Tuesday May 20th 2008 - links page

Attack Iran - Trash the Constitution  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19959.htm
Must Read - A quote...."20/05/08 "ICH"  -- - I have not been able to find out how to reach you directly, so I drafted this letter in the hope it will be brought to your attention. - First, thank you for honoring the oath we commissioned officers take to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic. At the same time, you have let it be known that you do not intend to speak, on or off the record, about Iran."
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Sweet home paranoia [updated!]  ---  http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/14735
Must read - A quote...."Boy, I miss "America." Remember America? The good old U.S. of A.? Whenever I see a Washington shill bloviating about der "Homeland" these days, I always get the feeling I should grow a short moustache, goose-step around the block and maybe invade Poland before "American Idol" comes on."
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I Declared My Independence  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19958.htm
Must Read - A quote...." 19/05/08 "ICH" -- -- On my birthday last year, I declared my independence from a national leadership that, through its votes in support of the war machine, is now complicit in war crimes, torture, crimes against humanity, and crimes against the peace.I declared my independence from every bomb dropped, every veteran maimed, and every child killed. I noted that the Democratic leadership in Congress had failed to restore this country to Constitutional rule by repealing the Patriot Acts, the Secret Evidence Act, and the Military Commissions Act. That it had aided and abetted illegal spying against the American people. And that it took impeachment off the table."
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What Are We Waiting For?  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19963.htm
Must Read - A quote...."20/05/08 "ICH" -- - Long before the disastrous George W. Bush administration, I had been waiting for profound, systemic changes in our political system.  Perversely, I saw the upside of Bush as motivating more Americans to demand political change.  And that happened.  But the national yearning for change was co-opted by Ron Paul on the right and Barack Obama on the left while John Edwards with the most authentic populist change message fizzled out early."
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The Old Titans All Collapsed. Is the U.S. Next?  ---  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051603461.html
A quote...."Back in August, during the panic over mortgages, Alan Greenspan offered reassurance to an anxious public. The current turmoil, the former Federal Reserve Board chairman said, strongly resembled brief financial scares such as the Russian debt crisis of 1998 or the U.S. stock market crash of 1987. Not to worry." -- Also posted at ICH  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19962.htm
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Bush's Middle East policy in tatters  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JE21Ak02.html
Special Note - A quote...."To quote well-known British author and Middle East scholar Patrick Seale, "The Arab Gulf States in particular trade briskly with Iran and are home to a large Iranian population. They do not want to isolate Iran or undermine its economy, as the United States and Israel would like them to do. It seems clear that greater understanding and confidence between Saudi Arabia and Egypt on the one hand and Iran and Syria on the other - free from US and Israeli interference - would do much to ease Lebanon's path to peace and security."
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US agenda and Pakistan
  ---  http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Opinions/Columns/21-May-2008/US-agenda-and-Pakistan
A quote...."As citizens we may be highly satisfied to see the outcome of the political process but it has indeed worked against the will of the popular vote. Since majority of the political elites have traded their loyalties against the short term advantages and pushed Pakistan in the quagmire of world politics of Oil and control over strategic location to extend the agenda of the sole superpower in order to establish its writ over the world political affairs."
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Phase Two, Siniora's the US's and Israel's new war in Lebanon - Tuesday roundup - 2 articles - [Day 14]

Rival Lebanese reach deal to end crisis
  ---  http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldnews&storyID=
  ---  2008-05-21T000131Z_01_L13383311_RTRUKOC_0_US-LEBANON.xml
A quote...."DOHA (Reuters) - Rival Lebanese leaders reached a deal on Wednesday to end 18 months of political conflict that had pushed their country to the brink of a new civil war. - Delegates from the U.S.-backed ruling coalition and the Hezbollah-led opposition told Reuters disputes over a parliamentary election law and a new cabinet had been settled on the sixth day of Arab-mediated talks in Qatar."
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Lebanese groups clinch deal  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=56652&sectionid=351020203
A quote...."Lebanese rivals have managed to reach an agreement to defuse the political turmoil in the country following five days of talks in Doha. - According to the DPA, a president is slated to be elected either on Thursday or Friday. - "A solution has been reached and it will be announced at a press conference in Doha on Wednesday," said opposition MP Ali Hassan Khalil."

Phase Two, Siniora's the US's and Israel's new war in Lebanon - Tuesday roundup - [Day 14]
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Phase One, Cheney's and Maliki's new war in Iraq - Tuesday round-up - 2 articles - [ Day 57 ]

Thousands Of Iraqi Troops Flood Into Sadr City  ---  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/20/thousands-of-iraqi-troops_n_102636.html
A quote...."BAGHDAD — Some 10,000 Iraqi troops fanned out in Baghdad's Sadr City on Tuesday, taking positions on main roads, rooftops and near hospitals in an attempt to establish government control in the Shiite militia enclave for the first time since Saddam Hussein's ouster."
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The Wa'ilis and the Hakims  ---  http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m44216&s1=h1
A quote...."Here is the latest set of charges in an ongoing war of words between leaders of two of the main power centers in Basra, the Shiite nationalist Fadhila party, headed locally by the Basra governor Mohamed Musbih al-Wa'ili, and the Iran-oriented axis of Hakim and/or Maliki. Naturally there is no way of assessing the actual content of any of the following charges, or how much of it is merely personal, but I think the story is interesting anyway, as an indication of the bitterness of the continuing war of words (and interesting too for the fact that AMSI republishes the accusations against the Hakim axis)."

Phase One, Cheney's and Maliki's new war in Iraq - Tuesday round-up - [ Day 57 ]
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How to rule the world after Bush  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JE20Dj09.html
Special Note - A quote...."Many business leaders have fond memories of the "free trade" years of the Bill Clinton administration, when chief executive officer salaries soared and the global influence of multinational corporations surged. -- Rejecting neo-conservative unilateralism, they want to see a renewed focus on American "soft power" and its instruments of economic control, such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and World Trade Organization (WTO) - the multilateral institutions that formed what was known in international policy circles as "the Washington Consensus". These corporate globalists are making a bid to control the direction of economic policy under a new Democratic administration. -- There is little question that the majority of people on the planet - those who suffered under both the corporate globalization of the Clinton years and the imperial globalization of Bush - deserve something better."
Also posted at TomDispatch  ---  http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174933/mark_engler_how_to_rule_the_world_after_bush
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Miliband backs tribal talks to halt Taliban  ---  http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/may/21/davidmiliband.foreignpolicy
A quote...."David Miliband *   ---  will today argue there is "no military solution" to the spread of extremism in Afghanistan and Pakistan's tribal areas, and back the pursuit of political reconciliation in both countries." -- *link added - mpg
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Attacks on Khyber trucking threaten US supply line  ---  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080520/ap_on_re_as/pakistan_khyber_chaos_2
A quote...."KHYBER AGENCY, Pakistan - Thieves, feuding tribesmen and Taliban militants are creating chaos along the main Pakistan-Afghanistan highway, threatening a vital supply line for U.S. and NATO forces."
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Report Details Interrogation Debate - link posted at BuzzFlash  ---  http://www.buzzflash.com/
  ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/21/washington/20cnd-detain.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
A quote...."WASHINGTON — F.B.I. agents complained repeatedly, beginning in 2002, about the harsh interrogation tactics that military and C.I.A. interrogators were using in questioning terrorism suspects, like making them do dog tricks and parade in the nude in front of female soldiers, but their complaints appear to have had little effect, according to an exhaustive report released Tuesday by the Justice Department’s inspector general."
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ElBaradei: Iran not after bomb  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=56533&sectionid=351020104=
A quote...."The UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei has once again highlighted the lack of evidence to prove Iran is after a nuclear bomb. - Speaking at a session of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East, ElBaradei reiterated the International Atomic Energy Agency has no evidence that Iran is seeking to develop an atomic bomb."
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Turkey Urges Negotiated Solution to Iran's N[uke]. Issue  ---  http://www.farsnews.com/English/newstext.php?nn=8702311068
A quote...." TEHRAN (FNA)- Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan on Monday urged the western countries to solve the Iranian nuclear issue by means of dialogue."
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AP IMPACT: At least 100,000 said executed by US's Korean ally in 1950 summer of terror
  ---  http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=59734
A quote...."Grave by mass grave, South Korea is unearthing the skeletons and buried truths of a cold-blooded slaughter from early in the Korean War, when this nation's U.S.-backed regime killed untold thousands of leftists and hapless peasants in a summer of terror in 1950."-- Also posted at GlobalResearch  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9013
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Fear, secrecy kept 1950 Korea mass killings hidden  ---  http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5heCPmDNDeqKqPa718_CI9QvrAr8QD90O6ERO1
A quote...."SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — One journalist's bid to report mass murder in South Korea in 1950 was blocked by his British publisher. Another correspondent was denounced as a possibly treasonous fabricator when he did report it. In South Korea, down the generations, fear silenced those who knew."

For more regarding the issues in the articles shown above, see....Fake Intel / Propaganda - Iraq's Death Toll
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/fakeintell-weblist-mpg-090206#IRAQDEATHS
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40 Years Since RFK Assassination, Mounting Evidence of CIA Involvement
  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_matt_sul_080520_40_years_since_rfk_a.htm
A quote...."Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated 40 years ago this month at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Sirhan B. Sirhan, a 24 year old immigrant, is the alleged lone gunman and is presently serving a life sentence."
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Inverted Totalitarianism: A New Way of Understanding How the U.S. Is Controlled --- http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9031
Book Review
Democracy Incorporated *   ---  http://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Incorporated-Managed-Inverted-Totalitarianism/dp/0691135665  ---  by Sheldon S. Wolin -- A quote...."It is not news that the United States is in great trouble. The pre-emptive war it launched against Iraq more than five years ago was and is a mistake of monumental proportions -- one that most Americans still fail to acknowledge. Instead they are arguing about whether we should push on to "victory" when even our own generals tell us that a military victory is today inconceivable. -- link by website editor
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Spinning The News - The FARC-EP Files, Venezuela And Interpol  ---  http://www.countercurrents.org/lendman200508.htm
A quote...."First some background. On March 1, the Colombian military (with US Special Forces help) illegally attacked a FARC-EP rebel camp inside Ecuador. US satellite telephone tracking located the site. Washington signed off on the mission. Over 20 people were killed, including 16 or more FARC-EP members while they slept. Key among them was Paul Reyes, the FARC-EP's second-in-command, key peace negotiator and public voice, and lead figure in the Chavez-led hostage negotiations with Colombia."
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US Navy Aircraft Violates Venezuela's Airspace  ---  http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052008M.shtml
Related article - A quote...."Caracas - A US Navy jet violated Venezuelan airspace around two small Caribbean islands over the weekend in what the South American country said was a provocation coordinated with neighboring Colombia." -- Looks like the US's brand spanking new "Fourth   ---  http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050208G.shtml  ---  Fleet"  ---  http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/may2008/navy-m07.shtml  ---   is in action already. - mpg
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John Cusack: Outsourced Warfare Represents a "Radical, Dangerous, Disgusting Ideology"  ---  http://www.alternet.org/movies/85726/
Movie Review - A quote...."The film's humor rests on very real and demonstrably disastrous trends in neoconservative foreign policy of recent years -- a lethal war of choice and profit, the dismantling of states and plundering of their resources, a profound cultural insensitivity, lack of accountability and reckless disregard for easily-predicted consequences -- which are then pushed to the absurd."
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War, Inc. - Trailer  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9SFoiYIs_4  ---  (YouTube - 2 min 8 sec - Added:  March 26, 2007)
Video - A quote...."This is the trailer video from the new movie"War, Inc."  ---  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War,_Inc.

Google under fire again for handing user info to police  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=6618
A quote...."Google is under fire again today for cooperating with Indian police trying to track down an Orkut user who had been rude about a politician."
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Sex Tape Fever: A Sad Commentary on Something or Other  ---  http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1514/135/
Now this is funny, and a true reflection of our debased society.  Also, check out the comments - they're spot on. - mpg -- A quote...."Here's a brief look at an interesting phenomenon. A few weeks ago, despairing of the media's malign neglect of America's third "regime change" operation – the brutal proxy war in Somalia – I resorted to a not-so-subtle strategem."
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The NYT's latest Kristol embarrassment  ---  http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/05/19/kristol/
A quote...."In the short time since he was named an Op-Ed columnist at The New York Times, Bill Kristol has written a series of sloppy, error-plagued and incomparably hackish columns. He has already had to issue two factual corrections -- including one for the very first column he wrote -- and even his former comrades in war cheerleading, The New Republic Editors, said on Friday that Kristol's columns are "[b]landly written, intellectually lazy, and -- worst of all -- hopelessly predictable," and asked: "does Bill Kristol have to be this bad at it?"
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McCain's YouTube Problem Just Became a Nightmare  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c  ---  (YuTb - 3m 15s -  May 18, 2008)
Video - A quote...."From http://TheRealMcCain.com/   ---  http://therealmccain.com/  ---  There's no question John McCain is getting a free ride from the mainstream press. But with the power of YouTube and the blogosphere, we can provide an accurate portrayal of the so-called Maverick. We can put the brakes on his free ride!"
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Why the Stock Market Has Not Broken Out  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north628.html
Special Note - A quote...."Stock market bears think: "Why does this market fail to fall? What's holding it up?" Stock market bulls think: "Why does this market fail to rise? What's holding it down?"
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China and Japan Quietly Forge Powerful Trading Alliance  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=6613
Special Note - A quote...."Chinese President Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime Minister Yauo Fukuda met recently and signed some modest cooperation agreements. That doesn't sound much to get excited about, until you consider how well the Chinese and Japanese economies fit together."
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Iran-Russia Rail Link to Open in 2011  ---  http://www.farsnews.com/English/newstext.php?nn=8702311076
A quote...." TEHRAN (FNA)- A railway linking Iran and Russia via Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan will open in December 2011, a top Turkmen executive said on Monday."
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What’s next for the economy? Look at California  ---  http://www.financialweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080519/REG/533900601/1036
A quote...."(Reuters)— As it did when the housing bubble began to burst, California is leading the way in the next leg: a consumer bust. - Squeezed by rising unemployment, inflation in food and energy costs and plunging house prices, Californians are cutting back on spending."
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As homes foreclose in U.S., squatters move in  ---  http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2849018120080519
A quote...."BROCKTON, Massachusetts (Reuters) - They enter through a broken first-floor window each night to sleep on a moldy bed in the abandoned four-family house at 827 Main Street, part of a new generation of squatters emboldened by America's housing foreclosure crisis."

Monday May 19th 2008 - links page

No posts - mpg

Sunday May 18th 2008 - links page

Saturday May 17th 2008 - links page

Democracy in America Is a Series of Narrow Escapes, and We May Be Running Out of Luck
  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/17/9016/
Must Read - A quote...."Democracy in America is a series of narrow escapes, and we may be running out of luck. The reigning presumption about the American experience, as the historian Lawrence Goodwyn has written, is grounded in the idea of progress, the conviction that the present is “better” than the past and the future will bring even more improvement. For all of its shortcomings, we keep telling ourselves, “The system works.” -- Also posted at AlterNet   ---  http://www.alternet.org/democracy/85521/  ---  & ICH  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19945.htm
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Want Cheaper Gas and Oil? End the Damned Wars!  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/17/9017/
A quote...."Americans are in a panic over rising gas and heating oil prices, and with reason. For months, the price of a barrel of crude oil has been rising steadily, hitting a record $127 yesterday."
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Phase Two, Siniora's the US's and Israel's new war in Lebanon - Saturday roundup - 2 articles - [Day 11]

Robert Fisk: So just where does the madness end?
  ---  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/fisk/robert-fisk-so-just-where-does-the-madness-end-829936.html
A quote...."Saturday, 17 May 2008 -- I am not sure what was the worse part of this week. Living in Lebanon? Or reading the outrageous words of George Bush? Several times, I have asked myself this question: have words lost their meaning?"
Also posted at CommonDreams  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/17/9014/
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Hezbollah Emerges in Forefront of Power in Lebanon  ---  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/05/17/ST2008051702666.html
A quote...."At the entrance to Hamra, once the cosmopolitan heart of the capital, a billboard reads 1,188, the number of days since former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri was assassinated in 2005, plunging the country into a crisis that persists today. A mile or so away, another marker stands frozen at one year since Hezbollah and its allies erected a tent city, occupying Beirut's tony downtown. No one has updated it for the past 168 days."

Phase Two, Siniora's the US's and Israel's new war in Lebanon - Saturday roundup - [Day 11]
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Phase One, Cheney's and Maliki's new war in Iraq - Saturday round-up - 1  article - [ Day 54 ]

Truce Holds in Sadr City Amid Patrols by Iraqi Army  ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/world/middleeast/18iraq.html?ref=middleeast
A quote...."Published: May 18, 2008 -- BAGHDAD — Iraqi Army troops have encountered little resistance during operations near the fortified front line in Baghdad’s Sadr City district, the American military reported Saturday, signaling that a shaky truce with the cleric Moktada al-Sadr’s Shiite militia was holding."

Phase One, Cheney's and Maliki's new war in Iraq - Saturday round-up  - [ Day 54 ]
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Iraq Vet Who Wrote About His PTSD Kills Self, Brother
  ---  http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003804988
A quote...."NEW YORK The epidemic of suicides among veterans of the Iraq war with PTSD continues. The latest that has surfaced involves a decorated vet who wrote about his PTSD for the Marine Corps Gazette-- and this week killed himself and his brother after a long police chase in Arizona."
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Bush's Iran diplomacy is a sham; admits US Defence Secretary  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/164768
A quote...."(CASMII) In a moment of candour, Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary has admitted albeit implicitly that the Bush administration's diplomacy towards Iran has long been a sham:"
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Iran protests after 3 diplomats wounded in Iraq  ---  http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=172361
A quote...."Iran angrily blamed the United States on Friday after at least three of its diplomats were wounded in a Baghdad shooting, saying the Americans are encouraging attacks on Iranians in Iraq. - The United States defended the actions of Iraqi security forces, but said Americans were not involved in the incident and that the U.S. "condemns any attack on guests or visitors of any country."
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Iran: Bombers planned pipeline attack  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=56168&sectionid=351020101
A quote...."Iran's Intelligence Ministry says pipelines in the country's oil-rich south were on the list of bombing targets by US-sponsored agents."
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Neo-Con General Calls For Terror Attacks In Iran  ---  http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2008/051608_terror_attacks.htm
A quote...."Fresh off the revelation of Donald Rumsfeld's 2006 audio tape admission that a method to reinvigorate the Neo-Con agenda would be another terror attack, Neo-Cons like Ret. Gen. Thomas McInerney, who was part of the Pentagon's "message force multipliers" propaganda program, have been calling for the Bush administration to commit acts of terror in Iran." -- Goes to show how stupid this guy is, the US elites have already been supporting terror attacks against Iran for at least the last five years - mpg   For more on this issue see....US Support of Terror - MEK - PKK - Others  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/ussupportofterror-weblist-mpg-090306#MEK-PKK-OTHERS
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Roméo Dallaire compares Canada and the US to terrorist organizations  ---  http://www.chycho.com/?q=node/1716
A quote...."Who is Roméo Dallaire? - If you are a believer in such a thing as Canadian values than Roméo Dallaire represents them. - “Lieutenant-General Roméo Alain Dallaire , is a French Canadian senator, humanitarian, author and retired general. Dallaire is widely known for having served as Force Commander of UNAMIR, the ill-fated United Nations peacekeeping force for Rwanda between 1993 and 1994, and for trying to stop the genocide that was being waged by Hutu extremists against Tutsis and Hutu moderates.”
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"We Created Terror Among the Arabs": The Deir Yassin Massacre
  ---  http://www.sott.net/articles/show/156583-We-Created-Terror-Among-the-Arabs-The-Deir-Yassin-Massacre
A quote...."On April 9, 1948, members of the underground Jewish terrorist group, the Irgun, or IZL, led by Menachem Begin, who was to become the Israeli prime minister in 1977, entered the peaceful Arab village of Deir Yassin, massacred 250 men, women, children and the elderly, and stuffed many of the bodies down wells."
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The View from the Crusaders' Castle  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn05172008.html
A quote...."Thirty years ago, when the state of Israel had traveled only half its present journey through time since 1948, I interviewed General Matti Peled in New York. As an army general Peled had been a notably tough administrator of the Occupied Territories, but in retirement had become a dove, publicly urging his country to negotiate seriously with the Palestinians, abandon the illegal settlements,  return to the ’67 borders and resolve all the other major issues obstructing a proper peace."
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Prominent neoconservative site goes under.  ---  http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/16/prominent-neoconservative-site-goes-under/
A quote...."Eleven years ago, the neoconservative Project for a New American Century (PNAC) set out its statement of principles advocating the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, putting the country on the road to a preventative invasion of Iraq. Signatories included future Iraq war architects Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and Elliott Abrams, as well as neoconservatives like Bill Kristol and Robert Kagan." -- For more on this issue see....
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PNAC - OAC  ---  http://www.oldamericancentury.org/pnac.htm
PNAC - EL  ---  http://home.earthlink.net/%7Eplatter/neo-conservatism/pnac.html
PNAC - AT  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EC20Ak07.html
PNAC - FPIF  ---  http://www.fpif.org/papers/02right/index.html
PNAC - SW  ---  http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Project_for_the_New_American_Century
PNAC - Primer-BW  ---  http://www.crisispapers.org/Editorials/PNAC-Primer.htm
PNAC - Rouges Gallery  ---  http://tvnewslies.org/html/pnac_neo-con_artists.html
PNAC - Members  ---  http://911review.com/motive/pnac.html
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Unanswered 9/11 Questions  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=6581
A quote...."The collapse of New York's World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001 is arguably one of the most well documented events in human history. Less well documented is the controversy over why the buildings fell as they did. -- At the time of writing, 357 architectural and engineering professionals have signed a petition which directly challenges the National Institute of Standards & Training's official finding that the destruction of these massive buildings was caused solely by structural damage from the impact of jet airliners and the resulting fires."
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Rupert Murdoch Firm Goes on Trial for Alleged Tech Sabotage  ---  http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2008/04/murdoch
A quote...."Did a Rupert Murdoch company go too far and hire hackers to sabotage rivals and gain the top spot in the global pay-TV war? -- This is the question a jury will be facing in a spectacular five-year-old civil lawsuit that is finally being tried this month in California but which has, oddly, received little notice from U.S. media. -- The case involves a colorful cast of characters that includes former intelligence agents, Canadian TV pirates, Bulgarian and German hackers, stolen e-mails and the mysterious suicide of a Berlin hacker who had been courted by the Murdoch company not long before his death."
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Gov't Secrecy and the Mysterious Cyber Initative  ---  http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2008/05/government_secrecy_and_the_mys.html
The secrecy surrounding the Bush administration's updated National Cyber Security Initiative -- designed to improve the government's digital defenses and put forth an offensive information warfare doctrine -- is endangering the deterrent value of the project and appears to be aimed chiefly at supporting spying operations abroad, a key U.S. Senate committee concludes in a new report." -- For more on this issue see....Attempts to Control the Internet
  ---   http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/attempttocontroltheinternet-weblist-mpg-053006
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Was U.S. Private Security Firm Spying for Kazakh Government?  ---  http://www.thought-criminal.org/article/node/1620
A quote...."That’s the question raised by this terrific Wall Street Journal story.   ---  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121056056698384341.html  ---  The firm is GlobalOptions,   ---  http://www.globaloptions.com/  ---  an extremely well-connected company run by, among others, former FBI and CIA officials. The Kazakh government apparently retained GlobalOptions to monitor, and possibly seek to derail, a Justice Department investigation into James Giffen, an American oilman who is suspected of paying tens of millions of dollars in bribes to President Nursultan Nazarbayev."
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We covered up Iraqi bomb attack which destroyed a £30million Hercules, admits MoD  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/164735
A quote...."...the aircraft was blasted by a string of at least five bombs buried next to the runway, the Board of Inquiry report reveals. - They exploded just before it touched down in darkness - destroying aircraft systems, injuring passengers and setting fire to the wing close to the fuel tanks. - Those on board had a lucky escape because the pilots' night vision goggles were temporarily blinded by the explosions and the burning aircraft veered off the runway at more than 100mph." -- Think about it....the insurgents obviously knew they were the one's that destroyed the aircraft, they set off the bombs as the plane was landing.  So the Brits covered it up simply to prevent their own citizens from knowing about the incident. - mpg
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Heavy fight started in Mosul  ---  http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m44122&s1=h1
A quote...."Just reported, a heavy fight erupted with explosion sounds heard in Rifa’i Neighborhood - Mosul, later the fight spread into 17 July and al-Iktisadeen district [notice that until today Maliki's forces arrested 1100 people without fight...and they claim they are arresting al-Qaeda?]"
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Venezuela protests Colombian troop "incursion"
  ---  http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1734541020080517?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews
A quote...."CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela accused 60 Colombian troops on Saturday of entering just inside its territory in what it said was a provocation by a warmongering government seeking to destabilize the region."
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`BRIC' Nations Summit Seeks to Turn Economic Might Into Clout  ---  http://www.thought-criminal.org/article/node/1623
Special Note - A quote...." May 15 (Bloomberg) -- First came the booming economies. Then came the rush of investors. Now the so-called BRIC nations -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- are talking about forming a political alliance. -- The four largest emerging economies are sending their foreign ministers to Yekaterinburg, Russia, to meet on May 16 for the first time outside the venue of the United Nations. On the agenda are such non-economic issues as weapons proliferation, counter-terrorism, energy and climate change."
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Iran to Launch Satellite Early Summer  ---  http://www.farsnews.com/English/newstext.php?nn=8702281530
A quote...." TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran will soon launch several satellites into space, head of Iran's aerospace organization said, adding that the country will send its first satellite 'Omid (Hope)' into orbit in July."
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Iran Khodro Expands Global Reach  ---  http://www.farsnews.com/English/newstext.php?nn=8702281488
A quote...." TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran Khodro Company, the country's largest vehicle manufacturer, continues to expand its regional and global reach. The automaker is opening a plant in Syria in April and readying a new plant in Turkey for 2009."
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Iran to Start Gas Export to Switzerland in 2009  ---  http://www.farsnews.com/English/newstext.php?nn=8702281498
A quote...." TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior Iranian gas company official said that Tehran will make investments in Europe's gas network."
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Russian space program bedeviled by problems  ---  http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080515/107469026.html
A quote...."MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political analyst Andrei Kislyakov) - Sea Launch, the U.S.-Russian-Ukrainian-Norwegian consortium using a mobile sea platform for equatorial launches of commercial payloads on specialized Zenit-3SL rockets, has announced that its planned May 21 launch will be postponed indefinitely. This minor setback highlights major problems plaguing the Russian space program."
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In the United States, the Trains Remain Slow  ---  http://watchingamerica.com/News/1024/in-the-united-states-the-trains-remain-slow/
A quote...."The train, in the country of grand spaces, trails. The only high-speed line in the United States, the Acela Express, travels between New York and Washington in 3 hours while it takes less than one hour for the Eurostar to travel from Paris to London, a similar distance."
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Billions of electronic-eating 'crazy rasberry ants' invade Texas  ---  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3941545.ece
A quote...."It sounds like the plot of a farfetched science fiction movie. Unfortunately for the residents of Texas, it is very much a reality: billions of tiny reddish-brown ants have arrived onshore from a cargo ship and are hell-bent on eating anything electronic. -- Computers, burglar alarm systems, gas and electricity meters, iPods, telephone exchanges – all are considered food by the flea-sized ants, for reasons that have left scientists baffled." -- We're in trouble. - mpg
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Brazil’s Real rises to nine-year high; up 19% in 12 months  ---  http://mercopress.handsoft.com.uy/vernoticia.do?id=13445&formato=HTML
A quote...."Brazil's Real rose to a nine-year high as the US dollar slumped and investor demand for commodities and higher-yielding assets increased. Last April 30 Standard & Poor’s upgraded Brazilian debt sending the Real and the Sao Paulo Bovespa stock index to new records."
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Friday May 16th 2008 - links page

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded.
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed.
Everybody knows the war is over.
Everybody knows the good guys lost.
Everybody knows the fight was fixed.
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich.
That's how it goes.  Everybody knows. -- *Leonard Cohen*
MP3  ---  http://leonard-cohen-everybody-knows-mp3-download.kohit.net/_/266498

Remember how Tom Friedman and Bush administration spokesmen kept saying that "the next six months" would be crucial for Iraq? They said it in 2003, 2004, 2005, etc., etc. Atrios finally called them   ---  http://www.eschatonblog.com/  ---  on it, terming it the "Friedman unit". ---  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_%28unit%29  ---  Now we have the new, improved, "McCain unit"   ---  http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/2008/05/15/mccain-iraq-speech-is-no-magic-carpet-ride/  ---  which is apparently that the next four years will be crucial in Iraq. Indeed, McCain predicted "victory" by 2013, four years after he hopes to take office as the new president. Of course if victory does not come by 2013, then the next McCain unit would kick in, with the years leading up to 2017 being "crucial" for Iraq.
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Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that the Mosul power elite is increasingly disturbed
  ---  http://www.daralhayat.com/arab_news/levant_news/05-2008/Item-20080515-ee13ff4d-c0a8-10ed-01e2-5c736627cdde/story.html
by the central government's military campaign in that city. They say that they would be willing to keep on the sidelines if the al-Maliki government just went after "al-Qaeda" (the Salafi Jihadis) in the city. But they say that the al-Maliki forces have arrested dozens of ex-members of the Baath Party, as well as former military officers. They say that if this campaign against the Mosul elite continues, they will be forced to act. The al-Maliki government had given them undertakings that it would only target "al-Qaeda", but in fact it has arrested over 900 persons, many of them ex-Baathists.
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The US is cutting off relations with Iraqi politician and notorious embezzler and liar Ahmad Chalabi
   ---  http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/37261.html
for the fourth time. This time the issue is said to be his deteriorating relations with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his closeness to Brig. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, head of the Jerusalem (Quds) Brigades of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Actually my suspicion is that Chalabi is supporting the Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr and that is the real reason for the tension with him. Sadr wants the US out on a short timetable and opposes the passage of an oil law that the Bush administration desperately wants.

It's all so hilarious one could almost die laughing....many have, without the laughter of course. - mpg

Thursday May 15th 2008 - links page

What is really happening in Lebanon?
http://www.therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1505&thisview=item&renewx=2008-05-14+10%3A05%3A22
Video - Special Note -- A quote...."Wednesday May 14th, 2008 -- Clashes between supporters of the US-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition have shaken Lebanon. -- Editor's Note - This is not a power struggle per se, to quote the article - "Fouad Siniora, decided to shut down the communication and surveillance network at Beirut Airport."  Obviously he was doing this in preparation for an Israeli attack against Lebanon, which would have been the prelude for an attack against Syria and Iran.  He miscalculated.... badly. - mpg -- posted 05-14-08
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Lebanon's Sunni bloc built militia, officials say
  ---  http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-security12-2008may12,0,6458359.story
Must Read - Special Note - A quote...."BEIRUT -- For a year, the main Lebanese political faction backed by the United States built a Sunni Muslim militia here under the guise of private security companies, Lebanese security experts and officials said." -- Editor's Note - Again to repeat, the whole thing was a set-up from the get-go.  The US and Fouad Siniora got together to "arrange" a more easy attack against Lebanon by Israel. A big mistake.  - mpg -- posted 05-14-08
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Ding dong, the DC Madam is dead
Hung from the rafters of her mother’s shed.
Hide under yer covers, Ye Dicks and Ye Johns!
Ye Senators and Prosecutors, Ye Media Cons!
There’s blood on yer hands, though you pretend to be clean,
Ye’ll always be haunted by the Ghost of Deborah Jeane...

'Untimely deaths' that benefited R. M. Scaife, the CIA, and the Bush Crime Family
  ---  http://existentialistcowboy.blogspot.com/2008/05/untimely-deaths-that-benefited-r-m.html
Must Read - A quote...."In a twisted, right wing brain like that of Richard Mellon Scaife, murder may be justified by endless ideological rationalizations. Not only lives are lost but truth itself. It is a sick mentality that sacrifices the voice of reason for lies and bullsh-t. Short-term, short-sighted victories are pyrrhic and the very fabric of society is corrupted."
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In a Casino Mentality, The Economy Goes From Bubble to Bubble  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8971
A quote...."The American economy seems to be going from bubble to bubble: in 2000, it was the tech bubble; in 2005, it was the housing bubble; and now, it is the oil and commodities bubble. In fact, the entire world of investment is now a giant casino where speculators are in charge and where governments look the other way."
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From The Credit Crunch To The Spectre Of Global Crisis  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19918.htm
A quote...."That was the Lex Column of the Financial Times as we went to press. It displays the bewilderment afflicting those who are supposed to be providing some direction to the system as they alternate between sheer panic, fake optimism, and simply hoping things will turn out all right." -- Also posted at ICH  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19918.htm
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Rules for Radicals: How to Begin Taking Back Our Government
  ---  http://existentialistcowboy.blogspot.com/2008/05/rules-for-radicals-how-to-begin-taking.html
Must Read - Action Alert - A quote...." RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." -- Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)" -- This is rule number twelve, there should be a rule number thirteen....go after the money. (This is the corollary to the investigative rule called "follow the money".) - mpg

13-a)  Every person throughout the world who was injured or harmed in any way by the renditions, torture and mass murder caused by the PNAC'ing MIOC elite's "long war" or any of the false flag events they sponsored, should sue the institutions, corporations and most importantly the individuals involved.

13-b)  That no one should ever do business with any of those involved with these crimes of murder and mayhem EVER. This would not be a boycott, this would be a permanent, life long ban on the individuals and institutions that have killed and harmed so many across this planet, they should all be shunned..... forever.

13-c) Everyone involved with the trillions of dollars spent on these rapacious plans of murder and conquest should be forced to pay it all back.  Suggestions: A ten year retroactive tax on any capital gains made from the oil or defense industries. Personally requiring by an article-V constitutional convention and amendment, that Congressmen and Senators pay back into the Social Security Trust fund any amounts they overspent during their tenures, else it would be deducted from their flesh (i.e. as in the Merchant of Venice).  Retroactively taking the cap off the Social Security Tax for, five, seven, or ten years....whatever is necessary to pay back what was withdrawn.  Eliminating the funding for VA, education or pension benefits for those in the military till these amounts are returned. (Although that may seem a bit harsh, keep in mind the Republicans have consistently every single year tried to reduce VA benefits without a peep from those in the military, besides it's been five years already, it's time to finally pull the plug on this whole "Racket".)

13-d) It must be emphasized to all peoples throughout the world that these policies are essential for everyone's own safety and survival, i.e. doing "business" with "American" (a.k.a. Neo-Roman) MIOC institutions and individuals will simply corrupt you and eventually get you, your family and everyone you know killed.....always, every single time, guaranteed.

13-e)  It should also be made clear to everyone that letting any of the individuals or institutions get away with the enormous fortunes they made facilitating and anticipating 9/11 would be extremely bad for business....it will only encourage them in their greedy anticipation to contemplate further endeavors of this sort....from now on. - mpg
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The 'Long War' fallacy  ---  http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-bacevich13-2008may13,0,7251551.story
Must Read - A quote...."Donald Rumsfeld is today a discredited and widely reviled figure. Robert Gates, Rumsfeld's successor as Defense secretary, is generally admired for manifesting qualities that Rumsfeld lacked -- a willingness to listen not least among them. Yet on one crucial point, the two see eye to eye: Both believe that the United States has no alternative but to wage a global war likely to last decades." -- To the LA Times....a sincere and hearty welcome to the reality based community. - mpg
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From New Rome to Sadr City  ---  http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/425079
A quote...."Remember when the globe's imperial policeman, its New Rome, was going to wield its unsurpassed military power by moving from country to country, using lightning strikes and shock-and-awe tactics? We're talking about the now-unimaginably distant past of 2002-2003."
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Anglo-American Ascendancy Lost in Unnecessary Wars  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19916.htm
A quote...." 13/05/08 "ICH" -- - -In a new book that will infuriate the fake conservatives who inhabit the Republican Party, Patrick J. Buchanan documents how British self-righteousness, delusion, and hubris destroyed both the British Empire and Western ascendancy in two unnecessary wars launched by a small cabal of morons that ruled Britain"
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Bugliosi: George W. Bush Should be Tried for Mass Murder
  ---  http://existentialistcowboy.blogspot.com/2008/05/bugliosi-george-w-bush-should-be-tried.html
Must Read - A quote...."It has been my position for years that George W. Bush should be prosecuted for various capital crimes, not the least of which are the deaths following from his wars of naked aggression in Afghanistan and Iraq. [See: US Codes, Title 18, Section 2441] I have urged that a Federal Grand jury bring indictments against George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Condo Rice, Don Rumsfeld and numerous other co-conspirators, accomplices and accessories-after-the fact."
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Senate Moves Forward on Orwellian "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act"
  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8978
A quote...."Under cover of studying "violent radicalization," both bills would broaden the already-fluid definition of "terrorism" to encompass political activity and protest by dissident groups, effectively criminalizing civil disobedience and non-violent direct action by developing policies for "prevention, disruption and mitigation."
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America’s march towards fascism: and some helpful hints on how to protect yourself from the United States government
  ---  http://www.chycho.com/?q=node/1711
A quote...."The American Heritage Dictionary  defines Fascism as “a system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.” - Yep....that about sums it up. - mpg
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Independent Witnesses to War Perish at the Hands of the U.S. Military in Iraq  ---  http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/05/13/18498931.php
A quote...."This morning, Democracy Now! dedicated their entire show to a revealing interview of a former Sergeant of U.S. intelligence, Adrienne Kinne. While working for the military, one of Kinne's duties was to eavesdrop on satellite telephone communications. In a startling interview, Kinne revealed that, "we were listening to journalists who were staying in the Palestine Hotel ... [and] were given a list of potential targets in Baghdad, and the Palestine Hotel was listed as a potential target." Kinne also revealed that humanitarian organizations and journalists were amongst those whose conversations were monitored by the U.S. military."
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DEMOCRACY NOW! EXCLUSIVE: Fmr. Military Intelligence Officer Reveals US Listed Palestine Hotel in Baghdad as Target Prior to Killing of Two Journalists in 2003   ---  http://www.democracynow.org/2008/5/13/fmr_military_intelligence_officer  ---  A quote...."Last month marked the fifth anniversary of the US military shelling of the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad. The attack killed two journalists: Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk and Jose Couso, a cameraman for the Spanish television network Telecinco. The Pentagon has called the killings accidental, but in this broadcast exclusive Army Sgt. Adrienne Kinne (Ret.) reveals she saw secret US military documents that listed the hotel as a possible target. Kinne also discloses that she was personally ordered to eavesdrop on Americans working for news organizations and NGOs in Iraq. [includes rush transcript]"
Real Video Stream  ||  ---  http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2008/may/video/dnB20080513a.rm&proto=rtsp&start=11:38
Real Audio Stream  ||  ---  http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2008/may/audio/dn20080513.ra&proto=rtsp&start=11:38
MP3 Download  ||  ---  http://media.switchpod.com/users/democracynow/ftp/dn2008-0513-1.mp3
More…  ||  ---  http://www.democracynow.org/2008/5/13/stream

For more on the two articles shown above see....US - Killing the Messenger
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/uskillingthemessenger-weblist-mpg-112907
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Italian Trial of C.I.A. Operatives Begins With Torture Testimony  ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/15/world/europe/15italy.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
A quote...."MILAN — A long-delayed trial of C.I.A. operatives and former top Italian intelligence officials moved forward here on Wednesday, as a judge ruled that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi could be called to testify about the abduction of a radical Muslim cleric here in 2003."
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Italian PM may be drawn into CIA abduction case  ---  http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKL1394028320080513
A quote...."MILAN (Reuters) - An Italian judge could decide on Wednesday to make Silvio Berlusconi the first head of a government to testify in criminal proceedings over secret CIA transfers of terrorism suspects. Judge Oscar Magi is expected to announce his decision on whether to call Berlusconi and other politicians when he resumes a trial at 0800 GMT against 26 Americans and seven Italians accused of carrying out a transfer or "rendition" in 2003."

For more on the two articles shown above see....Fun & Torture - It's a Pleasure.
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/funandtorture-blog-mpg-020307
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Wayne Madsen Interrogated, Harrassed At Airport After DC Madam Controversy  ---  http://infowars.net/articles/may2008/140508Madsen.htm
A quote...."In Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's world of an "Israelized" America, the terms SPOT (Screening Passengers by Observation Technique) and BDO (Behavior Detection Officer) are the new acronyms of Stasi-like control of the American citizenry by a government that treats anyone as a suspicious person in the same manner that Israel mistreats its own Arab citizens and Palestinians."
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The U.S. Quietly Slashes the Reward Posted for the Leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq
  ---  http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/iraq/2008/05/12/the-us-quietly-slashes-the-reward-posted-for-the-leader-of-al-qaeda-in-iraq.html
A quote...."The U.S. government has quietly withdrawn a $5 million reward it was offering for the killing or capture of Abu Ayyub al-Masri, named by Pentagon officials as the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq. -- Al-Masri had been one of America's most wanted figures in Iraq ever since his identity was revealed in 2006. But U.S. News has learned that the bounty for him was reduced and that he was unceremoniously dropped in late February from the State Department's Rewards for Justice Program, which offers cash payments for information that leads to the capture or killing of wanted terrorists."  --  For more on this issue see....
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U.S.-trained forces reportedly helping Mexican cartels  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=6564
A quote...."WASHINGTON — As many as 200 U.S.-trained Mexican security personnel have defected to drug cartels to carry out killings on both sides of the border and as far north as Dallas, Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble, told Congress on Wednesday. -- The renegade members of Mexico's elite counter-narcotics teams trained at Fort Benning, Ga., have switched sides, contributing to a wave of violence that has claimed some 6,000 victims over the past 30 months, including prominent law enforcement leaders, the Houston-area Republican told the House Foreign Affairs Committee." -- It just never ends. - mpg
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"20th hijacker" blows up torture argument  ---  http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/20th_hijacker_blows_up_torture_argument.html
A quote...."The CIA admitted last year that it destroyed videotapes of al-Qaida suspects being interrogated at a secret "black site" in Thailand. No proof has so far emerged that tapes of interrogations at Guantánamo were destroyed, but Sands' report suggests the US may have also buried politically sensitive proof relating to abuse by interrogators at the prison camp."  -- Ahhhhh, the Neo-Romans at play.  To all those so-called "Christians" out there who voted for the Bush regime - you supported this, you agreed to this, and despite all of your plaintive denials you knew this was happening. - mpg
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Who Are the Gitmo Defendants?  ---  http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2008/05/who-are-gitmo-defendants.html
A quote...."Today, the U.S. dropped charges against the so-called '20th hijacker'. - That got me wondering, who are the remaining Guantanamo defendants? - It turns out that they are not "Al Qaeda terrorists", but a bunch of kids, a car pool driver, and others who may have been involved in a civil war within their own country, but not a war against the United States."
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Bush: An 'accessory before the fact' of Mass Murder  ---  http://existentialistcowboy.blogspot.com/2008/05/bush-accessory-before-fact-of-mass.html
Must Read - A quote...."It's bad enough that those courageous enough to oppose Bush's rise to dictatorship are attacked and impugned by the right wing! That is to be expected. But the propagation of fallacies and nonsense by those who should know better is intolerable."
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Rumsfeld On 2006 Election: "The Correction For That...Is An Attack"
  ---  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/13/rumsfeld-on-2006-election_n_101537.html
A quote...."An ongoing exploration of the documents related to the Pentagon's "message force multipliers" program has unearthed a clip of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld suggesting that America, having voted the Democrats back into Congressional power, could benefit from suffering another terrorist attack, and doing so in the presence of the very same military analysts who went on to provide commentary and analysis of the Iraq War."
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Rumsfeld's Mind: If 9/11 Worked, Why Not Try it Again  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_rob_kall_080514_rumsfeld_s_mind_3a_if_.htm
Related article - A quote...."Call me a conspiracy theorist. But when Donald Rumsfeld spoke, in late 2006, to the pentagon propagandists the NY Times recently exposed, he, in opining the loss of both houses of congress to the Democrats, suggested that “the US could benefit from another terrorist attack,” Jason Linkin of the Huffington post reports."
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9/11: Press Release - For Immediate Release - Air America Radio: What Happened At The Pentagon?
  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_rob_bals_080513_9_2f11_3a_press_release_.htm
A quote...."05/13/08 - We hope you'll join us regarding the issues surrounding the Pentagon Attack this Thursday, May 15, 2008 at 9pm Eastern on Air America Radio with your host Richard Greene, Co-Produced by Rob Balsamo, Co-Founder, Pilots For 9/11 Truth. The show will be broadcast nationwide and streaming on the internet at http://airamerica.com/clout"
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9/11 Contradictions - David Ray Griffin with VC Citizens for Impeachment Patriot - (Gogl Vid 59min 04/22/08)
  ---  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3319032398046778047&hl=en
Must View - Interview - Special Note - A quote...."Interview with Dr. David Ray Griffin, theologian and author, and Cindy Piester with Citizens for Impeachment, Ventura County. Filmed in Ventura, CA on March 28, 2008."
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9/11 - From The History File...FBI Says Barbara Olsen Did Not Call Ted Olsen. Bush Solicitor General LIED !!
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Air Force Aims for 'Full Control' of 'Any and All' Computers  ---  http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/05/air-force-mater.html
A quote...."The Air Force wants a suite of hacker tools, to give it "access" to -- and "full control" of -- any kind of computer there is.  And once the info warriors are in, the Air Force wants them to keep tabs on their "adversaries' information infrastructure completely undetected."
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New Legislation and Debate on Net Neutrality  ---  http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051508J.shtml
A quote...."Last week, lawmakers proposed legislation on network neutrality that would open up the possibility for antitrust lawsuits against companies that violate the bill's regulations. The bill has fueled the ongoing debate about the implications of network regulation." -- For more regarding this issue see....Fake Intel / Propaganda - Qttempts to Stop the Net  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/fakeintell-weblist-mpg-090206#STOPTHENET
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Military analysts named in Times exposé appeared or were quoted more than 4,500 times on broadcast nets, cables, NPR
  ---  http://mediamatters.org/items/200805130001
A quote...."Summary: A New York Times article detailed the connection between numerous media military analysts and the Pentagon and defense industries, reporting that "the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform" media military analysts "into a kind of media Trojan horse -- an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks." A Media Matters review found that since January 1, 2002, the analysts named in the Times article -- many identified as having ties to the defense industry -- collectively appeared or were quoted as experts more than 4,500 times on ABC, ABC News Now, CBS, CBS Radio Network, NBC, CNN, CNN Headline News, Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, and NPR. -- For more on this issue see....Fake Intel/Propaganda - NYT Article
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/fakeintell-weblist-mpg-090206#NYT_ARTICLE
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Phase Two, Siniora's the US's and Israel's new war in Lebanon - Wednesday roundup - 6 articles - [Day 8]

Bush quick onto Lebanon blame-game  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JE15Ak02.html
A quote...."May 15, 2008 -- President George W Bush, on tour in the Middle East, has pledged continued United States support for the Lebanese government following its clashes with the Shi'ite Hezbollah militia. Bush makes no secret of his belief that Iran is behind the recent troubles. Others, though, point a finger at Washington."
For more on this issue see....The CONversation - 09-04-06 - mpg  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/theconversation-blog-mpg-090406
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What is really happening in Lebanon?
  ---  http://www.therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1505&thisview=item&renewx=2008-05-14+10%3A05%3A22
Video - Special Note -- A quote...."Wednesday May 14th, 2008 -- Clashes between supporters of the US-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition have shaken Lebanon. Six days of deadly sectarian bloodshed is the worst violence in the country since the end of the 15-year civil war in 1990. The Real News Network analyst Pepe Escobar examines what is happening in Lebanon." -- Editor's Note - This is not a power struggle per se, to quote the article - "Fouad Siniora, decided to shut down the communication and surveillance network at Beirut Airport."  Obviously he was doing this in preparation for an Israeli attack against Lebanon, which would have been the prelude for an attack against Syria and Iran.  He miscalculated.... badly. - mpg
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Lebanon's Sunni bloc built militia, officials say  ---  http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-security12-2008may12,0,6458359.story
Must Read - Special Note - A quote...."BEIRUT -- For a year, the main Lebanese political faction backed by the United States built a Sunni Muslim militia here under the guise of private security companies, Lebanese security experts and officials said. - The fighters, aligned with Saad Hariri's Future movement, were trained and armed to counter the heavily armed Shiite Muslim militant group Hezbollah and protect their turf in a potential military confrontation."  -- Editor's Note - Again to repeat, the whole thing was a set-up from the get-go.  The US and Fouad Siniora got together to "arrange" a more easy attack against Lebanon by Israel. A big mistake.  - mpg
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Falling Cedars: Fomenting War in Lebanon -- and Beyond  ---  http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1510/135/
A quote...."Tuesday, 13 May 2008 -- What's going on in Lebanon? Nothing you haven't seen before -- in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Palestine and other places where "the United States is basically instigating and funding civil wars." - So says Professor As’ad AbuKhalil -- better known perhaps as the "Angry Arab," for his indispensable website of the same name. AbuKhalil was born and raised in Lebanon and has an intimate knowledge of troubled land's warring factions there -- and their external backers."
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Lebanon set to cancel anti-Hezbollah measures  ---  http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL1338331120080514
A quote...."Wed May 14, 2008 1:35pm EDT -- BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's cabinet is likely to cancel measures on Wednesday that angered the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement and triggered the worst internal conflict since the country's civil war, political sources said."
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Militias renew Lebanon violence with attack on village  ---  http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23686926-2703,00.html
A quote...."Beirut | May 13, 2008 -- The use of rockets, which hit targets almost 8km from their launch points near Beirut international airport, sharply escalated the crisis enveloping Lebanon and placed sectarian militias on renewed nationwide alert. -- Eleven Druze were killed and several dozen wounded during the seven-hour barrage, which was brought to a halt by the arrival of the Lebanese Army - again cast into the role of conciliator between sectarian factions." -- "Sunday's violence, the worst internal strife in Lebanon for 18 years, came amid reports that several opposition-aligned guerillas had been mutilated as payback for their involvement in earlier attacks. Two men from the pro-Syrian Hezb al-Kulmi faction had one hand and one foot chopped off, allegedly by opposition-aligned factions. The men were recovering in hospital."

Hezbollah was playing it smart up until today.  Then they got stupid. It doesn't matter how much one is provoked, if a group of men mutilate your comrades you must NOT attack civilians seven miles away from you....instead you quietly conduct an investigation, find out the identity of the people who actually did the deed, especially those who gave the orders, than do what you have to do against those who are responsible.

You don't take it out on those who weren't involved; you don't fall into the trap of being deliberately provoked; you don't play into the hands of the Israelis or America's Neo-Romans. Attacking innocent bystanders inevitably leads to escalation, vengeance attacks and eventually civil war.  It's also immoral, wrong and most importantly it does a disservice to "justice" and to whatever cause you're fighting for. -  mpg

Phase Two, Siniora's the US's and Israel's new war in Lebanon - Wednesday roundup - [Day 8]
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Phase One, Cheney's and Maliki's new war in Iraq - Wednesday round-up - 3  articles - [ Day 51 ]

Al-Hayat reports in Arabic
  ---  http://www.daralhayat.com/arab_news/levant_news/05-2008/Item-20080513-e373e2ca-c0a8-10ed-01e2-5c73536022bc/story.html
A quote...."05-11-2008 -- Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that there is a disagreement between the United Iraqi Alliance (Shiite coalition) and the Sadr Movement over the exact content of the ceasefire proclamation. The UIA says that Sadr made an undertaking to dissolve the Mahdi Army, while his supporters say he pledged no such thing. Sadrist spokesman Salah al-Ubaidi said that individual militiamen were free to surrender their arms to the central government, but that the movement would not impose a duty to do so on its members." -- *Juan Cole*
  ---  http://www.juancole.com/2008/05/11-killed-20-wounded-in-sadr-city.html
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`Angry' Iran sharpens tone with Baghdad's leaders  ---  http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gQ1f8DsoqJHPJFuGS15Hc9OZX2eAD90LI8E00
A quote..."05-14-08 -- BAGHDAD (AP) — When a group of Iraqi envoys headed to Iran recently, they were fully prepared for some tense moments. But they also hoped to come away with something to show for it: pledges of cooperation on weakening Shiite militias in Iraq."
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Sadr City Conditions Worsen  ---  http://www.iwpr.net/?p=icr&s=f&o=344626&apc_state=henh
A quote...."(ICR No. 258, 14-May-08) - Living conditions in Sadr City, already one of Baghdad’s most impoverished slums, have deteriorated sharply following weeks of fighting between Shia militiamen and United States-backed Iraqi troops that has killed hundreds, according to Iraqi lawmakers."

Phase One, Cheney's and Maliki's new war in Iraq - Wednesday round-up - [ Day 51 ]
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Al-Zaman reports in Arabic  ---  http://www.azzaman.com/index.asp?fname=2008%5C05%5C05-12%5C999.htm&storytitle=
A quote...."Al-Zaman reports in Arabic that the population of Mosul feels betrayed because Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had given them an undertaking that he was only after foreign jihadis and would not arrest local Mosulis. In fact he has had 150 officers arrested." -- *Juan Cole*
  ---  http://www.juancole.com/2008/05/11-killed-20-wounded-in-sadr-city.html
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Turkey combines dialogue with bullets  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JE15Ak01.html
A quote...."In a significant change of policy, Turkey recently initiated high-level official dialogue with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq. A columnist for the Turkish mass circulation daily Zaman commented that such an official dialogue "was not an ordinary step. It was a turning point in the approach to the Kurdish issue and broke a taboo."
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The oily truth about America’s foreign policy  ---  http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=168558
A quote...."The importance of oil to American foreign policy is both obvious and curiously difficult to acknowledge in public. In the run-up to the Iraq war it was left to the left to make the argument that this was a “war for oil”. Establishment people -- those in the know -- rolled their eyes at this “conspiracy theory”. -- For more on this issue see....War Resource 9/11  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/priorwarresource911-weblist-mpg-091106
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UK stance toward Iran 'gross hypocrisy'  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/164509
A quote...."The Church of Scotland blasts the UK government's 'hypocrisy' on Iran's nuclear program while it renews its Trident weapons system. -- "The renewal of the Trident weapons system (by the UK government) is identified … as being a breach of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT), as well as an act of 'gross hypocrisy'," said the Church and Society Council in a plea to the Church of Scotland's General Assembly."
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The other side of Israel's birth  ---  http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.nakba14may14,0,6220379.story
A quote...."This spring we are obsessed with anniversaries: the fifth year since the invasion of Iraq, the 40th since the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination and, of course, the 60th anniversary of Israeli independence. Each such marker shapes our understanding of history, framing how a story is to be told and how it is to be remembered. I am struck by one conspicuous anniversary that is not making many headlines."
Also posted at CommonDreams  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/14/8948/
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Uribe is Playing With Fire If He Installs an American Base on The Border: Chavez
  ---  http://watchingamerica.com/News/1023/uribe-is-playing-with-fire-if-he-installs-an-american-base-on-the-border-chavez/
A quote...."The Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, warned this Wednesday that his colleague from Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, would be “playing with fire” if he cedes that the United States military base that is in Ecuador be transferred to the border of his country."
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Jerry Mitchell, - Ghost Hunter  ---  http://watchingamerica.com/News/1020/jerry-mitchell-ghost-hunter/
Special Note - A quote...."He has nothing to do with hunting primes. Jerry Mitchell doesn’t talk a lot, display an intractable smile and doesn’t brag about anything. Seated at his desk in the editing room of the Clarion Ledger, the major daily newspaper for Mississippi, located in Jackson, he says he is simply “an ordinary guy, an easy person to live with, and who listens to his interviewees for as long as it takes.” A rule established in his dogma for many years, and which led this journalist with a falsely debonair physique to become an unbeatable opponent of the former members of the racist and criminal organization called the Ku Klux Klan" -- What this country needs many more of....men and women like Jerry Mitchell. - mpg
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In 'Spies for Hire,' U.S. Security Gets Outsourced  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=6562
Book Review - A quote...."Fresh Air from WHYY It's become a $50 billion a year industry: Corporations like Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin, and IBM are being paid to do things the CIA, the National Security Agency and the Pentagon usually do, including analysis, covert operations, electronic surveillance and reconnaissance. -- Investigative journalist Tim Shorrock details the outsourcing of U.S. intelligence in his new book, Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing."
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World Bank `Destroyed Basic Grains' in Honduras (Update2) -- http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601170&refer=home&sid=aGxiawAqP0.w
A quote...."May 14 (Bloomberg) -- Fidencio Alvarez abandoned his bean and corn farm in southern Honduras because of the rising cost of seeds, fuel and food. After months of one meal a day, he hiked with his wife and six children to find work in the city." -- Any country or a people, who lets their leaders do "business" with the IMF or World Banksters....deserves what they get. - mpg
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Bank of England likely to delay rate cuts: economists - Central bank sees inflation soaring above 2% target
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/bank-england-likely-delay-rate/story.aspx?
  ---  guid=%7B1E789E1A%2D2F4E%2D40F9%2D99BD%2DBB6DBAC5B373%7D
A quote...."LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Despite prospects for a significant economic slowdown, the Bank of England is unlikely to rush into further rate cuts after projecting inflation to surge and remain well above target through the rest of the year, economists said Wednesday."
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US foreclosure filings surge 65 percent in April  ---  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/05/14/national/a000200D08.DTL
A quote...."More U.S. homeowners fell behind on mortgage payments last month, driving the number of homes facing foreclosure up 65 percent versus the same month last year and contributing to a deepening slide in home values, a research company said Tuesday."
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