Tuesday April 14th 2009

Monday April 13th 2009

Sunday April 12th 2009

Obama and habeas corpus -- then and now
Special Note - Obama™ Update -- A quote...."It was once the case under the Bush administration that the U.S. would abduct people from around the world, accuse them of being Terrorists, ship them to Guantanamo, and then keep them there for as long as we wanted without offering them any real due process to contest the accusations against them.  That due-process-denying framework was legalized by the Military Commissions Act of 2006.  Many Democrats -- including Barack Obama -- claimed they were vehemently opposed to this denial of due process for detainees, and on June 12, 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case of Boumediene v. Bush, ruled that the denial of habeas corpus rights to Guantanamo detainees was unconstitutional and that all Guantanamo detainees have the right to a full hearing in which they can contest the accusations against them." -- also posted at CommonDreams

Not Just State Secrets: Obama Continuing Bush's Stonewalling On Gitmo Cases, Lawyer Claims
Special Note - Obama™ Update -- A quote...."Yesterday we told you about the Obama Justice Department's invocation of a sweeping state secrets privilege in a warrantless wiretapping case. But that may not be the only area in which the new administration's war on terror tactics recall the worst excesses of the Bush years."

Fujimori’s Lesson for Bush
Special Note - Related Article - A quote...."If President Bush and Vice-President Cheney think that time is on their side with respect to crimes committed by their administration, this week’s criminal conviction of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori should put those thoughts to rest. Returning to Peru in the hope of returning to power, Fujimori was instead put on trial and convicted of “crimes against humanity,” including the killing of 25 people by military death squad."

Torturer-In-Chief
Special Note - Related Article - A quote...."Former President George W. Bush may be indicted for torture. -- Far fetched?  Not anymore. -- In March Baltasar Garzón, a Spanish judge, asked prosecutors to determine whether there is enough evidence to charge six former members of the Bush administration with torturing prisoners.  Should they be indicted as now seems likely it will be hard to argue that their superiors up to and including the former President himself should not be indicted as well."
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The Art of the Scam - Wall Street and the Pentagon
A quote...."Bill Moyers conducted a fantastic interview with Professor Bill Black, a specialist in securities fraud, on April 3 (Listen to the podcast here) and read Moyers' analysis of this interview in CounterPunch. I found the interview fascinating, because the scam in the banking industry is so similar to the scam in the Pentagon, only the scale of the fraud perpetrated by the bankers made the milcrats in the Pentagon look like pikers. -- At the heart of both scams is the deliberate corruption of information on such a vast scale that it overwhelms the mind of the educated layman to make sense out of it."

An Iraqi City Divided by Walls, by Sect, By Bitterness
A quote...."SAMARRA, Iraq -- Fifteen feet tall, half a mile long, the walls wind like a concrete ribbon through the heart of this scarred holy city, the cradle of Iraq's sectarian war. Shiite pilgrims flow alongside them toward the shattered al-Askari mosque, a symbol of a resuscitating Iraq. Shiite national security forces -- and not a single local Sunni policeman -- patrol the area."

INTERVIEW-Iraq Sunni anti-Qaeda leader eyes Shi'ite alliance
A quote...."RAMADI, Iraq, April 12 (Reuters) - A senior leader in a Sunni Arab movement founded to combat al Qaeda in Iraq is edging away from the military activity of the past, towards a once unthinkable alliance with the country's Shi'ite prime minister."

Egypt joins Israel in anti-Hezbollah campaign
A quote...."Egypt is mulling over building a case against Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in line with an Israeli campaign launched against the movement. -- Egyptian lawmakers and legal experts have called for an arrest warrant for the Lebanese movement's leader, accusing him of "encouraging terror activities in an attempt to destabilize the [Egyptian] state," the Saudi-based Al Arabiya television network reported Sunday. "

Obama threatens Pakistan
Obama™ Update -- A quote...."As I listened to President Obama's address to the nation and his wartime rhetoric, I held my breath. He didn't speak softly. His tone was harsh and threatening. He carried a big stick. That was quite obvious. The spontaneous reaction of all those present was that Obama had learned nothing from history and was not going to change course in Afghanistan or Pakistan. As they say, it was deja vu all over again. What he said was no different from what George W Bush had been saying for years."

Scott Horton Interviews Mark Almond
Audio Interview - A quote...."Mark Almond, Lecturer in Modern History at Oriel College, Oxford, discusses the discontent about elections in Moldova, the devastation wreaked by neoliberal economics, the encroachment of NATO recruitment on former soviet states, political instability in Georgia and Kosovo and the bureaucratic inertia in NATO that seeks continual expansion."

Russia test-fires intercontinental missile
A quote...."MOSCOW, April 10 (Reuters) - Russia successfully test-fired a Topol intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday as part of checks needed to extend its service life for up to 22 years, Russian media reported."
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Goldman Sachs hires law firm to shut blogger's site
Censorship Alert -- A quote...."Goldman Sachs is attempting to shut down a dissident blogger who is extremely critical of the investment bank, its board members and its practices." -- also posted at DProgram

New bird flu cases suggest the danger of pandemic is rising --Infections in Egypt raise scientists' fears that virus will be spread by humans 12 Apr 2009 Bird flu is becoming less deadly --but scientists fear that this is the very thing that could make the [H5N1] virus more able to cause a pandemic that would kill hundreds of millions of people. This paradox, emerging from Egypt, threatens to increase the disease's ability to spread from person to person by helping it achieve the crucial mutation in the virus which could turn it into the greatest plague to hit Britain since the Black Death. [See: Killer flu recreated in the lab 07 Oct 2004.] -- Paragraph quoted from CLG

"Ian Tomlinson: three-year wait for G20 death verdict --Family of the newspaper vendor who died in G20 demo face long wait for justice, say legal experts 12 Apr 2009 The family of Ian Tomlinson face a three-year wait for an inquest into his death, according to legal experts, who say that pressures on the coroners' system are "frustrating the grieving process" for victims' relatives. The claim is likely to dismay critics of the police, who have expressed concerns about how Tomlinson's death is being investigated. According to the first post-mortem examination, Tomlinson, a homeless newspaper vendor with a drink problem, died after suffering a heart attack while caught up in at last week's G20 protests after getting bashed in the skull by a sociopath." -- Paragraph quoted from CLG
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Rotten Orchard: Israeli Soldiers Testify to War Crimes - posted at PalestineChron
A quote...."On March 19th, two months after the 22-day devastation of Gaza and the slaughtering of over 1,400 Palestinians, the Israeli daily newspaper Ha'aretz published harrowing testimonies by numerous Israeli soldiers who had participated in "Operation Cast Lead." -- The soldiers, all recent graduates of the Yitzhak Rabin pre-military preparatory program, were speaking at an open academic forum about their recent military experiences and, as Sarah Anne Minkin of Jewish Peace News reports, "confessed that they'd knowingly shot civilians to death in Gaza, that they'd intentionally vandalized Palestinian homes, and that the rules of engagement in the war - rules handed down from above - were exceptionally permissive."

The Dolphin and the Dabura - Gazan Waters, 1st September, 2008
Video - A quote....""On the 1st September 2008, the first day of Ramadan, several volunteers with the Free Gaza Movement and the International Solidarity Movement accompanied a small fleet of seven fishing vessels from Gaza City port. - The fishermen exercised their right to fish in Gazan territorial waters, providing them with a livelihood and providing food for the besieged people of Gaza. The fishing fleet reached approximately nine miles offshore and began trawling along the Gazan coast, well within international limits. Usually the Israeli Navy prevents Gazan fishing vessels from accessing beyond six miles and in many cases only three miles, by attacking the boats, sometimes lethally, or by arresting the fishermen."

More than 150,000 Gazans still without tap water
A quote...."GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IRIN) - Over 150,000 Palestinians in Gaza (around 10 percent of the population) are struggling without tap water as a result of the damage caused to wells, pipes and waste water facilities during the recent 22-day Israeli offensive that ended on 18 January."

In Gaza, farming under fire
A quote...."KHAN YOUNIS, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - "They're always shooting at us. Every day they shoot at us," says Alaa Samour, 19, pulling aside his shirt to show a scar on his shoulder. Samour said he was shot on 28 December last year by Israeli soldiers positioned along the border fence near New Abassan village, east of Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip."

Israeli forces arrest a German national and an Italian national in At-Tuwani
A quote...."A German national and an Italian national were taken by Israeli forces while accompanying farmers at 11am. Both individuals have been taken to the police station at Kyrat Arba. Palestinian farmers in At-Tuwani rely on the presence of International and Israeli human rights workers to mitigate violence from settlers."
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The High Priests of Deception
A quote...."Bernanke, Geithner and Summers are the high priests of high-leverage speculative finance. They pretend that they can stop the worldwide depression with their oracular powers, and that the financial plague is not that bad. But the facts say otherwise...."

The Great Geithner Coverup - Alt - (YouTube - 7 min 12 sec - April 09, 2009
An analysis of the Bill Moyer's interview with William K Black. -- A quote...."Economist William K. Black of the University of Missouri appeared in an interview on PBS last week with Bill Moyers. He pulls no punches in spelling out who is really responsible for our current economic disaster, and why our own Treasury Secretary is leading the charge to keep the truth covered up." -- For more on this issue see....Enforcing the Rules -- Too Little, Too Late - 02-27-09 - mpg -- For the entire Bill Moyer's interview see below....


Fed Said to Order Banks to Stay Mum on ‘Stress Test’ Results
A quote...."19 of the nation's largest banks have been told by the U.S. Federal Reserve to keep quiet on the results of economic 'stress tests' that regulators are conducting to judge the banks' financial preparedness." -- also posted at RawStory & BLN

Banks Fail in Colorado, North Carolina
A quote...."Regulators shut down two banks Friday, bringing the total number of bank and thrift failures during 2009 to 23. For the third time in less than a month, the FDIC apparently was unable to find a buyer for one of the failed institutions."

North Carolina, Colorado Banks Shut as 2009 Failures Reach 23
Related Article - A quote...."April 10 (Bloomberg) -- Banks in Colorado and North Carolina were shut as rising unemployment and a loss of jobs shrinks household wealth in the deepest recession in a quarter century, pushing the toll of U.S. bank failures to 23 this year." -- also posted at DProgram

China foreign exchange reserves at $1.954 trillion - Let's just call it two trilion shall we? - mpg
A quote...."BEIJING -China's central bank said Saturday that its foreign exchange reserves rose 16 percent year-on-year to $1.9537 trillion by the end of March."

Saturday April 11th 2009

Hope Abandoned: Obama Protects and Promotes CIA Torture Mavens
Must Read - Obama™ Update -- A quote...."It was obvious from the moment that Barack Obama appointed Leon Panetta to head the CIA that there was going to be no serious investigation -- much less prosecution -- of the high crimes of torture committed by the agency at the order of the Bush White House. Panetta, a Clinton retread (who actually began his career in the Nixon administration), has always been a bland, feckless, obedient servant of the Establishment; he has no outside power base, no pull, no heft, no popularity -- nothing that would enable him to grab hold of the CIA with both hands and clean that fetid, blood-encrusted house. And of course, it was precisely this kind of powerless figure that Barack Obama wanted in the post." - also posted at CounterPunch

The Warren Report - "Liquidate the Banks; Fire the Executives!"
Must Read - Obama™ Update -- A quote...." April 10, 2009 "ICH" -- On Tuesday, a congressional panel headed by ex-Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren released a report on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's handling of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). Warren was appointed to lead the five-member Congressional Oversight Panel (COP) in November by Senate majority leader Harry Reid. From the opening paragraph on, the Warren report makes clear that Congress is frustrated with Geithner's so-called "Financial Rescue Plan" and doesn't have the foggiest idea of what he is trying to do. Here are the first few lines of "Assessing Treasury's Strategy: Six Months of TARP":'"
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Cost of Iraq war will surpass Vietnam's by year's end
Obama™ Update -- A quote...."Reporting from Washington -- The amount of U.S. money spent on the Iraq war will surpass the cost of Vietnam by the end of the year, making it the second most expensive military conflict in American history, behind World War II, according to Pentagon figures provided Friday." -- And the really amusing thing is that the occupation of Iraq is just beginning and the costs for it will NOT decline substantially. - mpg

'Fallujah never leaves my mind'
A quote....""What you saw on your TV sets at home reflects only ten per cent of the reality. Also, if you watch those pictures at home, you can change the channel. But we were in the middle. We smell. We feel, see, and touch everything. We could touch the bodies, but we couldn't change the channel. We were the channel."

Arrests Deepen Iraqi Sunnis’ Bitterness
A quote...."BAGHDAD — Members of the Sunni Awakening Councils, the former insurgents who switched sides to help bring calm to Iraq, are increasingly being besieged from all sides. -- Thirteen members were killed by a suicide bomber while they gathered to collect their pay south of Baghdad on Saturday, in the latest of a string of attacks against Awakening members in recent weeks. Some of the Sunnis also worry that the Shiite-led government has begun singling out the councils’ leaders for arrest while their chief patron, the American military, slowly abandons them."

Lawsuit: Firms sold poison gas ingredients to Iraq
A quote...."HAGERSTOWN, Md. – Three companies illegally sold materials to Saddam Hussein's regime in the 1980s for making chemical weapons that were used to carry out attacks against thousands of Iraqi Kurds and ultimately caused scores of chronic ailments, according to a federal lawsuit."

Al-Maliki in Moscow seeks closer relations with Russia
A quote...." Moscow - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Friday in a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin requested greater investment by Russian firms in Iraq. According to the Interfax news agency, Putin agreed to help in the building of a 'strong and independent Iraq.'" -- Oh certainly, espically that "independent" part. - mpg
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Ten Nato supply containers torched in Peshawar
This is the key of course, if the militants keep attacking the supply lines, the occupation and colonization of Afghanistan will become increasingly difficult, if not completely impossible. - mpg -- A quote...."PESHAWAR: Unknown militants have, yet another time, carried out rocket attack on Nato supply terminal which erupted fire engulfing terminal, located on Ring Road here early on Sunday, Geo news reported."
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Iran says it controls entire nuclear fuel cycle
A quote...."Iran now controls the entire cycle for producing nuclear fuel with the opening of a new facility to produce uranium fuel pellets, the Iranian president said Saturday. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made the speech two days after the inauguration of the facility which produces uranium oxide pellets for a planned 40-megawatt heavy-water nuclear reactor near the town of Arak, central Iran."

Return to What Negotiations?
A quote...."The European Union’s Germany, France and United Kingdom, in association with the United States, China and Russia, (the so-called E3+3) have reportedly recently offered Iran "a range of economic and political incentives" to "return to negotiations," this time without U.S. insistence on "preconditions." -- "What negotiations?"

Lavrov: Ties with US on good track, Russia won't increase pressure on Iran
A quote...."Lavrov said that Russia and the US are going "in the right direction," but added that Moscow wouldn't discuss any trade-offs. He said that the Kremlin had no intention of raising pressure on Iran."

Spiegel Interview with Iranian President Ahmadinejad
Interview -- A quote...."'We Are Neither Obstinate nor Gullible' -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke with SPIEGEL about what he expects from US President Barack Obama, why America's new Afghanistan strategy is wrong and why Iran should have a spot on the UN Security Council." -- also posted at ICH
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Georgia's thorny 'rose revolution'
Special Note - A quote...."The opposition in Georgia is launching mass protests in an attempt to oust President Mikheil Saakashvili."

Georgian ombudsman urges police to react to acts of terrorism against opposition supporters
Related Article - A quote...."Georgian ombudsman Sozar Subari urges law enforcement agencies to immediately react to the acts of terrorism against the opposition supporters. -- Ombudsman's statement came after 'Why' youth movement activists Lasha Kopaliani, Irakli Khukhuneishvili, Natiya Archvadze and others appealed Ombudsman's Office on April 9 claiming that masked men in three Jeep cars blocked their way when they were returning from the demonstration in Rustaveli Avenue and beat them. Unmasked men said they will be punished more severely if they join the demonstration again."

Who is behind Moldova's Twitter Revolution?
Special Note - A quote....""A lot of what we [National Endowment for Democracy] do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA." -Allen Weinstein -- It seems that those who anticipated the end of color revolutions have been proven wrong. So far, color revolutions have succeeded in Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. On the other hand, they have failed in Belarus, Uzbekistan and Myanmar. Their common denominator is a wave of protests and sometimes riots whose purpose is to overthrow a local government, often held during electoral times or shortly afterwards. It has not gone unnoticed that the so called color revolutions have been backed (and engineered?) by enthusiastic western supporters including NGO's, diplomats, businessmen, governmental institutions and heads of state. In those countries where such political mobilizations have prevailed, pro-Western leaders have been enthroned as a result thereof. If one pays close attention to a map, it is impossible not to wonder if it is simply a coincidence that color revolutions have erupted in countries close to Russian and Chinese borders. It has to be pointed out that no color revolution has ever occurred in any country whose government is staunchly pro-Western."

Moldova requests EU investigation following riots
Related Article - A quote...."Moldova's President has asked the EU to investigate the cause of this week's post-election riots in the capital, Chisinau. Hundreds were injured when demonstrators stormed the parliament and president's office following victory by the country's ruling Communist party in parliamentary elections. Moldova's Constitutional Court is set to consider a recount of the results. The opposition, which organised the protests, claims the national vote was rigged, although the Central Election Committee has confirmed the results and international observers declared the elections were fair. The opposition is promising a fresh round of protests on Sunday."
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A Timeline of CIA Atrocities
Special Note - A quote...."The following timeline describes just a few of the hundreds of atrocities and crimes committed by the CIA. (1) -- CIA operations follow the same recurring script. First, American business interests abroad are threatened by a popular or democratically elected leader. The people support their leader because he intends to conduct land reform, strengthen unions, redistribute wealth, nationalize foreign-owned industry, and regulate business to protect workers, consumers and the environment. So, on behalf of American business, and often with their help, the CIA mobilizes the opposition. First it identifies right-wing groups within the country (usually the military), and offers them a deal: “We’ll put you in power if you maintain a favorable business climate for us.” The Agency then hires, trains and works with them to overthrow the existing government (usually a democracy). It uses every trick in the book: propaganda, stuffed ballot boxes, purchased elections, extortion, blackmail, sexual intrigue, false stories about opponents in the local media, infiltration and disruption of opposing political parties, kidnapping, beating, torture, intimidation, economic sabotage, death squads and even assassination."

Scott Horton Interviews Glenn Greenwald
Audio Interview - Obama™ Update -- A quote...."Glenn Greenwald, former constitutional lawyer and current Salon.com blogger, discusses the nefarious origin of the state secrets privilege, the ways in which Obama has exceeded the Bush administration on secrecy invocations, the fight over releasing the few remaining Bush torture memos and the Obama administration’s foot-dragging over prosecuting Bush-era crimes."
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U.S. shipped 989 munitions containers to Israel week before Gaza invasion
Must Read - (For the outrage) - Obama™ Update -- A quote...."A week before Israel launched an aerial bombing campaign on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the U.S. military shipped 989 20-foot containers of munitions, each weighing 14,000 tonnes, to Israel. In the dying days of the Bush administration, and a week before Israel launched an aerial bombing campaign, followed by a land invasion of the Gaza Strip, the U.S. military shipped 989 containers of munitions to Israel." - Looks like Obama likes to burn little babies alive...heh? - mpg -- For more on this entire issue see....



Israeli settlers attack a Palestine Ambulance in Hebron old city
A quote...."A group of Israeli settlers attacked on Saturday afternoon a Palestine Ambulance in Hebron old city in the southern part of the West Bank. The ambulance belongs to the Red Crescent Society, the largest ambulance service in the Palestinian territories, witnesses and medics operating the ambulance said that the car sustained damage."

Report: “437 children killed, 1872 injured in Israel’s offensive”
A quote...."Ministry of Social Affairs in the Gaza Strip reported that the Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip left 1500 children orphans, in addition to killing 437 children and wounding 1500 others."

Holocaust survivor abused by Israeli security
Video - A quote...."“Because you are a terrorist.” - They strip-searched a holocaust survivor and called her… a terrorist.  All for simply empathizing with the plight of Palestinians…"
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Obama and the Banks By Joseph Halevi
A quote...."If we take a look at the recent self-described progressive US presidents (Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton), we will notice that their progressiveness invariably fades away, not even intentionally.  That is because the beast compels them to align themselves with its own reality.  Carter, who campaigned against the wage stagnation of the Nixon-Ford years, collapsed in the face of the anti-inflationary policy inaugurated by the Federal Reserve under Paul Volcker in 1979.  That policy opened the door to the financialization of the economy and the weakening of the labor market on which the Reagan presidency rested.  Bill Clinton’s capitulation came with the abandonment of the health care reform and the deregulation of both communications and banking rules.  The very people who implemented the latter are at the heart of the Obama administration.  They are the proconsuls of the beast.  For instance, Larry Summers, when he was in the Clinton administration, opposed all calls to regulate the trafficking of financial derivatives.  Today Summers and Geithner are getting Obama to capitulate on the issue of capitalization of the banks in crisis."

The Economic Crisis: No, this will not be a Normal Cyclical Recovery
A quote...."Philip Tetlock, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, spent two decades tracking 82,000 predictions made by 284 experts. His findings, reported in his book,  “Expert Political Judgment,” are that, on average, the expert's predictions were only bit better than random guessing would have been. He writes, “It made virtually no difference whether participants had doctorates, whether they were economists, political scientists, journalists or historians, whether they had policy experience or access to classified information, or whether they had logged many or few years of experience.” The only consistent attribute was fame, and the relationship was inverse. The more famous experts made worse predictions than the unknown forecasters did. Dean Baker."

Banks aren't reselling many foreclosed homes - This is happening nation wide. It also happened in '82. - mpg

Friday April 10th 2009

Getting a Death Grip on Memory
Must Read - A quote...."A headline in the New York Times announced a few days ago: "Brain Researchers Open Door to Editing Memory." This news ran above the fold on the front page. "Suppose scientists could erase certain memories by tinkering with a single substance in the brain," the article began. Readers quickly learned that it's starting to happen: "Researchers in Brooklyn have recently accomplished comparable feats, with a single dose of an experimental drug delivered to areas of the brain critical for holding specific types of memory..." -- Big deal. American media outlets have been pulling off such feats for a long time."

Light at the End of the Tunnel? Wrong! -- The Decade of Darkness
Must Read - A quote...."It's been 21 months since two Bear Stearns hedge funds defaulted, setting off a series of events which have led to the gravest economic crisis since the Great Depression. No one expected the financial earthquake to shake this hard or ripple this fast. The failure at Bear triggered a shock in the secondary market where mortgage loans are repackaged into securities and sold to investors. That market is now completely paralyzed cutting off 40 percent of funding for consumer and business loans and thrusting the broader economy into a deep recession. Banks and financial institutions have been forced to curtail their off-balance sheet operations and build their reserves which have ballooned from $45 billion to nearly $700 billion in the last 6 months alone. Like millions of homeowners who have seen their home equity vanish and their retirement savings slashed in half, the banks are hunkering down, hoping they can outlast the deflationary hurricane ahead."

The Emperor's new clothes: Mr Change's recent European trip
Obama™ Update -- A quote...."Do you remember Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale about the Emperor's new clothes? - After spending dazzling fortunes on a new set of exquisite clothes, made by the world's finest tailors, the emperor decided to parade through the streets of his capital, dressed in his new outfit. In fact, his tailors had fooled him and used the money they received for anything but the promised delicate materials. They just pretended to be cutting, sewing and adjusting imaginary fabrics. Thus the emperor went on parade stark naked, with the entire court pretending to admire his clothes. The populace was stunned to see their respected ruler in the buff, but nobody dared to admit what he was seeing. Except for this little boy who exclaimed the emperor went around naked. Only then did the crowd dare to say that, indeed, it was seeing a crowned, but naked man, instead of their emperor dressed in full sartorial splendor."

How Obama voted on war funding bills in Congress
Obama™ Update -- For the record -- A quote...."Major war-funding legislation while Barack Obama was in the Senate, and how he voted...." -- also posed at AntiWar

Dennis Ross's Iran Plan
Obama™ Update -- A quote....When Dennis Ross, a hawkish, pro-Israel adviser to Barack Obama's presidential campaign, was elevated in February to the post of special adviser on "the Gulf and Southwest Asia"--i.e., Iran--Ross's critics hoped that his influence would be marginal. After all, unlike special envoys George Mitchell (Israel-Palestine) and Richard Holbrooke (Afghanistan-Pakistan), whose appointments were announced with fanfare, Ross's appointment was long delayed and then announced quietly, at night, in a press release." -- also posted at WarInIraq
 & ICH

How Many Democrats Will Stand Up to Obama's Bloated Military Budget and $75 Billion More in War Spending? -- Obama™ Update -- A quote...."Obama wants billions more for the Iraq/Afghanistan wars on top of a US military budget that already surpasses Bush-era spending by $21 billion. Where is the resistance?" --  also posted at CommonDreams & ICH

Rahm Emanuel's Think Tankers Enforce 'Message Discipline' Among 'Liberals'
A quote...."Over the past several weeks, independent journalists and anti-war activists have tried to shine a spotlight on how groups like the Center for American Progress and MoveOn, which portrayed themselves as anti-war during the Bush-era, are now supporting the escalation and continuation of wars because their guy is now commander-in-chief. CAP has been actively pounding the pavement in support of the escalation in Afghanistan, the rebranding of the Iraq occupation and, more recently, Obama’s bloated military budget, which the group said was “on target.” MoveOn has been silent on the escalation in Afghanistan and has devoted substantial resources to promoting a federal budget that includes a $21 billion increase in military spending from the Bush-era." - also posted at CommonDreams -- It was all a scam, they're controlling people in this country with "focus groups", "bait & switch strategies" secret polling data to find out which particular bunch of lies would go down the easiest, the usual tactics of spinning, shaping, framing, and outright propaganda, along with every other Madison Avenue technique of mass manipulation.  People are just becoming a bunch of sheep bred and led to the slaughter.  It's a real shame. – mpg

What We Do And Don't Know About US Medical Personnel and Interrogations
A quote...."This week's posting of a confidential International Committee of the Red Cross report [1] (PDF) about the treatment of 14 "high value detainees" held in secret CIA prisons has again raised a nettlesome question [2]: In exactly what ways were medical personnel [3] involved in abusive detainee interrogations?" -- also posted at CommonDreams

German MPs reject Steinmeier’s sanction against Iran
A quote...."BERLIN (IRNA) -- Lawmakers of all parties in German Parliament, except the co-ruling Social Democrats (SPD), slammed Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier for planning to step up sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program, the daily Der Tagesspiegel said Wednesday." -- also posted at WarInIaq

Tbilisi Takes to the Streets
A quote...." The Opposition Wants Mikheil Saakshvili out of Office in 24 Hours  --  The post-Soviet protest compass for April had been pointed firmly at Georgia for a long while, with today’s opposition protests planned some time ago. The mood in Tbilisi was said to be tense, with many people expecting a rerun of the November 7, 2007 protests that were dispersed by riot police and proved the first crack in the image of Mikheil Saakashvili as a Westernising democrat in Brussels and Washington."

The Origins of US Illegitimacy: Fatal Flaws that Sink the Warren Commission
A quote...."It might have been so simple. JFK is gunned down in Dallas. The fall guy du jour --Lee Harvey Oswald --would take the rap. The patsy was said to have fired three shots from the Texas School Book Depository. One of them was said to have created injuries in both President John F. Kennedy and Texas Gov John Connally. Another --said to have killed the President --is likewise attributed to the single shooter in the famous sixth floor window of the Texas School Book Depository."

Internet Rankings are Massively Gamed
A quote...."Alexa is the most popular free website ranking service. It has been described as "a Nielson rating for the popularity of the website you are visiting." - With a higher Alexa rank, more people will be attracted to reading your website (on the theory that if its a popular site, it must be good), and advertisers will be more interested in paying to run ads on your site. - Those in the know have realized for some time that Alexa isn't perfectly accurate."
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A convoy of hundreds of medical and food trucks heading to Gaza soon
Action Alert - A quote...."It’s now three years since Israel imposed this tight and deadly siege on Gaza. The brutal siege is devastating every aspect of life in Gaza. Thousands of families continue to suffer, while many others are dying due to the lack of basic treatment and medical equipment. The basic infrastructure supplying water, power and sanitation is in devastation making life unbearable for the 1.5 million inhabitants, which further compounds the misery of the people. The war totally destroyed what was left from the siege. Thousands were killed and injured and thousands turned disabled."

Gaza Fact-Finding Mission Report Published
A quote...."Independent fact-finding mission of medical experts commissioned by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) published today (April 6) its special report on the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, 27.12.2008 18.01.2009. -- In their report, the experts detail 44 testimonies by civilians who came under attack and by medical staff who were prevented from evacuating the wounded. The report provides first-hand evidence regarding the broader effects of the attacks on a civilian population that was already vulnerable on the eve of the offensive."

Palestinian Nationalism
A quote...."The Palestinians need a state not just to live within borders. They need a state that all peoples claim, especially those who are dispossessed, to assure ontological security and live healthy lives."
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Archbishop says pending report to show Irish priests abused 'thousands' of children
A quote...."At a Thursday mass in Dublin's Pro-Cathedral, an Irish Archbishop shocked his congregation, which included numerous priests, by exclaiming that a forthcoming investigative report will reveal that over three decades, Irish Catholic priests have abused "thousands" of children. -- "[The report] will make us and the entire church a humbler church," he said." - also posted at RogueGov -- For more on this issue see.....


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Tyler Durden on Quant Dynamics
Must Read - Market Tech Note - A quote...."Given that I frequently lambast credit default swaps, you might be surprised to see me sing the praises of a CDS trader. -- But Tyler Durden of ZeroHedge - whose day job was as a CDS trader - is well worth reading. Durden is sharp as a tack, has access to technical info, and has good industry contacts. --  SeekingAlpha and NakedCapitalism have started running Durden's blogs, and now even Nouriel Roubini is linking to Durden's blog entitled "The Incredibly Shrinking Market Liquidity, Or The Upcoming Black Swan Of Black Swans".

A Game of Credit Cost Smoke and Mirrors at Wells Fargo?
A quote...."Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC: 19.61 +31.70%) managed to bring some holiday cheer into financial markets Wednesday, just ahead of the Easter holiday, with its pronouncement that it expects to post a record quarterly net income of $3 billion — or 55 cents per share — when it officially reports Q1 2009 earnings later this month. But more than a few voices are already questioning the results, warning that this quarter’s big gain is more likely to be a flash in the pan than a market turning point"

Bailout Bonds?
Obama™ Update -- A quote...."Are you all for Obama's economic plans? Do you think that bailing out failing companies, and throwing trillions into the national money pit, is just the ticket for stimulating the economy back to recovery?"

You Know Things Are Bad When Even Newsweek Is Slamming the Obama Administration for Caving in to the Financial Status Quo -- Obama™ Update -- Some quotes...."You know things are bad when even one of the most mainstream publications - Newsweek - is slamming the Obama administration for caving to the financial status quo, and sounding the same themes that I and other "alternative" writers have been shouting into the wind about for many months." -- "Newsweek writer Michael Hersh writes:


Economy
A quote...."To date I have twice been robbed of lots of money (or what seemed like lots of money). The first theft occurred overseas when I was at a dinner party. Someone must have seen me at the bank withdrawing cash, and followed me home. Later that night the same someone crawled through an unlocked window and headed straight for the bank envelope. The moral was plain (not that I mastered it) – lock your house and don’t be an ass. The latest theft occurred in my native country. I learned about it when a piece of paper arrived suggesting that my "investments" were melting like cotton candy in a squall."

The Law of Unintended Consequences
A quote...."The mongoose was introduced to Hawaii in order to control the rats (which were eating the sugar cane used to make rum). It didn't work out very well - mongeese are daylight-loving creatures while rats are nocturnal - and the mongeese trashed the native species in Hawaii. -- Likewise, the U.S. government has subsidized ethanol production for years. But the Congressional Budget Office says this week that increased ethanol use is responsible for about 10 to 15 percent of the rise in food prices from 2007 to 2008, and only reduced greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector by less than 1 percent."

Thursday April 9th 2009

  Wednesday April 8th 2009