Wednesday October 28th 2009

Seventy years since the outbreak of World War II: Causes, Consequences and Lessons
Must Read - A quote...."Any consideration of the causes of World War II must proceed from the fact that the development of global military conflict between 1939 and 1945 followed by only 25 years the first global military conflict, which occurred between 1914 and 1918. That is, only 21 years passed between the end of World War I and the beginning of World War II. Another way of looking at it is that within the space of just 31 years, two catastrophic global wars were fought."

Divide and Rule: The Key Strategy of the US and Its Western Allies
Must Read - A quote...."The latest attacks on Indian embassy in Afghanistan and the Pakistan’s military headquarters would trigger a new wave of accusations and counteraccusations by India and Pakistan. It seems that the United States is achieving its military strategy to keep regional conflicts going, so that the United States is not only secure, but also economically strong. Unfortunately, both India and Pakistan have so far failed to realize this, to work out a solution to their internal problems and to keep the hegemonic forces out of their region. The situation in Pakistan will soon be like that of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the West will continue to fuel Islamic and other ethno-religious insurgencies in that region." -- also posted at Uruknet

Karzai Dropped Like A Hot Potato -- Look Who the Americans Aren't Backing Anymore
Must Read - A quote...."Yes, it’s none other than Hamid Karzai the current Afghan-American President. The US government must have decided that Karzai and his brother are “Past Their Sell By Date.” And now want to replace them with Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, enter the fresh new face of “change” who has now suddenly and obviously morphed into Obama, judging from his website :

Obama signs $680-bn military budget bill
From the article's photo, an Obama thought bubble. -- "Heee, heee, heee, ain't it so much fun to spend all ol'dat money and kill all dem dare people?" -- Yeah....it's a laugh riot. - mpg -- A quote...."US President Barack Obama has signed a 680-billion-dollar military budget bill, saying his campaign to curb Pentagon waste is feasible." -- bold by website editor - You see, he does have a sense of humor. - mpg

New US Bases on the Black Sea
A quote...."Preparing to grab the Caspian oil wealth, Washington will do this leaning on its bases in Romania and Bulgaria and by stoking up instability in the Caucasus. Why? To be able send its peacekeepers there to ensure the safe transportation of Caspian oil and gas. And here the American contingent in Romania and Bulgaria may come in very handy indeed."

US Strategic Interests in Latin America: The Militarization of Colombia
A quote...."It is not difficult to obtain information related to the many social movements and progressive political mechanisms working to implement social reforms throughout contemporary Latin America. Venezuela continues to experience support for the presidency of Hugo Chávez [1999-] and the changes therein via the Bolivarian Revolution; Bolivia has witnessed the successful promotion of nationalization projects through Evo Morales' Movement for Socialism (Movimiento al Socialismo, MAS) [2006-]; and president Rafael Correa [2007-] has garnished significant applause for his administrations consistent denunciation of US intervention in the region, as shown through Ecuador's disallowance of Washington to resume activities at the port and airport in Manta. Alongside the aforementioned electoral shifts, the on-going civil war within Colombia has, contrary to state and popular media reports, seen the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias Colombianas-Ejército del Pueblo, FARC-EP) remain a consistent threat to dominant political-economic interests in both Colombia and the United States (Brittain, 2010)."

Kouchner acting 'against interest of French people'
A quote...."Iran reacts to cynical comments by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner regarding the Tehran government's response to an IAEA-brokered deal for overseas treatment of the country's low-enriched uranium." -- also posted at WarInIraq

Pakistani journalist claims life under threat following U.S agency expose
A quote...." A Pakistani journalist claims to have been receiving life threats from a U.S agency for critically writing against the Obama administration and for reporting its secret operations in the country. -- Fears of being harassed has him to use a pseudo name, ,S.F.A. Shah, who now fears for his life after breaking the story of the presence of Blackwater (now Xe Worldwide) in Peshawar along with Creative Associates International Inc (CAII)."

At Least 106 Killed in Peshawar Market Bombing
A quote...."A car bomb leveled much of the Mina Bazaar in old town Peshawar today, killing at least 106 people and wounding over 150, the vast majority of them women and children. The attack is the deadliest yet in a string of attacks across the country since Pakistan began their South Waziristan offensive, and the deadliest bombing attack in Pakistan since 2007." -- For more on this issue see....It Will Happen Every Single Time - 01-01-08 - mpg

Militant Groups Quick to Deny Responsibility for Peshawar Blast
Special Note - A quote...."Though officials have been quick to point the finger at the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for today’s bombing of the Mina Bazaar in Peshawar, the deadliest bombing in the nation in years, the group has reportedly condemned the blast in an email denying any role in it."

Civilian Displacements Top 200,000 as Waziristan Offensive Continues
A quote...."The latest figures from the United Nations show 205,000 civilians have been displaced in the South Waziristan offensive. UN numbers tend to be somewhat lower than the actual numbers as many displaced stay with relatives and never register as IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons)." -- also posted at OhBummer

On the Receiving End of Democracy
A quote....""Democracy" is a central part of the mantra by which the modern political establishment continues to exercise the same monopoly on the use of violence that was enjoyed by earlier monarchs and warlords. The rationale for the political domination of the more numerous by the few has morphed from "divine right of kings" to "democracy," each serving, during its time, to convince people of the propriety of their subservience to power. There have been many definitions of "democracy" – none more to the point than those offered by the likes of H.L. Mencken and Ambrose Bierce. My own definition is that "democracy is the illusion that my wife and I, combined, have twice the political influence of David Rockefeller."

US Cedes De Facto Control Over East Afghan Province to Taliban
A quote...."Following an all-out assault by several hundred insurgents on two US outposts in Nuristan earlier this month, the US quickly abandoned both sites. -- The Pentagon maintains that they had been planning to abandon the bases at any rate, and that it was only a coincidence they were attacked just a few days before the move. Two other US posts in Nuristan has been attacked last year, and were also abandoned."

“A Woman Among Warlords”: Afghan Democracy Activist Malalai Joya Defies Threats to Challenge US Occupation, Local Warlords -- To talk more about Afghanistan, we are joined by Malalai Joya, one of Afghanistan’s leading democracy activists. In 2005, she became the youngest person ever elected to the Afghan parliament. She was suspended in 2007 for her denunciation of warlords and their cronies in government. She has just written her memoir, A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Woman Who Dared to Speak Out. [includes rush transcript]" -- ||  Real Video Stream  ||  Real Audio Stream  ||  MP3 Download  ||  More…  || 

US-Israeli Missile Defense War Game Signals Israeli Attack on Iran - posted at DProgram
War Alert - A quote...."(PaulCraigRoberts) – There’s no word in the Western press, but Al Jazeera reports that the US and Israel are conducting tests of the high altitude missile defense system that the US has provided to Israel."

Ecuador leader in Russia for energy, defence talks
A quote...."Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa was Thursday in Moscow on a mission to obtain Russian military hardware and loans, with Russia reportedly hoping he will recognize Georgian rebel regions in return."

Uruguay leftists sweep back to power
A quote...."Uruguay's governing left-wing coalition has won a parliamentary majority for a second mandate after Sunday's general election."

Argentina insists on re-negotiating military agreements with U.S.
A quote...."BUENOS AIRES, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Argentine government reiterated its need on Wednesday to re-negotiate with the U.S. government military accords signed between 1953 and 1964, which the South American country deemed outdated."

Venezuela, Argentina hail UN condemnation of embargo against Cuba
A quote...."MEXICO CITY, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela and Argentina on Wednesday hailed condemnation by the United Nations General Assembly of the U.S. embargo against Cuba."

Iran, Venezuela to launch joint oil company: report
A quote...."TEHRAN, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Iran and Venezuela will launch a joint oil company with its headquarters based in Spain, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Wednesday."

My Problem with J Street
Must Read - A quote...."J Street has come under attack from the usual suspects, to include the Weekly Standard, the National Review, and assorted individual neocons.  Because of the attacks, there has been a "my enemy’s enemy" response and a number of opponents of AIPAC and the neocons have rallied to J Street, in some cases purely because the neocon onslaught suggests that J Street must be a good thing.  Some defenders of J Street have pointed out that it is more moderate than AIPAC and therefore must be considered a better lobbying option even if it sometimes has to embrace compromise policies that are imperfect.  Others have argued that even when it has to take certain positions tactically it still represents the best hope for a peaceful future in the Middle East. -- I have to disagree.  I believe that J Street is just another Israel advocacy group with a slightly more progressive and politically correct and therefore acceptable message.  J Street wants carte blanche United States support for Israel and, indeed, it might reasonably be described as little more than a spin-off of the existing Israel Lobby to make it more palatable to the liberal Democrats that make up the Obama Administration." -- also posted at OhBummer
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

America's Drug Crisis: Brought to You by the CIA - Article also posted at DProgram
A quote...."Next time you see a junkie sprawled at the curb in the downtown of your nearest city, or read about someone who died of a heroin overdose, just imagine a big yellow sign posted next to him or her saying: “Your Federal Tax Dollars at Work.” -- Kudos to the New York Times, and to reporters Dexter Filkins, Mark Mazzetti and James Risen, for their lead article today reporting that Ahmed Wali Karzai, brother of Afghanistan’s stunningly corrupt President Hamid Karzai, a leading drug lord in the world’s major opium-producing nation, has for eight years been on the CIA payroll."

“CIA prevented prisoner deaths to prolong torture” - Article also posted at DProgram
Contains Video - A quote...."The CIA took measures to make sure their tortured prisoners did not die – in order to continue further torturing, according to human rights lawyer John Sifton." -- also posted at Uruknet

Update on the rape story in California...(additional updates)
Related Article - Hey, just like the boys in green "do" overseas.....”ummmmm, ummmmmm, good” is what one bunch said in Mahmudiyah another in Haditha. Welcome to the New Roman Empire folks.  By the way, at the tail end of the Vietnam war, during the late '60s and early '70s, remember the vast crime wave that griped this country, all the neighborhoods in the inner cities that were laid waste, robberies, rapes and murders going on everywhere ....you're going to see it all over again, up close and personal, this is what happens when an entire nation goes psycho, we're going to have all that white powder shipped here from Afghanistan, a half a million mercenaries and well over two million unemployed vets on the streets.  It's going to make the late '60s and early '70s look like a picnic. You reap what you sow. Dumb, just dumb!! - mpg

A quote... Following up on this post, it seems the crime was even more horrific:

"As many as 10 people were involved in the assault in a dimly lighted back alley at the school, while another 10 people watched without calling 911 to report it, police said."

"Five of these thugs have been arrested, with more arrests expected. Two of them were adults! So 10 boys and men rape a 15 year old child on school property while 10-15 other boys (maybe adults as well) watched and did nothing. The girl was left for dead under a bench, arriving to the hospital in critical condition."

Can Bush be Prosecuted? - Alt - (YouTube - 9 min 44 sec - October 27, 2009)
Must View Video Trailer - A quote...."Famed Charles Manson prosecutor and three time #1 New York Times bestselling author Vincent Bugliosi stars in this most powerful, explosive, and thought-provoking documentary. -- In The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, Bugliosi presents a tight, meticulously researched legal case that puts George W. Bush on trial in an American courtroom for the murder of nearly 4,000 American soldiers fighting the war in Iraq."

Ehren Watada: Free at Last
Contains Video - Quote of the Day -- A quote...."There came a time when I saw people with power, and they held that power absolute and they did not listen to the will of the people," he says in In the Name of Democracy. "That was the leadership of our country. Those were the people who were in charge of our lives, and yet they did what they wanted to do with impunity, and nobody was willing to stand up and challenge them." -- *Ehren Watada*, former US Army lieutenant

UN rights rapporteur: Guantanamo detainees should be tried or released
A quote...."[JURIST] UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism Martin Scheinin [official website] said Monday that all Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees should be brought before US federal courts for trial [recorded video] by the January 22 deadline for closure set by US President Barack Obama [official profile]. Scheinin said that the detainees should not be held indefinitely and that if they cannot be brought to the US for trial then they should be released. In response to a question about the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison, Scheinin said:"

Ex-Gitmo detainees sue UK to make evidence public
A quote...."LONDON — Seven former Guantanamo Bay detainees asked the High Court in London on Tuesday to reject a government request to use secret sessions to hear allegations that Britain was complicit in their torture overseas."

Algerian daily confirms Mossad training camps for al-Qaida
A quote...."My RSS reader delivers an average of 600 headlines daily from a select number of news sources, some in languages other than English. This evening, one particular headline caught my attention, as it came from mediarabe.info, a website that translates articles written from the Arabic into French and focuses on the Arab world. At first, I thought I had misread the headline which I quote below verbatim:"
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

More On The Palestinian Situation....

Richard Goldstone confuses International Law
Must Read - Full quote...."While Richard Goldstone deserves credit for publishing a fair report about Israel’s war crime during its assault on Gaza — especially in light of the storm of vilification that he has had to weather — one need not be so swayed as to exempt his claims from scrutiny. There are serious problems with his interpretation of International law, and far from being too critical of Israel, he is too generous. In this interview he makes the tendentious claim that jus in bello, that is conduct during war, is unrelated to jus ad bellum, the justness of the war. He in fact goes so far as to claim that ‘it was a given’ that Israel had a right to attack Gaza. He makes this claim despite stating before hand that it wasn’t his remit to investigate jus ad bellum. This is therefore an astonishing statement to make for someone even remotely familiar with international law. Before one can consider jus in bello, the conditions for jus ad bello need to be satisfied. That is to say that before you investigate conduct you have to make sure that the war was just. And if this wasn’t the case — and it wasn’t — then Israel is responsible for launching a war of aggression, the ’supreme crime’ in international law. This also means that Israel bears the responsibility even for the violations of human rights carried out by Hamas because the supreme crime carries within it the accumulated evil of all that follows. For more on this, see my detailed argument in this earlier article." -- also posted at AlethoNews & WarInIraq

Did Richard Goldstone hide more sinister crimes in Gaza? - Part 1: White Phosphorus and Flechettes
Must Read - A quote...."Gaza, October 28, 2009, (Pal Telegraph) - There was much praise for the UN investigations into war crimes committed in Gaza, led by Richard Goldstone. However, I feel that this report did not go far enough to investigate some other more serious allegations that were made."

Jerusalem must be capital of both Israel and Palestine, UN chief says
A quote...."UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Jerusalem must be the capital of two States -- Israel and Palestine -- living side-by-side in peace and security, with arrangements for the holy sites acceptable to all, if peace in the Middle East is to be achieved, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned on Wednesday."

The Gaza Chronicles: Part 1- "The Forgotten Story"
A quote...."The situation on the ground in Gaza has continued to deteriorate since January. One of the most densely populated areas in the world, this small coastal strip is home to a million and a half Palestinians, many of them refugees for over 60 years. It is now the worst condition it’s been in since 1967 when the Israeli army took military control of the land.[4]" -- also posted at Uruknet

Shot after photographing the Gaza sea
A quote...."On 4 October, Ashraf Abu Suleiman, a 16-year-old from Gaza's Jabaliya refugee camp, went to the northwest coast town of Sudaniya to visit an ill school friend. The teen then went to the sea, where he rolled up the legs of his pants, waded into the water and enjoyed the late summer morning. He took some photos of the sea and of the area around him, intending to play with the photos later on Photoshop, a hobby he and his father share." -- also posted at Uruknet

US medical delegation in Gaza shocked by devastation caused by Israel
A quote...."GAZA, (PIC)-- A visiting American medical delegation expressed its shock at the magnitude of destruction caused by the last Israeli war on the Gaza Strip as well as the impacts of the blockade on citizens."

Settlers and army attack farmers in Qaryut, leaving five wounded
A quote...."At around 8am, on Tuesday 27 October, olive farmers from the village of Qaryut, south of Nablus, were physically assaulted by settlers from the nearby illegal settlement of Shilo. At least two Palestinian children were injured by the settlers, one sustaining an injury to his arm and the second one to his foot. When the Israeli forces arrived, they allowed the settlers to leave the scene, as the soldiers started attacking the Palestinians. One man was hit in the back of his head by a soldier’s rifle, only to find himself detained. The Palestinian farmers were ordered to stop picking and return to Qaryut."

because of THIS we are anti-semitic?? Jewish voices beg to differ
Photo Gallery - A quote...."The CPCCA is joining the Conservative government, the B’nai Brith, and the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), in an ambitious plan to censor civil dialogue by deliberately confusing criticism of Israel and Zionism with anti-Semitism. -- In rejection and response, The Independent Jewish Voices of Canada wrote this petition." -- also posted at Uruknet

Bahrain Votes to Stop Contacts with Israel - posted at The Palestine Chronicle
Boycott, Divest, Sanction -- Because it's what must be done. - mpg -- A quote...."Bahrain's parliament on Tuesday approved legislation penalizing contacts with Israel, a move which could complicate Gulf Arab leaders' efforts to promote peace talks with Israel." -- For what YOU can do to help the BDS campaign go to the upper-left-corner of the "Front Page" of this website. - mpg
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

More on the US-NRE's Honduran Coup....

Honduran President Mel Zelaya Retains Public Support
A quote...."October 23, 2009. Washington, DC. Nearly four months after Honduran President Mel Zelaya was forced from office, he retains considerable public support, according to a new survey by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner.

• By a large 22-point margin (60 to 38 percent), the Honduran public disapproves of the removal on June 28 of Zelaya as president.
• Two-thirds approve of Zelaya’s performance as president. Nineteen percent rated his performance as “excellent” and another 48 percent as “good.”

Golpistas Set Sights on El Libertador Director After One of His Journalists is Kidnapped and Burned with Cigarettes
A quote...."TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS, OCTOBER 26, 2009: On the morning of October 21, Jhonny Lagos – founder and director of El Libertador, the sole anti-coup newspaper in Honduras’ capital city – received a phone call from a military acquaintance sympathetic to the Resistance. The official reported a meeting between coup president Roberto Micheletti and assistant foreign minister Martha Lorena Alvarado in which the two had begun preparations for Lagos’ demise and Alvarado – evidently irked by her appearance on the list of golpista Opus Dei members in the paper’s October edition – had stipulated that El Libertador be made to pay dearly. "
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

The Return of the Great Depression
Must Read - A quote...."Garbage in, garbage out. The truth that is known to every computer programmer is finally beginning to penetrate the economic elite. Keynesian models have failed. Monetarist models have failed. Neo-Keynesian and Post-Keynesian models have failed. The only known concepts that have not completely failed – yet – are the financial instability hypothesis of Hyman Minsky, Richard Koo's concept of a balance-sheet recession, and the credit-focused cycle theory of the Austrian School."
    
Lesson unlearned
Special Note - Related Article - A quote...."October 29, 2009, is the 80th anniversary of the market crash in the United States that led to the Great Depression. Did the world learn the lesson of 1929?"

Government Is Trying to Make Bailouts for the Giant Banks PERMANENT
Must Read - Financial Fascism Warning - This is the inevitable result of Empire folks, they are going to tax the peasants and slaves living in the New Roman Empire by raising taxes directly, or through their constant bail-outs which will cause inflation and dollar depreciation, all in their efforts to support the PNAC Protocols....forever.  – mpg -- Paul Volcker and senior Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron both testified to Congress this week that the government is trying to make bailouts for the giant banks permanent."

Worst Credit Crunch Ever for Main Street
Special Note - Charts - A quote...."Away from the too-pig-too-fail bailouts and subsidized sectors of the economy, the credit crunch is getting worse, not better."

GMAC May Receive Third Government Bailout in November (Update3)
Related Article - A quote...."Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- GMAC Inc., the lender that received two government bailouts totaling $13.5 billion, is negotiating with the Treasury Department for a possible third lifeline next month, people familiar with the matter said."

Should We Give the Fed More Power ... Or Less?
Related Article -- A quote...."Congress is suggesting that the Fed be given more powers, making it the chief risk regulator of the entire banking system. -- Specifically, as summarized by Huffington Post, a new bill introduced by Democrats in Congress "gives the Federal Reserve the power to determine which firms are actually 'too big to fail' and pose systemic risk to the financial system."

New York Fed’s Secret Choice to Pay for Swaps Hits Taxpayers
Special Note - Related Article - A quote...."Part of a sentence in the document was crossed out. It contained a blank space that was intended to show the amount of the haircut the banks would take, according to people who saw the term sheet. After less than a week of private negotiations with the banks, the New York Fed instructed AIG to pay them par, or 100 cents on the dollar. The content of its deliberations has never been made public."

Banksters Rob States and Cities Too
Special Note - A quote...."The $17 trillion dollar transfer from federal coffers to the pockets of Wall Street banksters didn't happen in a vacuum. The same bipartisan cast of players have had their wolvish way with sheepish state and local governments for a long time now. They have honed their expertise at extracting piles of cash from cities, counties, towns and states in return for little or nothing, while the absence of news coverage hides a golden age of corporate financial corruption.  It's not just federal any more, if it ever was...." -- also posted at OhBummer

A Graphic History of Newspaper Circulation Over the Last Two Decades
Chart - A quote...."Every six months, the Audit Bureau of Circulations releases data about newspapers and how many people subscribe to them. And then everyone writes a story about how some newspapers declined some amount over the year previous. Well, that's no way to look at data! It's confusing—and it obscures larger trends. So we've taken chunks of data for the major newspapers, going back to 1990, and graphed it, so you can see what's actually happened to newspaper circulation."

Ukrainian economy suffers sharp fall in 2009
A quote...."Five years after the “Orange Revolution,” which brought Ukrainian politician Viktor Yushchenko to power in January 2005, the Ukrainian economy is in the deepest crisis since the post-Soviet economic and social implosion of the 1990s."

Tuesday October 27th 2009

Insanity and the Nobel Peace Prize: Obama and the Rule of Law
Must Read - Quote of the Day...."Throughout the world, on any given day, a man, woman or child  is likely to be displaced, tortured, killed or "disappeared", at the hands of governments or armed political groups. More often than not, the United States shares the blame."  -- *Amnesty International* 1996. (3)"

Empire of Illusion - The Cult of Self
Must View Videos - Stay with this one, it's not just about celebrity culture; it's about the Empire, Globalization, War, the Federal Reserve and the Commoditization of everyone in this country. – mpg -- By Chris Hedges:  AltVid#1 -- AltVid#2 -- AltVid#3

Depraved Indifference: Drone Wars, Whack Jobs and Imperial Terror
Must Read - A quote...."Mayer's article relates a chilling story of suburban killers -- many of them stateside, firing their missiles from comfortable cubicles before heading home for dinner with the family -- operating in a secret program outside all traditional lines of legality and accountability. (Even the extremely low levels of legality and accountability that weakly adhere to the business of wholesale slaughter and destruction known as war.) For example, part of the program has been "outsourced" to private companies, who are killing people -- including hundreds of innocent civilians -- for profit, with American tax money." -- also posted at Uruknet

The Denial Continues, and the Horror Remains Unrecognized
A quote...."As soon as I read this Washington Post story about the resignation of Matthew Hoh, I knew I would write this article. The story is significant not only in itself, but also in the altogether predictable reaction it would elicit, particularly from those who criticize the United States presence and strategy in Afghanistan, and most especially from those who criticize our Afghanistan strategy most strongly. And I knew, before I read even one of those responses, that the reaction would miss or ignore what is most crucial to understand about Hoh's resignation and its meaning. In the event, everything I had thought proved to be accurate in every detail." -- also posted at Uruknet

Multiple roadside bombings kill 8 U.S. soldiers in S Afghanistan
Military Tactics Alert - A quote...."KABUL, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Eight U.S. service members and one Afghan civilian were killed Tuesday in multiple IED (Improvised Explosive Device) attacks in southern Afghanistan, said a statement of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). -- "Eight U.S. service members and an Afghan civilian working with the ISAF were killed today in multiple complex IED attacks in southern Afghanistan," the statement said." - bold by website editor

No More US-[NRE] Troops For You Hamid....
Cartoon

US Quietly Slips Funds Into Military Bill to Pay Off Taliban
Otherwise known as the "Iraqi Surge Deux".  Pay the natives not to attack you.  After all, Bush got to claim victory for his "surge" in Iraq using this tactic, Obama just wants to do the same thing too.  Funny thing though, despite what the crap at the top of this economic garbage heap keeps telling everybody 24/7....not everyone and everything is for sale.  The Pashtun people and the Taliban may have other ideas about who gets to own and run Afghanistan. - mpg

A Children's Market in Baghdad
On the other hand, looks like everything's for sale in Iraq, what a proud day for Amerika. After twenty years of relentless sanctions, two invasions, constant bombings, and one arranged civil war, our thugocracy is  finally beginning to break down the Iraqi people. - mpg -- A quote...."There are auctions taking place selling stolen Iraqi artifacts and there are auctions taking place selling Iraqi children in the center of Baghdad's markets..." -- also posted at Uruknet -- For more on this issue see....The Method - 05-07-07 - mpg

Largest Iraq bombing in two years may have been inside job
A quote...."Sunday's twin suicide bombings in Baghdad that killed at least 155 people and wounded 500 others may have had help from within Iraq's security apparatus, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow reported Monday. -- "This was a really well coordinated attack on an area in Baghdad that's supposed to be well protected," Maddow told viewers. "In order to reach their targets, the bombers driving these truck bombs had to pass through several checkpoints that were guarded by security forces and those security forces were supposed to be using hand-held devices designed to detect explosives."

Lebanon, Israel exchange fires, no casualties
Possible False Flag - A quote....."BEIRUT, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- A Katyusha rocket launched from South Lebanon hit Israel on Tuesday evening, while Israel responded later with artillery shells." -- Israel is ramping up the pressure....mpg

Ecuador Seeks Russian Aid Against U.S. Military Buildup In Colombia
A quote...."Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa will come to Moscow to discuss weapons supplies, but the Kremlin also expects him to speak about the recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. -- "We need to restore the might of our army," Correa said about the goal of his visit to Moscow, which he will make together with Defense Minister Javier Ponce. -- Ecuador has been alarmed by the decision of Colombia, with which it severed diplomatic relations in March 2008, to allow U.S. troops to use its bases." -- also posted at WarInIraq

Iran, Turkey seek to triple trade by 2014
A quote...."Iranian First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi says Iran and Turkey have agreed to increase the level of their annual trade exchanges to $30 billion."

The Anti-Proliferation Brigade
Cartoon

Israel Seeks Final Confrontation Against Iran
A quote...."The reality is this: Iran, as it keeps telling the world, has no nuclear weapons program and is intent only on generating electrical energy. Israel insists that Iran does have a nuclear weapons program – despite the total lack of evidence – because it wants to use it as an excuse to attack Iran."

Russia, India, China set to forge energy ties
A quote...."BANGALORE (India: The foreign ministers of Russia, India and China agreed on Tuesday to enhance energy cooperation. -- Russia's Sergei Lavrov, India's S.M. Krishna and China's Yang Jiechi met in the Indian city of Bangalore to discuss energy security, the fight against terrorism and climate change. -- "India, Russia and China are seeking to intensify international energy cooperation on a new basis to help make the energy market more open, transparent and competitive and reflect the common interests of all the parties involved," the three diplomats said in a joint declaration."

Tortured to DEATH in Egypt
A quote...."In the early hours of Wednesday October 14, the body of Yousef Hamdan Abu Zuhri, brother of a Hamas spokesman, Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri was handed down to the Palestinian side in Gaza. Yousef died in Burj al Arab prison in Alexandria, Egypt ."

"Breaking: Brother of Afghan President Is on C.I.A. Payroll, Officials Say 28 Oct 2009 Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the country's booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, and has for much of the past eight years, according to current and former American officials. The agency pays Mr. Karzai for a variety of services, and those financial ties and the agency's close working relationship with him raise significant questions about America's war strategy, which is currently under review at the White House." -- Paragraph posted at CLG

Pakistani army offensive devastates tribal communities
A quote...."The ongoing Pakistani military offensive into the tribal agency of South Waziristan is having a devastating impact on the entire civilian population. Villages and towns are literally being bombed into rubble and tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee for their lives."

Venezuela says it has captured Colombian 'spies'
A quote...."CARACAS, Oct 27 (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday two Colombian security agents were arrested for spying in Venezuela, heightening tensions in a diplomatic dispute between the Andean nations."

Court to reconsider CIA torture flight ruling
A quote...."(10-27) 13:18 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court granted the Obama administration's request Tuesday to rehear a case over a Bay Area company's alleged participation in CIA torture flights, setting the stage for a critical test of government claims of secrecy and national security." -- For more on this issue see....Come Fly the Un-Friendly Boeing Skys

Intel Panel: CIA Misled Lawmakers On Torture, Other Issues
A quote...."The CIA misled Congress about its torture program and other issues, Democrats on the House Intelligence committee are asserting as the committee continues to probe the matter." -- also posted at CommonDreams

Young Afghan struggles to adapt after Guantanamo
A quote...."He was about 12, he says, and had spent the day helping his uncle dig a well before heading out to buy some tea. -- He says he was grabbed by police who beat him and threatened to kill his family unless he put his thumbprint to paper and admitted he'd tried to kill two U.S. soldiers. The Pashto speaker, largely illiterate, didn't understand their Persian and had little idea what he'd agreed to, he says. A U.S. judge would later agree. -- That day, a grenade had been thrown at a U.S. Army vehicle, injuring the two soldiers and an interpreter. Jawad was charged with attempted murder based on the confession, held at Kabul's Bagram air base, then moved to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in early February 2003."

Did Training Exercises Prevent Andrews Air Force Base From Responding to the 9/11 Attacks?
A quote...."Why did airplanes fly around for an hour and a half without interceptors being scrambled from Andrews [Air Force Base] … right next to the capital?" -- *Paul Hellyer*, Canadian minister of national defense, 1963-1967 -- For more on this issue see....9/11 - NORAD

CNBC Viewership Plunges 50% In October
A quote...."If anyone wants to know why CNBC anchors are so pale and nervous these days, look no further. As Comcast CEO Brian Roberts considers what to keep and what to, well, cut, post his digestion of NBC Universal (assuming deal rumors are true naturally) his eyes likely cast casual nervous glances at Nielsen reports of CNBC viewership. Yet his nervousness is quite minor compared to what actual employees must be feeling after Nielsen reported a 50% plunge in CNBC vierwership in October year over year." -- For more on this sort of issue see article shown below....

========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

More On The Palestinian Situation....

After all I am a Proper Zionist Jew - I am a Holocaust survivor
Satire - A quote...."The Holocaust is a relatively new religion (4). It lacks mercy or compassion, instead it promises revenge through retribution. For its followers, it is somehow liberating because it allows them to punish whoever they like as long they gain some pleasure. This may explain why the Israelis ended up punishing the Palestinians for crimes that were committed by Europeans. It is rather clear that the newly emerging religion is not just about ‘eye for an eye’; it is actually an eye for thousands and thousands of eyes. -- A month ago, while visiting in Auschwitz, Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak left a note in the official visitors book: ‘a strong Israel is both the comfort and the revenge’(5). No one could summarise the aspiration of the religion any better."

Israel, the United States and international law
A quote...."Israel has responded to the United Nations Human Rights Council’s endorsement of the Goldstone report accusing it of war crimes during its assault on Gaza in 2008-2009 by denouncing the UN and seeking to overturn existing international law."

Ehud Olmert could face war crimes arrest if he visits UK
A quote...."Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister during the Gaza war, would probably face arrest on war crimes charges if he visited Britain, according to a UK lawyer who is working to expand the application of "universal jurisdiction" for offences involving serious human rights abuses committed anywhere in the world." -- also posted at AftrDwngSt & CommonDreams

Israeli minister's speech disrupted at London university
A quote...."Students protested and disrupted a lecture tonight at the London School of Economics (LSE) by Daniel Ayalon, the controversial Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel. -- More than 50 students and activists greeted Ayalon outside of the lecture on LSE's campus with placards and banners, while inside audience members heckled the controversial minister as a "racist" and "murderer" in relation to the illegal occupation and violence carried out by the Israeli state." -- also posted at AlethoNews

Israelis Targeting Grassroots Activists
A quote...."EAST JERUSALEM, Oct 27, 2009 (IPS) - Israeli authorities are increasingly targeting and intimidating non-violent Palestinian grassroots activists involved in anti-occupation activities who are drawing increased support from the international community."

Palestinian villager stands up to Israeli settlement, repairs damaged trees, continues olive harvest
A quote...."Nablus / Amin Abu Wardeh and Rana Khmus for PNN – Palestinian farmer Abdel Asaus has become a model of steadfastness standing in front of Bracha Settlement. -- His home is in the southern Nablus village of Burin, nearby the confiscated West Bank land on which the Israeli settlement of Bracha was built. -- Repeated attacks by the settlers darken the area, but Asaus is continuing to grow his crops in spite of the ever present threat." -- also posted at Uruknet

Abbas may not run in coming election: official - He couldn't be elected dog catcher. - mpg
A quote...."GAZA, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas may not run in the Palestinian presidential election to be held in January 2010, an official from Abbas's Fatah party said on Tuesday."

35% of East Jerusalem expropriated - study
A quote...."AMMAN - Israel has expropriated some 35 per cent of East Jerusalem's territory, over 24,000 dunums of land, from its Palestinian owners despite the fact that in 20 years the majority of Jerusalem's population will be Palestinians, a study said." -- also posted at Uruknet

Mansi deplores Israel for demolishing homes in Jerusalem
A quote...."GAZA, (PIC)-- Palestinian minister of public works and housing Dr. Yousif Al-Mansi strongly denounced the Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) for continuing to demolish Palestinian homes in occupied Jerusalem."

Nine injured as [Israeli] settlers rampage through olive harvest
A quote...."Nablus – Ma’an – Nine Palestinians were injured and one was detained on Tuesday when dozens of Israeli settlers attacked farmers were harvesting olives in the West Bank village of Qaryout, south of Nablus, according to witnesses, local officials, and medics."

A Rare Victory For Lebanon’s Palestinians
A quote...."No way does Hezbollah control the General [Michel Naim Aoun], only his wife can do that!” he said with a grin. “We in Hezbollah consult regularly with his staff but frankly we benefit more from our alliance that he does and there are limits to what we can press him to do. I personally think Aoun made a mistake with his Nahr al Bared case and it appeared he was bashing the Palestinian refugees for immediate personal political gains. Honestly, all parties in Lebanon have been guilty of doing that including us I am sorry to say, but I would insist we have done it less than others. But that’s my view and it may or may not be that of our leadership. There are many strongly held opinions within Hezbollah. Contrary to Zionist propaganda and what some in the West believe, we are very democratic within the party and we are always analyzing and debating events and ideas. If a party member comes up with a sound idea it has a good chance of being implemented. In that sense we are different from the Lebanon Ziam (tribal leader) system still dominant in so many of the 18 Confessions here. But I believe the party has insisted that General Aoun drop his case”.
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

More on the US-NRE's Honduran Coup....

New Reports Demolish Justifications for Ouster of Zelaya -- Honduran Coup Myths Dispelled
A quote...."Two new reports dealing with the June 28 military coup in Honduras have demolished the arguments of the current de facto government and its foreign apologists that the coup was consistent with the Honduran constitution and that most Hondurans welcomed the illegal ouster of the country’s democratically elected president, Mel Zelaya." -- also posted at AlethoNews

Honduras: People to Not Approve Electoral Farce
A quote...."Tegucigalpa, Oct 27 (Prensa Latina) The National Front against the Coup d'Etat in Honduras stated Tuesday that it will not recognize the November 29 elections if constitutional order is not re-established and President Manuel Zelaya is not restituted."

Honduras' acting deputy defense minister's father kidnapped
A quote...."TEGUCIGALPA, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Alfredo Jalil, 81, father of Honduras' acting Deputy Defense Minister Gabo Jalil, was kidnapped Tuesday in Tegucigalpa near the government house, police reported."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

What Is Money? - Part 10: When Money Dies
Must Read - A quote...."Bottom line: "When money dies, so do people." Hyperinflation in a modern urban nation would kill people. I think it would kill a lot of people. -- Why? Because we rely on the social division of labor to feed ourselves, heat our homes, and supply everything else that we buy or sell. This requires a highly complex price system. At the heart of this system is money. It would not exist without money. -- The free market coordinates the buying selling of billions of products and services."

Gross, Roubini, Ritholtz and Smithers All Forecast a Correction
A quote...."Bill Gross says assets are overvalued and the rally is over. -- Nouriel Roubini - who called last year's crash - said last week that "a big crash is coming":" -- Editor's Caution:  the markets are over valued, they have gone up while most other components of the "real" economy have deteriorated, some quite substantially.  That does not mean however that the markets will necessarily go down.  John Maynard Keynes himself said "the market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent." and with over one quadrillion dollars worth of derivatives out there, most controlled by the thugocracy that owns this government, they could make the markets act in ways that would be contrary to normal economic practice or theory. – mpg

Roubini Says Carry Trades Fueling ‘Huge’ Asset Bubble (Update3)
A quote...."Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Investors worldwide are borrowing dollars to buy assets including equities and commodities, fueling “huge” bubbles that may spark another financial crisis, said New York University professor Nouriel Roubini."

Former Chairman of Citigroup: Restore Glass-Steagall
Full quote...."The former chairman of Citigroup, John S. Reed, wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Times calling for a reinstatement of Glass-Steagall:"

"As another older banker and one who has experienced both the pre- and post-Glass-Steagall world, I would agree with Paul A. Volcker (and also Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England) that some kind of separation between institutions that deal primarily in the capital markets and those involved in more traditional deposit-taking and working-capital finance makes sense."

"But for Barney Frank, Tim Geithner and the rest of the boys, it is business as usual."

Taxpayer Getting The Shaft
Cartoon

Rhetoric and Reality
Regarding the Health Care Issue. - mpg -- A quote...."By Ralph Nader -- October 27, 2009 "Information Clearing House" -- I just received a letter from President Obama. Right there on the outside envelope are the words “I need you.” After not answering several letters which I have mailed and faxed to him, I was, for the briefest of moments, curious about this personal plea for help. Then, of course, I realized that it was a form letter from Mr. Obama via the auspices of the Democratic National Committee (DNC)."

Monday October 26th 2009

Welcome to 2025 -- American Preeminence Is Disappearing Fifteen Years Early
Must Read - A quote...."The report examined many facets of the future strategic environment, but its most startling, and news-making, finding concerned the projected long-term erosion of American dominance and the emergence of new global competitors. "Although the United States is likely to remain the single most powerful actor [in 2025]," it stated definitively, the country's "relative strength -- even in the military realm -- will decline and U.S. leverage will become more constrained." -- That, of course, was then; this -- some 11 months into the future -- is now and how things have changed. Futuristic predictions will just have to catch up to the fast-shifting realities of the present moment. Although published after the onset of the global economic meltdown was underway, the report was written before the crisis reached its full proportions and so emphasized that the decline of American power would be gradual, extending over the assessment's 15-year time horizon." -- also posted at ICH

"America's Priorities," by the Beltway elite
Must Read - A quote...."Something very unusual happened on The Washington Post Editorial Page today:  they deigned to address a response from one of their readers, who "challenged [them] to explain what he sees as a contradiction in [their] editorial positions":  namely, the Post demands that Obama's health care plan not be paid for with borrowed money, yet the very same Post Editors vocally support escalation in Afghanistan without specifying how it should be paid for.   --  The Post editors give two answers.  They first claim that Obama will save substantial money by reducing defense spending -- by which they mean that he is merely decreasing the rate at which defense spending increases ("from 2008 to 2019, defense spending would increase only 17 percent") -- as well as withdrawing from Iraq.  But so what?  Even if those things really happen, we're still paying for our glorious, endless war in Afghanistan by borrowing the money from China and Japan, all of which continues to explode our crippling national debt.  We have absolutely no ability to pay for our Afghan adventure other than by expanding our ignominious status as the largest and most insatiable debtor nation which history has ever known.  That debt gravely bothers Beltway elites like the Post editors when it comes to providing ordinary Americans with basic services (which Post editors already enjoy), but it's totally irrelevant to them when it comes to re-fueling the vicarious joys of endless war."

Are You Ready for the Next Crisis?
Contains Video - (videos posted yesterday 10-25-09) -- A quote...." October 26, 2009 "Information Clearing House" -- Evidence that the US is a failed state is piling up faster than I can record it. --  One conclusive hallmark of a failed state is that the crooks are inside the government, using government to protect and to advance their private interests." -- also posted at AlethoNews & CounterPunch

Bank Charge Off Rate Is Worse Than During the Great Depression
Financial Sector Warning - Chart - A quote...."In May, analyst Mike Mayo predicted that the bank loan loss rate would be higher than during the Great Depression.In a new report, Moody's has just confirmed (as summarized by Zero Hedge)*:" - *link added

Capmark Files for Bankruptcy With $21 Billion in Debt (Update3)
A quote...."Capmark Financial Group Inc., the lender owned by companies including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and KKR & Co., filed for bankruptcy protection after posting a second-quarter loss of about $1.6 billion." -- From Bloomberg

Detroit House Auction Flops For Urban Wasteland
A quote...."October 26, 2009 - DETROIT (Reuters) - In a crowded ballroom next to a bankrupt casino, what remains of the Detroit property market was being picked over by speculators and mostly discarded. -- After five hours of calling out a drumbeat of "no bid" for properties listed in an auction book as thick as a city phone directory, the energy of the county auctioneer began to flag. -- "OK," he said. "We only have 300 more pages to go." -- From Reuters

Fall of the Dollar on G-20 Finance Ministers Agenda
Related Article - A quote...."The G-20 finance ministers meet in Scotland on November 6th and 7th, and they will all be bleating about the fall in the dollar. France started this week, and the others will follow. Their currencies are rising in value and they do not like it.  -- We expect other nations to follow, Mexico and Brazil in imposing a 2% tax on incoming funds and others will print their currencies and buy dollars to reduce the value of their currencies and at the same time buy US Treasuries that are decreasing in value. That will neutralize any benefit from the exercise." -- That actually seems to be a good idea to prevent the US-NRE & Britain from gaining any more advantage by gaming the system in their ceaseless efforts to fund their economies, and in the case of the US-NRE, its sick and twisted empire, on the backs of other countries.  Editor's Caution: keep in mind folks there currently is a HUGE dollar carry trade, IF the world economy should start to get into trouble again, there might very well be a large unwind of that trade, the dollar would go up and gold would probably go down. – mpg

China Should Raise Euro, Yen Holdings, News Reports
A quote...."Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- China should increase the representation of the yen and the euro in its foreign-exchange reserves, the Financial News, a newspaper affiliated with China’s central bank, reported today." -- From Bloomberg

Showdown in Chicago: Protesters Greet American Bankers Association Conference
A quote...."When the American Bankers Association scheduled their annual meeting in Chicago for this week, they probably weren’t expecting the reception they’ve received. Instead of a quiet convention in a downtown hotel, the ABA has been greeted by a parallel gathering of thousands of people in what organizers call the “Showdown in Chicago.” Spearheaded by the group National People’s Action, organizers have tried to bring together a cross-section of Americans affected by the financial meltdown, including homeowners, renters, farmers, workers and retirees. The Showdown kicked off Sunday when protesters entered the lobby of the hotel where the ABA delegates are gathering. [includes rush transcript]" -- ||  Real Video Stream  ||  Real Audio Stream  ||  MP3 Download  ||  More…  || 

Reform or Revolution? Why the Left failed so miserably
A quote...."It’s not fair to leave you hanging like that (see Reform or Revolution?), we really need to know why the left in the so-called developed world has failed so miserably to carry out its allotted task, a task laid down by our ancestors who spilt much blood, sweat and tears. -- It occurs to me that the left is trapped in its own history, a history that views the industrial working class as the natural ‘partner’ in the revolutionary project but without recognizing that it is now a shadow of its former self. Compounding this paradox is the lack of debate over who is is to take their place, or join the struggle?"

American newspaper circulation plunges again
Special Note - A quote...."American newspapers are experiencing bad times as their sales have dipped 10 percent in the six months ending September 30, compared to a year earlier. -- The Audit Bureau of Circulation figures suggested on Monday that nearly two-thirds of the country's 25 largest papers posted declines of 10 percent or more." -- Anytime the US-NRE's "mainstream", presstituting, AIPAC butt-kissing, war mongering, infotainment-complex wants to stop their decline by actually "connecting the dots" for the public by printing stories that would make the thugocracy of this nation uncomfortable (Gasp! Aw My Gawd! Thud!) they can do so.....in the meantime....suffer! – mpg
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs: An Emotional Response
Must Read - A quote...."Recently, I wrote of "the 'counterinsurgency doctrine' so beloved by the Pentagon and eagerly embraced by Barack Obama." A reader took me to task for this inflammatory remark, saying:"


"To which, this brief reply:  I realize that historical memory has always been a rare commodity in the United States, but one shudders to see that the onset of this chronic amnesia is now down to the merest months. Was it not just six months ago, in May 2009, that Obama made a great show of firing the commander in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, and replacing him with a much-lauded "expert" in counterinsurgency, Gen. Stanley McChrystal -- a close associate of the much-lauded "architect" of counterinsurgency in Iraq, General David Petraeus -- the Bush-appointed officer whom Obama has retained as the top dog in the central fronts of the Terror War? Was not McChrystal championed by Robert Gates -- the Bush-appointed factotum whom Obama has retained as the top dog in the Pentagon war machine?" -- also posted at Uruknet

Two Puppets Are Not Better Than One
Must Read - A quote...." Here we go again with more political theater in war-ravaged Afghanistan. -- The last vote, held in August, was so blatantly rigged that Washington put a gun to the head of its Afghan client, Hamid Karzai, and forced him into the humiliation of holding a runoff vote in November against rival Abdullah Abdullah. -- As Henry Kissinger once observed, being America’s ally can be more dangerous than being its enemy. -- Poor Hamid Karzai, the amiable former business consultant and CIA "asset" installed by Washington as Afghanistan’s president is another doleful example. As the US increasingly gets its backside kicked in Afghanistan, it has blamed the powerless Karzai for its woes and bumbling. -- You can almost hear Washington rebuking, "bad puppet! Bad puppet!"

US casualties rise as Obama prepares Afghan escalation
A quote...."Eleven US soldiers and three drug agents were killed Monday in two separate incidents in different regions of Afghanistan, as the Obama administration’s war cabinet prepared to meet to consider escalating the war by sending tens of thousands of additional troops."

14 Americans killed in separate helicopter crashes in Afghanistan
A quote...."In the first crash, a helicopter went down in the west of the country after leaving the scene of a firefight with insurgents, killing 10 Americans — seven troops and three civilians working for the government. Eleven American troops, one U.S. civilian and 14 Afghans were also injured. -- In a separate incident in the south, two other U.S. choppers collided while in flight, killing four American troops and wounding two more, the military said."

Afghan police open fire at demonstration
A quote...."KABUL — Afghan police Monday opened fire and turned a water cannon on demonstrators angry about allegations that Western troops torched a Koran, wounding at least three people, officials and witnesses said. -- Clashes erupted as police tried to prevent around 300 students, most of them men, from marching on parliament, the city's criminal investigation police chief, Sayed Abdul Ghafar Sayedzada, told AFP."

12 mln Afghans live under poverty line: ministry
A quote...."KABUL, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Afghan Minister for Public Health Syed Mohammad Amin Fatimi has revealed that 12 million out of the total 30 million Afghans, including 3 million children, live under poverty line in the war-torn country, a local newspaper reported Saturday."

U.S. official resigns over Afghan war
Quote of the Day....""I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States' presence in Afghanistan," he wrote Sept. 10 in a four-page letter to the department's head of personnel. "I have doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy, but my resignation is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end." -- *Matthew Hoh*, former Marine Corps captain. -- Who last month resigned in protest over the Afghan war. - mpg
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Carnage and corruption in Iraq
Must Read - A quote...."It is tragic that Iraq hits the headlines only if there is a major explosion with hundreds killed and injured. Yesterday's carnage in Baghdad is the second of its kind in two months, and yet another horrific reminder that the Iraqi people are still paying with their blood for the US-led invasion and occupation of their country."

Iraq: Deadly car bombs 'made inside' Green Zone
Special Note - Uhhhhhh....anybody paying attention to this?  If true, doesn't that make the US-NRE look REALLY, REALLY bad, as in "false flag" attack?  To be honest, unlike some others, this website editor finally thought this one might actually be former Bathist supporters, or perhaps other insurgent groups and not the US-NRE's-Saudi Royal-al Qaeda nexis as is usually the case for these sorts of attacks, but this editor's perfectly willing to admit any error.  - mpg -- A quote...."Baghdad, 26 October (Aki) - The twin car bombings which on Sunday killed over 150 people and injured 500 in the Iraqi capital Baghdad were made inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, Iraq's deputy interior minister Ahmad al-Khafaji told Adnkronos International (AKI). -- "The two vehicles that exploded yesterday in the al-Salihiya area of Baghdad were made in a location right next to the blasts," al-Khafaji told AKI. -- "This is why the devices were not detected at the police checkpoints," he added." -- also posted at Uruknet

Iraqi Refugees Forgotten, Like the War that Displaced Them
A quote...."No embedded U.S. reporters ply their trade among the millions of Iraqis who are refugees in foreign countries or displaced inside their own. But nowadays the occupation of Iraq itself is mostly forgotten as Americans who actually care about U.S. actions abroad focus on what is happening and will happen in what was previously the forgotten occupation – Afghanistan. This rises to the highest levels. When Sen. John Kerry convened the Senate Foreign Relations Committee September 10 to hear U.S. Ambassador Christopher Day Hill discuss his status report for Iraq, only five of the 19 committee members showed up."
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

RUSH TO WARs - false grounds, tainted history
Must Read - A quote...."Reverberations in U.S./Iran (U.S.'s Afghanistan, Somalia, Iranian Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi), a Brit's inconvenient truths running up to war that won't go away -- "Why is it now so urgent that we should take military action to disarm a military capacity that has been there for 20 years, and which we helped to create? .. Thirty years since resolution 242 called on Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories we do not express the same impatience with the persistent refusal of Israel to comply..."

Turkey chastises the West on Iran
A quote...."Turkey's prime minister has accused the West of treating Iran unfairly over its nuclear programme."

Turkish PM arrives in Tehran
A quote...."Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has arrived in Tehran for a two-day visit. -- Erdogan and his high-ranking delegation were welcomed on arrival by Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki at Tehran's Mehrabad international airport on Monday night."

Iran launches oil bourse
War Warning - A quote...."Iran has launched an oil bourse on Kish Island in the Persian Gulf for trade in crude and petrochemical products. -- The new international exchange hall will offer 40 kinds of oil products. -- "The inauguration of the hall will enhance Iran's strategic position in the region," Bourse Organization Chairman Ali Salehabadi said on Monday."
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Russian president unsatisfied with pace of defense modernization
A quote...."MOSCOW, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday he was not satisfied with the pace of the development and modernization of Russian defense sector."

Colombia to Collaborate with Venezuela
A quote...."Bogotá, Oct 26 (Prensa Latina) Head of National Police, General Oscar Naranjo, affirmed Monday that his country is willing to collaborate with Venezuelan authorities in order to clarify the multiple murder of at least 10 Colombians in that country."

Ministry of prisoners: 100 citizens arrested during storming of Aqsa
Israel is OBVIOUSLY trying to provoke a war, everyone in the Middle East should therefore prepare themselves, be wary of "false flag" attacks and watch Israel very closely. - mpg -- A quote...."GAZA, (PIC)-- The ministry of prisoners in Gaza has said that the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) had rounded up 100 citizens in the vicinity of the Aqsa Mosque during the attempt to storm the holy site." -- also posted at Uruknet
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Surprised by Disaster
Must Read - Welcome to the New Roman Empire folks. - mpg -- A quote...."In re Afghanistan, why, you might ask, is the world’s hugest, expensivest, most begadgeted military unable to defeat a few thousand angry tribesmen armed with AKs and RPGs? -- Easy: Character. The men running the war are mentally the wrong ones to do it. --
Think about this for a moment. Suppose that your boss at the lab or law firm or newsroom demanded that, when he entered the room, you leapt spasmodically to your feet, stood rigidly erect with your feet at a forty-five degree angle like a congenitally deformed duck, and stared straight ahead until he gave you permission to relax. You would think, correctly, that he was crazy as a bedbug. If he then required reporters to stand in a square so he could inspect their belt buckles, you would either figure he was a gay blade or call for a struggle buggy and some big orderlies. This weird posturing is not normal, nor are those it appeals to."

Police beating of Asian student in California angers many Americans
A quote...."LOS ANGELES, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- The police beating of a Vietnamese student from San Jose State University in California has angered many Americans and reminded them of the similar beating of Rodney King, a black motorist, in Los Angeles in 1991, which aroused nationwide protests." -- Here's the video

Guantánamo torture: UK wants claims of complicity to be heard in secret
A quote...."The government wants allegations that it was complicit in the torture by the US of Britons held as terrorism suspects to be heard in secret. -- In documents seen by the Guardian, lawyers for the government argue it must be allowed to present evidence to the high court with the public excluded, otherwise Britain's relations with other countries and its national security could be damaged. The government also wants its evidence kept secret from defence lawyers."

How [British] police rebranded lawful protest as 'domestic extremism'
A quote...."The term "domestic extremism" is now common currency within the police. It is a phrase which shapes how forces seek to control demonstrations. It has led to the personal details and photographs of a substantial number of protesters being stored on secret police databases around the country. There is no official or legal definition of the term. Instead, the police have made a vague stab at what they think it means. Senior officers describe domestic extremists as individuals or groups "that carry out criminal acts of direct action in furtherance of a campaign."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

More On The Palestinian Situation....

The Quitter, The Criminal and The New King
Special Note - A quote...."The world is going to hell in a handbasket. Three, count them THREE insane news reports. First we have Abbas the quitting whinger, (Oh God let him quit for the sake of Palestine!) who rings Obama on the phone and says "Where's my payoff! Net-And -Yahoo was supposed to be nice to me!" and "Hamas won't do what I want them to" To which Obama rings him back and "comforts" him. I kid you not:"

Report: Turkey PM says Lieberman threatened to nuke Gaza
A quote...."Turkey's prime minister has further inflamed simmering Israel-Turkey tensions, claiming that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatened to use nuclear weapons against Gaza, The Guardian reported Monday." -- For more on this issue see....A Mortal Threat – Europe’s New Frankenstein Monster - 01-26-09 - mpg

Erdogan: Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction by Israel in Gaza is a Fact, We Cannot Remain Silent about Targeting Civilians with White Phosphorus -- A quote...."Damascus, (SANA) – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that the use of weapons of mass destruction by Israel is a fact, and that it is unfair to remain silent while civilians are targeted with white phosphorus bombs."

Prisoner Society: more than 2,000 cases of torture in Israeli prison during past year
A quote...."Ramallah / PNN – President of the Palestinian Prisoner Society, Qaddura Fares, reported today that during the past year there have been more than 2,000 cases of torture in Israeli prison." -- also posted at Uruknet & AlethoNews

MADA: The Israeli occupation forces continue attacks on journalists in Jerusalem
A quote...."The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) strongly condemns the Israeli attacks on Palestinian journalists in Jerusalem. The Israeli occupation forces attacked yesterday (25 October): the reporter and photographer of “Alquds Net” Dyala Jwayhan, the correspondent of Palestinian News Network (PNN) Mais Abu-Ghazaleh, AP photographer Mahfouz Abu Turk. “Yediot Aharonot” newspaper photographer, Atta Ewissat was injured by Palestinian youth who’s hurled a stone on him, during coverage the events in the vicinity of Al Aqsa Mosque." -- also posted at Uruknet

Israel 'cuts Palestinian water'
A quote...."Israel is denying Palestinians access to even the basic minimum of clean, safe water, Amnesty International says. -- In a report, the human rights group says Israeli water restrictions discriminate against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank."

Mazin Qumsiyeh – it is essential to speak the truth regardless of which prison section we are in
A quote...."The past weekend, we had a conference over two days attended by over 200 people from around the world.  The Conference addressed issues of Israeli colonialism, occupation, and racism.  It was held in the Paradise Hotel in Bethlehem, a scene of previous Israeli attack that severely damaged this beautiful hotel.  In workshops and panels we heard from distinguished activists like Omar Barghouti (PACBI), Shawan Jabarin (AlHaq), Ameer Makhoul (Ittijah), Jamal Juma' (Stopthewall.org), Shir Hever (AIC), Dalit Baum (WhoProfits), Ingrid Jaradat Gassner (Badil), Michael Warschawski (AIC), and many more. It was a very productive meeting with significant networking accomplished and plans for coalition building, for enhancing the growing BDS movement, for support of the people of Gaza and Jerusalem, and more. JAI" -- also posted at Uruknet

Miguel Martinez – Italy: an attempt to outlaw defending freedom of speech
A quote...."Antonio Caracciolo is a scholar of philosophy of law who works at the Faculty of Political Sciences of Rome University. -- Politically, he is a liberal in the Italian sense of the word: a believer in the separation of Church and state, constitutional democracy, the rule of law and a free market; however he keeps his opinions strictly out of his work, reserving them for his blog Civium Libertas. http://civiumlibertas.blogspot.com/ -- Recently, his blog has dedicated much attention to the politics of Israel and the methods used by Zionist organizations in Italy to silence criticism of Israel in the Italian media and political sphere." -- also posted at AlethoNews

Israel rules out questioning troops about Gaza offensive
My goodness, who would of thunk it?  This website editor is totally shocked that a government, along with what appears to be a majority of its people, both brimming with utter mendacity and filled with the vile ghost of a Nazi regime past, would refuse to investigate their own war crimes. We should all just call every Isreali the world's newest "Mini-Nazis" – mpg -- also posted at Uruknet

Arab Inaction Over [Israeli] 'Organ Theft' Shocks Journalist - posted at The Palestine Chronicle
A quote...."The Swedish journalist, who caused controversy by accusing Israeli troops of killing Palestinians for their organs, has criticized Arab countries for their lack of action regarding the humanitarian tragedy. -- Donald Bostrom said on Saturday that the Arab indifference to Israel's gross mistreatments of Palestinians has bitterly disappointed him. Bostrom said the least he expected was a widespread condemnation." -- For more on this issue see....Israeli Organ Thefts

EU Lawyers Hold Lists of IDF Officers Suspected of War Crimes in Gaza
Action Alert - A quote...."UK, October 27, 2009, (Pal Telegraph) - Human rights lawyers and pro-Palestinian activists in a number of European countries hold lists with names of Israel Defense Forces soldiers allegedly linked to war crimes committed during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip." -- Follow them, arrest them, sue them, convict them, imprison them. - mpg

The Maiden Voyage of the DIGNITY
Action Alert - A quote...."A year ago today, our boat, the DIGNITY, made her first voyage to Gaza. She was a beautiful yacht, donated by people who believed in the Free Gaza movement after our first voyage in August. On board were dignitaries such as Mairead Maquire, the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize winner from Ireland and Mustafa Barghouti, President of the Palestinian National Initiative and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (MP)."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

More on the US-NRE's Honduran Coup....

100 Days of Resistance: Al Jazeera’s Avi Lewis Reports from Honduras
A quote...."In Honduras, the conflict between the coup regime and supporters of the ousted president Manuel Zelaya remains at a standstill. Talks broke down last week after the coup regime refused to drop its objection to Zelaya’s return to office. Zelaya has accused the regime of trying to drag out negotiations until the presidential elections it plans to hold next month. Zelaya’s supporters are boycotting the elections, and the international community has refused to recognize them. The Canadian journalist and Al Jazeera English correspondent Avi Lewis recently traveled to Honduras for a rare look at the grassroots movement against the coup regime. This is an excerpt of his report, which aired on the Al Jazeera English program Fault Lines. [includes rush transcript]" -- ||  Real Video Stream  ||  Real Audio Stream  ||  MP3 Download  ||  More…  ||

Honduras Resistance on Day 121
A quote...."Tegucigalpa, Oct 26 (Prensa Latina) The National Front against the Coup d'Etat has reached its 121st consecutive day against the military coup on Monday, demanding restitution of democratic institutionality."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Sunday October 25th 2009

Saturday October 24th 2009

No posts. - mpg

Friday October 23rd 2009

Texas Oil Man: US Should Plunder Iraqi Oil
Special Note - A quote...."Texas oil man T. Boone Pickens typifies what is dead wrong about America and what passes for 'foreign policy'. Pickens claims the US is 'entitled' to Iraqi oil. How convenient for the oil barons who conspired with Dick Cheney to carve up the oil fields of Iraq before 911 would give Bush the pretext he would need to attack and invade Iraq, a nation that had nothing whatsoever to do with 911." -- For more on this issue see....The Jackass Brays - 10-22-09 - mpg

Shoes fly as Bush tells audience, ‘I did not sell my soul’  - Article also posted at ICH
Action Update - This website editor is absolutely one hundred percent positive that Bush signed a "contract" with Mr. Reficul....for all eternity, that’s right, the empty vessel of pure evil, the shrub, is going to be paying for a very long time for what he did....if he wants to get a glimpse of his future he should just take a look at the effigy, while keeping in mind it’s for all eternity.....forever and ever.  -- Or as the character Thomas Becket stated in "A Man for All Seasons".....Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to lose his soul for the whole world... but for Wales?" - mpg -- A quote...."A day after an effigy of the Grim Reaper stalked his speech in Edmonton, Canada, former President George W. Bush was on the defensive over his personal salvation. -- Speaking to a $400-a-seat crowd in Montreal, Bush told the roughly 1,000 attendees that his presidential decisionmaking was principled and moral. -- "I am confident that I made decisions based on principle, that I made calls as best I could, and I did not sell my soul," Bush said." -- bold by website editor - Pssssst, hey Bushy, tooooo late.....

Blair President of Europe? No, A War Crimes Trial
Action Update - A quote...."BWCF – Blair War Crimes Foundation -- letter sent to UN 22 Oct 2009
H.E. Dr. Ali Abdussalam Treki
President of the Sixty-fourth session of the United Nations General Assembly --
United Nations
New York, NY 10017
October 22nd 2009

Your Excellency,

RE ANTHONY CHARLES LYNTON BLAIR
We, the citizens of the United Kingdom and other countries listed, wish to uphold The United Nations Charter, The 1998 Rome Statute of The International Criminal Court, The Hague and Geneva Conventions and the Rule of International Law, especially in respect of...."[see the listed statutes]

Citzens arrest and mass disruption of former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert in San Francisco  Alt - (YuTb 8m59s 102309)
Action Update - Video - A quote...."Bay Area residents attempted a citizen's arrest of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, while he gave a speech to the World Affairs Council in San Francisco on 22 October 2009. Twenty-two people were arrested for challenging Olmert directly and demanding he be tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon."

Leon Panetta Questioned on Drone Use, Calls Secret Service on Questioner
Action Update - A quote...."John and I had handed in about a dozen question cards, fully convinced that they'd pick none of them. The first few questions were tame and boring: how much time do you spend with the President, do you have money problems, to which he said, "To be frank, the intelligence budget has done pretty well since 9/ll. We have more than adequate resources." But he added that the country as a whole can't continue to run a $2 trillion deficit. I was sitting right behind the timekeeper, and I saw her flip her chart that said 4 minutes left. I whispered to John that we had very litte time to do something, since there'd be applause, and they'd asked that we stay seated, so they could whisk him out. I was afraid we'd come for nothing."

America's real quagmire
Special Note - A quote...."What kind of a public debate can we have on the most vital issues of the day in the United States? A lot depends on the media, which determines how these issues are framed for most people." -- also posted at CommonDreams

Obama and the Norwegian Connection: Behind the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize
A quote...."While the Nobel Peace Prize award has led to a chorus of praise from the Atlantic alliance leaders, it has also raised skepticism around the world. Rather than discuss the reasons that might after the fact justify this surprising choice, Thierry Meyssan exposes the corruption of the Nobel Committee and the ties between its chairman, Thorbjørn Jagland, and Obama's associates."
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

The Jundullah Attack Against Iran of October 19th 2009....

"Iran finds new evidence on deadly blast 24 Oct 2009 After a series of intensive investigations into the deadly bomb blast in southeastern Iran, new revelations show that the culprit was trained and equipped in Pakistan. "Based on our latest findings, the perpetrator [of the bombing] had received specialized terrorist training in Pakistan," Jalal Sayyah, Deputy Chief for security affairs in the Sistan-Baluchestan Province, said early Saturday. "Fully-trained with bombs and explosives, he was then sent to Iran to carry out this tragic incident," he said, referring to a bomb blast that killed more than 40 people on Sunday in the borderline region of Pishin. Sayyah said the findings were confirmed following the confession of a number of detainees, who were arrested for having links with the Jundallah group... Abdulhamid Rigi, the apprehended brother of the Jundallah point-man, told Press TV in a recent interview that Abdulmalek had held several "confidential" meetings with FBI and CIA agents in Karachi and Islamabad. He added that during one of the meetings, two female US agents had offered weapons, safe bases in Afghanistan and professional trainers and had attempted to recruit volunteers." -- Paragraph quoted from CLG

"Ex-CIA agent confirms US ties with Jundullah 24 Oct 2009 A former Central Intelligence Agency officer has confirmed US relations with the terrorist group Jundullah, despite the CIA knowing that the group has close links with the al-Qaeda. "American intelligence has also had contact with Jundullah. But that contact, as Iran almost certainly knows, was confined to intelligence-gathering on the country," Robert Baer, a former Middle East CIA field officer wrote on the Time.com, IRNA reported early on Saturday. "I've been told that the Bush Administration at one point considered Jundullah as a piece in a covert-action campaign against Iran, but the idea was quickly dropped because Jundullah was judged uncontrollable and too close to al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh]. There was no way to be certain that Jundullah would not throw the bombs we paid for back at us," said the former CIA agent who is a columnist in the weekly, and very probably an advisor in the Middle East." -- Paragraph quoted from CLG -- also posted at WarInIraq

Iran: Charges of U.S. Support for Terrorist Group Resurface
A quote...."Iranian officials have accused the U.S. and British governments of involvement in a terrorist attack on Sunday that killed or injured dozens. Five commanders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) were included among the dead in the suicide bombing, responsibility for which was claimed by the Baluchi terrorist group Jundallah (Soldiers of God)."

For more on the three articles shown above see....US Support of Terror- MEK-PKK-Others

Corporate media coddles terrorists
Related Article - A quote...."An astonishing (if you were a visitor from outer space unaccustomed to reading the U.S. corporate media) headline from AP via The New York Times: "Florida: Militant's Benefactor Released." And who is this "militant" of which they speak? Only one of the world's most notorious terrorists, Luis Posada Carriles, organizer of a mid-air airplane bombing which killed 73 people, a string of hotel and tourist site bombings in Cuba which killed one person, and a convicted participant in the attempted assassination of Fidel Castro in Panama in a bombing which would have killed hundreds of students had it been successful, along with a host of other nefarious activities. And, as readers know, a man who is being successfully protected by the United States from being extradited to Venezuela to stand trial for those 73 murders." -- also posted at AlethoNews

Blackwater has arms warehouse in Islamabad
Related Article - Full quote...."Private US security firm Blackwater has a warehouse located in the industrial area of Islamabad that is reportedly involved in illegal arms trading. -- The warehouse, Kestral Logistics, is working as the subcontractor of Xe Worldwide or Blackwater, The Nation reports. -- According to sources, the company has arms deals with Blackwater and is importing heavy arms and ammunition for the US company for its ongoing illicit operations in Pakistan. -- They added that Blackwater has implanted sensitive instruments at Sihala to monitor activities of Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), Kahuta, as well as to keep an eye on the nuclear assets of Pakistan." -- also posted at BLN
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Anger on campus in Islamabad
Must Read - A quote...."....as we were preparing to leave, something happened which has had me thinking for the past few days. -- A young man, dressed in black, approached, extended his hand and gave the customary greeting "Assalamu alaikum".  I returned his welcome and shook his hand.  But in an instant his mood changed and he started blaming me and "my people" for the bombing. -- Those around tried to calm him down, but he was loud and insistent. He thought I was an American. I was dressed in a black jacket, blue shirt and chinos. It was, for want of a better phrase, a very American "preppy" look. -- The man, I know his name but I won't give it here, believed that Pakistan's problems, the difficulties it was experiencing, could be laid at the door of outside influences. -- He said: "This is all your fault, all your bloody fault." pointing his finger at me angrily. -- "You Americans, you are sitting there, you are doing this."

Russia may go ahead with Iran missile deal
A quote...."TEHRAN, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- As the United States and its allies haggle with Iran over its nuclear program, Moscow has fueled Western unease about its military links to Tehran by pledging to continue selling arms to the Islamic republic."

POLITICS:  NIE Reveals Qom Facility Followed 2007 Bush Threats
A quote...."WASHINGTON, Oct 23 (IPS) - The Barack Obama administration claims that construction of a second Iranian uranium enrichment facility at Qom began before Tehran's decision to withdraw from a previous agreement to inform the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in advance of such construction. But the November 2007 U.S. intelligence estimate on Iran's nuclear programme tells a different story." -- also posted at AftrDwngSt

Abkhazia: 8 More States to Recognize Abkhazia and S.Ossetia
Full quote...."Eight more countries of Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) might recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia after Nicaragua and Venezuela. The negotiation on the matter was the focal point of RF Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev’s visit to Bolivia." -- also posted at WarInIraq

Asian leaders aspire EU-style bloc - Yes, Yes, Yes!!!  With an Asian currency!! - mpg
A quote...."Asian leaders meeting in Hua Hin, Thailand are discussing plans to form an EU-style community by 2015 by boosting economic and political cooperation. -- Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said the nations in the region should take advantage of their faster recovery from the recession than the West."

Nicaragua Faces Tense Situation
A quote...."Managua, Oct 23 (Prensa Latina) Nicaraguans are undergoing a tense situation, after threats to President Daniel Ortega's government by opposition sectors of turning to violence to try to reverse a Supreme Court of Justice decision."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Video: Former FBI agent Colleen Rowley discusses still unanswered questions about the lead up to 9/11
Must View Video - RN-Alt/vid -- (YouTube - 12 min 40 sec - October 23, 2009) -- A quote...."Former FBI agent Colleen Rowley discusses still unanswered questions about the lead up to 9/11. Coleen Rowley is a former FBI agent and whistleblower. Rowley jointly held the TIME “Person of the Year” award in 2002 with two other women credited as whistleblowers." -- For more on this issue see....Reficultnias's 9/11 Central

Judge Rejects Blackwater Attempt to Dismiss Cases Filed by Iraqi Victims
A quote...."A federal judge has rejected a series of arguments by lawyers for the private military contractor Blackwater who were seeking to dismiss five war crimes cases brought by Iraqi victims against the company and its owner, Erik Prince. We speak to award-winning investigative journalist and Democracy Now! correspondent, Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army. [includes rush transcript]" --  ||  Real Video Stream  ||  Real Audio Stream  ||  MP3 Download  ||  More…  || 

The Makings of a Police State-Part III
A quote...."From the 143,074 NSLs requested, there was only 1 confirmed terrorism-related conviction. -- That’s right. And each NSL may demand tens of thousands of records containing private information on Americans. So please do the math by multiplying 143, 074 with let’s say 1000 to be safe, and let it sink in. Now put that number next to the ‘1’ terrorism case they had, and try to come up with a single sane reason or justification for our government going after, demanding, obtaining and then keeping these records."

After the Billionaires Plundered Alabama Town, Troops Were Called in ... Illegally
A quote...."Editor's Note: The shocking transfer of public wealth to Wall Street's pockets is illustrated vividly in Mark Ames' article below, which covers some very disturbing recent events in Alabama, where billionaires and banks are squeezing the locals so hard that they're literally going bankrupt just for flushing their toilets, where violence and the threat of violence are reaching a boiling point and where even the Posse Comitatus Act is under threat. "We have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieve greater prosperity and opportunity for all," said one Goldman Sachs vice-chairman recently. Well, here's a tale of the kind of inequality the finance industry expects citizens to tolerate."

UK expert involved in Iran talks dies mysteriously
A quote...."Austrian police have begun investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a British nuclear expert involved in Iranian talks at a UN building in Vienna." -- also posted at PrisonPlanet
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

More On The Palestinian Situation....

Russia's Daring Vote - posted at ICH
Must Read - A quote...."October 23, 2009 "Information Clearing House" - -Russia's vote to endorse the Goldstone Gaza report in the United Nations Human Rights Council last Friday was an important, milestone event both for Palestine and for Russia. For Palestine, this vote opened a way to try and sentence Israeli mass-murderers, and thus ushered Israel into a new era of responsibility after a long period of Wild West-style, Colt-45 justice. For Russia, this vote has proved to its own country and to the world that it is free from American and Zionist diktat and able to navigate its own policy."

EYE WITNESS REPORTS FROM GAZA Video Free Gaza News
Alt - (YouTube - 10 min 1 sec - October 23, 2009) -- Must View Video - This is a powerful video. - mpg -- A quote...."Ewa Jasiewicz was a witness to the horrors in Gaza before and after Israels brutal massacres in December and January during Israel's Operation Cast Lead. - Listen to her eloquent speech in Berlin, Germany and watch the images taken by volunteers in Gaza during Israel's brutal assault." -- Here's a few more videos, see below.....

Free Gaza Mov: Italian activist injured by Israeli army navy - (YuTb - 1 min 52 sec - Sept 18, 2008)
If Americans Knew What Israel Is Doing! VIDEO WAS CENSORED! - (YuTb - 3 min 23 sec - June 24, 2007)
Free Gaza Mov: Israeli shooting palestinian fishermen boat 2 - (YuTb - 2 min 17 sec - October 02, 2008)
Israeli Soldiers Shoot Gaza Farmer (they kill and they call it ceasefire) - (YuTb - 2 min 35 sec - February 22, 2009)
12th Aug 09 Video Free Gaza on the right of Resistance - (YuTb - 8 min 28 sec - Aug 13, 2009)
Gaza: The Killing Zone - Israel/Palestine - (YuTb - 10 min 9 sec - Aug 13, 2007)
30th July Video Free Gaza news Is Israel guilty of piracy - (YuTb - 8 min 19 sec - July 30, 2009)
Video Israel Doesn't Want You to See - (YuTb - 2 min 56 sec - June 18, 2006)
Free Gaza: olive picking under shooting by israeli army - (YuTb - 2 min 13 sec - Oct 23, 2008)

Israeli War Crimes -- Video interview: Richard Goldstone -- Goldstone challenges US over Gaza report - @ ICH
Videos & The Goldstone Report - GRAlt(PDF) - AJvid#1 - RTvid#2 - A quote...."Posted October 23, 2009 -- The United States has criticised the Goldstone report into Israel's war on Gaza, calling it one-sided. -- In an interview with Al Jazeera's Shihab Rattansi, Justice Richard Goldstone challenged the US government to justify its claims that his findings are flawed and biased. -- Goldstone said the attacks on him have become personal and he believes most critics have not even read the report."

PCHR Release English Version of ‘Targeted Civilians:
A quote...."A PCHR Report on the Israeli Military Offensive against the Gaza Strip (27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009)’ -- This report comprehensively documents the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, in which more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed, and over 5,300 injured. The overwhelming majority of those killed and injured were civilians. Attention is also paid to the extensive destruction of civilian object, including homes, and the damage inflicted on industry, agriculture, and the infrastructure of the Gaza Strip. -- The report is available for download here. [PDF] - AltPDF

Why I disrupted Olmert
Quote of the Day...."If former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had merely been a diplomat or an academic offering a controversial viewpoint, then interrupting his 15 October speech at University of Chicago's Mandel Hall would certainly have been an attempt to stifle debate (Noah Moskowitz, Meredyth Richards and Lee Solomon, "The importance of open dialogue," Chicago Maroon, 19 October 2009). Indeed, I experienced exactly such attempts when my own appearance at Mandel Hall last January, with Professor John Mearsheimer and Norman Finkelstein, was constantly interrupted by hecklers. -- But confronting a political leader suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity cannot be viewed the same way." -- posted at AlethoNews

Mediterranean should not ignore Gaza tragedy: Turkish PM
A quote...."ISTANBUL, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that countries in the region could not make the Mediterranean a lake of peace by remaining silent and ignoring the ongoing tragedy in Gaza."

Palestine in Pieces
Interview - A CounterPunch interview with Bill and Kathleen Christison -- A quote...."In 1979, Kathleen and Bill Christison retired from the CIA, where they worked as analysts. Ever since then, they've had an unorthodox retirement, to say the least. With only a couple relatively brief interludes, they've dedicated what could have been years of relaxation to fighting perhaps the most uphill battle imaginable: trying to bring the plight of the Palestinians to the public eye. The newest addition to the Christison canon is "Palestine in Pieces: Graphic Perspectives on the Israeli Occupation", [GoglBkSrch] published in August by Pluto Press." -- also posted at AlethoNews

Backstroking the Jewish Tomorrow
A quote...."Jewish leaders of the 'Judenrate' had collaborated with the Nazis on the Holocaust; they had organised mass deportation of European Jews from the ghettos to the camps. Today's Israeli leadership wants Palestinian leaders to make similar decisions, argues Gilad Atzmon."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

More on the US-NRE's Honduran Coup....

Honduran crisis talks come to dead end
Exactly the way the US-NRE wanted them too.  Ahhh, Hedious Hillary must be so happy right now. - mpg -- A quote...."The coup-hit Honduras submerges further in crisis as talks fail to resolve the political stalemate, with the de facto government snubbing a Zelaya condition demanding reinstatement."

Zelaya: Current Honduras Talks Used Up
A quote...."Tegucigalpa, Oct 23 (Prensa Latina) The delegation by Honduran President Manuel Zelaya stated that the dialogue is exhausted, after considering the de facto government lacks of political will for a negotiated solution to the conflict."

Delegation of Carter Center arrives in Honduras
A quote...."TEGUCIGALPA, Oct. 23 -- The delegation of the Carter Center Friday arrived in the Honduran capital to promote a prompt settlement of the political crisis in the country."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

What Is Money? - Part 8: Why Gold Has No Intrinsic Value
Special Note - A quote...."Whenever you hear someone speak of gold's having intrinsic value, you can be sure that he has a confused theory of economics in general and monetary theory in particular."

Dollar Collapse Update: "Obama Demands Pay in Euros!" - posted at ICH
Special Note - Mike Whitney believes "deficits don't matter" (Cheny's favorite phrase) and that the Federal Reserve can print forever (or at least until inflation shows up).  As long as the other 190 countries in the world agree to continue to support the US-NRE's empire by accepting its dollars he has a point.  But attitudes like that sound very similar to what people were saying back in 2007, “markets always go up”, “housing prices never go down”, and the all time favorite phrase of them all, "it's a whole new paradigm".  Phrases like that last for a while, arrogance like that doesn't, because in the end there are no free lunches.  If countries could spend as much as they want to maintain their wars of empire or enable endless domestic consumption they would ALL do so, but they don't, most of them can't, the US-NRE is no exception, it's just bigger and meaner than most other countries and temporarily had its currency excepted as the world's reserve currency.  A status it greedily abused without any restraint and one that could change much more abruptly and suddenly than many people may think possible. – mpg -- A quote...."October 23, 2009 "Information Clearing House" -- The "dollar debate" on the Internet has been ferocious and emotionally-charged, but sadly lacking in logic. To oppose the "dollar will crash" theorists is like arguing a woman's right to choose with the fist-waving throng assembled outside an abortion clinic. The results are equally disappointing. To say that "minds are already made up and the issue is settled", is an understatement. For many, the dollar's transition from the world's reserve currency to a Wiemar era Deutschemark is not a question "if" but only of "when". One reader summed up the distrust that's felt for anyone who dares to challenge the prevailing dogma like this: " -- also posted at CounterPunch

"The fundamentals of the economy are sound." - Ben Bernanke 2007 - Case in point.... mpg
Around 24 TRILLION is what Ben 'Shalom' Bernanke has given away to his overseas bankster buddies and then refuses to say where the money went or what it is being used for. -- That is OUR money that will have to be paid back with OUR money. A lifetime of economic servitude for us, our kids and grandkids. Just think, the unborn are already slaves."

Dems seek cover to boost debt limit
A quote...."The Senate must soon increase the national debt limit to above $13 trillion — and Democrats are looking for political cover."

More Stress Test Shenanigans
A quote...."AFP reports: The Federal Reserve will expand its so-called stress tests of the banking system to ensure they have enough capital during difficult periods, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday."

TARP Inspector General Says Banking System Now Possibly Worse
A quote...."CNN’s Lauren Kornreich reports today that Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for TARP, is saying that the federal government’s actions may have put the country in more danger."

106 Bank Failures In 2009
A quote...."The tally of bank failures easily broke past the No. 100 milestone on Friday night, with regulators announcing the year's 106th closure. -- That's more than four times the number that were closed in 2008, and the highest total since 1992, when 181 banks failed."

What Is Money? - Part 9: Monetary Reform
Special Note - A quote...."An obvious response to the information that I have presented in the first eight parts of this series is this: "What should we do to reform the system?" This is a nice sentiment. It ignores the obvious: "we" have nothing to say about monetary reform. -- Central banking is the most brilliant device of profit-seeking monopolists and oligopolists in human history. Nothing else comes close. Hardly anyone understands it, so there is no organized opposition."

Tax policies for the rich
By the Numbers -- A quote...."Next time you hear Rush Limbaugh moaning about the taxes his rich friends pay or hear Glenn Beck singing the blues about his wealthy friends being taxed too much, keep these facts in mind and then wonder why it's the poor and middle-class kids doing the fighting and dying in the 'Wars for Wall Street and Israel.'

Record recession for UK economy
Deflation Alert - A quote...."Britain's economy contracted unexpectedly in the third quarter of this year, quashing hopes that the downturn was ending and instead marking the country's longest recession since records began in 1955."

Twenty years after capitalism’s return: - Living standards continue steep fall in Eastern Europe
A quote...."In the course of its meeting in Istanbul earlier this month, the World Bank issued a report which indicates the vast decline in living standards which has taken place in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the wake of the global economic and financial crisis. -- Titled the “Global Crisis Hits Home in Emerging Europe and Central Asia”, the report speaks of a “sharp rise in unemployment and poverty” throughout the region."

Existing-home sales rise 9.4% to 5.57 million pace
This is good news -- A quote...."WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Home buyers rushed to take advantage of an expiring tax credit, driving resales of U.S. houses up a record 9.4% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million, the highest in more than two years." -- But....  "However, economists questioned just how sustainable the pace of sales will be. "The entire ballgame right now is an extension of the credit." -- And....  "The median sales price fell to $174,900, down 8.5% in the past year. That's the smallest year-over-year price decline in more than a year." -- And....  "Most sales were at the bottom of the market, with 21% of homes selling for less than $100,000, and another 49% costing between $100,000 and $250,000." -- And....  "Distress sales, including foreclosures and short sales, accounted for 29% of sales in September." -- And finally....  "The inventory data [which was the best since March of 2007] do not include the so-called shadow inventory of homes being held off the market by banks that have foreclosed, and by home owners who want to sell but who are waiting for a better market. The shadow inventory has been estimated at 5 million or more."

All the Populism Money Can Buy
A quote...."Up on the platform, I took the guillotine issue head on. In the  Terror, only 666 aristocrats had been topped in Paris in what is now the Place de la Concorde; 1,543 throughout France. The reward: a decisive smack on the snout of the land-holding aristocracy; durable popular power for peasants, workers and the petit bourgeois: M. le patron and M. le proprietaire stepped into history. -- Here, in America, the corporate class is now entirely out of control, lawless and beyond the sanction of prosecutor, juror or ballot box. If corporate lawbreakers felt that somewhere along the line the retribution of the guillotine might await them, it would concentrate their minds marvelously, and cow them into lawfulness."

The Phony Fight: Obama VS the Insurance Barons
Contains Audio - Regarding the Health Care Issue -- A quote...."If you believe the hype, the president and Big Insurance are going at at each other's throats over health care. But it's a sham battle, “like TV wrestling.” The insurance companies have already won the biggest prize they could ever wish for: 50 million new customers dragooned by the federal government. All the too-late huffing and puffing from the White House is “a hollow threat, for public consumption only.” -- See the quote shown below.....


Public option likely to be managed by private insurance company
Regarding the Health Care Issue --  A quote...."A little-noticed tidbit in Saturday's Washington Post is sure to raise eyebrows among liberal supporters of a gorvernment-run healthcare plan: the plan is likely to be administered by a private insurance company, the very companies that progressive activists are trying to unseat." -- Haaaaa, haaaaa, haaaa.....Oh man, this is funny.  To all you ObamaTrolls out there, as you're FORCED by the Federal Government to fork over three, five or ten thousand dollars a year to these people, as you or your wife or your children are lying on a hospital gurney, without any care for days, or worse yet, going home to die because the insurer’s profits are a little low that particular quarter, just remember.....YOU DID IT TO YOURSELVES! – mpg

Thursday October 22nd 2009