Wednesday August 12th 2009 - links page

Tuesday August 11th 2009 - links page

Consciousness Capitalism: Corporations Are Now After Our Very Beings  ---  http://www.alternet.org/story/141668/
Must Read -- Awwww, Gawd Dang, this is really good. - mpg --  A quote...."For all its pretense and manufactured consent, our government is just a corporate racket now, and probably will remain so from here on out. This is a white people's thing, an Anglo-European tradition. Moreover, we no longer get real dictators such as a Hitler, or a good old bone-gnawing despot like Idi Amin. We get money syndicates in powdered wigs or Seville Row suits, cartels of robber barons and banking racketeers." -- also posted at Creative-i  ---  http://www.creative-i.info/?p=9812
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The Real Grand Chessboard and the Profiteers of War  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14672
Special Note - A quote...."In the Road to 9/11 I summarized the dialectic of open societies: how from their energy they expand, leading to a higher level of more secretive corporations and agencies, which eventually weaken the home country through needless and crushing wars.[4] I am not alone in seeing America in the final stages of this process, which since the Renaissance has brought down Spain, the Netherlands, and Great Britain. -- Much of what I wrote summarized the thoughts of writers before me like Paul Kennedy and Kevin Phillips. But there is one aspect of the curse of expansion that I underemphasized: how dominance creates megalomanic illusions of insuperable control, and how this illusion in turn is crystallized into a prevailing ideology of dominance."
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U.S. [Obama] battling CIA rendition case in 3 courts - Say it ain't so all you Obamatrolls! - mpg
  ---  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/09/BAHQ195SJR.DTL
A quote...."The Obama administration is fighting on multiple fronts - in courts in San Francisco, Washington and London - to keep an official veil of secrecy over the treatment of a former prisoner who says he was tortured at Guantanamo Bay." - also posted at TruthOut  ---  http://www.truthout.org/081009R
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Court upholds CIA contractor’s detainee abuse conviction -- Hip Hip Hooray! - mpg
  ---  http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/08/11/court-upholds-cia-contractors-detainee-abuse-conviction/
A quote...."A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction of David Passaro, the first US civilian found guilty of abusing a detainee in Afghanistan, according to a copy of the ruling obtained by AFP Tuesday."
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Documents: Rove involved in US attorney firings  ---  http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/08/11/documents-rove-involved-in-us-attorney-firings/
A quote...."Former White House political adviser Karl Rove was deeply involved in the firing of a U.S. attorney in New Mexico, according to White House e-mails and transcripts of closed-door testimony released Tuesday."
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Emails show Washington Post reporter coordinated attorney firing story with White House
  ---  http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/08/11/emails-show-washington-post-reporter-coordinated-attorney-firing-story-with-white-house/
Ah yes....our nation's presstitutes hard at work "servicing" the wealthy elites. - mpg -- A quote...."When a scandal involving the Bush administration’s firing of US Attorneys broke in early 2007, initial coverage by the Washington Post supported the idea that the firings had been politically motivated. That approach, however, quickly changed to one that was far more friendly to the White House. -- The House Judiciary Committee has now released over 5400 pages of Bush administration and Republican Party emails (pdf) related to the firings. Several of these emails suggest coordination between Post reporter John Solomon and Bush administration officials on how to manage the Post’s coverage of the widening scandal."
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US soldier charged in Mexican cartel killing  -- http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jrKh9WBshmXcuNT28C0MyCIKNtvAD9A0QIV80
What's the big deal, they were only trying out a little free-lance "wet work", just as the other 200,000 mercenaries the US-NRE has hired to murder people overseas might try out when they return back home.  Something all of us can look forward to for the next twenty years.  By the way, to those mercenaries in the US-NRE currently employed in a "law-enforcement" (hah, that's funny) capacity, when you meet the other 200,000, or who knows, by the time it's all said and done the other 500,000 who aren't, don't expect any help.  After all you guys made this mess.....you guys can just as well go clean it up on your own.  Besides, business is business - it's the "capitalist" way ain't that right?  - mpg -- A quote...."EL PASO, Texas — An 18-year-old U.S. Army soldier and two other men have been charged with capital murder in the contract killing of a midlevel Mexican drug cartel official who was also a U.S. informant." - bold by website editor
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How the Secret Team transformed America into an Empire
  ---  http://www.sott.net/articles/show/191000-How-the-Secret-Team-transformed-America-into-an-Empire
A quote...."This ongoing investigative series, the first four installments of which are posted here, brings to the forefront recent revelations on the expansion of the US government's surveillance apparatus and the stolen technology that makes it all possible. On the heels of NSA whistleblower Russell Tice's allegations of a government intelligence community that has crossed the line and trashed the constitution, Ed Encho covers a span of investigations throughout the years that reads like a Tom Clancy suspense thriller. Only it's real."
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What Will They Think of Next!
08-11-09
mpg

Despite attacks, Iraqis resist sectarian reprisals  ---  http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=64123
Some quotes...."ARLINGTON, Va. — The number of insurgent attacks has declined in Mosul and across northern Iraq since the June 30 pullout of U.S. combat troops from Iraq’s cities. -- In their place, waning but persistent insurgent networks led by al-Qaida in Iraq and the Islamic State of Iraq have shifted to carrying out larger and more deadly attacks designed to entice sectarian reprisals by targeting local citizens, mainly Shiites, and Iraqi security forces, according to Maj. Gen. Robert Calsen, commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq. On Monday, for example, a double-truck bombing near Mosul killed at least 34 people. -- But unlike in years past, Shiite leaders are not taking the bait."  ---  "It is too soon to gauge if Iraqi security forces alone will be able to keep the lid on violence, Calsen said, but he is optimistic. He [Maj. Gen. Robert Calsen] points to the reduced number of attacks and intelligence reports that say some insurgent networks have been broken or have run into financial difficulties since June 30. -- And in the end, I think what you’ll end up having is an irreconcilable remnant of criminals,” he said. “It’s clear that the population in Mosul does not share in their ideology, and these criminals will be treated — once you get a competent police force — they will be treated no differently than they are in any other major city, like New York City or London or any place like that.” - bold by website editor

Wow! Think of that folks! Treat the bombers like criminals, follow the f-cking money,
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/ussupportofterror-weblist-mpg-090306  ---   find out who sponsors them and cut off their sources of funding.  Launch criminal investigations into their networks, arrest the sponsors, those they hired to commit their murders, try them, convict them and punish them under the rule of law.

WHAT A FANTASTIC IDEA!!  WHO WOULD OF THUNK IT!!

To bad the security forces of what used to be known as the United States of America didn't think of that back in 2001 when this nation still had a constitution, a democracy, the decent opinion of mankind and a functioning economy.  But what the heck, Bush once called the constitution just a "Goddamn piece of paper" anyway, so it couldn’t have been that important.

And besides, if they'd had that idea back in 2001 in what was formally called the USofA and which has now become the US-NRE, they wouldn't currently be  occupying a country which contains the second largest reservoir of sweet crude in the world.....now would they?

In fact, if the security services had just simply "followed the money" and standard “police procedures” PRIOR to 9/11/01, the attacks might not have occurred in the first place!  And our poor, over burdened, hard working men and women in these security services wouldn't now be forced to make all those dreadful decisions on how to spend the trillions of extra dollars they received as a result of those terrible attacks.

Must just be another one of those strange, totally inexplicable, unexplainable, bizarre, weird, coincidences, isn't that right folks? – mpg
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Russian activist found dead in Chechnya  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=103125&sectionid=351020606
Putin must be getting old, tired and stupid.  If he allows these sorts of blatant murders to continue, what little remains of law and order in Russia will disintegrate completely and all of Russia will become a no mans land of gun toting thugs, hit squads, terrorists and criminal gangs.  If that happens, the Russia people can just go ahead and kiss good-bye any chances of continued economic or security improvements along with the gains they've made under Putin’s leadership.  In addition, Russia will lose what little bits of progress the nation has wrested so far from the deplorable situation in Chechnya. – mpg -- A quote...."The head of a Russian charity organization and her husband have been found dead after being kidnapped in the restive republic of Chechnya. -- The bodies of Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband, Alek Djabrailov, were found with gunshot wounds in the trunk of their own car in the Chernorechye suburb of the Chechen capital Grozny early on Tuesday."
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“Russian authorities have lost hope with Yushchenko”  ---  http://www.russiatoday.com/Politics/2009-08-11/russia-ambassador-ukraine-yushchenko.html
Video - A quote...."Though President Yushchenko says he has nothing against Russia, his actions are completely contrary – so the dialogue with him cannot be productive, says Dmitry Babich, a political analyst from RIA Novosti news agency."
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US Secretary of State Clinton’s Micro-Management of the Corporation that Funds the Honduras Coup - http://www.narconews.com/Issue59/article3760.html
Hey Hideous Hillary,  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/hideoushillary-mpg-080107  ---  how many Hondurans have you helped kill today? - mpg -- A quote...."Records demonstrate that the secretary has hands-on control of the fund that gave $6.5 million to the regime after the June 28 coup." - bold by website editor -- Heh-Heh, Ho-Ho, Hideous Hillary's got to go!  --  Heh-Heh, Ho-Ho, Hideous Hillary's got to go! - mpg
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Latin American Leaders oppose US Military Interference - UNASUR Seeks to Boost Regional Integration
  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14744
The peoples of Latin America should press their "leaders" to get their collective butts in gear, stop talking so much, start doing a lot more, de-couple from the US-NRE's fiat currency as quickly as possible, come up with one of their own, integrate As Soon As Possible, or everyone down south can just watch all their hard won economic gains achieved so far go right down the drain. – mpg -- A quote...."The Summit of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) will take place in Buenos Aires, and will focus on the danger of US military bases in Colombia -- QUITO, August 10.— Presidents and heads of State of South American countries signed the Quito Declaration on Monday, which emphasizes in the importance of integration and cooperation for the region, as a strategy to jointly face the world economic crisis."
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Ecuadorian ban cuts Colombian trade by 15.5% -- Hip Hip Hooray for Ecuador, finally someone stood up!
  ---  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/12/content_11867284.htm
A quote...."BOGOTA, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Colombia's exports to Ecuador fell 15.5 percent in the first seven months of this year due to restrictions imposed by the Ecuadorian government, the Colombian government said on Tuesday."
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Chavez Welcomes Argentinian President  ---  http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=108414&Itemid=1
A quote...."Caracas, Aug 11 (Prensa Latina) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez welcomed on Tuesday at the Miraflores Palace his Argentinian peer Cristina Fernandez, who is paying an official visit to this capital."
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Chavez and Cristina sign a billion USD trade agreement  ---  http://en.mercopress.com/2009/08/12/chavez-and-cristina-sign-a-billion-usd-trade-agreement
A quote...."Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez received on Tuesday Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in Caracas to sign agreements expanding trade between the two countries. Among the deals was an accord to import as many as 10,000 cars from Argentina this year instead of Colombia."
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Thailand rejects US plea to extradite Russian arms dealer  ---  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/11/thailand-extradite-viktor-bout-arms-dealer
A quote...."A US request to extradite the notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout to face terrorism charges was rejected by a Thai court today. -- The Russian, nicknamed "the merchant of death", has been held in a maximum-security prison in Bangkok since his arrest there in March last year during a sting operation by US agents."
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More on the US-NRE's Honduran Coup....

On the Road to Tegucigalpa with Father Andrés Tamayo  ---  http://www.narconews.com/Issue59/article3756.html
A quote...."AUGUST 10, 2009, CATACAMAS-TEGUCIGALPA HIGHWAY, HONDURAS: Myriad anti-coup marches en route from different parts of Honduras have merged into eight and are set to converge tomorrow, August 11, on the cities of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula."
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Brazil welcomes Zelaya with head of state honors  ---  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/12/content_11865895.htm
A quote...."BRASILIA, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian government on Tuesday welcomed ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya with honors for a head of state. -- The Honduran leader, deposed in a June 28 military coup, arrived in Brasilia Tuesday evening."
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Zelaya's followers vow to stop the November elections  ---  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/12/content_11868138.htm
A quote...."TEGUCIGALPA, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Followers of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya Tuesday demanded the United Nations (UN) suspend economic aid for the country's general elections, scheduled for Nov. 29. -- "We have requested the UN to suspend the economic aid to Honduras so as to stop the elections," a pro-Zelaya syndicate leader Israel Salinas said at a press conference in Tegucigalpa."
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More on the Iranian Election.....

'4,000 arrested' in post-election Iran protests  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=103230&sectionid=351020101
A quote...."Iran's Judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi says about 4,000 people were arrested during post-election protests in country."
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Iran purges Intelligence Ministry officials  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/?p=m56872&hd=&size=1&l=e
Special Note - A quote...."TEHRAN, Iran — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tightened his grip on Iran's powerful intelligence services, ousting four senior officials in a widening purge against authorities who challenged the harsh crackdowns after June's disputed elections, lawmakers and media said Monday. -- The shake-up at the Intelligence Ministry — the nation's main spy agency — deepened the rifts straining Iran's conservative ranks over Ahmadinejad's strong-arm political tactics and the crushing response to the pro-reform opposition since the June 12 election."
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More On The Palestinian Situation....

Election Reveals a Younger Crop of Fatah Leaders  ---  http://news.antiwar.com/2009/08/11/election-reveals-a-younger-crop-of-fatah-leaders/
A quote...."At its controversial party congress, the Fatah Party has elected a crop of younger leaders, which had long hoped to supplant the outgoing executive committee, a collection of Arafat cronies and contemporaries which many had insisted were corrupt and out of touch with the modern situation. -- Among the big winners in the vote was Marwan Barghouti, who managed to secure a spot of the powerful Central Committee despite the notable handicap of being held in an Israeli prison at the time of the vote. Barghouti is even seen as a possible candidate to replace PA leader Mahmoud Abbas."
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Who profits from Israeli occupation? - A list of boycott VICTORIES!  Yee-Haa!! - mpg
  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L32Nama7ad8
Real News Video - Special Note - A quote...."Boycotted by activists, the Israeli company AHAVA is backed by one of Israel's most powerful families " -- For more on how to boycott Israel, see the upper-left-corner of the "Front Page"  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/  ---   on this website. - mpg
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Sad Day for Zionists~Self Hating Jews Win - It's just sooo sad! (sniffle, sob, sniffle) poor little Zionists. - mpg
  ---  http://irish4palestine.blogspot.com/2009/08/sad-day-for-zionistsself-hating-jews.html
A quote...."Zionists loose..........The "Self Hating Jews" Win one: Australian Jewish leaders are roiled over the awarding of the country’s only international peace prize to a staunch critic of Israel. - John Pilger, an award-winning Australian-born journalist and filmmaker living in London, will receive the Sydney Peace Prize in November. -  Robert Goot, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said it was a “sad day.”
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Cleaning up explosives in Gaza  ---  http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10703.shtml
A quote...."GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IRIN) - The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has begun removing 600,000 metric tons of rubble and debris left over from Israel's winter invasion of the Gaza Strip."
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Daily Struggle in East Jerusalem  ---  http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1022
Photo Story - A quote...."While George Mitchell was meeting with Ehud Barak in Egypt, another story was unfolding in East Jerusalem. -- The Israeli policy of ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem continued on Sunday as settlers - protected by Israeli police and soldiers - arrived to take over the home of Darwish Hijazi in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah."
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Don't Ask:  Don't Tell -- This Economic Disaster  ---  http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23243.htm
Must View Video - Pay special attention exactly thirty minutes into the video as William K. Black describes what happened to him when he went after Lincoln Savings and Loan, and Charles Keating.  It's a vivid example of how this corrupt system pro-actively punishes anyone who "tries to do the right thing".  And you know what folks, after a while, no body is going to do the right thing anymore.....no body....for a very long time. - mpg -- A quote...."William K. Black, the former litigation director of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board who investigated the Savings and Loan disaster of the 1980s, discusses the latest scandal in which a single bank, IndyMac, lost more money than was lost during the entire Savings and Loan crisis. -- He will examine the political failure behind this economic disaster, in which not only massive fraud has taken place, but a vast transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class continues as the federal government bails out the seemingly reckless, if not the criminal."
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Judge: BoA, Merrill ‘essentially lied to their shareholders’  ---  http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/08/11/judge-boa-merrill-lied/
A quote...."Bank of America was supposed to have dispensed with this controversy. With one $33 million payment in settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, accusations that Bank of America lied to shareholders over the approval of massive bonuses for Merrill Lynch & Co. executives were supposed to just go away. -- Were it not for Federal District Court Judge Jed Rakoff of New York, that’s exactly what would have happened."
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America's Total Debt  Report - page 1  ---  http://mwhodges.home.att.net/nat-debt/debt-nat-a.htm
Special Note - Extensive Data Base - Charts - A quote...."BIG PICTURE - $57 TRILLION IN DEBT, and rising rapidly."
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Americans working much harder – for less pay  ---  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32374533/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/
No doubt they feel joy, contentment and gratitude for the privilege of being such good widdle slaves, because deep down in their tiny, beating, widdle hearts they know their masters truly wuv dem. - mpg --  A quote...."Feel like you’re working a lot harder these days, putting in longer hours for the same pay — or even less? The latest round of government data on worker productivity indicates that you probably are."
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The Truth About Unemployment  ---  http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2008/08/real-unemployment-situation.html
A quote...."The mainstream news is citing the decline in unemployment from 9.5% to 9.4% in July as proof that the economy is stabilizing. -- But is that true?"
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ECONOMY:  Bonuses Rise With Losses  ---  http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48018
A quote...."BERLIN, Aug 10 (IPS) - European banks are back to paying high bonuses to managers despite their heavy losses. But this time most of the money is coming out of taxpayers' pockets."
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S&P Downgrades - More Trouble in Baltics  ---  http://seekingalpha.com/article/155242-s-p-downgrades-more-trouble-in-baltics
A quote...."Both Latvia’s and Estonia’s debt ratings were downgraded by Standard and Poor's. Estonia was cut from A to A-, while Latvia was cut to BB+ to BB – its considered high yield securities aka junk bonds. This should come as no surprise as both countries have been in the news due to severe economic dislocations as they attempt to maintain currency pegs in the face of a severe debt deleveraging."
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Monday August 10th 2009 - links page

Nader Was Right: Liberals Are Going Nowhere With Obama
  ---  http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/20090810_nader_was_right_liberals_are_going_nowhere_with_obama/
Must Read - A quote...."The American empire has not altered under Barack Obama. It kills as brutally and indiscriminately in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan as it did under George W. Bush. It steals from the U.S. treasury to enrich the corporate elite as rapaciously. It will not give us universal health care, abolish the Bush secrecy laws, end torture or “extraordinary rendition,” restore habeas corpus or halt the warrantless wiretapping and monitoring of citizens. It will not push through significant environmental reform, regulate Wall Street or end our relationship with private contractors that provide mercenary armies to fight our imperial wars and produce useless and costly weapons systems. -- The sad reality is that all the well-meaning groups and individuals who challenge our permanent war economy and the doctrine of pre-emptive war, who care about sustainable energy, fight for civil liberties and want corporate malfeasance to end, were once again suckered by the Democratic Party. They were had. It is not a new story. The Democrats have been doing this to us since Bill Clinton."
also posted at ICH  ---  http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23234.htm
& CommonDreams  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/08/10-2
& Uruknet  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/?p=m56844&hd=&size=1&l=e
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This is No Recession - It's a Planned Demolition  ---  http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23231.htm
Must Read - A quote...."August 10, 2009 "Information Clearing House" -- Credit is not flowing. In fact, credit is contracting. That means things aren't getting better; they're getting worse. When credit contracts in a consumer-driven economy, bad things happen. Business investment drops, unemployment soars, earnings plunge, and GDP shrinks. The Fed has spent more than a trillion dollars trying to get consumers to start borrowing again, but without success. The country's credit engines are grinding to a halt. -- Bernanke has increased excess reserves in the banking system by $800 billion, but lending is still slow. The banks are hoarding capital in order to deal with the losses from toxic assets, non performing loans, and a $3.5 trillion commercial real estate bubble that's following housing into the toilet. That's why the rate of bank failures is accelerating. 2010 will be even worse; the list is growing. It's a bloodbath." -- also posted at CounterPunch  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney08102009.html
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How Corrupt is the Economic System of the U.S.A. Today?  ---  http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2009/8/5/1650/92251
Must Read - By the numbers  - Comparing the US-NRE to the top thirty industrialized nations. - mpg -- A quote...."That is the question.  At one time the high standards of the American lifestyle were the envy of the world.  That day is gone with the wind. -- The 30 nation survey of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2008 placed the poverty rate of the U.S.A. only above Mexico and Turkey.  The economic gap between rich and poor in the U.S.A. was explained in this report in the Seattle Times December 15, 2008: -- "In the United States, the richest 10 percent earn an average of $93,000 -- the highest level in this 30 nation survey.  The poorest 10 percent earn an average of $5,800 -- about 20 percent lower than the average of the 30 nation survey." -- also posted at ICH   ---  http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23230.htm
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Max Keiser: On Unemployment and Government misleading Fake Numbers
  ---  http://www.prisonplanet.com/max-keiser-on-unemployment-and-government-misleading-fake-numbers.html
Alt - (YuTb - 9m 25s - Aug 07,'09)  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVicwzE-u3A
Video - Max is ALWAYS fun to watch. - mpg -- A quote...."Max discusses the financial headlines with France24. US unemployment numbers better than expected, markets rally. Max offers his opinion on how Treasury bonds are sold. - http://maxkeiser.com
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Lost Couple of Decades’ Looming for U.S. Economy  ---  http://obamboozled.blogspot.com/2009/08/lost-couple-of-decades-looming-for-us.html
A quote...."Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. economy may be just as sluggish during the next 20 years as Japan’s economy was in the last 20, according to Comstock Partners, a money manager founded and run by Charles Minter. -- Stimulus programs and a surging money supply aren’t likely to “solve a problem of excess debt generation that resulted from greed and living way beyond our means,” the firm wrote yesterday in an unsigned report on its Web site. “We could wind up with a lost couple of decades.”
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FusterClucked Again: The Commercial Real Estate Crash Is On  ---  http://exiledonline.com/fusterclucked-again-the-commercial-real-estate-crash-is-on/
Chart - A quote...."News about the economy has gone from apocalyptic to merely bad. Stock indexes and commodity prices have been on a five month tear. Hints are showing up that at least the worst of the home mortgage disaster might be over. Unemployment is still at scary levels, but at least the rate of its increase is slowing."
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Paulson and Goldman Sachs: A dirty secret of the Wall Street bailout  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2009/aug2009/pers-a11.shtml
A quote...."An article in Sunday’s New York Times on the behind-the-scenes dealings between Henry Paulson, treasury secretary under President George W. Bush, and Goldman Sachs, the giant investment bank Paulson headed before joining the Bush administration, sheds a measure of light on the corrupt relationship between government officials and the banks which underlies the multi-trillion-dollar bailout of Wall Street."
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The American Colonies - link posted at AntiWar  ---  http://www.antiwar.com/
  ---  http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=1325
Special Note - A quote...."How does one recognize the looming inevitable? In the 1760s, the British, having defeated the French in America and expanded George III’s overseas empire, saw only profit and prestige ahead. A New England cleric, the Reverend Samuel Cooper, told his congregation that the colonists were indebted “not only for their present Security and Happiness, but, perhaps for their very Being, to the paternal Care of the Monarch.” The legitimacy of royal rule was little questioned. In that future seedbed of sedition, Boston, Thomas Foxcroft declared, “Above all, we owe our humble Thanks to his Majesty and with loyal Hearts full of joyous Gratitude, we bless the King, for his Paternal Goodness in sending such effectual Aids to his American Subjects. . . when we needed the Royal Protection.”
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The Devastating Effects of the New Colonialists
  ---  http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/wish-you-werent-here-the-devastating-effects-of-the-new-colonialists-1767725.html
Special Note - Read this article folks, this isn't even colonialism anymore; this is feudalism, with serfs, starving peasants, brutal repression, utter impoverishment and the whole nine yards of dark, dank, unenlightened, medievalism.  This world is going backwards so fast we'll all be in the thirteenth century by the end of the year.  Just in time for the great plague. – mpg -- A quote...."August 10, 2009 "The Independent" -- Thousand of protesters took to the streets, waving the orange flags of the opposition. Before long, looting began. Buildings were set on fire. But the turning point came when a crowd moved from the main square towards the presidential palace. Amid the confusion, someone panicked and gave the order to the troops guarding the palace to open fire. Scores died. The leaders of the army decided they'd had enough and stormed the palace, causing the president to flee." -- also posted at ICH  ---  http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23237.htm
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The Downing Street Memo Pt1  ---  http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/45101
The Dowing Street memo Pt.2  ---  http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/45112
Alt/Pt.1  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em6pY3DfFbM
& Alt/Pt.2 - (YuTb aprox 10m 081009)  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMHIiYmpXmU
Real News Videos - Special Note - A quote...."Ray McGovern: The "Memo" shows a premeditated war of aggression with intent to deceive."
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ElBaradei Regrets Not Doing More to Stop Iraq War - posted at AntiWar  ---  http://www.antiwar.com/
  ---  http://news.antiwar.com/2009/08/10/elbaradei-regrets-not-doing-more-to-stop-iraq-war/
Related Article -- A quote...."Hundreds of Thousands of People Lost Their Lives on the Basis of Fiction" ["Fiction" is a really nice way of saying lies, and more than a million have died in Iraq so far,  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/fakeintell-weblist-mpg-090206#IRAQDEATHS  ---  but who's counting, certainly NOT the world's newest Un-Holy Roman Empire. - mpg] -- In an interview with Time Magazine, outgoing International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei said that his most disappointing moment of his life was the US invasion of Iraq, and says that “I should probably, before the Iraq war, have screamed and howled harder and louder to prevent people from misusing the information that was made available by us.”
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Afghan war will exceed cost of Iraq, say experts  ---  http://www.smh.com.au/world/afghan-war-will-exceed-cost-of-iraq-say-experts-20090809-ee60.html
A quote...."AS THE US expands its involvement in Afghanistan, military experts are warning that it is taking on security and political commitments that will last at least a decade and a cost that is likely to eclipse that of the Iraq war." -- First off, they're occupations, not wars.  Second, no one knows which occupation is going to be more expensive because the US-NRE is still occupying Iraq and intends to do so indefinitely.  Thirdly, who knows just how many OTHER countries the US-NRE intends to occupy in the meantime? - mpg
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Taliban in Cahoots With Drug Lords!  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/chartier/chartier126.html
Special Note - Also known as a short fun lesson in history - or - the more things change, the more they remain the same. - mpg -- A quote...."Wait a minute. Is it just me or does anyone else see the inherent absurdity of this headline from the August 10 edition of the New York Times: "U.S. to Hunt Down Afghan Drug Lords Tied to Taliban." -- My, my. The War On Terror may be over… well, renamed… but the War On Drugs sure has spread. I wonder if there ever will be an end to it. Either way, Drug Lords! For shame, Uncle Scam better get some of those Special Forces dudes in there toot sweet and take ’em out pronto! Can’t have heroin flooding our impoverished and neglected ghettos of forgotten and disposable people now can we? And God forbid that Afghan Drug Lords are funding the Taliban!"
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Lebanon army on high alert as Israel moves forces  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=103068&sectionid=351020203
War Alert - A quote...."Lebanon's army has put its forces on high alert after Israeli forces made advances toward the area of Shaba farms amid heightened tensions with the Hezbollah movement."
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[Verbal Warfare (for the moment)] between Israel, Hezbollah continues  ---  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/11/content_11860058.htm
A quote...."BEIRUT, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The past few weeks witnessed increasingly vehement speeches between Israel and Lebanese Shiite armed group Hezbollah, as the two sides accused each other of intending to wage another war after the one that was fought in 2006. -- The Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported that Hezbollah's deputy chief Sheik Naim Qassem said on Monday that resistance against Israel is neither an option of the political moment nor a momentary reaction, but a fortification of independence."
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Chavez accuses Colombia of acting against regional unity  ---  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/11/content_11862285.htm
A quote...."QUITO, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accused the Colombian government of acting against the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) by intending to sign a military agreement with the U.S."
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Hugo Chávez tells army to prepare for conflict with Colombia  ---  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6790721.ece
A quote...."Venezuela ordered its army yesterday to prepare for conflict, after accusing Colombia of making a provocative incursion into its territory."
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Ecuador's Correa: new term will favor poor, Indians  ---  http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKN0939935120090809
A quote...."QUITO, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Flanked by two of Latin America's foremost indigenous leaders, President Rafael Correa vowed on Sunday to favor Ecuador's poor and Indian people in deep social reforms he plans in his second term."
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Kremlin bill on using army abroad - link posted at AntiWar  ---  http://www.antiwar.com/
  ---  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8194064.stm
Russia should be very careful, they don't want to end up like the US-NRE, bankrupt and hated by most of the world for it's acts of agression. - mpg -- A quote...."Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has introduced a bill to parliament that would allow the country's armed forces to intervene beyond Russia's borders. -- The bill would allow Russian troops to be used abroad "to rebuff or prevent an aggression against another state" or "protect Russian citizens abroad". -- Mr Medvedev said the bill was linked to last year's war with Georgia over South Ossetia, Russia's Interfax reports."
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If You Don’t Like Team DLC Obama™ Brand’s Neoliberal, Corporatist Policies… You’re a Racist
  ---  http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/if-you-dont-like-team-dlc-obama%E2%84%A2-brands-neoliberal-corporatist-policies-youre-a-racist/
A quote...."What we are watching now in the healthcare debate is just deplorable, bottom of the barrel, desperation muck-raking politics of the absolute worst kind.  And I am talking about what is coming from the White House and their “progressive” minions.  It is the EXACT same thing as when someone who is critical of ultraconservative “Likudesque” policies of Israel is accused of being anti-Semitic in an attempt to shame them into silence."
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Obama Presses Supreme Court to Block Release of Abuse Photos - posted at AntiWar  ---  http://www.antiwar.com/
  ---  http://news.antiwar.com/2009/08/10/obama-presses-supreme-court-to-block-release-of-abuse-photos/
A quote...."The Obama Administration has today asked the Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court decision which would require the Pentagon to release dozens of heretofore unseen photos of the abuse of prisoners in US military custody, claiming the release would pose a significant risk to the military."
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Judge: 9/11 plotter's counsel can't know how CIA treated him http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/08/judge-911-plotters-counsel-cant-know-how-cia-treated-him/
A quote...."A Pentagon appointed defense attorney's request for specific information about the CIA interrogations of her client, Ramzi bin al Shibh, an alleged co-conspirator of the US attacks on 9/11, was recently rejected by a military judge." -- And the cover-up of what REALLY happened on 9/11 continues. - mpg -- For more on this issue see....9/11 - Iraq - Torture Fables
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/911&iraqtotturefables-weblist-mpg-052909
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Donald Rumsfeld makes $5m killing on bird flu drug
  ---  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-rumsfeld-makes-5m-killing-on-bird-flu-drug-469599.html
He also made a "killing" from 9/11, must be "one ol'dem dare co-in-cee-dints-cez" - mpg -- A quote....."A quote...."Donald Rumsfeld has made a killing out of bird flu. The US Defence Secretary has made more than $5m (£2.9m) in capital gains from selling shares in the biotechnology firm that discovered and developed Tamiflu, the drug being bought in massive amounts by Governments to treat a possible human pandemic of the disease."
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"Governors oppose new DoD emergency powers  ---  http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/governors-oppose-dod-emergency-powers-2009-08-10.html  ---   Governors: Current law  ---  http://www.legitgov.org/DoD_to_augment_civilian_law.html  ---  already allows the Pentagon to order personnel  ---  http://www.legitgov.org/DoD_to_act_in_pandemic.html  ---  to key areas inside the U.S.10 Aug 2009 A bipartisan pair of governors is opposing a new Defense Department proposal to handle natural [well, lab-generated] and terrorism-related disasters, contending that a murky chain of command could lead to more problems than solutions. Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas (R), chairman of the National Governors Association, and Vice Chairman Gov. Joe Manchin (D) of West Virginia penned a letter opposing the Pentagon proposal, which they said would hinder a state's effort to respond to a disaster." -- Paragraph quoted from CLG  ---  http://www.legitgov.org/
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Trial by FBI Investigation  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/price08102009.html
A quote...."Beginning in the early 1990s, I spent about a dozen years slowly collecting, analyzing and compiling tens of thousands of FBI files detailing how dozens of American anthropologists were investigated and harassed by the FBI and various loyalty boards during the late-1940s and 50s. In most of the cases I encountered, the scholars under investigation were targeted because they were involved in unpopular (legal) political causes—the most common of which involved activist campaigns fighting for racial equality, in others they challenged gender roles, economic stratification, the unbridled militarism or other conventions of their era. Many of those investigated already stood out amongst their colleagues as individuals unwilling to go along with the polite social conventions that supported the world they were challenging."
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[Britain's] march of the state spies: One in 78 adults came under state-sanctioned surveillance last year
  ---  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1205419/March-state-spies-One-78-adults-came-state-sanctioned-surveillance-year.html
A quote...."Britain's extraordinary march towards a surveillance state is revealed today by shock new figures. -- They show that one request is made every minute for officials to spy on someone's phone records or email accounts. -- The number of Big Brother snooping missions by police, town halls and other public bodies has soared by 44 per cent in two years."
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Ministers' admission links MI5 and MI6 to 'torture victim
  ---  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/ministers-admission-links-mi5-and-mi6-to-torture-victim-1769946.html
A quote...."Ministers have admitted the Government sent secret agents to interview a British detainee in Afghanistan, supporting allegations MI5 and MI6 officers were present while he was tortured by his American captors."
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More on the US-NRE's Honduran Coup....

Argentine Embassy’s Timerman flies the flag of constitutionality & of the legitimacy of Honduran Pres Manuel Zelaya
  ---  http://www.coha.org/2009/07/argentine-embassy%E2%80%99s-timerman-flies-the-flag-of-constitutionality-and-of-the-legiti
macy-of-honduran-president-manuel-zelaya/
Resistance to the Empire is NOT futile; every country should simply NOT recognize the current junta in Honduras – ever - and treat Manuel Zelaya as the current head of state.  In fact, no recognition of the government in Honduras can occur period, unless and until, legitimate elections are held in Honduras, elections in which Zelaya's people can freely campaign.  And please note: such a policy would really annoy Hideous Hillary,  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/hideoushillary-mpg-080107  ---  tweak the nose of the US-NRE's Neocons and serve notice to other would-be coup plotters that these sorts of activities will not be permitted, which is reason enough to implement it. - mpg -- A quote...."An ebullient reception was held last night at the Argentine Embassy in Washington for the newly arrived Honduran Ambassador to the U.S., Enrique Reina, representing the constitutional president of his country, Manuel Zelaya. The event was also meant to introduce Ambassador Reina to Washington’s “Think Tank Community,” which attended in rousing numbers."
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Honduras Coup: Template for a Hemispheric Assault on Democracy  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14718
A quote...."The people of Honduras have now suffered more than 40 days of military rule. The generals’ June 28 coup, crudely packaged in constitutional guise, ousted the country’s elected government and unleashed severe, targeted, and relentless repression. -- The grassroots protests have matched the regime in endurance and outmatched it in political support within the country and internationally. Its scope and duration is unprecedented in Honduras history. Popular resistance is the main factor affecting the international forces attempting to shape the outcome of the governmental crisis. It weighs heavy on the minds of the coup’s authors and their international backers. -- As Eva Golinger has convincingly documented1, the United States took part in conceiving, planning, and staging the coup. The U.S. ambassador in Tegucigalpa, Hugo Llorens, coordinates a team of high-ranking U.S. and Honduran military officials, and creatures from the old Bush administration, using the Soto Cano (Palmerola) U.S. air force base."
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More On The Palestinian Situation....

The Islamic Resistance Movement Grows Up  ---  http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/65214/michael-br%C3%B6ning/hamas-20
A quote...."In 2006, Hamas began to evolve from a dogmatic organization located outside the political system into a functioning opposition party within the Palestinian body politic. This shift was followed by a transformation from a radical opposition party into the majority party of the Palestinian territories and, after the 2006 elections, the de facto governing party of Gaza. In a surprisingly short time, Hamas has largely abandoned religious rhetoric and calls for the violent liberation of Palestine, in favor of the increasingly secular and pragmatic task of state building." -- Which is EXACTLY why A)  The US-NRE, Israel, Egypt and the Saudi Royals initiated a policy to foment a brutal civil war  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/ussponsoredcivilwars-weblist-mpg-101107#PALESTINE  ---  in Gaza and the West Bank.  B)  Why the above parties imposed a draconian blockade against Gaza's population not seen since the Warsaw Ghetto and C)  Why Israel launched one of the most vicious, senseless, sadistic, blitzkriegs not seen since WWII  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/thegazainvasion-mpg-weblist-122708  ---  against innocent civilians trapped in Gaza using white phosphorous, DIME and flechette weapons. - mpg
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Hamas: PA tortured prisoner to death  ---  http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=217981
A quote...."Hamadneh is the fourth Hamas member to die in a PA prison since 2007, when the Islamic movement took full control of the Gaza Strip, triggering a Fatah power grab in the West Bank."
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Israeli Medical Association Severs Ties with Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) Over Torture Allegations
  ---  http://www.alternativenews.org/english/2063-israeli-medical-association-severs-ties-with-physicians-for-human-rights-phr-over-torture-allegations-.html
As Ann Coulter would say with a leer and spastic looking, idiotic, grin...."torture is...like...so...Jewish-ee" - mpg -- A quote...."The recent decision of Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) President Ruchama Marton to sign a petition against the torture of prisoners by Israel has led the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) to sever ties with the organization, Haaretz reports."  ---  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1106397.html  ---  also posted at Uruknet
  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/?p=m56838&hd=&size=1&l=e
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Israeli Diplomat Undergoes Lobotomy  ---  http://irish4palestine.blogspot.com/2009/08/israeli-diplomat-undergoes-lobotomy.html
Satire - (With a chart no less....) -- A quote...."In a shocking malfuntion of the Zionist brain, Israel's consul-general in Boston, Nadav Tamir, has suffered a rapid growth to the "reasonable" region of the brain. As such, he has been immediately "summoned" back to Israel. The Diplomat will now ASS-ume the position for a good whacking. After which he will undergo a lobotomy at a re-programing camp to remove the "offending growth".
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Nablus booms as barriers fall in occupied West Bank  ---  http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=105136
A quote...."NABLUS, Occupied West Bank: A few weeks ago Ahmad Shataye rarely attempted the journey from his tiny village to his market stall in Nablus. Israeli roadblocks made the trip almost impossible. But these days business is booming. In June, Israel decided to remove checkpoints across the city as part of a plan for “economic peace” with Palestinians."
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Sunday August 9th 2009 - links page

Fascist America: Are We There Yet?  ---  http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2009083205/fascist-america-are-we-there-yet
Must Read - Fascist Alert - A quote...."All through the dark years of the Bush Administration, progressives watched in horror as Constitutional protections vanished, [yet they voted for Obama anyway  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/toforgiveandforgettodenyjusticenever-mpg-reficultnias-011609  ---    ....a big mistake]  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/doitforthesakeofyourchildren-mpg-reficultnias-042609  ---  nativist rhetoric ratcheted up, hate speech turned into intimidation and violence, and the president of the United States seized for himself powers only demanded by history's worst dictators. With each new outrage, the small handful of us who'd made ourselves experts on right-wing culture and politics would hear once again from worried readers: Is this it? Have we finally become a fascist state? Are we there yet?" -- also posted at CommonDreams  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/08/09-5
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David Frakt: Military Commissions “A Catastrophic Failure”
  ---  http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/08/08/david-frakt-military-commissions-a-catastrophic-failure/
Must Read - A quote...."Last week, however, when the House Committee on the Judiciary’s Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties Subcommittee convened to hear further testimony  ---  http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/hear_090730.html  ---  about the Military Commissions, few media outlets noticed. This was a great shame, as one of the speakers was Lt. Col. (formerly Maj.) David Frakt of the US Air Force Reserves, whose testimony (PDF)  ---  http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/pdf/Frakt090730.pdf  ---  was at least as riveting as that of his former adversary in the Military Commissions, Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld, the ex-prosecutor who resigned in September 2008. ---  http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2008/10/01/the-dark-heart-of-the-guantanamo-trials/  ---  On July 8, Lt. Col Vandeveld told the committee   ---  http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/07/11/former-insider-shatters-credibility-of-military-commissions/  ---  that the Commissions were “broken beyond repair,” and “cannot be fixed, because their very creation — and the only reason to prefer military commissions over federal criminal courts for the Guantánamo detainees — can now be clearly seen as an artifice, a contrivance, to try to obtain prosecutions based on evidence that would not be admissible in any civilian or military prosecution anywhere in our nation.”
also posted at AtheoNews  ---  http://atheonews.blogspot.com/2009/08/david-frakt-military-commissions.html
& AftrDwngSt  ---  http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/45088
For more on this issue see....9/11 - Iraq - Torture Fables  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/911&iraqtotturefables-weblist-mpg-052909
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Bush's torture legacy haunts the US  ---  http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/07/20097298571341207.html
Must Read - A quote...."Somewhere in the borderlands between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Bowe Bergdahl, a US soldier, is being held captive by the Taliban. -- The threat of execution hangs over him if the US does not agree to the still unspecified demands of his captors. --  Bergdahl is the first US soldier captured in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion and the circumstances of his capture, which occurred around July 1 outside a US military base in Helmand Province, remain unclear. --  But in the wake of years of revelations of abuses by US personnel of Iraqis in Abu Ghraib, and of alleged Taliban or al-Qaeda detainees elsewhere, the spectre of US troops in enemy hands is disturbing because of the possibility that they could face copy-cat treatment."
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Bush tortured children, and America yawns  ---  http://dprogram.net/2009/08/09/bush-tortured-children-and-america-yawns/
That's not true!!  -  Some Neo-Romans in this country, both men and women, get quite excited by it. (wink, wink)  Welcome folks to the new Roman Empire. - mpg -- A quote...."At an Amnesty International conference a few years ago, I had the honor of attending a talk by Clive Stafford Smith, a British attorney who represents some of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. -- Smith shared some alarming details about the abuse that his clients received. Perhaps most shocking was Smith’s description of cigarette burns and other scars that covered the body of a teenage prisoner. This boy had been taken into custody when he was only 14 years old. And this kid is allegedly not the only child who has been forced to experience the nightmare that is Gitmo." -- Hey all you so-called "Christians" out there who voted for all this -- and don't even pretend you didn't know -- you and Mr. Reficul are going to have a fine time together, for all eternity. - mpg
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The Cheney-Like Secrecy of the Obama White House
  ---  http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/460296/the_cheney_like_secrecy_of_the_obama_white_house
A quote...."Those of us who proposed the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney for violating his oath of office and engaging in a Nixon-on-steroids spree of high crimes and misdemeanors began to recognize the abusive nature of the previous administration when Cheney refused to release details of the industry insiders with whom he met to craft energy policies." -- also posted at ICH  ---  http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23227.htm
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Playing Politics With a Ghost  ---  http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090806_playing_politics_with_a_dead_man/
A quote...."Finding the remains of Navy Lt. Cmdr. Scott Speicher in Iraq provides long overdue closure for his family and comrades, but it also exposes the tireless exploitation of Speicher’s disappearance in 1991 by Sen. Pat Roberts, a staunch Republican from Kansas, who used it to demonize the regime of Saddam Hussein and to justify the case for the invasion of Iraq."
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Ministers must explain destruction of 'torture flight' papers, says panel of [British] MPs
  ---  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/09/diego-garcia-flights-mps-documents
What is it with the US-NRE and British governments, they keep destroying videotapes, "losing" e-mails, shredding files, in fact all sorts of documents and recordings have been vanishing lately.  These governments seem to be acting like they're guilty of something....fancy that. - mpg -- A quote...."Ministers must explain why crucial documents relating to CIA "torture flights" that stopped on sovereign British territory were destroyed, a panel of MPs has said. -- A damning appraisal by the influential foreign affairs select committee on Britain's role in the rendition of terror suspects and alleged complicity of torture condemns the government's lack of transparency on vital areas of concern."
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Pantta Seeks to Whitewash CIA Crimes  ---  http://mwcnews.net/content/view/32324/26/
A quote...."CIA Director Leon Panetta’s article titled “It’s Time To Move On” published in the August 4th Miami Herald is a stunning disservice to the principles of justice. It not only calls for whitewashing the Agency’s past horrific crimes, which have included torture and murder, but openly advocates the use of force and violence. Panetta writes, “the focus on the past, especially in Congress, threatens to distract the CIA from its crucial core missions: intelligence collection, analysis and covert action.” In CIA lingo, “covert action” has always meant dirty tricks, from blackmailing to assassinating foreign leaders, and from pouring bribe money to influence elections to overthrowing governments."
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Pakistanis see US as biggest threat  ---  http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/08/20098910857878664.html
A quote...."When respondents were asked what they consider to be the biggest threat to the nation of Pakistan, 11 per cent of the population identified the Taliban fighters, who have been blamed for scores of deadly bomb attacks across the country in recent years. -- Another 18 per cent said that they believe that the greatest threat came from neighbouring India, which has fought three wars with Pakistan since partition in 1947. -- But an overwhelming number, 59 per cent of respondents, said the greatest threat to Pakistan right now is, in fact, the US, a donor of considerable amounts of military and development aid." -- also posted at CounterCurrents  ---  http://www.countercurrents.org/fay090809.htm
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Report: Israeli internet server found in Lebanon  ---  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3758920,00.html
A quote...."Lebanese security forces discovered an Israeli internet server hidden in a small town in Lebanon's Chouf District, the Hezbollah-owned al-Manar network reported Saturday. --  The report said the server was wired to antennae aimed in the direction of Israel, and that all of the equipment was confiscated. -- The Lebanese OTV network, owned by politician Michel Aoun, reported that the army had broken into a structure in Jabal al-Baruch in April and found equipment suspected of serving Israeli intelligence."
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Anti-Arab brainwashing by the US media  ---  http://atheonews.blogspot.com/2009/08/anti-arab-brainwashing-by-us-media.html
A quote...."Western brainwashing comes from the media. Readers, listeners and viewers need to be aware of these propaganda sources. About the media in general, Steven Salaita correctly observed:" -- also posted at DProgram  ---  http://dprogram.net/2009/08/09/anti-arab-brainwashing-by-the-us-media/

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Envoy says Israeli policy damaging to ties with US - Israel recalls envoy in US over critical memo
  ---  http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/08/09/81322.html
A quote...."Israel summoned one of its diplomats from the United States on Sunday after he circulated a memorandum accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government of doing "strategic damage" to ties with Washington."
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Russia will not revise decision on S.Ossetia, Abkhazia - Medvedev  ---  http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090809/155767063.html
A quote...."VLADIKAVKAZ, August 9 (RIA Novosti) - On the anniversary of the start of the Russia-Georgia war, President Dmitry Medvedev said that Moscow would not revise its decision to recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. -- "I stress this decision will not be reviewed," Medvedev said on Saturday in the southern Russian city of Vladikavkaz, during an award ceremony for service personnel, who fought in the five-day war that started a year ago."
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Chronology of Events: the South Ossetia Conflict of August 2008   ---  http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20090804/155726775.html  ---  timeline
A quote...."The situation in the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict zone rapidly deteriorated after Tskhinval and a number of other residential districts and villages in South Ossetia were attacked in the evening of August 1. Combat with the use of small arms, grenade launchers and mortars ensued in the conflict zone for several hours. It resulted in the first human losses and substantial destruction. South Ossetia began evacuating its citizens to North Ossetia. In the first two days after the shelling, 2,500 residents left their homes."
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The 7th international arms show Russian Expo Arms-2009 in Nizhny Tagil (July 8-11)  ---  http://en.rian.ru/photolents/20090710/155490886.html
Photo Gallery
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War Looming Against Venezuela  ---  http://mwcnews.net/content/view/32384/26/
Must Read - A quote...."If you are sick and tired of war in the Middle East you may be cringing at the prospect of new military operations in Latin America. In case you haven't noticed, there appears to be an impending attack against the people of Venezuela. Obama is increasing the Pentagon's budget and is spending approximately one billion dollars in its Latin American military operations this year according to Eva Gollinger, a well respected American/Venezuelan journalist. -- The problem, in a nutshell, is that the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, is steadfastly independent from Washington's directives and desires. Worse, Chavez is widely popular throughout Latin America and his vision of the Bolivarian revolution is spreading. Most importantly, the spreading defiance against Washington in Latin America compromises future control of vast stores of oil reserves. -- History shows that America has a pathological need to control every nation on the planet. There is no way to tally the numbers that have died due to that need."
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Iceland: Lessons to be Learned from The Economic Meltdown - Don't do "business" with Britain's elites, ever!! - mpg
  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14683
Special Note - A quote...."he British and the Dutch decided to set that guarantee not at around €20,000 per deposit, as provided for in European and Icelandic legislation– which would already have been impossible for the Icelandic government, who quickly announced after nationalising its banks that it could only guarantee deposits made in Iceland itself – but at €50,000 to €100,000 per deposit, or even higher. Moreover, the measures that they are taking to get their way are scandalous. -- Indeed, at the very start of October, the UK began with a measure of extreme retaliation: freezing of the assets of not only Landsbanki but also Kaupthing Bank, which was totally unconnected to Icesave, using its anti-terrorism legislation. In doing so, the UK lumped the Icelandic people, their allies in NATO, together with the likes of organisations such as al-Qaeda... And since then, it seems to be using all of its influence to ensure that no international aid is really given to Iceland until its demands have been met. Indeed, Gordon Brown told his parliament that he is working “with the IMF” to establish how much it considered the UK was entitled to claim from Iceland. The IMF itself, meanwhile, not content with putting off making its loans available to Iceland, attached conditions to them that would seem outrageous, even in fiction."
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Rio Spying Cost Steel Mills $102 Billion, China Says (Update2)  ---  http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a.3xVgooVmmY
Special Note - You do "business" with the Anglo-World, you'd better count your fingers. - mpg -- A quote...."Aug. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Rio Tinto Group, the third-largest mining company, spied on China’s steel mills for six years, creating 700 billion yuan ($102 billion) in excess charges for iron ore, a report on a Chinese government-run Web site said." -- The Chinese are patient, they'll recover what they believe was stolen, one way or another. - mpg
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More on the Iranian Election.....

Iran general calls for Mousavi, Khatami, Karroubi prosecution  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=102990&sectionid=351020101
Special Note - IF the votes in Iran were freely garnered, fairly cast and accurately counted - AND - the Iranian hardliners have proof (understanding that coerced confessions cannot be used, are not proof and are simply lies the state forces a prisoner to recite) that these gentlemen cooperated with foreign powers in an attempt to overthrow a legitimately elected government, than prosecution of these gentlemen is not only warranted, it's demanded!  Such an action would serve as a salutary example not only to peoples throughout the world, but also to those politicians residing in the US-NRE, that disregarding or tampering with the vote can be costly. – mpg -- A quote...."As Iran moves to squelch opposition to the disputed June presidential election, the stage has been set for the judiciary to try two defeated candidates and a former president. -- A senior official with Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on Sunday accused Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, two defeated candidates whose supporters took to the streets to protest the official vote result, as well as former President Mohammad Khatami of inciting the unrest."
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Iran Police Chief blamed for Kahrizak prison deaths  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=102955&sectionid=351020101
If proved, he should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. - mpg -- A quote...."The Kahrizak prison controversy lingers on as a senior lawmaker blames the Iranian Police Chief for the sordid treatment of election protestors."
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Head-Warden of Tehran Jail Imprisoned  ---  http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8805181073
Related Article - A quote...."TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran's Police Chief Brigadier General Ismail Ahmadi Moqaddam announced on Sunday that the head-warden of Kahrizak detention center in downtown Tehran has been detained after he was dismissed from his post due to the "nonstandard conditions" of his jail."
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Human Beings are Members of a Whole”: Protecting the Iranian Civil Society
  ---  http://pulsemedia.org/2009/08/09/human-beings-are-members-of-a-whole-protecting-the-iranian-civil-society/
Statement by 40 Engaged Scholars - A quote...."If we speak out against the threat of force against Iran (regarding the nuclear conflict) and warn against a military strike, we cannot be silent on the use of force in Iran itself against its own civil society. For solidarity with the civil society and a peaceful order in the region constitute the primary concern of our efforts. If we condemn foreign sanctions against the Iranian people, we deplore all the more domestic sanctions directed at peaceful demonstrators, journalists, trade unionists, professors, students and others. Thereby the government deprives itself from the domestic basis needed against foreign threats."
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Iran shuts down office of journalists association as Ahmadinejad starts his second term  ---  http://www.newswatch.in/newsblog/4546
A quote...."Officials shut down the office of the Association of Iranian Journalists in Tehran on Wednesday night, just after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn in for a second term, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported."
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More on the US-NRE's Honduran Coup....

Honduras is Only Part of the Story -- The Conservative Counter-Attack in Latin America  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/salas08072009.html
Analysis - A quote...."I would submit that events in Honduras are not isolated, but rather part of a conservative counterattack taking shape in Latin America. For some time, the right has been rebuilding in Latin America; hosting conferences, sharing experiences, refining their message, working with the media, and building ties with allies in the United States. This is not the lunatic right fringe, but rather the mainstream right with powerful allies in the middle class that used to consider themselves center, but have been frightened by recent left electoral victories and the rise of social movements."
also posted at ICH  ---  http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23222.htm
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OAS announces delegation to Honduras  ---  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090807/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/us_oas_honduras
A quote...."WASHINGTON – The Organization of American States has named a delegation to try to persuade the interim government in Honduras to return ousted President Manuel Zelaya. -- The OAS says foreign ministers from Argentina, Canada, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mexico and the Dominican Republic will travel to Honduras on Tuesday. The foreign ministers will be accompanied by senior OAS officials including OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza."
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More On The Palestinian Situation....

Australia’s reversal of ban on Al-Manar angers Jewish groups  ---  http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=105076
Special Note - (Because you ain't gonna see this very often!!) -- Ah Hah!!  My goodness, the Israeli lobby LOST One!!  Maybe they're not so powerful after all, this could be the start of a whole new trend....hearing from people the Israelis, and their Jewish supporters keep murdering. - mpg -- A quote...."BEIRUT: Australia has overturned two earlier bans and announced it will now allow the broadcast of Hizbullah’s television channel Al-Manar, prompting indignation from the country’s Jewish groups. -- Explaining the ruling, the Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) said the channel did not violate Australia’s anti-terrorism requirements for television. After monitoring Al-Manar for a nine-day period in August and September last year, ACMA said in a recent report that while the channel made references to Hizbullah, “the material, prima facie, could not be ‘reasonably construed’ as either ‘soliciting funds for a terrorist organization’ or ‘assisting in the collection or provision of funds for a terrorist organization’ as the content broadcast did not specifically seek funds for Hizbullah.” -- also posted at AtheoNews  ---  http://atheonews.blogspot.com/2009/08/australias-reversal-of-ban-on-al-manar.html
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What If History Happened To Someone Else  ---  http://wheh.newsvine.com/_news/2009/08/07/3096717-what-if-history-happened-to-someone-else
A quote...."What if history happened differently, the facts are the same but the people and places are different. Picture it...let me take you on a trip, a trip back in time. The names and groups I have used are only to show a point, in no way, shape or form do these groups actually have plans or beliefs that mirror image this written piece." -- also posted at ICH  ---  http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23223.htm
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Hezbollah Slams Israel over Legalizing Occupied Land Sales
  ---  http://www.palestinechronicle.com/news.php?id=6ae719255e3768c9bf1a9fd4e72b9398&mode=details#6ae719255e3768c9bf1a9fd4e72b9398
A quote...."Hezbollah has condemned the Israeli parliament's approval of a bill which provides for privatizing the Palestinian land occupied during the 1948 war. -- "Today, the Israeli Knesset passed the 'law on privatization of territories' which confirms the criminal act relevant to confiscating lands and properties owned by 1948 Palestinian refugees", the Lebanese group said a statement published on Friday."
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Two Palestinian families evicted from Sheikh Jarah; settlers move into their homes
  ---  http://www.btselem.org/English/Jerusalem/20090806_Sheikh_Jarah_Evacuation.asp
Video - A quote...."On 2 August 2009, the police evicted two Palestinian families from their houses in the Sheikh Jarah neighborhood of East Jerusalem : the extended Hanun family, 17 members who lived in three apartments, and the extended Alghawi family, 29 members who lived in six apartments. Immediately following the eviction, settler families took over the houses under heavy police guard. The evicted families refuse to be removed from the neighborhood and have stayed in the street since then." also posted at PalestineVideo -- http://palestinevideo.blogspot.com/2009/08/btselem-east-jerusalem-two-palestinian.html
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Lebanon Gets Smart~Shuts Israeli ISP Down  ---  http://irish4palestine.blogspot.com/2009/08/lebanon-gets-smartshuts-israeli-isp.html
A quote - Lebanon boycotts Israel and shuts down Internet service provider. Good for them! Were I a Lebanese, I'd stay clear away from any ISP owned by Israel. Otherwise they may as well send all their data directly to Tel Aviv." -- For more on how to boycott Israel see the upper-left-corner of the "Front Page"  ---  of this website.  - mpg
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Fiat Money Created Out of Thin Air: The Bank Bailouts are Unconstitutional  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14701
Must Read - The starting point for all analysis of the ongoing bailout orgy that is currently being used in crony capitalist fashion to transfer wealth from our middle class to the financial elites and their transnational conglomerates is whether these bailouts are authorized by the US Constitution.  The answer is a resounding NO!  -- Nothing in the Constitution could ever be interpreted in any manner that would in any way allow the conversion of our quasi-capitalist republic into a police state, which is the last thing our Founding Fathers had in mind. -- How can our government simply hand over fiat money created out of thin air, which in itself totally violates the provisions in our Constitution dealing with the issuance of money, to whoever they deem to be too-big-to-fail?  The very idea of such targeted bailouts violates every precept upon which our nation was founded, and our Constitution in no way allows the bailout of any private person or business entity, especially where this creates special privileges to be given to a chosen few "anointed" entities at the expense of our citizens in general.  Regulation of interstate commerce does not mean doling out crony capitalist bailouts, which amount to nothing short of the implementation of feudalism under the Puppet Master oligarchs of our Shadow Government.  Regulation would mean fining and jailing these criminals and allowing them to fail so better run companies can acquire their assets via liquidation to be supervised by regulators.  You reap what you sow in this nation.  You do not reap profits for yourself and have everyone else pay for your losses.  That is pure poppycock detritus."
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Geithner asks Congress for higher U.S. debt limit  ---  http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090808/bs_nm/us_usa_debt
Related Article - Sort of unbelievable isn't it?  The cost of the world's newest Un-Holy Roman Empire just keeps getting more expensive every day. - mpg -- A quote...."WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner formally requested that Congress raise the $12.1 trillion statutory debt limit on Friday, saying that it could be breached as early as mid-October."
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China's Demand Makes Old Signposts Useless  ---  http://seekingalpha.com/article/154961-china-s-demand-makes-old-signposts-useless
A quote...."The remarkable spending on commodities out of China continues; this single country demand continues to make old signposts useless. "Doctor Copper" is now hostage to the Chinese whims. There were thoughts in early April that after China had finished its stockpiling [Mar 23: FT.com - Chinese Stockpiling Spurs Copper Price Rally] prices might falter [Apr 6: Analysts Estimate Copper Prices Could Fall 21% in Q2] but after a short break, China is back at it."
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Saturday August 8th 2009 - links page

Friday August 7th 2009 - links page

“United Nations resolution 1483 transferred the authority to authorize expenditures from Iraq’s oil revenue from the United Nations to the Coalition Provisional Authority… The International Advisory and Monitoring Board consisted of senior financial experts from the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank..."

"… After the U.S. military came in and took over Iraq, the CPA quickly began issuing many binding orders privatizing Iraq’s economy and opening it up to foreign investment. This was welcomed by many multinational corporations who saw the war as an opportunity to make billions of dollars in profits.“  Wiki"

"Every war … with all its ordinary consequences … the murder with the justifications of its necessity and justice, the exaltation and glorification of military exploits, the worship of the flag, the patriotic sentiments … and so on, does more in one year to pervert men’s minds than thousands of robberies, murders, and arsons perpetrated during hundreds of years by individual men under the influence of passion." -- *Leo Tolstoy*

Thursday August 6th 2009 - links page

The BIS is a closed organization owned by the 55 central banks. The heads of these central banks travel to the Basel headquarters once every two months, and the General Meeting, the BIS's supreme executive body, takes place once a year.

Inflation pessimists cling resolutely to the belief that inflation will inevitably return. “Fiscal deficits are rising dramatically” goes the argument. “Governments will have to create inflation to reduce debt: GDP ratios, as they have done in the past.” -- The problem with the idea of governments inflating their way out of a debt burden is that it does not work. Absent episodes of hyper-inflation, it is a strategy that has never worked.