MPG'S DAILY RAPSHEET AND BLOTTER  ON THE "GREAT GAME"  - links page

@ www.reficultnias.org
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Editor's note : From now on each daily blog will have several items culled from the past called  "9/11 - From The History File" : It's for those who didn't know, and also for those who forgot....or are trying to forget.

Editor's note - War Update, War Alert, War Warning, Red War Warning and War Imminent - refer to articles regarding the upcoming war with Iran.  In the order they appear as shown above, they  represent less serious to more serious possible threats of war. - mpg
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Right-Wingers Can't Cover Up Iraq's Death Toll Catastrophe  ---  http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/74263/
Must Read - A quote...."Now I know what Hillary Clinton meant, first hand, by that "vast right-wing conspiracy." When the Wall Street Journal editorial page and the Sunday Times in London are going after you -- along with about 100 right-wing bloggers -- rest assured you've hit a nerve.  --  Or is it just Soros Derangement Syndrome at work?  --  More than two years ago, I commissioned a household survey of Iraq to learn how many people had died in the war. This topic had been virtually ignored by the news media and the U.S. government."
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Economic Tsunami: A Perfect Storm Threatens US Economy  http://existentialistcowboy.blogspot.com/2008/01/economic-tsunami-perfect-storm.html
Must Read - A quote...."Highly leveraged US expansion, growth and empire are about to be swept away like a bamboo hut. As China leads the world in dumping dollars, the US appears to have exhausted the means by which it can continue to leverage or finance expansion and imperialism."
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Crime Without Punishment: A News Roundup  ---  http://www.chris-floyd.com/Articles/Articles/Crime_Without_Punishment%3A_A_News_Roundup/
Chris Floyd's round-up of today's interesting web action, especially this gem of an observation. - A quote...."Patrick Cockburn on
the recent emergence of opium-growing in Iraq,   ---  http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article3345186.ece  ---  where warlords and militias in the pay of the United States and the oh-so-sovereign Iraqi "government" are turning Diyala province into a mini-narcostate, with the attendant murder, corruption, and violence. Isn't it very, very strange that America's oh-so-humanitarian interventions seem to spawn  vast expansions in the drug trade,  ---  http://www.consortiumnews.com/2000/060800a.html  ---  as in Vietnam and southeast Asia, Latin America, Afghanistan and now Iraq? Isn't it odd that the drug trade has been used so often to fund and help run covert ops by American intelligence agencies? Isn't it just weird how  this keeps happening over and over?   ---  http://www.chris-floyd.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=239&Itemid=1Quite a coincidence, isn't it?

Quite. - mpg
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King: War Cannot Achieve Even a Negative Good  ---  http://www.juancole.com/2008/01/king-war-cannot-achieve-even-negative.html
A quote...."King critiqued the typical use of "peace" by politicians as a distant ideal toward which they are working, even while they bomb and massacre and slaughter. In his Christmas Sermon, December 24, 1967, King made this point:"

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Never against! European collusion in Israel's slow genocide  ---  http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9241.shtml
A quote...."The European Union, Israel's largest trade partner in the world, is watching by as Israel tightens its barbaric siege on Gaza, collectively punishing 1.5 million Palestinian civilians, condemning them to devastation, and visiting imminent death upon hundreds of kidney dialysis and heart patients, prematurely born babies, and all others dependent on electric power for their very survival."
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The Lessons of Violence  ---  http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080121_the_lessons_of_violence/?ln
A quote...."The Gaza Strip is rapidly becoming one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world. Israel has cordoned off the entire area, home to some 1.4 million Palestinians, blocking commercial goods, food, fuel and even humanitarian aid. At least 36 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since Tuesday and many more wounded. Hamas, which took control of Gaza in June, has launched about 200 rockets into southern Israel in the same period in retaliation, injuring more than 10 people. Israel announced the draconian closure and collective punishment Thursday in order to halt the rocket attacks, begun on Tuesday, when 18 Palestinians, including the son of a Hamas leader, were killed by Israeli forces."

Regarding the two articles shown above ....

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Ex-Israeli army officer arrested in Brazil charged with illegal organ trafficking  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/154008
A quote...."SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) — A retired Israeli army officer under arrest in Brazil on suspicion of belonging to an international human kidney trafficking ring has told a court the Israeli government financed organ transplants, press reports here said."

See also....
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Jordan urges Russian pressure on Israel to end Gaza siege  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/154036
A quote...."Amman (dpa) - Jordanian Foreign Minister Salah Bashir conferred Monday with the Russian Middle East envoy, Alexander Saltanov, and urged Moscow to pressure Israel into halting its blockade of the Gaza Strip, according to an official statement."
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Challenging a Unipolar World  ---  http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/4904
A quote...."One of the more interesting phenomena to emerge from the U.S. debacle in Iraq is the demise of the unipolar world that rose from the ashes of the Cold War. A short decade ago the United States was the most powerful political, economic, and military force on the planet. Today its army is straining under the weight of an unpopular occupation, its economy is careening toward recession, and the only “allies” we can absolutely depend on in the United Nations are Israel, Palau, and the Marshall Islands."
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Bill Moyers interviews Craig Unger  ---  http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01182008/watch3.html
Video - Interview - A quote...."Bill Moyers sits down with journalist Craig Unger, contributing editor of VANITY FAIR and author of the bestselling HOUSE OF BUSH, HOUSE OF SAUD and, most recently, THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF BUSH, who offers analysis on President Bush's recent trip to the Middle East."
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Papers Paint New Portrait of Iraq's Foreign Insurgents -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/20/AR2008012002609_pf.html
A quote...."Analyzed and made public last month by the Army's Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, the documents have led the U.S. military in Iraq to reassess some of its earlier assumptions about the insurgent group and those who carry out most of the suicide missions that are its signature method of attack.  --  Suicide attacks by the Sunni group against Shiite targets sparked the sectarian violence that swept Iraq in 2006 and the first half of last year. Al-Qaeda in Iraq carried out more than 4,500 attacks against civilians in 2007, killing 3,870 and wounding nearly 18,000, the military announced yesterday.  --  Based on the Sinjar records, U.S. military officials in Iraq said they now think that nine out of 10 suicide bombers have been foreigners, compared with earlier estimates of 75 percent. Similarly, they assess that 90 percent of foreign fighters entering Iraq during the one-year period ending in August came via Syria, a greater proportion than previously believed." - bold/italics by website author
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Conservative Blind Eye on Empire  ---  http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-01-17.asp
A quote...."Moreover, while it’s true that the U.S. government goes much further than the Chinese government in expanding its overseas empire, such as with assassinations, murders, kidnappings, coups, invasions, and occupations, a core element of U.S. foreign policy has long been the installation or purchase of puppets in charge of foreign regimes."
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Pentagon considers moving 'surge' architect out of Iraq: report  ---  http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Pentagon_considers_moving_surge_arc_01212008.html
A quote...."The US Department of Defense is considering moving the main architect of a troop "surge" strategy, General David Petraeus, out of Iraq and giving him a top NATO command job, The New York Times reported on its website late Sunday."

The "surge" is less then a year old and they're already moving Petraeus out?  This is not a good sign. - mpg
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Venezuelan Legislature Supports Belligerent Status for Colombian Rebels  ---  http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3080
A quote...."Caracas, January 18, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com) - The Venezuelan National Assembly voted yesterday to support President Chavez's call for Colombia to recognize the "belligerent status" of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN). It also rejected the "unilateral lists imposed by the government of the United States," which classifies these groups as "terrorist organizations."
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EUROPE:  U.S. Base Nears Moment of Truth  ---  http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40859
Some quotes...."PRAGUE, Jan 21 (IPS) - U.S. diplomatic and business representatives have stepped up their lobbying activities to secure a deal for the construction of a military base in Central-Eastern Europe ahead of the U.S. presidential vote."  --  "A two-day seminar held Jan. 16-17 in Prague brought together representatives of 40 Czech businesses and 10 U.S. arms producers, among them giants such as Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, to discuss the construction of the missile defence system." -- italics by website author.

The American and Czech people themselves were not invited. - mpg
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DANIEL ELLSBERG: Covering Up the Coverage - The American Media's Complicit Failure to Investigate and Report on the Sibel Edmonds Case
  ---  http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5583
A quote...."For the second time in two weeks, the entire U.S. press has let itself be scooped by Rupert Murdoch's London Sunday Times on a dynamite story of criminal activities by corrupt U.S. officials promoting nuclear proliferation. But there is a worse journalistic sin than being scooped, and that is participating in a cover-up of information that demands urgent attention from the public, the U.S. Congress and the courts."

Just as with 9/11 "our" media is again engaged in a whitewash of anything that might embarrass those in power.

They rarely talk about the Saudi Royals and their relationship to the Bush family.  They never talk about PNAC, a plan which has so far been followed to the letter.  They never talk about the ten year economic cycle and war.  And they have never, ever, investigated 9/11....and they never will.

They are all accessories after the fact.  – mpg
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Email missing from Cheney's office on day White House told to preserve documents in CIA leak
  ---  http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Email_missing_on_day_White_House_0121.html
A quote...."Among the sixteen days for which email are missing from Vice President Cheney's office is Sept. 30, 2003, the same day the day the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced they were investigating who outed former CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson. -- bold/italics by website author
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Cheney Impeachment Gains Traction in House Judiciary Committee  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/21/6524/
A quote...."Articles I and II of H.R. 799 accuse Cheney of purposely manipulating intelligence to deceive Congress and the American people about a fabricated threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, and about an alleged relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda, respectively. Article III charges Cheney with openly threatening aggression against Iran absent any real threat to the United States. All three articles say Cheney’s actions have damaged our national security interests."
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US Among Harshest for Sentencing Children  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/21/6512/
A quote...."To many in the United States, the country of Somalia conjures up images of a primitive Third World country. So it may come as a surprise to learn that Somalia and the United States share an unfortunate commonality - they are the only countries in the world that refuse to sign the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child because of its ban on sentencing children to die in prison."
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Pakistan roiled by flour and electricity shortages, food price rises  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2008/jan2008/paki-j21.shtml
A quote...."Pakistan’s US-backed military dictatorship has mobilized more than six thousand paramilitary troops to guard flour mills and distribution points and escort supply-trucks, as it seeks to staunch a flour shortage that has resulted in breadlines and spiraling prices."
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Overseas Investors Buy Aggressively in U.S.  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=5328
A quote...."Last May, a Saudi Arabian conglomerate bought a Massachusetts plastics maker. In November, a French company established a new factory in Adrian, Mich., adding 189 automotive jobs to an area accustomed to layoffs. In December, a British company bought a New Jersey maker of cough syrup."

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Bill Moyers interviews David Cay Johnston  ---  http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01182008/watch.html
Video - Interview - A quote...."Bill Moyers interviews NEW YORK TIMES investigative reporter and Pulitzer Prize-winner David Cay Johnston [regarding his new book Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (And Stick You with the Bill).]
  ---  http://www.buzzflash.com/store/items/908  ---  who says America's system has been rigged to benefit the super-rich.
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Richonomics 101 in Post-Bush America  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/21/6509/
A quote...."I used to feel like a fool for not being rich.  --  I’d see friends taking great vacations, hiring nannies, buying fabulous cars and wearing expensive jewelry.  --  And I’d wonder, what’s wrong with me that I’m not rich? During the dot.com bubble in the ’90s, especially, it seemed like everyone else knew a money secret.  --  But not now.  --  Right now, I’m feeling rich - not so much for what I have but for what I don’t have."
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The Economy: Recession, Depression, Crash or Collapse?  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_jay_farr_080118_a_short_history_of_a.htm
A quote...."What is Really Happening to America's Economy? - As a layman, I don't know more than anybody else, but in the interest of speaking out for lots of Americans, here is my assessment of the immediate challenges facing our nation:"
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Bloody Tuesday? Global Markets See Worst Day since 9/11.. US to Follow?
  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_rob_kall_080121_bloody_tuesday_3f_glob.htm
A quote...."Will presidential primary candidates deal with the REAL news that is happening as the worthless, corpstream MSM media almost ignore it. Today, global markets saw their worst day since 9/11. NINE ELEVEN!. And we hear about minutiae about the Florida Primary, about Rudy Giuliani's failing campaign. Wake Up America!! We are in dire economic danger."

If the main-stream faux-news networks are NOT hyping what's happened to foreign markets this Monday.....it would be a bad sign of things to come.  It means they've been given their marching orders and our wealthy elites are in full panic mode (at least until they can get out). - mpg
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Is This The Big One?  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19126.htm
A quote...."  21/01/08 "ICH" --- - On  Monday, fears of a US recession spilled over into Asian markets sending stocks tumbling. Indexes were hammered across the board in what turned out to be the worst day of trading since 2001. In India, the Bombay Sensitive Index plunged 1408 points, to 17,605. In China, the Shanghai Composite dropped 266 points (or 5.5%) to 23,818, while in Japan, the Nikkei fell 535 points, to 13,325 points. The bloodletting stretched across the continent and into Europe where shares nosedived by more than 4% by mid-morning “putting them on track for their biggest one-day fall in more than four and a half years.”

Editor's caution:  Everyone knows Bernanke is going to do something on Tuesday morning before the markets open, drop interest rates a point, offer five hundred billion to the Banksters and others....something appropriately stupid and ridiculous.

The question is - what exactly is he going to do? - mpg.
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$100 Billion and Counting - How Wall Street Blew Itself Up  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/martens01212008.html
A quote...."The massive losses by big Wall Street firms, now topping those of the Great Depression in relative terms, have yet to be adequately explained. Wall Street power players are obfuscating and Congress is too embarrassed or frightened to ask, preferring to just throw money at the problem and hope it goes away. But as job losses and foreclosures mount and pensions and 401(k)s shrink, public policy measures to address the economic stresses require a full set of unembellished facts."
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Amid record losses, Wall Street awarded itself $39 billion  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2008/jan2008/bonu-j21.shtml
A quote...."The five largest Wall Street banks doled out a record $39 billion in bonuses last year, according to data collected by the Bloomberg news service. After driving hundreds of thousands of families into foreclosure, causing a financial crisis affecting hundreds of millions, and pushing the US and world economies closer to recession, it appears Wall Street is rewarding itself for a job well done."
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How Much Is That Superpower in the Window?  ---  http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080121_how_much_is_that_superpower_in_the_window/
A quote...."New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg is “still trying to decide” whether to buy the U.S. presidency, aides to Bloomberg confirmed today, with the sticking point reportedly being the steep price of such an acquisition.  --  In recent weeks, Bloomberg had been sending out positive signals about his interest in buying the highest office in the land, raising hopes among supporters that he might be preparing to throw his wallet in the ring."
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There Is No “War on Terror”  ---  http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/16237
Must Read - A quote...." One of the most telling signs of the political naiveté of liberals and the Left in the United States has been their steadfast faith in much of the worldview that blankets the imperial state they call home.  Nowhere has this critical failure been more evident than in their acceptance of the premise that there really is something called a "war on terror" or “terrorism”[1]"
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The American War Upon the World  ---  http://dailyscare.com/node/2867/print
Must Read - A quote...."In researching the events leading to America's downfall, I have had to continually readjust my understanding of the situation as new information surfaced. Throughout the entire learning process it has proven especially difficult to determine whether the CIA determines the secret policies it carries out, or if the agency merely serve as a loyal tool to the moneymen who control the world from behind the scenes. It is very difficult to sort out the facts from the fabrication about an ongoing disinformation campaign while immersed in it."
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US Weapons Sales: President Bush Arming Fellow Tyrants Globally  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7850
A quote....“In the last six years, Washington has stepped up its sales and transfers of high-technology weapons, military training, and other military assistance to governments regardless of their respect for human rights, democratic principles, or nonproliferation,” according to a report in the current(Jan.-Feb.) “Arms Control Today,” published online by the Arms Control Association (ACA). “All that matters is that they have pledged their assistance in the global war on terrorism.”
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Muslim Women… The Real Oppression  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19119.htm
A quote...." 20/01/08 "ICH" -- -- I find it really outrageous and inconceivable to watch this fierce campaign rallying in “defence” of “our rights”, the rights of Muslim women, such as the recent staging of the Islamo-fascist Awareness Week in USA sponsored by David Horowitz."
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Israeli Atrocity on Gaza Civilians  ---  http://www.juancole.com/2008/01/israeli-atrocity-on-gaza-civilians.html
A quote...."It is a perfect time for the Israeli government to commit a war crime on the miserable civilians of the Gaza Strip. The US primary season has created a news blackout on US television about foreign news (apparently the public of the world's sole superpower is not estimated by corporate news executives to be able to handle more than one story). So most Americans will never even know that  the Israelis have cut off fuel to Gaza's power plant, depriving tens of thousands of people of electricity."
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The Murky Toll of the Iraq War  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/20/6488/
A quote...."ONCE AGAIN, a controversy has erupted over how many people are being killed in Iraq. It’s an important debate, not only for beleaguered Iraqis, but for Americans seeking stability and a timely exit.  --  Mortality figures alone can tell a compelling story. Add to that other numbers that fill in our understanding even more - such as the scale of the flow of refugees or the women widowed by the war - and we have useful information."
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The Bush Debacle: One Year to Go?  ---  http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/012008.html
A quote...."The political calendar indicates that in one more year – on Jan. 20, 2009 – the presidency of George W. Bush will come to an end. However, the worst consequences of his disastrous reign, including the Iraq War, may be nowhere near ending."
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Iraq: Seeking Victory in Defeat  ---  http://www.uruknet.de/?p=40162
A quote...."It has come to this after seven years; the venerable New York Times, without acknowledging its own culpability in fermenting the President’s drive to war with its front page declarations of imminent threats from Saddam Hussein against America as reported by Judith Miller, finally acknowledges that this war "should never have been fought" and places the responsibility for its "repair" on the President that succeeds Bush. How righteous. How simply stated -- "to repair the profound damage he has wrought."
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Bread and Circuses  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19115.htm
A quote...." 20/01/08 "ICH" -- -- The Roman emperors provided bread and circuses for their people. The American empire does the same, though lately with less bread. They’re making up for it in the circuses department. I’m talking about the election charade.  --  It’s so sad to see otherwise intelligent people falling prey to this circus."
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The Eternal Underdog  ---  http://www.commonwonders.com/archives/col430.htm
A quote...."I am coming to you. You will explode after a few minutes.”  --  Ladies and gentlemen, it’s none other than “the Filipino Monkey,” now doing voiceovers for the Pentagon!  --  More bad melodrama in the Gulf, I’m afraid. And war with Iran is still a no-go, but the bellicose among us keep trying. It’s nothing new. The recent bizarre non-incident between U.S. warships and Iranian speedboats in the Strait of Hormuz — apparently Pentagon-edited for media consumption to create the illusion of provocation — has been justifiably compared to the bogus 1964 Tonkin Gulf incident, which became the pretext for 10 years of war in Vietnam, but it evokes historical patterns that run deeper than four decades."

For more on this see....Why do you even bother?  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/rapsheetarch/mpgrap-010908-011408#WHY_BOTHER
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Is US on Brink of War with Iran?  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/20/6496/
War Warning - A quote...."FERNDALE- Scott Ritter, one of the former United Nations inspectors who didn’t find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, denounced the Bush administration for going to war with WMDs as the primary rationale in March 2003."
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Congress Dismisses Iran NIE - Declares Iran a Nuclear Threat  ---  http://www.deepjournal.com/p/7/a/en/1212.html
War Warning - A quote...."Iran poses a nuclear weapons threat to the United States and its allies, according to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 H R 4986 passed 369-46 by the US House of Representative yesterday, even though the National Intelligence Estimate concluded that that Tehran abandoned its atomic weaponry ambitions in 2003."

This is all in accordance with the Ten Year Cycle, see....
Effective Fed Funds Rate  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/fedfundschart-photopg-cached-032407
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Canada removes U.S., Israel from torture watchlist  ---  http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1762987120080119
A quote...."OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's foreign ministry, responding to pressure from close allies, said on Saturday it would remove the United States and Israel from a watch list of countries where prisoners risk being tortured."

So Canada's brave stand for TRUTH lasted less than 48 hours.  At least they tried. - mpg
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War of ideas' claims neo-con casualty  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JA18Ak02.html
A quote...."WASHINGTON - Neo-conservative hawks lamented the latest casualty in the "war on terror" last Friday, as the ax fell on Stephen Coughlin's job. The Pentagon decided not to renew the contract of its "foremost" specialist on Islamic law and Islamic extremism when it ends in March, citing budget cuts.  --  But Coughlin's supporters say the jihad maven was unjustly fired because his message was too politically hot and far too inconvenient for government bureaucrats eager to make nice with Muslim groups that - so decry right-wing hawks - merely serve as front organizations for more nefarious "Islamo-fascists".

The test is REAL SIMPLE folks.  Fifteen out of the nineteen hijackers on 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia and the US continues to support EVERY "terrorist" group in the world....including al Qaeda.   ---   http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/ussupportofterror-weblist-mpg-090306  ---  Only on the day the Neocons address the Saudi Royal Family's complicity regarding 9/11 and the US's on-going, non-stop, direct and indirect support for "terrorist" organizations worldwide....only on that day can they be believed.

This editor is glad that lying sack of mendacity can no longer be in an official position to support these policies of mayhem and murder. – mpg
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Settlements Continue to Fuel the Conflict and Prevent any Possibility of Real Peace Negotiations  ---  http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m40298&s1=h1
A quote...."Peace conferences and negotiations will not be able to stop Israel’s expansion policy in the West Bank. Despite the request of the international community at the Annapolis Conference to freeze settlement activities, they continue today. Since Annapolis, the Israeli government announced its plan to expand some of the settlements in the south of the Palestinian territories, such as Har Homa, near Bethlehem, with the intention to construct another 307 new housing units."
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In 2 hours all Gaza strip will sink into darkness completely  ---  http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m40291&s1=h1
A quote...."in a hurry i am writing to let you know that in less than 2 hours the last turbine of the Gaza power plant , will stop working , the power plant fuel , is to finish in 2 hours , i hurried to recharge my laptop , mobile and to wash the cloths , i checked my candles and rechargable lights....."
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America-Egypt relation grow cooler  ---  http://www.iribnews.ir/Full_en.asp?news_id=249531&n=27
A quote...."Their presidents hugged on the tarmac but the talks were kept brief another sign, perhaps, of the fact that relations between Egypt and America have rarely been cooler."
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Chavez: Uribe fit to be mafia boss, not president of Colombia  ---  http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/01/20/america/LA-GEN-Venezuela-Colombia.php
A quote...."CARACAS, Venezuela: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called Colombia's president a "pawn" of the U.S. government and compared him to a mafia boss on Sunday, raising tensions in a dispute that erupted during mediation efforts to free rebel-held hostages."
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Russia delivers fourth fuel shipment to Iran nuclear plant  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/153987
A quote...."TEHRAN, January 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russia delivered on Sunday the fourth fuel shipment to the Bushehr nuclear power plant it is building in southern Iran, the country's mass media said, citing officials."
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Russia's UES commissions 1st unit of power plant in Tajikistan  ---  http://en.rian.ru/world/20080120/97376311.html
A quote...."DUSHANBE, January 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's electricity monopoly Unified Energy System (UES) commissioned on Sunday the first unit of a major hydropower plant it is building in Tajikistan."
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US rejects Japan request over fuel use in 'war on terror': report  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/153945
A quote...."US Navy and Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force ships cruise in formation in the Pacific Ocean, in this file photo. warfare. The United States has rejected a request by Japan that it verify Tokyo's contribution to the US-led "war on terror" in Afghanistan is not used for military operations in Iraq, a report said Sunday.  (AFP/HO/File)"
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Iran: Pressure on India, Pak to Delay Pipeline Project  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/153942
A quote...."TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran on Friday said there may be some pressure on India and Pakistan to delay the tri-nation gas pipeline, also projected as a peace pipeline, but was confident of getting Islamabad and New Delhi to sign the contract soon."
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Syria to repay debt to Russia in euros - government  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/153941
Special Note - A quote...."MOSCOW. Jan 17 (Interfax) - Syria will repay its Soviet era debt to Russia in euros, the Russian government said on Thursday. "
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FBI denies file exposing nuclear secrets theft  ---  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3216737.ece
A quote...."THE FBI has been accused of covering up a key case file detailing evidence against corrupt government officials and their dealings with a network stealing nuclear secrets. - The assertion follows allegations made in The Sunday Times two weeks ago by Sibel Edmonds, an FBI whistleblower, who worked on the agency’s investigation of the network."
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Progressive" Censorship: Banned Again For Telling It Like It Is
  ---  http://crimesofthestate.blogspot.com/2008/01/progressive-censorship-banned-again-for.html
A quote...."My ideas about the corruption of the alternative media by foundation funding grants seems to irk a few lib-censors however. That is where the rubber and road meet. They wanna get paid, homes. And they don't want readers to know by whom."
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Spychief Plan To Police Internet Is Likely Tied To S 1959, Thought Crime Prevention Bill
  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_william__080120_spychief_plan_to_pol.htm
A quote...."Would Americans be outraged if the government decided to read every piece of our personal mail? Think about it, letters and notes which are sent to a lover, things we all say in anger, regret later, and never follow-through on? What about confidential financial information, plans to trump your competitor with a new product or service, and a host of personal issues that are too numerous to mention?"
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Japanese MP Questions 9/11 - Videos with English Subtitles  ---  http://www.jonesreport.com/article/01_08/150108_japanese_911.html
Special Note - A quote...."Yukihisa is a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet, that is to say the national legislature of Japan, and his questions about the transparent sham that is the official version of events is indeed a big deal — but not as important in America as the travails of Britney. Yukihisa’s presentation was all the more important due to the fact he was the Chief Cabinet Secretary under former PM Junichiro Koizumi in 2001.
 READ MORE....  ---  http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2008/130108Japanese.htm
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9/11 - From The History File...WTC7.net
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Democracy that Works: Citizen Oversight, Checks and Balances, Hand Counts
  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_nancy_to_080119_democracy_that_works.htm
A quote...."The New Hampshire recount is revealing many significant flaws in ballot security in the Granite State. We wouldn't even be here if not for the state's shameful disposition of vote counting to a private corporation using secret vote counting software for 81% of New Hampshire votes."
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Unions go all-out for Kucinich re-election  ---  http://pww.org/index.php/article/articleview/12330/1/406
A quote...."CLEVELAND — At a rally here this month with hundreds of labor leaders, public officials and community supporters, Dennis Kucinich kicked off his campaign for a seventh term in Congress, defiantly blasting corporate interests seeking to unseat him."
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Ron Paul finishes 2nd  in Nevada Caucus  ---  http://muckrakerreport.com/id583.html
A quote...."January 19, 2008 – To the chagrin of the corporate news media, especially Fox News, Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul finished in 2nd place in today’s Nevada Republican Caucus."
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The Fraud of Bushenomics: They’re Looting the Country  ---  http://www.alternet.org/workplace/74262/
Must Read - A quote...."A more realistic -- and less idealistic -- view of Bushenomics is that the Bush administration and its cronies came at the economy with the attitude of oilmen."
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Mortgage Company Exec Jumps to Death  ---  http://www.gnn.tv/headlines/16477/Mortgage_Company_Exec_Jumps_to_Death
A quote...."An executive of a collapsed subprime mortgage lender jumped to his death from a bridge Friday, shortly after his wife's body was found inside their New Jersey home."
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L.A. Times Editor Is Forced Out  ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/business/media/21latimes-web.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
A quote...."The top editor of The Los Angeles Times has been forced out for resisting newsroom budget cuts, executives at the paper say, marking the fourth time in less than three years that the highest-ranking editor or the publisher has left for that reason."
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The Week The [British] Economy Turned Nasty  ---  http://www.countercurrents.org/warner190108.htm
A quote...."Retail sales plummet; gas and electricity prices soar, further eating into already squeezed disposable incomes; Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, two of the great symbols of American capitalism, forced to hand round the begging bowl among Asian and Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds after massive write-downs on US sub-prime mortgage lending."
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Job Data Passes Threshold Where Recessions Dwell  ---  http://biz.yahoo.com/nytimes/080119/1194738446840.html?.v=12
A quote...."The Labor Department reported that in December some 7,655,000 people were unemployed, meaning they were both without a job and looking for one. That figure was 13.2 percent higher than the 6,760,000 figure in the previous December. In the past, a 13 percent annual rise has been the sign of a recession every time."
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Good Jobs Are Where the Money Is  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19118.htm
Must Read - A quote...."From 1980 to 2005 the national economy, adjusted for inflation, more than doubled. (Because of population growth, the actual increase per capita was about 66 percent.) But the average income for the vast majority of Americans actually declined during that period. The standard of living for the average family has improved not because incomes have grown, but because women have gone into the workplace in droves.  --  The peak income year for the bottom 90 percent of Americans was way back in 1973 — when the average income per taxpayer (adjusted for inflation) was $33,001. That is nearly $4,000 higher than the average in 2005.  --  It’s incredible but true: 90 percent of the population missed out on the income gains during that long period."
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When the Big Boys Get in Trouble, the Little Taxpayer Pays the Bill  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/19/6474/
A quote...."It was at a large wedding reception in New York City that I saw Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, sitting down to dinner one spring evening in 2000. Having heard on the grapevine that the Federal Reserve was finally going to do something about predatory lending-an area of enforcement under their jurisdiction-I went over to his table and asked him this question:”Mr. Chairman, I hear that you are going to crack down on predatory lending practices.” He nodded and said quite firmly, “Yes, Enough is Enough.”
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The False US Economy Versus Nature’s Expansion-Contraction Cycle  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/20/6497/
A quote...."While tending berry vines on my small farm this fall and winter, I’ve observed the sharp decline of the US’s artificial economy. Nature has a seasonal cycle of expansion and contraction. Now contracting, the US’s manufactured economy has been built on a growth-always fiction."

I'm surprised the author didn't also compare the US economy to a farm that's using unsustainable methods.

The use of expensive and destructive fertilizers (Fed pumping and priming)

The leaching of the top soil, (spending beyond our means, massive trade, federal, mortgage and consumer deficits)

The destructive use of mono-culture techniques, (tearing down the fire walls between insurance, banking, and brokerage firms, transforming our economy into one seamless financial colossus, all of which has lead to our present financial instabilities.)

The massive and uncontrolled use of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, antibiotics and other industrial farming techniques all of which destroy the organic balance on farms (the use of the government by the small financial elite to enact and enforce regulations that solely benefit them, putting at a disadvantage millions of smaller businesses. The destruction of the small retail businesses in thousands of cities and towns across the country be the mega-malls or mega-outlets.  All of these actions destroy the organic balance in an economy)

The analogy could be taken much, much, further. – mpg
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Honeybees may be wiped out in 10 years  ---  http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2008/200108Honeybees.htm
Case in point. - mpg
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No posts. - mpg
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America's "Divide and Rule" Strategies in the Middle East  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7816
A quote...."In relationship to the preparations for creating the “New Middle East” there have been attempts, with partial success, to deliberately create divisions within the populations of the Middle East and Central Asia through ethno-cultural, religious, sectarian, national, and political differentiations."
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Opium fields spread across Iraq as farmers try to make ends meet  ---  http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article3345186.ece
A quote...."The cultivation of opium poppies whose product is turned into heroin is spreading rapidly across Iraq as farmers find they can no longer make a living through growing traditional crops. - Afghan with experience in planting poppies have been helping farmers switch to producing opium in fertile parts of Diyala province, once famous for its oranges and pomegranates, north- east of Baghdad."

Isn't it just grand to see America's policies spreading?  First Afghanistan, which under the Taliban produced almost no opium, but now under American occupation is producing record harvests of the stuff.  Now Iraq is joining the lucrative trade. - mpg
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Scott Horton Interviews Juan Cole  ---  http://antiwar.com/radio/2008/01/14/juan-cole-3/
Audio Interview - A quote...."Juan Cole, professor of history at the University of Michigan, discusses current events in Iraq, the “re-Ba’athification” law, relations between various Iraqi factions such as the Sadrists, Da’wa/ISCI, former Ba’athists, “al Qaeda in Iraq,” Kurds and Arabs in Kirkuk and the consequences of U.S. policy toward them all."
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Monsters of our own making
  ---  http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-brooks17jan17,0,5128292.column?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
A quote...."Happy Frankenstein Month! Yes, this month marks the 190th anniversary of the publication of "Frankenstein," Mary Shelley's novel about a man who dreams of reshaping humanity but ends up creating a monster. And you're probably wondering: Just how should I observe Frankenstein Month?"
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The Corpse on the Gurney - The "Success" Mantra in Iraq  ---  http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174882
Must Read - A quote...."Last January, after announcing his "surge strategy," the President called in his technicians. As it turned out, Gen. David Petraeus, surge commander in Iraq, has been quite impressive, as has new U.S. ambassador to that country, Ryan Crocker. Think of them as "the undertakers," since they've been the ones who, applying their skills, have managed to give that Iraqi corpse the faint glow of life. The President asked them to make Iraq look like it could get up and walk away -- and the last year of "success," widely trumpeted in the media, has been the result. But just think about what the defense minister and President Bush are promising: By 2018, the country will -- supposedly -- be able to control its own borders, one of the more basic acts of a sovereign state. That, by itself, tells you much of what you need to be know."
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George Galloway vs Neocon David Frum - posted at Info Clearing House  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19099.htm
Video - A quote...."As President Bush began his last big tour of the Middle East - and threatens US sanctions on Iran - George Galloway and David Frum debate the issues."
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Canada puts U.S., Guantanamo and Israel on torture 'watch list'  ---  http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/01/canada-puts-us.html
A quote...."Canada has put the United States and Israel on a torture watch list, according to CTV. A Canadian government document cites the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and interrogation techniques that include "forced nudity, isolation, and sleep deprivation."
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No Peace  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese427.html
Must Read - A quote...."To understand the failure of the president's trip to the Middle East, which is foreordained and doesn't have to be completed in order to fail, take note of two words that the president will not utter: "occupied territories."
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As Iraqis See It  ---  http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20934
A quote...."When it comes to covering the war in Iraq, McClatchy Newspapers has always done things a bit differently. The third-largest newspaper company in the US, it owns thirty-one daily papers, including The Miami Herald, The Sacramento Bee, The Kansas City Star, and The Charlotte Observer. (It became the owner of some of these papers after buying Knight Ridder newspapers in 2006.) McClatchy has a large bureau in Washington, but without a paper either in the capital or in New York, it operates outside the glare of the nation's political and media elite, and this has freed it to follow its own path."
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Over 200 militants overrun Pakistani outpost -- http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1200475894770&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
A quote...."In a major battlefield success, Islamic militants attacked and occupied a Pakistani military fort on the Afghan border, officials said Wednesday. Seven Pakistani frontier guards died in the assault and 20 were listed as missing."
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Pakistani troops abandon second border outpost under militant threats, official says - posted at ICH  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
  ---  http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=565228901992105419
A quote...."ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistani troops abandoned an outpost near the border with Afghanistan on Thursday after receiving threats from Islamic militants who overran a nearby fort a day earlier, according to an intelligence official and a militant spokesman."
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Japanese government pushes through law to allow naval support for Afghan occupation  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2008/jan2008/japa-j18.shtml
A quote...."Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda last Friday used his government’s two-thirds majority in the lower house of parliament to force through legislation restarting Japan’s naval refuelling assistance to the US-led occupation of Afghanistan. The vote not only overruled the opposition-controlled upper house, but also ignored widespread popular opposition in Japan to the Bush administration’s “war on terror”.
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Scott Horton Interviews Gareth Porter  ---  http://antiwar.com/radio/2008/01/11/gareth-porter-19/
Audio Interview - A quote...."IPS News reporter Gareth Porter discusses the unraveling of the War Party’s inflated claims about the recent “confrontation” in the Persian Gulf, the scam behind the hype and the bi-polar policy that has the U.S. still backing Iran in Iraq in spite of all the contradictions."
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The Hormuz Hoax - Who almost started World War III?  ---  http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=12230
A quote...."Following up on the alleged incident in the Strait of Hormuz with those five Iranian speedboats, remember that radioed threat supposedly coming from the Iranian side? Now they're blaming it on – are you ready for this? – "the Filipino Monkey," some crazy guy (or guys) whose obscene remarks have come crackling over ship radios in the area for years."
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The Financial Tsunami: The Financial Foundations of the American Century  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7813
Must Read - A quote...."The ongoing and deepening global financial crisis, nominally triggered in July 2007 by an event involving a small German bank holding securitized assets backed by USA sub-prime real estate mortgages, can best be understood as an essential part of an historical process dating back to the end of the Second World War—the rise and decline of the American Century."
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Abu Ghraib was not about 'a few bad apples' and neither is our two-party Vichy regime.
  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_amacd_080116_abu_ghraib_was_not_a.htm
A quote...."With all the recently hyped euphoria about ‘change’ in the 2008 election campaign there is, unfortunately, the same suspension of disbelief that allowed Americans to look beyond the ugly Abu Ghraib torture and hope, against the reality of lies, that “it’s just a few bad apples”.  --  It was not just “a few bad apples” at the core of Abu Ghraib, and it’s not “just a few bad apples” at the core of this Vichy American government’s veneer-thin façade over the underlying two-party global corporatist Empire."
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Stallone Decries "Bold Faced Lying To Pacify The Masses"  ---  http://infowars.net/articles/january2008/170108Stallone.htm
A quote...."Sylvester Stallone, star of the upcoming fourth Rambo film, has described the current political climate as being based upon "bold faced lying" by governments in order to "pacify the masses".
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Lawbreaking telecoms still conniving to obtain immunity from Congress  ---  http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/index.html
A quote...."Over the past several months, Democratic Senators Jay Rockefeller and Harry Reid have been the two most valuable instruments in the Bush administration's efforts to obtain vastly expanded warrantless eavesdropping powers and immunity for lawbreaking telecoms. As the Senate returns to Washington next week, Reid is apparently now more determined than ever before to ensure that the Bush administration's FISA demands are complied with in full."

For more on this see....The Last Bastion of Freedom is Falling - 05-30-06 - mpg
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/lastbastionoffreedom-essay-mpg-053006
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Institutionalized Spying On Americans  ---  http://www.countercurrents.org/lendman170108.htm
A quote...."The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) established a new domestic spying operation in 2007 called the National Applications Office (NOA) and described it as "the executive agent to facilitate the use of intelligence community technological assets for civil, homeland security and law enforcement purposes within the United States."
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Breaking the Sound Barrier: Democracy Now! Re-Hosts NBC Las Vegas Debate to Include Kucinich After NBC Wins Appeal to Exclude Him
  ---  http://www.democracynow.org/2008/1/16/breaking_the_sound_barrier_democracy_now
A quote...."Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich was missing from the stage at last night’s Democratic debate hosted by MSNBC in Las Vegas after he lost a last-minute legal fight with the network over his participation. Last week, NBC told Kucinich that he had met the criteria for the debate. Then, less than two days later, the network changed the criteria and declared that Kucinich was no longer qualified. On Monday, a Nevada judge ordered NBC to include Kucinich, but then NBC appealed the ruling and actively fought to keep him off the stage. On Tuesday night, less than an hour before the debate, the Nevada Supreme Court sided with NBC. Democracy Now! decided to break the sound barrier and give Kucinich a chance to take part. In an exclusive broadcast, we re-broadcast excerpts of the debate and give the Ohio Congressman a chance to answer the questions he might have faced if he hadn’t been silenced. [includes rush transcript]
Real Video Stream ||   ---  http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2008/jan/video/dnB20080116a.rm&proto=rtsp&start=10:18
Real Audio Stream  ||   ---  http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2008/jan/audio/dn20080116.ra&proto=rtsp&start=10:18
MP3 Download  ||   ---  http://media.switchpod.com/users/democracynow/ftp/dn2008-0116-1.mp3
More...  ||   ---  http://www.democracynow.org/2008/1/16/stream
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QinetiQ Goes Kinetic: Top Rumsfeld Aide Wins Contracts From Spy Office He Set Up  ---  http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14898
A quote...."A Pentagon office that claims to monitor terrorist threats to U.S. military bases in North America -- and was once reprimanded by the U.S. Congress for spying on antiwar activists -- has just awarded a multi-million dollar contract to a company that employs one of Donald Rumsfeld’s former aides. That aide, Stephen Cambone, helped create the very office that issued the contract."

a.k.a. "The Circle Jerk" or "The Self Licking Ice Cream Cone" - mpg
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Cocaine Jet Crash in Mexico Linked to Narco-Trafficker Who Worked for U.S. Government  ---  http://narconews.com/Issue49/article2965.html
A quote...."Before His September Arrest, José Nelson Urrego May Have Been Operating as a Trafficker and Money Launderer for Years in Panama, Under U.S. Protection"
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America; Land of Illogic:  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_mike_fol_080117_america_3b_land_of_ill.htm
A quote...."You know what gives me depression? Mitt Romney promising the people in Michigan that their jobs are coming back. Not so much that he was lying about the jobs, as the people in Michigan believing him. That’s plain scary."
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When the Rich Pay No Taxes  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/moore01172008.html
A quote...."During his eight-year reign as governor of Florida, Jeb Bush fashioned an economic time bomb. On his way out the door he lit the fuse. His handiwork will soon devastate this state and visit unprecedented suffering on its people. It will be a nightmare, part of which will imperil the public schools, the operation of local governments and the state retirement system."
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Philly manufacturing activity plummets in January
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/philly-manufacturing-activity-plummets-january/
  ---  story.aspx?guid=%7B056C3F69%2D23EA%2D41E9%2D9E10%2DA02DE1837773%7D
A quote...."The Philly Fed diffusion index fell to a negative 20.9 in January -- the lowest level since October 2001 -- from negative 1.6 in December. Readings below zero indicate most manufacturing firms surveyed in the region bounded by eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware are reporting worsening business conditions."
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Housing starts plunge 14% to 16-year low - New home construction falls 25% in 2007 to lowest in 15 years
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/housing-starts-plunge-14-16-year/story.aspx?
  ---  guid=%7B57EE3235%2D9126%2D4DDA%2DA284%2D556E1E188CDE%7D
A quote...."The gruesome figures show builders are cutting back on production at a furious pace to try to work off a large backload of unsold homes. The bad news is that housing is still contracting; the good news is that the sooner builders stop adding supply to overbuilt markets, the sooner the housing market can recover."
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THE SIXTH EXTINCTION - It Happened to Him. It's Happening to You.
  ---  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/11/AR2008011101994.html
A quote...."Now we face the possibility of mass extinction event No. 6. No big killer asteroid is in sight. Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes are not of the scale to cause mass extinction. Yet recent studies show that troubling earlier projections about rampant extinction aren't exaggerated."
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Dinosaurs 'grew fast, bred young'  ---  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7181993.stm
A quote...."This shows us beyond any doubt how fast dinosaurs grow," said Kevin Padian, a professor at UC Berkeley's Museum of Palaeontology, who was the students' advisor.  --  "They're growing as fast as big birds and big mammals," he told the BBC.  --  "To do this you can't have the metabolism of a crocodile; you need to have the metabolism more of a bird or a mammal."
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