNews

Did Osama bin Laden Confess to the 9/11 Attacks, and Did He Die, in 2001? - posted at GlobalRsrch
Special Note - A quote...."In 2009, I published a little book entitled Osama bin Laden: Dead or Alive?1 Much evidence, I showed, suggested that Osama bin Laden had died on or about December 13, 2001. (Although this book was ignored by the US press, it received major reviews in British newspapers,2 and it even provided the basis for a BBC special.3) Pointing out that the only evidence to the contrary consists of “messages from bin Laden” in the form of audiotapes and videotapes that have appeared since 2001, I devoted one chapter to an examination of the most important of these tapes, showing that none are demonstrably authentic and that some are almost certainly fakes." - For more on this issue see....US Fake Intel / Propaganda - Osama bin long gone Laden

Previously 'Dead' al-Qaeda Leader [Not really....he's actually Taliban] Back to Pupa Stage
A quote...."If he is alive, it won't be the first time Mehsud, believed to be in his 20s, has defied reports of his death.' Pakistan Taliban chief said to survive US attack  29 Apr 2010 Pakistan and U.S. intelligence wrongly reported the death of the head of the Pakistani Taliban in a CIA drone strike and the brash, ruthless commander is now believed to be alive, Pakistani spies said Thursday in an apparent propaganda coup for the insurgents. The reports that Hakimullah Mehsud survived the January missile attack in an area close to the Afghan border will raise questions about the quality of the intelligence being gathered in the region."

Seven Days for Seven Years: A Week-Long Vigil for Aafia Siddiqui at the US Embassy in London
Special Note - A quote...."One month ago, I addressed the disturbing case of the Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui in an article marking "Aafia Siddiqui Day," in which I ran through what I regarded as some of the particularly pertinent questions to ask regarding her disappearance for five years, the whereabouts of her three children (who disappeared with her in March 2003, when she was reportedly kidnapped in Karachi), and the alleged incident with US soldiers in Afghanistan in 2008 that led to her "rendition" to the US for a trial that ended with her conviction in February this year. -- The case of Aafia Siddiqui is one of the murkiest in the whole of the "War on Terror," as Declan Walsh explained in the Guardian after Dr. Siddiqui’s conviction."

How Wars Are Born: China versus the U.S. - Beijing Challenges American Expansionism - posted at GlobalRsrch
Special Note - A quote...."Those of us making the “radical” claim that wars are the result of economic/corporate interests pushed abroad, were recently given a nod of approval from a typically unfriendly source, The New York Times. -- The corporate controlled New York Times published a revealing article about how U.S. foreign policy really works, and why.  The motive behind the sincerity is that China’s foreign policy was being attacked. However, the article soon made it clear that China’s policy is the same as the U.S.’s :  dominating regions that are of “economic (corporate) interest” — raw materials, cheap labor, shipping lanes, markets, etc. — through military buildup. --  Dangerously, the article discusses how China’s economic expansion —and the military buildup used to protect it — is coming into conflict with the U.S.overseas militarism."

World as War Zone - (RTYuTb - 8 min 58 sec - April 29, 2010) - posted at DProgram
RTVideo - A quote...."Today, Congressman Denis Kucinich, along with journalists and anti-war activists held a teach in on Capitol Hill. The idea being to discuss plans and strategies for ending U.S. wars abroad. And ending wars, is a beautiful idea. But at the same time, we have ads like this running on TV. Some would call this a perfect example of the military industrial complex. Defense contracts worth hundreds of billions that keep the machine pumping. And Obama, isn't neccessarily helping to stop it. Quite the opposite, the ACLU just wrote a letter to him, in which they sent this message: "The Entire World Is Not A Warzone". But is it too late for us to stop treating it like one? Alyona and Former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell, Lawrence Wilkerson discuss."

Surely There Is More....
A quote...."I remember a strange synchronicity incident, some years back...I was invited to a conference in Cairo and had some spare time to kill and what is better than browsing through Cairo's wonderful bookshops...So I ventured into many, checking out books...and found nothing that appealed to me that particular day...I usually buy books on instinct, meaning if am drawn to a shelf, a title, whatever ---I buy it...because I know there is a message for me in it. This is how I operate. God's signs are everywhere..." - From ArabWomanBlues
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Creating Slave States
05-01-10
mpg

Pentagon Confirms It Gave $1.4 Billion in No-Bid Fuel Contracts to Mysterious Companies
Special Note - (How the US-NRE's parasites really "do business" and obtains "concessions" from the parasites who run other countries. - mpg)  A quote...."The Pentagon's main supply agency has acknowledged awarding $1.4 billion in no-bid contracts to two foreign companies whose ownership and management seem extremely mysterious. The contracts, involving delivery of aviation fuel to U.S.-run air bases in Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan, are currently under investigation by a subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, one of Congress's most powerful panels. Among other things, the subcommittee is examining allegations by human-rights activists and others that the companies are connected to the families of two former Kyrgyz leaders who were toppled in the past several years amid allegations of corruption."

This was an OBVIOUS bribe to Kurmanbek Bakiyev (the former president of Kyrgyzstan, currently on the lam from the law) and a few powerful Kyrgyz families, to allow the US-NRE's military continued access to Kyrgyzstan's Manas air base.

This is another vivid example of how the US-NRE's foreign policy really works folks. How our parasitic class actually conduct's their "business" with other nations around the world. The Russians gave the country of Kyrgyzstan more than two BILLION dollars to help the government complete the Kambaratinsk Dam as a motivation to ease the US-NRE out of the country, and the parasites in the US-NRE countered that move by bribing the corrupt president and a few of his cronies so the US-NRE could stay.  A president who all the while he was being being bribed, also stole billions from his own people and bankrupted the country.

Now of course the next step would be to bring in the IMF, charge ruinous rates of interest, demand "austerity" measures, pile drive what's left of the economy into the ground, impoverish the people, and chortle over the fact the Banksters have created another slave state to be added to their currency sphere of influence.

This is what the US-NRE's parasites have done to dozens of other countries all over the world, corrupted their "elites", eviscerated their economies, bankrupted their societies, and than, if anyone objects or tries to protest this mistreatment, if anyone tries to alter this new form of Neo-Roman tribute, the parasites in the US-NRE start their various wars for profit, usually timed according to their "ten year economic/war cycle". Unless of course the countries involved are small and weak, in which case they're promptly invaded.

The whole thing is just so completely disgusting.- mpg

For more on this sort of issue see....Viral-Neocons: A clinical medical diagnosis - mpg - posted 05-25-06 & Now That's Just Sick - 10-25-09 - mpg
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US seeks to snub Global South in NY
A quote...."Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's decision to attend the upcoming non-proliferation conference in New York has prompted the US to take measures to counter the move. - On Monday, which is the opening day of the conference to review the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Ahmadinejad is scheduled to speak third after the opening remarks by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and a Non-Aligned Movement representative, the Dutch Press Agency reported on Friday. - Representatives from over 180 countries will be attending the gathering, which is being held at the UN Headquarters in New York." - bold by website editor

Look folks, the NPT is dead, the US-NRE very publicly used it, as they have so many other international treaties, along with its very own constitution....for toilet paper. No matter how closely a country adheres to the NPT, if they're not cooperating with the US-NRE's "PNAC'ing", "neo-liberal", plans for a "new world order", they're not complying with NPT. It's a very simple equation.

On the other hand if they're being "cooperative" with the US-NRE's and the Israel-AIPAC geo-political agenda and plans for a new world order, the NPT doesn't even apply to them, ever.  Such blatently cynical, openly egregious, uncaring, hypocrisy is a deliberate, premeditated, slap in the face to the entire international community.  One would hope during Monday's non-proliferation conference that Hillary Clinton will be thoroughly chastised by the Non-Aligned Movement for the US-NRE's casual and criminal trashing of the NPT. - mpg

'Nuclear fuel swap must happen in Iran'
A quote...."An advisor to the Leader of Iran's Islamic Revolution says Tehran cannot trust a Western offer on exchanging its nuclear fuel outside the country."

Support for Tehran is growing
A quote...."US President Barack Obama will have to resort to more constructive action rather than talk if he is keen to ensure that Iran doesn't get a fresh new cluster of ‘listeners' as it goes about pursuing its nuclear ambitions. -- A new crop of sanctions are set to be imposed on Iran within weeks but this time President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government has resorted to a new tactic — the charm offensive. The Iranians realise that there are people who have time to listen to them, from Africa to Brazil, simply because they have navigated past their age-old rhetoric about Israel and Palestine and are focusing on the development of nuclear energy as a symbol of economic progress and modernity."

The Grand Bargain of the NPT and the Rules of the Nuclear Game Today
A quote...."The grand bargain of the NPT was that the many "nuclear have-nots" agreed forever to forego nuclear weapons, while the few "nuclear haves" agreed to get rid of theirs. -- No, that is not a misprint. Of your 100 interlocutors, quite likely no more than one or two will know that more than forty years ago, the U.S. government committed itself to eliminate its entire nuclear arsenal. And -- in conjunction with the other nuclear weapon states -- to abolish nuclear weapons from the face of the earth forever."

IAEA rejects own reports, purpose, Non-Proliferation Treaty: Orwellian vote condemns compliant Iran
Special Note - From the History File - November 28, 10:31 PM 2009 - Contains Videos - (an example of how things haven't changed very much)  -- A quote...."Obvious lies for an illegal War of Aggression against Iran are moving forward just as they did for war against Iraq. Lie is the proper word because this article will demonstrate the KNOWN FALSEHOODS foisted upon us by Orwellian politicians and their prostitute media. Topics of this article:" - Pay special note to this Video, wherein Scott Ritter tells it like it is regarding Iran's Qom facility, which created a controversy when Iran announced its existence September 21, 2009. -- Obama's Claims about Iran's "Nuclear Weapons Program" are Politically Motivated Hype  (DNYuTb - 10 min 19 sec - September 29, 2009)
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US-led troops kill 3 Afghan civilians - And the murders continue....mpg
A quote...."A raid by US-led troops has killed two women and a child in southern Afghanistan amid rising public opposition to the presence of foreign forces there."

Putin floats Gazprom-Naftogaz merger idea
A quote...."Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin proposed on Friday that Russia's energy giant Gazprom and Ukraine's gas monopoly Naftogaz should create a joint holding [company]."

Russian Arctic region invites China to oil and gas projects
A quote...."Russia's gas and oil -rich Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area in northern Siberia is interested in implementing joint energy projects with China, the regional governor said on Sunday. -- The region, which accounts for more than 90% of Russia's natural gas output and 12% of oil production, is presenting its potential at the World Expo 2010 Exhibition in Shanghai."

Iran Calls for Further Increase in Mutual Cooperation with Belarus
A quote...."TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President's Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashae'i in a meeting with Belarusian Envoy to Tehran Victor Rybak called for the consolidation of ties and further expansion of mutual cooperation between the two countries."

More Than 45% of Colombians Live in Poverty
What our parasitic class loves to see....another Neo-Roman ally treating their people exactly the way our parasites want to treat us. - mpg -- A quote...."BOGOTA – Almost 20 million Colombians, the equivalent of 45.5 percent of the population, were living below the poverty line last year, including 7.1 million people classified as indigent, according to an official report released Friday."

Pressure Mounts on Honduras as Journalist Death Toll Rises
In the "Believe It Or Not"category. - mpg -- A quote...."TEGUCIGALPA, Apr 30, 2010 (IPS) - Honduran President Porfirio Lobo plans to seek help [haaaaa, haaaa, haaaa] from police forces in Colombia and the United States to try to solve the murders of seven journalists committed in the space of less than two months, which will also be investigated by a delegation from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights next month." - That's like "seeking help" from Ted Bundy and Charles Manson to solve some homicides John Gacy committed.  Occasionally  the Neocon "New World Order" freaks show they posses a morbid sense of humor. Of course Hideous Hillary must be happy. - mpg
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Is Obama A Congenital Liar & Sadistic Torturer?
Must Read - Regarding our carefully groomed and selected "Manchurian Candidate" emperor. - mpg -- A quote...."Not long ago Obama, a relatively unknown Afro-American, was being sheep-dipped (gaining an identity, to build creditability) as a Constitutional Law professor (when he – by rights – should have been studying our Constitution) at the highly regarded University of Chicago School of Law, while he doubled as an Illinois state legislator. -- And even though flextime Professor Obama had produced no original scholarship papers on Constitutional Law, he was offered a tenured position at the lofty Chicago School of Law. But oddly enough, hard working Professor Obama refused tenure, as he must have known he was on a much faster greased track to something much bigger ... if ... he could only improve his poor teleprompter reading skills of what others wrote for him. -- And, Mr. Soetero ... er... Mr. Obama applied himself to his trade, which was not statesmanship, but neuro-linquistics. And in time, Obama's teleprompter reading coaches perfected with their student a slow rhythmic flow of spoken words, broken up with many "uhs," with the same measured cadence as the words appeared on his teleprompter screens." - also posted at Uruknet

To Fix the “Nazi” State… We Will Build a Nazi Nation (that’ll show ‘em)
A quote........"Slogans of the Obama administration: “HOPE”    “CHANGE”    “BELIEVE“

“The ultimate aim of Newspeak was to reduce even the dichotomies to a single word that was a “yes” of some sort: an obedient word with which everyone answered affirmatively to what was asked of them.”

New Video Shows Militarized Police at Obama Event in Illinois - posted at DProgram
Contains Videos & Photos - Quincy - AJ&theRecrd -- A quote...."(KurtNimmo) – Earlier this week we reported on riot police storm troopers dispatched in Quincy, Illinois, in response to a Tea Party demonstration outside an Obama event. The Secret Service told black-clad riot cops to “push the crowd back as far as you can, out of sight” outside the the Oakley-Lindsey/Quincy Community Center."

Sniffing Out Tea Party Corporatism
A quote...."Consortium News Editor’s Note: The Tea Party movement has generated a lot of media talk about “populism,” which gets defined as the battle between Big Government and the Common Folk, but what gets ignored is that the only feasible check on unlimited corporate power would be a democratized and energized federal government. -- So, by targeting government, not corporatism, the Tea Partiers serve essentially as “faux populist” front-men for corporate interests, a reality noted by longtime populist Jim Hightower and cited in this guest essay by Michael Winship:" - For more on this issue see....The Tea Party - Another False Front

Minot Air Force Base Airman Killed
A quote...."The military is about routine, but that routine was broken early Thursday morning. The Minot Air Force Base said one of their Airmen was killed in a training exercise around midnight. -- In a press release, officials say a male Airman from the 17th Munitions Squadron was struck in the head while at work, and died of injuries soon after. They are not releasing the name of the Airman." For more on this issue see....CLG's Minot AFB Clandestine Nukes 'Oddities'  & US-False Flag Ops - Barksdale & Minot

“JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters,”
Book Review - A quote...."Jim Douglass’s bona fides as a peacemaker are impeccable: civil disobedience, protesting Trident submarines and White Trains at Ground Zero in Washington for years, four books of Christian peacemaking theology (cf. The Nonviolent Coming of God, 1991), founding a Catholic Worker House of Hospitality in Birmingham, and importuning John Paul II to encamp in Baghdad to prevent the 1991 Bush I attack. Why would he then spend a decade or more holed up, writing a book on Kennedy’s presidency and assassination?" -- "JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters,” [GoglBkSrch]* by Jim Douglass, Orbis, $30, 510 pages"- *links added

Bailout Bill Would Require Banks to Track and Report Personal Checking Accounts to Feds
Big Brother Warning - Unbelievable!! - mpg -- A quote...."Subtitle G of the Dodd discussion draft bill requires that records be maintained and reported “for each branch, automated teller machine at which deposits are accepted, and other deposit taking service facility with respect to any financial institution, the financial institution shall maintain a record of the number and dollar amounts of deposit accounts of customers.” -- What’s worse, banks will be required to submit these records to the new super regulatory agency called the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (page 1041).  The CFPA will be allowed to use this information for any purpose “as permitted by law” under CFPA rules—rules set by CFPA themselves. -- So, lets get this straight—the law requires banks to snoop on its customers MOST PERSONAL INFORMATION and submit it to another government agency so it can be used anyway the CFPA see’s fit." - also posted at DProgram
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More On The Palestinian Situation....

Anna Baltzer on BDS - Divestment for Peace
Video - Action Alert - Boycott, Divest and Sanction, because not to do so makes everyone a participant in ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and murder. - mpg - Alt - (YouTube - 7 min 11 sec - April 27, 2010) -- A quote...."Anna Baltzer discusses her views on UCSD Divestment for Peace. Visit UCSDDivestforPeace.org for more information!" - For more on how to Boycott, Divest and Sanction the state of Israel see the upper-left-corner of the "Front Page" of this website. - mpg

Palestine Youth Urge Israeli Boycott
Action Alert - Boycott, Divest and Sanction, because a people who constantly say "never again" should NEVER be allowed to use the phrase "never again" to do "it again" to another people. - mpg -- A quote...."Palestinian students and youth groups across West Bank and Gaza have signed a petition calling for a massive boycott of Israeli products and programs. - The document, endorsed by more than 40 Palestinian university councils and youth groups, demanded a ban on any "economic, political, cultural and institutional" activities that could normalize relations between Palestine and Israel." - For more on how to Boycott, Divest and Sanction the state of Israel see the upper-left-corner of the "Front Page" of this website. - mpg

Pro-Israel group monitoring, intimidating Columbia faculty
A quote...."In the summer of 2000, preeminent scholar Edward Said sparked what became conventionally known as a "controversy" when he was photographed hurling a small stone into the no-man's land between Lebanon and Israel."

The constant Israeli targeting of Palestinian agriculture and livelihoods in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Photos & Maps - A quote...."Over the years, the constant attacks and violence committed by the Israeli settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) have cost Palestinians their lives as well as economic losses much of which on the agricultural level, which is perceived by the Israeli governments and settlers as a prime target as it represent a tie between the people and the land that they are desperately trying to break. The Israeli settlers have always induced violent acts against Palestinians by attacking their properties, burning their fields, razing and destroying their agriculture lands, uprooting their trees, occupying their lands and properties and preventing Palestinian landowners from accessing their lands to cultivate them." - also posted at Uruknet - For more on this issue see....Israel's Scorched Earth

JCSER: “In 2008, Israeli Stripped Residency Rights Of 4672 Palestinians”
A quote...."The Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights (JSCER) published a report revealing that Israel stripped the residency rights of 4672 Palestinians in 2008 comparing to stripping residency rights of 229 Palestinians in 2007." - also posted at Uruknet

Irish activist arrested and injured at anti-CRH protest in West Bank village
Action Update - A quote...."Irish activist and documentarian Tommy Donnelan, 63, was this afternoon wounded and detained for two hours by the Israeli Military in the West Bank." - also posted at Uruknet
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Should a Stock Market Decline Stop the Goldman Prosecutions?
Chart - Special Note - A quote...."As of 2007, the bottom 50% of the U.S. population owned only one-half of one percent of all stocks, bonds and mutual funds in the U.S. On the other hand, the top 1% owned owned 50.9%."

Cut the Partisan Crap ... BOTH the Private Sector AND the Government are to Blame for the Financial Crisis
Special Note - A quote...."Partisan GOP hacks say the financial crisis was caused by too much regulation, and government interference in the markets. -- But Glass-Steagall was repealed, derivatives were left unregulated, and the regulators were watching porn instead of preventing fraud. Giant banks, hedge funds and other fat cat private players knowingly gamed the market and committed fraud in more ways than can be listed in a single post."

Keiser Report №38: Markets! Finance... Goldman Sachs!
Special Note - MKVideo - Alt - (MKRTYuTb 25 min 39 sec - April 29, 2010 ) -- A quote...."This time Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, look at the scandals of bailout buffets for Too Big to Fail banks; selling complexity to very profitable unsophisticated investors; the IMF is 'there to help Greece' . . . in a Dr. Kervorkian kind of way. In the second half of the show, Max interviews economist Max Fraad Wolff about US government debt."

Confessions Of A Wall St. Nihilist: Forget About Goldman Sachs, Our Entire Economy Is Built On Fraud
Special Note - A quote...."There was a strange moment last week during President Obama's speech at Cooper Union. There he was, groveling before a cast of Wall Street villains including Goldman Sachs chief Lloyd Blankfein, begging them to "Look into your heart!" like John Turturro's character in Miller's Crossing...when out of the blue, the POTUS dropped this bombshell: "The only people who ought to fear the kind of oversight and transparency that we're proposing are those whose conduct will fail this scrutiny. -- The Big Secret, of course, is that every living creature within a 100-mile radius of Cooper Union would fail "this scrutiny"--or that scrutiny, or any scrutiny, period. Not just in a 100-mile radius, but wherever there are still signs of economic life beating in these 50 United States, the mere whiff of scrutiny would work like nerve gas on what's left of the economy. Because in the 21st century, fraud is as American as baseball, apple pie and Chevrolet Volts--fraud's all we got left, Doc. Scare off the fraud with Obama's "scrutiny," and the entire pyramid scheme collapses in a heap of smoldering savings accounts."- also posted at Uruknet

Scandal: Obama, Gore, Goldman, Joyce Foundation CCX partners to fleece USA
Special Note - Not only because of the story, but also because it appears Glenn Beck (of all people) is actually trying to practice investigative journalism.....will miracles never cease? - mpg -- A quote...."Glenn Beck breaks the biggest corruption story of the century yesterday and it doesn’t appear on a Front Page anywhere. Beck points the way to the 15 Trillion dollar scam that has some amazing players. -- (See full transcript here)"

• First Glenn makes and astute point: If Goldman is really the bad guy, why are these people still on the job? The Goldman suit is a put up job!
• William C. Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; was a partner and managing director at Goldman
• Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission; spent 18 years at Goldman
• Mark Patterson, chief of staff to Tim Geithner; former Goldman lobbyist
• Philip Murphy; nominated for ambassador to Germany; former Goldman executive
• Diana Farrell; deputy director of the National Economic Council; formerly with Goldman
• Emil Michael; White House fellow; former investment banker with Goldman

"Glenn tells us that a watchdog has steered him to the collusion between Barrack Obama, George Soros, Al Gore, Goldman Sachs, Franklin Raines (super crooked Fannie Mae head), CCX, and Generation Investment Management (GIM-London based co-founded by AL Gore)."

Financial Ebola Sweeps Through Global Bond Markets
A quote...."Even the Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development likened the crisis to the “Ebola” virus, saying “it’s threatening the stability of the financial system.” -- When you think it through logically, you can’t help but ask: Why wouldn’t the Grim Reaper eventually come knocking at OUR door?"

With $2 Trillion In 3 Year Funding Needs By the PIIGS, The IMF Is Helpless To Do Anything But Sit Back And Watch - Table - (click to enlarge) -- A quote...."Total PIIGS funding needs (defined as the sum of debt maturities and budget deficits) over the next 3 years amount to $2 trillion. Total PIIGS funding needs in 2010 alone amount to $600 billion. Total IMF bail out capacity: around $700 billion. Sorry - it simply does not compute."

The Profits Anomaly
Charts - Quote of the Day...."Economics teaches us that output is a function of capital and labor inputs. The American corporate sector has managed something of a miracle during the past two quarters, namely profits without labor or capital. The collapse in capital investment and the increase in profits during the 4th Quarter of 2009 both are without precedent. -- Capital investment was down by 20% year on year and profits were up more than 50% year on year. Employment, of course, was much lower and remains lower. -- Part of the increase in profits, to be sure, was the result of the largest-ever drop in unit labor costs. -- At a fairly low level of output, it appears, US companies can run the most efficient parts of their businesses with cheaper labor and without replacing plant and equipment, and show a great deal of profitability. About the financial sector, which probably accounted for a stunning 40% of total profits in the first quarter, the less said the better: it is doing very well churning the federal debt bubble."

Treasury Redeems A Gargantuan $643 Billion In Treasuries In April
Financial Alert - Table - (click to enlarge) -- A quote...."A week ago we were practically speechless when we showed that the Treasury had redeemed nearly $494 billion in Bills in April. A truly stunning number and an indication of just how much cash the Treasury needs to have access to to keep rolling its ridiculously short average maturity debt load. Today we stand even more speechless: according to today's DTS, the Treasury has now redeemed $596 billion in Bills in Aprils: an all time world record, even when accounting for the Fed's steroid abuse period of SFP 1 (we are currently in the second iteration). Add $47 billion in Notes and there are almost $650 billion in redemptions. This number is simply ridiculous. Forget the interest expense: this ever increasing roll is the number one danger to the US and world economy. Should the Treasury be unable to keep issuing shorter and shorter dated debt (and it already is skirting away from even the belly of the curve), it is for all intents and purposes game over."

The ONLY State With a Growing Economy During the Last Year Has Its Own Public Bank. Any Questions?
Chart - A VERY good point! - mpg -- A quote...."North Dakota (ND) is the only state to currently have a higher level of economic activity year over year [than the other forty nine states....see chart]. Its February 2010 economic activity was 1.1% higher than February 2009, as shown by the green dot in the chart below."

Down with 'Too Big to Fail': Angry Americans march on Wall Street
RTVideo - (RTYuTb - 2 min 46 sec - April 30, 2010) -- A quote...."The largest anti-Wall Street rally since the credit crunch has taken place in New York. Thousands of workers and trade union leaders marched in anger over lost jobs and ruined lives, demanding answers from the source of the trouble - the banks."

Guest Post: The End Of The Beginning
A quote...."If you had read “This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly” by Reinhart & Rogoff, none of the current alarm over Greece’s debt situation would come as any surprise. Indeed the book shows that Greece has been in default roughly one out of every two years since it first gained independence in the nineteenth century. However, it is never knowable in advance at what exact moment the tipping point is reached. Today, the government of Greece is burdened with approximately €275 billion of debt, equating to 115% of GDP, are running a nearly 14% budget deficit for 2009, [Eurostat, April 2010] and S&P has downgraded their debt to BB+/B - junk status! Up until March, the world bond markets had taken a remarkably sanguine view of this situation. In January, the Greeks sold €8 billion worth of bonds at a rather high (historically) 6.25%, while there was demand for €25 billion. But shortly afterward, the situation deteriorated rapidly."

In Pictures: 'Greece Debt Crisis Clashes'
Photo Gallery

Spain's Jobless Rate Tops 20 Percent
A quote...."Spain's jobless rate topped 20 percent in the first quarter, national statistics institute INE said Friday, fueling fears over the country's public finances which have rattled global financial markets."

Friday April 30th 2010

No posts. - mpg

Thursday April 29th 2010