Tuesday July 8th 2008 - links page

Tuesday July 8th 2008 - links page

Big Oil's 'secret' out of Iraq's closet  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JG04Ak03.html
Must Read - A quote...."NEW YORK - It is not about the "war on terror". It is not about weapons of mass destruction. It is not about "freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people", or to the "Afghan people". It is not about "Islamofascism". It is not about a Pentagon-coined "arc of instability" from the Middle East to Central Asia. New evidence shows once again both George W Bush administration wars - in Afghanistan and Iraq - above all are about oil and gas."
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The Shift - Is the tide turning against the War Party?  ---  http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13110
A quote...."The tectonic plates of the geopolitical landscape are shifting, visibly, as the consequences of our crazed foreign policy are being felt at home and abroad. That alarming crunching sound you hear is the impact of the sudden realization that, in Iraq, the government our troops are fighting and dying for is openly demanding that we leave."
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Americans Had It Coming  ---  http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-07.asp
A quote...."Everyone is complaining and crying about the high gasoline prices and, well, the rising prices of most everything else, especially food. -- The problem is that hardly anyone wants to admit that it’s all part of the cost of empire and imperial adventurism. Do Iraq and Afghanistan come to mind? -- In 2001 and 2002, weren’t many Americans (libertarians being the notable exception) exuberantly supporting the imperial adventurism in Iraq and Afghanistan that has caused federal spending to soar through the roof? Well, what did Americans think — that empires come cheap?"
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Diffusion of reaction and obedience to authority - posted at the OnlineJournal  ---  http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_3171.shtml
  ---  http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_3469.shtml
A quote...."The “diffusion of reaction,” part of the “bystander effect (also known as bystander apathy, Genovese syndrome, diffused responsibility or bystander intervention) is a psychological phenomenon in which someone is less likely to intervene in an emergency situation when other people are present and able to help than when he or she is alone,” says Wikipedia."
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[The Nameless One's] Counsel  ---  http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20080707&fname=uri&sid=1
A quote...."If Obama surrenders to his advisers, he may gain votes from the other camp but lose his credibility, and not only in his own camp. The only advice he needs is -- This above all: to thine own self be true! " -- Mr. Reficul would beg to differ, "sell yourself my boy, everyone else has done so" he would say.....Obama seems to be heeding his sage advice. - mpg -- Also posted at PP  ---  http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=13954
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Oh, For a One-Eyed Man! - FISA and the Decline of America  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/doe07082008.html
A quote...."Jonathan Swift, the great Irish political writer and satirist, is not alone in observing that great nations rarely fall from outside threats or attack. More often they decline and fall from internal corruption. The Congress is deaf to this warning it appears, for last week they passed legislation that is advertised as reforming FISA."
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Could Anyone be "Worse" Than Bush?  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn07062008.html
Must Read - A quote...."These days, it’s an almost irresistible temptation to believe that when the present incumbent finally rides his mountain bike off into the sunset next January the world will be a better place merely by the fact of his absence. Amid the sinister twilight of the Bush years, such hopes are understandable. Looking at the blazing bodies of their comrades, used as torches to brighten up his banquets, the early Christians must certainly have rejoiced when Nero passed, little knowing that not so far over the horizon loomed Domitian and other emperors eager to add uplifting chapters to the Book of Martyrs.*"
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Bush: Three Generations of Betrayal and High Treason  ---  http://existentialistcowboy.blogspot.com/2008/07/bush-three-generations-of-betrayal-and.html
A quote...."When every other remedy is repressed, quashed or made illegal, guerrilla tactics are all we have left! Thomas Jefferson said that guerrilla tactics are justified in cases of tyranny. We have a 'right', Jefferson said, to 'abolish' a government that has become, like that of Bush, tyrannical. The revolutionary spirit of Jefferson was with those who protested Bush at Monticello! The spirit of Jefferson is 'anti-Bush'."
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MPs accuse Washington of lying over rendition flights
  ---  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/mps-accuse-washington-of-lying-over-rendition-flights-860864.html
A quote...."MPs are to launch an investigation into US activities on Diego Garcia after accusing Washington of lying about extraordinary rendition flights from the British-controlled island in the Indian Ocean. They described false assurances given by the US about its use of Diego Garcia for the controversial flights as "deplorable"."
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AP IMPACT: US wavered over S. Korean executions - link posted at BuzzFlash  ---  http://www.buzzflash.com/
  ---  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/07/06/international/i104255D17.DTL
A quote...."The American colonel, troubled by what he was hearing, tried to stall at first. But the declassified record shows he finally told his South Korean counterpart it "would be permitted" to machine-gun 3,500 political prisoners, to keep them from joining approaching enemy forces."
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ACLU: U.S. blocking payments to Guantanamo attorneys  ---  http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/43453.html
A quote...."GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba — The U.S. government is blocking the American Civil Liberties Union from paying attorneys representing suspected terrorists held here, insisting that the ACLU must first receive a license from the U.S. Treasury Department before making the payments."
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FISA Court Judge Quit Over White House's Refusal to Legally Obtain Spy Warrants - link posted at BuzzFlash  ---  http://www.buzzflash.com/
  ---  http://www.pubrecord.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=187&Itemid=9
A quote...."Three years ago, US District Court Judge James Robertson sent a letter to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., notifying him of his resignation from a secret intelligence court set up to monitor the federal government's domestic surveillance activities."
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Congressional Performance  ---  http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=63532
A quote...."The percentage of voters who give Congress good or excellent ratings has fallen to single digits for the first time in Rasmussen Reports tracking history. This month, just 9% say Congress is doing a good or excellent job. Most voters (52%) say Congress is doing a poor job, which ties the record high in that dubious category." -- Register, go down to the polls, and vote for anybody BUT a DemoRepub or a RepubDemo....it's the only chance this nation's got. - mpg
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Much info coming out about the Siegelman case...  ---  http://www.atlargely.com/2008/07/much-info-comin.html
A quote...."Karl Rove cut his teeth as one of the "rat-f-ckers" of the Segretti crew, who ran dirty tricks for Nixon. That should tell you everything you need to know about what kind of sociopath this man is. If you want to really know more about this man, the best source is the book by my friend Jim Moore, called Bush's Brain."
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Scott Horton Interviews Robert Parry  ---  http://antiwar.com/radio/2008/07/02/robert-parry-4/
Audio Interview - A quote...."Robert Parry, proprietor of ConsortiumNews.com and author of Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush, discusses his new revelations on the Iran-Contra scandal how the Reagan administration used the CIA for a propaganda campaign against the American population, Iran-Contra was the pilot program for the neocon hijacking of the government, the legal black-hole of the Vice President’s office and the slippery semantics of the War Party, the history of covert tactics the right-wing uses to control the corporate media and its enemies, and the War Party’s view of the President’s total power."
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Sistani Rejects US-Iraq Security Deal  ---  http://www.alalam.ir/english/en-NewsPage.asp?newsid=031030120080708193347
Special Note - A quote...."BAGHDAD, July 8--The Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most revered Shiite leader in Iraq on Tuesday rejected any security agreement with US, stressing such deal will affect the country's sovereignty."
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Indian communists withdraw government support  ---  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/07/08/international/i025716D56.DTL
A quote...."Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's communist allies withdrew their support for his four-year-old coalition government on Tuesday to protest the government's plan to push forward with a controversial nuclear deal with the United States."
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Congress May Not Pass U.S.-India Nuclear Pact  ---  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/08/AR2008070801523_pf.html
A quote...."India's civil nuclear agreement with the United States may have cleared a key hurdle in New Delhi this week, but it appears unlikely to win final approval in the U.S. Congress this year, raising the possibility that India could begin nuclear trade with other countries even without the Bush administration's signature deal, according to administration officials and congressional aides."
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Medvedev: No progress with US after Bush meeting  ---  http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hCOYweIJt-kh8b4ExcLZyWq4UhWwD91PK6SO0
A quote...."TOYAKO, Japan (AP) — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday that his meeting with President Bush at a summit of the Group of Eight industrial powers resulted in no progress toward bridging deep disagreements between the former Cold War foes."
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Russia threatens military response to US missile defence deal - link posted at CLG  ---  http://www.legitgov.org/#contribute
  ---  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4295309.ece
A quote...."Russia threatened to retaliate by military means after a deal with the Czech Republic brought the US missile defence system in Europe a step closer."
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A Cartoon by Khalil Bendib --- http://bp3.blogger.com/_ZxKAf8oOwtI/SHRDSuCPgRI/AAAAAAAAOrw/6Bq1si2mWOw/s1600-h/5-23-Syria-Peace--.jpg
So funny, and so true. - mpg
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AIPAC's Hirelings Rush to Resolution  ---  http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=13953
A quote...."Perception is often the stepchild of ignorance, especially when controlled by those with the most to gain. It is especially difficult for our Congress to perceive clearly when it grovels at the feet of AIPAC."
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Two documentaries about Iran and its people, one from 1925 and the other from 2007  ---  http://www.chycho.com/?q=node/1769
Videos - A quote...."1925 documentary about the bakhtiari tribe regular annular migration (Yeylaagh & Gheshlaagh) across Zardkoh to reach fresh grass for their animals. This is an awesome documentary showing their challenges as they tried to pass Karun and all other difficulties of the routine chores.” --- "“Rageh Omaar embarks on a unique journey inside what he describes as one of the most misunderstood countries in the world, looking at the country through the eyes of people rarely heard - ordinary Iranians.”
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Defiant Iran test-fires longer range missile  ---  http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Defiant_Iran_test_fires_longer_rang_07092008.html
A quote...."Iran on Wednesday test-fired its Shahab-3 missile, whose longer range puts Israel within reach, amid growing fears that the standoff over the contested Iranian nuclear drive could lead to war. -- The Shahab-3 was among a broadside of nine missiles fired off in the early morning from an undisclosed location in the Iranian desert, state-run Arabic channel Al-Alam and its English counterpart Press-TV reported."
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Bush's Rampage in Somalia  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney07082008.html
A quote...."While George Bush was breezing through photo-ops at the G-8 summit in Japan; his Ethiopian proxy-army in Somalia was grinding out more carnage on the streets of Mogadishu. More than 40 civilians have been killed in the last 48 hours."
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Getting ‘Wiki’ With It?  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/07/07/10187/
A quote...."If you’re not familiar with Wikileaks, you should be because, since it debuted last year, the international transparency network behind the site has forced governments and news media to take notice, most recently with the posting of whistleblower documents that indicate “thousands of sterilizations, and possibly some abortions, took place in 23 Texas Catholic hospitals from 2000 to 2003,” as reported by the Catholic News Service in the wake of the leak."  --  Editor's note: regarding the author's comments about Wikipedia, it's true that anyone can edit Wikipedia, but it's also true you can find out who's doing the editing thanks to Mr. Virgil Griffith and his nifty WikiScanner.  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/fakeintell-weblist-mpg-090206#WIKI_EDITS  ---  mpg
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Professor Ticketed for "No to Empire" Bumper Sticker  ---  http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/90764/?ses=41775816465bd1f666b7009acc9fea1c
A quote...."When the officer came up to my window, he asked the typical police requests: registration, drivers’ license, insurance card," says Ovetz. "I asked him why he was pulling me over. And he said because of the bumper sticker on my back window."
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Denmark officially in recession: Europe to follow  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2008/jul2008/denm-j09.shtml
A quote...."Denmark’s economy has now contracted for two consecutive quarters, by 0.2 percent in the last quarter of 2007 and by 0.6 percent in the first quarter of 2008. With reports appearing last month that inflation had reached 18-year highs, the situation is not improving. Last month, an OECD report stated that Denmark’s economy would have the lowest growth of all OECD members until 2014."
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Who Really Lives on a Fixed Income?  ---  http://mises.org/story/3021
A quote...."After months of higher fuel and food prices, I would have expected the outcry to happen sooner than the past week. Usually screams of despair about the cost of living come from special-interest groups representing the aged or the poor. But the siren came this time from my 88-year-old father-in-law."
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THE BEAR'S LAIR - A tale of two downturns  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JG09Dj01.html
A quote...."British observers have in the past year indulged in a considerable amount of schadenfreude  about the US subprime crisis, the excessively expansionary monetary policy of US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and the substantial recession that appears impending. They should be less eager to gloat; the recession into which Britain is heading is likely to be considerably more serious than its US counterpart, and the way out less certain."
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Pending home sales index down 4.7% in May: NAR
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/pending-home-sales-index-falls-47/story.aspx?
  ---  guid=%7B71DC5293%2D318A%2D4484%2D826F%2DAC2CEA4A9359%7D
A quote...."WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- In a sign that the housing market may weaken further, an index of sales contracts on previously owned U.S. homes fell 4.7% in May from the prior month, the National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday."
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US retail property 2nd-qtr worst in 30 yrs - report  ---  http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKN0738704920080707
A quote...."NEW YORK, July 7 (Reuters) - U.S. store closings and cutbacks turned the second quarter into the worst for strip mall owners in 30 years, as budget-conscious consumers flocked to low-cost warehouse-style grocery centers, according to a report by real estate research firm Reis."
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P&G will boost product prices by up to 16%  ---  http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/07/08/pg_will_boost_product_prices_by_up_to_16/
A quote...."CLEVELAND - Procter & Gamble Co., the maker of Tide laundry detergent and Head & Shoulders shampoo, will raise prices as much as 16 percent because of higher costs for plastic, energy, and paper."
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From the bad to the really sinister  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JG08Dj01.html
A quote...."The first half of the year is over, and now all those brokerage accounts and retirement accounts will be sending out statements to hapless account holders, and it is bad news in spades."
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Surviving the Fourth of July  ---  http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080707_surviving_the_fourth_of_july/
Must Read - A quote...."I survive the degradation that has become America—a land that exalts itself as a bastion of freedom and liberty while it tortures human beings, stripped of their rights, in offshore penal colonies, a land that wages wars defined under international law as criminal wars of aggression, a land that turns its back on its poor, its weak, its mentally ill, in a relentless drive to embrace totalitarian capitalism—because I read books. I have 5,000 of them. They line every wall of my house. And I do not own a television." -- bold by website editor.
Also posted at CommonDreams   ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/07/07/10164/
& DissentMag   ---  http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/07/07/10164/
& ICH  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20247.htm
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Guantanamo Crumbles  ---  http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=63405
A quote...."THE CASE OF Huzaifa Parhat provides the clearest, most compelling evidence yet that the process used by the Bush administration to justify holding detainees at Guantanamo Bay is deeply and irreversibly flawed and must be discarded." -- 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
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9/11 - From The History File...April 2000: Would-Be Hijacker Tells FBI About Plot to Fly Plane into US Building
“Ultimately, the question of who financed the attacks is of little practical significance”? -- *9/11 Commission*

They really said it....never ever forget that folks, never ever forget. - mpg
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Press for Truth   ---  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3865048042993700360&q=%22Press+For+Truth%22
(Google Video - 84 min  - Sep 7, 2006) & Alt  ---  http://video.abovetopsecret.com/bcvideo/56
Video - From the history file, enjoy. - mpg -- To purchase the DVD click here.  ---  http://911pressfortruth.com/
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America Is the Rogue Nation  ---  http://www.populistamerica.com/america_is_the_rogue_nation
A quote...."Iraq is a small country compared with Iran. Iran has about 70 million people. Its western mountains border the Persian Gulf. In other words, its missiles and guns look down on the U.S. ships below it. And it has lots of missiles, from short-range to intermediate-range (around 2,200 kilometers). -- More to the point, it has been equipped by Russia with the fastest anti-ship missile on the planet. The SS-N-22 Sunburn can travel at Mach 3 at high altitude and at Mach 2.2 at low altitude. That is faster than anything in our arsenal."
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Some questions for US candidates --- http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/opinion/2008/July/opinion_July30.xml&section=opinion&col=
Special Note - A quote...." There has been unusual interest throughout the world in the US presidential race. Sceptics, of whom there are quite a few, say the campaign is just a marathon show that has little to do with real policymaking."
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How do Iranians react to threats of attack?
  ---  http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1819&updaterx=2008-07-07+09%3A49%3A18
Video - A quote...."Pepe Escobar, analyst, the Real News Network: The latest report by Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker confirmed that the US is involved in counterinsurgency and black ops inside Iranian territory. But what does it really mean to attack a country of 70 million people? To get a perspective on how Iran would react and how Iranian public opinion would react, I spoke to Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council."
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What's a rational American foreign policy?
  ---  http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1833&updaterx=2008-07-07+16%3A19%3A16
Video - A quote...."Aijaz Ahmad: The United States economy is stagnant and faces the possibility of a real Depression. Its currency has lost a quarter of its value on global markets in three years. No country in the entire history of humankind has ever owed as much money to foreigners as the US does today, and this debt rises by about a billion dollars a day. Its military expenditures are higher than those of the next twenty countries combined. It's time to question basic assumptions about US foreign policy."
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Seymour Hersh: The secret war in Iran - Part (1 of 3) - http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1812
Seymour Hersh: The secret war in Iran - Part (2 of 3) - http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1820
Seymour Hersh: The secret war in Iran - Part (3 of 3) - http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1824
Videos - A quote...."Late last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. These operations, for which the President sought up to four hundred million dollars, were described in a Presidential Finding signed by Bush, and are designed to destabilize the country’s religious leadership. The covert activities involve support of the minority Ahwazi Arab and Baluchi groups and other dissident organizations..."  --  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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Hunkering down in Afghanistan, watching 'NATO bleed to death on the Afghan plains'  ---  http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_3459.shtml
A quote...."After seven years of fighting, the country is in ruins and its future is more uncertain than ever. The Taliban have regrouped and taken over strategically vital areas in the south. They have launched attacks on US supply lines coming from Pakistan and taken control of Khost. Presently, they are inching their way north and a battle for the capital appears to be inevitable." -- Also posted at PM  --  http://www.propagandamatrix.com/articles/july2008/070708Hunkering.htm & SmirkingChimp  ---  http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/15664
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Iraq raises idea of timetable for US withdrawal  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/168829
A quote...."BAGHDAD - Iraq's prime minister said Monday his country wants some type of timetable for a withdrawal of American troops included in the deal the two countries are negotiating. -- It was the first time that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has explicitly and publicly called for a withdrawal timetable — an idea opposed by President Bush."
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Obama ‘puzzled’ by Iraq comment frenzy  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/168730
A quote...."ST LOUIS: Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Saturday that his plan to end the Iraq war was unchanged and he was puzzled by the sharp reaction to his statement this week that he might “refine” his timetable for withdrawing US combat troops." -- Uh huh, yeah, right....he's "puzzled". - mpg
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“Frankly, I find it insulting” - Ray McGovern’s Response to Obama’s FISA Explanation
  ---  http://dissentmag.wordpress.com/2008/07/06/frankly-i-find-it-insulting-ray-mcgoverns-response-to-obamas-fisa-explanation/
A quote...."Dear Senator Obama, -- I speak from 30 years of experience in intelligence work. I don’t know who actually briefed you on the eavesdropping legislation, but the bill is unnecessary for intelligence collection and POISON for our civil liberties not even to mention the unconscionable retroactive immunity provision."
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IRAQ:  Journalist Charges Censorship by U.S. Military in Fallujah  ---  http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43066
A quote...."SAN FRANCISCO, Jul 3 (IPS) - U.S. journalist Zoriah Miller says he was censored by the U.S. military in the Iraqi city of Fallujah after photographing Marines who died in a suicide bombing."
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Tipping the balance  ---  http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/904/fr1.htm
A quote...."The prisoner exchange deal between Hizbullah and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert differs from earlier exchanges between Israel and Palestinian or Arab parties, most significantly in terms of the "price" Israel has been compelled to pay. That this is so is due mainly to the July 2006 war and the unprecedented strategic failure of Israel's assault."
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Moment of truce  ---  http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/904/re1.htm
A quote...."Mohamed Abu Ermana, spokesman for the military wing of Fatah in Gaza, was shocked when members of the internal security service of Ismail Haniyeh's dismissed government asked him to report to the police. The day before he told reporters that Fatah didn't recognise the Egyptian-brokered truce between Hamas and Israel and would continue to fire rockets at Israel. Now he was under arrest."
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Mending fences  ---  http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/904/re7.htm
A quote...."Slowly but surely, Europe is edging closer to Syria. European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pottering, who is planning a visit to Damascus next month, told reporters that Syria "is a key country in the Middle East and a major partner in the peace process". He is not the only one to think so. Last week, Syria played host to Iceland's Foreign Minister Ingibjorg Gisladottir and German Foreign Ministry Middle East coordinator Andreas Michaelis. For the moment, Europe's overtures to Syria are still of an exploratory nature. And Western sources say that Damascus has some way to go to prove its willingness to cooperate on various regional issues."
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Another huge demonstration demands South Korean president’s resignation  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2008/jul2008/kore-j08.shtml
A quote...."Tens of thousands of South Koreans—half a million according to organisers—defied threats of state repression and marched through Seoul on Saturday in a massive demonstration of opposition to the government of President Lee Myung-bak. The principal demand of the rally, reflected in banners, placards and chants, was “Lee Myung-bak out”.
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Votes of Idiots  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/french/french90.html
A quote...." H.L Mencken once described democracy as “simply a battle of charlatans for the votes of idiots.” Writing in 1937 for the Baltimore Evening Sun, Mencken theorized that by now “the incurable idiots may conceivably constitute an absolute majority of the population.” Alas, another election season is upon us to prove his prophetic point. -- Of course, this is about the time democracy fans will throw out the old Churchill saw: “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.” But few realize that Churchill quickly added: “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”
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Fannie, Freddie Shares Plummet on Capital Worries  ---  http://www.cnbc.com/id/25573566
Special Note - A quote...."Shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the largest providers of funding for U.S. home mortgages, closed at their lowest levels since 1992 on concern the companies need to raise more capital amid larger-than-expected losses. -- Corporate "federal agency" debt obligations and mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by the companies also plummeted relative to government debt as investors thinned positions, analysts said. -- Freddie Mac NYSE [FRE  11.91  [down]  -2.59  (-17.86%)] stock tumbled almost 18 percent Monday, to $11.91, while Fannie Mae NYSE [FNM  15.74 [down] -3.04  (-16.19%)] shares dropped most than 16 percent, to $15.74."
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Facing bankruptcy threat, General Motors to slash thousands more jobs  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2008/jul2008/gm-j08.shtml
A quote...."Auto giant General Motors, an icon of American capitalism, is preparing to lay off thousands more white-collar employees and may sell or close down one or more of its numerous brands, according to press reports Monday. In addition, the firm may demand further concessions from the United Auto Workers union."
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Long-term unemployment in the US climbs 37 percent in one year  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2008/jul2008/econ-j08.shtml
A quote...."The US economic slowdown has brought not only sustained job losses, but also a steep rise in the proportion those unemployed for prolonged periods. The number of people out of work for more than six months has shot up by 37 percent since June of 2007, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics."
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Group proposes George W. Bush Sewage Plant  ---  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25576371/
A quote...."The panel says it's a fitting tribute to the 'mess' he'll leave behind."
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