Monday March 17th 2008 - links page

Tomgram: Philip K. Dick Meet George W. Bush  ---  http://tomdispatch.com/post/174906/philip_k_dick_meet_george_w_bush
Must Read - A quote...."Blowing Them Away Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry -- Globalization Bush-style  --  Imagine, for a moment, that you live in a small town somewhere near the Southern California coast. You're going about your daily life, trying to scrape by in hard times, when the missile hits. It might have come from the Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) -- its pilot at a base on the outskirts of Tehran -- that has had the village in its sights for the last six hours or from the Russian sub stationed just off the coast. In either case, it's devastating."
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Raiding The Vault -- Part III: "Burn"  ---  http://winterpatriot.blogspot.com/2008/03/raiding-vault-part-iii-burn.html
A quote...."I almost managed to laugh back in January when I saw that the Washington Post had published a piece called "Democracy Activists Disappointed in Bush", because I knew the democracy activists in question must be foreigners. -- democracy activists in the USA have long been "disappointed" with Bush -- especially with the way in which he was supposedly twice elected -- but the Washington Post has hardly shown any interest in such stories."
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Rageh Omaar on Iraq: A nation in pieces - posted at BuzzFlash  ---  http://www.buzzflash.com/
  ---  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/03/15/sm_iraq15.xml&page=1
On the Ground Report - A quote...."Five years after the invasion of Iraq, Rageh Omaar, who made his name reporting on the fall of Saddam for the BBC, returned to Baghdad to find out how life has changed for the friends and colleagues he has known since his first trip there in 1997"
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Iraq War as War Crime (Part One)  ---  http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/031708.html
A quote...."Editor’s [Consortium News] Note: The Iraq War – now ending its fifth bloody year – represents not only a human tragedy of enormous consequence and possibly the greatest strategic blunder in U.S. history but also a systemic failure of American political and journalistic institutions.....*Robert Perry*
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Beware an Attack on Iran  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8371
A quote...."Is the Bush administration ramping up for an attack on Iran? The signs seem to point in that direction. On March 11, Navy Adm. William Fallon, commander of the U.S. forces in the Middle East, retired early because of differences with Washington on Iran policy. And now, Dick Cheney's current Middle East tour may be designed to prepare our Arab allies for an imminent "preemptive" war against Iran."
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Why the US sees Iran as a threat  ---  http://www.therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1163&thisview=item
Must View - Video - Commentary - War Warning - A quote...."Aijaz Ahmad: The main reason is the geopolitics of the region and the global economy"
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World cold shoulders Iran sanctions  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=47924&sectionid=351020104
A quote..."Less than 50 percent of the United Nations member states have filed mandatory reports on their measures taken to enforce Iran sanctions. - The UN committee monitoring sanctions against Iran has announced that only %45 of member states have filed their mandatory reports to the body."
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Partick Cockburn: A gross failure that ignored history and ended with a humiliating retreat
  ---  http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/partick-cockburn-a-gross-
  ---  failure-that-ignored-history-and-ended-with-a-humiliating-retreat-796775.html
A quote...."The war in Iraq has been one of the most disastrous wars ever fought by Britain. It has been small but we achieved nothing. It will stand with Crimea and the Boer War as conflicts which could have been avoided and were demonstrations of incompetence from start to finish."
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Keep Away From America!  ---  http://watchingamerica.com/News/2008/03/17/america-very-large-very-small/
A quote...."The American administration is incapable of making or sponsoring any peace projects."  --  It took awhile, and a lot of tragedy, but everybody in the Middle East, in fact across the whole world is finally learning the bitter truth, America now stands for war, death and destruction....and many who live in this country are oblivious to it. Everyone should be warned however....many others in this country revel in it. - mpg
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Japanese MP Yukihisa Fujita Speaks at 9/11 Truth Conference in Sydney  ---  http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=2008031794713470
A quote...."Japanese MP Yukihisa Fujita of the Democratic Party of Japan, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet of Japan - Japanese MP Yukihisa Fujita of the Democratic Party of Japan, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet of Japan (national legislature), spoke at the 9/11 Truth conference in Sydney today."
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25 Intolerable Contradictions: The Final Undoing of the Official 9/11 Story  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8374
A quote...."At last there is a book about 9/11 that politicians and journalists can openly discuss without fear of being labeled "conspiracy theorists". - 9/11 Contradictions advances no theories. It simply exposes 25 astonishing internal contradictions that will haunt the public story of this unparalleled event for all time."
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9/11 - From The History File...The 911 Mystery Plane
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Iraq: UK teachers told to rewrite history (Update: Teachers threaten a boycott)  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/159172
A quote...."Britain's biggest teachers' union has accused the Ministry of Defence of breaking the law over a lesson plan drawn up to teach pupils about the Iraq war. The National Union of Teachers claims it breaches the 1996 Education Act, which aims to ensure all political issues are treated in a balanced way."
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Murdered Bishop was staunch opponent to US Occupation and denounced President Saddam Hussein' execution  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/159405
Reliable sources in Mosul, asserted today, that the murdered Iraqi Bishop Paulos Faraj Rahho was a staunch opponent to the US occupation of Iraq, denouncing many times and publicly the assassination of the Iraqi legitimate President Saddam Hussein. - The mentioned sources explained that the late Archbishop of Nineveh, Paulos Faraj Rahho was one of the most outspoken Iraqi high graded clerics who rejected publicly and utterly the US' occupation of Iraq and denounced many a times President Saddam Hussein murder by the US."
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United States censors Guantanamo prisoner's sketch of force-feeding -- http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jVwGqYWMiTBxH46PsF9gQVEg-JzQ
A quote..."GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — The United States has censored a gruesome drawing by a Guantanamo Bay detainee depicting him as a skeleton being force-fed at the military prison, the man's lawyers said Monday as they released a recreation of the sketch. -- The detainee, Sami al-Haj, a Sudanese cameramen for the Al-Jazeera TV network, marked his 431st day on hunger strike Monday at Guantanamo...."  --  Ahhhh, another member of the press heard from, however unlike most of the ones in the US press who are either comfortably ensconced in the Green Zone, whoring around on K-Street or like the New York Times, selling themselves to the lowest bidder (in this case some hedge funds no less, what's up with that??), Mr. al-Haj is now enjoying forced cuisine courtesy of the US military precisely because he did his job as a "real" reporter should. --  For more on the US military's courtesy toward "real" reporters see.... US - Killing the Messenger -- http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/uskillingthemessenger-weblist-mpg-112907
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Video: Palestinian Mother & Daughter Meet Years after Sabra & Shatila  ---  http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m42130&s1=h1
Video - A quote...."Rehab Kanaan, a Palestinian poet born in Beirut in 1959, was seen numerous times on Arab satellite channels to read her patriotic poetry on Palestine, the Intifada and the suppression of the Zionist occupation, and so was dubbed al-Khansaa' of Palestine. She Lost 54 people from her family in the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon. Fate made her eight-year child named Maimana survive that massacre during which one of her neighbours in one of the camps in Lebanon raised and took care of her. The mother did not know that her daughter had survived the massacre, and no one in the life of the daughter had known that the mother also survived." -- For those who like a good cry....Hey!! It got me misty eyed. - mpg
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Red Cross: Iraq humanitarian situation one of the most desperate - posted at ICH  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
  ---  http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/news/article_1395703.php/Red_Cross_Iraq_humanitarian_situation_one_of_the_most_desperate
A quote...." Geneva - The humanitarian situation in Iraq five years after the US-led invasion is 'one of the most critical in the world,' the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a report issued Monday."
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Red Cross says millions of Iraqis lack water and healthcare - posted at ICH  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
  ---  http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnL14236988.html
A quote...."GENEVA (Reuters) - Five years after the United States led an invasion of Iraq, millions of people there are still deprived of clean water and medical care, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday."
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Hamas leader's popularity rises - opinion poll - posted at ICH  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
  ---  http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL17152192.html?rpc=401&
A quote...."JERUSALEM, March 17 (Reuters) - Israeli attacks in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip have boosted the popularity of the Islamist group's leader Ismail Haniyeh among Palestinians in the territory and in the West Bank, according to a poll on Monday.
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Bad Journalist Erases Evidence of Bad Journalism   ---  http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=54686
A quote...."As Joe noted earlier, Bill Kristol repeated some made-up stuff today in the NYT and then fabricated a thesis around it. Now Greg at TPM Election Central reports that Kristol's source got caught trying to wash his hands of the mess." - a.k.a. the NYT gets caught again, this editor can't wait 'till they hire Judy Miller back. - mpg
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Times Co. to Give Board Seats to 2 Hedge Funds - posted at BuzzFlash  ---  http://www.buzzflash.com/
  ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/17/business/media/17cnd-times.html?_r=1&8au&emc=au&oref=slogin
A quote..."The New York Times Company has struck a deal with a pair of hedge funds that want to shake up the company, giving the funds two seats on the board in order to avoid a proxy fight, the two sides announced Monday."  -- No doubt we'll soon be seeing a plethora of articles extolling the virtues of hedge funds, how beneficial they are for the economy and how our government would be well advised to give them trillions of dollars in loan guarantees and tax breaks.  My Oh My, how the mighty have fallen. When the Times was whoring around with the all powerful MIOC elites, at least they were in the "club", now they're out on the street hawking themselves for a ten spot.- mpg
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Time magazine invents facts to claim that Americans support Bush's domestic spying abuses
  ---  http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/03/17/time/index.html
A quote...."No matter how corrupt and sloppy the establishment press becomes, they always find a way to go lower. Time Magazine has just published what it purports to be a news article by Massimo Calabresi claiming that "nobody cares" about the countless abuses of spying powers by the Bush administration; " -- OH MY GAWD! - The presstitutes are running amok! - mpg
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Iran election results no victory for Ahmadinejad, says spokesman  ---  http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=89628
A quote...."Tehran (dpa) - The results of Iran's parliamentary elections should not be interpreted as victory for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a spokesman of one of the victorious conservative factions said Monday."
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CIA Increases Legal Liability Insurance  ---  http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/cia_increases_legal_liability.php
A quote...."The CIA announced Monday that it will now pay the full cost of legal liability insurance for about two-thirds of the agency workforce.... One shift is already looming: A change in administrations could make it more likely lawsuits will be filed against CIA interrogators for a controversial program approved by the Bush White House — the use of harsh interrogation techniques and the secret movement of prisoners, known as extraordinary rendition."
See also....Fun & Torture - It's a Pleasure.  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/funandtorture-blog-mpg-020307
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Israel to hold massive emergency drill  ---  http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1205420704459&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
False Flag Alert - War Alert - A quote...."In the face of a possible escalation with Syria and Iran's efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon, parts of the country will shut down next month in what security officials say will be the largest emergency exercise in Israel's history."
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The War and the Working Class  ---  http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031608D.shtml
A quote...."The government treats its soldiers the way most corporations treat their workforce - as an invisible, disrespected, disposable means to an end that is contrary to workers' interests. Members of the armed forces come mainly and disproportionately from the working class and from small-town and rural America, where opportunities are hard to come by. The "economic draft" operates, in effect, to recruit young people from these communities as they sign up to gain job skills, experience and educational opportunities absent from their civilian lives."
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Too Big to Bail - The Fed's Wall Street Dilemma  ---  http://counterpunch.com/martens03172008.html
Must Read - A quote...."Americans learned two new truths last week from the Bush Administration's version of Life's Little Instruction Book: if you're a Wall Street miscreant you're thrown a lifeline; if you're a Wall Street crime fighter you're thrown a land mine."
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Not many suitors left standing for U.S. banks  ---  http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1762787020080317
Special Note - A quote...."NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve is arranging shotgun weddings for failing financial institutions, but policy makers might find themselves running out of eligible suitors. - The Fed encouraged JPMorgan Chase & Co to take over Bear Stearns Cos Inc, which had experienced a run on the bank. The deal came two months after Bank of America Corp agreed to buy Countrywide Financial Corp, the largest mortgage lender in the U.S. The Fed also encouraged that deal. - With these acquisitions, top U.S. banks are either embroiled in big takeovers or wrestling with credit problems with their own." -- For more on this see....The Green Light 01-16-08 - mpg  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/thegreenlight-blog-mpg-011608
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MF Global tries to calm market after shares plunge
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/mf-global-shares-plunge-brokerage/story.aspx?
  ---  guid=%7B96F9602E%2D5D8E%2D4F1F%2DBDF2%2DF62D7147C3E2%7D
A quote...."SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- MF Global Ltd.'s shares lost nearly two-thirds their value Monday, prompting the largest broker of exchange-traded futures to assure investors that it was in good standing with trading and financial partners."
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Bear Stearns Fire-sale sends Global Markets Plunging; Dollar Routed - posted at ICH  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19552.htm
A quote...." 17/03/08 "ICH " -- -- “It's a snowball and it keeps getting bigger,” Peggy Furusaka, credit specialist at BNP Paribas SA in Tokyo. -  Last night, while America slept, investors and dollar-holders around the world held an impromptu election on US stewardship of the global economy. It was a spontaneous referendum triggered by the sudden collapse of Bear Stearns, but it covered many of the issues that have worried investors for the last seven years:"
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Bear Shareholders Already on the Prowl  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19552.htm
A quote...."It didn’t take long.  --  Today, securities-suit powerhouse Coughlin Stoia was again on its game with a shareholder suit alleging fraud by Bear Stearns and its top guns. The suit, filed on behalf of Bear shareholders who bought stock as recently as Friday, claims management misled them about the company’s financial condition. " -- Wow! That really was quick. - mpg
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Leading Economic Writer: Financial Meltdown A "Gigantic Fraud"  ---  http://infowars.net/articles/march2008/170308Fraud.htm
A quote...."A leading economic journalist has described the current financial crisis as a "gigantic fraud", the fallout of a deliberate and preconceived profit agenda to enslave the middle classes in a debt bubble."
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The dinosaur gold-standard economy  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JC15Dj01.html
A quote...."Peter Schiff of Euro Pacific Capital is justifiably upset that CNBC, on which he has appeared many, many times over the years, professes to be surprised at current events, even though they are the same things he has consistently predicted on their show! I know! I've seen him!"
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How bad is the mortgage crisis going to get?  ---  http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/14/news/economy/krugman_subprime.fortune/?postversion=2008031705
A quote...."What started in subprime is likely to continue cascading into the markets and keep the economy down until 2010, economist Paul Krugman forecasts. Bottom line for homeowners: An average drop of 25%."
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The Federal Reserve Is Destroying America  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=5915
A quote...."It is incredible to see the rampant devaluation of the U.S. Dollar. The Federal Reserve just hours ago made a rare cut of 25 basis points during the weekend which will cause even more inflation."
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Update on the Simmons-Tierney Bet - [about oil prices]  ---  http://www.theoildrum.com/node/3738
Special Note - A quote...."On August 23rd, 2005, shortly after the publication of Twilight in the Desert, New York Times columnist John Tierney announced a bet with author Matt Simmons on the future price of oil:" -- Highly technical and very interesting. - mpg
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Gulf States Creep Away From Plunging Dollar  ---  http://prisonplanet.com/articles/march2008/031708_creep_away.htm
A quote...."Gulf States are set to follow former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan's advice and dump their dollar peg following a benchmark meeting tomorrow, with analysts predicting a slow but deliberate creep away from the greenback rather than an imminent decoupling, a move that could have devastating consequences for the American economy."
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Dollar Falls Against Euro, Yen  ---  http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hiVtV2zuQIAFn_h-JnQjvVSfPTRgD8VFE33O0
A quote...."NEW YORK (AP) — The dollar fell to a record low against the euro and sank to its lowest level in more than 12 years against the yen Monday, as investors reacted to the latest emergency rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve and to news that JPMorgan Chase is buying rival investment bank Bear Stearns for a fraction of what it was worth last week."
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A major Fed rate cut now seems certain
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/fed-rate-cut-percentage-point/story.aspx?
  ---  guid=%7B47CD3B6D%2DCEFD%2D4AEB%2D9107%2DE3BA3A85C884%7D
A quote...."WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The Federal Reserve is expected to engineer an extremely rare cut of one percentage point in overnight interest rates on Tuesday, Fed watchers said." -- Let's put it this way....if the market doesn't get a one percent rate cut tomorrow, it will be extremely unhappy.  However since it's already factored in this rate cut....it may be unhappy anyway, just not as much as if didn't get it. - mpg
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New York Fed March Factory Index Falls to Record Low (Update1) ---  http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aiZzqsvkLuM0&refer=us
A quote...." March 17 (Bloomberg) -- A measure of manufacturing in New York state fell to the lowest level on record in March as new orders and shipments contracted for a second month. - The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's general economic index fell to minus 22.2 from minus 11.7 in February, the bank said today. Readings below zero signal contraction and the March level was the lowest since the New York Fed's index began in 2001. The index averaged 17.2 in 2007."

Sunday March 16th 2008 - links page

A planetary country club of vampire elites and billions of symbiotic enablers.
  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_w__chris_080316_a_planetary_country_.htm
Must Read - A quote...."May we say that again? No enablers, no elites.  --  Enablers, as in: neighbors, relatives, colleagues at work, fellow church members, medical professionals, etc., etc., etc.  --  Yes, yes, we all know there are exceptions, but do we also know these exceptions profoundly prove the rule?  --  This planet is basically made up of two power modes: (1.) vampire elites, and (2.) billions of slothful, cowardly enablers of the elites, e.g., TV sitcom heads, religious fanatics, the "don't look at me" slobs, the political duh-brains . . . and a planetary country club of elites who are in control of EVERYTHING and always have been in the control of everything for the last, say, 6,000 years."  --  On the other hand, judging from what this editor has seen in Amerika during the last seven years, maybe the enablers deserve their elites, maybe they actually LIKE what's being done to them?  Maybe Amerikans are just out and out cowards?  This editor for one is running out of excuses for the people in this country. - mpg
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When did America become a nation of frightened wimps?
  ---  http://www.steve-olson.com/when-did-america-become-a-nation-of-frightened-wimps/
Related article - From the history file - A quote...."When did America become a nation of frightened wimps? When did we cross the line from courage to cowardice? Was it sometime in the 1990s? After the Oklahoma City bombing? After the Columbine shootings? After 911?  --  When did we decide to allow the police to smash into private homes without knocking and identifying themselves? Recently, in the suburb I live in, a special police force dressed in black Nazi style uniforms busted into a suburban home without warning and dragged a school teacher out of her house with an automatic weapon at the back of her head."
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Bush Clears the Way for More War  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/manion/manion84.html
A quote...."Bush’s supporters have known it for years, of course, but Admiral Fallon's firing makes it clear to the rest of us: Bush has not been telling us the truth. Dick Cheney is the only "commander on the ground" that he relies on. Clearly, Bush and Cheney are both spiteful about the resentment and outright contempt that a growing number of Americans now harbor against them. With that in mind, as he leaves office, Cheney’s moral compass would have no trouble sticking the country with a war in Iran – to serve his personal agenda, yes, but also to make the next administration look even worse than this one. "History will vindicate us," they crow.  --  Perverse? Of course. But Americans now understand that these are today’s zeroes, where there once walked heroes."
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Another year, another $300 billion -- http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/03/16/another_year_another_300_billion/?page=1
A quote...."THE SIXTH year of the Iraq war begins this week. The war is now the second-longest in US history - longer than any except Vietnam. So far, 1.6 million US troops have served, more than a third of them for two or more tours of duty. Almost 4,000 US service personnel have been killed, and 60,000 wounded, injured or contracted a serious disease. Many survive with severe multiple injuries ("polytraumas") that in previous wars would have almost certainly ended in death."
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Five years of failure  ---  http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/bianca_jagger/2008/03/five_years_of_failure.html
A quote...."If George Bush and Tony Blair had presided as CEOs over deceptive and fraudulent practices in the City comparable to those they are guilty of with regard to Iraq, they would have been immediately and unceremoniously sacked."
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Robert Fisk: Silenced by the men in white socks  ---  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/fisk/robert-fisk-silenced-by-the-men-in-white-socks-796359.html
A quote...."Shut them up. Accuse them. Imprison them. Stop them talking. Why is it that this seems to have become a symbol of the Arab – or Muslim – world? Yes I know about our Western reputation for free speech; from the Roman Empire to the Spanish inquisition, from Henry VIII to Robespierre, from Mussolini and Stalin to Hitler, even – on a pitiable scale – to Mr Anthony Blair. But it's getting hard to avoid the Middle East."
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"I Came, I Saw, I Destroyed!"  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19550.htm
A quote...." 16/03/08 "ICH" --- WHAT HAPPENED this week is so infuriating, so impertinent, that it stands out even in our familiar landscape of governmental irresponsibility. - On the near horizon, a de facto suspension of hostilities was taking shape. The Egyptians had made great efforts to turn it into an official cease-fire. The flame was already burning visibly lower. The launching of Qassams and Grads from the Gaza Strip into Israel had fallen from dozens a day to two or three."
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Annals of Liberation: Buried Truths, Bloody Lies and Our Expert Executioners  ---  http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1458/135/
A quote...."For a proper perspective on the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, check out Winter Patriot on the Winter Soldier hearings   ---  http://winterpatriot.blogspot.com/2008/03/live-blogging-from-winter-soldier.html  ---  in Washington DC. -- Because you're not going to get this information from the America's media mandarins. The New York Times has not deigned to mention the hearings at all. The Washington Post buried a story on it deep inside the paper on Saturday -- and a very skillful piece of dampening it was, too. Five of the first 11 paragraphs were given over to the handful of "counter-protestors" who showed up to denounce the veterans. It was not until the 19th paragraph that the Post mentioned any specific incident -- a gunship attack on an apartment building in November 2003. No details were given. --  There goes our most famous presstitutes again, the New York Times and the Washington Post, doing their whorish best to betray absolutely everything that was noble about the "fourth estate" in this country.  Remember folks, all you need to know about our "mass-media" is how they NEVER talk about PNAC, or how Bush's ENTIRE foreign policy is predicated on, and predicted by, PNAC,  or 9/11's inconsistencies, or the Saudi Royals' relationships to our elites, or our elites' relationships to the Military Industrial Oil Complex. - mpg
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More Torture Reports Leaking Out of Bush Dungeons  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_sherwood_080316_more_torture_reports.htm
A quote...."A guard held a shotgun to my head. ‘You are a terrorist!’ he screamed. ‘What kind of dumb stuff did you write about your treatment here?’ My hands and feet were bound, and someone kicked me from behind.“ - That’s just a sliver of the testimony of Murat Kurnaz, a 19-year-old Muslim from Bremen, Germany, abducted while traveling in Pakistan in the company of missionaries a few months after 9/11."
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Five Years of My Life  ---  http://www.amnestyusa.org/Torture/Five_Years_of_My_Life/page.do?n2=38&id=1551002&n1=3
Interview - Related article - Amensty International interviews Murat Kurnaz - A quote...."When he was 19, Murat Kurnaz quit moonlighting as a nightclub bouncer in his hometown of Bremen, Germany, began attending a nearby mosque and asked his parents to arrange his marriage. After his wedding in Turkey in 2001, he departed for Pakistan to study Islam. Worried that his parents would try to stop him from going, he left without saying goodbye."
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Inside Iraq - Iraq: Five years on - 14 Mar 08 Pt. 1 - (YouTube - 11 min 31 sec - March 15, 2008)
  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvVeCCu0-74
Inside Iraq - Iraq: Five years on - 14 Mar 08 Pt. 2 - (YouTube - 12 min 29 sec - March 15, 2008)
  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GltMo018Roc&feature=user
Must View - Videos - A quote...."Al Jazerra - With the advent of the sixth year of the US occupation, we look at Iraq's future."  --  Don't forget to check out Al Jazerra's YouTube Website.   ---  The US Embassy's spokeswoman throughout the interview basically expressed the opinion that since "security is improving", (actually the jury's still out on that.) everything is a-ok.  Let's speak bluntly again, this is as if someone broke into your home and after the inevitable altercation with the legal residents who lived there, killed the husband, the eldest son, forced the younger son to run off screaming into the night never to be seen again, beat up the wife, raped the daughter and than was surprised and delighted after he received no further resistance to his occupation of the home from those who were still left alive.  This attitude is what now passes for US foreign policy. - mpg
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A city is redrawn by the death squads, bombs and beheadings - Sectarian bloodshed has torn Baghdad into a patchwork of ghettos
  ---  http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m42084&s1=h1
A quote...."The Iraqi grew accustomed to seeing at least one dead body in the street every morning when he left his Baghdad flat for work. - His neighbourhood, known as Saddam District before the invasion and, ironically, Peace District afterwards, had become the site of gunfights, kidnappings and public executions as an avalanche of sectarian violence hit the city. - "There was heavy gunfire at night. The shops were shut. Rubbish and sewage was everywhere. The compound was a war zone," said Omer Nouri, a Sunni Arab who fled to northern Iraq in February last year with his wife and two-year-old son."
For more on this issue see....The Method - 05-07-07 - mpg   ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/themethod-blog-mpg-050707
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My Lai Probe Hid Policy that Led to Massacre  ---  http://www.antiwar.com/porter/?articleid=12531
Some  quotes...."For decades, it has been generally accepted that the My Lai massacre of as many as 400 Vietnamese civilians by U.S. Army troops on Mar. 16, 1968 was a violation of official policy directives on the treatment of civilians in South Vietnam." -- "Documentary evidence from U.S. army archives shows, however, that the Peers report misrepresented a key directive from the top commander in Vietnam, Gen. William C. Westmoreland...."
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Sadr City raids target civilians  ---  http://www.therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1131&thisview=item
Must View - Video - A quote...."We show this segment courtesy of http://www.aliveinbaghdad.org   ---  http://www.aliveinbaghdad.org/  ---  Alive in Baghdad employs Iraqi journalists to produce video packages each week about a variety of topics on daily life in Iraq. Through the work of a team of Americans and Iraqi correspondents on the ground, Alive in Baghdad shows the conflict through the voices of Iraqis. Alive in Baghdad brings testimonies from individual Iraqis, footage of daily life in Iraq, and short news segments from Iraq to you. Alive in Baghdad is a project of Small World News Ltd. Co. They have three production teams, in Iraq, Syria, and Mexico, for their two news programs, Alive in Baghdad and Alive in Mexico."
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Winter Soldier: An Iraqi perspective  ---  http://www.therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1164&thisview=item
Video - Real News Network - Sunday March 16th, 2008 - A quote...."Iraqi journalist Salam Talib describes the divide between the American and Iraqi perspective of the war - Salam Talib is an Iraqi citizen. He worked as a translator for US journalists after the war and started reporting from Iraq himself in 2005. He recently moved to California to study computer engineering at Berkley."
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Verifying Winter Soldier  ---  http://www.therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1133&thisview=item
Video - Real News Network - Sunday March 16th, 2008 - A quote...."Jose Vasquez talks about the process of verifying the stories of those testifying"  -- Don't forget to see the many other videos at Real News Networks  ---  http://www.therealnews.com/web/index.php
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Bush’s Mid-East Policy Is Driven by War, Not Peace
  ---  http://watchingamerica.com/News/2008/03/15/the-bush-administration%e2%80%a6and-its-one-sided-interest/
Must Read - A quote...."They say that the Bush administration has achieved what it has aimed to do, spreading chaos in the region and creating large fissures and divisions between the individual states and their societies. This is true. However, it failed to carry out its second aim, failing to stay at the helm of the spreading tide of chaos, which, had it maintained control, would have worked for American strategic interests and then on to Israeli interests. It is delusion for anyone to believe for a moment that America came to the defense of freedom and democratic rights in the region...."
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Pope: Enough with slaughters in Iraq  ---  http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Pope_Enough_with_slaughters_in_Iraq_03162008.html
A quote...."At the same time, I make an appeal to the Iraqi people, who for the past five years have borne the consequences of a war that provoked the breakup of their civil and social life," Benedict said. - He urged them to raise their heads and reconstruct their life through "reconciliation, forgiveness, justice and coexistence among tribal, ethnic and religious groups." - The Vatican strongly opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. In its aftermath, Benedict has frequently criticized attacks against Iraqi Christians by Islamic extremists. Last year, he urged President Bush to keep the safety of Iraqi Christians in mind."
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Over 70% of Iraqis: US forces out!  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=47791&sectionid=351020201
A quote...."An opinion poll suggests that more than two-thirds of Iraqis believe US-led coalition forces should leave the war-torn country. "
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Red Crescent warns of a new wave of Iraqi refugees  ---  http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news%5C2008-03-15%5Ckurd.htm
A quote...."The Iraqi Red Crescent Society is warning of a massive exodus if U.S. and Iraqi troops go ahead with plans to attack Mosul, the country’s second largest city with nearly 3.8 million people."
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Samantha Power and Democratic evasion on Iraq  ---  http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=89924
A quote...."There is a passage in Samantha Power's "A Problem from Hell," her Pulitzer Prize And-the-Winner-Is-Them-Again -winning book on how the United States dealt with genocide throughout the 20th century, worth pondering for what it says about hypocrisy in the formulation of foreign policy. "
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London: 50000 join anti-war protest (Update)  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/159276
A quote...."Thousands of people have joined demonstrations in London and Glasgow, to mark the fifth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq.  -  Demonstrators called for troops to be withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan and for Gaza's borders to be re-opened.  -  Organisers said 40,000 people took part in London but police said 10,000. A Stop the War spokesman said Iraq had made the world a more dangerous place."
Don't forget to check out the PHOTOS of the protest.  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mpgrapsheet-blogpg-mpg-012707#PROTESTS ---  mpg
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Sarkozy suffers setback in French local polls: projections  ---  http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=220587
A quote...."President Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing party suffered losses in French local elections Sunday that were the first major test of his popularity since he took office, projections from polling firms showed. - Sarkozy's opinion poll ratings have plummeted since his triumphant presidential victory last May and these elections, while fought mostly on local issues, were seen as a referendum on his achievements."  -- Bush's newest "pet poodle" takes a bath. - mpg
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Latin America Rejects Bush Doctrine  ---  http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/3274
A quote...."Reeling from the blow that it received in the aftermath of the Colombian military’s illegal incursion on March 1 into Ecuador — which resulted in the brutal massacre of a number of civilians and members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), including its chief negotiator Raul Reyes — US imperialism has once again raised the ante in its struggle to undermine the growing process of Latin American integration."
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Wiretapping's true danger - BuzzFlash  ---  http://www.buzzflash.com/
  ---  http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-sanchez16mar16,0,4039194.story
A quote...."As the battle over reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act rages in Congress, civil libertarians warn that legislation sought by the White House could enable spying on "ordinary Americans." Others, like Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), counter that only those with an "irrational fear of government" believe that "our country's intelligence analysts are more concerned with random innocent Americans than foreign terrorists overseas."
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Three Easy Pieces: The Dollar, Paulson, and Carlyle Capital  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19542.htm
Must Read - A quote...."16/03/08 "ICH' -- - So far, so bad. On Wednesday, crude-futures topped $110 for the first time, the dollar slipped to $1.55 per euro, and gold zoomed to a new high of $1,000 per ounce. Yikes. The dollar has been shoved off a cliff and no one knows where it will land. Last week, the G-7 nations announced that if “irrational” prices movements persisted, they would “collectively take suitable measures to calm the financial markets.” Their statement was taken to mean that foreign central banks will secretly intervene in the currency markets to stop the dollar from crashing. But can they do it? Only the Fed can raise interest rates and the market is betting that Bernanke will slash another 75 basis points at its next meeting. That ought to send the sinking greenback to Davey Jones Locker in a hurry."
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Virtual Paper, Part 1  ---  http://thewolfatthedoor.blogspot.com/2008/03/virtual-paper-part-1.html
Must Read - Some quotes..."Woozy and boozy in the waning days of the second four year term of the idiot son of an idiot father, that is to say George W. Bush as sired by Ronald Reagan, US capitalism staggered across the stage of global finance, looking and sounding like Britney Spears at the MTV music awards-- bumping into everything, knocking over food and drink, spraying blood and filth on those conga-lined up to feast, and swap more than spit, at the pig's trough called leverage....."  --  "Reeling under its weightless cargo of strips, tips, tranches, zeros, coupons, CDSs, CMOs, CDOs, CLOs, ABCPs, ARMs, SIVs -- in one word junk, but junk packaged in an infinite variety of ways, the bankers carioced their way through that wacked out Minny Mouseketeer's repertoire, beginning and ending the show with their favorite lyric: "Oops, I did it again."
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A deluded Wall Street threatens the world economy  ---  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/mar/16/creditcrunch.useconomy
A quote...."If you'd been in Volare restaurant in downtown Chicago on Monday night, you would not have thought a US recession was imminent; the place was packed, as, earlier, was most of Michigan Avenue, the principal shopping street, despite the freezing winds. -- But that was before Friday as news spread of the collapse of Bear Stearns, America's fifth largest investment bank...."
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The Fed's Desperation Move  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north613.html
A quote...."I do not have a new message here; we have known for a long time that advance preparation and a strong balance sheet are the keys to riding out a financial storm. As I have emphasized before, the Federal Reserve can deal with liquidity pressures but cannot deal with solvency issues. -- *William Poole*, President, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (February 29, 2008)"
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Fed acts Sunday to prevent global bank run Monday
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/fed-acts-sunday-prevent-global/story.aspx?
  ---  guid=%7B43265631%2D1656%2D4697%2D8377%2D55F05D859B76%7D
Fed Action Alert - A quote...."Last update: 10:38 p.m. EDT March 16, 2008 -- WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Acting quickly to prevent a run on major global financial firms, the Federal Reserve cut its discount rate by a quarter percentage point to 3.25% and offered to lend money to a longer list of firms than ever before."
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Bearly Alive: Investment Giant Rushed To I.C.U.  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19541.htm
A quote...."16/03/08 "ICH" -- - On Friday, Bear Stearns blew up. It was the worst possible news at the worst possible time. A day earlier, the politically-connected Carlyle Capital hedge fund defaulted on $16.6 billion of its debt. Carlyle boasted a $21.7 billion portfolio of AAA-rated residential mortgage-backed securities, but was unable to make a margin call of just $400 million. (Where did the $21.7 billion go?) The news on Bear was the last straw. The stock market started reeling immediately; shedding 300 points in less than an hour. Then, miraculously, the tide shifted and the market began to rebound. If there was ever a time for Paulson's Plunge Protection Team to come to the rescue; this was it...."
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Bear Stearns Forced to Sell for $2 per Share.  ---  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/16/bear-stearns-forced-to-se_n_91792.html
A quote..."The New York Times is reporting that Bear Stearns has agreed to be bought out by JPMorgan Chase: Bear Stearns, pushed to the brink of bankruptcy by what amounted to a run on the bank, agreed late Sunday to sell itself to JPMorgan Chase for a mere $2 a share, narrowly averting a collapse that threatened to cascade through the financial system. - The price represents a startling 93 percent discount to Bear Stearns' closing stock price on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange."  -- Ouch!! - mpg
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My Goat Ate the Economy  ---  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marty-kaplan/my-goat-ate-the-economy_b_91759.html
A quote...."If George W. Bush had read The Pet Goat to his Economic Club of New York audience on Friday, his speech would have been no less infantile. If the first 9/11 was caused by a massive failure of intelligence about terrorism, the second 9/11 -- the slow-motion collapse of the American, and maybe the global, economy -- has been caused by a catastrophic failure of intelligence about Wall Street rapacity. If the now five-year-old Iraq war was the inevitable, tragic consequence of the neoconservatives' Project for the New American Century, then the subprime mortgage quagmire, the Bear Stearns bailout, and the foreclosure fiasco are the foreordained outcome of the Republican ideology which holds that regulation of corporate financial behavior is the domestic equivalent of Islamofascism."
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Venezuela opts for oil contracts in euros: report  ---  http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/newsmlmmd.b6e74411a6add50855f9fe9f0eb2899d.d61.html
Special Note - A quote...."CARACAS (AFP) - Venezuelan state oil giant PDVSA has decided to sign some oil contracts in euros in the face of a plummeting dollar, local media reported, citing officials."
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Argentina, Brazil to drop U.S. dollar in bilateral commercial transactions  ---  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/16/content_7800121.htm
Special Note - A quote...."BUENOS AIRES, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Argentina and Brazil are to scrap bilateral commercial transactions in U.S. dollars and start using their own currencies from August, an official in charge of currency settlement at the Argentine Central Bank said here Saturday."
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Dollar plunges on jitters about financial system
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/dollar-plunges-jitters-about-financial/story.aspx?
  ---  guid=%7BCC923915%2D19B4%2D4E5F%2DB6F5%2DE3C9DC34D5AA%7D
A quote...."Last update: 3:33 a.m. EDT March 17, 2008 - LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The dollar remained sharply lower Monday morning but trimmed overnight losses after plunging to a new round of historic lows against major counterparts."
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GOP Gags Witnesses on Credit Card Woes  ---  http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/gop-gags-consumers
A quote...."Partisan maneuver blocked testimony on fee hikes"
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Video: Tent Cities Popping Up In California  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=5900
Video - A quote...."Tent cities much like we saw during the Great Depression are now popping up in California. Check out this BBC report on the issue."
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Obama Converts to Judaism  ---  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-borowitz/obama-converts-to-judaism_b_91687.html
Satire - A quote...."Buffeted by criticism of his controversial Christian pastor while continuing to quell rumors that he is a Muslim, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) took a bold step today to settle questions about his religious faith once and for all. -- "I am converting to Judaism, effective immediately," Mr. Obama told reporters at a press conference in Scarsdale, New York, adding that he would change his middle name from "Hussein" to "Murray."

Saturday March 15th 2008 - links page

International Demands for a New 9/11 Investigation Challenge the “War on Terror”  ---  http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/03/14/18485608.php
Action Alert - A quote...."In Japan, in Europe, in the Congress of the United States, in New York City, in Australia, elected officials and citizens are questioning the events of 9/11, the obstacles that the Administration placed before the Kean/Hamilton Commission. The official narrative that the US has used to justify the “War on Terror,” and dismantle domestic civil liberties and international laws is being challenged."
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Griffin Takes Powerful New Approach to 9/11 Truth  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8352
Book Review - A quote...."9/11 CONTRADICTIONS by David Ray Griffin is the fifth of his books to examine the official account of the events of September 11, 2001. This brilliant and highly readable book takes a new yet simple approach to the truth about 9/11. It focuses entirely on contradictory statements made by members of the Bush administration, government departments and agencies, and official bodies such as the 9/11 Commission. All the statements that Griffin examines are official claims in direct conflict with other official claims. How could this be? Why would the government keep changing "the official story"? The public, of course, is expected to take all the statements as incontrovertibly true, yet they directly conflict with one another."
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As US Freedoms Dissolve, Mainstream media Lies and Distracts
  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_winston_080315_us_msm_acting_as_pro.htm
Must Read - A quote...."The US common people, God bless us all, were told that Hussein was involved in 9/11. Later big bro 43 admitted that wasn't accurate, but his president of vice, the v.p., "Feckless, Reckless, Impotent" Cheney continues until today with that lie."
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More blows to US image  ---  http://www.sundaytimes.lk/080316/Columns/inside.html
A quote...."NEW YORK - The Bush administration's disastrous Middle East policy took a more severe beating last week as it remained crippled by increasing political setbacks in Palestine, Iraq and Iran. With the escalation of the conflict between Hamas and Israel, a collective Arab plan unveiled six years ago, to declare peace with the Jewish state, has been indefinitely suspended."
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Over One Million Murdered -- and Nothing Has Been Learned http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2008/03/over-one-million-murdered-and-nothing.html
Must Read - A quote...."To mark the fifth anniversary of the war crime against Iraq, The New York Times "asked nine experts on military and foreign affairs to reflect on their attitudes in the spring of 2003 and to comment on the one aspect of the war that most surprised them or that they wished they had considered in the prewar debate." All nine entries are listed here. - Of course, neither the NYT nor any of the "nine experts" refer to the invasion and ongoing occupation as a war crime. Not a single one of these eminent personages acknowledges that Iraq had never attacked us, that Iraq constituted no threat to the U.S. of any consequence whatsoever, and that those facts -- which are the only facts relevant to a determination of whether the U.S. had any justification at all to launch this criminal war -- could have been known in the winter and spring of 2002-2003, and that those facts were known to many "ordinary" persons in the United States and around the world. But none of the "ordinary" persons who understood the truth were "experts." None of them belonged to the ruling class."
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The Ruthless American Empire  ---  http://www.countercurrents.org/gatto140308.htm
A quote...."I cannot watch the news on television anymore. I am tired of the lies told baldly to my face and the “spin” put on everything that is not in the Empires best interests. That is what we are; an Empire that rules the world in order for the benefit of The United States. Listen further my fellow Americans, when I say for the benefit of the United States, I am not talking about the people of the United States, rather I am talking about those that own and manage the United States. These people are the people in our government, our corporate leaders, and our mega-wealthy ruling class. The people of the United States are no more or less important to these people than anyone else in this world save for the fact that we pull the lever to put them in power."
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Istanbul protest against US occupation in Iraq  ---  http://www.worldbulletin.net/image_gallery_detail.php?id=56
Photos - A quote...."Members of an Islamist group dressed as Guantanamo prisoners participate in a demonstration in Istanbul March 14, 2008, as part of protests ahead of the upcoming fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion in Iraq."
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Anti-War Protests (Yahoo photos)
  ---  http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/invasion-of-Iraq-Afghanistan-Iraq-Trafalgar-Square/photo//080315/481/7d5e33d175644887b064837059f8a90c/
173 photos - mpg
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Anti-war Protests Day 2 (Sky News)  ---  http://news.sky.com/skynews/picture_gallery/picture_gallery/0,,30100-1084604,00.html
6 photos - mpg
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Anti-war Protest - People Around World Angry At War (Sky News) - http://news.sky.com/skynews/picture_gallery/picture_gallery/0,,30100-1084438-1,00.html
11 photos - mpg
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Anti-war protest - Photo Gallery: Eureka, CA Peace March 3/15/08
  ---  http://wedonotconsent.blogspot.com/2008/03/photo-gallery-eureka-peace-march-31508.html
10 photos - mpg
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Protesters across the world condemn Iraq war  ---  http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/newsmlmmd.b6e74411a6add50855f9fe9f0eb2899d.6d1.html
A quote...."LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Thousands of protestors marched against the Iraq war in Los Angeles on Saturday as part of a global day of action that drew huge crowds in London and smaller protests elsewhere in Europe and Canada."
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Protests meet Condoleezza Rice in Brazil  ---  http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/192220,protests-meet-condoleezza-rice-in-brazil.html
A quote...."Brasilia - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with protests as she arrived in Brazil Thursday for a visit of less than 24 hours. Some 50 members of the National Student Union (UNE) shouted slogans against the invasion of Iraq and against Rice's presence in Brazil. The protesters gathered opposite the Itamaraty Palace, the seat of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, as Rice met with Foreign Minister Celso Amorim."
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US/IRAQ:  Rules of Engagement "Thrown Out the Window"  ---  http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41605
A quote...."SILVER SPRING, Maryland, Mar 15 (IPS) - Garret Reppenhagen received integral training about the Geneva Conventions and the Rules of Engagement during his deployment in Kosovo. But in Iraq, "Much of this was thrown out the window," he says."
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Coverup of Extensive War Crimes: 40th Anniversary of the My Lai Massacre  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8339
Photos (warning - graphic) - A quote...."In a bitter irony, Colin Powell, who was responsible for the coverup of the My Lai massacre acceded to a "brilliant" career in the Armed Forces. In 2001 he was appointed Secretary of State in the Bush administration. Although never indicted, Powell was also deeply implicated in the Iran-Contra affair."
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Reviving Vietnam War Tactics  ---  http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080331/hayden
A quote...."The top counterinsurgency adviser to Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq advocates practicing a "global Phoenix Program," alluding to the notorious Vietnam-era CIA operation that provoked a worldwide uproar because of the detention, torture and execution of thousands of Vietnamese."
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Conservatives sweep 71% of Iran’s parliament seats as Tehran hails 65% turnout.  ---  http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=24852
A quote...."The resilience of the reformist vote in the face of the mass veto comes as hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seeks re-election in 2009 to continue his controversial mandate amid discontent over double-digit inflation. - Friday's vote was also marked by divisions in the conservative camp which led to two coalitions of "principalists," with one less enthusiastic about the populist president."
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Russian aviation industry keeps its grip on the Indian market  ---  http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080314/101367335.html
A quote...."MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti military observer Ilya Kramnik) - On March 11, 2008 Russia and India signed a contract for the modernization of India's Mig-29s. After the modernization the machines, delivered to India by the former U.S.S.R., will remain in service for another 20-25 years with greatly enhanced combat characteristics."
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Tension high, security lockdown in riot-hit Tibet  ---  http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSSP10739920080316
A quote...."BEIJING (Reuters) - Police and troops locked down the capital of Tibet on Sunday as tension remained high, two days after ugly street protests against Chinese rule that the contested region's government-in-exile said had killed 80 people."
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China re-elects Hu Jintao as president  ---  http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-03-15-china-president_N.htm
A quote...."BEIJING (AP) — China's legislature re-elected Hu Jintao president Saturday, giving him a second five-year term as leader of the world's most populous country. It also returned Hu as head of the Central Military Commission, the body overseeing the armed forces."
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Colombia-Ecuador-Venezuela: A Close Call  ---  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0803/S00117.htm
A quote...."As last week's diplomatic crisis between Venezuela and Colombia demonstrates, Chávez has once again sought to appropriate historical symbols in an effort to score political points. Employing explosive language, Chávez remarked "Some day Colombia will be freed from the hand of the (U.S.) empire. We have to liberate Colombia."
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Army judge in Guantánamo Bay rebukes government  ---  http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_dade/story/457582.html
A quote...."GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- In a rebuke to the government, an Army judge Friday issued five successive orders instructing the Pentagon to do more to help lawyers for Canadian captive Omar Khadr build a defense case."
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ACLU Appeals Dismissal Of Extraordinary Rendition Lawsuit Against Boeing Subsidiary (3/14/2008)
  ---  http://www.aclu.org/safefree/rendition/34482prs20080314.html
A quote...."SAN JOSE, CA - The American Civil Liberties Union today announced it will appeal a federal court decision to throw out a lawsuit against Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen Dataplan for its role in the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” program. Mohamed et al. v. Jeppesen, filed by the ACLU on behalf of five victims of the rendition program, was dismissed in February after the government intervened, once again misusing the “state secrets” privilege to avoid legal scrutiny of an unlawful program."
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The Deployment of US Troops inside Canada  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8323
A quote...."On February 14th, Canada and the US signed an agreement which allows for the deployment of US troops inside Canada. - There was no official announcement nor was there a formal decision at the governmental level. - In fact the agreement was barely mentioned by the Canadian media."  --  For more on this issue see....White Man's Burden - 12-20-06 - mpg  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/whitemansburden-blog-mpg-122006
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U.S. Cocaine-Plane Invasion Spooking Latin America  ---  http://narconews.com/Issue51/article3031.html
A quote...."Trail of Evidence Points to Major Covert Operation Targeting Venezuela - Two Florida-based companies that have exported a total of at least 11 aircraft to Venezuelan buyers since 2003 are linked to four cocaine planes and what appears to be an elaborate covert intelligence operation, an ongoing Narco News investigation shows."
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The five stages of collapse  ---  http://www.energybulletin.net/40919.html
Must Read - A quote...."Elizabeth Kübler-Ross defined the five stages of coming to terms with grief and tragedy as denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, and applied it quite successfully to various forms of catastrophic personal loss, such as death of a loved one, sudden end to one's career, and so forth."
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Debt Serfdom Comes to America  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_ellen_br_080314_today_we_re_all_iris.htm
Must Read - A quote...."Today We're All Irish. - March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day, when people of all national origins raise a glass and declare, "Today we’re all a bit Irish!" This may be truer than we know. The Irish were driven to America by debt, and they are leading the Western world in household debt today. "
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"My God, gas prices these days are just ridiculous!"  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_jeremy_f_080313__22my_god_2c_gas_prices_.htm
Must Read - A quote...."Have you found yourself saying this? What American hasn't? I know I have. And then a certain Congressman (he shall remain nameless) made an interesting point. With a little research you will find that in fact, no, the price of gasoline has not gone up. The cost of gasoline has stayed almost exactly the same with virtually no price difference between now at an average of $3.20 a gallon and in 2000 when it was $1.15 a gallon. Allow me to explain." -- This is a real nice, simple, easily understandable example, of what our elites have done to the money supply. - mpg
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The Federal Reserve System is Rotten to the Core  ---  http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=6575
A quote...."Look behind the curtain and take a good hard look at the characters pulling levers in the current financial crisis. Is this any way to run a national monetary system? -- The largest mortgage lender (Countrywide) is insolvent, the two largest bond insurers (MBIA and Ambac) are insolvent, the largest bank/brokerage (Bear Stearns) is now insolvent, and hedge funds are “snapping like twigs”. -- The Fed is furiously swapping cash for trash, trying to explain away the lifeless parrot (Bear) at the bottom of the cage. “It’s not dead; it’s just stunned.”
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Fed Takes Rare Path to Aid Bear Stearns  ---  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/03/14/national/w072924D23.DTL&type=politics
A quote...."The Federal Reserve invoked a rarely used Depression-era procedure Friday to bolster troubled Bear Stearns Cos. and said it will provide even more help to combat a serious credit crisis."
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More Rate Cuts From Fed Expected Tuesday  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=5896
A quote...."Desperate to aid an economy in crisis, the Federal Reserve is ready to deliver yet another big interest rate cut. - How big? One-half of a percentage point, some economists say. Investors and others hope for even more, a three-quarters cut or perhaps a full point, given the turmoil on Wall Street. It will be a close call, Fed watchers say."
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Inflation Is a Policy that Cannot Last  ---  http://www.mises.org/story/2901
A quote...."To Austrian economists, the so-called international credit market crisis is a prima facie case of the inherent destructive tendency of government-controlled paper money: it is the consequence of an excessive expansion of credit and money, which encourages uneconomic investment and leads to unsustainable debt burdens. The inflation-provoked cluster of errors (this time in the financial sphere) eventually triggers an economic and political disaster."
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Inflation under control - for now  ---  http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/14/news/economy/cpi/index.htm?section=money_news_economy
A quote...."NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Consumer prices held steady in February, with milder-than-expected inflation giving the Federal Reserve some leeway in its interest rate-cutting campaign."  --  Editor's note: most readers seeing this headline will probably say something like "that's highly unlikely" or perhaps something a lot less polite.  The Fed as everyone knows has been playing all sorts of tricks on how the CPI is calculated, along with the figures determining the actual money supply.  Nevertheless assuming they're consistent with their lies, than these recent calculations could indicate that whatever the actual inflation rate IS, it may well have remained unchanged for the month of February.  As such, these figures could portend eventual deflation. (although stagflation is a much more likely outcome for the economy.)  As a result February’s CPI should be considered a War Alert. If however deflation actually ever occurs in this economy, it would be considered a War Warning.
For more on this issue see....Standard Disclaimer  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/disclaimer-blog-mpg-070207
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Bush to meet with financial policymakers  ---  http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSN1546284420080315?sp=true
a.k.a. The Plunge Protection Team  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/theplungeprotectionteam-blog-mpg-030707
A quote...."WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush plans to meet on Monday with top U.S. financial policymakers, the White House said, at a time of increased strains in credit markets and fears of a recession."

Friday March 14th 2008 - links page

  ---  http://www.corbettreport.com/articles/20070901_neoconnecting_the_dots.htm

Noble lies and perpetual war: Leo Strauss, the neo-cons, and Iraq
  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5010.htm

Leo Strauss and the Noble Lie: The Neo-Cons at War
  ---  http://www.logosjournal.com/issue_3.2/mason.htm
Leo Strauss - Source Watch
  ---  http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Leo_Strauss
Lies Of The Neocons -From Leo Strauss To Libby -The Philosophy Of Mendacity
  ---  http://www.rense.com/general68/lies.htm
Leo Strauss' Philosophy of Deception
  ---  http://www.alternet.org/story/15935/
PNAC Revisited: Road Map to Iraq
  ---  http://www.knowledgedrivenrevolution.com/Articles/200709/20070910_PNAC_Revisited_Iraq.htm
America ‘Pearl Harbored’
  ---  http://www.americanfreepress.net/12_24_02/America_Pearl_Harbored/america_pearl_harbored.html
PNAC - Rouges Gallery
  ---  http://tvnewslies.org/html/pnac_neo-con_artists.html
PNAC Members Appointed to Bush Administration
  ---  http://911review.com/motive/pnac.html