MPG'S DAILY RAPSHEET AND BLOTTER  ON THE "GREAT GAME"  --  08-27-09  to 09-02-09 -- links page

@ www.reficultnias.org
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Editor's note : From now on each weekly blog page will have several items culled from the past called  "9/11 - From The History File" : It's for those who didn't know, and also for those who forgot....or are trying to forget.

Editor's note - War Update, War Alert, War Warning, Red War Warning and War Imminent - refer to articles regarding the upcoming war with Iran.  In the order they appear as shown above, they  represent less serious to more serious possible threats of war. - mpg

As of 08-08-08 a new category of war warning will be included, the above warnings will have the prefix (WWIII) added to them to indicate the possible outbreak of greater hostilities. - mpg
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Wednesday September 2nd 2009 - links page

US's 'arc of instability' just gets bigger  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KI03Df01.html
Must Read - A quote...."The New Great Game is not only focused on the face-off between the United States and strategic competitors Russia and China - with Pipelineistan as a defining element. -- The full spectrum dominance doctrine requires the control of the Pentagon-coined "arc of instability" from the Horn of Africa to western China. The cover story is the former "global war on terror", now "overseas contingency operations" under the management of President Barack Obama's administration. -- Most of all, the underlying logic remains divide and rule. As for the divide, Beijing would call it, without a trace of irony, "splittist"." -- also posted at BLN  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-5445-0-27-27--.html
& RogueGov  ---  http://www.roguegovernment.com/US%27s_%27arc_of_instability%27_just_gets_bigger/17145/0/18/18/Y/M.html

The Best Congress AIPAC Can Buy  ---  http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2009/09/02/the-best-congress-aipac-can-buy/
Must Read - A quote...."Many Americans who thought that the health care debate was important must have wondered where their congressmen were in early August during the first two weeks of the House of Representatives recess.  It turns out they were not hosting town hall meetings or listening to constituents because many of them were in Israel together with their spouses on a trip paid for by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).  Fully 13% of the entire US House of Representatives, 56 members, traveled to Israel in the largest AIPAC-sponsored fact-finding visit by American politicians ever conducted."

Bush's Third Term? - You're Living It  ---  http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175109/david_swanson_the_more_things_change
Must Read - A quote...."It sounds like the plot for the latest summer horror movie. Imagine, for a moment, that George W. Bush had been allowed a third term as president, had run and had won or stolen it, and that we were all now living (and dying) through it. With the Democrats in control of Congress but Bush still in the Oval Office, the media would certainly be talking endlessly about a mandate for bipartisanship and the importance of taking into account the concerns of Republicans. Can't you just picture it?" - also posted at ICH  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23411.htm

The 16th Term: Obama's New Betrayals are Old, Old Hat
  ---  http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/1-latest-news/1831-the-16th-term-obamas-new-betrayals-are-old-old-hat.html
Special Note - Chris Floyd's take on the article shown above - mpg -- A quote...."In a new piece at TomDispatch, David Swanson and Tom Englehardt do a good job of encapsulating the continuity that has become the hallmark of our so-called Age of Change. The title says it all: "Bush's Third Term? You're Living It." It is a very thorough and detailed demolition job; but the roots of the corruption go much deeper than the current administration – or the last one."

CIA doctors face human experimentation claims  ---  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/02/cia-usa
A quote...."Medical ethics group says physicians monitored 'enhanced interrogation techniques' and studied their effectiveness."

Aiding Torture: Health Professionals’ Ethics and Human Rights Violations Demonstrated in the May 2004 CIA Inspector General’s Report
  ---  http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/library/news-2009-08-31.html
A quote...."This 6-page white paper, published August 31, 2009, after the new release of the May 2004 CIA Inspector General's report, shows that the extent to which American doctors and psychologists violated human rights and betrayed the ethical standards of their professions by designing, implementing, and legitimizing a worldwide torture program is worse than previously known."

Obama gives HUGE bonus to merc outfits like Blackwater
  ---  http://careandwashingofthebrain.blogspot.com/2009/09/obama-gives-huge-bonus-to-merc-outfits.html
A quote...."Reporting from Washington - U.S. officials are planning to add as many as 14,000 combat troops to the American force in Afghanistan by sending home support units and replacing them with "trigger-pullers," Defense officials say."

US [i.e. Obama] extends Iraq contract for Blackwater firm  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/204712
A quote...."WASHINGTON (AP) — State Department officials said Wednesday they have extended a contract with a subsidiary of the security firm once known as Blackwater USA despite the fact the company is not allowed to work in the country. -- Three officials said the contract with Presidential Airways to provide air support for U.S. diplomats was temporarily extended because the firm chosen to replace it is not yet ready to take over. The contract was due to expire on Sept. 3 and be taken over a day later by Dyncorp International."

Obama cuts pay for federal workers  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2009/sep2009/fede-s03.shtml
A quote...."Invoking the state of “national emergency” declared soon after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, President Barack Obama on Monday issued a letter to congress reducing statutory 2010 pay increases for 1.3 million workers employed by the federal government." - And the really funny thing is, probably ninety percent of these workers voted for Obama. - mpg

Obama’s poll numbers plummet  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2009/sep2009/poll-s03.shtml
One wonders why such a thing could happen (eyes rolling, arms being thrown up in the air) - mpg -- A quote...."An increasing number of public opinion polls in the US show a sharp decline in popular support for President Obama and his administration’s policies on health care, the war in Afghanistan and the economic crisis. In the nearly eight months since taking office, the euphoria that greeted Obama’s election has largely evaporated."
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US Ambassador In Pakistan Forces A Newspaper To Censor A Known US Critic
  ---  http://aq-lounge.blogspot.com/2009/09/anne-patterson-vs-shireen-mazari.html
A quote...."Finally, the Americans take their revenge. Dr. Mazari single-handedly threw cold water on Washington's plan last year to send a rabidly anti-Pakistani US army general as defense attaché to Islamabad. The Pakistani government quietly accepted the appointment. But Dr. Mazari broke the story and aborted the plan. When the new pro-US elected government seized power, Mr. Zardari's special assistant Husain Haqqani's first order of business was to fire Dr. Mazari from her official post. And now the US ambassador succeeds in blocking her column. Welcome to the Banana Republic of Pakistan where soon US ambassadors will have the right appoint presidents and prime ministers. Some say they already do."

Iraqi Journalist Detained for a Year Without Charge by US Forces Despite Iraqi Court Order to Release Him
  ---  http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/2/iraqi_journalist_detained_for_a_year
A quote...."A year ago today, US and Iraqi forces raided the home of Iraqi journalist Ibrahim Jassam, a freelance photographer working for Reuters. Soldiers seized his computer hard drive and cameras. He was led away, handcuffed and blindfolded. For the past year the US military has held Jassam without charge. Ten months ago, the Iraqi Central Criminal Court ordered his release for lack of evidence, but the US military refused to release him, claiming he was a “high security threat.” [includes rush transcript]"
||  Real Video Stream  ||  ---  http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2009/sept/video/dnB20090902a.rm&proto=rtsp&start=00:14:16
||  Real Audio Stream  ||  ---  http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2009/sept/audio/dn20090902.ra&proto=rtsp&start=00:14:16
||  MP3 Download  ||  ---  http://media.libsyn.com/media/democracynow/dn2009-0902-1.mp3
||  More…  ||  ---  http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/2/stream
For more on this issue see....US - Killing the Messenger  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/uskillingthemessenger-weblist-mpg-112907

The Next New Plan for Bananastan  ---  http://original.antiwar.com/huber/2009/09/02/the-next-new-plan-for-bananastan/
Special Note - A quote...."Our top military officer, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, still insists that Afghan civilians are the "center of gravity."  Civilian populations are never a center of gravity.  They may be a critical factor — a strength, weakness or critical vulnerability — but only to the extent that they affect political leadership, and that affect is almost always overstated.  America supposedly has the most representative form of government of any modern nation, yet even though the population has voted against war in two straight national elections, we’re still embroiled in two wars.  Afghanistan’s voting process makes the electoral systems of Florida and Ohio look honest, and it’s difficult to say where Afghan political leadership lies: with the official government or with the warlords or with whatever the loose collection of hooligans is that we refer to as the Taliban."

Warlord's Defection Shows Afghan Risk  ---  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125183668667977283.html
A quote...."HERAT, Afghanistan -- Ghulam Yahya, a former mayor of this ancient city along the Silk Road, battled the Taliban for years and worked hand in hand with Western officials to rebuild the country's industrial hub. -- Now, Mr. Yahya is firing rockets at the Herat airport and nearby coalition military headquarters. He has kidnapped soldiers and foreign contractors, claimed the downing of an Afghan army helicopter and planted bombs in central Herat -- including one that killed a district police chief and more than a dozen bystanders last month."

Top Afghan Official Killed in Suicide Bombing  ---  http://news.antiwar.com/2009/09/02/top-afghan-official-killed-in-suicide-bombing/
A quote...."Dr. Abdullah Laghmani, the second-in-command at Afghanistan’s powerful National Directorate of Security, was assassinated today in the town of Mehtar Lam when a suicide bomber attacked the mosque he was visiting. The Taliban confirmed Laghmani was the target of the attack, which killed at least 22 others and wounded 56."

Russo-Saudi Arms Deal: The Harbinger of the Middle East Power Shift?  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-5449-0-27-27--.html
A quote...."The Obama Administration is ignoring news reports that Russia is planning to sign a contract with Saudi Arabia, in which the Kingdom will receive over US $2 billion in Russian arms and military technology. Most likely, the contract will be signed by the end of this year."

Filipinos want US soldiers out  ---  http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/world-mainmenu-26/asia-mainmenu-33/1804
A quote...."Calls to renegotiate a treaty that allows U.S. troops to operate in the Philippines — or to expel the forces altogether — are growing as criticism and allegations of U.S. involvement in combat operations continue to mount."

Now It's Drought! - Mexico's Plagues  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/ross09022009.html
A quote...."Mexico has been swamped by a wave of serial plagues of biblical proportions.  First, it was the blood-curdling violence of President Felipe Calderon's ill-conceived and macabre war on the drug cartels that has taken the lives of 12,000 citizens in the past three years.  Then the economy collapsed in a calamitous whoosh plunging the country into the deepest slide since the Great Depression.  Last spring's swine flu panic garnished the fear and loathing. -- Now add drought and famine to the list of catastrophes."
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More On The Palestinian Situation....

Family of organ-theft victim wants probe  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=105140&sectionid=351020202
A quote...."The family of a Palestinian at the center of the organ-theft story in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet has called for a probe into the death of their son. -- The family of Bilal Ahmed Ghanem--the 19-year-old Palestinian killed by Israeli soldiers in1992- called on legal and human rights groups to form an independent inquiry panel to investigate the killing of their son and his missing internal organs, Xinhua reported on Wednesday."

Israeli organ harvesting? By Alison Weir  ---  http://www.creative-i.info/?p=10199
Special Note - A quote...."With all the heat engendered by the recent Swedish article, “Our sons plundered for their organs,” I feel that there is a need for some clarification and logical discussion. -- First, I’d like to alert people to additional information that we’ve just discovered: -- In June 2001 Dr. Nancy Scheper-Hughes of the University of California-Berkeley and Organs Watch testified before the House Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights. Scheper-Hughes testified that she had discovered a “multi-million dollar business” that the Israeli Ministry of Health refused “to intervene and crack down on.” She stated:"

A UN Special Focus on Gaza Under Siege  ---  http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15398
A quote...."In August 2009, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) published a special report titled: "Locked In: The Humanitarian Impact of Two Years of Blockade on the Gaza Strip." It focuses on import and export restrictions, the travel ban on "livelihoods, food security, education, health, shelter, energy and water, and sanitation." It explains how violence and human rights abuses increase the suffering of 1.5 million people."

Liberation, not a fictitious Palestinian "state"  ---  http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10748.shtml
Special Note - A quote...."From 1994 to 2006, more than eight billion US dollars were pumped into the Palestinian economy, making Palestinians the most aid-dependent people on earth, as Anne Le More showed in her important book International Assistance to the Palestinians after Oslo: Political Guilt; Wasted Money (London, Routledge, 2008). The PA received this aid ostensibly to build Palestinian institutions, improve socioeconomic development and support the creation of an independent state. The result however is that Palestinians are more destitute and aid-dependent than ever before, their institutions are totally dysfunctional, and their state remains a distant fantasy." - bold by website editor

EXACTLY THE PLAN!!  It is how Neo-Romans work, it is what they do, it is ALL they do.   ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/welcometothenewunholyromanempire-mpg-reficultnias-070809  ---  It is why the Israelis take every opportunity to bulldoze Palestinian olive trees and date palms and why they're constantly using Palestinian farmers and fisherman (see articles below) for target practice.  It's why Neo-Romans killed off the Buffalo in their efforts to eradicate the Native Americans.  This is how they think, they will deliberately, and quite thoughtfully, take twenty or thirty years to destroy a country with sanctions, bombings and terrorism just as they did to Iraq, and they'll install and support the most vicious, lawless, murderous leaders so they can eviscerate a society from within.  It is their one and only METHOD.  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/themethod-blog-mpg-050707  ---  It is who they are, it is how they make their money, it is the path they will ALWAYS follow, and they will NEVER change. - mpg

Gaza Fishermen and the Sea: Sharing a Common Sorrow  ---  http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15397
A quote...."Everyday in the news, I hear about the suffering of the Gaza fishermen - one was killed, others wounded, and the Israelis are firing on still others. And I wanted to shed a light on their pain. So I went to the main Gaza port. While I was there, I realized how sad the sea and the fishermen are. Boats are stuck and fishermen are looking at the sea with no hope."

Palestinian Children Murdered by IDF Snipers  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/?p=m57571&hd=&size=1&l=e
A quote...."Israeli snipers stationed in a watchtower on the edge of the squatter colony of Beit El near Ramallah have murdered four Palestinian Teenagers during the last 10 months. All the victims were students of the UN school for boys at the Al-Jalazun refugee camp in the occupied West Bank."

Hamas says no Palestinian elections without Gaza  ---  http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h71x7tDMELhDO75NeSs1xDUVs5EA
A quote...."GAZA CITY — The prime minister of the Hamas-led government in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday warned against holding Palestinian elections in the West Bank and not Gaza, saying it would be a "national crime."

Israel moves detained female reporter to Petah Tikva interrogation center  ---  http://www.imemc.org/article/61560
Full quote...."The Israeli Prison Authorities transferred Ghofran Zamil, a young Palestinian reporter, to the Petah Tikva interrogation facility after extending her remand for eight more days.Zamil, 26, was never allowed to meet with her lawyer, and was continuously interrogated without any legal grounds or charges. - She was kidnapped from her home in Al Sikka Street, in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, last Saturday after the Israeli army invaded the city. - At first, the army did not inform the family or the Red Cross about the location of the detained reporter, and her family appealed the Red Cross and international human rights groups to pressure Israeli into revealing further information. - Ghofran used to work as a receptionist for the Palestine Newspaper before it was shut down. -
She is the youngest of six sisters and brothers; one of her brothers was shot and killed by the Israeli army, another brother is imprisoned by Israel and a third brother was exiled in 1992." - also posted at AtheoNews   ---  http://atheonews.blogspot.com/2009/09/israel-moves-detained-female-reporter.html  --- It's like living under the Gestapo.  ---  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestapo  ---  mpg
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More on the US-NRE's Honduran Coup....

Strong Popular Rejection at Start of Electoral Campaign in Honduras  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=15012
A quote...."TEGUCIGALPA -- The campaign for the general elections on November 29 in Honduras officially began today and has been rejected by extensive social sectors opposed to the military coup that took place last June 28. -- In a communiqué released prior to the start of the campaign, the National Anti-Coup Front confirmed that staging elections without restoring constitutional order would be to legalize military violence against the state and, therefore, is unacceptable, PL reports."
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Plain Sailing – the Keynesian Way  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/clancy/clancy17.1.html
A quote...."Do you remember the old joke about a guy who jumps off a fifty-storey building? -- As he passes each floor he thinks to himself, "Well … so far so good." -- I don’t believe it’s any exaggeration to say that the US economy, and therefore the world economy, is in a very similar position. The nonsense being talked about a "recovery" and the general level of ignorance, both in and out of government, is mind-boggling."

Peter Schiff Vlog – Stock market sell-off phony recovery and Japan’s election
  ---  http://dprogram.net/2009/09/03/video-peter-schiff-vlog-stock-market-sell-off-phony-recovery-and-japans-election/
Alt  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-ztjYUte1U  ---  (YuTb 7m9s 09/01/09)
Video - A quote...."Stock market sell-off phony recovery and Japan's election."

Tax the Rich, End the Wars - How to Lower the Deficit Without Killing Social Security  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/cooke09022009.html
A quote...."The dying entity they’re after is the U.S. social safety net — Social Security, Medicare, etc. Years of waiting have finally paid off; the long awaited pretext for scavenging has arrived in the huge federal deficit. -- The day the figures were released The New York Times ran an article describing the humongous sums of debt (currently $11.7 trillion). The article’s concluding sentence was a quote from the Obama -- Administration’s Budget Office: “…the president is committed to addressing the shortfall in the Social Security system.” (August 25, 2009). Although vague, the comment lines up with Obama’s election campaign promise of “reforming entitlement programs.” Not once has he said that more resources should be diverted to them." - also posted at OhBummer  ---  http://obamboozled.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-to-lower-deficit-without-killing.html  ---  For more on this issue see....Go Build Your Neo-Roman Empire - Just Leave Us Out Of It - 10-14-07 - mpg  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/gobuildyournre-mpg-blog-101407
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Why Can't We All Just Keep Pretending?
09-02-09- revised 09-03-09
re-revised 09-06-09
 mpg

Deficits Will Matter  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north752.html  ---  When?? - mpg
A quote...."The defenders of supply-side economics have regaled conservatives with this slogan, "deficits don't matter," from the late 1970's until today. As far as I can determine, this was the only idea to come out of the supply-side movement that was ever agreed to by the mainstream Keynesians and Chicago School economists. They all agree: Federal deficits don't matter. Someday, yes, but not yet. Not now. Don't worry. Be happy."

Gary North in the middle of his article makes the point that Federal Government borrowing "crowds out" private capital, capital which could be used more productively elsewhere in the economy.  Certainly if it were a zero sum game and "capital" was limited to a fixed amount or tied to underlying collateral (real, material, assets) that would be true.

But that of course is not the case, “capital” is no longer limited to a fixed amount nor has it been for quite some time.  We’ve had from six hundred trillion to 1.3 quadrillion dollars worth of derivative contracts  ---http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/alt1-3quadrillionandcounting-blog-mpg-091808  ---    created out of thin air by the private sector in the last ten years and a completely stark raving mad Federal Reserve trying to plug up all the holes this financial crap has left in the banks' balance sheets by the Fed's own creation  ---http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-4556-0-24-24--.html  ---  (so far) of almost twenty four trillion dollars  ---  http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aY0tX8UysIaM  ---   worth of back-stops, guarantees and actual payouts  --- http://www.kitco.com/ind/Summers/sep012009.html  ---  to these financial institutions.

The gold bugs and conservative economists out there have been running around for years stating these sorts of policies are going to create inflation....but they haven't, not yet anyway. According to theory, and Mr. North, if the Fed unwinds these loans and guarantees even a little bit it will cause a massive recession, and we’re already in a bad one right now.  If the Fed forgives these loans or lets the banks just keep them, in other words “monetizes” the debt it will supposedly create massive amounts of inflation.  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/oninflationdeflation&thefed-mpg-reficultnias-081709  ---  But why can’t the Fed just keep loaning out more money?  What’s to stop them?

Obviously the dollar could suffer a severe fall (we'll assume the Fed could, and would, prop up the US-NRE's bonds by buying them continuously), but every time in the last eighteen months the US-NRE's economy started to go down hill, the US-NRE's dollar went UP, indicating foreigners, for some strange reason, like to rush toward a financial implosion rather than away from it (what some people call "safe haven buying", hah!) or perhaps the Fed's been using the derivatives market for some hanky panky regarding the dollar.

Someone, somewhere, perhaps Mr. North one day, is going to have to come up with a definitive mathematical formula as to EXACTLY how far this policy can go.  Michael Milken tried it, quite successfully for almost ten years with his junk bond scheme; the Fed is trying to do it with the US-NRE’s junk bonds and their own printing presses.  A much bigger, more impressive, much more expensive example one might say.  But why can’t the Fed just keep doing it, just keep loaning out more money to the “to big to fail” banks and other "friends of the Fed", keep rolling over all those loans at zero percent interest rates and keep backstopping everything in sight?

What's wrong with constantly higher and higher PE's in the market, as appears to be occurring?  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/chartofthedays&p500peratio-investorsdotcom-cached-060209  ---    Soon perhaps one day we'll all hear a lament from some market participants that it's been a terrible month for the market, which will be selling at an all time low of a P/E ratio of two hundred, three hundred, or even five hundred to one.

What’s wrong with another twenty four trillion dollars in loans, backstops and guarantees, or two hundred and forty trillion, or ten thousand trillion?  They're just loans, isn't that right?  If the financial titans of Wall Street can keep creating holes why can't the Fed just keep filling them up with more loans? (Also known as "moral hazard.) Why can't we all keep pretending that the banks are solvent as we’ve been doing for the last eighteen months and never ask them for the loans back any time soon, like in the next hundred years?

Theoretically, what’s to stop the Fed from carrying out a policy like that?  Or prevent the US-NRE from continuing its policy of using military power, here and abroad,  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/aneconomicchoice-empireornationstate-mpg-reficultnias-082809  ---  to force people to use these worthless financial instruments.  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/sometentativelaws-blog-mpg-072008

After some consideration this website editor has come to the conclusion that there are two factors which will stop the Fed, and all those who use the Fed as their personal piggy bank, from continuing this policy of unlimited debt and its subsequent credit/currency expansion

The first factor is the immutable law of "reversion to the mean",  ---  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_reversion_%28finance%29  ---  also know as the Market, and despite all the hidden manipulation and obfuscation by the Fed and the titans of Wall Street, the Market is still there, like an enraged, hungry,  genie, waiting to exact its revenge for being bottled up for so very long.

The second factor is fear, specifically the "prisoner's dilemma",  ---  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma  ---  or more accurately the observation that "there is no honor among thieves".  At some point one or more of the larger and more corrupt, criminal institutions on Wall Street will determine it's to their advantage to get out with their ill gotten gains before the other guy does, and that decision will set off another tsunami of financial destruction.

And the third factor is the increasing amounts of debt per capita being created on the downswings and currency/credit (from canceling debts)  per capita being created on the upswings during each "ten year cycle"  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/fedfundschart-photopg-cached-032407  ---  (Which by the way is an approximate and artificial number of years probably established by our elites to time their collective activities.  Although it has some fundamental support in that one study has shown the positive effects of wartime currency/debt expansion usually peeks after about five years - PDF.).  ---  http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/military_spending_2007_05.pdf  ---  These swings are leading to well known and increasing systemic instabilities or booms and busts which will destroy the system.

It is unlikely that the Fed will get away with this ten year cycle despite all the rosy announcements from the financial talking heads.  The massive amounts of debt the Fed is creating through its own efforts, along with its attempts to create a world lending institution through the IMF to pump more of this liquidity into the entire international system is probably not sufficient. Even if is, the subsequent wars and/or credit/currency explosion necessary to get out of the bust will be unmanageable and will lead to another subsequent crash. - mpg
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TrimTabs Estimates U.S. Lost 335,000 Jobs in August and 5.9 Million Jobs in Past Year
  --- 
Deflation Alert -- A quote...."Massive Job Losses Lead to Big Drops in Wages and Savings: Wages Fall 4.1% Year-over-Year in August, and M2 Savings Drops Record $94.6 Billion in Past Three Months SAUSALITO, Calif., Sept. 2" -- "SAUSALITO, Calif., Sept. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- TrimTabs Investment Research estimates that the U.S. economy lost 335,000 jobs in August, which is nearly 50% more than the current consensus estimate of 225,000 jobs lost.   In the past twelve months, the U.S. economy has lost 5.9 million jobs, the largest annual job loss in records dating back to 1970."

Tuesday September 1st 2009 - links page

The Brute Factory  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23409.htm
Must Read - A quote...."September 01, 2009 "Information Clearing House" -- Henry Kissinger once referred to military service people as ‘dumb, stupid animals to be used’ as tools of foreign policy. One wonders if this man of no regrets nevertheless wishes he had not vocalized what in fact has been the position of successive US governments including the present one? Madeleine Albright, after famously stating that the undisputed deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children due to hunger and easily preventable diseases during the post Gulf War I sanctions ‘were worth it’ later admitted that the statement did not have a nice ring to it. But Herr Doktor doesn’t apologise. Not for millions of deaths in Viet Nam, Cambodia, and Laos. Not for Agent Orange. Not for Operation Phoenix. Not for demanding more death in Iraq."
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Former High-Ranking Intelligence Officer: Cheney Responsible for 9/11
  ---  http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/09/former-high-ranking-intelligence.html
Must Read - Full quote...."David Steele is a former 20-year Marine Corps infantry and intelligence officer,  ---  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_David_Steele  ---  the second-ranking civilian in U.S. Marine Corps Intelligence, and former CIA clandestine services case officer. Steele has previously written  ---  http://www.amazon.com/review/R1LNNW9GMEILN5/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm  ---  that "9/11 was at a minimum allowed to happen as a pretext for war". This month, Steele went further, writing:"  ---  http://www.wedemandtransparency.com/steele.html

"Pakistan briefed Cheney [about the plans for the terrorist attacks ahead of time] …nations also got wind of this and warned the CIA. We also had two walk-ins to the FBI, one in Orlando, one in Newark, that were dismissed by the FBI because the names were all virgins and not in the FBI data base—the arrogance of stupid bureaucracy. -- Cheney saw an opportunity for what Bush called his trifecta, and gave it to him by giving the go-ahead to ISI and Al Qaeda, and ordering up a terrorism exercise that allowed him to send all relevant close-in air defense strip alert craft away from the target areas, and to disable the NORTHCOM normal response to flight path diversion."

"While the details might be open to debate, many other very high-level intelligence officers  ---  http://patriotsquestion911.com/#McGovern  ---  have said the "official" explanation for 9/11 makes no sense. And see this  ---  http://911summary.com/intel.php  ---  and this."  ---  http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/06/dick-cheney-only-had-to-delay-things.html
also posted at BLN  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-5422-0-20-20--.html
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So Now Professor Jones Agrees with Me?  ---  http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/so-now-professor-jones-agrees-with-me/
Must Read - (Check out the comments) - A quote...."For months I have been taking hits from my colleagues in the Truth movement for my stand on the Jones, Harrit, Roberts paper “Active Thermetic Material…“. -- I have stated, for the record and in no uncertain terms, that their “nano-thermetic material” could not have been what pulverized the floor systems and was probably not what was used as cutter charges." -- For more on the two articles shown above see....9/11 - NORAD   ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/911norad-weblist-mpg-091308
& 9/11 - WTC7   ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/911-wtc7-weblist-mpg-082308
& 9/11 - WTC-1&2  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/911WTC1&2-weblist-mpg-030709
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Government Withholds Key Torture Documents In ACLU Lawsuit  ---  http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/45673
A quote...."NEW YORK – The government has said it will continue to withhold dozens of documents related to the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody overseas. The Justice Department was facing an August 31 deadline to release the documents, including a presidential directive authorizing CIA "black sites" as well as CIA inspector general (IG) records and documents from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) regarding the CIA's use of "enhanced interrogation techniques," in response to two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union." - The CIA is NOT trying to hide their use of gross, brutal and medieval interrogation techniques, what they're trying to hide is their use of these techniques to fabricate lies, falsify intelligence and wring fake confessions from their prisoners to justify the Neocons' plans of world wide mayhem and murder. - 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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American Diplomats Advocated "Nuremberg Defense"  ---  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/01/american-diplomats-advoca_n_274039.html
A quote...."Two newly-obtained documents show how American diplomats during the Bush administration worked tenaciously to incorporate what is commonly known as the Nuremberg Defense into a new international convention addressing enforced disappearances."
also posted at CommonDreams  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/09/01-13
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"Phrase 'War on Terror' Returns to White House Lexicon  ---  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/01/phrase-war-terror-returns-white-house-lexicon/  ---  [It (the phrase) - like Bush himself - never really left.] 01 Sep 2009 Press Secretary Robert Gibbs may have returned the United States to the "War on Terror" -- or at least returned the term "War on Terror" to the White House glossary -- when he used the abandoned phrase Monday in response to a question about the current situation in Afghanistan. "You can't under-resource the most important part of our War on Terror, you can't under-resource that for five or six or seven years... and hope to snap your fingers and have that turn around in just a few months," Gibbs said during the daily briefing to reporters." -- Paragraph quoted form CLG  ---  http://www.legitgov.org/
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Obama White House Has Secret Plan To Harvest Personal Data From Social Networking Websites
  ---  http://nlpc.org/stories/2009/08/31/obama-white-house-has-secret-plan-harvest-personal-data-social-networking-website
A quote...."NLPC has uncovered a plan by the White House New Media operation to hire a technology vendor to conduct a massive, secret effort to harvest personal information on millions of Americans from social networking websites."
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Ganging up on Iran  - posted at Online Journal  ---  http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_4869.shtml
  ---  http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_5079.shtml
Special Note - A quote...."US President Barack Obama is beginning to get a reputation for never failing to disappoint. People everywhere shared so many high hopes for the man who promised “change,” but after seven months in office the only real change is the White House dog. As Obama’s approval ratings hover around 50 percent, he is spending most of his time struggling with the economy and trying to sell a controversial health care plan to a skeptical nation -- two very unglamorous pursuits. - On the foreign policy front, you would be forgiven for imagining that George W. Bush is still pulling the strings. No change on Afghanistan and Iraq. No closure of the US gulag in Cuba. No cessation of the CIA’s rendition program. Moreover, he’s going with the same old Middle East “road map” and the same old hostile stance toward Iran."
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Change!  ---  http://www.infiniteunknown.net/2009/09/01/change/
Charts - War Alert - False Flag Alert - Great charts, not that the "elites" care what the "people" think, of course.  Obviously it's getting around that time to boost Obama's poll numbers, and it is September after all, the markets (and soon the economy) appear to be curling over, the elites have strenuously pumped it up for the last six months selling into it all the way, therefore it's quite possible they intend to do "it" all over again.  Just like the Neocons did in 2001. - mpg -- For more on this type of "Great Game" play-call, see....The First "Red War Warning" in a Year - 07-18-09  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/thefirstredwarwarninginayear-mpg-reficultnias-071809
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As Pentagon Cancels Rendon Group Contract, US-NATO Spokesman in Afghanistan Defends Using Company to Profile Journalists
  ---  http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/1/as_pentagon_cancels_rendon_group_contract
More on the DOD's reporter profiling program cancelation - mpg -- A quote...."The Pentagon is canceling its contract with the private public relations firm The Rendon Group to produce background profiles of journalists seeking to cover the war. One journalist profiled was Nir Rosen, who got a hold of his profile. The Rendon Group reported to the Pentagon that Rosen’s reporting in Afghanistan was “highly unfavorable to international efforts." The Rendon Group profile also mentioned Rosen’s appearance on Democracy Now!, when he stated his belief that the war is unwinnable and that the US should withdraw. We speak with Col. Wayne Shanks, the public affairs officer for US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. [includes rush transcript]
||  Real Video Stream  ||  ---  http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2009/sept/video/dnB20090901a.rm&proto=rtsp&start=00:21:37
||  Real Audio Stream  ||  ---  http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2009/sept/audio/dn20090901.ra&proto=rtsp&start=00:21:37
||  MP3 Download  ||  ---  http://media.libsyn.com/media/democracynow/dn2009-0901-1.mp3
||  More…  ||  ---  http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/1/stream
For more about this issue see....US Fake Intel / Propaganda -Pentagon's Reporter Profiling Program
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/fakeintell-weblist-mpg-090206#PRPP
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Shocked, Shocked! The Pentagon Is Profiling Journalists!  ---  http://www.amconmag.com/blog/?p=2118&preview=true
Related Article - A quote...."The thing that gets me is none of this is really a surprise. The Rendon Group didn’t come out of a hole in the desert, it helped start the war. In fact its propaganda and message management work for the government goes back decades. Meanwhile, the military has put all sorts of restrictions on its official embeds and that’s why we have independent reporters who risk life and limb to get the story. The military hired a covert PR firm to plant “good news” in Iraqi papers — why wouldn’t it want to keep tabs and try to manage journalists it couldn’t outright buy or silence?"
also posted at AntiWar  ---  http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2009/08/28/shocked-shocked-the-pentagon-is-profiling-journalists/
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Wake up America: Forced vaccinations, quarantine camps, health care interrogations and mandatory “decontaminations”
http://revolutionradio.org/2009/09/01/wake-up-america-forced-vaccinations-quarantine-camps-health-care-interrogations-and-mandatory-decontaminations-2/
A quote...."The United States of America is devolving into what might be described as “medical fascism” and Massachusetts is leading the way with the passage of a new bill, the “Pandemic Response Bill” 2028, reportedly just passed by the MA state Senate and now awaiting approval in the House."
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The U.S. Is Deploying Its Vietnam-Iraq Fig Leaf  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/douglas/douglas22.1.html
Must Read  - A quote...."I and many of my colleagues wrote massively about the U.S.'s colossal mistakes in invading Afghanistan, Pakistan and surrounding areas after 9/11. The U.S. officials clearly knew nothing significant about the vast central Asian world, especially Afghanistan. The very first massive attacks – annihilating from the air much of the urban infrastructure of Afghanistan – was a splendid way to lose the hearts and minds of the masses of the people and to allow the local guerilla and narco leaders to flourish. Aligning with the Northern League was a perfect way to betray Pakistan and the vast Pashtun population of Afghanistan-Pakistan. Bribing tribal and clan leaders to put the U.S. puppet, Karzai, in power was a perfect self-goal – self-defeat. Supporting his monstrous corruption and all the rest was a splendid way to drive the stakes of rage through the hearts of the people. The daily slaughter of women and children by Predators, A-10 Hellfires, F-16 bombs and all the rest was utterly stupendous in enraging the world against the U .S. I got very tired writing essays about how insane it was to slaughter Afghan and Pakistani women and children to win hearts and minds."
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George Will's Afghanistan Moment  ---  http://atlanticwire.theatlantic.com/read-more.php?id=882
Must Read - A quote...."The conservative columnist calls for a pull-out from Afghanistan, arousing a swift and concerted denunciation from the Right. -- America's slipping fortunes in Afghanistan have caused conservatives to ally with Obama on staying the course, while liberal and moderate support for the President's war efforts have been foundering, as the Wire has covered here  ---  http://atlanticwire.theatlantic.com/read-more.php?id=862  ---  and here. ---  http://atlanticwire.theatlantic.com/read-more.php?id=792  ---  Today, George Will,  ---  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/31/AR2009083102912.html  ---  the premier tory conservative columnist in the Washington Post, breaks ranks with Republicans in a bombshell column that joins war skeptics by calling for a withdrawal of American troops:"
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Amid Massive Voter Fraud, Afghan Tribal Leaders Demand Karzai Resignation
  ---  http://news.antiwar.com/2009/09/01/amid-massive-voter-fraud-afghan-tribal-leaders-demand-karzai-resignation/
A quote...."Facing the prospect of several more weeks of counting the dubious results of August’s presidential election, Afghan tribal elders met today in the city of Kabul to demand that President Hamid Karzai resign so that an interim government could be installed to hold clean elections."
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A Little Girl in Kabul  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/09/01
A quote...."Guljumma talked about what happened one morning last year when she was sleeping at home in southern Afghanistan's Helmand Valley. At about 5 AM, bombs exploded. Some people in her family died. She lost an arm." - also posted at ICH - http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23407.htm
& Uruknet  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/?p=m57553&hd=&size=1&l=e
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On How all Hell hasn't Broken out in Iraq and the US Military doesn't Need to Stay there; or, Damn Lies and Statistics
  ---  http://www.juancole.com/2009/09/on-how-all-hell-hasnt-broken-out-in.html
Special Note - Analysis - A quote...."One of the major headlines out of Iraq today is the release of non-insurgent casualty figures for August, which are 456, as Agence France Presse reports. This was the highest monthly toll since July of 2008. I commend AFP on how it reported this story. Unlike a lot of other pieces, this one does not exaggerate the significance of August's figures and points out that there was also a surge of violence in June, when the US military was still largely in charge of security, and when 367 Iraqi civilians and members of security forces were killed."
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Outgoing IAEA Chief ElBaradei Calls Iranian Threat 'Hyped'  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23405.htm
A quote...." Jerusalem Post" -- Mohamed ElBaradei, outgoing chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has called the Iranian threat "hyped," saying there is no proof the Islamic republic will soon have nuclear weapons. -- "In many ways, I think the threat has been hyped," ElBaradei told the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in an interview released Tuesday."
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Russia: Isolating Iran no solution to nuclear issue  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=104995&sectionid=351020602
A quote...."Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov says the military option and isolation will not help diffuse tensions surrounding Iran's nuclear program."
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US/Israel Versus Iran: The Nuclear Chess Game  ---  http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15395
A quote...."Since 2003 Iran has been coerced into playing a nuclear chess game against US and Israel. Western media outlets have been playing the part of cheer leaders for the American Israeli side, preparing the observing masses for the expected American Israeli 'checkmate' move against Iran.  Not a single day passes without the description and analyses of a tactical move, with each analysis ending with the question of when, rather than if, the Israelis would bomb Iranian nuclear facilities."
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India reels under explosive nuclear charge  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KI01Df01.html
A quote...."NEW DELHI -- In an explosive revelation that may well have unsavory foreign policy repercussions, a senior official of India's premier defense organization - the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) - who played a pivotal role in orchestrating India's nuclear program during the Pokhran nuclear tests in 1998, has declared that the tests that year were a dud and not nearly as successful as projected to the world. -- The declaration by K Santhanam - remarkable as it comes from a top nuclear scientist directly associated with India's nuclear program - has stirred a hornet's nest in New Delhi."
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Abkhazia threatens to sink Georgian navy in its waters  ---  http://www.russiatoday.com/Politics/2009-09-02/abkhazia-waters-sink-georgian.html
A quote...."The Abkhazian President has issued an order for the Navy to destroy Georgian ships illegally entering the Republic’s waters."
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Abkhazia to fire upon Georgian ships violating its border  ---  http://en.rian.ru/world/20090902/155997320.html
A quote...."MOSCOW/TBILISI, September 2 (RIA Novosti) - Abkhazia's president has ordered that force be used against Georgian vessels violating the former Georgian republic's maritime border, the Abkhazian foreign minister said on Wednesday."
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Oil stirs conflict on Black Sea  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/KI02Ag01.html
Oil & Geo-Politics -- A quote...."While the European Union frets over Russian efforts to impose its energy diktat by building gas and oil pipelines on the bottom of the Black Sea, new conflicts are emerging - not over transit routes, but over rich hydrocarbon resources beneath its ancient waters."
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KYRGYZSTAN:  A New Great Game Begins  ---  http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48294
Geo-Politics -- A quote...."BISHKEK, Sep 2 (IPS) - A U.S. base located just 40km from a Russian base - it can happen in Kyrgyzstan, a new focal point in the great geopolitics of Central Asia where China and Turkey are beginning to show their cards as well."
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Germany: Big losses for the conservative CDU in state elections  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2009/sep2009/germ-s02.shtml
A quote...."The results of the three state elections held in Germany last Sunday provide a glimpse into the real state of social relations in the country."
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Something completely different in Japan  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/KI02Dh01.html
A quote...."The Democratic Party of Japan's radical pledges to boost social welfare and streamline the notoriously obstructionist bureaucracy may signal the end of post-war politics, but there are doubts the promises can be fulfilled, even if prime minister-designate Yukio Hatoyama can tame fractious elements in his party."
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Penn: The DPJ Victory and Japanese-Islamic Relations  ---  http://www.juancole.com/2009/09/penn-dpj-victory-and-japanese-islamic.html
A quote...."The thumping victory of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in the Japanese general elections is going to have a strong influence on the future of Japan’s relations with the Islamic world. The DPJ has pledged to make the US-Japan alliance an “equal partnership,” by which they appear to mean that they will no longer be content to quietly accept foreign policy directions from Washington. -- That said, the DPJ is a moderate party that believes in the importance of the US-Japan alliance, so long as it begins to function differently. DPJ leaders wish to make up their own minds about Japanese interests and then work with their American partners toward mutually beneficial solutions. Although this sounds like common sense, the reality of recent years has been that the Japanese government has consistently allowed US policymakers to determine the direction of Japanese foreign policy out of their paralyzing fear—encouraged by certain US officials and commentators—that any Japanese refusal on a major issue could lead to a weakening of the American commitment to guarantee Japan’s security in East Asia."
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US Rules Out Negotiations With New Japan Govt on Base Deal
  ---  http://news.antiwar.com/2009/09/01/us-rules-out-negotiations-with-new-japan-govt-on-base-deal/
A quote...."In a statement issued today by the State Department, the United States ruled out holding negotiations with the new Japanese government about a deal it had negotiated with the previous government to pay billions of dollars in return for a slight decrease in US troop presence on the island of Okinawa. Instead they say they hope the new officials will “moderate” their position."
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Canadian politics thrown into turmoil as Liberals quit  ---  http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/09/01/canadian-politics-thrown-into-turmoil-as-liberals-quit/
A quote...."OTTAWA — Canada’s Liberal Party withdrew Tuesday its crucial support for Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s ruling Conservatives, opening the door to a possible fourth snap election in five years next month."
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DEVELOPMENT:  Brazil, India, South Africa to Broaden "Voice of the South"  ---  http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48291
A quote...."RIO DE JANEIRO, Sep 1 (IPS) - The sixth ministerial meeting of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) forum agreed Tuesday in Brasilia to strengthen the dialogue between the three emerging powers in order to establish common positions on regional and international matters and boost South-South cooperation."
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USA Denies Visa to Wife of Cuban Antiterrorist  ---  http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=113469&Itemid=1
A quote...."Havana, Sep 1 (Prensa Latina) The US government has kept its visa denial to Adriana Perez, wife of one of the five Cuban antiterrorists jailed in the United States, falling into a violation of its own legislation."
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Venezuela Tells UNASUR Meeting, U.S. “Talking about War”  ---  http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4755
A quote...."Mérida, August 31st 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) - In a special meeting of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) on Friday to address the issue of the seven military bases in Colombia to be used by the U.S., participating countries agreed to strengthen South America as a "peace zone." also posted at OhBummer  ---  http://obamboozled.blogspot.com/2009/09/venezuela-tells-unasur-meeting-us.html
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Colombian lawmakers pass bill to allow Uribe's re-election  ---  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/02/content_11984226.htm
Oh look!  The US-NRE helps stage a coup to topple Zelaya in Honduras because they accused him (falsely) of trying to seek a third term as president. Whereas the US-NRE's swine-flu infected, death squad sponsoring, region threatening, narcotics peddling, all around thug, gets a third term to "pose" as Columbia's president so he can "service" the US-NRE's elites.  It's simply disgusting. Doesn't Latin America have any pride? – mpg  -- A quote...."BOGOTA, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Colombia's Lower House passed a bill late Tuesday aimed at allowing President Alvaro Uribe to seek a third consecutive term as the head of state. "
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Chilean judge orders arrest of 129 former soldiers, police  ---  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/02/content_11983110.htm 
Yeah, hey Cheney, you paying attention? - mpg -- A quote...."SANTIAGO, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chilean judge Victor Montiglio issued arrest warrants Tuesday against 129 former Chilean soldiers and police for human rights violations during Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship."
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More On The Palestinian Situation....

European Gullibility Is Strangling Palestine  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23402.htm
Must Read - Quote of the Day...."They [the Jews of Israel] have demanded much from the world because they suffered a holocaust over a half century ago. However, the world has paid dearly for Nazi crimes. Netanyahu would have the world pay more."
also posted at AtheoNews   ---  http://atheonews.blogspot.com/2009/08/israels-natanyahu-launches-his-latest.html
& WarInIraq  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/204635
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Rabbis Considering Ban on Selling Houses to Arabs  ---  http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/133178
A quote...."(IsraelNN.com) Hareidi and national-religious rabbis will meet Monday in Jerusalem to discuss ways of dealing with the Arab influx into Jewish neighborhoods in northern Jerusalem, as well as the purchasing of agricultural land in the Galilee by wealthy foreign Arabs."
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No halt to settlement policy: Israeli minister  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=105023&sectionid=351020202
A quote...."An Israeli cabinet minister has categorically confirmed that construction and expansion of illegal Jewish settlements in and around Jerusalem (al-Quds) will continue." -- also posted at AtheoNews  ---  http://atheonews.blogspot.com/
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Palestinain girl complains to ICC over Gaza war  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=104960&sectionid=351020202
A quote...."A 15-year-old Palestinian girl has demanded the International Criminal Court to probe into the Israeli three-week war on the blockaded Gaza Strip. -- Amira Alqerem whose family was killed in an Israeli assault on the Tal Al Hawa neighborhood in the Gaza Strip told journalists in The Hague" I am here to lodge a complaint against the occupying army".  -- also posted at WarInIraq   ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/204591
& Uruknet  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/?p=m57543&hd=&size=1&l=e
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Israel using arrests to silence Palestinian journalists  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=105022&sectionid=351020202
A quote...."The Palestinian Media Coalition has expressed grave concern over Israel's arrest of Palestinian journalists. - The PMC condemned the Zionist action after Israeli soldiers kidnapped journalist Seri Sammour on August 31 in a raid on his house in Jenin in the north of the occupied West Bank." -- also posted at AtheoNews  ---  http://atheonews.blogspot.com/2009/09/israel-using-arrests-to-silence.html
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Another Israeli War Crime - "Two Gaza militants killed by Israeli gun fire"
  ---  http://irish4palestine.blogspot.com/2009/09/another-israeli-war-crime.html
Special Note - A quote...."That's the title of this article, I have a problem with it. Firstly, why are they the militants, because they are Palestinians who dare to resist an occupying illegal force? After all, they were the ones shot at whilst walking in their own country! The "real" militant terrorists sit in tall safe watchtowers, armed to the teeth, shooting at anyone they want to, even when the person is in another country and is not threatening them in any way. Israel thinks it is allowed to kill when it merely "thinks" it may be in "danger" So, here's the logic, again this is !Zionist" logic. If I think you look suspicious I can kill you, it's "ok" because I'm a Zionist and we have no laws that govern us except our warped racist-nationalist religion and being the "chosen" ones. That's a "Get Out Of Jail Free Card"
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"YES WE CAN"... End US Aid to Israel  ---  http://careandwashingofthebrain.blogspot.com/2009/09/yes-we-can-end-us-aid-to-israel.html
Action Alert - A quote...."Why stop at just military aid? Our monthly welfare checks to that Apartheid nightmare should also cease. And all of those lucrative Pentagon contracts and DHS funds that either buys military equipment from Israel or sends our police chiefs there for hate training should be cancelled."
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More on the US-NRE's Honduran Coup....

Anti-Coup Hondurans Resist on Day 66  ---  http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=113347&Itemid=1
A quote...."Tegucigalpa, Sep 1 (Prensa Latina) Honduran people's forces and progressive parties have reached on Tuesday their 66th consecutive day of resistance against the June 28 military coup."
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Honduras: Out of the Vortex, Into the Vacuum  ---  http://www.truthout.org/083109H?n
A quote...."After returning from an intense two weeks of accompanying international delegations in Honduras, I am just beginning to realize what a vortex we were in. Back in the United States, with a few days of hindsight, I realize that the sustained repression we witnessed, culminating with an unprovoked attack on Wednesday, August 12, with hundreds of people beaten up, wounded, hospitalized, jailed and missing - had socked a powerful punch. This deliberate blow knocked everyone off their feet, which was obviously the intent of those responsible for the coup."
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Democracy is dead ... lobbyists rule America -16-point manifesto for the new 'Lobbyist Nation of America'
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/story/16-credos-for-our-new-lobbyist-nation-2009-09-01?siteid=yahoomy
Special Note- A quote...."And here's why: Ask any neuroeconomist, behavioral-finance quant, investment psychologist or other practitioner of the mysterious "science of irrationality" and they'll tell you that Americans have two self-sabotaging mental biases that killed democracy from within: "Denial" and "Magical Thinking" make us easy targets. Our brains are being manipulated by clandestine forces beyond our control. We can't see them or resist."
also posted at Creative-i  ---  http://www.creative-i.info/?p=10174
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Are we getting good Marx? I think not By William Bowles  ---  http://www.creative-i.info/?p=10152
Special Note - A quote...."I often wonder how Karl Marx would react were he to find himself here, right now? After all, he too lived through momentous and world-changing times, perhaps even more so than the changes we are experiencing, given that his was the world that gave birth to the rise of the Machine and capitalism as we know it. Born on the cusp so-to-speak and I too, was born on the cusp, 23 July, 1945, a couple of weeks before the empire showed the world that it was truly barbarian when it dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
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Fed Will Now Monetize The Most Recently Issued Agencies  ---  http://www.zerohedge.com/article/fed-will-now-monetize-most-recently-issued-agencies
Treasury Alert - A quote...."The Federal Reserve announced earlier a shift in its strategy in purchasing Agency debt, whereby it would purchase almost exclusively the most recently issued Agency paper: "
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Disappointing August SAAR Estimate  ---  http://www.zerohedge.com/article/disappointing-august-saar-estimate
Chart - Full quote...."The chart below says it all: August SAAR, estimated at 13.7 million by Citigroup economists, was slightly better than the prevailing consensus of 13.3 million, significantly below Goldman's ebullient expectation of 15.5 million, and will likely be seen as a disappointment of the impact of Cash for Clunkers. And now comes the subsidy hangover. Zero Hedge provides its September estimate of a 9.5 million SAAR, mostly as a function of at least 1.5 million auto sales having been pulled from forward periods. We would not be surprised if the actual number comes in below our estimate."
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Euro jobless rate climbs to 9.5 pct
  ---  http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Euro-jobless-rate-climbs-to-apf-3293370295.html;_ylt=AkwTegqINH6pG8MWTyAcMA27YWsA;_ylu=X3oDMTE1
dDI1YnFmBHBvcwM4BHNlYwN0b3BTdG9yaWVzBHNsawNldXJvam9ibGVzc3I-?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=6&asset=&ccode=
A quote...."BRUSSELS (AP) -- The jobless rate in the 16 nations that use the euro climbed to a new 10-year high of 9.5 percent in July despite other signs that the economy is starting to recover, the EU statistics agency Eurostat said Tuesday."
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An August Afternoon in Yellowstone - The Wolf at Trout Creek  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/stclair09012009.html
A good read - mpg -- A quote...."Two or three hundred of the shaggy beasts are crowded in the little valley. The bulls have left their normal bachelor groups and joined the big herds of cows and calves to parry each other for  preferred mates. They are antsy, kicking up dust devils that swirl around them like brown mist."
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Monday August 31st 2009 - links page

Why Not Crippling Sanctions for Israel and the US?  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23398.htm
Must Read - Why not indeed!  - Two of the biggest terrorist supporting rogue states around.  One of them, Israel who since its inception has aided and abetted mayhem and murder throughout the region, and the other, the US-NRE, who in conjunction with the Saudi Royals and Britain have spent close to a hundred billion dollars   ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/ussupportofterror-weblist-mpg-090306  ---  during the last thirty years to support every single Wahabbist, Salafist, Jihadist group out there to justify their Neo-Colonial plans for the Middle East. It appears this dynamic trio of evil and their side kick Britain are not going to stop their murderous activities until the world community stops them.....one way or another. – mpg -- A quote...."August 31, 2009 "Information Clearing House" -- In Israel, a country stolen from the Palestinians, fanatics control the government. One of the fanatics is the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Last week Netanyahu called for “crippling sanctions” against Iran. -- The kind of blockade that Netanyahu wants qualifies as an act of war. Israel has long threatened to attack Iran on its own but prefers to draw in the US and NATO." -- also posted at WarInIraq   ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/204643
& DProgram  ---  http://dprogram.net/2009/09/01/why-not-crippling-sanctions-for-israel-and-the-us/
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Duel in the Sun: America's Iraqi Clients Play the Al Qaeda Card on Syria
  ---  http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/1-latest-news/1829-duel-in-the-sun-americas-iraq-clients-play-the-al-qaeda-card-on-syria.html
Special Note - Related Article - A quote...."The American client government in Iraq has embarked on a remarkable campaign of diplomatic hostilities with its neighbor, Syria, accusing Damascus of, among other things, the modern-day blood libel that immediate[ly] consigns a nation to diplomatic hell, and makes it a target for what George W. Bush used to call "the path of action": supporting al Qaeda."
also posted at Uruknet  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/?p=m57502&hd=&size=1&l=e
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Related Article - "Iraq ministry bombers 'recently freed by US'  ---  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/6116163/Iraq-ministry-bombers-recently-freed-by-US.html  ---  The suicide bombers who killed 95 people in devastating attacks at Iraqi government ministries on August 19 had recently been released from US custody, a senior interior ministry official said on Sunday. 31 Aug 2009 The bombings in Baghdad also wounded 600 people in what was the worst day of violence to hit the country for 18 months. "The suicide bomber who blew himself up at the ministry of foreign affairs was released three months ago from Camp Bucca," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity, referring to the US jail near Basra. "The suicide bomber who blew himself up outside the ministry of finance was also released a few months ago from the same jail." [As the CLG has asserted from the get-go: Probe any major attack of terror and find: A) CIA B) Blackwater/Xe C) MI5 D) Mossad E) All of the Above.]" -- Paragraph quoted from CLG  ---  http://www.legitgov.org/
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Related Article - "Blackwater Tapped Foreigners on Secret CIA Program  ---  http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/WireStory?id=8446378  ---  Nearly a dozen Blackwater 'surrogates' were recruited to join the Blackwater-CIA death squad program.30 Aug 2009 When the CIA revived a plan to kill or capture terrorists in 2004, the agency turned to the well-connected security company mercenaries then known as Blackwater USA... The former senior CIA official said that close to a dozen Blackwater "surrogates" were recruited to join the death squad program. The recruits, the former official said, were not told they were working for the CIA. The program reportedly cost millions of dollars over an eight-year span."
Paragraph quoted from CLG  ---  http://www.legitgov.org/
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Rise Of Mercenary Armies Menace World  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-5404-0-3-3--.html
Must Read - Related Article -- A quote...."Scahill says “Domestic opposition to wars of aggression results in fewer people volunteering to serve in the armed forces, which historically deflates the war drive or forces a military draft. At the same time, international opposition has made it harder for Washington to persuade other governments to support its wars and occupations. But with private mercenary companies, these dynamics change dramatically, as the pool of potential soldiers available to an aggressive administration is limited only by the number of men across the globe willing to kill for money. With the aid of mercenaries, you don’t need a draft or even the support of your own public to wage wars of aggression, nor do you need a coalition of ‘willing” nations to aid you. If Washington cannot staff an occupation or invasion with its national forces, the mercenary firms offer a privatized alternative---including Blackwater’s 21,000-man contractor database….If foreign governments are not on board, foreign soldiers can still be bought.”
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We Need a Special Prosecutor for Blackwater and Other CIA ‘Contractors’  ---  http://original.antiwar.com/scahill/2009/08/31/we-need-a-special-prosecutor-for-blackwater/  --- 
But, we ain't gonna  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/toforgiveandforgettodenyjusticenever-mpg-reficultnias-011609  --- 
get one.  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/doitforthesakeofyourchildren-mpg-reficultnias-042609  --- 
Must Read - A quote...."Some parts of Blackwater’s clandestine work for the CIA have begun to leak out from behind the iron curtain of secrecy. The company’s role in the secret assassination program and its continued involvement in the CIA drone attacks that occur regularly in Afghanistan and Pakistan have become front-page material in the Washington Post and New York Times. There is much more to this story than has been reported publicly, and details will continue to emerge, particularly about Blackwater’s aviation division(s)."
also posted at CommonDreams  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/08/31-4
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America's Tortured Past  ---  http://obamboozled.blogspot.com/2009/08/americas-tortured-past.html
Must Read - A quote...."In response to two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits, "The government today handed over to the American Civil Liberties Union (one of dozens of documents comprising an unprecedented 130,000 previously secret pages, including) a detailed official description of the CIA's interrogation program." -- Referring to a heavily redacted December 2004 report (originally commissioned by CIA director George Tenet) detailing torture of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, it "describes the use of abusive interrogation techniques including forced nudity, sleep deprivation, dietary manipulation and stress positions." Far worse ones were understated or redacted entirely." - bold by website editor -- Far, far worse. - mpg
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Doctors had 'central role' in CIA abuse: rights group
  ---  http://www.roguegovernment.com/Doctors_had_%27central_role%27_in_CIA_abuse%3A_rights_group/17107/0/7/7/Y/M.html
Related Article - A quote...."Health professionals played a central role in developing, implementing and providing justification for torture," PHR said in its report. -- "Health professionals in the (federal government) and psychologist contractors engaged in designing and monitoring harmful interrogation techniques. Such medical participation in torture is a clear violation of medical ethics."
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Obama Administration Seeks “Emergency Control” of the Internet
  ---  http://antifascist-calling.blogspot.com/2009/08/obama-administration-seeks-emergency.html
Must Read - A quote...."You have to hand it to congressional Democrats. Mendacious grifters whose national security agenda is virtually indistinguishable from Bushist Republicans, when it comes to rearranging proverbial deck chairs on the Titanic, the party of “change” is second to none in the “all terrorism all the time” department. - While promising to restore the “rule of law,” “protect civil liberties” while “keeping America safe,” in practice, congressional Democrats like well-coiffed Republican clones across the aisle, are crafting legislation that would do Dick Cheney proud!"
also posted at Creative-i  ---  http://www.creative-i.info/?p=10136
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Dictator Obama – The Worst Is Yet To Come  ---  http://www.rense.com/general87/dict.htm
Related Article - A quote...."If it wasn’t before, the ultimate purpose of Dictator Barack Hussein Obama should now be clear to even his most die-hard fans. With Obama’s planned and now-revised “Cybersecurity Act of 2009, his inordinately broad and sweeping powers to take control of the Internet AND private networks is making its way through the Senate. The bill gives Obama’s Executive Branch the power to shut down the Internet for any reason he considers to be a “Cybersecurity emergency.” That, of course, is anything Obama decides to declare an emergency." - also posted at DProgram   ---  http://dprogram.net/2009/08/31/dictator-obama-the-worst-is-yet-to-come/  ---  For more on this issue see....Attempts to Control the Internet  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/attempttocontroltheinternet-weblist-mpg-053006
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Analysis: Obama keeps Bush nominees in top posts  ---  http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/08/31/analysis-obama-keeps-bush-nominees-in-top-posts-3/
A quote...."In what may be the top two national posts in light of today's crises at home and abroad, Obama stuck with the picks of former President George W. Bush in reappointing Fed chief Ben Bernanke and Defense Secretary Robert Gates."
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The Corruption of Empire  ---  http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=184
Must Read - A quote...."Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz predicted in 2003 that the cost of the Iraq war would be covered by Iraqi oil revenue, which would also pay for reconstruction. The Iraq war has in fact cost the United States more than $900 billion, including more than $145 billion US and Iraqi dollars for rebuilding and local contracting to support US forces. Six years of reconstruction has been a failure, with most projects unfinished or so poorly built that they have been abandoned. Water and electricity has not been restored to the level enjoyed under Saddam Hussein. Even those inclined to look on the bright side acknowledge that at least $13 billion has been lost to fraud, theft, and waste. Most would put the number much higher, possibly as much as $125 billion if one includes both American and Iraqi money."
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US Hummers Enter Pakistan, Undercover American Soldiers In Islamabad
  ---  http://aq-lounge.blogspot.com/2009/09/us-hummers-enter-pakistan-undercover.html
A quote...."A large number of US armored carriers have arrived at Port Qasim. Here are the first exclusive pictures. This adds to increased activity of armed US 'diplomats' in the two cities of Islamabad and Peshawar and the construction of the world's largest US embassy in Islamabad close to sensitive federal government departments. The PPP government and other Pakistani politicians are silently encouraging this expanded American role to counterbalance a powerful Pakistani military." - also posted at BLN  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-5411-0-13-13--.html
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Special Note - "US officials cancel contract to profile reporters   ---  http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jOsdjPm9hrow-8JbbH37XCVuXrEgD9ADTNVO0  ---  31 Aug 2009 U.S. military authorities in Afghanistan have terminated a contract with a public affairs propaganda company that was producing background profiles of reporters covering a war that's becoming increasingly unpopular with the American public. The work being done by The Rendon Group had become a "distraction to our main mission here," Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, director of communications for U.S. Forces Afghanistan, said Monday in an e-mailed statement. [What, exactly, *is* the 'mission' in Afghanistan?]" -- Paragraph quoted from CLG  ---  http://www.legitgov.org/  ---   For more about this issue see....US Fake Intel / Propaganda -Pentagon's Reporter Profiling Program  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/fakeintell-weblist-mpg-090206#PRPP
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Covering for Cheney - The Press and Torture  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/mcgovern08312009.html
Special Note - A quote...."In the last few days the Post has markedly increased its effort to “catapult the propaganda” (to borrow a phrase from former President George W. Bush).  When the wind is still, Nazi propaganda chief, Joseph Goebbels can be heard cheering from the grave. -- Frankly, I was wondering when this return to form would happen at the Post. I was surprised to see Post journalists recently losing their grip, so to speak, and falling into the practice of reporting real facts — like the sickening revelations in the long-suppressed CIA Inspector General’s report on torture." -- Ahhhh, more sordid, sick, disgusting, presstitution from that old whorehouse on the Potomac, just when are those guys down there gonna stop doing tricks for the elites, who the heck do they think they are, Jeff  --- http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4117  ---  Gannon.  ---  http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2870564  ---  mpg -- For more on this issue see....US Fake Intel / Propaganda  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/fakeintell-weblist-mpg-090206
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Anti-war groups turn against Barack Obama after Afghanistan surge
  ---  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/6116178/Anti-war-groups-turn-against-
Barack-Obama-after-Afghanistan-surge.html
A quote...."There is rising disillusion among liberals and peace activists that a president who built his campaign on his opposition to the war in Iraq now views America's other conflict as a "war of necessity". -- Mr Obama has already added 21,000 extra troops to the 38,000 stationed there by George W Bush. In the next few weeks, he is likely to receive requests from the Pentagon for more when Gen Stanley McChrystal, the US commander in Afghanisan, submits a report on the progress of the war." -- also posted at WarInIraq  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/204508
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Taliban Ready if Afghan Government Fails, Analyst Warns  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/?p=m57511&hd=&size=1&l=e
A quote...."CANBERRA (Reuters) - Afghanistan's government must fight corruption and quickly deliver services to Afghans, because Taliban militants are filling gaps and winning support to their cause, a top counter-insurgency expert said on Monday. -- The Taliban were already running courts, hospitals and even an ombudsman in parallel to the government, making a real difference to local people, said David Kilcullen, a senior adviser to U.S. commander General Stanley McChrystal." - bold by website editor -- Can't have that!!  Let's go kill some more Afghans to teach them a lesson. The US-NRE could start by bombing the hospital. - mpg
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The U.S. needs Iran and Russia  ---  http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/08/31/cole/index.html
Must Read - A quote...."Aug. 31, 2009 | There is an old saying in military affairs, that everyone wants to do strategy and tactics, but real men do logistics. That is, moving persons and materiel around and managing supplies seems tedious, but they are crucial to success. The Obama administration has substituted the Logistics of War for the War on Terror. It is moving troops and equipment and assets around in the millions, on a vast scale, and therefore its enemies -- whether the Sunni radicals in Iraq or the neo-Taliban -- are also concentrating on logistics."
also posted at ICH   ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23389.htm
& WarInIraq  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/204538
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Rocket attack destroys 20 Nato tankers at Chaman border  ---  http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=86089
Related Article - A quote...."CHAMAN: A number of Nato oil tankers were destroyed in a rocket attack near Custom House and FC Office at Pak-Afghan Border near Chaman. - According to Geo News, supplies including 1500 oil tankers which were to be transported for Nato forces came under a rocket attack near Chaman border, triggering a blaze. Twenty oil tankers were completely destroyed in the attack. - The reason for presence of such a large quantity of the equipment and vehicles at Chaman border was suspension of Pak-Afghan traffic a day earlier."
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West faces losing battle over Afghan poll fraud  ---  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6816479.ece
Special Note - A quote...."Widespread and systematic fraud during the Afghan presidential elections has tarnished the legitimacy of any future government and undermined the Nato campaign there, Western and Afghan officials have admitted."
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Karzai threw his cap down in spat with Holbrooke  ---  http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=218712
A quote...."KABUL: In a recent meeting between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and US special envoy Richard Holbrooke, Karzai reportedly whipped off his distinctive karakul sheepskin cap and slammed it onto the table where the two men were having dinner."
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US role in Colombia and Honduras sparks Latin American criticism  ---  http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/16869/
A quote...."Storm signs are up over Latin America as new tensions play out against historical memories. The great liberator, Simon Bolivar, said in 1929 that the United States is “destined by Providence to plague America with misery in the name of liberty”. Over nearly 200 years of U.S. military and economic intervention in Latin American affairs have taught the leaders, governments and peoples of the hemisphere to be on their guard."
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Colombia’s President Has Swine Flu  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/204557
A quote...."BOGOTA (AP) — Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has the swine flu and officials have advised other South American leaders who met with him at a summit of the infection, authorities said Sunday." - bold by website editor -- How utterly apropos, no sooner does Uribe invite the virus of the US-NRE's military establishment to "infect" Latin America with its so-called "endless war", then he himself literally becomes and infection and a danger, just like his government and his policies, to the rest of Latin America and its people. - mpg -- For more on this issue see....Viral-Neocons : A clinical medical diagnosis. - mpg - 05-25-06  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/viralneocons-essay-mpg-052606
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Chavez Starts International Tour  ---  http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=113091&Itemid=1
A quote...."Caracas, Aug 31 (Prensa Latina) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is starting in Libya, on Monday, a tour of northern Africa, the Middle East and Europe, to fulfill political and economic objectives and strengthen the Revolution he has been leading since 1999."
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Mexican Senate swears in first ever left-wing leader  ---  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/01/content_11977605.htm
A quote...."MEXICO CITY, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- The first left-winger to lead Mexico's upper legislative house, the Senate, took office on Monday with a speech that committed the body to pushing for more security and a better economy. -- "We all have the responsibility to take action to contribute to an exit to this crisis and a return to development, for the executive to assume its responsibility in security, and for Mexicans to assume the full use of the rights," said Carlos Navarrete Ruiz."
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Hatoyama vows distance from US-style capitalism  -- Heads up folks, what the US-NRE has ain't "capitalism"
  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=104871&sectionid=351020406
A quote...."Japan's new Premier-in-waiting Yukio Hatoyama has vowed to pursue new politics that would take Tokyo away from the 'excesses of US-style capitalism'. [Wow!] -- Hatoyama, 62, who is expected to announce a transition team on Monday, said that he wanted 'Japan to be more independent'. [Double Wow!] -- The winner of Sunday's general elections emphasized that he would distance Japan from 'US diplomatic policies'. [Triple Wow!] --
The new Japanese new prime minister is said to be a strong critic of what he calls Tokyo's 'subservient position to Washington'. [Oh, Oh, we're gonna be bombing Tokyo.] - mpg - also posted at AtheoNews  ---  http://atheonews.blogspot.com/2009/08/hatoyama-vows-distance-from-us-style.html
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BRAZIL:New Law Would Put Oil Revenue into Development -- Instead of foreigner's pockets, what a great idea.
   ---  http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48281
A quote...."RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 31 (IPS) - On what he referred to as "a new independence day for Brazil," President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced Monday proposed new legislation that would increase state control over the management of the country's enormous offshore oil finds, with the aim of channeling much of the state's oil revenue into a national social fund."
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More On The Palestinian Situation....

Israeli Bodysnatchers - Story Puts Israeli Government in Frenzied Denial Mode  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/shaaban08312009.html
Special Note - A quote...."The investigative report written by Swedish journalist Donald Boström and published in Sweden’s largest newspaper Aftonbladet about Israeli occupation forces killing Palestinians with the objective of stealing their organs has raised a political and media storm in Israel, disclosing up a horrible crime perpetrated for years under the full gaze of the ‘free’ world.   These criminal acts began in 1992 when Palestinians started to witness a sharp rise in the number of young Palestinians disappearing and of bodies of Palestinians killed by occupation forces being returned with organs such as hearts, kidneys, livers and eyes missing." --  "Stealing" their organs is one thing and a monstrous act in and of itself, picking out Palestinian teenagers to murder them for their organs is a completely different story.  There is ample evidence of Israeli theft of organs, and it's beginning to look like even worse crimes than that may have been committed.  In either case the International Community and the EU's governments will have to act to maintain any credibility whatsoever with their citizens. If the article shown above is in any way borne out by the evidence however, there will have to be immediate legal actions taken against everyone involved; there will have to be a reckoning. - mpg -- see also a relevant quote shown below....

"We are the wealthiest one percent. Do you not know you are a commodity? You are a product? You function only to provide a service; you exist only to be a worker unit, a sex unit, a killer unit, a consumer unit, even an organ donation unit?  One of the more profitable trades from the former Yugoslavian republic while it broke apart was the export of human organs to the United States.  It was only fitting that those with less money should serve us so. We deeply regret that the Iraqis bury their dead so quickly, we could have become a much closer people if this weren’t their custom. Such a sad waste of a good resource is anathema to us. Would it not be more fitting if, as we killed them for their oil, we used their very organs to prolong our lives?" -- quoted from *The Wealthiest One Percent – The Spirit of Liberal Capitalism - mpg - posted 12-15-05 to 12-30-05*  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/thewealthiestonepercent-essay-mpg-121505
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Message to President Obama and Americans with a Conscience  ---  http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15391
Quote of the Day -- "There comes a time comes when silence is betrayal...History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims...We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Cowardice asks the question: is it safe? Expediency asks the question: is it politic? Vanity asks the question: is it popular? But conscience asks the question: is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular- but one must take it simply because it is right.’ -- *Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.*
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Scott Horton Interviews Eugene Bird  ---  http://antiwar.com/radio/2009/08/29/eugene-bird/
Audio Interview - Special Note - A quote...."Eugene Bird, president of the Council for the National Interest Foundation, discusses Obama’s leaked plan for a Palestinian state, evictions and house demolitions in non-Jewish areas of East Jerusalem, increasing agreement among foreign policy elites that Israel must make concessions and how Iran’s nuclear issue is exaggerated by Israel to divert attention away from the Palestinian issue."
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Not one penny has reached Gaza  ---  http://atheonews.blogspot.com/2009/08/not-one-penny-has-reached-gaza.html
A quote...."JERUSALEM // It has been six months since the international community pledged nearly US$5 billion (Dh18bn) in aid to the Palestinian people, chiefly for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip after Israel’s devastating offensive there this year. -- None of this aid has reached Gaza and no reconstruction has started." -- also posted at Uruknet  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/?p=m57508&hd=&size=1&l=e
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15-year-old boy killed by Israeli troops, three others injured  ---  http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=222750
A quote...."Ramallah – Ma'an – A 15-year-old boy died early Tuesday morning from wounds sustained after he was shot by Israeli soldiers overnight, Palestinian and Israeli officials confirmed."
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Bil’in: Israeli military night raid  ---  http://www.tadamon.ca/post/4536
A quote...."Around 3:30 am, the Israeli occupation forces invaded Bil’in once again arresting 2 Palestinians. -- Two houses were raided simultaneously by at least 40 soldiers. In the first house, Ashraf Mohammad Jamal Tofik Al-Khatib (age 29) was arrested. In the second house, they arrested Hamru Hisham Bornat (age 24)."
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Palestinian fisherman wounded, boat burnt by Israeli shell  ---  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/31/content_11972523.htm
A quote...."GAZA, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Israeli navy set fire to a Palestinian fishing boat off Gaza shore on Monday morning, injuring a fisherman, Palestinian sources and witnesses said. -- The fire was caused by a shell fired by an Israeli gunboat, the sources said. -- Hamas ministry of agriculture said the fisherman was moderately burned and his colleagues succeeded in taking him out to the hospital."
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Gaza-bound goods stuck at the border  ---  http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10745.shtml
The Israelis just can't let those Palestinians do business and make a shekel fair and square to put food on their family's table. One would guess it's how the Israelis really like to do "business". - mpg -- A quote...."GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - Abu Abed can't make a profit, and although 54 years old, he still has not married. "I can't pay my rent, I can't afford a wedding."
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We made it to Gaza on 23rd August 2008, 29 August 2009
  ---  http://www.freegaza.org/en/home/video-freegaza/1066-video-free-gaza-we-made-it-to-gaza-on-23rd-august-2008-29-august-2009
Video Free Gaza - Action Update - A quote...."We will return. We will come back. We will never forget. -- A year ago, 23rd August 2008, 44 of us saw the coastline of Gaza in the distance, after 30 hours of traveling across the Mediterranean Sea. We were jubilant. We had made it to Gaza. We had actually made it to Gaza. We had really, really made it to Gaza.
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Jordan Boycotts Israel  -- It's spreading like wildfire folks!  Join the boycott, spread the word, tell your friends.
   ---  http://irish4palestine.blogspot.com/2009/08/jordan-boycotts-israel.html
Action Alert - A quote...."The Jordanian Engineers Association, 70,000 members strong, has called for a boycott of Israel in a very smart and accurate way. The President of the association has issued a statement and the logic used is absolutely brilliant. Abdullah Obeidat quite rightly says that all the members should not fall for the "hasbara" tourist agencies are using in their package deals to visit "holy places" He points out that ALL the holy places are under Israeli occupation, including the ones in the Palestinian territories... CORRECT. He also points out that to sign up for these tours you must gain "approval" from the Israeli embassy in Jordan. By doing so, this is an acceptance of the Israeli occupation of those Palestinian territories....CORRECT." -- For more on how to boycott Israel see the upper-left-corner of the "Front Page"  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/  ---  of this website. - mpg
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More on the US-NRE's Honduran Coup....

Toppling a Coup, Part VII: A School of Leaders in Honduras
  ---  http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/3399/toppling-coup-part-vii-school-leaders-honduras
A quote...."AUGUST 30, 2009, LA CEIBA, HONDURAS: Scratch the surface of the de facto Honduran coup regime and its architects can’t help but demonstrate, again and again, that one of its unspoken reasons to exist is their unbridled racism toward considerable sectors of the national and international community."
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Honduran elections to worsen political crisis: Zelaya  ---  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/01/content_11976388.htm
A quote...."uring an interview with the Honduran radio "Radio Globo," Zelaya said in neighboring Nicaragua that "the democracy is in grave damage, and the elections will be held in a repression environment where the president was ousted by forces."
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More on the Iranian Election.....

Iran News Agency Reports Prisoner Died of Abuse
  ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/world/middleeast/01iran.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
A quote...."CAIRO — In what may be the first admission that a prisoner died from abuse by Iranian prison authorities in the wake of post-election unrest, a semiofficial news service reported Monday that the son of an adviser to a prominent conservative politician had died of “physical stress, conditions of imprisonment, repeated blows and harsh physical treatment.”
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Go to Pittsburgh, Young Man, and Defy Your Empire  --- http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090831_hedges_pittsburgh_g20_defiance/
A quote...."Globalization and unfettered capitalism have been swept into the history books along with the open-market theory of the 1920s, the experiments of fascism, communism and the New Deal. It is time for a new economic and political paradigm. It is time for a new language to address our reality. The voices of change, those who speak in powerful and yet unfamiliar words, will cry out Sept. 25 and 26 in Pittsburgh when protesters from around the country gather to defy the heads of state, bankers and finance ministers from the world’s 22 largest economies who are convening for a meeting of the  G-20. If we heed these dissident voices we have a future. If we do not we will commit collective suicide."
also posted at ICH ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23394.htm
& CommonDreams  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/08/31-0
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Liquidity to Keep the Financial System from Collapsing in a Heap  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14971
Must Read - A quote...."Ben Bernanke never should have been reappointed as Fed chairman. Obama made a big mistake. The main thing to remember about Bernanke is that, in the two years since the financial crisis began, he's made no effort to force the large banks and financial institutions to write-down their losses. Nor has he pushed for the regulations that are needed to restore confidence in the system. The credit system is still clogged because the banks are buried under $1.5 trillion in toxic assets and non performing loans which are defaulting at the fastest pace on record. At the same time, Bernanke has failed to push for reform of derivatives trading, off-balance sheet operations, securitization or capital requirements for financial institutions. The good news is that Bernanke has demonstrated great creativity in providing sufficient liquidity to keep the financial system from collapsing in a heap. The bad news is that the core problem is not liquidity at all, but solvency. A good portion of the banking system is underwater. That's why Bernanke's actions have been a complete flop." -- For more on this issue see....An Economic Choice - Empire or Nation State - 08-28-09 -  mpg
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/aneconomicchoice-empireornationstate-mpg-reficultnias-082809
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Back to Voodoo Economics and the "Green Shoots Recovery"  ---  http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_56805.shtml
A quote...."The much vaunted “green shoots” of recovery phrase coined by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and hailed by the corporate media, began to break out into the sunlight during a period of soaring unemployment, collapsing house prices, foreclosures, falling consumer purchases and disastrous consumer confidence levels. This is without mentioning the 81 banks which have failed in the U.S. already in the first 8 months of this year."
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Fed, Treasury fear mass commercial property foreclosures
  ---  http://www.smartbrief.com/news/nareit/storyDetails.jsp?issueid=26924184-7706-4CF6-B387-FD0E88214AC9&copyid=
BFB72875-D39D-4813-AE05-823E24869BDC
Full quote...."The perilous state of many CMBS issues has Federal Reserve and Treasury officials searching for ways to prevent widespread foreclosures on commercial real estate mortgages. In some cases, lenders can keep a lid on distressed commercial property loans made directly to borrowers and held directly by the lender by extending the debt so long as the underlying properties generate sufficient cash flow to cover the debt service. But because of the way they are structured, it is extraordinarily difficult to do this with loans tied to CMBS issues. Wall Street Journal, The (08/31) "
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Saturday August 29th 2009  - links page

No posts. - mpg

Friday August 28th 2009 - links page

The Silence of the Antiwar Movement is Deafening - Cindy Sheehan's Lonely Vigil in Obamaland
  ---  http://www.counterpunch.com/walsh08262009.html
Must Read - A quote...."A funny thing has happened on Cindy Sheehan’s long road from Crawford, Texas, to Martha’s Vineyard.   Many of those who claim to lead the peace movement and who so volubly praised her actions in Crawford, TX, are not to be seen.    Nor heard.  The silence in fact is deafening, or as Cindy put it in an email to this writer, “crashingly deafening.”  Where are the email appeals to join Cindy from The Nation or from AFSC or Peace Action or “Progressive” Democrats of America (PDA) or even Code Pink?   Or United for Peace and Justice. (No wonder UFPJ is essentially closing shop, bereft of most of their contributions and shriveling up following the thinly veiled protest behind the “retirement” of Leslie Cagan.)   And what about MoveOn although it was long ago thoroughly discredited as principled opponents of war or principled in any way shape or form except slavish loyalty to the “other” War Party.  And of course sundry “socialist” organizations are also missing in action since their particular dogma will not be front and center.  These worthies and many others have vanished into the fog of Obama’s wars." -- also posted at ICH  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23379.htm
 & WarInIraq  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/204643
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Big Brass Bull: Pentagon Deceit on Media Manipulation Confirmed  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23379.htm
Must Read - A quote...."A few days ago, we noted the revelations by Stars and Stripes that the Pentagon was using a shadowy PR firm to identify the political leanings of journalists trying to cover the "Good War" in Afghanistan (as well as the "Forgotten War" in Iraq). The idea, clearly, was to encourage and reward "pro-war" reporters while planting a big red flag on the backs of any writers considered less than gung-ho about the imperial bloodshed in Muslim lands. -- Naturally, the Pentagon denied that the vetting program operated by the Rendon Group – which was hired by the Bush gang to help instigate the mass murder in Iraq – was in any way a sinister, slimy attempt to manipulate the news in order to make the endless slaughter of the Terror War more palatable for the folks back home. Perish the thought! declared the brass. Why, goodness mercy me, the only aim of the program is to help reporters tell the truth, and let the chips fall where they may." -- For more on this issue see....US Fake Intel / Propaganda - Pentagon's Reporter Profiling Program
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/fakeintell-weblist-mpg-090206#PRPP
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Pentagon Hires Rendon Group to Profile and Rate Journalists Covering Afghanistan War
  ---  http://www.democracynow.org/2009/8/28/pentagon_hires_rendon_group_to_profile
Special Note - Related Article -- A quote...."The US Army in Afghanistan has admitted it pays a private company to produce background profiles on journalists covering the war. The Pentagon has been on the defensive ever since the Army newspaper Stars and Stripes revealed this week that journalists were being screened by the Washington-based public relations firm, the Rendon Group, under a $1.5 million contract with the military. Documents obtained by the paper reveal journalists were evaluated with pie charts breaking down their coverage into percentages of “positive,” “neutral” or “negative.” [includes rush transcript]" - ||  Real Video Stream  || --- http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2009/aug/video/dnB20090828a.rm&proto=rtsp&start=00:14:10
||  Real Audio Stream  ||  ---  http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2009/aug/audio/dn20090828.ra&proto=rtsp&start=00:14:10
||  MP3 Download  ||  ---  http://media.libsyn.com/media/democracynow/dn2009-0828-1.mp3
||  More…  ||  ---  http://i2.democracynow.org/2009/8/28/stream
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Hey NY Times, How About the "Palestinian Hanging" Torture? -- http://obamboozled.blogspot.com/2009/08/hey-ny-times-how-about-palestinian.html
Must Read - A quote...."It's pretty clear the media strategy in this torture thing is to limit the coverage to the more milquetoast-ee tortures like pouring cold water on guys and making it look like they were trying to be careful about it. This is why newspapers are losing circulation and going under: there's no news. The Internet has emerged the supreme source of information. Why pay for a paper when I can find out a lot more at work surfing [the web]..."
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Newly Released E-Mails Reveal Cheney Pressured DOJ to Approve Torture  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14944
A quote...."Dick Cheney and his lawyer, David Addington, pressured the Department of Justice in 2005 to quickly approve a torture memo that authorized CIA interrogators to use a combination of barbaric techniques during interrogations of “high-value” detainees, despite protests from ormer Deputy Attorney General James Comey, according to several of his e-mails released over the weekend."
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AFGHANISTAN: Seven years after CIA abduction, prisoner still held without charge
  ---  http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2009/08/afghanistan-.html
A quote...."Seven years after being abducted from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, by the CIA and shipped to the U.S. air base in Bagram, Afghanistan, Haji Pacha Wazir was hoping he would finally be free. -- The Afghan government had cleared him for release, and a recent court ruling allowed him to petition his case in a U.S. federal court. -- But Wazir's petition was dismissed based on "lack of jurisdiction," despite the fact that Wazir, an Afghan national, has been in the sole custody of the U.S. government since his arrest, according to the nonprofit organization representing him."
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DOJ May Skirt Court Order on Interrogation Documents
  ---  http://washingtonindependent.com/57079/skirting-court-order-doj-may-withhold-interrogation-documents
Special Note - A quote...."In Response to ACLU Lawsuit, Federal Judge Ordered Files Released by Aug. 31 -- The Obama administration may circumvent the spirit of a judge’s order to disclose hundreds of documents relating to the CIA’s Bush-era interrogation program, delivering instead generic descriptions of the documents and legal arguments for continued nondisclosure." -- 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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Like Bush, Obama to search laptops  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=104714&sectionid=3510203
A quote...."Obama follows Bush's footsteps by upholding a controversial law that allows the government to examine the contents of digital devices travelers carry, crossing the US border."
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Bill would give president [Obama] emergency control of Internet  ---  http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10320096-38.html
A quote...." Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed  ---  http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10200710-38.html  ---  this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed  ---  http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:s.00773: ---  handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet. -- They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt),http://www.politechbot.com/docs/rockefeller.revised.cybersecurity.draft.082709.pdf  ---  which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency."
also posted at OhBummer  ---  http://obamboozled.blogspot.com/2009/08/obama-regime-seeks-emergency-control-of.html
& Uruknet  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/?p=m57463&hd=&size=1&l=e
For more on this issue see....Attempts to Control the Internet
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/attempttocontroltheinternet-weblist-mpg-053006
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Between the Lies (2009)  ---  http://www.archive.org/details/Between_the_Lies  ---  (Archive Adobe flash10 - 32 min 33 sec - 2009)
Video - Special Note - A quote...."Composed almost entirely of news broadcasts from 9/11, 9/12 and 9/13, the film shows the media lies that stuck with the public and more importantly, the truths that were quickly forgotten."
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'Saudi, al-Qaeda helping Yemen fight Houthis'  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=104784&sectionid=351020206
Special Note - Just to remind all you Neocon supporting Obamatrolls out there, fifteen out of ninteen  ---  http://www.asecondlookatthesaudis.com/  ---  of the hijackers (patsies) who "participated" in 9/11 were Saudi citizens and for the last THIRTY YEARS  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/ussupportofterror-weblist-mpg-090306  ---  the US-NRE, Britain and the Saudi Royals have supported "al-Qaeda" elements, and in fact they still continue to do so (albeit much more circumspectly) to this very day, but if you folks out there want to keep pretending.... well you just go right ahead.  But please, no more whining or crying when "your" (hah, that's a laugh) government launches or helps to conduct another false-flag attack.  To everyone in the US-NRE who supports this farcical kubaki play, really, please, the entire world has had enough of your pretend act, it's truly boring and you're not fooling anybody anymore. -- A quote...."Saudi Arabia and al-Qaeda are helping the Yemeni government in its crackdown on Houthis, a dissident Yemeni lawmaker says. -- "In recent months [Yemeni President] Ali Abdullah Saleh has taken many recruits of al-Qaeda who were afraid of falling into the hands of their regimes in countries like Egypt, Somalia, Pakistan and Afghanistan. His plan was to use these fighters from al-Qaeda to battle the Houthis in Saada," Yahya al-Houthi told Press TV on Saturday."
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9/11 - From The History File...A Second Look at the Saudis
  ---  http://www.asecondlookatthesaudis.com/
9/11 Report: “Incontrovertible Evidence” that Saudi Gov’t Supported Hijackers...
  ---  http://www.democracynow.org/2003/7/25/9_11_report_incontrovertible_evidence_that
||  Real Audio Stream  ||  ---  http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/old/dn20030725.ra&start=00:09:36
||  MP3 Download  ||  ---  http://www.archive.org/download/dn2003-0725/dn2003-0725-1_64kb.mp3
||  More…  ||  ---  http://www.democracynow.org/2003/7/25/stream
Why bin Laden plot relied on Saudi hijackers
  ---  http://www.boston.com/news/packages/underattack/news/driving_a_wedge/part1.shtml
UQ Wire: Tracking All Hijackers (LIHOP Series)
  ---  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0302/S00218.htm
How the FBI protected Al Qaeda’s 9/11 Hijacking Trainer
  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=3422
Alhazmi and Almihdhar the 9/11 Hijackers - database
  ---  http://s3.amazonaws.com/911timeline/main/essaykhalidandnawaf.html
The Saudi-9/11 Connection  - book review
  ---  http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/11/21/05155.shtml
9/11 Hijacker's Cousin Accused of Spying for Israel
  ---  http://www.drudge.com/archive/118027/911-hijackers-cousin-accused-spying
Bush Won't Reveal Saudi 9/11 Info
  ---  http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/30/world/main565782.shtml
Bush Admits ‘Majority’ of 9/11 Hijackers Were Saudis
  ---  http://www.pensitoreview.com/2008/01/16/bush-admits-majority-of-911-hijackers-were-saudis/
Poll Shows 89% of the Americans Think 9/11 Hijackers Were Iraqis;
  ---  http://www.theassassinatedpress.com/adiodi3.htm
Tracking the 19 Hijackers What are they up to now? - database - photos
  ---  http://www.welfarestate.com/911/
Hijackers Alive And Well
  ---  http://911review.org/Wiki/HijackersAliveAndWell.shtml
Hijack 'suspects' alive and well
  ---  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1559151.stm
Most 9/11 Hijackers Have Middle-Class Backgrounds - timeline
http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?the_alleged_9/11_hijackers=otherHijackers&timeline=complete_911_timeline
Visas that Should Have Been Denied - A look at 9/11 terrorists’
  ---  http://www.nationalreview.com/mowbray/mowbray100902.asp
State Dept. Lapses Aided 9/11 Hijackers
  ---  http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=130051&page=1

For more on this issue see....US Support of Terror - The Hijackers -- Updated
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/ussupportofterror-weblist-mpg-090306#THEHIJACKERS
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Charles Burris: Teaching Real History Instead of Government Lies
  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/podcast/?p=episode&name=2009-08-28_125_teaching_real_history_instead_of_government_lies.mp3
Must Listen Audio Interview - A quote...."Lew Rockwell interviews Charles Burris"
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Lockerbie bomber wants to clear his name  ---  http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=536759
A quote...."The man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing has declared he would cooperate with a public inquiry into his case and would provide evidence of his innocence."
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Fury at Nato's Afghan clinic raid  ---  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8227275.stm
A quote...."A member of the Afghan parliament has criticised a Nato air strike on a clinic where a Taliban leader was being treated for his injuries."
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Tensions Rise as Thousands of Fraud Allegations Hit Afghan Vote
  ---  http://news.antiwar.com/2009/08/28/tensions-rise-as-thousands-of-fraud-allegations-hit-afghan-vote/
A quote...."Tensions between the Karzai government and the US are growing by the minute, and there were reports of “sharp exchanges” between the Afghan president and US ambassador Richard Holbrooke in a meeting about vote-rigging in last week’s election. The US insisted, however, that no one actually stormed out of the room."
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Abdullah Will not Accept Karzai Victory; Ethnic Conflict could Flare; Pentagon using Rendon to Vet Journalists
  ---  http://www.juancole.com/2009/08/abdullah-will-not-accept-karzai-victory.html
A quote...."Abdullah Abdullah, the leading rival to incumbent Hamid Karzai in the Afghanistan presidential elections, told a gathering of hundreds of his campaign workers from the southern provinces that he would not accept an outright victory by Karzai as legitimate.  With 35% of the votes counted, Karzai has a little over 46%, with Abdullah trailing at 31%. Karzai needs 50% to avoid a run-off, though the Afghan press thinks that outcome is increasingly unlikely. But if his luck turns up in the remaining ballots, Karzai could find himself facing a major rebellion."
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In southern Afghan city, fears of Taliban takeover  ---  http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/world/2009/08/27/D9ABF3IG0_as_afghan_fearful_city/
A quote...."Aug 27th, 2009 | KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Southern Afghanistan's largest city, Kandahar, is slipping back under Taliban control as overstretched U.S. troops focus on clearing insurgents from the countryside -- a potentially alarming setback for President Barack Obama's war strategy." -- also posted at Uruknet   ---  http://uruknet.com/?p=m57397&hd=&size=1&l=e
& WarInIraq  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/204371
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US Irked as Pakistan Stalls South Waziristan Offensive  ---  http://news.antiwar.com/2009/08/28/us-irked-as-pakistan-stalls-south-waziristan-offensive/
Quote of the Day -- "Officials 'Alarmed' by reports [Afghan] govt may seek peace deal with some factions" -- OH MY GAWD!!  PEACE COULD BREAK OUT!!  And of course the US-NRE is "irked" about the whole thing, we certainly can't have that now can we?  Let us therefore as the world's newest Unholy Roman Empire confront head on this deadly, albeit slim, prospect of "peace" breaking out and together go forth and help cause the deaths of another million innocent people.  On the other hand we surely don't want to take the smallest chance of the US-NRE becoming "irked" or even (gasp!) "vexed" about the situation, perhaps, to err on the side of caution we should make it two million deaths, millions of injured along with some brand spanking new, handy dandy, torture/snuff videos thrown in for the viewing pleasure of our elites.  A dozen videos should suffice....maybe that will calm the US-NRE's blood lust down a bit untill its next killing frenzy. - mpg
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The U.S. Invades and Occupies Pakistan  ---  http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_56799.shtml
A quote...."We are watching it happen in the streets. The recurring nightmare has become a grim, new reality for the people of Pakistan. After watching the horrors of the U.S. invasions and occupations of Iraq and neighboring Afhanistan for 8 years, the "war on terror" has finally arrived in The Land of the Pure. Obama is fulfilling his campaign promise to Pakistan. The sudden arrival of U.S. marines, U.S. military Hummers, the hired killers of Blackwater, houses barricaded for U.S. personnel in Islamabad and the construction of the world's largest U.S. "Embassy" are terrorizing this nation of 180 million people. The U.S. slaughter and destruction in Iraq and neighboring Afghanistan for the last 8 years warn them of what may lie in store for them, their families, their land."
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Gen. McChrystal Seeks 20,000 More Troops for Afghanistan
  ---  http://news.antiwar.com/2009/08/28/gen-mcchrystal-seeks-20000-more-troops-for-afghanistan/
A quote...."According to a report in the Saturday edition of the Independent, top US commander in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal will request another 20,000 troops for the war effort in Afghanistan, on top of the escalation already provided by President Obama, when he issues his new “plan” for the nation."
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US Denies Combat Operations in Philippines  ---  http://news.antiwar.com/2009/08/28/us-denies-combat-operations-in-philippines/
A quote...."US officials today say that in spite of previous claims from a retired Philippine Navy lieutenant, the hundreds of US troops on the ground in the Southern Philippines are not actually involved in combat operations, but are merely there for temporary training of the Philippine soldiers."
also posted at OhBummer  ---  http://obamboozled.blogspot.com/2009/08/us-denies-combat-operations-in.html
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The Militarization of Latin America  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14935
A quote...."The UNASUR summit in Bariloche, Argentina will have to face two grave problems weighing heavily on Latin America: the military coup in Honduras and the militarization of the region as a result of the installation of not one but seven U.S. military bases in Colombia."
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Iraqi who threw shoes at Bush to be released early - Three Cheers for Muntadhar al-Zeidi!! - mpg
  ---  http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/45580
A quote...."BAGHDAD – An Iraqi journalist imprisoned for hurling his shoes at former President George W. Bush will be released next month after his sentence was reduced for good behavior, his lawyer said Saturday."
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As US fades, Iran ups the ante in Iraq  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KH29Ak03.html
A quote...."In the chaos following the disputed June presidential elections in Iran, journalist Spencer Ackerman reported that the administration of United States President Barack Obama "insisted that it would not interfere with the struggle for power between regime-backed President Mahmud Ahmadinejad and the thousands of demonstrators who contend the election was stolen".
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Iran Likely to Connect High Pressure Gas Pipeline Network to Iraq, Pakistan, Kuwait  ---  http://english.farsnews.net/newstext.php?nn=8806080710
A quote...."TEHRAN (FNA)- The Managing Director of Iran's Oil Transportation Company Reza Almasi said the country is likely to connect its nationwide high pressure gas pipeline network to Iraq, Pakistan and Kuwait."
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America's deepening inferiority complex begins to bite Russia  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14945
A quote...."As the US beats a path through a social, political and economic forest of epic proportions, is it mere coincidence that news stories on Russia are becoming more hostile than ever? -- Strangely, the end of the Cold War did not significantly alter the Western media’s perceptions of Russia. In fact, the collapse of communism seems to have forced the American media establishment to dish out the dirt on Russia with more gusto than ever before."
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Uruguay Nixes Foreign Military Bases in SouthAm  ---  http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=112562&Itemid=1
A quote...."Bariloche, Argentina, Aug 28 (Prensa Latina) Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez rejected on Friday the presence of foreign military bases in South America, and urged to resolve the differences among regional countries at the negotiation table."
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US military firm acts “against the Constitution of the Philippines”  ---  http://www.russiatoday.com/Politics/2009-08-28/us-military-firm-philippines.html
Video - A quote...."A Blackwater subsidiary operates a five-acre facility in the Philippines where they can train up to one thousand military contractors… for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan,” says investigative journalist Wayne Madsen."
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Japanese government faces landslide electoral defeat  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2009/aug2009/japa-a29.shtml
A quote...."Japan is poised on the eve of a political sea change. All the opinion polling points to a landslide victory for the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in tomorrow’s lower house election and the defeat of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has held power almost continuously since its formation in 1955."
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More On The Palestinian Situation....

The New "Blood Libel"? -- Israeli Organ Harvesting  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/weir08282009.html
Must Read - A quote...."Last week Sweden’s largest daily newspaper published an article containing shocking material: testimony and circumstantial evidence indicating that Israelis may have been harvesting internal organs from Palestinian prisoners without consent for many years. -- Worse yet, some of the information reported in the article suggests that in some instances Palestinians may have been captured with this macabre purpose in mind."
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Support Israel Against the "Ugly War Crimes"  ---  http://irish4palestine.blogspot.com/2009/08/support-israel-against-ugly-war-crimes.html
Special Note - Let's all support the "pretty" war crimes and IGNORE the "ugly" ones. That's what some Israeli's want us to do. I have a BIG point to make today regarding the Swedish article that has many in an uproar. If you can’t apply the same logic to one victim of a war crime, then you shouldn't believe any of them, this will be the “new” mantra of the Israeli government on the heels of the Swedish article. Aside from freedom of the press issues, what we are really talking about are “Crimes” and the reporting of alleged “Crimes” this is not Anti-Semitic. What this is really about, is furthering the censorship agenda by Israel and laying precedence for future rebuttal by Israel over War Crimes accusations. What's the difference between these:
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Israel admitted at least one case of Organ harvesting...  ---  http://www.labournet.net/world/0908/israel1.html
Special Note - A quote...."Now there are so many documented Israeli atrocities and I do believe it is important that activists get their stories right before adding another to the long list of (far better) documented atrocities. There have been well-documented massacres, ethnic cleansing, use of white phosphorous on civilians, mass execution, torture, extrajudicial execution, bombing of crowded refugee camps, and many more. So I will not here add to this storm. -- I did notice missing from the discussion the fact that Israeli authorities themselves have acknowledged at least one pathologist harvesting organs but that story from 2002 was never followed up and we do not know what happened to this investigations (like hundreds of other “investigations” before it):
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Hebrew report: Israel built 150 housing units in eastern Jerusalem in six months
  ---  http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/en/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7PlscF7BM%2boRbi0vUMMv9YaiyrsZ24E
s3ssLUKuf%2bTRzCLfTB5IxONcXBauwQZuhsuPEpFvr%2f5pUCOFb1ky6LjIp5EfEC0GkVAcICG%2bXvDfM%3d
A quote...."OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- An Israeli organization monitoring the Israeli settlement drive in eastern Jerusalem has revealed that the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) had built at least 150 housing units in occupied Jerusalem, particularly in the Old City."
also posted at Uruknet  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/?p=m57461&hd=&size=1&l=e
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Israeli troops shell central Gaza refugee camps  ---  http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2022358&Language=en
A quote...."Military and Security    8/29/2009 10:37:00 AM -- GAZA, Aug 29 (KUNA) -- Israeli forces shelled several Palestinian homes in the eastern parts of the Buraij and Maghazi refugee camps, central Gaza Strip, on Saturday. -- Local radio reported that Israeli military vehicles stationed at the Israeli-Gaza border fired three mortar shells and opened fire at Palestinians homes in the eastern districts of the two refugee camps. This unexpected attack created chaos, as fear and panic broke out among Palestinians, especially children. No casualties were reported, the radio said. (end) mzt.ema KUNA 291037 Aug 09"
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Jimmy Carter and religious Jews fast in solidarity with people of Gaza under siege
  ---  http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/credit-given-where-credit-due-carter-is-excellent-especially-on-the-settlements/
A quote...."Ramallah / PNN exclusive – Former US President Jimmy Carter and his wife fasted in solidarity with the people of the Gaza Strip who are living under siege. -- About going without for day Carter laughed it off and said, “I didn’t miss the food at all, but I missed water.” -- He said, “I spent all day thinking of the people of Gaza and the harsh conditions of life imposed on them by the embargo.” The former US President said that he prayed for the Palestinians of Gaza while fasting for the first time in his more than 80 years of life."
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Walled Horizons  ---  http://pulsemedia.org/2009/08/29/walled-horizons/
Alt  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLqd0z2lrRY  ---  (YuTb - 9m 55s - 08/26/09)
Alt  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTKiAmQOx6g  ---  (YuTb - 9m 4s - 08/24/09)
Videos - A quote...."This documentary narrated by Roger Waters of Pink Floyd is produced by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Occupied Palestinian Territory (OCHA-OPT)."
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Boycotts as a Legitimate Means of Resistance  ---  http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/08/boycotts-as-a-legitimate-means-of-resistance/comment-page-1/
Special Note - A quote...."Prejudice does not always come with an ugly face. The same holds for Zionism and racism. It is entirely possible for well-intentioned people to hold a prejudice and, even worse, act on held prejudices."
also posted at Uruknet  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/?p=m57455&hd=&size=1&l=e
For more on how to boycott Israel see the upper-left-corner of the "Front Page"  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/  ---  of this website.
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AIPAC to go on mourning for Ted Kennedy  ---  http://careandwashingofthebrain.blogspot.com/2009/08/aipac-to-go-on-mourning-for-ted-kennedy.html
A quote...."According to one tally, Ted Kennedy voted 100 percent in concert with positions taken by Aipac, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Tom Dine, who served as Aipac’s executive director from 1980-93, was a defense and foreign policy advisor to Kennedy."
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More on the US-NRE's Honduran Coup....

Honduras Coup Marks Two Months  ---  http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=112489&Itemid=1
A quote...."Tegucigalpa, Aug 28 (Prensa Latina) Honduran peoples' forces have reached their 62nd consecutive day of peaceful resistance on Friday, when the military coup against President Manuel Zelaya has been ongoing for two months."
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Zelaya rejects crisis plan of Honduras' interim government  ---  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/29/content_11963345.htm
A quote...."TEGUCIGALPA, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said Friday in Nicaragua's capital Managua he would reject any crisis plan offered by the Honduran interim government that demands that he give up his presidential claim."
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Millions of dollars in USAID funding still flowing to Honduras
  ---  http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/bill-conroy/2009/08/millions-dollars-usaid-funding-still-flowing-honduras
A quote...."The taxpayer-funded Millennium Challenge Corporation has continued to move millions of dollars into Honduras since the June 28 coup d'état, but it is not alone, Narco News has now confirmed."
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Scenes of Resistance: Notes from Tegucigalpa  ---  http://pulsemedia.org/2009/08/29/scenes-of-resistance-notes-from-tegucigalpa/
A quote...."I first came to Honduras as part of a delegation of concerned activists who went to witness and accompany the daily protests, monitor human rights violations, and report back to the international community on conditions since the June 28 military coup. On that day, democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya was forcibly removed from office by the Honduran military and expelled from the country. In the aftermath there has been an immediate popular uprising in his support, with many instances of severe police and military repression which continue today. The following is a reflection on time spent in and around Tegucigalpa during two critical weeks in August."
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More on the Iranian Election.....

Ahmadinejad demands opposition prosecutions  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/204364
A quote...."It was the first time Mr Ahmadinejad made such a call, publicly siding with hard-line politicians, clerics and commanders of the powerful Revolutionary Guard who have demanded that opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and his top allies be arrested." -- also posted at TheIndependent
  ---  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/ahmadinejad-demands-opposition-prosecutions-1778967.html
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Trying to Inflate Our Way Out of Debt Is Like a Monkey Trying To Outrun a Lion
  ---  http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/08/trying-to-inflate-our-way-out-of-debt.html
Must Read - Charts -- A quote...."As this chart shows, instances of declining debt-to-GDP rarely coincide with periods of inflation. If it did, we'd see more dots in the lower right-hand --  The bad news for central bankers is that creating currency isn't like, say, diluting shareholders in a company. [True, but you can keep buying more and more of your own debt (monetize), which the Fed is doing.  Of course such a policy could lead to a bout of hyper-inflation unless you threaten other buyers into buying some of your debt, which the US-NRE is doing - mpg] You're always rolling your debt, and the market's response to an inflationary strategy is (not surprisingly) higher interest rates. It's a treadmill, and it's extremely hard to get ahead."
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Financial Crisis Called Off  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig10/kunstler1.1.1.html
Must Read - Great satire - mpg -- A quote...."Whew, what a relief! Everybody from Ben Bernanke and a Who’s Who of banking poobahs schmoozing it up in the heady vapors of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to the dull scribes at The New York Times, toiling in their MC Escher hall of mirrors, to poor dim James Surowiecki over at The New Yorker, to – wonder of wonders! – the Green Shoots claque at the cable networks, to the assorted quants, grinds, nerds, pimps, factotums, catamites, and cretins in every office from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to the International Monetary Fund – every man-Jack and woman-Jill around the levers of power and opinion weighed in last week with glad tidings that the world’s capital finance system survived what turned out to be a mere protracted bout of heartburn and has been reborn as the Miracle Bull economy. Our worries over. If you believe the claptrap. Which I don’t."
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FDIC Walks a Tightrope  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi117.html
Must Read - A quote...."The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s chieftain, Sheila C. Bair, whose agency overseas and insures your bank accounts, had to paint a rosier picture of American banking than deserved as she delivered the FDIC’s 2nd Quarter 2009 banking report. -- We would all want her to be an icon of stability rather than display panic since modern banking really relies upon faith. Banks have small reserves that anchor against their customer’s deposits which are loaned out to generate profits. So banking is a faith proposition that bankers are conservative, don’t take undue risks, and will manage your money while exercising good judgment. Of course, that isn’t the picture of modern American banking, and banked money is at greater risk now than it was months ago."
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"No Wage Growth; No Recovery"  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23378.htm
Must Read - A quote...."Fed chair Ben Bernanke's low interest rates and monetization programs have flooded the markets and created the illusion of economic recovery. But investors and consumers remain skeptical. In fact, (according to zero hedge) less than $400 billion has moved from Money Markets into stocks in the last 6 months even though the index value has increased by more than $2.7 trillion. So, where did the money come from? The Fed has taken trillions in toxic securities onto its balance sheet, thus, providing financial institutions with the liquidity they need to goose the stock market. With securitization in a shambles, the banks have fewer opportunities to meet earnings expectations. Lending is down, but speculation is up. Way up. -- Bernanke knows that neither stimulus nor liquidity will fix the economy. That's because many of the financial institutions that took out loans from the Fed are technically insolvent. (Borrowing more money won't help if you're already drowning in red ink) Even so, he is committed to keeping the big banks afloat and patching together the flawed wholesale credit system any way he can. This is why Bernanke should never have been reappointed. True, he demonstrated impressive imagination and skill in pumping liquidity into the financial system, but he's done nothing to role up insolvent institutions or to purge toxic assets and non performing loans from the system. The Fed has merely provided enough taxpayer-funded scaffolding to keep a rotten system propped up a little longer. What good does that do?"
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Dress Rehearsal For Debt Peonage  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23386.htm
Must Listen Audio -- A quote...."Guns And Butter -- "Dress Rehearsal For Debt Peonage" with economist Dr. Michael Hudson on why the banks are returning the bailout money; bank fees and penalties; banks prefer default to foreclosure; debt as wealth; Obama's Financial Regulatory Reform Proposal and its six major flaws; the deregulation-by centralization ploy; failure to reform the economy will lead to debt peonage."
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Our quarter-century penance is just starting  ---  http://revolutionradio.org/2009/08/29/our-quarter-century-penance-is-just-starting/
Must Read - A quote...."All that has happened over this crisis is that huge private losses have been dumped on society: but the losses are still there, smothering the economy. Taxes must rise. Debts must slowly be purged. “As long as economic growth relies on the state, you cannot talk about durable recovery,” said European Central Bank member, Yves Mersch."
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An Economic Choice - Empire or Nation State
082809
mpg

The Spend-And-Borrow Economy
  ---  http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/26/stimulus-recession-fiscal-monetary-liquidity-taxes-opinions-columnists-nouriel-roubini.html
Must Read - A quote...."In the last few months the world economy has been saved from a near-depression. That feat has been achieved by a range of extraordinary government stimulus measures: In the U.S. and in China, and to a lesser extent in Europe, Japan and other countries, governments have pumped liquidity, slashed policy rates, cut taxes, primed demand and ring-fenced and back-stopped the financial system. All of this has worked, but at a cost. Governments have been spending and borrowing like never before. The question now is: how do they stop?"
also posted at ICH  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23383.htm
With great difficulty, assuming they even want too....which they don't.

Nouriel Roubini's arguments appear correct within the very limited context of his views on monetary policy, but his arguments do not address several important issues, issues which if left unaddressed will prevent any recovery and will doom this nation to utter and total destitution.  Such as the complete and deliberate destruction of this country's manufacturing base by its elites, the never ending trade deficits caused by this deliberate destruction, and the increasingly massive, ongoing, economic and financial distortions (admittedly at the behest of the financial industry itself) caused by this government's “stimulus” activity.

The US-NRE under Bernanke's leadership is doing everything it can to restore the former status quo,  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/oninflationdeflation&thefed-mpg-reficultnias-081709  ---   the same old corrupt system of unlimited, uncollateralized (backed by hot air) private monetary (toxic asset) creation (a.k.a. the Virtual Economy™)  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/thevirtualeconomy-mpg-reficultnias-050109  ---   all in an effort to continue the expansion of the New Roman Empire  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/sometentativelaws-blog-mpg-072008  ---  and the enrichment of its financial elites.

He has absolutely no intention of doing anything to help re-establish or maintain a well regulated free market industrial economy in this country!!

The people of this country can either have a New Roman Empire with an increasingly militarized and savagely unconstitutional police state, continuous, murderous, and numerous illegal wars, multiple arranged false-flag operations when needed by our elites, an oppressive dictatorial financial oligarchy and an economy based on extractive Neo-Roman tribute and debt peonage using an utterly worthless fiat currency and bogus debt instruments imposed on this nation’s own population and those of countless innocent peoples and other countries  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/debtdoesntmatter-blog-mpg-022908  ---  across the world through the massive use of unconstrained military force, along with the establishment of thousands of military bases here and abroad.

-- OR --

They can have a democratic nation state abiding by an agreed upon internationalist framework, operating under the constitutional rule of law with a well regulated free market economy established on a sound currency backed by more than easy promises, empty words and hot air.

They can't have both.  This nation (what little there is left of it) has already traveled a very long way down the wrong road....and time has almost run out.  The situation in this country, contrary to many pundits' rosy forecasts, is increasingly dire and the economy is heading straight toward a catastrophic conclusion of sixty years of reckless spending, bubble building, war making and currency depreciation. – mpg
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Economic Collapse: Bank Runs, China, Peter Schiff, Gerald Celente, Max Keiser  ---  http://infowars.net/articles/august2009/280809Economic.htm
Alt  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjBVnddEni8  ---  (YuTb 8m 082609)
Audio Interview -- A quote...."Max Kaiser speaks about the predicted bank run and currency destruction of the US economy. He also speaks about how China will be on top of the depression because they are spending their stimulus on domestic growth. Peter Schiff makes a guest appearance, as well as Gerald Celente.
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Lefrak: Commercial Real Estate Will Kill 500 Small Banks -- http://www.businessinsider.com/lefrak-commercial-real-estate-will-kill-500-small-banks-2009-8
Video - A quote...."Another prediction for how many small and medium-sized banks are bound to fall. It seems everyone has an opinion. The Real Deal passes along this video of Harrison Lefrak predicting 500 bank failures resulting from commercial real estate problems. He predicts that thigns will really start getting bad in 2010 and beyond, as the five-year loans that started up in 2005 go sour. That's more than Dick Bove sees and half of John Kanas. We'll be keeping score."
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Another round of bank closures in US  ---  http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=536760
A quote...."Regional banks in Maryland, Minnesota and California were closed by regulators on Friday. -- The total number of failed banks in the US this year has increased to 84."
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Banks Hiding Tsunami of Foreclosures  ---  http://moneynews.newsmax.com/streettalk/banks_foreclosures/2009/08/28/253604.html
A quote...."I believe we are about to see a tsunami of foreclosures in the U.S. A lot of homes have been held back because if the banks are foreclosing on them they will have to do a writedown on the mortgages they have on their balance (sheets),” Karsbol told CNBC. -- “That’s why they have been reluctant to do so.”  -- also posted at RogueGov  ---  http://www.roguegovernment.com/Banks_Hiding_Tsunami_of_Foreclosures/17088/0/8/8/Y/M.html
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U.S. Farm Profit Plunging on Lower Crop, Dairy Prices  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-5370-0-13-13--.html
Deflation Alert - A quote...."Net farm income will sink to a seven-year low of $54 billion, down from a February forecast of $71.2 billion and last year’s estimated $87.2 billion, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today in a report. Farm-product sales are dropping faster than costs for energy and feed, the USDA said."
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IMF injects $250 bln in SDRs into global economy  ---  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/29/content_11961163.htm
Just keep saying to yourself folks...."the crisis is over, the crisis is over" - sure it is. - mpg -- A quote...."As an action to bolster its members' reserves, the allocation will be followed by an additional, albeit much smaller, allocation of 33 billion dollars on Sept. 9. With the two allocations totaling roughly 283 billion dollars, the outstanding stock of SDRs would increase nearly 10-fold to total about 316 billion dollars." - bold by website editor
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“From Recession to Depression: The Destruction of the Black Middle Class”
  ---  http://www.democracynow.org/2009/8/28/from_recession_to_depression_the_destruction
A quote...."We speak with Dedrick Muhammad of the Institute for Policy Studies about his latest article with Barbara Ehrenreich called “The Destruction of the Black Middle Class.” They write, “For African Americans—and to a large extent, Latinos—the recession is over. It occurred between 2000 and 2007…What’s happening now is a depression.” [includes rush transcript]"
||  Real Video Stream  ||  ---  http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2009/aug/video/dnB20090828a.rm&proto=rtsp&start=00:53:32
||  Real Audio Stream  ||  ---  http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2009/aug/audio/dn20090828.ra&proto=rtsp&start=00:53:32
||  MP3 Download  ||  ---  http://media.libsyn.com/media/democracynow/dn2009-0828-1.mp3
||  More…  ||  ---  http://www.democracynow.org/2009/8/28/stream
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Thursday August 27th 2009 - links page

The Poisoned Well -- To Drink or Not to Drink  ---  http://123realchange.blogspot.com/2009/08/poisoned-well.html
Must Read - A quote...."      Once upon a time an evil witch visits a kingdom and poisons the central well with a potion that drives people mad. The next morning all who drink from that well go crazy. The king, however, knew about this in advance, and didn't drink from the communal well. The next day, those who drank the poisoned water came to the king and accused him of being the crazy one. The king, aware of what had transpired, was faced with a dilemma: drink from the well and lose his sanity like the rest of his subjects, but remain king; or don't drink, remain sane, but be swept from power by those who would view his very sanity as madness. -- Today in our nation those who refrain from drinking from the well poisoned by the establishment witch are categorized, marginalized, and labeled mad, crazy, extremist, conspiracy theorists, and other adjectives along the same line:"
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Remote In-Flight Course Changes Facilitated By 9/11 Model Aircraft Circa 2001  ---  http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20090827134112250
Special Note - A quote...."The capability to remotely transmit altered aircraft flight plan data via remote data link transmissions directly into Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft Flight Management Computers (FMCs) for use by aircraft auto-pilot functions, was technologically available circa 2001. -- Developed in 1999 and technologically supported by the FANS-capable (Future Air Navigation System) Honeywell Pegasus Flight Management System (FMS) for Boeing 757s and 767s by 2000, Dynamic Airborne Reroute Procedure (DARP) technology enables aircraft course changes via modified flight plan waypoints remotely transmitted and installed into aircraft FMCs by VHF or SATCOM (satellite communications) transmission uplinks." -- For more on this issue see....9/11 - NORAD - Remote Control Prior to 9/11 - http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/911norad-weblist-mpg-091308#REMOTECONTROLPRIOR911
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The Rise of the Barbarians  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Rise-of-the-Barbarians-by-Ed-Martin-090827-898.html
"Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." -- In 1920 the Nazi Party had only about 3,000 members. By 1924 it was up to 24,000, by 1933 850,000, and by World War ll, it was over five million. -- That phenomenal increase in the membership of the Nazi Party was based on the tactics set forth by the racist Nazi Hermann Goering in his quote above."
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Obama’s Road to War  ---  http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2009/08/27/obamas-road-to-war/
The PNAC plan  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/911-planningguidance-weblist-mpg-040409  ---  goes marching on and on - hooray, the PNAC plan  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/911-planningguidance-weblist-mpg-040409  ---  goes marching on and on, hooray....mpg -- A quote...."Obama is keeping his eye on the prize – the Nobel Prize, that is, as a reward for brokering a Middle East "peace" deal. Unfortunately, he’s doing it on the backs of the Palestinian people – and the rest of us, as well. -- The news out of the negotiations with the Israelis is that Bibi gets everything, and Obama gets to make an announcement that the perpetually stalled talks with the Palestinians will resume. By "everything," I mean to include what the Guardian describes as "a partial freeze" on settlement construction – an oxymoron that could only exist in the context of an agreement between Israel and the US."
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Following the money from defense lobby  ---  http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-08-19-givingdefense_N.htm
A quote...."WASHINGTON — Defense lobbyists spent nearly $750,000 to help honor Obama administration officials during the first six months of the year, accounting for nearly half of the payments made then, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data shows. -- Lockheed Martin, followed by three other defense contractors —BAE Systems, TriWest Healthcare Alliance and General Dynamics— reported spending the most. In many cases, the companies underwrote charity events in which the military's top brass or other key federal officials were honored or in attendance."
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Pentagon Probes War-Reporter Screening  ---  http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/08/pentagon-reconsiders-war-reporter-screening/
Great photo - mpg -- A quote...."The Pentagon is looking into reports that the military’s public affairs apparatus in Afghanistan has been rating reporters according to their degree of sympathy to U.S. war aims. The informal investigation comes three days after Stars & Stripes first uncovered the rating practice. “I’m learning about aspects of this as I question our folks in Afghanistan,” Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said."
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Thugs of Fortune  ---  http://www.atlargely.com/atlargely/2009/08/thugs-of-fortune.html
A quote...."A singular absurdity of the 21st century is that the nation that spends more on defense than the rest of the world combined needs to hire mercenaries to fight wars against enemies who have no defense budget at all. -- An August 19 New York Times article revealed that in 2004 the CIA hired Blackwater USA to help “locate and assassinate top operatives of Al Qaeda.” This is the secret program that Dick Cheney ordered the CIA to not tell Congress about for seven years. “It is unclear,” wrote Times reporter Mark Mazetti, “whether the C.I.A. had planned to use the contractors to actually capture or kill Qaeda operatives, or just to help with training and surveillance in the program.”
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Orange Suits for Tenet and Rumsfeld, Too - Closing in on the Torturers  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/mcgovern08272009.html
To dream the impossible dream....but it's a nice dream. - mpg -- A quote...."o you think the wardens will let George Tenet wear his Presidential Medal of Freedom over the orange coverall? - Perhaps he and Donald Rumsfeld will end up doing time together in one of the prisons also slated to host what Rumsfeld called “the worst of the worst” from Guantanamo. - That would be poetic justice of a most ironic kind. And if the two former leaders do end up in prison they can count themselves fortunate for having dodged execution for their roles in a slew of capital offenses. - You see, punishments for violations of the War Crimes Act (18 U.S.C. 2441), applicable in their case, include the death penalty—often the sentence of choice if detainees die in their custody. And countless have. - Before you question my sanity, please know that I just completed the arduous task of reading the aging but devastating CIA Inspector General’s report on torture." - bold by website editor
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International Tribunal Takes Up Case Of Innocent Victim Of CIA Extraordinary Rendition Program  ---  http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/45526
A quote...."NEW YORK - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has accepted a petition filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Khaled El-Masri, an innocent victim of the CIA's extraordinary rendition program. The U.S. government has two months to respond to allegations of kidnapping and torture summarily rejected by U.S. courts in 2007."
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Prosecuting Bush and Cheney Could Prevent Future Crimes  ---  http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/45527
A quote...."Allowing today’s leaders to get away with war crimes will send a dangerous signal to future leaders that they can do the same. -- “The battle to impose criminal responsibility upon them (Bush, Cheney, etc.) is not for today alone but to safeguard a vast future,” points out Lawrence Velvel, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover."
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Conservative Mag: 'Sibel Edmonds Speaks, But No One is Listening'  ---  http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7379
A quote...." Phil Giraldi, a former CIA counter-terrorism analyst, is one of the few in the U.S. "mainstream" media (of a sort), who has bothered to cover --- and cover responsibly  ---  http://www.amconmag.com/2008/2008_01_28/article1.html  ---  Sibel Edmond's story in the past. Today over at The American Conservative --- that's right, The American Conservative --- Giraldi notes this week's release  ---  http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2009/08/27/sibel-edmonds-speaks-but-no-one-is-listening/  ---  of Edmonds' remarkable deposition video and transcript,  ---  http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7374  ---  appropriately, under the headline "Sibel Edmonds Speaks, But No One is Listening"..."
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Googling Sibel Edmonds  ---  http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/2009/08/googling-sibel-edmonds.html
Related Article - A quote...."Over 24 hours have passed since the video and full transcript of Sibel Edmond's deposition have been made public, giving even the most stupid and lazy journalist the time to either watch the video or read the transcript. This morning, I decided to check what Google News would find for me. I simply typed "Sibel Edmonds" and hit enter. Here are the results:"
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Water shortage threatens two million people in southern Iraq  ---  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/26/water-shortage-threat-iraq
A quote...."A water shortage described as the most critical since the earliest days of Iraq's civilisation is threatening to leave up to 2 million people in the south of the country without electricity and almost as many without drinking water." -- bold by website editor -- Like a plague of locusts they come, to take, and take, and take, until there is nothing left.  Not your homes, your farms, your cities, your culture, your country or your future....all gone.  It is what they do, it is ALL they do. - mpg

Auferre trucidare rapere falsis nominibus imperium, atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
(To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace. ) -- *Tacitus*
  ---  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacitus
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Kabul draped in a veil of uncertainty  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KH28Df05.html
A quote...."KABUL - In the bazaars of Kabul, Afghans face an uncertain Ramadan season. As most businesses close for iftaar, the breaking of the daily fast during this Islamic holy month, food stalls and sweet shops light up to greet a rush of customers."
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Iran, Qatar Highlight Promotion of Ties  ---  http://english.farsnews.net/newstext.php?nn=8806050603
A quote...."TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Ambassador to Qatar Abdollah Sohrabi and Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani Thursday in Doha held talks on ways to foster bilateral cooperation."
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Iran, Cuba Stress Expansion of Cooperation  ---  http://english.farsnews.net/newstext.php?nn=8806050593
A quote...."TEHRAN (FNA)-Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the country's foreign policy seeks more convergence between Iran and Latin America in all spheres."
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Poland Without Missile Defence  ---  http://www.effedieffe.com/content/view/8178/183/
A quote...."The US plans for building elements of the missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic are virtually certain to be abandoned, say Gazeta's sources in Washington " - also posted at WarInIraq  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/204283
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China Deploys Rare Earth Metals For Strategic Leverage  ---  http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/08/china-deploys-rare-earth-metals-for.html
A quote...."As I've previously noted, China has cornered well over 90% of the market for rare earth metals, which are essential in various high-tech products. -- The Telegraph ran an article on August 24th pointing out that China is now deploying these resources to gain strategic advantage:" -- Heck why shouldn't they!  They, as apposed to another unnamed, overly boastful country, actually MAKE things with the stuff. - mpg
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New Su-35 fighter can attack eight targets simultaneously  ---  http://en.rian.ru/video/20090824/155909372.html
Video - A quote...."The new Sukhoi Su-35 was among the aircraft to make its debut at the MAKS-2009 international air show. The fighter utilizes the newest “electrically operated aircraft” technology."
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Final push in Japan campaign  ---  http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/08/200982833224834963.html
A quote...."Candidates in Japan's general election have begun a final push for votes in a campaign that polls say could lead to a seismic change in the country's political landscape. - Taro Aso, the Japanese prime minister and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), is battling plunging approval ratings over his handling of the economic slowdown. - He received a further blow on Friday with news that unemployment had reached its highest level since the Second World War."
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Brazil Worried about Colombia Military Plans  ---  http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=112299&Itemid=1
A quote...."Paris, Aug 27 (Prensa Latina) Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim expressed concern on Thursday for the plan of the Colombian government to instal US military bases in its territory."
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Incapacitating the Cuban Five - In Their Own Words  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/alarcon08272009.html
A quote...."The disproportionate prison terms imposed on the Cuban Five – Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo (2 life terms plus 15 years), Ramón Labañino Salazar (1 life term plus 18 years), Antonio Guerrero Rodríguez (1 life term plus 10 years), Fernando González Llort (19 years) and Rene Gonzalez Sehwerert (15 years) – contrast sharply with those applied in recent years in the United States on other persons accused of truly practicing espionage, sometimes at an uncommon scale, and even on some tied to violent armed actions against the United States.  None of them was condemned to life sentences; all of them received lesser sentences than the Cuban Five, some have already served their sentences and are free and others, convicted of espionage, have had their charges withdrawn by the Obama administration and were set free."
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Cuban Five Issue to the UN Gen. Assembly  ---  http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=112306&Itemid=1
Related Article - A quote...."Managua, Aug 27 (Prensa Latina) President of the UN General Assembly Miguel D Escoto said on Thursday that he will raise the issue of the five anti-terrorist Cuban fighters held in US prisons before the Assembly."
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[Panamanian ship with Georgian crew detained trying to smuggle Israeli weapons into the Philippines.]
  ---  http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Philippines+%26+South+Asia&month=August2009
&file=World_News200908227525.xml
A quote...."MANILA: Philippine authorities have seized a Panama-registered cargo ship and its crew after the vessel was found to contain crates of assault rifles when it docked at a local port without prior notice, officials said yesterday. -- Customs and coast guard officials boarded the 5,421 gross ton ship on Thursday and found five crates containing 50 Israeli-made Galil assault rifles, they said. Ten empty crates were also found."
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More On The Palestinian Situation....

Israel Says “Kiss My Ass” Obama Says “OK”  ---  http://irish4palestine.blogspot.com/2009/08/israel-says-kiss-my-ass-obama-says-ok.html
Special Note - Cartoon - (A great cartoon is worth a thousand words too. - mpg) -- A quote...."Did You Really Think It Would Happen? - Middle East Peace, a FAIR and EQUAL deal for Palestinians? Two words, “wise up.” - Obama has been blowing bubbles up the arse of Arabs (and the rest of the world) for months now. And the mask has been slipping but now it’s fallen to the floor. - The “Evil Had Landed” in England a few days ago and I watched Netanyahu the Chosen one parade like a puffed up peacock outside of number 10 Downing Street. And as soon as he had his face in front of the cameras he just couldn’t contain himself, he practically shouted with smirking glee when confirming the mighty "ass kissing" that had obviously occured inside “No Freeze in Jerusalem” and my personal favourite load of bollox “Jerusalem is not a settlement” and of course “Jerusalem is the Capital of Israel”"
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Israel doth protest too much  ---  http://windowintopalestine.blogspot.com/2009/08/israel-doth-protest-too-much.html
Quote of the Day -- "Organ trafficking accounts for around 10 per cent of the nearly 70,000 kidney transplants performed worldwide annually, although as many as 15,000 kidneys could be trafficked each year…Trafficked organs are either sold domestically, or exported to be transplanted into patients from the US, Europe, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and especially Israel. — *Jane’s Intelligence Weekly*, March, 2008
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US drops demand for East Jerusalem settlement freeze  ---  http://obamboozled.blogspot.com/2009/08/us-drops-demand-for-east-jerusalem.html
A quote...."Bethlehem – Ma’an – The US has dropped a demand that Israel freeze settlement construction in East Jerusalem, the Palestinian capital, an Israeli newspaper reported on Thursday. -- The newspaper Haaretz, citing Israeli officials and Western diplomats, reported that US envoy George Mitchell capitulated to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal during their meeting in London on Wednesday."
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Medics say Israeli forces killed Gaza fisherman  ---  http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=221967
Full quote...."Gaza – Ma'an – A Palestinian man was killed and another injured on Thursday when Israel's navy shelled a fishing boat just off the coast of the northern Gaza Strip, medical officials told Ma'an. - However an Israeli military spokesman denied the navy had anything to do with the incident. He said naval forces did not fire on the boat, nor otherwise cause the death of a man onboard. - But earlier Thursday Dr Mu'awiyah Hassanein, the director of emergency and ambulance services at Gaza's Health Ministry, said Israeli shells killed 25-year-old Muhammad Nady Al-Attar when his head was severed from his body. - One other fisherman was injured in the incident, which reportedly occurred while the two were fishing."
also posted at WarInIraq  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/204278
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Gideon Levy on the “inhumane and illegal siege”  ---  http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/gideon-levy-on-the-inhumane-and-illegal-siege/
A quote...."For the past several weeks it has been very hard to get coffee in Gaza. Gas is dirt cheap (NIS 2.40 per liter), and diesel is even cheaper (NIS 1.70); it’s all flowing through the tunnels from Egypt. But there is no coffee. Only after inquiring at a number of grocery stores might you find a bag of coffee, but the grocer will sell you only 250 grams for NIS 18 shekels - an exorbitant price in Gaza. Coffee, as you know, is not a “humanitarian” item; you can live without it. And indeed, Gaza has gone over to tea. Spoil them rotten - that’s Israel’s Gaza policy. "
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An impossible reconciliation  ---  http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10742.shtml
A quote...."A delegation of Egyptian security officials have once again embarked on another mission impossible to lay the ground for the next round of intra-Palestinian reconciliation talks originally scheduled to take place between Hamas and Fatah in Cairo later this month. The Egyptian delegation, headed by intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, first met with Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas in Amman, before proceeding on to Ramallah, Damascus and Gaza for meetings with other Fatah and Hamas officials in the hope of softening their respective positions in advance of the Cairo meeting."
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The Right to Read Campaign  ---  http://www.freegaza.org/right-to-read
Action Alert - A quote...."Education is a right. Yet throughout history, societies have used access to education as a weapon of oppression. We refuse to let Israel blockade our students’ thirst for knowledge.We welcome working with Free Gaza and others to break this siege against our people’s greatest resource.” -- *Dr. Haidar Eid*, professor at Al-Aqsa University"
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Defend Academic Freedom: Defend the Right to Talk About Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions
  ---  http://www.alternativenews.org/english/2116-defend-academic-freedom-defend-the-right-to-talk-about-boycott-divestment-and-sanctions.html
Special Note - A quote...."On Thursday, August 20 the LA Times published an op-ed in which Ben Gurion University Professor Neve Gordon, a prominent political scientist and long-time peace activist, wrote that the question that kept him up at night, both as a parent and as an Israeli citizen, was how to ensure that his two children as well as the children of his Palestinian neighbors do not grow up in an apartheid regime. His pained conclusion is that the only strategy left is "massive international pressure” in the form of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).  He therefore endorses the Palestinian BDS campaign proposed by a wide swath of Palestinian civil society.(1) -- Following the publication of the article there has been a vehement and aggressive attack against Gordon in Israel that calls into serious question Israel's commitment to academic freedom and the democratic right to free speech. -- We now believe that "massive international pressure" will be needed to keep him from being fired from his job." -- He should not be fired, pressured or sanctioned in any way of course.  For more on this issue see.....Judeo-Christian C/C & US  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/judeochristianconflictcontrolwithinus-weblist-mpg-010409  ---  This website editor's profuse apologies, this database hasn't been expanded or updated in quite some time....mpg
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Financial Parasites Have Killed the American Economy  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14922
Special Note - A quote...."[Michael Hudson is a Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Missouri, Kansas City] - Hudson has frequently described Wall Street as "parasitic". For example, in a 2003 interview, Hudson said:

"The problem with parasites is not merely that they siphon off the food and nourishment of their host, crippling its reproductive power, but that they take over the host's brain as well. The parasite tricks the host into thinking that it is feeding itself. --  Something like this is happening today as the financial sector is devouring the industrial sector. Finance capital pretends that its growth is that of industrial capital formation. That is why the financial bubble is called "wealth creation," as if it were what progressive economic reformers envisioned a century ago. They condemned rent and monopoly profit, but never dreamed that the financiers would end up devouring landlord and industrialist alike. Emperors of Finance have trumped Barons of Property and Captains of Industry." -- For more on this issue see....The Virtual Economy - 05-01-09 - mpg
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/thevirtualeconomy-mpg-reficultnias-050109
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FDIC Softens Its Proposed Rules For Buying Banks - This is really just plain S-T-U-P-I-D !!! - mpg
  ---  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/27/fdic-softens-its-proposed_n_270488.html
A quote...."As expected, the board of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has approved controversial rules that will govern how risk-taking private equity firms can snatch up failing banks. -- The new rules, approved recently by a 4-1 vote, represented a compromise. The FDIC attempted to impose standards on the private equity firms without discouraging them from jumping in when a bank fails." - bold/underline by website editor
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It's Not a "Free Market" System When Taxpayers Are Financing the Profits
  ---  http://www.openleft.com/diary/14302/its-not-a-free-market-system-when-taxpayers-are-financing-the-profits
A quote...."Thanks to both the focus on health care and the storm over President Obama's comments on Henry Louis Gates, few bothered to note a deeply troubling moment during last month's White House press conference in which the president displayed genuine stupidity, willful ignorance, intelligence-insulting dishonesty - or some combination of all three (I bring this up now, because it's the very same argument we're going to hear from supporters of Ben Bernanke in his renomination process). Referring to the recent news that banks like Goldman Sachs reported big profits, he said...."
also posted at CommonDreams  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/08/27-5
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Whose Recovery, and at Whose Cost?  ---  http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/whose-recovery-and-whose-cost
Special Note - A quote...."The financial elite last week announced the beginning of the end of the Great Recession, a nonsensical declaration unless one is a member or servant of the overlords of capital. What the finance parasites should have said, and the real reason for the champagne-popping, is that the money-manipulating classes have been temporarily stabilized by a government commitment of the previously unimaginable sum of $23.7 trillion of the people's current and future wealth. -- It was appropriate that Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke delivered the news, since his agency, a creature of and effectively accountable only to the Wall Street bankers, has been responsible for shoveling much of the mountains of cash, credit and guarantees to the ruling oligarchy." -- also posted at Uruknet  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/?p=m57401&hd=&size=1&l=e
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Re-Appointed Fed Chief Ben Bernanke Didn't Get Us Out of the Economic Crisis, He Helped Cause It
http://www.alternet.org/workplace/142257/re-appointed_fed_chief_ben_bernanke_didn%27t_get_us_out_of_the_economic_crisis%2C_he_helped_cause_it/
A quote...."In the real world beyond Brooks's grasp, this "job well done" counts as cruel joke on the hapless victims. The Federal Reserve did not "avert disaster" for many millions of Americans. It helped to cause their disaster. The central bank, as I have written, was co-author of the destruction, along with the reckless financiers of Wall Street. Now we are told to feel good about its heroic efforts to clean up their mess."
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1,000 Banks to Fail In Next Two Years: Bank CEO - NOT of course the "to big to fail banks" - mpg
  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-5345-0-13-13--.html
A quote...."The US banking system will lose some 1,000 institutions over the next two years, said John Kanas, whose private equity firm bought BankUnited of Florida in May. -- “We’ve already lost 81 this year,” he told CNBC. “The numbers are climbing every day. Many of these institutions nobody’s ever heard of. They're smaller companies.” -- Failed banks tend to be smaller and private, which exacerbates the problem for small business borrowers, said Kanas, who became CEO of BankUnited when his firm bought the bank and is the former chairman and CEO of North Fork bank."
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FDIC List of Problem Banks Surges, Putting Reserve Fund at Risk  ---  http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aznDZl.Tjhmo
A quote...."A total of 416 banks with combined assets of $299.8 billion failed the FDIC’s grading system for asset quality, liquidity and earnings in the second quarter, the most since June 1994, the Washington-based FDIC said in a report today. Regulators didn’t identify companies deemed “problem” banks."
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Federal Reserve Seeks Delay in Disclosure of Emergency Lending - Not a good sign. - mpg
  ---  http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a5bjqcBdkB48
A quote...."Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve asked a judge yesterday to delay enforcement of her decision requiring the central bank to identify companies in its emergency lending programs." -- also posted at BLN  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-5341-0-13-13--.html
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Toyota to halt production in California plant  ---  http://revolutionradio.org/2009/08/27/toyota-to-halt-production-in-california-plant/
A quote...."Toyota said on Thursday that it would halt production next March at a California assembly plant that it has operated in partnership with General Motors for the past 25 years. -- The decision marks the first time that the Japanese carmaker has reduced capacity in North America."
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Latam foreign trade forecasted to plunge a record 13% this year  ---  http://en.mercopress.com/2009/08/27/latam
A quote...."Latin American and Caribbean countries total volume of trade is expected to fall 13% in 2009 from the previous year due to the impact of the global economic crisis, according to a report from the United Nations’ economic commission for the region, Cepal."
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Air Berlin may cancel Boeing 787 order  ---  http://blog.seattlepi.com/aerospace/archives/177391.asp
It's too funny for words, the aptly named "Dreamliner" (because it WAS a dream, now it's just a hallucinatory fantasy) and its ongoing delays are becoming the stuff of aviation legend. - mpg -- A quote...."Delays in the program are "everything but satisfactory," airline Chief Financial Officer Ulf Huettmeyer said in the story. "It's no fun anymore."
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Boeing Loses Qantas Order for 15 Dreamliners as Travel Wanes  ---  http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=axMwIv40hBlk
A quote...."June 26 (Bloomberg) -- Boeing Co. lost half of a 30-plane order for its 787 Dreamliner from Qantas Airways Ltd., formerly the model’s biggest airline customer, amid slumping demand for international travel." -- posted 06-25-09
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Boeing delays 787 again as structure fix looms  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/story/boeing-delays-first-787-flight-on-structural-fix
A quote...."SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Boeing Co. shares fell almost 7% Tuesday after the aerospace giant again postponed the maiden flight of its 787 Dreamliner, a critical program launch that has already been delayed two years." -- posted 06-25-09
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Boeing delays first 787 Dreamliner flight  ---  http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Boeing_delays_first_787_Dreamliner__11042008.html
 Again!! How about we all just call it Boeing's new "virtual plane"?- mpg -- A quote...."Boeing said Tuesday it will delay the first flight of its 787 Dreamliner because of problems with the installation of fasteners on the passenger plane and a just-ended machinists strike." -- posted 11-04-08 -- See also....Come Fly the Un-Friendly Skys  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/rapsheetarch/mpgrap-052207-053107#BOEING  ---  and the articles shown below....
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Customer: Boeing 787 faces more delays  ---  http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2008/03/19/afx4795341.html
A quote...."Steven Udvar-Hazy, chairman of International Lease Finance Corp., a Los Angeles subsidiary of American International Group Inc. (nyse: AIG -  news  -  people ), told investors at a JP Morgan conference Tuesday that he expects the first 787 flight won't occur until the fall, and that the first delivery will be postponed to the end of the third quarter of 2009." -- posted 03-20-08 -- This is funny, Boeing mercilessly derided  EADS's Super Jumbo A-380  ---  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A380  ---  when it experienced roll-out delays and practically said they'd roll their's out first, they said this well over a year ago.....maybe we should all call Boeing’s new 787 the virtual plane.  Really environmentally friendly, totally noiseless, doesn’t need any fuel and it will never crash. - mpg
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Boeing again puts off 787, cites supply-chain issues
  ---  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/boeing-delays-787s-rollout-again/story.aspx?guid=%7B6A927C1E%2D4BA0%2D40C2%2
D9395%2D86FAB4815400%7D
A quote...."NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Boeing Co. will delay the maiden flight of its 787 Dreamliner by another three months or so after the aircraft maker underestimated the time needed to obtain and install the plane's various systems." -- posted 01-16-08 -- After all the nasty things they said about the delays with EADS's Airbus A380  ---  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A380  ---  ....tsk, tsk, tsk. - mpg
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Boeing announces delay in deliveries of 787 Dreamliner  ---  http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/10/business/boeing.php
A quote...."Boeing said Wednesday that continued challenges in completing the assembly of its first 787 "Dreamliner" jets would force it to delay initial deliveries of the plane by six months, to late 2008." - posted 10-10-07
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Boeing 787's first flight delayed until October: report  ---  http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Boeing_787_s_first_flight_delayed_u_08102007.html
A quote...."The Boeing Co. has delayed the first flight of its 787 Dreamliner to October from late September, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported online late Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.  -  Boeing had to push back the first flight because of the complexity of installing and integrating various systems on the 787, the Seattle, Washington state-based newspaper said." - posted 08-12-07 -- Gee this all sounds soooooo familiar, what was that company called....EADS or something?  ---  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A380  ---  mpg
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Private Health Insurance Companies Increase Healthcare Costs and Reduce Care: End Them
  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/Private-Health-Insurance-C-by-Meg-White-090827-997.html
A quote...."While many of us hope for single-payer, universal healthcare, the fact is that the political will might not exist for it. However, no matter what the Obama Administration decides to call the final product, private health insurance companies need to disappear from the equation."
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The Putrid Stench of Private Health Care Insurance  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Putrid-Stench-of-Priva-by-Chaz-Valenza-090825-893.html
A quote...."Nearly everyone recognizes something is rotten with private health care insurance. The crux of the problem, obscured by a a massive school of red herring, is rarely identified though it infects the entire medical services system. Once exposed all arguments in opposition to reform crumble."
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Don't Get Sick!  ---  http://www.truthout.org/082709A
A quote...."Don't get sick! Those were the last words my grandfather said to me as I left Vancouver for the United States. It was 1964. Canada was in the process of implementing a universal health care system. I hadn't noticed, because I was young, healthy and restless. -- Now, these many years later, as I witness the health care reform "debate," my grandfather's words have returned to haunt me."
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