Wednesday August 19th 2009 - links page

"[It has] a 192 year old history and 37,000 employees . . ."

Americans: Serfs Ruled by Oligarchs  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts08192009.html
Must Read - A quote...."In a little time [there will be] no middling sort.  We shall have a few, and but a very few Lords, and all the rest beggars.”  R.L. Bushman -- “Rapidly you are dividing into two classes--extreme rich and extreme poor.”    “Brutus”  -- Americans think that they have “freedom and democracy” and that politicians are held accountable by elections.  The fact of the matter is that the US is ruled by powerful interest groups who control politicians with campaign contributions.  Our real rulers are an oligarchy of financial and military/security interests and AIPAC, which influences US foreign policy for the benefit of Israel. -- Have a look at economic policy.  It is being run for the benefit of large financial concerns, such as Goldman Sachs."
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Guess What? He's a Terrible President  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/green08192009.html
Must Read  - Some quotes...."Both President Obama’s health care plan and his presidency are going down the toilet. -- This is well, and right, and just as it should be. -- Obama is turning out to be a disastrous president, wholly unsuited for the times and our national and global challenges, and his job approval ratings reflect this.-- In Obama, we get all the corporate toadying of the last Democratic president, along with an even greater unwillingness than Clinton – and who would’ve thought that was possible – to name names, call out enemies, and throw a freakin’ punch every other year or so." -- "As in just about everything else of consequence this administration has been involved in, he seems quite content to simply defer to Congress and allow the sausage-making process on the Hill to generate precisely the policy abomination one might expect, with all the political liabilities we’ve come to know and love from such a dispiriting collection of 535 (minus two or three) moral midgets."
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Barack Obama: Change We Can Deceive In* --A critique from the Left  ---  http://www.legitgov.org/price_obama_change_deceive_in_190809.html
Special Note - Data Base (to be updated) -- A quote...."President Barack Obama is selling out the left wing of his party - those who contributed $750 million to his campaign for 'change' - quicker than a Blue Cross rate rise in August. Mr. Obama won the Democratic nomination -- and the presidency -- on a wave of anti-Bush sentiment and the promise of 'change we can believe in.' But when the assertions and actions of the Obama Administration are critically examined, a conclusion can be drawn that the key difference -- thus far -- between Barack Obama and George W. Bush is their choice in breed of White House pet. 'Bipartisanship,' the bane of Obama's first eight months as president, is providing the groundwork for an extended (albeit educated, charming) Bush-light Administration."
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Iraq between Accelerated Withdrawal and bringing US Troops back In --- http://www.juancole.com/2009/08/iraq-between-accelerated-withdrawal-and.html
A quote...."Today's story about Iraq is a story of conflict between Gen. Ray Odierno and the Iraqi parliament. Elements in the cabinet and the parliament put pressure on Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki not only to put the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the US to a referendum on Jan. 15, but also to allow Iraqis to vote on whether all US troops should leave by the end of 2011, or whether that timetable should be moved up so that they are out by the end of 2010." -- Check out the comments!! - mpg
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Syria, Iraq to set up strategic cooperation council  ---  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/19/content_11906396.htm
A quote...."DAMASCUS, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Syria and Iraq Tuesday decided to establish a high-level strategic cooperation council to boost all-around cooperation, said a joint statement after the meeting between the two prime ministers."
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Taliban escalates attacks ahead of Afghan polls  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=103888&sectionid=351020403
A quote...."At least 17 people have been killed and scores wounded in Afghanistan in a spate of violence just two days ahead of the presidential election in the country. -- The suicide car bomb ripped through a busy road used frequently by NATO and US troops in the east of the capital Kabul."
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Bomb strikes Nato convoy in Kabul  ---  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/bomb-strikes-military-convoy-in-kabul-1773667.html
A quote...."A Taliban suicide bomber attacked a Nato convoy on the outskirts of Kabul today killing at least seven people and wounding more than 50. -- The attack came just days before the presidential election that the group has vowed to disrupt."
also posted at WarInIraq  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/203654
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Finland Ready to Bolster Ties with Iran  ---  http://english.farsnews.net/newstext.php?nn=8805271113
A quote...."TEHRAN (FNA)- Outgoing Finnish Ambassador to Tehran Heikki Puurunen announced Helsinki's readiness to expand ties and boost economic and trade cooperation with Iran."
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Iran Discovers Vast Oil Field  ---  http://english.farsnews.net/newstext.php?nn=8805271234
A quote...."TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari announced on Tuesday that the country has discovered a giant oil field with in-place reserves of over 20,000 billion barrels."
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Russia and Georgia: Caucasian calculus  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14830
Must Read - A quote...."Georgia is to Russia as Colombia is to Venezuela, and Kaidanow spells trouble -- War clouds refuse to disperse a year after Georgia waged war against Russia. On the anniversary of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's ill-fated invasion of South Ossetia 8 August, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev warned: "Georgia does not stop threatening to restore its 'territorial integrity' by force. Armed forces are concentrated at the borders near Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and provocations are committed," including renewed Georgian shelling of the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali." -- also posted at OnlineJournal  ---  http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_5031.shtml
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Uruguay Orgs to March against Neoliberalism  ---  http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=109931&Itemid=1
A quote...."Montevideo, Aug 18 (Prensa Latina) The Inter-Union Plenary-National Worker Convention (PIT-CNT) and other Uruguayan social organizations reiterated a call to a march against possible return to the country of the neoliberal policies of the 90s."
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Scalia says there’s nothing unconstitutional about executing the innocent  ---  http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/17/scalia-actual-innocence/
He's NOT kidding, nor does he really care. And it goes both ways folks, that's the important thing to consider here. If Antonin Scalia doesn't care if you're innocent....then he really doesn’t care if thousands of murdering, raping, thieving, bastards out there are guilty either.  Just think about it for awhile, it'll come to you. - mpg -- A quote...."Almost two decades ago, Troy Anthony Davis was convicted of murder and sentenced to die. Since then, seven of the witnesses against him have recanted their testimony, and some have even implicated Sylvester “Redd” Coles, a witness who testified that Davis was the shooter. In light of the very real evidence that Davis could be innocent of the crime that placed him on death row, the Supreme Court today invoked a rarely used procedure giving Davis an opportunity to challenge his conviction. Joined by Justice Clarence Thomas in dissent, however, Justice Antonin Scalia criticized his colleagues for thinking that mere innocence is grounds to overturn a conviction:
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More On The Palestinian Situation....

Amnesty International Withdraws from Leonard Cohen’s Israel Concert Fund - It was the RIGHT thing to do!
  ---  http://atheonews.blogspot.com/2009/08/amnesty-international-withdraws-from.html
Action Update - A quote...."New York, NY, August 18 – Amnesty International has announced today that it will abstain from any involvement in the Leonard Cohen concert in Tel Aviv and will not be party to any fund that benefits from the concert's proceeds. A number of media accounts had reported that Amnesty International was to manage or otherwise partner in a fund created from the proceeds of Cohen’s concert in Israel that would be used to benefit Israeli and Palestinian groups. Amnesty International’s announcement today followed an international outcry over the human rights organization’s reported involvement in the Leonard Cohen concert fund, and an earlier international call for Cohen to boycott apartheid Israel."
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"Witness Our Fear~Oh The Horror" (On Que)  ---  http://irish4palestine.blogspot.com/2009/08/witness-our-fearoh-horror-on-que.html
Special Note - A quote...."Ivan Lewis, the British Foreign Minister is visiting Israel and Palestine. He wants to see the separation wall and the home evictions in East Jerusalem first hand. -- Of course, as expected, Israel will be taking him to Sderot in order to parade out the old rusty home made rockets they have treasured and saved for this purpose. In addition a few (Alive and Well) families will be brought forward in order to wail in misery as they view the old rusty rockets. (In sharp contrast to the 1400 DEAD civilians and 400 DEAD children in Gaza) But I digress... The visit to Sderot is to remind Lewis that "Israel is always the victim" Something tells me they are going to have a hard sell, what with Lewis witnessing first hand the contrast of those home made rockets in the pristine Israeli neighbourhoods (on former Palestinian land) to the total genocidal destruction in Palestine. No comparison."
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Quiet slicing of the West Bank makes abstract prayers for peace obscene
  ---  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/18/west-bank-israel-settlers-palestinians
A quote...."On 2 August 2009, after cordoning off part of the Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in east Jerusalem, Israeli police evicted two Palestinian families (more than 50 people) from their homes; Jewish settlers immediately moved into the emptied houses. Although Israeli police cited a ruling by the country's supreme court, the evicted Arab families had been living there for more than 50 years. The event – which, rather exceptionally, did attract the attention of the world media – is part of a much larger and mostly ignored ongoing process."
also posted at AtheoNews  ---  http://atheonews.blogspot.com/2009/08/quiet-slicing-of-west-bank-makes.html
& CommonDreams  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/08/18-0
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IOA confiscates 115 dunums of Palestinian land
  ---  http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7cpT11i5x9ajHyRYf30rcuD6OFA1zAW
WhcMKR3%2bEGuGV2nnR4G5oJEmNs%2fuy4u155bZ%2buwEyNZAqmk5CsU8n%2f95K6%2bUi27wgCCzQpquFXl6M%3d
A quote...."JENIN, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) on Tuesday confiscated 115 dunums of Palestinian land in Ya'bad village west of Jenin city to expand the Shakid settlement that was established on the village's land."
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Israel declares the[ir] shooting of American activist, Tristan Anderson to be an “act of war”  ---  http://palsolidarity.org/2009/08/8092
A quote...."18 August 2009: Israel declares the shooting of American activist, Tristan Anderson to be an “act of war.” -- Tristan Anderson, an American national, was critically injured on 13 March 2009 when he was shot with a high velocity tear-gas projectile during an unarmed demonstration against the Wall in the West Bank village of Ni’lin (report and video: http://palsolidarity.org/2009/03/5324)."
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Pro-Israeli lobby won’t get Mary Robinson’s medal - Awwww, sniffle, sob, poor widdle AIPAC - mpg
  ---  http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1045
A quote...."On the 12th of August Mary Robinson was awarded by US President Barack Obama a Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Medal of Freedom is the highest US civilian honor, awarded to "individuals who make an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors”, however not everyone is happy with this decision including AIPAC and other Jewish and Pro-Israeli groups including Professor Gerald Steinberg of the Jerusalem Post."
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More on the US-NRE's Honduran Coup....

Cracks in the Honduran Coup Regime Grow Wider  ---  http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/3376/cracks-honduran-coup-regime-grow-wider
A quote...."We've previously noted that some key members of the coup regime power structure – notably business magnate Adolfo Facusse and Liberal Party presidential nominee Elvin Santos – had begun waxing aloud to find a scapegoat for the illegality of the June 28 coup d’etat. They had both settled on the Armed Forces, and the “original sin” of all that has gone awry since, according to them, was that the military shipped elected President Manuel Zelaya out of the country instead of arraigning him to face prosecution."
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Honduras breaks ties with Argentina - The US-NRE's new junta is getting more isolated by the DAY! - mpg
  ---  http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/08/2009818211521602583.html
A quote...."Honduras's interim government has broken off relations with Argentina over the country's support for Manuel Zelaya, the deposed Honduran president. -- The foreign ministry said on Tuesday that it had given Argentinian diplomats three days to leave the country."
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More on the Iranian Election.....

Analyst Blames US for Iran's Post-Election Unrests  ---  http://english.farsnews.net/newstext.php?nn=8805271432
A quote...."All events during recent (post-election) riots in the country took place in coordination with (plots of) the US," Hossein Shariatmadari, Managing Director of the Persian-language daily, Keyhan, said while addressing Iranian clergies in Iran's central city of Qom. -- Shariatmadari said that a plot for the soft overthrow of Islamic Republic was initiated in 2004 by Haleh Esfandiari, the Director of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Middle East Program, and American scholar Kian Tajbakhsh in coordination with the US spy agencies, adding that the plot aimed to concentrate moves against the Islamic Republic."
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Tehran to compensate post-vote unrest victims  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=103899&sectionid=351020101
A quote...."Tehran governor says the Iranian government will compensate those who have suffered damages during the country's post-election unrest."
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Why Single-Payer is the ONLY Sensible Health Care Reform -- (Explained in Plain English)  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23292.htm
posted at ICH  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/ichsfundingpage-cached-reficultnias-111908.html
Special Note - A quote...."August 18, 2009 "Information Clearing House" --- Health care services are in a special category of “services”. Unlike almost all other services in our “free market” economy, most health care services (just like police and fire services) are necessary for all residents—often a matter of life and death. --  Incredibly, we treat most health care services as if they were optional for some residents. The extreme costs, the multiple inefficiencies, and the shameful injustice of our current health care system are the guaranteed results of treating heath care services as optional for some residents."
also posted at OnlineJournal  ---  http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_5032.shtml
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It’s Official: Healthcare Reform is Dead  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14818
Special Note - A quote...."The “transparent government” that President Obama guaranteed during his electoral campaign has become yet another broken promise. On August 14th, the Huffington Post revealed a memo containing details of “the deal” that Obama cut with health care mega-corporations in secret White House meetings. And although the White House denies the authenticity of the memo, the details are consistent with earlier reports from other national media outlets. -- The White House deal essentially reduces some of the more egregious health care corporation swindling — estimated to save $80 billion over ten years — while Obama shamelessly promised that other irrational vehicles for health care mega-profits will remain untouched: any congressional health care plan will not attempt to negotiate for cheaper drugs, nor import them from other countries, Medicare will not be altered in a way that affects health care corporations’ profits. -- Don't give up yet folks, there's still HOPE (Obama style) that Obama can pull a gigantic catastrophic disaster from the jaws of utter defeat and produce a plan in conjunction with the HMOs and pharmaceutical companies that will be even MORE expensive for the US treasury while providing even LESS health care for the average American than anyone could've possibly imagined.  It's simply a wonder that Obama doesn't get rug burns on his knees from all his frenetic "activity". – mpg
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Progressives Abet Obama-Fraud  ---  http://obamboozled.blogspot.com/2009/08/dont-confuse-medicare-with-single-payer.html
A quote...."Whether intentional or not, the liberal “single-payer” promoters have greatly confused the public by equating single-payer, universal health care coverage with “Medicare For All.” Ironically, it looks like they will get what they have called for; again, unintentionally. -- With the long predicted demise of any “public option” or government sponsored program that would compete with the private sector, plain vanilla Medicare-for-all is targeted to become the gold standard for coverage under the basic private policies to be offered to all Americans (whether you like what you have now or not). Take a good look at what that means in practice."
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Dear Medicare:  I Want You To Have My $820 A Month
  ---  http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/17/768554/-Dear-Medicare:-I-Want-You-To-Have-My-$820-A-Month
A quote...."My services as a Lead Paint Risk Assessor are being lent to another agency and I had to calculate how much I really cost per hour.  That was the first time I saw how much it costs to insure a healthy 39 year old who goes to the Doctor less than once per year. -- $820 mother fucking dollars a month!  Call me naive.  I assumed it would be highway robbery at $400 a month.  In 3.5 years on the job I have paid approximately $34,440 into the private insurance system.  That is more than my take home pay for a year.  I figure I have cost the health care industry about $1000 (and I think I'm being generous here).  The thing about this that really pisses me off is that I wouldn't  mind paying this much money one little bit, if I knew that the money not being spent on my health care was paying the healthcare bills for someone else and not going to make yacht payments for some CEO. " -- also posted at AmericanEveryman
  ---  http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2009/08/18/dear-medicare-i-want-you-to-have-my-820-a-month/
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That Sinking Feeling  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/celente/celente12.1.html
A quote...."The steady drumbeat of good news is getting infectious. The Dow Jones has rallied almost 40 percent from its bottom on March 9. The Federal Reserve expects the economy to pick up in the second half of this year. Home sales rose 11% in June and corporate profits strengthened in the second quarter. Pres. Barack Obama has signaled signs of “green shoots” on the economic landscape. Alan Blinder, the former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, recently pronounced in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, “The Economy Has Hit Bottom.” The Aug. 3 cover story in Newsweek went even further, declaring boldly, “The Recession is Over.” -- But before you get giddy, several economists caution that we may be witnessing a false lull before the storm...."
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Fed Chart - US-NRE Expenditures  ---  http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/Deficit.PNG
Chart - A quote from the comments section -- "RAND Corporation published a study to DoD in late Fall 2008 suggesting a hot war in order to revive the economy.   RAND -- publishing batshit-insane material since 1948.  Some things never change." -- *by Project Mayhem*
See also link,  ---  http://www.rand.org/pubs/notes/N2614/  ---  link  ---  http://www.army.com/news2/item/4764
& link-PDF  ---  http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/140410p.pdf  ---  See also article shown below....
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The Dubious Monetizing Efforts Of The Fed
  ---  http://theinternationalforecaster.com/International_Forecaster_Weekly/The_Dubious_Monetizing_Efforts_Of_The_Fed
A quote...."As we discussed previously we expect this second half of 2009 to improve slightly. 2010 should pick up more about mid-year. We believe second quarter GDP figures were not minus 1.5%, but closer to minus 4%. We see real GDP at even by the end of the year and into the first half of the year with a plus 2% in the second half of 2010. If another stimulus package of $2 trillion is not passed and banks continue to reduce lending, the economy will begin to slide again. Our guess is if the stimulus package is not increased the Fed will instruct the banks to increase lending, which will monetize money and start higher inflation. It is really a tragedy for the American people and particularly business interest to have to deal with bogus government figures and continued lies."
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"It's Almost As If The Administration Is Opting for a Rose-Colored-Glasses PR Strategy" Instead of Looking at Reality and Adopting Appropriate Policy
  ---  http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/08/its-almost-as-if-administration-is.html
Special Note - Related Article - A quote...."Donald W. Riegle Jr. is a former Senator, serving as both a Democrat and a Republican. He was - for 5 years - chair of the Senate Banking Committee. -- Riegle co-wrote an article today with the former CEO of AT&T Broadband and the international president of the United Steelworkers saying...."  ---  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leo-hindery-jr/what-a-jobless-recovery-i_b_261667.html


"As I have repeatedly pointed out,  ---  http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/02/most-dangerous-words-theres-nothing-we.html  ---  psychologists say that  ---  http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/05/restoring-false-confidence-will-not.html  ---  until government and business leaders prove they can behave responsibly, and until the perpetrators of financial fraud are held accountable - real trust will not be restored and the economy will not recover. -- There was massive fraud  ---  http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/08/companies-auditors-rating-agencies-and.html  ---  between 2001 and 2007. Indeed, massive fraud is continuing today."
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The Secrets of China's Economy: The Government Owns the Banks rather than the Reverse  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14819
A quote...."China is the one leading economy where the divide – the disconnect between its financial sector and the world normal Chinese people and their businesses inhabit – doesn’t exist. Both worlds are booming again and this is due to the way the government handled its banks. China hasn’t allowed its banking sector to become so powerful, so influential, and so big that it can call the shots or highjack the bailout. In simple terms, the government preferred to answer to its people and put their interests first before that of any vested interest or group. And that is why Chinese banks are lending to the people and their businesses in record numbers.” -- In other words China has a "real economy" as opposed to a "Virtual Economy™"  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/thevirtualeconomy-mpg-reficultnias-050109  ---  mpg
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Banks' Problem Loans Keep Growing  ---  http://seekingalpha.com/article/156339-banks-problem-loans-keep-growing
Chart - It's just starting folks, looking at the chart it appears they've got two to three more years to go - mpg -- A quote...."Bloomberg reports on the growing trend in non-performing loans at U.S. banks [emphasis added below]. Non-performing loans are those that are not making payments of interest and/or principal. -- This chart (click to enlarge) shows the level of bank loans that are not performing. As usual during a recession, the percentage is going up. The left scale shows the percentage and the right scale indicates the number of banks with serious issues."
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Bank Lending Standards Tighter, Fed Says  ---  http://seekingalpha.com/article/156638-bank-lending-standards-tighter-fed-says
A quote...."Banks aren’t loosening their purse strings at all. In fact, it looks like they’ve decided to put their pocket books away for the foreseeable future. -- The Fed’s quarterly report on bank lending standards was released today and it confirms what just about everyone knows, the banks are getting stingier. Here are some details from MarketWatch:" http://www.marketwatch.com/story/credit-crunch-likely-to-persist-bankers-say-2009-08-17-14600?siteid=rss&rss=1
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U.S. housing starts, permits fall in July  ---  http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090818/bs_nm/us_usa_economy_housing
A quote...."WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New U.S. housing starts and permits unexpectedly fell in July, pulled down by steeper declines in multifamily units, a government report showed on Tuesday."
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U.S. July producer prices fall 0.9 percent on gasoline
  ---  http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSTRE57D28U20090818?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews
Deflation Alert - A quote...."Compared with the same period last year, producer prices were a record 6.8 percent lower in July. They had been forecast to decline by 5.9 percent. - The longest U.S. recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s has crushed demand and pummeled prices throughout the economy, keeping inflation pressures firmly at bay despite massive official efforts to stimulate growth." -- For more on this issue see....On Inflation, Deflation & The Fed - 08-17-09 - mpg  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/oninflationdeflation&thefed-mpg-reficultnias-081709
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Monday August 17th 2009 - links page

What Does Barack Obama Really Want in Afghanistan?  ---  http://www.williampfaff.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=420
Article  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23285.htm
also posted at ICH  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/ichsfundingpage-cached-reficultnias-111908.html
Must Read - A quote...."Paris, August 11, 2009 – It would be a great service to the American nation if Barack Obama would tell us what he himself thinks the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan are about. To capture Osama bin Laden? There have been eight years in which to capture bin Laden and it’s not been done yet, and there seems no reason to think that anything important would change if the thousands of Marines now scheduled for Afghanistan did capture him. What did it change to capture and execute Saddam Hussein in Iraq?"
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Winners And Losers In The American Warfare State  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23287.htm
 posted at ICH  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/ichsfundingpage-cached-reficultnias-111908.html
A quote...."August 17, 2009 "Information Clearing House" -- “On my last day in Iraq,” veteran McClatchy News correspondent Leila Fadel wrote August 9th, “as on my first day in Iraq, I couldn’t see what the United States and its allies had accomplished. …I couldn’t understand what thousands of American soldiers had died for and why hundreds of thousands of Iraqis had been killed.”
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Legal battle over British detainees  ---  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/legal-battle-over-british-detainees-1773479.html
A quote...."A human rights organisation has announced the start of legal action against the Government over questions of alleged rendition to Afghanistan. -- Reprieve will demand the Ministry of Defence gives answers about the treatment of two men arrested by the British in Iraq in 2004 who have since been held at the US detention facility at Bagram air force base in Afghanistan."
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Afghan Warlord: The Full Interview
  ---  http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Afghanistan-Mujahideen-Warlord-Gulbuddin-Hekmatyar-QA-Interview/
Article/200908315362605?lid=ARTICLE_15362605_Afghanistan:MujahideenWarlordGulbuddinHekmatyarQAInterview&lpos=searchresults
Article  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23277.htm
also posted at ICH  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/ichsfundingpage-cached-reficultnias-111908.html
Interview -- A quote...."One of the most wanted men in the world has told Sky News the war in Afghanistan will never end until Nato forces leave his country. Here is Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's full interview...1. Are there any circumstances in which you would work with Hamid Karzai or his administration?

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British Army Chief Backs Off ‘40 Years in Afghanistan’ Comments
  ---  http://news.antiwar.com/2009/08/17/british-army-chief-backs-off-40-years-in-afghanistan-comments/
posted at AntiWar  ---  http://www.antiwar.com/
A quote...."Claims He Never Said That, or at Least He Didn't Mean That -- 10 days after he was quoted in an interview saying that the Afghan War “might take as long as 30 to 40 years,” British Army Chief of Staff General Sir David Richards sought to “clarify” his statement, which seems to be combination of attempting to spin the comment as meaning something else and denying that he said it in the first place."
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Iraq May Hold Vote On U.S. Withdrawal  ---  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/17/AR2009081700949.html
A quote...."BAGHDAD, Aug. 17 -- U.S. troops could be forced by Iraqi voters to withdraw a year ahead of schedule under a referendum the Iraqi government backed Monday, creating a potential complication for American commanders concerned about rising violence in the country's north."
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After six years of U.S. occupation, infrastructure not improved in Iraq  ---  http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_5026.shtml
A quote...."(WMR)  ---  http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/  ---  WMR has learned from an NBC News source that six years after the United States invaded and occupied Iraq, there have been no improvements to critical infrastructures in the country, including electricity and water."
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U.S. troops may be sent to Iraq's Arab-Kurdish 'trigger line'
  ---  http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq-deploy18-2009aug18,0,4339340.story
A quote...."American forces' assignment would be to build trust and bridge the gap between feuding Arabs and Kurds in northern Iraq. Al Qaeda is exploiting the split between the two sides, a U.S. general says."
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Iran agrees to supply UAE with gas  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=103759&sectionid=351020103
A quote...."Iran and an Emirati company have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to export natural Iranian gas to the United Arab Emirate (UAE)."
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Iran urges Iraq to extradite 'criminal' MKO members  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=103813&sectionid=351020101
A quote...."Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki calls on Baghdad to extradite the wanted members of the Mojahedin-e Khalgh Organization (MKO)."
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Romania denies reports of secret CIA prisons in its territory  ---  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/14/content_11881324.htm
A quote...."BUCHAREST, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- Romania denied the reports that it hosted a secret prison of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Bucharest, saying the allegations groundless, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alin Serbanescu said on Thursday."
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Central Asia Sounds Alarm on Islamic Radicalism
  ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/world/asia/18kyrgyz.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
link posted at AntiWar  ---  http://www.antiwar.com/
Special Note - A quote...."KOSH-KORGON, Kyrgyzstan — The three men were locals who were said to have once crossed into nearby Afghanistan to wage war alongside the Taliban. They then returned, militant wayfarers apparently bent on inciting an Afghan-style insurgency in this tinderbox of a valley in Central Asia. By late June, they were holed up in a house here, stockpiling Kalashnikov rifles and watching pirated DVDs of martial arts movies."
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At Least 20 Police Killed in Ingushetia Suicide Attack - posted at AntiWar  ---  http://www.antiwar.com/
  ---  http://news.antiwar.com/2009/08/17/at-least-20-police-killed-in-ingushetia-suicide-attack/
A quote...."Medvedev Fires Ingush Interior Minister Over Attack -- A suicide truck bomber rammed into a police station in Ingushetia’s city of Nazran today, killing at least 20 police and injuring 138 others. Russian media report the strike involved a stolen vehicle and the equivalent of 400 kg of TNT."
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Memo reveals US backed anti-leftist coups  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=103772&sectionid=3510203
A quote...."New documents reveal former presidents Richard Nixon of the US and Emilio Medici of Brazil discussed a cooperative effort to topple leftists in Latin America during the cold war. -- The formerly secret memos, published by the National Security Archive in Washington on Sunday, showed a desire by the US and Brazil to overthrow leftist governments, including Chile's Salvador Allende and Cuba's Fidel Castro."
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Obama’s first act as President of the US: EXECUTIVE ORDER 13489 - Banning release of any of his records
  ---  http://www.infiniteunknown.net/2009/08/17/obamas-first-act-as-president-of-the-us-executive-order-13489-banning-release-of-any-of-his-records/

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
January 21, 2009

EXECUTIVE ORDER 13489
- - - - - - -
PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to establish policies and procedures governing the assertion of executive privilege by incumbent and former Presidents in connection with the release of Presidential records by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) pursuant to the Presidential Records Act of 1978, it is hereby ordered as follows:
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Wikipedia and Google Will Bring Down Establishments All Over the World  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north747.html
A quote...."Back in the early 1990's, I was told about a German economist with an American name: Paul C. Martin. He had written a book titled Paymaster Germany. Its thesis: Germany cannot send home its Turkish and other immigrants. They would break the German economy by pulling their money out of the country. Anyway, that's what my German contacts told me about the book. It has never been translated ."
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More On The Palestinian Situation....

New Israeli rules curb travel from West Bank  ---  http://atheonews.blogspot.com/2009/08/new-israeli-rules-curb-travel-from-west.html
A quote...."JERUSALEM // In an echo of restrictions already firmly in place in Gaza, Israel has begun barring movement between Israel and the West Bank for anyone holding a foreign passport, including humanitarian aid workers and thousands of Palestinian residents."
also posted at PalestineChron  ---  http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15367
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Israel hands demolition orders to 17 Nablus-area families  ---  http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=219571
A quote...."Nablus – Ma’an – Israeli authorities handed official notices to 17 Palestinian families in the northern West Bank informing them that their homes would be demolished, an official told Ma'an on Monday."
also posted at Uruknet  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/?p=m57051&hd=&size=1&l=e
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Human Rights Watch Calls on Israel to Investigate “White Flag” Shootings of Gaza Civilians
  ---  http://www.democracynow.org/2009/8/17/human_rights_watch_calls_on_israel
A quote...."Human Rights Watch released a report last week detailing new evidence of possible Israeli war crimes committed during last winter’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza that left over 1,400 Palestinians dead. The report says Israeli soldiers unlawfully shot and killed at least eleven Palestinian civilians, including five women and four children, who were in groups waving white flags to make clear that they were civilians and not combatants. We speak to HRW’s Fred Abrahams and air exclusive video from Gaza from Democracy Now!‘s Anjali Kamat and Big Noise Film’s Jacquie Soohen. [includes rush transcript]"
||  Real Video Stream  ||  ---  http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2009/aug/video/dnB20090817a.rm&proto=rtsp&start=00:32:18
||  Real Audio Stream  ||  ---  http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2009/aug/audio/dn20090817.ra&proto=rtsp&start=00:32:18
||  MP3 Download  ||  ---  http://media.libsyn.com/media/democracynow/dn2009-0817-1.mp3
||  More…  ||  ---  http://i2.democracynow.org/2009/8/17/stream
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More on the US-NRE's Honduran Coup....

Obama tacitly backs military's takeover of Honduran democracy  ---  http://obamboozled.blogspot.com/2009/08/obama-tacitly-backs-militarys-takeover.html
A quote...."WASHINGTON -- President Obama is making a big mistake in coddling the dictatorship in Honduras, and putting his administration at odds with the rest of the hemisphere. It also looks terrible to the world that his government so easily abandons its professed commitment to democracy and the rule of law."
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Journalists threatened, attacked during protests against the coup d'état  ---  http://www.ifex.org/honduras/2009/08/14/cazula_attacked/
A quote...."(C-Libre/IFEX) - Police and military officers once again attacked journalists and camera operators on 12 August 2009, in an attempt to repress them, as they were covering a protest against the coup d'etat in the capital city."
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Will no One Rid Me of This Troublesome Priest?": Legal Retaliation Threatened for Calling for Boycotting the Election
  ---  http://hondurascoup2009.blogspot.com/2009/08/will-no-one-rid-me-of-this-troublesome.html
Roberto Micheletti might well want to echo this famous cry of England's King Henry II, frustrated by Archibishop Thomas Becket, as Honduras' independent clergy continue to break ranks with their own archbishop, apologist for the coup. -- And as with Becket, there are officials of the Micheletti regime ready to take up the challenge."
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More on the Iranian Election.....

Ahmadinejad wants certain power-holders in court  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=103803&sectionid=351020101
A quote...."As talk of putting opposition leaders on trial heats up in Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad involves himself in the issue by calling for the prosecution of "the power-holders and the affluent" in the country. "
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Young Turk Starts to See…  ---  http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2009/08/17/young-turk-starts-to-see/
Alt - (YouTube - 9 min 33 sec - August 13, 2009)  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRK_Xw1KG9U
Must View Video -- A quote...."Yes Turk.  Obama has sold us out. Long, long ago. The only problem is his assertion that the way to fix this is the formation of a “third party”… I guess he forgot about Philip Zelikow and the Help America Vote Act (read as “The Diebold, “We Own the Elections”, Electronic Voting Fraud Act”). Of course I would also like someone to tell me where exactly the Young Turk here stood on Ralph Nader’s and Cynthia McKinney’s campaigns last year. Was he one of those pundits begging “progressives” not to vote for the “spoilers”? The way to fix this is direct action. Not another ridiculous “Party”. All that will create is another batch of career politicians with their hands out. But still, a good video.  Worth the watch.."
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White House drops public health care option  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2009/aug2009/heal-a18.shtml
Related Article - A quote...."The Obama administration has indicated that it will not insist on a “public option” as part of its overhaul of the US health care system. The move signals the abandonment of the only fig leaf of “reform” in the administration’s cost-cutting health care scheme. It represents a complete capitulation to the insurance industry, which lobbied intensively against any government-run insurance plan."
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Worse Than Herbert Hoover  ---  http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/08/obama-is-worse-than-herbert-hoover.html
Must Read - A quote...."When Obama was elected, many compared him to a modern day FDR. See this Time Magazine cover, for example. -- On the other hand, financial writer Ed Harrison has called Obama a "black Herbert Hoover". -- Who is right?"
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On Inflation, Deflation & The Fed
08-17-09
mpg

China is Again Buying Long-Term U.S. Treasuries . . . Does That Mean China is Betting on Deflation?
  ---  http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/08/china-is-again-buying-long-term-us.html
Deflation Alert - A quote...."For the first time since the financial crisis started, China is again ramping up purchases of long-term U.S. treasury bonds. Indeed, according to Bloomberg:" -- This makes sense ONLY if China believes the US-NRE will not monetize the debt or default on its obligations.  This could be a very bad call and a severely misplaced sense of faith on their part, just think of the Japanese and what happened to them in the US-NRE's real estate market during the 80's. – mpg   -- For more on this issue see....The Green Light - 01-16-08 - mpg
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/thegreenlight-blog-mpg-011608
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Let Them Inflate - It's coming, but it'll take time. - mpg  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/daughty/mogambo23.1.html
Related Article - A quote...."I think that Paul Krugman is one of those absurd guys that has no idea what in the hell he is talking about and who owes his undeserved prominence to being a real butt-kissing sucker-upper to Alan Greenspan and his Federal Reserve, and now he’s doing the same thing to the laughable Ben Bernanke and his disastrous Federal Reserve, although I will admit that I don’t know why anybody listens to this guy."
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Regarding the two articles shown above see the following quote from Some Tentative Laws.....
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/sometentativelaws-blog-mpg-072008


Bernanke & Co. have generated enormous amounts of "temporary" debt by creating over twenty four trillion dollars worth of loans, back stops and guarantees to support "asset valuations" (rich people's paper products).  These programs were implemented solely to support and conceal trillions of dollars worth of bad debts (toxic assets).

As it stands now, we're still at the third law's rule number one regarding interest rates, as long as all that debt out there is still unwound (which will be difficult, if not impossible to do, because it's still increasing and we probably will soon enter into a Great Depression) interest rates will remain at zero and deflation will hold sway.

As soon as the debts and toxic assets are canceled or marked to market, (not likely for years, if not more than a decade) all those Fed "guarantees" will suddenly become monetized (not paid back), the third law's rule number two comes into play and the Fed will have to jack rates into the stratosphere to combat hyper-inflation.

Of course we could have stagflation (the asterisk*) however if that occurs, with the horrendous amounts of paper products already floating around out there, we'd all be looking at a replay of Germany's Weimar Republic. – mpg
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Recovering from Neoliberal Disaster - posted at GlobRsrch  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14778
  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14800
A quote...."Can Iceland and Latvia pay the foreign debts run up by a fairly narrow layer of their population? -- The European Union and International Monetary Fund have told them to replace private debts with public obligations, and to pay by raising taxes, slashing public spending and obliging citizens to deplete their savings. -- Resentment is growing not only toward those who ran up these debts – Iceland’s bankrupt Kaupthing and Landsbanki with its Icesave accounts, and heavily debt-leveraged property owners and privatizers in the Baltics and Central Europe – but also toward the neoliberal foreign advisors and creditors who pressured these governments to sell off the banks and public infrastructure to insiders."
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The Specter of Debt Revolt Is Haunting Europe -- Why Iceland and Latvia Won't (and Can't) Pay for the Kleptocrats' Ripoffs
  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/hudson08182009.html
A quote...."In the wake of the world crash populations are asking not only whether debts should be paid, but whether they can be paid! If they can’t be, then trying to pay will only shrink economics further, preventing them from becoming viable. This is what has led past structural adjustment programs to fail."
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US: Taxpayers Had to Work from January 1 to August 12 This Year Just to Cover Cost of Government
  ---  http://www.infiniteunknown.net/2009/08/17/us-taxpayers-had-to-work-from-january-1-to-august-12-this-year-just-to-cover-cost-of-government/
A quote...."Washington (CNSNews.com) - Americans had to work from January 1 until August 12 this year just to cover the cost of government.  That is 26 days more than they had to work last year to cover the cost of government."
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Sunday August 16th 2009 - links page

John Pilger: Empire, Obama, and the Last Taboo -- http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2009/08/16/john-pilger-obama-is-a-corporate-marketing-creation/
Alt - Excerpt (YuTb - 5m28s - Aug.13, 2009)  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C62KAmMzu0E
Alt - Full Speech (YuTb - 32m 27s - July 31, 2009)  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXL998q7skI
Must View Videos - Absolutely Outstanding !! - mpg -- A quote...."John Richard Pilger is an Australian journalist and documentary maker. He has twice won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award, and his documentaries have received academy awards in Britain and the US."
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Barack Obama, Front Man for the ‘Man’: "For the Empire getting Obama elected was a Win-win Solution" --- http://www.creative-i.info/?p=9944
Must Read -- Quote of the Day...."I contend that ever since the first slave ship left the shores of Africa, the ideology of racism has been central to the success of capitalism. Without it and the wealth that slavery produced, Europe and its bastard offspring, the United States, would never have accumulated the capital that made today’s world possible. And if the corrosive and utterly destructive effects of the ideology of racism werre not apparent to you before the election of Barack ‘Hope & Change’ Obama, then surely by now they should be, and especially its effects on the ‘left’"
also posted at GlobRsrch  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14788
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Money is God, Greed is King and Corruption Runs the Game  ---  http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_56644.shtml
Must Read - A quote...."Never has the world been subjected to as pure and destructive lunacy as at this time in history. Never have the anti-civilization voices been heard as stridently as in the so-called debate that is going on today. The insane and desperate noise of the single-party political scene in the  United States, the deafening roar of the Mafia, is threatening, and seemingly managing quite well, to out-thunder the few reasonable and civilized voices that are attempting to be heard over the din. -- The civilized debate that might be expected to be going on about health care, tax reforms, regulation of financial speculation, the criminality of imperial wars, improving education and much more, is poisoned while still in the womb, by the formidable power of the one political party that is spelled M O N E Y. Their power tools are the mass media, the ceaseless propaganda machines, the formidable use of hypnotic slogans and, added to that, the severe lack of insight and intellectual curiosity of the  U.S. citizens."
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Progressive Acquiescence and the OCO  ---  http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2009/08/16/progressive-acquiescence-and-the-oco/
Must Read - A quote...." The Great Humanitarian,  --- http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2009/06/02/barack-obama-is-not-the-greatest-man-of-our-generation/  --- 
Barack Obama, is allowing his Globalist infested administration  ---  http://www.alternet.org/world/107666/this_is_change_20_hawks,_clintonites_and_neocons_to_watch_for_in_obama%27s_white_house/?page=entire  ---  to set up to run all over Central and South America. You see, with a few exceptions,  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1203-09.htm  ---  the Bush Administration had their hands full creating what Condi Rice called “The New Middle East”  ---  http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1219325,00.html  ---  and so they took their neoliberal “Free-market system”  ---  http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine  ---  eyes off the prize south of our border. --  But all that is about to change as The Global War on Terror  ---  http://www.defenselink.mil/comptroller/defbudget/fy2010/fy2010_SSJ_Overseas_Contingency_Operations.pdf  ---  sets it’s gaze on South America once again.   Oh wait, I’m sorry.  I’m so “Cheneyesque” these days.  I meant to say “Overseas Contingency Operation”  ---  http://www.defenselink.mil/comptroller/defbudget/fy2010/fy2010_SSJ_Overseas_Contingency_Operations.pdf  ---  (OCO)… Obama ended the “Global War on Terror”  ---  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/24/AR2009032402818.html  ---  you know… all praise be to marketing."  ---  http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2009/06/07/lessons-from-oz-2/
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The cause of all wars throughout history is interest-bearing debt.  ---  http://www.johnkaminski.info/pages/the_next_chapter/the_cause.htm
Must Read - A quote...."Entirely unsuspected, except by a few astute observers, they cunningly and patiently wove a web in which they have entrapped mankind. —  *Emanuel Josephson, 1968*  —  "Most of the real history of the world has been hidden from us by the same people who commit the crimes, gigantic crimes on the scale of world wars , manufactured pandemics and massive tax ripoffs that ruin our health, kill our children and obliterate our peace of mind. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Ford, and both Charles Lindberghs — five of the absolutely most honest Americans — all warned us this would happen if a certain element was allowed free rein. They were, and it has." - also posted at DProgram   ---  http://dprogram.net/2009/08/16/the-cause-the-cause-of-all-wars-throughout-history-is-interest-bearing-debt/  ---  For more on this sort of issue see....Effective Fed Funds Rate & Total Nonfarm Payrolls   ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/fedfundschart-photopg-cached-032407
& Long Term Joblessness Chart & The Ten Year Cycle
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/longtermjoblessnesschart-rnutting-mktwtch-cached-080609
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Marc Faber Says America Will Launch More Wars to Distract from Bad Economy
  ---  http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2009/08/will-america-launch-another-war-to-help.html
Missed this one - mpg -- A quote...."The claim that America would launch more wars to the help the economy is outrageous, right? -- Certainly. -- But leading economist Marc Faber has repeatedly said that the American government will start new wars in response to the economic crisis:"
also posted at BLN  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-5181-0-13-13--.html
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Bearing the Burdens of the Imperial City  ---  http://original.antiwar.com/christopher-dowd/2009/08/14/bearing-the-burdens-of-the-imperial-city/
A quote...."On an almost daily basis, in any city or town newspaper in the country, one can read articles about how this or that state or local government service is having its budget slashed severely if not being eliminated entirely altogether. -- Now, I am not talking about non vital services like oh…  Multibillion dollar programs that seek to give money to politically connected and now semi-government-owned car companies.  I’m talking about the basics of government services like education and road maintenance."
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Iraq's invading coalition changes its name - In this case it accurately reflects the new facts....how utterly unusual.
  ---  http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=33733
A quote...."BAGHDAD - Multi-National Forces-Iraq, the name of the military command of the US-led coalition that invaded Iraq in 2003, will be changed next year as no other countries have troops stationed in the country, a US military spokesman said Sunday. -- After the departure of British, Romanian and Australian troops last month, the remaining 130,000-odd American troops are now the only foreign force in MNF-I. -- As a result, the command will be called United States Forces-Iraq (USF-I) from the start of next year, the spokesman said."
also posted at WarInIraq  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/203502
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Life and Death in Baghdad as Americans Leave  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick08172009.html
A quote...."Life in Iraq is getting better. Take one example: two or three years ago, tattoo artists in Baghdad were working overtime giving distinctive tattoos to men who feared they would be killed in the Sunni-Shia sectarian slaughter. - Aware that the faces of so many who died were being mutilated, potential victims wanted their families to be able to identify their bodies through a special mark known only to close relatives. One man had an olive tree tattooed on to his body because his father had planted one on the day he was born."
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Worldwide Iraqi treasure hunt  ---  http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/678481
A quote...."The looting of Iraq's National Museum was one of the greatest scandals of the U.S. invasion in 2003. Archaeologists had repeatedly warned Washington that, without protection, the Baghdad museum – which held the priceless cultural heritage of not just of Mesopotamia, but of mankind – would be ransacked by looters. -- And it was. -- But U.S. troops didn't react when Iraqis ravenously tore through the galleries for two straight days, carrying off 15,000 precious artifacts from the first 7,000 years of civilization." -- also posted at AxisOfLogic  ---  http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_56662.shtml
& Uruknet  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/?p=m57026&hd=&size=1&l=e
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US soldiers kill 3 Iraqi children: Report  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=103650&sectionid=351020201
A quote...."American troops have reportedly shot dead three children in northern Iraq, as the US-led invasion continues to cost more civilian lives in the volatile country." -- also posted at WarInIraq  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/203500
& OhBummer  ---  http://obamboozled.blogspot.com/2009/08/us-soldiers-kill-3-iraqi-children.html
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Rethink Afghanistan Documentary, Campaign and Petition  ---  http://fromthewilderness.wordpress.com/2009/06/18/rethink-afghanistan-civilian-casualties/
Alt/Vid#1  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krHV9iT20zw
AltVid#2  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7jAT0FAGBc
AltVid#3  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1TO108GrNI&feature=player_embedded
Alt/Vid#4  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD2pNQJ8x7k&feature=player_embedded
Videos - (YouTube - various videos) - Some images are quite grim - mpg -- A quote...."
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Much Of Afghan Drug Money Going To ‘Our Friends’  ---  http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2009/08/afghanistan_taliban_inskeep_op.html
A quote...."One of the most revealing things we learned this week about the war in Afghanistan came in a Los Angeles Times report headlined "Taliban Drug Proceeds Lower Than Thought." -- We've been told again and again for years on end that the Taliban were running their operations off the opium trade, clearing as much as $400 million per year. Now, a Senate Foreign Relations Committee investigation says the proceeds are closer to $70 million." -- also posted at DProgram  ---  http://dprogram.net/2009/08/16/much-of-afghan-drug-money-going-to-our-friends/
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MSM: Who is funding the Afghan Taliban? You don’t want to know
  ---  http://dprogram.net/2009/08/16/msm-who-is-funding-the-afghan-taliban-you-don%E2%80%99t-want-to-know/
A quote...."(Reuters) – It is the open secret no one wants to talk about, the unwelcome truth that most prefer to hide. In Afghanistan, one of the richest sources of Taliban funding is the foreign assistance coming into the country."
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Inside the Taliban: 'The more troops they send, the more targets we have' -- http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/15/fighting-taliban-in-afghanistan-war
A quote...."In the first of a series of exclusive reports in the run-up to next week's Afghan elections, award-winning correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad meets a group of Taliban in their mountain stronghold." -- also posted at WarInIraq  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/203493
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Deal: United States soldiers will deploy to Colombia  ---  http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/08/15/deal-united-states-soldiers-will-deploy-to-colombia/
A quote...."Some American troops will soon find themselves stationed at military bases scattered across the South American nation of Colombia with a mission to use advanced Predator drone technology to aid in fighting the drug trade and to combat terrorism, according to published reports Saturday."
also posted at DProgram  ---  http://dprogram.net/2009/08/16/deal-united-states-soldiers-will-deploy-to-colombia/
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Venezuela's troubled media  ---  http://lanr.blogspot.com/2009/08/venezuelas-troubled-media.html
Alt - (YouTube - 13 min 9 sec - August 14, 2009)  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR_cHCjxDIU
Must View Video -- A quote...."On the Listening Post this week, the state of Venezuela's media, and the troubles facing journalists in exile. - We start our show with a look at Venezuela. Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, is like catnip for the international media. - He has kept the South American country on the global news radar ever since coming to power in 1999. Now in his third term, Chavez took aim at his own country's media recently - particularly privately owned outlets – through a new media crimes law. - The wording of the proposed law was tough – so tough that the legislature controlled by Chavez's own party threw it out."
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US Military Bases in Colombia Threatens UNASUR  ---  http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=109511&Itemid=1
A quote...."Managua, Aug 16 (Prensa Latina) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez denounced that US military bases in Colombia are threatening the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) bloc. Colombia–EE.UU.: El nuevo pacto  A letter Chavez addressed to his UNASUR peers was published on Sunday by El Nuevo Diario of Nicaragua."
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Jund Ansar Allah group was armed by Fatah operatives, Hamas claims
  ---  http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1249418612530&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Article #1 -- Special Note - A quote...."Jund Ansar Allah is one of several tiny radical Islamist groups that have popped up in the Gaza Strip in the past few years. These groups have openly challenged the Hamas government on the grounds that it has not imposed Islamic law (Shari'a)."
also posted at WarInIraq  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/203489
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Al-Qaeda affiliated group declares war on Hamas  ---  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3762223,00.html
Article #2 -- A quote..."'Islamic Swords of Justice' posts message on al-Qaeda website vowing to avenge deaths of 24 people, including radical leader Abdel-Latif Moussa, in shootout with Hamas Saturday. 'War is on its way,' says group."
also posted at WarInIraq  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/203488
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"Muslim Emirate": Al-Qaeda Branch in Gaza -- Palestinians Must Say "No"
  ---  http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1248187964042&pagename=Zone-English-Muslim_Affairs%2FMAELayout
Article #3 -- Special Note - A quote...."I honestly believe that Hamas has done the right thing by clamping down on the Al-Qaeda cell in Gaza. True, the bloodshed is lamentable and heartrending; and each and every Palestinian is deeply saddened by the spilling of Palestinian blood by Palestinian hands. However, it is imperative to realize that preventing the Gaza Strip from morphing into another Iraq, another Swat, or even another S'ada (Yemen) is a paramount task."
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24 Killed, Including al-Qaeda-Linked Cleric, as Hamas, Gaza Islamists Clash
  ---  http://news.antiwar.com/2009/08/14/at-least-16-killed-as-hamas-clashes-with-gaza-islamists/
Article #4 -- A quote...."A significant clash erupted in the Gaza Strip today when the small Islamist faction the Jund Ansar Allah held a rally in a mosque, where leader Abdel-Latif Moussa declared the tiny enclave an “Islamic emirate” which would enforce Islamic rule, beginning in the border city of Rafah."
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Gazan militant "surrenders to Egyptian police"
  ---  http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1495588.php/Gazan-militant-surrenders-to-Egyptian-police
Article #5 -- A quote...." Rafah, Egypt - A Palestinian member of a Gazan militant group with ties to the al-Qaeda terrorist network turned himself into Egyptian security officers Saturday, an Egyptian security official said. -- The man was a member of the Jihad al-Salafi group that on Friday clashed with Hamas security officers in the Gaza Strip, an Egyptian security source told the German Press Agency dpa, speaking on condition of anonymity."
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FACTBOX: Five facts about Jund Ansar Allah  ---  http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE57E11A20090815
Article #6 -- A quote...."(Reuters) - The leader of a little-known radical Islamist group was killed in clashes with Hamas policemen after he defied the rulers of the Gaza Strip by declaring an "Islamic emirate" in the Palestinian territory. -- Here are five facts about Jund Ansar Allah ("Warriors of God"):"
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For more on the six articles shown above see....The Kingdom of Leprosy - 10-07-08 - mpg
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/thekingdomofleprosy-blog-mpg-100708
& The True Axis of Evil - 10-10-08 - mpg  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/thetrueaxisofevil-mpg-blog-101008
& US Sponsored Civil Wars - Palestine Updated - http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/ussponsoredcivilwars-weblist-mpg-101107#PALESTINE
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More on the US-NRE's Honduran Coup....

US 'involved in Honduras military coup'  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=103619&sectionid=351020706
A quote...."The United States was involved in a military coup in Honduras that ousted President Manuel Zelaya on June 28, a top aide to Zelaya says. -- Before heading to Costa Rica, the Honduran military plane that flew Zelaya into exile stopped to refuel at the Soto Cato air base (Palmerola) where at least 500 US troops are based, said Patricia Valle, the deputy foreign minister of Zelaya."
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Urgent Plea from Radio Progreso (my translation)  ---  http://www.quotha.net/node/218
Action Alert - A quote...."Sun, 08/16/2009 - 12:30 — AP -- Help! Our Voice, Radio Progreso and ERIC SJ -- Our Voice in the political crisis: -- Radio Progreso and the Team for Reflection, Investigation and Communication ERIC of the Jesuit community in Honduras -- Radio Progreso was placed under siege by an army contingent the very day of the coup d'etat. At gunpoint and without a warrant, the military penetrated our facilities and forced us to silence our equipment. -- On August 14th, our radio sent two of its reporters to cover the protest that the resistance front had organized in the city of Choloma, between San Pedro Sula and Puerto Cortés, in the north zone of the Honduran Atlantic. Radio Progreso would cover the events when the protesters were savagely attacked by the police contingent."
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Toppling a Coup, Part V: The Resistance Cracks the Oligarchy
  ---  http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/3371/toppling-coup-part-v-resistance-cracks-oligarchy
A quote...."It’s hard to be a pro-coup newspaper when the regime you’re trying to prop up keeps attacking your own reporters. -- Such is the evolving reality for the daily El Tiempo in San Pedro Sula, owned by one of the top families, the Rosenthals, some say the wealthiest in Honduras’ oligarchic pantheon. The Rosenthals also own TV Channel 11, Cablecolor TV network, and dozens of companies that sell insurance, construction, cement, coffee, sugar, bananas, cattle, cacao, food processing, real estate and alligator skin products."
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Honduras Front for More Resistance Actions  ---  http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=109484&Itemid=1
A quote...."Tegucigalpa, Aug 16 (Prensa Latina) The Honduras National Front against the Coup d''Etat is scheduled to meet on Sunday to discuss more civil peaceful resistance actions aimed at reestablishing the state of law in the Central American country. The meeting was convened Saturday during an anti-coup rally in Tegucigalpa."
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More On The Palestinian Situation....

CIA Trained FATAH Leadership  ---  http://irish4palestine.blogspot.com/2009/08/cia-trained-fatah-leadership.html
Must Read - A quote...."“We sat there in the Pentagon and said, ‘Who the f*@# recommended this?’?” -- Sorry to say since Obama was elected it's the SSDD (Same shit different day) scenario for America. Obama is just a taller, darker more articulate version of Bush with whiter teeth and a bigger smile to draw you in.Let's look at foreign policy since he took office. Remember before the elections he said he'd talk to all people, including Iran's president? Well, that was because he thought the little CIA/Israeli operation during the recent elections would work and he knew he'd never have to actually do it. Now he uses the Iranian elections as an excuse to not keep his election promise. Now let's look at FATAH. Corrupt, infiltrated with Israeli agents, willing to sell Palestine down the river right out to the sea, if you pay them enough and keep them in power. With accusations flying from within FATAH over Abbas involvement with Ariel Sharon in Yasser Arafat's death, and now accusations of fraud, again from senior FATAH members since the FATAH conference. And now confirmation of what we already know, the CIA is involved in controlling and assisting FATAH in order to secure a GREAT deal for Israel and a shitty deal for Palestine."
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No Health Reform for Gaza;  But Death Panels they Have  ---  http://www.juancole.com/2009/08/no-health-reform-for-gaza-but-death.html
A quote...."While Americans are debating their own health system, they are unindicted co-conspirators in an effort to degrade the health, mental and physical, and to half-starve the people of Gaza. The callousness, ruthlessness and selfishness of this policy, in which all Americans are implicated, is breathtaking. In Gaza, there really were death panels deciding who lived and died last winter, and they wore Israeli uniforms."
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Fatah’s congress followed by hollow claims of a “new beginning”  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2009/aug2009/fata-a15.shtml
A quote...."Fatah’s first congress in 20 years was proclaimed by its leader, Mahmoud Abbas, as a “new beginning.” That he was still in a position to do so is proof to the contrary."
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Former ANC leader backs study finding Israel guilty of apartheid  ---  http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=219452
A quote...."Ramallah – Ma’an – Israel is an apartheid state that should be boycotted by the international community, former South African Minister of Intelligence Ronnie Kasrils told an assembly of Palestinian rights advocates on Sunday."
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Israel Begins Sell-off of Refugees' Land  ---  http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15362
A quote...."Amin Muhammad Ali, a 74-year-old refugee from a destroyed Palestinian village in northern Israel, says he only feels truly at peace when he stands among his ancestors’ graves. --  The cemetery, surrounded on all sides by Jewish homes and farms, is a small time capsule, transporting Mr Muhammad Ali -- known to everyone as Abu Arab -- back to the days when this place was known by an Arabic name, Saffuriya, rather than its current Hebrew name, Tzipori."
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Theory of Relativity….As it Applies to Palestine  ---  http://intifada-palestine.com/2009/08/16/theory-of-relativity-as-it-applies-to-palestine/
A quote...."There was this story about a farmer who went to the judge and complained that he and his family of 8 live in a two-room crowded place.  The wise judge said I will make it nicer for you but you have to do exactly as I say. Upon agreement, he asked him to bring the chickens in the house that night.  The next day complaining about the noise and the smell, he was told to add in the two goats.  And when on the third day he complained about all the problems, he was told to add in the cow. Finally, with the situation out of control the judge told him he can take all the animals out and the farmer came back the next day to tell the judge how pleased he is because he now had so much space and the place is so clean and comfortable! "
also posted at Uruknet  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/?p=m57021&hd=&size=1&l=e
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France supports the Palestinian struggle, Barghouthi receives the legion of honour  ---  http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1041
A quote...."Ramallah, 16-08-09: In a gesture of solidarity with the Palestinian people and their just struggle and steadfastness, France offered the highest medal of honour –the legion of honour- to Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, the Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative."
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Campaign against medal winners stoked by UN-Israel Lobby liaison - posted at OnlineJournal  ---  http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_4869.shtml
  ---  http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_5022.shtml
A quote...."(WMR)  ---  http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/  ---  WMR has learned from UN sources that the campaign by the Israel Lobby in the United States to discredit former Irish President and UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson was aided and abetted by a long-time UN liaison “consultant” who has worked for both Secretary Generals Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon."
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More on the Iranian Election.....

Attorney decries 'severe' indictment in Iran trial  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=103715&sectionid=351020101
A quote...."The defense attorney of one of the post-vote detainees has described as 'severe' an indictment that charged his defendant with throwing a hand-made grenade. -- Another 25 of those arrested in Iran's post-vote protests were put on trial on Sunday in the third court session held in a Tehran."
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Iranian election statistics  ---  http://lefti.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html#1347104680498342519
A quote...."I've written a number of things about the Iranian election, but one topic I never addressed was something called the Chatham House study (pdf), a study by two researchers in Scotland which is used by critics of the election to "prove" that fraud occurred."
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On the Edge with Max Keiser - 14 August 2009 - (1/3)  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4I86viAc-k
Part (2/3)  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdChvPlmGDo
Part (3/3)  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XepQs47XaIE
Videos - (YouTube - aprx. 10 min each - August 07, 2009) - A quote...."Guest: Tyler Durden of ZeroHedge.com & other issues.
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White House appears ready to drop 'public option' - Absolutely no surprise. - mpg
  ---  http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jlMpJGn28kqCcgU-aGcYE_ZHW-ywD9A436580
A quote...."WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's administration signaled on Sunday it is ready to abandon the idea of giving Americans the option of government-run health insurance as part of his ambitious health care proposal."
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Cameron dare not copy Obama's disastrous economic policies
  ---  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/16/nassim-nicholas-taleb-economics-cameron
A quote...."You and your party may be the only hope we have for a resilient society insulated from negative Black Swans and in which everyone has the opportunity to benefit from positive Black Swans. For I despair of the Obama administration's ability to fix this financial crisis and prevent future ones. I am appalled by the dangers it has been creating and its takeover by the same economic establishment responsible for this crisis."
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Companies, Auditors, Rating Agencies and Regulators All Committed Fraud Which Helped Blow the Bubble and Sowed the Seeds of the Inevitable Crash
  ---  http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/08/companies-auditors-rating-agencies-and.html
A quote...."Everyone knows that the Fed blows bubbles. -- "But William K. Black - senior regulator during the S&L crisis, professor of Economics and Law, and an expert on white collar financial crime - says that fraud by many other companies also contribute to the bubble-and-bust cycle."
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Consumer inflation tumbles as shoppers hold back  ---  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090814/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/us_economy
Deflation Update - A quote...."WASHINGTON – Consumer prices have fallen more in the past year than in any 12-month period in nearly six decades — a huge break for shoppers but also a reminder that prices are being restrained by weak spending that's likely to slow an economic recovery."
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Last Week's Insiders Transactions: 10 Buys For $60 Million, 136 Sells For Over $1.15 Billion
  ---  http://www.zerohedge.com/article/last-weeks-insiders-transactions-1-buys-60-million-136-sells-over-115-billion
Market Alert - A quote...."Courtesy of Finviz, the ratio of insider buying to selling transactions is 10 to 136. Total transaction value: Buys: $60.1 million; Sells: $1,146 million. This compares with last week's buys for $13.4 million and sells for $1,042 million. Over $2.1 Billion in insider sales in two weeks."
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Insiders Continue to Sell, Sell, Sell  ---  http://seekingalpha.com/article/156048-insiders-continue-to-sell-sell-sell
Market Alert - Related Article - A quote...."We have to send a tip of the hat, to ultra popular finance blogger at Zerohedge.com for alerting us to the huge number of insiders who are selling off stock in their companies. -- We have noted this sort of activity over the last few months and it appears that corporate insiders are selling with increased fervor. In late April (Insiders Are Selling Into the Rally), insiders were selling at a rate of 8.3 times the amount that insiders were buying. When we revisited the issue about two months later in June (More Evidence of Skepticism from Insiders), insiders had become even more bearish as they were selling at a rate of 9 times for each insider buy. -- Now, we are nearly two months later and the ratio of sellers to buyers continues to expand. In the last week, corporate insiders sold 13.6 times more than insiders bought according to information compiled by Finviz." - underline by website editor
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Saturday August 15th 2009 - links page

Friday August 14th 2009 - links page

"These are not really "town meetings" at all, at least in the sense of the town meetings I grew up with, and started out covering as a young journalist in Connecticut--that is, meetings called and run democratically, with leaders elected from the floor, open to all residents of a community. -- These "town meetings" are really nothing but propaganda sessions run by members of Congress who are trying to burnish their fraudulent credentials as public servants, and trying to perpetrate a huge fraud of a health care bill that purports to be a progressive "reform" of the US health care system, but that actually further entrenches the control of that system by the insurance industry, and to a lesser extent, the hospital and drug industry."

Thursday August 13th 2009 - links page

"If you look carefully at the economic data that shows improvement, and correct for the impact of government outlays, it is difficult to find anything but continued deterioration in private demand and investment. What we do see is a government that has run what is now a trillion dollar deficit year-to-date, representing some 7% of GDP.  ---  That sort of tab will undoubtedly buy some amount of Cool-Aid, but it has been something of a disappointment to watch how eagerly investors have guzzled it down. It is not at all clear that short-term, deficit-financed improvement necessarily implies sustained growth in the context of a deleveraging cycle. This is like somebody borrowing money from their Uncle and then celebrating that their income has gone up."

Wednesday August 12th 2009 - links page