Tuesday May 12th 2009 - links page

Blue Gold, Turkmen Bashes, and Asian Grids - Pipelineistan in Conflict
  ---  http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175071/pepe_escobar_pipelineistan_goes_af_pak
Must Read - A quote...."As Barack Obama heads into his second hundred days in office, let's head for the big picture ourselves, the ultimate global plot line, the tumultuous rush towards a new, polycentric world order. In its first hundred days, the Obama presidency introduced us to a brand new acronym, OCO for Overseas Contingency Operations, formerly known as GWOT (as in Global War on Terror). Use either name, or anything else you want, and what you're really talking about is what's happening on the immense energy battlefield that extends from Iran to the Pacific Ocean. It's there that the Liquid War for the control of Eurasia takes place. -- Yep, it all comes down to black gold and "blue gold" (natural gas), hydrocarbon wealth beyond compare, and so it's time to trek back to that ever-flowing wonderland -- Pipelineistan. It's time to dust off the acronyms, especially the SCO or Shanghai Cooperative Organization, the Asian response to NATO, and learn a few new ones like IPI and TAPI. Above all, it's time to check out the most recent moves on the giant chessboard of Eurasia, where Washington wants to be a crucial, if not dominant, player."
also posted at WarInIraq  ---  http://original.antiwar.com/engelhardt/2009/05/12/pipelineistan-goes-af-pak/
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Obama’s Empire  ---  http://mwcnews.net/content/view/30521/26/
Special Note - Obama™ Update - A quote...."Why isn’t the honeymoon over yet? That all peace advocates still haven’t broken with Barack Obama is ominous, indeed. Do they really hate war, empire, and colonialism? Or did they just hate George W. Bush and Dick Cheney? - Obama has been in power more than 100 days, which is time enough to judge the man’s intentions for the American empire. The signs are not good. Liquidation is clearly not on his agenda." -- Oh Contraire! -  Obama intends to "liquidate" the Palestinians, the Syrians, the Iraqis, the Pakistanis, the Afghanis, and many others on behalf of the New Roman Empire....he intends to do a lot of "liquidation"!! – mpg
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Obama threatens to limit U.S. intel with Brits - Justice letter filed in court  - And the cover-up continues. - mpg http://obamboozled.blogspot.com/2009/05/obama-threatens-to-limit-us-intel-with.html
Special Note - Obama™ Update - A quote...."The Obama administration says it may curtail Anglo-American intelligence sharing if the British High Court discloses new details of the treatment of a former Guantanamo detainee. - A court filing from the British Foreign Office released recently includes a letter from the U.S. government, identified as the "Obama administration's communication." Other information identifying the U.S. agency and author of the letter appears to have been redacted."
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Lawmakers Try to Block New Abuse Photos - More attempts at a cover-up. - mpg  - posted at AntiWar  ---  http://www.antiwar.com/
  ---  http://original.antiwar.com/fisher/2009/05/11/lawmakers-try-to-block-new-abuse-photos/
Special Note - Obama™ Update - A quote...."Civil libertarians are condemning a call by two influential U.S. senators for the White House to block the impending release of photographs showing detainees being abused by U.S. military personnel at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and at other U.S. detention facilities in the Middle East and elsewhere. -- The plea to intervene to stop the expected May 28 release of the photos came in a letter to President Barack Obama from Senators Joseph Lieberman and Lindsey Graham."
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Seven Days in May, 2009  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2009/may2009/pers-m13.shtml
Coup Alert - Possible False Flag Alert - A quote...."The past week has seen a series of incidents that suggest a mounting crisis within the American state machine. It is not yet possible to provide a full explanation of these events, but they testify to the extraordinary degree of political tension in official Washington. -- On Friday, May 8, the head of the White House Military Office, former secretary of the army Louis Caldera, tendered his resignation, after an uproar provoked by the still-unexplained decision to have one of the two Boeing 747 jets at the disposal of the White House fly low over Manhattan escorted by an Air Force fighter jet."
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Sibel and Scott again. -- Congress is a failed channel for whistleblowers.  ---  http://lukery.blogspot.com/2009/05/sibel-and-scott-again-congress-is.html
A quote...."There is a new Sibel Edmonds - Scott Horton interview at Antiwar Radio. Audio here,  ---  http://antiwar.com/radio/2009/05/08/sibel-edmonds/  ---   transcript here.  ---  http://letsibeledmondsspeak.blogspot.com/2009/05/sibel-edmonds-interview-with-scott.html  ---  The interviews with Scott have typically been the most informative interviews that Sibel has given. -- Sibel contributes a wealth of valuable 'process' information for those who are trying to understand the Harman / AIPAC / Goss story, as well as those of you still trying to get your head around Sibel's case. I recommend that you read the whole thing."
  ---  http://letsibeledmondsspeak.blogspot.com/2009/05/sibel-edmonds-interview-with-scott.html
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Inquirer defends the indefensible: A monthly column by torture architect John Yoo
  ---  http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/Inquirer_defends_the_indefensible_Its_contract_with_torture_architect_John_Yoo.html
A quote...."By late last year, the world already knew a great deal about John Yoo, the Philadelphia native and conservative legal scholar whose tenure in the Bush administration as a top Justice Department lawyer lies at the root of the period of greatest peril to the U.S. Constitution in modern memory. It was widely known in 2008, for example, that Yoo had argued for presidential powers far beyond anything either real or implied in the Constitution -- that the commander-in-chief could trample the powers of Congress or a free press in an endless undeclared war, or that the 4th Amendment barring unreasonable search and seizure didn't apply in fighting what Yoo called domestic terrorism.
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Displaced Iraqis stay away as violence persists  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/?p=m54210&hd=&size=1&l=e
A quote...."SULAIMANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - In summer, the heat is unbearable. In winter, the torrential rains turn the cramped, leaking tent where Khalid Jamhuri lives with his family into a freezing morass of mud."
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U.S. Admited Using White Phosphorous as an Offensive Weapon in 2005
  ---  http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/05/us-admited-using-white-phosphourous-as.html
A quote...."People are rightly outraged that the U.S. appears to be using white phosphorous as an offensive weapon in Afghanistan. - But this is nothing new. - The U.S. admitted using white phosphorous as an offensive weapon in Iraq in 2005."
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From Blunder to Blunder in Afghanistan  ---  http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/leymarie110509.html
A quote...."I also made it clear that the United States will work with our Afghan and international partners to make every effort to avoid civilian casualties as we help the Afghan government combat our common enemy," US President Barack Obama promised.  He received his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts Hamid Karzai and Asif Ali Zardari at the White House on Wednesday, the same day when the police chief of the Farah province, in southern Afghanistan, said the US Air Force's airstrike on the village of Bala Buluk on Monday, to free the Afghan troops attacked by guerrillas, had resulted in more than a hundred victims, mostly civilians.  As usual, investigations were launched by US and Afghan authorities, as well as by UN representatives."
also posted at Creative-i  ---  http://www.creative-i.info/?p=6814
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Afghan Govt: US Strike Killed 140 Civilians  - posted at AntiWar  ---  http://www.antiwar.com/
  ---  http://news.antiwar.com/2009/05/12/afghan-commission-concludes-140-civilians-killed-in-farah/
A quote...."An Afghan government commission has concluded that 140 civilians were killed in the United States air strikes in the Farah Province last week, and are providing relatives with $2,000 for each slain civilian. The findings provided further confirmation that the attack was the single deadliest incident of US forces killing Afghan civilians since the 2001 invasion."
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Pakistan army: 1.3 million fled fighting in NW - posted at AntiWar  ---  http://www.antiwar.com/
  ---  http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/05/12/pakistan-army-13-million-fled-fighting-in-nw-2/
A quote...."Pakistani commandos dropped from helicopters behind Taliban lines in the Swat Valley on Tuesday in a widening offensive that the military said has pushed the number fleeing fighting in the northwest to 1.3 million."
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On Af-Pak – Stop “Helping” – Ron Paul - Alt  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyGfaObqchE (YouTube - 4 min 2 sec - May 11, 2009)
  ---  http://dprogram.net/2009/05/12/video-on-af-pak-stop-helping-ron-paul/
Audio Video - A quote...."While much of the country’s attention is on other issues, a serious situation is developing in Pakistan that threatens to plunge us into another fruitless and bloody war. It is very frustrating to see that many who were so vehemently against the wars of the last administration have suddenly lost interest in foreign policy simply because we were promised change."
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US policy makes things worse in Pakistan  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96ToypYUsjs
Video - Note: Part 2 is not available yet - mpg -- A quote...."More at The Real News Network  ---  http://therealnews.com/t/index.php  ---  & also @ RNN's YouTube section  ---  http://www.youtube.com/user/TheRealNews  ---  Aijaz Amhad: US policy will lead to thousands of new recruits for Al Qaeda"  -- All part of the "Game Plan". - mpg
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Obama administration renews Bush-era sanctions on Syria  ---  http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10524.shtml
A quote...."WASHINGTON (IPS) - US President Barack Obama issued a statement on 8 May calling for the renewal of sanctions on Syria, which were set to expire on Monday. The declaration came at the end of a busy week in which both high-level US officials and the Iranian president visited the Syrian capital, Damascus. -- Though Syria has recently sought engagement with the US and Israel, the executive order extending sanctions is only the latest in a series of significant stumbling blocks to peeling off one of Iran's closest regional allies."
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Chomsky: Obama Policies Same As Bush (Part1)  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07685d8ZKcI  ---  (YouTube - 6 min 0 sec - May 11, 2009)
Chomsky: Obama Policies Same As Bush (Part2)  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHQJQ3zco_o  ---  (YouTube - 6 min 1 sec - May 11, 2009)
RT Videos - Obama™ Update - A quote...."What are the perspectives of NATO expansion? Is U.S. policy in Afghanistan escalating the war in the region? - To discuss this and much more, RT interviews Professor Noam Chomsky, political activist, philosopher, and author."
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Report: Iran deploys missiles in Persian Gulf  ---  http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1242029504871&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
War Alert - A quote...."Iran's Revolutionary Guards have begun deploying mobile launchers for surface-to-air and surface-to-sea missiles in the Strait of Hurmuz and other areas in the Gulf, it has been revealed. -- An Iranian official, quoted anonymously in the Saudi daily Al-Watan, said Iranian forces deployed the missile bases following secret reports that the United States and Israel were working on a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities."
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US to give Iran talks 'only until October'  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=94380&sectionid=351020101
War Alert - Obama™ Update - A quote...."With the US President planning a policy shift on Iran, a report says he will only give the much-awaited talks five months to resolve Tehran's nuclear dispute. -- According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, the United States has set October as its deadline for engaging Iran in the first round of talks over the country's nuclear activities."
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Ahmadinejad leads election poll by big margin  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/?p=m54202&hd=&size=1&l=e
A quote...."A recent poll shows the Iranian president's popularity has grown among the electorate, while support for his rival, Mir-Hossein Mousavi has remained unchanged. -- The opinion poll was conducted in Tehran as well as 29 other provincial capitals and 32 important cities on May 3-4."
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Georgian ex-leader calls on Saakashvili to step down
  ---  http://www.russiatoday.com/Politics/2009-05-12/Georgian_ex-leader_calls_on_Saakashvili_to_step_down.html
A quote...."Former Georgian leader Eduard Shevardnadze describes the situation in Georgia as “catastrophic.” He is strongly urging the country's currently embattled president to resign."
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MERCOSUR, India Boost Trade  ---  http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=82383&Itemid=1
Good for them, they should form trading blocs that exclude the US-NRE.  It's the only safe thing for them to do. - mpg -- A quote...."New Delhi, May 12 (Prensa Latina) MERCOSUR, made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, is boosting trade and investment with India via a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA). --  Brazilian Attache Jose Carlos Fonseca says the PTA with New Delhi, the first with a business partner outside the continent, will operate from June with 147 products from both parties."
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Galloway sues Canada over entry ban  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=94528&sectionid=351020701
A quote...."British anti-war lawmaker George Galloway is taking legal action against Canada because he was prevented from entering the country in March. - The Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada said in March that Galloway would not be allowed entry and referred to a catch-all legal clause."
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Pope calls for Palestinian homeland  ---  http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/05/200951373054439764.html
A quote...."Pope Benedict XVI has told Palestinians in Bethlehem that he believes they have the right to a sovereign Palestinian homeland. - On his first trip to the occupied West Bank, the pope addressed a crowd in Manger Square alongside Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, on Wednesday."
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Pope calls for end to Gaza Strip Embargo as he prepares to give mass in Bethlehem  ---  http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37775
A quote...."Bethlehem – Ma’an – "All the tourists come here for one or two hours then leave. I can't make much money from this,” said Manger Square Shawarma shop owner Omar Showriya as 8,000 pilgrims packed the square outside with cheers for the Pope, about to give mass."
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Hizballah today, Hamas tomorrow  ---  http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10520.shtml
A quote...."On 20 March, Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced that he would not use his authority to override a decision by Citizenship and Immigration Canada to bar British MP George Galloway from entering the country. Due to speak in Toronto at a public forum entitled "Resisting War from Gaza to Kandahar," hosted by the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War, Galloway received the news of his inadmissibility to enter Canada during a speaking tour in the United States. During the tour, Galloway called for a single-state option in Israel/Palestine, one between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, in which Jews, Muslims and Christians could live as equal citizens."
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Hamas Leader Reiterates Goal of Palestinian State Neighboring Israel
  ---  http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2009/05/06/hamas-leader-reiterates-goal-of-palestinian-state-neighboring-israel/
A quote...."The Palestinian group Hamas has announced a cessation in rocket fire into Israel this week as Khaled Meshal, the political leader of Hamas, in exile in Syria, repeated that Hamas is seeking an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel along the pre-1967 border."
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Bil’in: A Village That Will Never Surrender  ---  http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article938
A quote...."Four years ago, construction started on the Separation Wall through the middle Bil’in, a village outside of Ramallah. They have lost about 60% of their land—agricultural land where most of the income of the village was made. -- The people of Bil’in have taken their case to the Israeli Supreme Court many times. In September 2007, the Israeli Supreme Court finally ruled that the path of the separation wall was prejudicial to Bil’in and must be altered. This decision should have allowed Bil’in to regain almost 50% of the land that was stolen in 2004. -- Despite all of these decisions, and the international laws that find the wall illegal, construction continues; and Bil’in’s land continues to be stolen."
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Another Patriot Act Victim -   ---  http://candidblogger.blogspot.com/2009/05/another-patriot-act-victim.html
Alt   ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFVQ0HZz2mc  ---  (YouTube - 4 min 4 sec - May 02, 2009)
Police State Alert - Must View Video - The Patriot Act would never be used against US citizens, right? Certainly not innocent people, right? After all, holding an American citizen in jail indefinitely without charges, without evidence, based on a "set up" is impossible, right? Think again. The Patriot Act, that rights-stripping remnant of the Bush administration's attack on the civil liberties of the American people has once again reared its ugly head. This short video explains all:"
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Sorensen says lawyers too silent on torture  ---  http://journalstar.com/articles/2009/05/09/news/local/doc4a05f1a7ef6f9463929297.txt
A quote...."Too many American lawyers remained silent while the United States conducted illegal torture and the Constitution was violated by disregard for the rule of law, Ted Sorensen told law graduates Saturday. - In a commencement address at the University of Nebraska College of Law, his alma mater, Sorensen urged  the graduates to act with courage and embrace integrity in their professional pursuits."
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A Progressive Challenge to Jane Harman  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/12
Action Alert - A quote...."There are many reasons why progressives will mobilize behind the campaign of Marcy Winograd, who announced on Monday that she'll challenge incumbent Congresswoman Jane Harman in the 2010 Democratic primary. -- Some will speak of Harman's pro-war record. Some will recall her support for warrantless wiretapping, followed by her irony-free indignation when it turned out that NSA snoops had taped her own phone conversations. Some will recount Harman's long public silence after being briefed on torture by the U.S. government."
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9/11 Conspiracy? Pentagon Missile Defense Failure
  ---  http://www.roguegovernment.com/9_11_Conspiracy%3F_Pentagon_Missile_Defense_Failure/15605/0/1/1/Y/M.html
A quote...."Remember Star Wars? Do you remember the Pentagon's Strategic Defense Initiative to build a massive missile defense system that raised so much controversy during the Reagan and first Bush years? -- 130 billion of our tax dollars were poured into developing that system. It was designed to detect and intercept missiles fired from an unknown destination traveling at well over 10 times the speed of a commercial airliner, and to shoot them down in 15 minutes or less, before they reached their US targets."
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Osama bin Laden was US operator: President Asif Ali Zardari  ---  http://www.creative-i.info/?p=6820
Video - Special Note - Actually there's a chain of command here.  Osama was a dutiful son who worked for his own family the bin Ladens, who still work for the Saudi Royals, who work for the US-NRE, which continues to work for Israel. -- mpg -- A quote...."May 11, 2009 “New Karala” — Washington, May 11 : Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has alleged that elusive Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was a US operator who had tried to destabilise his late wife Benazir Bhutto’s government back in 1989. -- In fact, as premier Bhutto had “warned America about Osama bin Laden in 1989 with a call to then US president George H. Bush”, Zardari said on NBC’s Meet the Press programme Sunday."
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David Ray Griffin (at Boston University) 9/11- Time For a Second Look
  ---  http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2009/05/12/david-ray-griffin-at-boston-university-911-time-for-a-second-look/
Videos - A quote....."A myth is an idea that, while widely believed, is false.  In a deeper sense, in the religious sense, a myth serves as an orienting and mobilizing story for a people.  The focus is not on the stories relation to reality, but rather, on it’s function.  A story cannot “function” unless it is believed to be true in the community or the nation.  It is not a matter of debate.  If some people have the bad taste to raise the question of the truth of the sacred story, the keepers of the faith do not enter into debate with him.  They ignore them or denounce them as blasphemers.“  --  *David Ray Griffin*
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The Swine Flu Outbreak and Other Bio-Warfare Matters.....

Health Organizations Checking Top Virus Scientist's Claim that Swine Flu May Have Escaped From Lab
  ---  http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/05/health-organizations-checking-top-virus.html
A quote...."Adrian Gibbs isn't a wild-eyed youth. He was one of the researchers whose worked was instrumental in the creation of the flu drugs Tamiflu and Relenza, and he has written or co-authored more than 250 scientific publications on viruses during his 39-year career at the Australian National University in Canberra. -- The fact that Gibbs is saying that the swine flu may have escaped from a lab is causing the CDC and other health organizations to investigate his claim. They aren't buying it at this point, but they are looking into it."
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"Swine Flu May Be Human Error, Scientist Says   ---  http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=afrdATVXPEAk  ---  WHO wants to know whether evidence that the virus may have been developed in a laboratory can be corroborated 12 May 2009 The World Health Organization is investigating an Australian researcher’s claim that the swine flu virus circling the globe may have been created as a result of human error. Adrian Gibbs, who collaborated on research that led to the development of Roche Holding AG’s Tamiflu drug, said in an interview today that he intends to publish a report suggesting the new strain may have 'accidentally' evolved in eggs scientists use to grow viruses and drugmakers use to make vaccines. Lab Escape: Gibbs said his analysis supports research by scientists including Richard Webby, a virologist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis... His research found the rate of genetic mutation in the new virus outpaced that of the most closely related viruses found in pigs, suggesting it evolved outside of swine, Gibbs said. [See: US involved in bird flu conspiracy: Indonesia   ---  http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2008/s2167325.htm  ---  20 Feb 2008 (Transcript from AM, Australia's ABC.) Peter Cave: Indonesia's Health Minister has suggested that the United States may be involved in a conspiracy to use the bird flu virus to develop biological weapons; US, Japanese Researchers Mix Samples of 1918 Flu Pandemic to Recreate Deadly Code http://www.legitgov.org/researchers_recreate_1918_flu_virus_301208.html  ---  30 Dec 2008; Donald Rumsfeld makes $5m killing on bird flu drug   ---  12 Mar 2006.]"
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Additional Articles.....

WHO: Swine flu virus may face deadly mutation
  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=94502&sectionid=3510210
Worldwide swine flu cases pass 5,000
  ---  http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/worldwide-swine-flu-cases-pass-5000-20090513-b261.html
Most H1N1 patients do not need drugs to recover: WHO
  ---  http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090512/ts_nm/us_flu_who_antivirals
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Bank Regulator William K. Black Interviewed by The Young Turks  ---  http://www.truthout.org/video/050609C
Must View Video - A quote...."Famed bank regulator William K. Black, a consumer-protection hero of the savings and loan scandal of the 1980s, speaks with The Young Turks radio show about the massive banking fraud perpetrated on the American people and the futility of the Obama administration's bank rescue plan."
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"Happy Talk" Can NOT Improve the Economy  ---  http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2009/05/happy-talk-can-not-improve-economy.html
A quote...."Many people believe that if there is enough "happy talk" about the economy, and enough people believe the economy is improving, it will improve. -- Are they right? -- Well, it is true that consumers and small investors drive a large portion of the economy. And it is true that consumers and small investors, in turn, are largely driven by their perception of what is happening. -- But is it also true that when the fundamentals of the economy are lousy, or there has been a giant bubble and vast overleveraging, or there has been massive fraud, or the government has gone so far into debt that it has formed a black hole, then all of the happy talk in the world won't turn the economy around. -- For example, happy talk did not work during the Great Depression."
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Dollar Rally Will End, Rogers Says; May Short Stocks (Update2)
  ---  http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=a3YnR0N8LgpQ&refer=germany
A quote...." May 12 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar’s rally is set to end in a “currency crisis,” investor Jim Rogers said, adding that he may bet on a slide in equities after nine weeks of gains. -- The advance in the U.S. currency has been driven by investors covering their short sales, Rogers, 66, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Singapore. He may consider adding to his holdings of the yen and prefers the euro to the dollar or the pound, the investor added."
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Enjoy the rally while it lasts - but expect to take a sucker punch
  ---  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/5301123/bEnjoy-the-rally-while-it-lasts---but-expect-to-take-a-sucker-punchb.html
A quote...."Our delicious spring rally is nearing the limits. The 40pc rise on global bourses since March assumes that central banks have conjured away the debt overhang by slashing rates to zero and printing money. Nothing of the sort has occurred. Two thirds of the world economy will be in deflation by July." -- also posted at BLN  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-4200-0-13-13--.html

Website Editor's Caution: regarding the two articles shown above....
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US trade gap widens after seven months of decline  ---  http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_trade_gap_widens_after_seven_mon_05122009.html
A quote...."The US trade deficit widened in March after seven consecutive months of decline, with exports sinking to a 2004 low as the global economic crisis hobbles trade, Commerce Department data showed Tuesday."
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Another mega-thief walks free in the US  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=94522&sectionid=3510203
Some quotes...."While the US criminal justice system is notoriously punitive and heavy-handed when it comes to crimes of theft and trespass, its collective heart melts when it comes up against a mega-criminal. Witness the ability of self-confessed fraud, thief, and confidence trickster Marc S. Dreier, who pled guilty on Monday in a New York court to selling $400 million worth of fake promissory notes and running an illegal Ponzi scheme, yet managed to walk free from the courthouse." -- "Not so lucky was Mr. Jerry Williams, 27, who in 1995 was sentenced to 25 years to life for stealing a slice of pizza. Admittedly, it could have been his third offense, which put him at the wrong end of California's "three strikes" law, but in all likelihood, all that Mr. Williams ever stole in his life would not amount to Harvard Law School graduate Marc Dreier's gasoline costs for his Aston Martin and Mercedes." -- Changes that old phrase from "You'll do the time if you do the crime". -- to -- "You'll do less time, the bigger your crime". - mpg

Monday May 11th 2009 - links page

The Children's Crusade  ---  http://chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/3/1760-the-childrens-crusade.html
Must Read - Obama™ Update - A quote...."Day after day, week after week, Barack Obama's "Overseas Contingency Operations" keep churning through the bodies of children: sometimes with chemical weapons that sear their flesh and leave them maimed and disfigured for life; sometimes with carefully aimed bullets ripping through their organs and leaving them dead right on the spot. -- And in every such case, our brave and noble Terror Warriors -- who, lest we forget, are upholding the highest values of world civilization, bringing hope and change to benighted lands and defending our sacred way of life -- run screaming like spinsters in a hissy fit from the slightest hint of responsibility for their actions. Their first response, always, is to blame someone else: either the designated enemy of the day -- or else the burned and shredded children themselves."
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The Bad PR of Dead Civilians - Afghan airstrikes and the corporate media  ---  http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3781
Must Read - Obama™ Update - A quote...."Early reports of a massive U.S. attack on civilians in western Afghanistan last week (5/5/09) hewed to a familiar corporate media formula, stressing official U.S. denials and framing the scores of dead civilians as a PR setback for the White House's war effort." - also posted at CommonDreams   ---  http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/11-12  ---  For more on this issue see....US Fake Intel / Propaganda
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/fakeintell-weblist-mpg-090206
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Obama’s Middle East Imperialism  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13556
Special Note - Obama™ Update - A quote...."The velvet gloves are off and the reality of Obama’s Middle East plans are being revealed: a bare-fisted pummeling of Afghanistan and Pakistan — with Iraq’s fate yet to be determined. - The media have been preparing this for months, with incessant talk about the alleged “troop drawdown” in Iraq, the “surge” in Afghanistan and the “immediate threat” that supposedly is represented by Pakistan. - It’s now crystal clear that zero “change” will be forthcoming when it comes to U.S. foreign policy, minus a strategic shifting of troops.  This fact was highlighted recently when Obama asked for an additional $83.4 billion in “emergency spending” to fight the Iraq/Afghan/Pakistan wars. It must be noted that so-called “emergency funds” were precisely the avenue Bush chose to fight his wars, enabling him to skirt the already-gigantic military budget."
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'Everything destroyed' in Swat valley - link posted at AntiWar  ---  http://www.antiwar.com/
  ---  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8044150.stm
Obama™ Update - A quote...."Tens of thousands of people have been fleeing the fighting between the Pakistani army and the Taleban in the Swat district. According to the UN, there are more than 300,000 people registered as displaced and the Pakistani government says it expects that figure to reach one million." - bold by website editor - For more on this issue see....The Method - 05-07-07 - mpg
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/themethod-blog-mpg-050707
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Swatis Flock to Increasingly Crowded Refugee Camps - Hundreds of Thousands Displaced in Latest Offensive - posted at AntiWar  --  http://www.antiwar.com/
  ---  http://news.antiwar.com/2009/05/11/swatis-flock-to-increasingly-crowded-refugee-camps/
Obama™ Update - Related Article - A quote...."Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been chased out of the Swat Valley by the Pakistani military offensive, and many are flocking to the increasingly crowded and ill-equipped refugee camps set up for them. The UN says it is expecting that most of the people chased out of the region will stay with relatives or friends, which may be part of why the camps don’t seem up to the task of housing so many displaced persons."
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A Double-Edged Sword - Obama is now hiring a murderer to do his dirty work. - mpg
  ---  http://www.registan.net/index.php/2009/05/11/a-double-edged-sword/
Obama™ Update - Some quotes...."The Pentagon just announced the surprise replacement of General David McKiernan with Lt. General Stanley A. McChrystal, who commanded JSOC from 2003-2008." -- "General McChrsytal carries with him a dark side as well. One unit under his command, the now-notorious Task Force 6-26, which was assigned to find HVTs, or High Value Targets in Iraq, is credited with the ultimate death of Zarqawi. The problem is, along the way they faced accusations of running a secret camp that tortured prisoners, and they were implicated in at least two detainee deaths during torture sessions. Their camp, called Camp Nama, became something of a lightning rod after a “computer malfunction” destroyed upwards of 70% of their records and an investigation into their conduct stalled out."
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New Afghanistan Commander Had Role In Tillman Friendly-Fire Episode - And he's a liar to boot. - mpg - posted at Antiwar  ---  http://www.antiwar.com/
  ---  http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/05/new_afghanistan_commander_had_role_in_tillman_frie.php
Obama™ Update - Related Article - A quote...."It looks Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the man taking over as the new top commander in Afghanistan, was a key player in one of the more shameful episodes of the Bush administration's war on terror -- though it's unclear exactly how much blame, if any, he himself deserves."
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The Big Dog Wins Another One  ---  http://atheonews.blogspot.com/2009/05/big-dog-wins-another-one.html
A quote...."The acquittal of former AIPAC operatives Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman on espionage is yet another victory for the Israel Lobby.  As happens so often these days, stories that are much discussed in some sectors of the Internet are pretty much ignored in the MSM. The New York Times buried it and the LA Times ignored it entirely. It was missing from network news and from cable TV talk shows of all political leanings." -- For more on this issue see.... Judeo-Christian C/C & US  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/judeochristianconflictcontrolwithinus-weblist-mpg-010409
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CIA and ISI together created Taliban: Zardari  ---  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/CIA-ISI-together-created-Taliban-Zardari/articleshow/4508279.cms
A quote...."WASHINGTON: In a new revelation, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that the CIA of the United States and his country's ISI together created the Taliban. "I think it was part of your past and our past, and the ISI and CIA created them together," Zardari told the NBC news channel in an interview." - also posted at WarInIraq   ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/196886  ---  For more on this issue see....US Support of Terror
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/ussupportofterror-weblist-mpg-090306
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U.S. Foreign Policy Caused the Taliban Problem  ---  http://www.fff.org/comment/com0905c.asp
A quote...."While most Americans now view President Bush’s Iraq War as a “bad war,” the common perception is that Bush’s invasion of Afghanistan was a “good war” (despite the fact that he went to war without the constitutionally required congressional declaration of war). The notion is that the U.S. government was justified in invading Afghanistan and ousting the Taliban regime from power because the Taliban and al-Qaeda conspired to commit the 9/11 attacks. --
There’s just one big problem with that belief: it’s unfounded." -- also posted at ICH  ---  http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22586.htm
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CIA Refuses To Turn Over Torture Tape Documents To ACLU - And the cover-up of 9/11 continues. - mpg
  ---  http://atheonews.blogspot.com/2009/05/cia-refuses-to-turn-over-torture-tape.html
Special Note - A quote...."The CIA claims the integrity of a special prosecutor’s criminal investigation into the destruction of 92 interrogation videotapes will be compromised if the agency if forced to turn over to the American Civil Liberties Union detailed documents related to the purge, according to newly released court documents. -- In a May 5 letter to U.S. District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein, Lev Dassin, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said the Justice Department recently had discussions with prosecutors working on the criminal investigation into the destruction of the interrogation tapes and was informed that “the production of documents...would conflict and substantially interfere with the [criminal] investigation” into the destruction of the interrogation tapes."
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9/11 Mastermind: "During ... My Interrogation I Gave A Lot Of False Information In Order To Satisfy What I Believed The Interrogators Wished To Hear"
  ---  http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/05/during-my-interrogation-i-gave-lot-of.html
And continues again.....mpg -- Special Note -- A quote....."The Red Cross is the organization charged with deciding what is torture and what isn't. - The International Committee of the Red Cross interviewed Khalid Shaikh Mohammed - the alleged 9/11 mastermind - at Guantanamo Bay. Here's what KSM told the Red Cross:"

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Coverage of al-Libi 'Suicide' Almost Wholly Absent from U.S. Mainstream Corporate Media  ---  http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7135
Special Note - A quote...."So, it's been about 16 hours since we covered indie journalist/historian/blogger Andy Worthington's detailed report on the the reported suicide of the man who falsely "confessed", during torture, to a false tie between Iraq and al-Qaeda. The forced confession was subsequently used by the Bush Administration (Bush himself, as well as Powell and others) as justification for the war on Iraq. That, despite the fact that Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi recanted his story not long thereafter, as long and widely reported."
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Al-Libi Case Eloquent Testimony against Torture  ---  http://www.juancole.com/2009/05/al-libi-case-eloquent-testimony-against.html
Special Note - Related Article - A quote...."The best refutation of Dick Cheney's insistence that torture was necessary and useful in dealing with threats from al-Qaeda just died in a Libyan prison. See also Andy Worthington. -- Al-Qaeda operative Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi was captured trying to escape from Afghanistan in late 2001. He was sent to Egypt to be tortured, and under duress alleged that Saddam Hussein was training al-Qaeda agents in chemical weapons techniques. It was a total crock, and alleged solely to escape further pain. Al-Libi disavowed the allegation when he was returned to CIA custody. But Cheney and Condi Rice ran with the single-source, torture-induced assertion and it was inserted by Scooter Libby in Colin Powell's infamous speech to the United Nations."
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“America’s Disappeared”: Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi Has Died In A Libyan Prison  ---  http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22590.htm
Special Note - Related Article - A quote...."The emir of the Khaldan training camp in Afghanistan, al-Libi was one of hundreds of prisoners seized by Pakistani forces in December 2001, crossing from Afghanistan into Pakistan. Most of these men ended up in Guantánamo after being handed over (or sold) to US forces by their Pakistani allies, but al-Libi was, notoriously, rendered to Egypt by the CIA to be tortured on behalf of the US government. -- In Egypt, he came up with the false allegation about connections between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein that was used by President Bush in a speech in Cincinnati on October 7, 2002, just days before Congress voted on a resolution authorizing the President to go to war against Iraq, in which, referring to the supposed threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s regime, Bush said, “We’ve learned that Iraq has trained al-Qaeda members in bomb making and poisons and deadly gases.” -- For more on this sort of issue see article shown below....
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Roxana Saberi's plight and American media propaganda  ---  http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/05/11/journalists/index.html
A quote...."An Iranian appeals court this morning announced that it was reducing the sentence and ordering the immediate release of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, who was convicted by an Iranian court last month of spying for the U.S. and sentenced to eight years in prison.  Saberi's imprisonment in January became a cause célèbre among American journalists, who -- along with the U.S. Government -- rallied to demand her release.  Within minutes of the announcement, several of them -- including ABC News' Jake Tapper, Time's Karen Tumulty, The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder -- posted celebratory notices of Saberi's release." - also posted at CommonDreams  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/11-4
& LewRockwell  ---  http://lewrockwell.com/greenwald/greenwald41.html
For more on this issue see....US - Killing the Messenger  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/uskillingthemessenger-weblist-mpg-112907
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War Without Context: Fatah, Hamas - And Flawed Language  ---  http://www.countercurrents.org/baroud110509.htm
A quote...."President Abbas is reportedly assembling a new government, which is expected to, once again, exclude the majority-party in the parliament." -- For more on this issue see....US Sponsored Civil Wars - Palestine
 ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/ussponsoredcivilwars-weblist-mpg-101107#PALESTINE
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1-2-3 What Are We Fighting For? - Blaming the Dead Victims  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff05112009.html
A quote...."We’re been here before, many times. -- The US causes massive civilian deaths through its indiscriminate use of heavy air power, and then tries to claim it’s the enemy’s fault for “hiding” among the civilians and “using them as shields.” -- In Vietnam, where the US was fighting against a local revolutionary movement that was seeking to overthrow the puppet regime backed by America, American planes routinely bombed and napalmed villages, claiming that the Viet Cong were hiding amongst the peasants. Women, old men and children would die in droves—several million of them by the time that war was over--and we’d be told it was all the fault of the Communists, who, we were told, had no regard for innocent life."
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Senior Iraq police chief shot dead  ---  http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j16_H-ZQjeNdfENK-2lUk_GyAelQ
A quote...."BAGHDAD (AFP) — One of Baghdad's most senior police chiefs was assassinated in a drive-by shooting in the Iraqi capital on Monday, a police official said. - Gunmen shot dead the head of police operations, Abdul Hussein Mohsen al-Kadhemi, as he was driving in a central Baghdad district, the official told AFP."
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Karzai "very serious" on ending air raids: official  ---  http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE54A12420090511
A quote...."KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai is "very serious" about a demand for foreign forces in Afghanistan to halt air raids, even though it was rebuffed by a top U.S. security official, his spokesman said on Monday. -- Afghans are furious about the bombing of two villages in Western Farah province during a drawn-out battle last week, when homes full of civilians were hit."
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Iran urges world action on Israeli nukes  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=94328&sectionid=351020101
A quote...."Iran says Israel's undeclared arsenal of approximately 200 atomic warheads is the only obstacle in the way of a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East. -- In a Monday address to the third session of the preparatory committee for the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in New York, Iranian delegates hit out at the lack of world action on Israel's possession of atomic nuclear weapons -- which can be launched from land, sea and air."
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Iran Turning to China for Air Defense System  ---  http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=25085
A quote...."Iran will turn to China instead of Russia to acquire an advanced air defense system after relations between Iran and Russia hit rock bottom, the official Iranian news agency PressTV reported. -- For years Iran has been trying to purchase the S-300 anti-aircraft missile, which is considered to one of the most advanced systems available on the market and would dramatically increase Iran’s air defense capabilities against any attacks on its nuclear installations." -- also posted at WarInIraq  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/196831
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Saakashvili-opposition meeting reaches dead-end  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=94407&sectionid=351020606
A quote...."The political turmoil deepens in Georgia as a meeting between the opposition and the president fails to bear fruit with the former refusing a proposed power-sharing deal. -- President Mikhail Saakashvili offered to share power with his most outspoken opponents on Monday. The opposition, however, insisted that the president should step down, vowing to intensify the protests that have resulted in thousands demonstrating outside government buildings, occasionally clashing with police over the past month."
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Bolivia for Expulsion of Criminals from Peru  ---  http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=82159&Itemid=1
A quote...."La Paz, May 11 (Prensa Latina) Bolivian President Evo Morales, reiterated on Monday his request to his Peruvian peer Alan Garcia to expel former Bolivian ministers under the government of Gonzalo Sanchez de Quesada (2002-2003) accused of genocide here."
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Venezuelan Police Discover Large Arms Cache  ---  http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4437
A quote...."Mérida, May 11th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com)– Venezuelan police arrested four men and confiscated a large quantity of sophisticated weaponry that government officials speculate could have been part of an assassination plan against President Chávez. This discovery occurred in the context of a wave of apparently politically motivated violence that Chávez supporters suspect is part of a wider new campaign against the government."
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UN pressures Israel on peace policy  ---  http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/05/200951117413869218.html
A quote...."Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, has urged Israel to "fundamentally change" its policies towards settlements and commit to a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict."
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In Ireland or Palestine, strength in unity  ---  http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10516.shtml
A quote...."The recent Israeli actions in Gaza demonstrated not only the brutal nature of the occupation and the ideology behind it, but also the deep internal division within the Palestinian body politic. It was already common knowledge that Israel had effectively ended the ceasefire on 4 November with an attack that left six members of Hamas dead. Yet, as pictures of dead, dying and wounded Palestinian police cadets flashed through the world's television screens, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was busy toeing the Israeli line that Hamas was responsible for the ending of ceasefire. He said this, not because it was true, but as a way of undermining the political authority of Hamas in Gaza and increasing his own. Ordinary Palestinians saw through the quite crude and transparent attempt, forcing Abbas to backtrack on his earlier assertion."
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Netanyahu: Israel Will Never Return Golan
  ---  http://www.palestinechronicle.com/news.php?id=ae528bc5dbc33009eefb4cff2f30372c&mode=details#ae528bc5dbc33009eefb4cff2f30372c
A quote...."Israeli hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declares that Tel Aviv will never return the occupied Golan Heights to Syria. - Benjamin Netanyahu made the remarks in an interview with Russian-language reporters on Friday, saying "remaining on the Golan will ensure Israel has a strategic advantage in cases of military conflict with Syria", Israeli online daily, Ha'aretz reported."
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The Swine Flu Outbreak and Other Bio-Warfare Matters From CLG.....  ---  http://www.legitgov.org/

Now 2,600 cases of new flu in US, CDC says
  ---  http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN11275641
US has more swine flu cases than any other country, WHO says
  ---  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/10/swine-flu-cases-america
Ten more cases of swine flu confirmed in England
  ---  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/swine-flu/5308819/Ten-more-cases-of-swine-flu-confirmed-in-England.html
Mexican H1N1 flu spreads easily: study
  ---  http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNewsMolt/idUKTRE54A4BA20090511
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China overtakes the US as Brazil's largest trading partner
  ---  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/5296515/China-overtakes-the-US-as-Brazils-largest-trading-partner.html
Special Note - You see this event is caused by the difference between a country that makes things people want to buy (China), and a country that just keeps on killing and torturing people for no apparent reason, the (US-NRE). - mpg -- A quote...."China has become Brazil's most-important trading partner, disrupting a relationship between the United States and the Latin country that stretches back to the 1930s." - bold by website editor
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Prospects of a quick economic recovery are but fool’s gold  ---  http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_4682.shtml
A quote...."Hoping for better times -- for some, even the return to make-believe “yesterday” -- has now become our prescribed daily medicine dispensed through the corporate media by our government via injections of economic news or commentary. - Confidence-building little white lies, misleading insinuations or, often, absurd interpretations of statistical data by Bernanke, Geithner, Summers, even Obama himself, are meant to keep us, the blind citizenry, faithful to a bankrupt system . . . subservient to the rulers of capitalist imperium."
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The Nature of the Current Financial Crisis: The System is designed to exert Total Control over the Lives of Individuals
  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13551
A quote...."What impresses me in the current financial crisis is the near-total failure of so-called progressives to appreciate the magnitude of what is going on or the level of intelligence behind it. How many will say, for instance, that the crash was deliberately engineered by the creation, then destruction, of the investment bubbles of the last decade? -- When the financial system creates bubbles it drives up the cost of assets far beyond their true value in producing or storing wealth. When the bubbles burst the value of the assets plummets. Those with ready cash then buy them up on the cheap. When the dust settles more wealth has been concentrated in fewer hands. The rich get richer, and ordinary people are left in a deeper condition of indebtedness, poverty, and pressure to perform to the liking of the financial masters." -- Marx couldn't have said it better.....but it's true. - mpg
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Government borrowing 50 cents for every dollar it spends  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-4190-0-13-13--.html
A quote...."WASHINGTON - With the economy performing worse than hoped, revised White House figures point to deepening budget deficits, [Absolutely no surprise to anyone, one hopes?] with the government borrowing almost 50 cents for every dollar it spends this year. --  The deficit for the current budget year will rise by $89 billion to above $1.8 trillion -- about four times the record set just last year. The unprecedented red ink flows from the deep recession, the Wall Street bailout, the cost of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus bill, as well as a structural imbalance between what the government spends and what it takes in.
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Trade deficit expected to rise, negates effects of stimulus  ---  http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_4685.shtml
A quote...."Tuesday, the Commerce Department report will report on March international trade in goods and services. The U.S. trade deficit on goods and services is expected to rise to $29 billion from $26 billion in February. - Trade with China and oil imports comprise about 90 percent of the deficit. The deficit with China is expected to increase significantly but the oil import bill is expected to fall, as the recession has curbed demand for gasoline." -- Not quite, oil is starting to go up really fast. - mpg
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Banks Brace for Credit Card Write-Offs  ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/business/11credit.html?_r=2&ref=business
A quote...."It used to be easy to guess how many Americans would have problems paying their credit card bills. Banks just looked at unemployment: Fewer jobs meant more trouble ahead. The unemployment rate has long mirrored banks’ loss rates on card balances. But Eddie Ward, 32 and jobless, may be one reason that rule of thumb no longer holds. For many lenders, losses are now starting to outpace layoffs."
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Life on the Edge of a Bubble- Blowing the American Dream - Bursting the Myth, Revealing the History of Power
  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13576
Film and Book Review -- A quote...."The rules of the national and international financial system keep changing, as we move from crisis to bubble, from prosperity to bankruptcy, from the American dream to the American nightmare.  As the American Empire has evolved over centuries and totters on the abyss of decline, it behooves us to step off the quickly moving carousel of daily revelations, and look beneath the surface of events at the historical patterns that have led to this ever changing, yet remarkably the same, moment in time."
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Sunday May 10th 2009  - links page

Race for Iran presidency hots up  ---  http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090509/wl_mideast_afp/iranvote
Oh My Gawd - LOOK!!!  The dirty towel heads are doing it again; they're actually holding elections WITHOUT US-NRE or Israeli permission!!!  The US-NRE doesn't permit Iraq or Afghanistan or even Pakistan to allow candidates to run for office without our input or say-so. It wouldn't even permit the Palestinians to have the government they voted for back in 2005!  Heck, we don't even permit candidates in this country to run for office without AIPAC's (i.e. Israel's) permission and blessing!  How could Obama let them backwards Iranians get away with this stuff.   How can the New Roman Empire just stand by and ALLOW these Iranian animals, these evil people, these "terrorists” to just go-ahead and hold an honest, fair, and freely monitored election???  It's indecent, it's disgusting, it's like they don't need us?  Doesn't Obama UNDERSTAND that if the Iranians keep holding these elections by THEMSELVES, without our PERMISSION, in their very own, unoccupied, non-colonized, non-bombed to shreds, nation-state, it sets a terrible example for the ENTIRE Middle East!!!  Soon other countries could ask the US-NRE to leave so they too, could hold their own elections without our "help".  And than where would we be as the New Roman Empire - hmmmmmm??? – mpg
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After US Strikes, Afghans Describe "Tractor Trailers Full of Pieces of Human Bodies"
  ---  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeremy-scahill/after-us-strikes-afghans_b_198879.html
A quote...."As rage spreads in Afghanistan after US bombing that killed up to 130 people, unnamed Pentagon officials are spinning another cover-up. Defiant Obama moves ahead with troop increase." -- also posted at ICH  ---  http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22578.htm
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"'NATO has not denied using white phosphorus during the Kapisa incident, nor have they provided evidence that the insurgents fired these rounds.'Afghanistan: NATO Should 'Come Clean' on White Phosphorus  ---  http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/05/08/afghanistan-nato-should-come-clean-white-phosphorus  ---  Release Report on Attack in Which Child Burned 08 May 2009 NATO forces in Afghanistan should immediately release the results of their investigation into a March 14, 2009, incident in which an 8-year-old girl in Kapisa province was burned by white phosphorus munitions, Human Rights Watch said today. A NATO spokesperson has denied allegations from the girl's father that NATO forces had fired the rounds that caused her injuries. The spokesman for the commander of NATO and US troops in Afghanistan, Brig. Gen. Richard Blanchette, confirmed that white phosphorus munitions are used in Afghanistan. [Right, so when the US media whores start blaming 'Taliban militants' for the white phospohrous burns, refer to Brig. Gen. Blanchette's admission. --LRP] "
Paragraph quoted form CLG  ---  http://www.legitgov.org/
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Past masters at torture  ---  http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Opinions/Columns/07-May-2009/Past-masters-at-torture/1
A quote...."The gambit used by a torturer is that he was merely carrying out orders. American doctors, who without pangs of conscience, supervised torture at Gitmo could well say they were under orders to do so. But what about Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice, who were mainly responsible for torture? Water-boarding, a torturous method that simulates drowning was Cheney's favourite 'sport'."
also posted at ICH  ---  http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22583.htm
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Pakistan faces biggest human flood since 1947
  ---  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/pakistan-faces-biggest-human-flood-since-1947-1682309.html
A quote...."Her name was Sahin and in a matter of hours her world had been broken. As fighting raged in their hometown of Mingora – fighter jets screaming overhead and mortar fire pounding – she and her husband tried to escape with their 10 children. Amid the chaos, her husband was killed by an artillery shell. There was hardly time to bury him in the courtyard of a neighbour's house before Sahin was forced to think of the children and of somehow leading them to safety by herself. They walked for "hours and hours" before, in a neighbouring town, they found a bus. That bus brought them to a camp for the displaced, a place for the beleaguered, for those with nowhere else to go."
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Pakistani president: Osama bin Laden is dead  ---  http://atheonews.blogspot.com/2009/05/pakistani-president-osama-bin-laden-is.html
A quote...."Two weeks ago, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zadari suggested that Osama bin Laden might be dead, saying that U.S. and Pakistani intelligence agencies had been unable to detect any sign of the world’s most wanted man since an audio recording of his voice was released in March. - Sunday morning, Zadari went further: “I don’t think he’s alive,” the president told NBC’s David Gregory. “I have a strong feeling and reason to believe that.” Zadari continued: “I have asked my counterparts in the American intelligence services and they haven’t heard [from] him in seven years.” - bold by website editor

It's simply too funny.  Seventy percent of the US-NRE's population consists of mind-numbingly retarded, bovine brained, TV fixated, drooling, depends wearing, pork-rind eating, cup cake munching, faux-infotainment-believing, morons.

When it's all later revealed (as it already has been on the web) that the videos and audios of Osama were faked our elites will simply tell the sheeple that al-Qaeda produced them to keep the "movement" alive or some such other fantasy, and the sheeple will believe them as they always do.

No doubt when it’s further revealed (as it already has been in several cases) that their own government produced these tapes and videos, or hired someone else to do so, and always coincidently released them before upcoming votes on some constitution destroying  piece of legislation, or during one of this nation's faux-election cycles, the sheeple will yawn, drool a little bit, snort, burp, fart, and than turn to their favorite sports channel.

It's the way they're born and bred.  For slaughter.  - mpg
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9/11 - From The History File...Expert Goes On Rec: Bin Laden 9/11 Confession Is Bogus
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"Petraeus: al-Qaeda moved headquarters from Afghanistan to Pakistan  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=94282&sectionid=351020403  ---  [LOL! Yup, al-Q packed up and moved, to justify this insanity: US House committee approves $400 mn for Pakistan counterinsurgency   ---  http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/94897  ---  08 May 2009. Oh, and wait! There's more: [The top US military commander also warned that "tentacles of al-Qaeda" have spread across the countries from the Middle East to northern Africa.] 10 May 2009 Gen. David Petraeus says "very significant losses" in recent months have triggered al-Qaeda to move their headquarters from Afghanistan to western Pakistan. Appearing on "FOX News Sunday" and CNN's "State of the Union," on Sunday the head of the US Central Command said the group was no longer holding its headquarters in Afghanistan. The top US military commander also warned that "tentacles of al-Qaeda" have spread across the countries from the Middle East to northern Africa. Petraeus said he believes Osama bin Laden and his No. 2 [frequently killed and re-born]  ---  http://www.legitgov.org/dead_al-qaeda_injured_020808.html  ---  Ayman al-Zawahiri remain in charge of the terrorist network." -- Paragraph quoted form CLG  ---  http://www.legitgov.org/
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G20 police 'used undercover men to incite crowds' -- MP demands inquiry into Met tactics at demo
  ---  http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/may/10/g20-policing-agent-provacateurs
Special Note - A quote...."Police and protesters clash in London on 1 April 2009. Photograph: Chris Ison/PA
An MP who was involved in last month's G20 protests in London is to call for an investigation into whether the police used agents provocateurs to incite the crowds. - Liberal Democrat Tom Brake says he saw what he believed to be two plain-clothes police officers go through a police cordon after presenting their ID cards." -- also posted at AtheoNews  ---  http://atheonews.blogspot.com/2009/05/g20-police-used-undercover-men-to.html
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Don’t Be Fooled by Inflation  ---  http://lewrockwell.com/schiff/schiff20.html
Some quotes...."by Peter Schiff -- Strike up the band, boys, happy days are here again! Recently released short-term economic data, including unemployment claims, non-farm payrolls, home sales, and business spending, which had been so unambiguously horrific in February and March, are now just garden-variety awful......" -- "Once again, the facts do not support the euphoria. Over the past few months, the government has literally blasted the economy with trillions of new dollars conjured from the ether. The fact that this “stimulus” has blown some air back into our deflating consumer-based bubble economy, and given a boost to an oversold stock market, is hardly evidence that the problems have been solved. It is simply an illusion, and not a very good one at that. By throwing money at the problem, all the government is creating is inflation. Although this can often look like growth, it is no more capable of creating wealth than a hall of mirrors is capable of creating people."

It may actually be worse than what Peter Schiff thinks, the inflation numbers like the CPI, although unreliable, can still be used in comparison to the PPI numbers.  And the CPI has been a lot lower to actually negative recently compared to the PPI.  Which indicates that manufacturers are having trouble passing their costs onto the consumers.  Which is going to affect their profits, and hence (eventually) their stock prices. Worse, the consumer is tapped out, their credit is maxed out, their house ATM doesn't work anymore, real wages are flat to falling, and the economy is shedding six hundred thousand jobs a month.  Conditions that are not expected to improve for YEARS!

On top of all this we have what looks like a boom in the commodities market as people, and much more importantly other nations,
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/tangibleisbetterthanintangible-mpg-reficultnias-043009  ---  dump currencies that are intangible for goods that are.  In other words instead of a case of classic inflation, what Bernanke may have engineered is a non-agricultural commodities bubble which is taking place DURING an on-going US-NRE depression!!!

Or think of it this way, remember what happened during the '72 to '82 part of the ten year cycle
   ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/fedfundschart-photopg-cached-032407  ---  as jobs disappeared, gas prices zoomed upwards and inflation reared it's ugly self? Well, this is going to be ten times worse.

It just goes to show all those pieces of paper Bernanke rolled off the presses had to go somewhere -- what can one say....genius at work perhaps? – mpg

For more on this issue see....The Virtual Economy - 05-01-09 - mpg
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/thevirtualeconomy-mpg-reficultnias-050109
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Bank of England braced for third wave of financial crisis  ---  http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/may/08/bank-england-recession-economy
A quote...."The Bank of England is concerned that the UK's banking system is heading for a third wave of crisis that could snuff out fragile signs of recovery in the economy. - On Thursday the Bank surprised the City by announcing that it would pump an extra £50bn of new money into the economy despite recent stockmarket rallies."
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Saturday May 9th 2009 - links page

No posts. - mpg

Friday May 8th 2009 - links page

"Harold E. Fischer Jr., an American Flier Tortured in a Chinese Prison, Dies at 83. . . .From April 1953 through May 1955, Colonel Fischer — then an Air Force captain — was held at a prison outside Mukden, Manchuria. For most of that time, he was kept in a dark, damp cell with no bed and no opening except a slot in the door through which a bowl of food could be pushed. Much of the time he was handcuffed. Hour after hour, a high-frequency whistle pierced the air." -- *New York Times*

Thursday May 7th 2009 - links page

"Although the lawyers are forbidden to reveal classified details, they could include prisoners' personal accounts of abuses [3] and interrogation procedures [4] that have recently been described in secondhand reports. These voices have been missing, the New York Times noted [5] today, because the government refuses to disclose prisoners' statements and their lawyers operate under a gag order."

Torture and Treason  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/04/30-6
Must Read -- For one of the key concepts of the Neocons' criminal enterprise) - This is the very heart of the matter folks, don't lose sight of it.  The Neocons set it all up and that includes murdering people to start their various wars for profit. - mpg -- A quote...."Let us pause the news cycle here and strip away the desperate delicacy of this language. The Gitmo intelligence crew was being told, from the highest levels of the Bush White House and the Pentagon - think Cheney, think Rumsfeld - to keep slamming these guys' heads against the wall, to keep pouring water down their throats, to keep tormenting them with dogs and insects, until they blubbered, in their pain and terror, a word or two that would justify the long-planned (and completely pointless) invasion of Iraq. -- This drags the torture "debate" out of the fog that mainstream pundits are paid to generate - does it work? is it legal? is it cruel? is it counterproductive? - and exposes something that is troubling at the level of the soul, and begs only one question. - posted 04-30-09 -- Is it treason?" -- For more on this issue see....The Convenient Silence of Guantanamo Bay - 05-31-08 - mpg
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/theconvenientsilenceofgitmo-blog-mpg-053108

Wednesday May 6th 2009 - links page