Tuesday April 29th 2008 - links page

Monday April 28th 2008 - links page

Sunday April 27th 2008 - links page

Saturday April 26th 2008 - links page

Nothing New  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese450.html
Must Read - A quote...." Truly, sometimes I think there is nothing new on the face of the earth. Here's a quotation cited by Mark Twain around the turn of the 19th century. Read it and see if you don't recognize it from today's political discourse: -- "Even if the war be wrong we are in it and must fight it out: we cannot retire from it without dishonor." -- That war was in the Philippines. Perhaps you remember it from your history books. We "liberated" the country from the clutch of Spanish colonialism, but then decided we would just replace the Spanish rather than grant the people independence. They resisted, and we fought a second war in the islands against Filipino patriots."
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It Didn’t Start With Bush  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/katz/katz23.html
Must Read - A quote...."George W. Bush should be the poster boy for Hayek’s dictum of Why the Worst Get On Top; in other words, he is the worst. His statements are the worst; virtually everything that comes out of his mouth is either stupid, illiterate, ill informed, false and/or a lie (e.g.; "Major combat operations have ended," "I’m the decider."). His administration is the worst, responsible for putting the US in its worst condition in terms of the economy, military readiness, international standing, education, and medical care. From the 2000 election to the present, Bush and his administration have consistently and successfully worked to undermine the remains of the constitutional republic that was the United States."
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An Election Without Meaning  ---  http://www.projectcensored.org/articles/story/an-election-without-meaning/
A quote...."Will November 2008 bring a meaningful change to America? Will getting rid of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney without impeachment or indictment really make a difference? Will a 600 billion dollar war/defense budget be cut in half and used for desperately needed domestic spending? Will the ninety-three billion dollars profits in the private health insurance companies¬¬—those parasitic intermediates between you and your doctor—be used instead for full health care coverage for all? Will Habeas Corpus and Posse Comitatus be restored to the people? Will torture stop and the US withdraw from Iraq immediately? Will all students in public universities be able to enroll for free? Will the US national security agencies stop mass spying on our personal communications? Will the neo-conservative agenda of total military domination of the world be reversed? -- The answer to these questions in the context of the current billion dollar presidential campaign is an absolute no. Instead we have a campaign of personalities and platitudes."
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Why the US has really gone broke  ---  http://mondediplo.com/2008/02/05military
Must Read - A quote...."....there is an enormous anomaly in the US economy above and beyond the subprime mortgage crisis, the housing bubble and the prospect of recession: 60 years of misallocation of resources, and borrowings, to the establishment and maintenance of a military-industrial complex as the basis of the nation’s economic life." -- Also posted at ICH  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19817.htm
& Alternet  ---  http://www.alternet.org/story/83555/
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The Republican Erosion of America  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19820.htm
A quote...."26/04/08 "Daily Kos" -- -- There is, it seems to me, an area in the political discussion which has been woefully ignored for much, much too long.  Historical fact:  Prior to the rise of the radical right some 30 years ago, America was the most innovative, most prosperous, most vital nation on the face of the Earth.  And it wasn't just an obscenely rich fraction of one percent skewing the numbers, either...like it is today.  Broad-based, bottom-up prosperity--in which liberal Democratic administrations specialize--really DID lift all boats.  Lean in close and let me whisper to you an uncomfortable truth that the GOP will never dare mention..."

Regarding the two articles shown above see....Effective Fed Funds Rate & Total Nonfarm Payrolls
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/fedfundschart-photopg-cached-032407
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Islamic Finance  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19818.htm
A quote...."26/04/08 "ICH" -- -- Islamic finance has become the fastest-growing, most dynamic sector of global finance. Every Western-style financial product has its sharia, i.e. Islamic law, compliant instrument: microfinance, mortgages, oil and gas exploration, bridge building, even sponsorship of sporting events. Islamic finance is innovative, flexible, and potentially very profitable. “Operating in 70 countries with about $500bn in assets, it is poised to expand geometrically.” With more than one billion Muslims eager to support it, analysts project that this system will soon manage approximately 4 percent of the world economy, equivalent to $1 trillion in assets. Such figures explain the eagerness of Western banks to tap into sharia financial services. Citigroup, along with many other Western banking retailers, have opened Islamic branches in Muslim countries." -- This is all very nice but if current Muslim leaders hadn't allowed themselves to be bought by the US's elites and played off against each other, all of the Middle East would have already come together as the Muslim Middle Eastern Economic Union more than thirty years ago.  Think of all the lost opportunities and wasted lives because many of these "leaders" choose to do "business" with the US's elites. -- It's always been said you get what you paid for. - mpg
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[Dr. Dahlia S.Wasfi] - Iraqis Dying for Us to Leave  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19812.htm
A quote...."As I continue to speak around the U.S. calling for the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of American forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, the response shaped by the media is:  “we want to bring the troops home, but we’re afraid of what might happen when we leave.”  My typical reply is sarcastic:  “Like we have such a good thing going [in Iraq and Afghanistan] now, we don’t want to mess it up.”  It simply does not make sense to predict that while Iraqis were better off before American and British soldiers illegally invaded (free healthcare, free education, better electricity and water services, and most importantly, the security of law and order), they will be worse off when the military occupation ends.  Considering four of the major consequences of foreign troop withdrawal, it is clear that the first step in the right direction—for Iraq, America, and the rest of the world—is to bring the troops home." -- For more from Dr. Wasfi see below....
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Winter Soldier Testimony, Dahlia S. Wasfi, M.D(YuuTube - aprox.10 min each - April, 16th 2008)
Part 1   ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGfn4wztu3s
Part II  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tXZIuTxQKA&feature=related
Part III  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuToQBI0GxQ&feature=related
Must View - A quote...."Part 1 of 3, Dahlia S. Wasfi, M.D., speaks of American Heroes and racism at Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan on March 15, 2008 at Silver Spring, Maryland. This video has three highly compressed parts for downloading ease of the bandwidth challenged."
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Struggle to save Iraq's cultural heritage - 26 Apr 08  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbU74ImNFcc --- (YouTube - 3 min 17 sec - April 26, 2008)
Video - A quote...."Hundreds of artifacts, looted in the wake of the US-led invasion of Iraq, have been returned to the country, but many more remain missing, stolen from Iraq's ancient sites. - Al Jazeera's Owen Fay, reporting from Baghdad, looks at the efforts to safeguard Iraq's cultural heritage."
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Cheney's and Maliki's new war in Iraq - Saturday round-up - 3 articles - [ Day 33 ]

Iraq's Dance: Maliki, Sadr and Sunnis  ---  http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1735034,00.html
A quote...."Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's most recent announcement saying the country's main Sunni political bloc was ready to rejoin the government at first blush appeared routine. Maliki has been saying this for months, though no tangible progress toward reseating members of the National Accordance Front in Iraq's ministries has emerged. But next week's negotiations between Maliki and Tariq al-Hashemi, the Sunni vice president and National Accordance Front leader, come as the political landscape is shifting in ways that may undo the longstanding sectarian deadlock."
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IRAQ WRAPUP 4-Iraq's Sadr tells fighters to observe truce  ---  address to long
A quote...."BAGHDAD, April 25 (Reuters) - Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr pulled back from confrontation with the government on Friday, asking his followers to continue to observe a shaky ceasefire and not to battle government troops."
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11 killed in clashes in Baghdad Shiite bastion  ---  http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iOwfQlFWxu5jMjpyQYUlPLZVWPYA
A quote...."BAGHDAD (AFP) — Fierce overnight clashes between Shiite militiamen and US and Iraqi forces in east Baghdad's Sadr City killed at least 11 people and wounded 32 others, a medical official told AFP on Friday."

Cheney's and Maliki's new war in Iraq - Saturday round-up - [ Day 33 ]
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Pentagon Propaganda & Antiwar Analysts (Updated)  ---  http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion/313313
A quote...."The Sunday Times' article detailing the massive, secret coordinated campaign by the Pentagon and all the leading television news channels to sell and defend the administration's Iraq policy is a critical piece of investigative journalism. David Barstow provided meticulous and aggressive reporting, even referencing how The Times'amplified Pentagon "surrogates" without sufficient disclosure for readers. The Times also deserves credit, both for running the lengthy piece and suing the government to obtain related documents. (Read the whole thing here, or try this YouTube excerpt.)"
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The Tarnished Brass  ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/26/opinion/26sat2.html
A quote...."As it prepared to invade Iraq five years ago, the Bush administration called up retired military officers to help sell the war. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his propaganda team courted as many as 75 retired military officers who could best market the Pentagon line, particularly on television. As detailed in The Times on Sunday, many of these officers used their access to Pentagon bigwigs to promote their private businesses."
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Pentagon Suspends Briefings for Analysts  ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/26/washington/26analyst.html
A quote...."The Pentagon announced on Friday that it was suspending its briefings for retired military officers who often appear as military analysts on television and radio programs. -- A spokesman for the Pentagon said the briefings and all other interactions with the military analysts had been suspended indefinitely pending an internal review."

For more regarding the three articles shown above see....
Fake Intel - NYT Article  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/fakeintell-weblist-mpg-090206#NYT_ARTICLE
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China offers Pakistan military aid to fight terrorism  ---  http://story.irishsun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/2411cd3571b4f088/id/352516/cs/1/
A quote...."China has offered Pakistan military aid to fight terrorist activities in the country, media reports said Saturday. -- 'Beijing will further cooperate with Pakistan in dealing firmly with terrorists,' Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told reporters here Friday."
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Abbas: I failed in U.S., no progress in peace talks  ---  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/978049.html
A quote...."WASHINGTON - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Friday that he failed to achieve any progress in Middle East peace talks with U.S. President George W. Bush and he is returning home from Washington with little to show for his visit."
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Top 25 Censored Stories for 2008  ---  http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/category/y-2008/
Project Censored's top twenty five stories. - mpg
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You have created this mess, Dr Rice  ---  http://www.bt.com.bn/en/editorial/2008/04/24/you_have_created_this_mess_dr_rice
A quote...."SHE came, she saw and she failed again! US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice might go into the annals of US history with the dubious distinction of having most failed missions to her credit. Another failure was added in her cap on Tuesday night when she failed to win commitment from Iraq's neighbours to any immediate strengthening of diplomatic or economic support for the Baghdad government."
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More on Syrian Reactor Bombing; From an Informed Reader  ---  http://www.juancole.com/2008/04/more-on-syrian-reactor-bombing-from.html
A quote...."What little information provided in the CIA videotape concerning the destruction of the purported Syrian reactor only provokes more questions."
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Cheney camp 'behind Syrian reactor claim'  ---  http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/25/2227483.htm
Related article - A quote...."US Government allegations that North Korea helped Syria build a nuclear reactor have been greeted with scepticism because of their timing."
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Colombia: Trade union leader disappears - posted at BuzzFlash  ---  http://www.buzzflash.com/
  ---  http://www.ituc-csi.org/spip.php?article2003
A quote...."Brussels, 25 April 2008 : The ITUC has expressed its outrage and firm condemnation following the disappearance of Guillermo Rivera Fuquene, President of the Public Servants Union of Bogota (SINSRVPUB), affiliated to the CTC Colombia, and a civil servant in the Colombian Comptroller’s office."
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Ecuador’s Leader Purges Military and Moves to Expel American Base  ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/21/world/americas/21ecuador.html
A quote...."MANTA, Ecuador — Chafing at ties between American intelligence agencies and Ecuadorean military officials, President Rafael Correa is purging the armed forces of top commanders and pressing ahead with plans to cast out more than 100 members of the American military from an air base here in this coastal city."
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Poisonous Toothpaste–How - the CIA Manipulated the Congo http://watchingamerica.com/News/848/poisonous-toothpaste-how-the-cia-manipulated-the-congo/
A quote...."A new book shows how the CIA in the Cold War held Dictator Mobutu 32 in power for many years. Worrisome Parallels to the current war against Terror open themselves up. - “Since Lumumba is dead, he stops being a person. He becomes all of Africa” Jean-Paul Sartre."
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Anti-war Cindy Sheehan files to take on Pelosi  ---  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/25/BAU310AJJ9.DTL
A quote...."Peace activist Cindy Sheehan wants to snatch House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's congressional seat from her in November, but first she's going to need the help - and signatures - of 10,198 friends and supporters."
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Cutoffs and Pleas for Aid Rise With Heat Costs
  ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/25/us/25heating.html?ex=1366862400&en=c5406b9b1c6725c3&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
A quote...."After struggling with soaring heating costs through the winter, millions of Americans are behind on electric and gas bills, and a record number of families could face energy shut-offs over the next two months, according to state energy officials and utilities around the country."
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Friday April 25th 2008 - links page

Former GOP Senator Says Cheney's Hostile Takeover Was Planned From The Beginning
  ---  http://winterpatriot.blogspot.com/2008/04/former-gop-senator-says-cheneys-hostile.html
Must Read - A quote...."Just in case you're still under the impression that the single-minded belligerence shown by the Bush administration after 9/11 was a reaction (or an over-reaction) to the attacks of that day, I wish to remind you that Bush and Cheney were busy classifying government documents and scuttling international treaties all during the summer of 2001 -- almost as if they were getting ready for something dramatic."
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All the president's liars  ---  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/04/25/notes042508.DTL
A quote...."Did it work? Were you duped? -- Were you calmly and methodically and rather nefariously led to believe that maybe, just maybe, the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan and Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib and the rest, right along with tales of soldier suicides and torture and staggering civilian body counts and the utterly disastrous Bush military policy weren't really all that bad after all?"
Also posted at CommonDreams  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/25/8532/
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Pentagon Conduits  ---  http://www.fff.org/comment/com0804e.asp
A quote...."As we now know, thanks to the New York Times,
 ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/washington/20generals.html?_r=2&scp=2&sq=barstow&st=nyt&oref=slogin&oref=slogin  ---  the military-industrial complex is well represented in the daily television news coverage of the Iraq and Afghan occupations. Those former generals who seemed generously to have come out of retirement to provide disinterested analysis of the Bush administration’s military adventures are neither generous nor disinterested."
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Pavlov's Dogs of War Propaganda  ---  http://www.atlargely.com/2008/04/pavlovs-dogs-of.html
A quote...."It turns out that James “Spider” Marks, retired Army general and military analyst, was pushing the Bush administration’s war propaganda on CNN under the guise of objective journalism for fun and profit. -- Say it ain’t so, Spider."
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The New York Times exposes manipulative DoD propaganda racket  ---  http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/20/the-new-york-times-exposes-manipulative-dod-propaganda-racket/
A quote...."Through newly obtained internal documents, The New York Times has uncovered an elaborate PR campaign run by the Pentagon that coached former military officials — or as they’re known on television, Serious Independent Military Experts — on how best to shill for Donald Rumsfeld during the fallout from the “General’s Revolt,” when numerous high-ranking retired Generals broke long standing tradition and began speaking out harshly against the former Secretary and his prosecution of the War in Iraq."

For more on the four articles shown above see....
Fake Intel - NYT Article  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/fakeintell-weblist-mpg-090206#NYT_ARTICLE
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Iraqis accuse Blackwater of shredding documents  ---  http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9098K503&show_article=1
A quote...."WASHINGTON (AP) - Families of Iraqis who died in a shooting involving Blackwater Worldwide contractors accused the company Friday of shredding documents and destroying evidence. - Lawyers for the families made the accusations in court documents but identified the source of the information only as former employees. They said officials at the company's North Carolina compound shredded documents related to ongoing investigations sometime around March 18."
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Cheney's and Maliki's new war in Iraq - Friday round-up - 3 articles - [ Day 32 ]

US says it has no plans to besiege Iraq's Sadr City  ---  http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iN6gq8nrrh87NRlEhRyKuLFqKMfA
A quote..."BAGHDAD (AFP) — American and Iraqi forces building a wall in Sadr City have no plans to besiege the east Baghdad Shiite bastion where they have been battling militiamen for weeks, a US general said on Thursday."
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Siege continues in Iraq as US escalates threats against Iran  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2008/apr2008/iraq-a26.shtml
A quote...."The United States military’s brutal offensive in Sadr City continued this week, with overnight raids killing dozens of people, including many civilians. The US offensive against the impoverished Baghdad neighborhood of 2 million people is entering its second month. -- The direct target of US operations in Sadr City is the Mahdi Army militia led by Moqtada al-Sadr. Sadr’s followers are drawn from the largely working class Shiite population in Sadr City. He also has substantial support in southern Iraq, including Basra. The recent wave of violence in Iraq was triggered last month, when the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched an offensive, backed by the US, against Sadr’s forces in Basra."
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Sadr Tells Forces Not to Attack Iraqis  ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/24/world/middleeast/26iraq.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
A quote..."BAGHDAD — Under pressure from Iraqi government troops and the American military, Moktada al-Sadr called on his followers to stop the bloodshed, unite with all Iraqis and focus their firepower on driving out the “occupation forces,” meaning the United States military and its foreign allies."

Cheney's and Maliki's new war in Iraq - Friday round-up - [ Day 32 ]
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Mullen Rattles Sabres at Iran; Muqtada Reaffirms Truce  ---  http://www.juancole.com/2008/04/mullen-rattles-sabres-at-iran-muqtada.html
A quote..."Guerrillas  blew up an oil pipeline from a refinery south of Baghdad on Friday. Iraqi oil production has declined somewhat lately, according to this report. -- Adm. Michael Mullen, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sharpened his rhetoric against Iran on Friday. Mullen appeared earlier to want to put the brakes on the Cheney war machine. Is he weakening?"
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Is an Attack on Iran Imminent?  ---  http://www.smmirror.com/MainPages/DisplayArticleDetails.asp?eid=7672
War Warning - A quote...."George W. Bush is poised to order a massive aerial bombardment – possibly including tactical nuclear weapons – of up to 10,000 targets in Iran.  The attack would be justified on grounds that Iran is interfering with U.S. efforts in Iraq and that Iran is developing a nuclear weapon, a charge that was debunked last fall in the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE)." -- Also posted at CommonDreams http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/25/8529/
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Gas exporters to meet in Tehran on April 28  ---  http://en.rian.ru/business/20080424/105851967.html
Special Note - A quote...."MOSCOW, April 24 (RIA Novosti) - An alliance of the world's leading gas producers will hold a ministerial meeting in Tehran on April 28, the head of Russia's Gas Society said on Thursday. -- "The Gas Exporting Countries Forum will hold a ministerial meeting in Iran's capital on April 28, where the charter of the so-called gas 'OPEC' will be discussed," Valery Yazev said. -- He said there were two draft charters, a 'tough' one designed by Iran, and Russia's 'more delicate' version. Iran has proposed to regulate the functioning and principles of a gas equivalent of OPEC, while Russia's draft envisages fixing gas pricing mechanisms and gas transit routs."
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India and Iran: Getting Friendly?  ---  http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1734777,00.html
A quote...."By landing his plane in New Delhi on what was to have been a routine refueling stop, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has provoked a diplomatic contretemps between India and the U.S. that reveals the fragility of their emerging alliance. New Delhi remains deeply wary over being seen to be doing Washington's bidding when it comes to dealing with other countries."
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Pakistan, India close to finalizing accord on gas pipeline from Iran  ---  http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/25/apworld/20080425192609
A quote...."SLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP): An official says Pakistan and India are close to finalizing an agreement to build a pipeline to import natural gas from Iran. -- The South Asian countries' petroleum ministers concluded the latest round of talks on the three-nation project Friday in Islamabad."
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Pakistan fury at Nato border raid  ---  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7365501.stm
A quote...."Pakistan's foreign ministry has said it has lodged a "strong protest" with Nato and the Afghan military after a border skirmish left a Pakistani soldier dead."
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Bad For Bush: Peace Breaking Out In Pakistan  ---  http://winterpatriot.blogspot.com/2008/04/bad-for-bush-peace-breaking-out-in.html
A quote...."There have been some interesting developments -- or non-developments -- in the Pakistani sector of the Terror War since the February election in which the party and policy of President Pervez Musharraf were soundly repudiated."
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Taliban commander in Pakistan orders halt to attacks  ---  http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=141500
A quote...."The top Taliban commander in Pakistan called a cease-fire Thursday and ordered followers to halt attacks, while the government said it was pursuing peace talks with tribal elders in the volatile border region. -- Fliers distributed on the Afghan frontier and in nearby towns told those loyal to Baitullah Mehsud, a Taliban commander accused of ties to al-Qaida, to avoid acts of "hostility.""
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Malaysia's ex-PM Mahathir wants Iraq war leaders on war crimes charges  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/162855
A quote...."LONDON (AFP) - Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad called here Friday for an international tribunal to try Western leaders with war crimes over the war in Iraq, a spokesman for the organisers said. --
In a speech at Imperial College, Mahathir called for a tribunal to try US President George W. Bush plus former prime ministers Tony Blair of Britain and John Howard of Australia for their part in the conflict, said a spokesman for the Muslim group the Ramadhan Foundation, which set up the event."
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Carter rebuts State Department on Hamas  ---  http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-04-23-carter_N.htm
A quote...."A day after returning from the Mideast, former Democratic president Jimmy Carter on Wednesday defended his meetings with leaders of the militant Palestinian movement Hamas, and said his visit doesn't lend the group credence."
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Israel's UN Ambassador Calls Jimmy Carter A "Bigot"  ---  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/25/israels-un-ambassador-cal_n_98553.html
A quote...."NEW YORK — Israel's ambassador to the United Nations on Thursday called former President Jimmy Carter "a bigot" for meeting with the leader of the militant Hamas movement in Syria. -- Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, "went to the region with soiled hands and came back with bloody hands after shaking the hand of Khaled Mashaal, the leader of Hamas," Ambassador Dan Gillerman told a luncheon briefing for reporters." -- Israel's arrogance is beginning to get rather tiresome. - mpg
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LEBANON: Photographers protest Fadel Shana'a's death  ---  http://www.menassat.com/?q=alerts/3569-lebanon-photographers-protest-fadel-shanaas-death
A quote...."BEIRUT, April 24, 2008 (MENASSAT) – To denounce the killing of Reuters cameraman, Fadel Shana'a, by the Israeli army in Gaza last week, the Syndicate of Lebanese Photographers organized a demonstration at noon on Thursday in front of ESCWA headquarters in downtown Beirut."
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Thousands mourn for cameraman slain by Israeli missile
  ---  http://themadisontimes.com/news/2008/04/24/gaza-thousands-mourn-for-cameraman-slain-by-israeli-missile/
A quote...."GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip, (IPS/GIN) — Fadel Shana, a cameraman for the Reuters news agency, was killed April 16 while filming Israeli tanks as they fired missiles in Gaza."

Regarding the two articles shown above see....Killing a Messenger
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/rapsheetarch/mpgrap-041608-042208#MESSENGER
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Skepticism toward Bush claims about Syria and North Korea  ---  http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/04/25/syria/
A quote...."There are multiple reasons why substantial skepticism is warranted concerning the Bush administration's claims that the structure which Israeli jets destroyed inside Syria last September was a nuclear reactor Syria was developing with the aid of North Korea. Such skepticism, however, is difficult to find in most (though not all) American press accounts, which do little other than repeat Government claims without challenge."
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Syrian envoy says CIA fabricated evidence  ---  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2004373904_apsyrianorthkoreanuclear.html?syndication=rss
A quote...."Syria's ambassador to the United States said Friday that the CIA fabricated pictures allegedly taken inside a secret Syrian nuclear reactor and predicted that in the coming weeks the U.S. story about the site would "implode from within."
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Taliban bitten by a snake in the grass  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JD26Df01.html
A quote...."KARACHI - The Taliban and their al-Qaeda associates, in what they considered a master stroke, this year started to target the Western alliance's supply lines that run through Pakistan into Afghanistan. "
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Cousin of Colombian President Arrested in Death Squad Probe --- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/22/AR2008042201144.html
A quote...."BOGOTA, Colombia, April 22 -- Authorities on Tuesday arrested former senator Mario Uribe, a cousin and close ally of President Álvaro Uribe, for alleged ties to death squads in a widening inquiry that has implicated nearly a quarter of Colombia's Congress."
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Massachusetts Police Get Black Uniforms to Instill Sense of 'Fear'  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=6367
A quote...."The city's new police commissioner, William Fitchet, says members of the department's Street Crime Unit will again don black, military-style uniforms as part of his strategy to deal with youth violence." -- "Ja mein Vater führer" - mpg
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Seller of antiwar t-shirts 'not worried' by lawsuit  ---  http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=8223769
A quote...."PHOENIX (AP) - An Arizona online merchant of anti-war shirts that list names of troops killed in Iraq says he's not particularly worried by a lawsuit filed in Tennessee by the parents of a slain soldier."
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Ron Paul "The High Tide" HighTidePromo.com  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3MLTvYBQy0 ---  (YouTube - 1 min 8 sec - March 13, 2008)
Video - A quote...."3D animation and motion graphics come together in a 60 second grassroots promo for Presidential candidate Ron Paul."
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The Man Who Stuck Us With Bush  ---  http://existentialistcowboy.blogspot.com/2008/04/man-who-stuck-us-with-bush.html
A quote...."If historians are honest, history will record that it was Antonin Scalia who finished off the American republic by sticking us with George W. Bush, a ne'er do well who aspired to dictatorship and with Scalia's help, got one! Scalia now sweats his legacy in an unseemly manner in public. Historians will say of his bone headed efforts to bully other justices into complicity was not not based in anyway on the Constitution, law or precedent. Scalia is what happens when justices give up law for partisan politics. Scalia's scholarly retort: 'get over it'."
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Gouged Out: The Consumer and the Gas Station Operator  ---  http://discuss.epluribusmedia.net/gouged_out
A quote...."Thursday, 24 April 2004, CNN Money ran an interesting article called Gouging myth out of gas1 that further explained how the myth that gas stations participate in "price gouging" is unlikely, at best -- and it casts an eye toward the primary culprit through the use of some very interesting facts and figures."
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Euthanize Wall Street to save the economy  ---  http://discuss.epluribusmedia.net/node/1405
A quote...."The “bail out” of Bear Stearns five weeks ago did nothing to solve the underlying causes of the unfolding financial meltdown, so another major crisis is unavoidable. The “bail out” of Bear Stearns has merely bought more time for the big players on Wall Street to try and drag this out past the November election, because what they fear above all else is the rise of a progressive political movement strong enough to pry loose their grasp on the credit mechanism -- the financial system -- of our economy."
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Consumers, companies flash recession warnings  ---  http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSN2548471220080425
Some quotes...."NEW YORK (Reuters) - The warning signs of a U.S. recession flashed again on Friday as consumer sentiment sank to its lowest in 26 years and corporate earnings appeared set for their third consecutive quarter of contraction." -- "The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers index of confidence for April fell to 62.6 from 69.5 in March, sliding deeper into recessionary territory and coming in worse than economists had expected." -- "With more than half of the companies in the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 .SPX index reporting results, earnings for the first quarter are on pace to fall 14.1 percent from a year before, largely due to weakness in results from the banking and consumer discretionary sectors."
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British government commits taxpayers to bailing out the banks  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2008/apr2008/bank-a26.shtml
Special Note - A quote...."The government and the Bank of England have been forced to step in to bail out Britain’s banking system, which is on the point of collapse. -- The measures go beyond those taken by the US Federal Reserve or the European Central Bank in offering almost limitless liquid assets, in effect backed by future taxpayers’ funds. They reflect the increasing financial turmoil and threaten to bankrupt the British government itself. -- The Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, announced a series of measures of a quite unprecedented scale and scope under a “special liquidity scheme”. The Bank would accept the banks’ AAA rated mortgage and credit card backed securities-which have in fact becoming untradeable and thus worthless—but not those related to the US sub-prime market. These AAAs would be swapped for short dated and highly liquid Treasury bonds for one to three years, at a discounted rate or “haircut”, to use the City’s jargon."
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Double Whammy for Australian borrowers  ---  http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23599519-643,00.html
A quote...."AUSTRALIAN home borrowers are doing it tougher than their British and US counterparts as the global credit crunch and surging domestic inflation push rates even higher. - National Australia Bank and ANZ are the latest of the major lenders to lift their standard variable rates by 10 basis points each, with NAB choosing yesterday to do it. - ANZ has the highest of the variable rates, along with St George Bank, at 9.47 per cent. - NAB is at 9.46 per cent while Westpac is at the bottom of the ladder at 9.37 per cent. It comes as this week's high inflation numbers in Australia dampened hopes for an official rate cut, while the banks continued to lift rates, irrespective of the Reserve Bank leaving the cash rate unchanged at 7.25 per cent."
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Asian inflation at fresh multi-year highs as fuel, food, housing prices climb
  ---  http://www.lse.co.uk/MacroEconomicNews.asp?ArticleCode=bzqoksqp98wsrlv&
  ---  ArticleHeadline=asian_inflation_at_fresh_multi-year_highs_as_fuel_food_housing_prices_climb
A quote...."SINGAPORE (Thomson Financial) - Inflation across Asia continued to soar to multi-year highs in the first quarter, driven by higher prices for fuel, food and housing, data showed this week."
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Shattering the War Consensus  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/24/8497/
Must Read - A quote...."Why, for God’s sake, does nothing change? The war goes on, the money flows, the blood flows, the lies stay exactly the same. Have you noticed? Have you ever wondered, with a stab of transcendent confusion, why a self-correcting rationality hasn’t kicked in by now, why a saner awareness hasn’t made itself evident in the macro-affairs of the nation by now?"
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TV’s Response to Pentagon Propaganda? Never Happened  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/24/8505/
A quote....
"Last week, it wasa mudslinging debate hosted by ABC.  ---  http://www.stopbigmedia.com/blog/2008/04/17/the-abc-debate-and-the-danger-to-democracy/  ---  This week, it’s revelations of pro-war propaganda on nearly every major television news outlet. truth about the fast sell on the Iraq war just hit a new low. And today, in the ensuing days, our loyal Bush lapdog news outlets are either dismissing the damning revelation or pretending it never happened: -- Sunday’s New York Times’ article  ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/washington/20generals.html?pagewanted=4&_r=1  ---  exposing a secret Bush administration campaign to infiltrate the media with pro-Iraq war “analysts” is enraging and is likely illegal. Trillions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of casualties later, we learn that the drum beat to war was led by a choir lip-synching the Pentagon’s talking points."
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Military "Analysts," the Media, and the Selling of Bush's Wars  ---  http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042408B.shtml
A quote...."The Bush administration has made a mess of many things, from the Iraq war to Katrina. Yet there is one area in which Bush and his people have met with, at least, limited success - namely the manipulation of public opinion, especially when it comes to the "war on terror."  --  Actually Bush and his Neocon cronies have met with outstanding success regarding "the manipulation of public opinion" and to drive the point home this administration has NOT made a "mess of many things, from the Iraq war to Katrina" they have been outstanding successes also for Bush's "base" the wealthiest one percent of this nation's population who have made fortunes off of what have been debacles for the rest of the "American" public.  So for those who haven't got it yet, let this humble website editor clue you in....NINTY NINE PERCENT OF THIS NATION'S POPULATION DOES NOT COUNT!!  They are chattel, cattle, meat, peons, peasants, cannon fodder, sheep or whatever term one would care to use to describe the justifiable contempt and the actual predatory financial relationship our wealthy elites have toward those they rule.  Welcome to the New Roman Empire.- mpg
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Al-Qaeda Lifts Propaganda From Spoof News Website  ---  http://prisonplanet.com/articles/april2008/042408_spoof_news.htm
A quote...."If you thought the twilight zone insanity of the propaganda being desperately spewed forth in order to prolong the "war on terror" wasn't ludicrous enough, this week it got worse, after Ayman al-Zawahiri, or whoever is using him as their personal sock puppet, directly lifted a spoof news satire piece and incorporated it into his diatribe." -- The video is actually pretty funny. - mpg

See also....Unbelieveable! "al-Qaeda" Dismisses Conspiracy Theories, Defends Israel, Attacks Iran and Hizbollah!  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/162563
And....US Support of Terror  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/ussupportofterror-weblist-mpg-090306
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POLITICS-US:  Petraeus Promotion Frees Cheney to Threaten Iran  ---  http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42101
War Warning - A quote...."WASHINGTON, Apr 23 (IPS) - The nomination of Gen. David Petraeus to be the new head of the Central Command not only ensures that he will be available to defend the George W. Bush administration's policies toward Iran and Iraq at least through the end of Bush's term and possibly even beyond. -- Also posted at CommonDreams  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/24/8492/ --- 
& Asia Times  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JD25Ak01.html
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The Ritual Flaying of Jimmy Carter  ---  http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080424_the_ritual_flaying_of_jimmy_carter/
A quote...."Nobody with a functioning memory should be too quick to condemn Jimmy Carter for daring to speak with the leadership of Hamas, as nearly everyone along the American political spectrum suddenly has felt obliged to do. From Condoleezza Rice and John McCain to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, along with every congressional backbencher in both parties, expressions of disapproval have rained down upon the former president, who is old enough and tough enough to pursue his own beliefs to their logical conclusion." -- Also posted at CommonDreams  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/24/8504/
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UN walkout over Gaza 'Nazi' remarks  ---  http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/29DACF46-3620-435B-845D-EBF0BAE3C263.htm
A quote...."The US, Britain, France and other members have walked out of a closed meeting of the UN Security Council after Libya compared the situation in Gaza to Nazi concentration camps in World War II. --  Diplomats said France's UN ambassador walked out, followed by his Western colleagues, after the Libyan envoy made the remarks during a debate on Gaza." -- Gaza is not similar to a Nazi concentration camp, it is however almost identical to the Warsaw Ghetto before it was finally "liquidated". See quote below....

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Cheney's and Maliki's new war in Iraq - Thursday round-up - 2 articles - [ Day 31 ]

In Sadr City, Basic Services Are Faltering  ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/world/middleeast/22sadrcity.html
A quote...."April 22, 2008 -- BAGHDAD — Even as American and Iraqi troops are fighting to establish control of the Sadr City section of this capital, the Iraqi government’s program to restore basic services like electricity, sewage and trash collection is lagging, jeopardizing the effort to win over the area’s wary residents."
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Mosaic News - [Link TV] 4/17/08: World News from the Middle East - (YouTube - 30 min 01 sec - 04-18-08)
  ---  http://youtube.com/watch?v=lIlyr44AiPo&feature=related
Video - A quote...."April 18, 2008 -- Al Sadr City Under Seige," Press TV, Iran" - "Tales of Displaced Iraqis," Baghdad TV, Iraq" - "Iraqi Brain Drain," Al-Iraqiya TV, Iraq" - "Obama and Clinton Vow to Defend Israel," Dubai TV, UAE" - "Al Qaeda Moves to Northern Iraq," Al Jazeera TV, Qatar" - Etc. etc..... - mpg

Cheney's and Maliki's new war in Iraq - Thursday round-up - [ Day 31 ]
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5 US Troops Killed; Turkey Bombs N. Iraq; Iran Backs al-Maliki against Mahdi Army
  ---  http://www.juancole.com/2008/04/5-us-troops-killed-turkey-bombs-n-iraq.html
A quote...."It is precisely the closeness of the al-Maliki government and its primary current pillar, ISCI, to Iran that has made Sunni Arab countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia  ---  http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL22346264.html  ---  skittish about allowing it into the Arab League system as a full diplomatic partner. The Sunni Arab states largely do not have embassies in Baghdad, and Iraqi Shiites accuse them or their populations of surreptitiously helping Iraqi Sunni Arab guerrillas." -- *Juan Cole*
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US Planes and Choppers Cross Pak Border, Violating Air Space Aiding In Battle Against Rebel Forces:
  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_muhammad_080424_is_this_the_beginnin.htm
War Expansion Alert - A quote...."US-led NATO forces, Pakistani troops and militants have started exchanging fire in Bajaur Agency, tribal areas situated on Pak-Afghan border. The clashes, which claimed the live of dozens of people, have created great terror and fear in the areas. This time the coalition against terrorism is in disarray as NATO forces and Pakistani troops also exchanged firing."
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Latin America: the attack on democracy  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19795.htm
A quote...." 24/04/08 "ICH" -- -- Beyond the sound and fury of its conquest of Iraq and campaign against Iran, the world's dominant power is waging a largely unreported war on another continent - Latin America. Using proxies, Washington aims to restore and reinforce the political control of a privileged group calling itself middle-class, to shift the responsibility for massacres and drug trafficking away from the psychotic regime in Colombia and its mafiosi, and to extinguish hopes raised among Latin America's impoverished majority by the reform governments of Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia."
Also posted at Global Research.  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8795
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Darfur dead 'could number 300,000' - posted at BuzzFlash  ---  http://www.buzzflash.com/
  ---  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/23/sudan.unitednations
A quote...."The total number of deaths in the Sudanese region of Darfur could have risen to 300,000 in the five years since violence broke out, according to new figures from a top United Nations official."
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Leo Strauss and the "Crazies in the Basement"  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_donald_a_080423_leo_strauss_and_the_.htm
A quote...."There is no question that we are engaged in a war of ideologies, or that democracy is under siege.   But, contrary to prevalent misinformation and myth, the significant threat is within, not outside the halls of our government." -- For more on this issue see articles shown below....
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9/11 - From The History File...posted 03-01-08

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Impeachment Now Or Apocalypse Later?  ---  http://www.crisispapers.org/essays8w/apocalypse.htm
A quote...."The political noose seems to be tightening on the key members of the remaining miscreants down in the White House bunker -- mainly Bush, Cheney, Rice, Addington and Mukasey. (Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Gonzales, Powell and Tenet were pushed out the door earlier.) But will the Democrats, having been provided with smoking gun-type evidence of these officials' high crimes and misdemeanors, take the next logical step to end this continuing nightmare of law-breaking at the highest levels? Consider:"
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Aggressive action is needed to resurrect 4th Amendment rights  ---  http://muckrakerreport.com/id592.html
A quote...."April 23, 2008 – Are rights really rights if any or all branches of government can grant themselves, or each other, exceptions to the rights so that each or all may justify violating the rights of the people?  Can rights be outweighed in balancing tests?  Does the Bill of Rights allow for exceptions to rights such as “unless outweighed by a compelling state interest”?"
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Making a 'Killing' on the 'War on Terror'  ---  http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/042408a.html
A quote...."Nearly seven years after Sept. 11, 2001, what accounts for the vast discrepancy between the terrorist threat facing America and the scale of our response? -- Why, absent any evidence of a serious domestic terror threat, is the War on Terror so enormous, so all-encompassing, and still expanding? -- The fundamental answer is that al-Qaeda’s most important accomplishment was not to hijack our planes, but to hijack our political system."
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Agency Admits Spying on Afghan Politician and SPIEGEL Journalist  ---  http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,549488,00.html
A quote...."The head of Germany's foreign intelligence agency has come under fire over admissions his employees monitored e-mails exchanged between a minister in the Afghan government and a SPIEGEL journalist. Chief spy Ernst Uhrlau will likely keep his job, but the scandal is expected to shake up the organization."
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Evidence that Drugs Were Used on CIA "Ghost Detainees" During Coercive Interrogations The Return of MKULTRA?
  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8796
A quote...."In A Question of Torture, historian Alfred W. McCoy tracks the nightmarish world of the CIA's Project ARTICHOKE and its later metastasis, MKULTRA through two distinct, though overlapping phases:"
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Inmate Count in U.S. Dwarfs Other Nations’  ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/us/23prison.html
Special Note - A quote...."The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population. But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners. -- Indeed, the United States leads the world in producing prisoners, a reflection of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive American approach to crime and punishment. Americans are locked up for crimes — from writing bad checks to using drugs — that would rarely produce prison sentences in other countries. And in particular they are kept incarcerated far longer than prisoners in other nations."
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Sen Dorgan: The American people Should Not Stand for This!  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uba37udqF9A  ---  (YuTb - 10m 43s - April 07, 2008)
Video - Proof that the Military Industrial Oil Complex (MIOC)  provides equal opportunity for graft to all.  It's the Neo-Roman way. - mpg
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New Deal's Unsung Japanese Victory  ---  http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5161
A quote...."Seventy-five years ago, major media outlets have reminded us over recent weeks, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal had its American debut. But when exactly did the New Deal end? The American Journal of Public Health has just published a fascinating article that suggests a surprising answer."
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Memo to Bernanke: Enough with the rate cuts, already!  ---  http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_3213.shtml
Special Note - A quote...."Last week's stock market blowout added more than 4 per cent to the Dow Jones Industrials, but it had no affect on Libor rates. Libor rose steadily from Tuesday through Friday signaling more troubles in the banking system. -- Libor, which means London Interbank-Offered Rate, is the rate that banks charge each other for loans. It has a dramatic effect on nearly every area of investment. When the rate soars, as it did last week, it means that the banks are either too weak financially to lend to each other or too worried about the ability of the other bank to repay them. Either way, it puts a crimp in lending."
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New home sales plunge to lowest level in 16 1/2 years  ---  http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D908A8180&show_article=1
A quote...."WASHINGTON (AP) - Sales of new homes plunged in March to the lowest level in 16 1/2 years as housing slumped further at the start of the spring sales season. -- The median price of a new home in March, compared with a year ago, fell by the largest amount in nearly four decades."
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Durable-goods orders fall for third straight month
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/orders-durable-goods-fall-third/story.aspx?
  ---  guid=%7B189B07EB%2D7524%2D43E9%2D9281%2DFA0B0EDC09B0%7D&dist=
A quote...."WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Hurt by a strike in the auto industry, orders for U.S.-built durable goods slipped 0.3% in March compared to February, marking the third monthly decline in a row, the Commerce Department estimated Thursday."
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Big borrowing shows Fed is still dealers' last resort  ---  http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSN2431269820080425
A quote...."NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dealers' demand to borrow cash from the Federal Reserve eased in the latest week, but is still substantial, indicating only a minor reprieve from credit market strains. -- Banks still are wary of lending to each other, as persistently elevated inter-bank borrowing costs show. With the commercial paper market -- another cornerstone of short term lending -- also continuing to shrink, U.S. financial institutions are still heavily reliant on the central bank as an alternative source of temporary cash."

"It is not a matter of what is true that counts, but a matter of what is perceived to be true." -- *Henry Kissinger*

"The CIA owns everyone of any significance in the major media" -- *William Colby* former CIA Director [who] (died suddenly after freak canoe accident) Bernstein's 1977 Oct. Rolling stone article.