News and Developments
M5 Readers: Keep in Mind That Political News, By Nature, May Reflect Sequential Agenda
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August  2009 

VA won't pay benefits to Marine whose injuries came from vaccine  [ 08/31/09 ] "It wasn't a bullet or roadside bomb that felled Lance Cpl. Josef Lopez three years ago after nine days in Iraq. It was an injection into his arm before his unit left the states. The then 20-year-old Marine from Springfield, Mo., suffered a rare adverse reaction to the smallpox vaccine. While the vaccine isn't mandatory, the military strongly encourages troops to take it ..." Note: That's a lie. The military orders  people to get the vaccines. Benefits are not aligned with such things as vaccine injury, so this is not an unexpected revelation.

Sixty percent of adults can't drink milk   [ 08/31/09 ] "If you're American or European it's hard to realize this, but being able to digest milk as an adult is one weird genetic adaptation. It's not normal. Somewhat less than 40% of people in the world retain the 
ability to digest lactose after childhood. The numbers are often given as close to 0% of Native Americans, 5% of Asians, 25% of African and Caribbean peoples, 50% of Mediterranean peoples and 90% of northern Europeans. Sweden has one of the world's highest percentages of lactase tolerant people. Being able to digest milk is so strange that scientists say we shouldn't really call lactose 
intolerance a disease, because that presumes it's abnormal. Instead, they call it lactase persistence, indicating what's really weird is the ability to continue to drink milk. ..."  

Blackwater (Xe) tapped foreigners on secret CIA program   [ 08/31/09 ] "With Blackwater's lucrative government security work and contacts arrayed in hot spots around the world, company officials offered the services of foreigners supposedly skilled at tracking terrorists in lawless regions and countries where the CIA had no working relationships with the government. While Blackwater won the government's confidence by handling security and training operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the 2004 decision by CIA officials to entrust the North Carolina-based company with such a sensitive overseas operation struck some former agency officials as highly unusual. "The question remains: Why do we need Blackwater?" said Charles Faddis, a former department chief at the CIA's Counterterrorism Center who retired in 2008 and was not involved in the secret program. "I remain mystified. This is quintessential CIA work. You wonder what it means that the CIA has to rely on Blackwater? Why are we still funding the CIA?" The former senior CIA official who had knowledge of the program explained that "you wouldn't want to have American fingerprints on it." The former official and several other current and former officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the information remains classified. Xe spokeswoman Stacy DeLuke did not respond to questions seeking comment.

FEMA Said to Push Building in Flood Plain  [ 08/31/09 ] "FEMA is destroying rare desert riverine habitat by encouraging and insuring development in flood plains, putting endangered species such as the jaguar and the southwestern willow flycatcher at greater risk, WildEarth Guardians claims in Federal Court ..."   Note: Forget about the animals and bugs .. the whole point is that the Feds are pushing people to live in flood plains, which can wipe them out, just like in New Orleans. Long-term population decimation strategy?

Ky. Lawmakers Can't Demand Reliance on External Deity  [ 08/31/09 ] "Kentucky can't force citizens to rely on 'god' for protection, a state judge ruled, striking down a portion of a Kentucky security law that refers to "dependence on almighty god" ..."  

TX:  Police lab tailored tests to theories, report says  [ 08/31/09 ] "Houston crime lab analysts skewed reports to fit police theories in several cases, ignoring results that conflicted with police expectations because of a lack of confidence in their own skills or a conscious effort to secure convictions, an independent investigator says in his latest report on the scandal ..."  

ACLU Lobbyist Larry Frankel Found Dead in Washington  [ 08/31/09 ] "Longtime Pennsylvania ACLU lobbyist and Executive Director Larry Frankel, who in the last year or so has become the lobbyist for the national ACLU, has apparently been found dead in Washington under mysterious circumstances. Larry was 54. This is a breaking news story in which most key facts are still generally unknown ..."  

Olmert indicted in three corruption affairs   [ 08/30/09 ] "Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was indicted Sunday in three corruption affairs, concluding months of investigations into cases allegedly conducted during his tenure as Jerusalem mayor and trade minister. Attorney General Menachem Mazuz had announced earlier this month that Olmert would be charged in the Rishon Tours, cash envelopes and Investment Center affairs..."  

Doctor admits euthanizing patients during Katrina  [ 08/30/09 ] "A doctor who was working the rounds at New Orleans’ Memorial Medical Center during Hurricane Katrina has admitted euthanizing patients during a crucial shortage of energy and supplies at the hospital ...The complete investigative article from ProPublica, which appears in the August 30 edition of the New York Times, follows ..."

Next week, robocalls can cost $16,000  [ 08/30/09 ] "Beginning Tuesday, sellers and telemarketers who transmit prerecorded messages to consumers who have not agreed in writing to accept such messages will face penalties of up to $16,000 per call.
We'll bet it will not include prerecorded calls for politicians before election time ..."

Holder Appoints Torture Prosecutor, Rejects Nuremberg Principle  [ 08/30/09 ] "U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder appointed Assistant United States Attorney John Durham to investigate torture by U.S. officials since President Bush commenced the “war on terror,” but in the same act also gave political cover from that prosecutor to anyone who actually committed torture ..."

Netanyahu uses silence to capture his objective  [ 08/30/09 ] "Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sat in front of the Israeli press for 45 minutes here on Wednesday, just a few hours after meeting US envoy George Mitchell in London and deflected with great acumen the journalists’ repeated attempts to pry out of him any real piece of information about what happened during their four-hour meeting ... Much has been written about the purported agreement, with one paper saying that the settlement freeze was linked to a tougher American position on Iran, and another paper saying Netanyahu agreed to a nine-month freeze ..."

China urges US to end coast surveillance  [ 08/29/09 ] "China has called on the US to phase out its military surveillance missions close to the Chinese coast, in Beijing’s clearest indication so far that it will not tolerate American dominance indefinitely in an area it views as its strategic sphere of influence. The remarks came after two days of negotiations on maritime safety between military officials from both sides following a series of confrontations between US and Chinese ships in waters off the Chinese coast earlier this year. “The way to resolve China-US maritime incidents is for the US to change its surveillance and survey operations policies against China, decrease and eventually stop such operations,” Xinhua, the official news agency, quoted the Ministry of National Defence as saying. Washington has made public six incidents in the Yellow Sea and the South China Sea in which it said Chinese ships harassed US vessels in a way that risked the safety of both sides. The two countries have had a Military Maritime Consultative Agreement since 1998, which was supposed to help to prevent and solve such incidents. But the US has complained that China keeps ignoring the “rules of the road” while at sea ..."  

Historical Facts On Dangers, Ineffectiveness Of Vaccines  [ 08/29/09 ] Note: Vaccines do NOT prevent disease from happening, and they can have devastating physiological effects. An interesting collection of bullet paragraphs, each of which make the point. Have a look.

Texas man's Taser death ruled homicide  [ 08/29/09 ] "A mentally ill man's death after he was shocked twice by a police Taser was a homicide, a medical examiner's office ruled Thursday ..."  

Who Put Super-Thermite in the Twin Towers? [ 08/29/09 ] "The discovery of chips of highly-explosive super-thermite in the dust of the World Trade Center is an essential key to unraveling the entire 9-11 hoax. Understanding the lies about 9-11 reveals in turn the mass deception behind the wars of aggression in Afghanistan and Iraq and the utterly fraudulent "War on Terror." One soon realizes that the whole anti-terrorism Zeitgeist of the past 8 years is nothing but a pack of lies ..."  

TSA worker gets jail, probation for luggage thefts [ 08/29/09 ] "A 30-year-old former Transportation Security Administration worker was sentenced to 90 days in jail and five years' probation Thursday for stealing jewelry, gift cards and other things out of tourists' bags as the items were undergoing security screening at Kahului Airport ..."  Related: TSA - Be A Snitch for Cash "TSA is considering a program under which it would give cash rewards to individuals who provide it with key information about crimes or transportation security violations ..."  

Officials: Swine flu reports may be overblown [ 08/29/09 ] "U.S. health officials are taking the spread of the new swine flu seriously, but they don't expect up to half the nation to be infected or up to 90,000 deaths — statistics that were reported by much of the nation's media earlier this week ..." Note: I think they're realizing people are catching on to what's happening with this.

WHO Warns Of Severe Form Of Swine Flu  [ 08/29/09 ] "Doctors are reporting a severe form of swine flu that goes straight to the lungs, causing severe illness in otherwise healthy young people and requiring expensive hospital treatment, the World Health Organisation said on Friday ..." Note: The WHO is the world fear-monger, beating the drum to sell these biologically and chemically toxic vaccines to people.

Private equity donations to politicians uncovered  [ 08/29/09 ] "In the pay-to-play scandal involving state pension fund dollars, the buck doesn’t stop at the top. A USA Today study of private equity firms showed that employees of some of the most prominent investment groups contributed mightily to political campaigns. Though individual employees have not been accused of wrongdoing, Friday’s report exposes further the potential for political gain. The data show that employees of The Carlyle Group donated about $115,000 to candidates running in 10 states for offices that would give them oversight of pension funds over the past decade. Campaign records indicated that nearly $30,000 of it went to officials in California. Over roughly the same period, that state’s giant pension fund manager CalPERS invested more than $4 billion with Carlyle. Employees at the Blackstone Group have been similarly politically active. The data show that top Blackstone executives and their family members have contributed roughly $50,000 to political campaigns in New York and Pennsylvania since 2002. The amount included $22,000 to that state’s Gov. Ed Rendell, who appoints the majority of the state’s pension board members. ..."  

 Police officer said that he planted the Lockerbie bomb timer fragment [ 08/28/09 ] "There is evidence supporting the idea that the CIA carried out the Lockerbie bombing. "An unnamed former senior Scottish police officer said that he had planted the (bomb timer) fragment at the crash site by order of the CIA."  A former Scottish police chief has given lawyers a signed statement claiming that key evidence in the Lockerbie bombing trial was fabricated. Ulrich Lumpert a Swiss engineer who was "a crucial witness" has now confessed that he lied about the origins of a timer switch...." Related: Lockerbie- The Real Cover Up | CIA Involvement - Police chief: Lockerbie evidence was faked

  Judge rules that he, too, can grant access to U.S. secrets  [ 08/28/09 ] "In a highly unusual legal step, a federal judge has ordered the government to grant an attorney a security clearance so he can represent a disgruntled former narcotics officer in a lawsuit against a former CIA officer ..." Note: Interesting. 

  Fox News Video: 'Rare' Deady Side Effect from H1N1 Vaccine Revealed  [ 08/28/09 ] [2:00]

  Fox News Poll: Majority Think Swine Flu Vaccine Deadlier Than Virus  [ 08/28/09 ] "According to a Fox News poll, the majority of respondents think that the swine flu vaccine is deadlier than the actual virus itself, emphasizing the growing momentum in the revolt against government plans to institute mass H1N1 vaccination programs. Despite attempts on behalf of governments and their lapdog corporate media allies to push the necessity of the H1N1 vaccination, large numbers of the general public along with health workers have made it known that they will refuse to take the shot. Note: The popular revolt against government-mandated shots reveals a basic lack of trust in government by the people. A government that has lost the trust of the people is a government which can no longer function. And a government that cannot function and that cannot be trusted is a government that is useless and a waste of money. The US Federal government has outlived its usefulness to the people. And waving flu or terrorists or Iranians at us will not create the illusion that continuing to support such a useless and corrupt government is necessary ..."  

  While Swine Flu Vaccine Has Been Declared "Safe", Novel Adjuvants Will Be Used Before Testing has been Conducted [ 08/28/09 ] "Dr. Meryl Nass is an expert on vaccines. Over the years, I have found Dr. Nass to be reasonable, balanced and well grounded in science in her discussions about the anthrax attacks and the criminal investigations into Dr. Hatfield and Dr. Ivins. So I wanted to see what she thought about the safety of the swine flu vaccine. On July 3rd, Dr. Nass discussed the use of the adjuvant called "squalene" in swine flu vaccines (an adjuvant is a chemical which increases the body's reaction to a vaccine, and thus stretches the number of doses which a given quantity of vaccine can produce): The US government has contracted with at least 5 pharmaceutical manufacturers to develop and produce H1N1 vaccines, using a variety of platforms and manufacturing methods... A novel feature of the two H1N1 vaccines being developed by companies Novartis and Glaxo-Smith Kline is the addition of squalene-containing adjuvants to boost immunogenicity and dramatically reduce the amount of viral antigen needed. This translates to much faster production of desired vaccine quantities. Each company has its own proprietary adjuvant, acquired in each case at high cost and intended for the high-stakes business of rapidly producing vaccines for novel pandemics or biological warfare threats. Novartis' adjuvant is named MF59, and Glaxo's is ASO3. We know they work beautifully to strengthen vaccine efficacy. But how safe are they? That is a very difficult question to answer. Novartis claims MF-59 has been used safely by over 40 million people. However, FDA has not seen fit to approve even a single US vaccine that contains these novel adjuvants. ..."  

  Nazi death camp blueprints given to Israel [ 08/28/09 ] "...There are those who deny that the Holocaust happened," Benjamin Netanyahu said as he accepted the documents as a gift to Israel's Holocaust memorial, where they will go on display next year. "Let them come to Jerusalem and look at these plans, these plans for the factory of death ..." Note: Netanyahu is brain dead: [From Israel's own news services, October 2008, Haaretz]: Auschwitz expert: Blueprints found in Berlin not of death camp  Oops! When Israel starts waving "Holocaust" around like a flag, it usually means they are about to do something really disturbing.

  Somali pirates fire at U.S. helicopter, Navy says   [ 08/28/09 ] "The helicopter was not struck and all crew members were safe after the incident, the Navy said in a news release. The incident highlights the ongoing piracy problem in that region even as U.S. and coalition ships patrol the waters to deter pirates. Somali pirates hijacked the M/V Win Far on April 6. Navy officials said the vessel is being used as a "mother ship," or a floating base, to launch attacks on other ships, including the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama. The Alabama was targeted by pirates in an April hijacking that ended with U.S. Navy snipers shooting dead three pirates who were holding the captain of the ship hostage ..."

  As boycott continues, Glenn Beck's audience swells  [ 08/28/09 ] "An advertising boycott against Fox News host Glenn Beck has succeeded in keeping most major sponsors from running commercials on his show even as the controversial commentator's viewership has grown. Beck attracted 2.81 million viewers Monday, his third-largest audience since his show launched on Fox News in January, according to Nielsen Media Research data provided by the network. On Tuesday, nearly 2.7 million viewers tuned in, his fifth-largest viewership to date..." Note: See Video [7:17] for an example of what his show is like, now. It's easily seen why he annoys mainstream news and the control paradigm in general. He's reporting on what actually appears to be happening. They don't like that.

  Secretary Napolitano Announces New Directives on Border Searches of Electronic Media   [ 08/28/09 ] "Searches of electronic media, permitted by law and carried out at borders and ports of entry, are vital to detecting information that poses serious harm to the United States, including terrorist plans, or constitutes criminal activity—such as possession of child pornography and trademark or copyright infringement ..." Note: Translation - Since the only terrorists out there are actors working for the governments, the TSA has been transformed into the "iPolice", searching your digital media for pirated movies and music. They needn't bother. With crap like "Inglorious Basterds" in the theaters it's not like there is anything out there worth stealing in the first place.

  The Great Economic Recovery of 2009 Is a Fraud  [ 08/28/09 ] "The newsletter says a better way to gauge the strength of economic activity is to look at the Baltic Dry Index, which tracks the price it costs to ship commodities overseas. This Index is still 60% below where it was a year ago. If the economy were truly in "recovery" mode, the Baltic Dry Index would be moving consistently higher and it's not ..."  Note: I remember when I had this 'Baltic Dry Index' up here back then.

  Legal Case: 'Unverifiable electronic voting, or E-voting, is unconstitutional'  [ 08/28/09 ] "A case brought by election integrity advocates in Georgia claiming that unverifiable electronic voting, or E-voting, is unconstitutional could spell trouble for the controversial practice, as it heads to the Georgia Supreme Court for a ruling ... E-voting first started in Georgia. In 2002, the state became the first to use the Diebold AccuVote TS-R6 machines statewide after then-Secretary of State Cathy Cox entered into a 54-million-dollar agreement with Diebold. About 50 million U.S. citizens used some kind of E-voting technology in the 2008 election cycle. Today, Georgia remains the last state slated to use E-voting equipment statewide in the 2010 elections, unless the Georgia Supreme Court intervenes. Other states like California, Maryland, Ohio initially followed in Georgia's footsteps. Since then, "California received a 2.5-million-dollar settlement from Diebold and de-certified them three times. Maryland filed an 8.5-million-dollar lawsuit. And Ohio filed for punitive damages after they found accumulation discrepancies and Diebold admitted to a critical programming error that can cause votes to be dropped," Garland Favorito, founder and lead plaintiff for VoterGA, an elections integrity group, told IPS. "They were all using Diebold Accu-vote TS voting machines," he said. Of the 13 counts listed by VoterGA in their lawsuit, two argue that E-voting is in violation of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment, which states that "No State shall... deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process." Count 12 also claims that E-voting violates the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law because Georgians who choose to vote with an absentee ballot are able to do so on paper, while those who vote on Election Day must use the E-voting machines ..."

  Tax Man Uses MySpace to Nab Deadbeats  [ 08/28/09 ] "State revenue agents have begun nabbing scofflaws by mining information posted on social-networking Web sites, from relocation announcements to professional profiles to financial boasts ..." Note:  This is precisely the reason these social networking sites, like MySpace, Facebook, etc .... they are encouraging you to post info on yourself that you can have used against you later.  Then again, it's dumb people who fail to maintain 'continuity' with respect to their interaction with society and it's controllers.

  New Jersey Corruption Bust Had Deep Roots [ 08/27/09 ] "A statewide corruption investigation that has entangled dozens of New Jersey politicians had its origins a decade ago inside a dingy trailer office in Monmouth County, where federal agents overheard talk about bribes to local officials, some involving real-estate deals. The wiretaps of phones in the trailer eventually led to the arrests and convictions of a half-dozen public officials and sparked two other probes that have since ensnared nearly 80 politicians, most of them Democrats, and fixers, businessmen and others. The key figure in last month's dramatic arrests of 44 people, real-estate developer Solomon Dwek, first came to investigators' attention through his connections with officials ultimately convicted in Monmouth County, according to a person in law enforcement familiar with the case ..."

  ACLU Sues DHS over Laptop Searches  [ 08/27/09 ] "The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday sued the Department of Homeland Security in an effort to uncover documents related to laptop searches at the border. "The ACLU believes that suspicionless searches of laptops violate the First and Fourth Amendments," the group wrote in the suit, filed in a New York District Court ..."

  U.S. sugar growers' sickeningly sweet deal with the government  [ 08/27/09 ] "Down on the farm, the latest dispute pits America's sugar producers against their biggest customers: food manufacturers that add the sweetener to everything from raisin bran to raspberry yogurt. The food makers are unhappy with a recent tightening of supplies that has pushed the wholesale price of refined sugar to 35 cents per pound. Warning of higher grocery prices and lost jobs, the manufacturers want Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to allow more imports. Domestic sugar growers insist that supplies are adequate, thanks in part to imports of Mexican raw sugar to U.S. refineries, which were allowed on a tariff-free basis for the first time last year as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Who's right? Our sympathy for the food processors is limited. Given the obesity and diabetes epidemics, higher prices for their sugar-saturated products might be socially beneficial, if they encourage consumers to kick the habit. The latest government statistics also support the sugar producers' claim that stocks are sufficient. More broadly, though, this episode illuminates once again the irrationality of U.S. agricultural policy in general -- of which the sugar producers are among the biggest beneficiaries. Why does Mr. Vilsack control the flow of imports to the U.S. sugar market in the first place? Answer: Since 1982, domestic sugar producers have lobbied for, and gotten, a government-guaranteed share of the market. Today, their guaranteed share is up to 85 percent; the rest gets divided up among some 40 countries lucky enough to hold quotas of varying sizes. The advent of free Mexican imports upset this scheme somewhat, which is why the 2008 farm bill promised that the government would offset them by purchasing excess U.S. sugar and shipping it to ethanol factories. In addition, the federal government guarantees minimum prices for both raw cane sugar and refined beet sugar. Pretty sweet ..."

China admits to organ harvesting  [ 08/27/09 ] "Says it's 'trying' to stop use of executed prisoners as source of transplant organs ..."

London Police 'Stealing' From Unlocked Cars  [ 08/27/09 ] "British police are combing the upscale London neighborhood of Richmond, looking for things to steal. Scotland Yard said Tuesday that officers in the southwest London borough would be checking unlocked cars for precious items – and sometimes taking them – as a reminder to owners to keep their doors locked, their windows closed and their valuables with them ..."

  Files prove Pentagon is profiling reporters For "Positive" Or "Negative" War Coverage  [ 08/27/09 ] "Contrary to the insistence of Pentagon officials this week that they are not rating the work of reporters covering U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Stars and Stripes has obtained documents that prove that reporters’ coverage is being graded as “positive,” “neutral” or “negative.” Moreover, the documents — recent confidential profiles of the work of individual reporters prepared by a Pentagon contractor — indicate that the ratings are intended to help Pentagon image-makers manipulate the types of stories that reporters produce while they are embedded with U.S. troops in Afghanistan. ..... The Rendon Group, evaluating the focus of coverage by a reporter for a major U.S. newspaper. It indicates the firm’s conclusion that the reporter’s coverage was 83.33 percent neutral and 16.67 percent negative in relation to the military’s mission objectives ..."   Related:  Private group is now in charge of vetting war reporters "The Rendon Group was founded by John Rendon, a public-relations expert whose links to government PR efforts date back at least as far as the Reagan administration. The news that the Rendon Group is now in charge of vetting war reporters is certain to raise concerns about government censorship and propaganda among the media watchdog community, many of whom are familiar with John Rendon’s track record in dealing with journalists ... A 2005 Rolling Stone article says that the Rendon Group was given a government contract three weeks after 9/11 to wage a public relations campaign against media that were perceived as hostile to the Bush administration’s war efforts. According to the New York Times, Rendon was involved in the development of the Office of Strategic Influence, whose “mission was to conduct covert disinformation and deception operations — planting false news items in the media and hiding their origins,” as the Rolling Stone article put it ..."   

Kennedy To Be Buried At Arlington [ 08/26/09 ] Yeah, he's dead, had a brain tumor, and was a talking head in US politics.  

Manipulating the Data to Justify a Worldwide Public Health Emergency [ 08/26/09 ] "What we are dealing with is a big lie. A process of generating fake data which is then used to justify a nationwide vaccination program. The political and corporate interests behind this Worldwide public health emergency must be the target of citizens' actions. This public health emergency is not intended to protect humanity. The World is at the crossroads of a major economic and social crisis. The Worldwide public health emergency serves to divert public opinion from the real crisis which is affecting the World's people. This crisis is characterised by rising poverty and unemployment an the collapse in social services, not to mention a a US-NATO multitrillion dollar high tech "war without borders" which includes the preemptive "first strike" use of nuclear weapons. The dramatic causes and consequences of the "real crisis" which in real sense threaten the future of humanity must remain unheralded. Both the Economic Crisis and the Middle East Central Asian war are the object of routine and persistent media distortion and camouflage. In contrast, the H1N1 swine flu --despite its relatively mild and benign impacts-- is depicted as major "Save the World" endeavor ..." Note:  Very good summary of what's been happening.

Daley Feels Heat on Parking Meter Scam  [ 08/26/09 ] "Mayor Daley will acknowledge tonight that his administration "totally screwed up" the transition to private control of the city's 36,000 parking meters and that some Chicagoans believe he has "put too much time into" the quest for Olympic gold. With a $520 million shortfall that can only be filled by tax increases and spending cuts, three nights of public hearings on Daley's preliminary 2010 budget are expected to turn into giant gripe sessions before City Hall lowers the boom ... No issue in recent memory -- not even the Hired Truck scandal or Daley's notorious midnight destruction of Meigs Field -- has resonated more with voters than the 75-year, $1.15 billion parking meter lease tied to a steep schedule of rate hikes. It was bad enough that drivers had to stuff their pockets with quarters to pay the higher meter rates. When the transition to private control got bogged down by broken pay-and-display boxes and overstuffed and improperly calibrated meters that overcharged motorists, Daley and aldermen who approved the deal had a crisis on their hands ..."

Those who lose homes may face California tax hit  [ 08/26/09 ] "Californians who lose their homes in a foreclosure, short-sale or deed in lieu of foreclosure this year could be hit with a state income tax on canceled or forgiven debt. A state law that temporarily exempted many homeowners from this tax at the state level expired at the end of last year. Attempts to revive it have not been successful. The state law was similar to a federal one that exempts many homeowners from federal tax on canceled mortgage debt. The federal law remains in effect through 2012. The state-tax hit could be substantial and the rules are complex. People in mortgage trouble should consult a qualified tax professional. ..."

Mass. Supreme Court rebuffs cross-border tax grab  [ 08/26/09 ] "Massachusetts' highest court has ruled the state has no right to collect taxes from a retail chain that sold tires to Massachusetts residents in New Hampshire. Massachusetts authorities said their case was narrowly focused, but others saw broader implications. Massachusetts recently raised its sales tax; New Hampshire has none. The state Department of Revenue tried to collect about $109,000 in taxes from Connecticut-based Town Fair Tire Centers after a records examination found 313 invoices in the New Hampshire stores listed Massachusetts addresses for buyers ..."

Detroit's cash shortage could implode  [ 08/26/09 ] "Detroit Mayor Dave Bing's top financial and administrative officers today are laying out for City Council the city's bleak budget status. Charles Beckham, Bing's chief administrative officer, said the city is operating with a $60-million to $80-million cash shortage -- one that could implode come October -- on top of the $275-million to $300-million overall deficit. “All of our revenue projections have been off in the wrong direction," Beckham said ..."

Illinois corruption includes state’s largest school systems  [ 08/26/09 ] "The two largest public school systems in Illinois are under scrutiny, with federal prosecutors investigating links between important admissions decisions and political clout. The University of Illinois and the Chicago Public School system are involved in separate cases that involve possible manipulation of the admissions process by state power brokers, which in the university case, includes disgraced former governor Rod Blagojevich and convicted influence dealer Tony Rezko. A report published Thursday by the Illinois Reform Commission said unqualified students were accepted to the University of Illinois’ most elite programs including law, business, and medicine as the result of a “shadow admissions process.” Between 2003 and 2007, for example, the college of law wrongly admitted about 24 politically-connected applicants in exchange for scholarship money, according to the report. The report recommends that University Chancellor Richard Herman and all nine trustees at the University of Illinois voluntarily submit their resignations; three trustees had already done so by Friday. The remaining trustees have been given until Sept. 11 to resign ..."

White House Projects Budget Deficit to Soar to Nearly $1.6 Trillion  [ 08/26/09 ] "The federal deficit will soar to nearly $1.6 trillion this year, miring the nation in the deepest pool of red ink since the end of World War II, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and the White House reported Tuesday ..."

Jury Awards $14M to Smoker's Daughter [ 08/26/09 ] "A jury has decided that cigarette maker Philip Morris USA should pay $13.8 million in punitive damages to the daughter of a longtime smoker who died of lung cancer ... The Los Angeles Superior Court jury returned the verdict Monday, more than eight years after the smoker, Betty Bullock, sued the company for fraud and product liability. The panel voted 9-to-3 in favor of Bullock's daughter Jodie Bullock, who is now the plaintiff in the case. Betty Bullock died of lung cancer in February 2003. She had sued Philip Morris in April 2001, accusing the company of fraud and product liability. A jury in 2002 recommended Philip Morris pay a record $28 billion in punitive damages to Bullock, but a judge later reduced the award to $28 million. In 2008, the 2nd U.S. District Court of Appeal reversed the jury's decision and remanded the case for a new trial over the punitive damages. Philip Morris said the $28 million remained excessive. However, the original jury ordered the tobacco company to pay Bullock $750,000 in damages and $100,000 for pain and suffering, a verdict that still stands ..."

'Israeli art scam' hits Calgary [ 08/25/09 ] "I entered 'Israeli art scam' and boom! I got entry after entry after entry," she said. Butler saw the painting she had just bought for $170 ... online, it cost $5, wholesale from China ..."  Note: Solution- Never buy anything from an Israeli outside of Israel, I guess.  Related: Israeli art students show up at interesting times | Israel’s Democracy: Flourishing or Floundering?

The Body Snatchers Are Back  [ 08/25/09 ] "In the Turkish blockbuster action movie Valley of the Wolves, an American Jewish doctor in Abu Ghraib prison gently removes a kidney out of live and suffering Arab prisoner and places it into a special vessel with the label "To Tel Aviv", thus reinforcing the Israeli-American bond of eternal friendship. Real life imitates cinema, as we learn from the dreadful story of Palestinian youths being hunted for their inner organs by that most moral army in the world, Israel's, as published by a leading Swedish newspaper ..."  Related: Israel hits back over Swedish organ harvesting article  [ 08/24/09 ] "Israel on Sunday withheld the press credentials of a Swedish newspaper in retaliation for a controversial piece that suggested the Israeli army kidnapped and killed young Palestinians to harvest their organs. The journalists need the credentials to report from Gaza ..."   Related: See news items on July 27, 2009:  Israeli suspected of organ trafficking | Video  - The New Jersey Bust | Commentary: Harvest of Corruption  By Rabbi Benjamin Weiner | Israel likely to probe alleged money-laundering network 

New LIFE Photos Of Hitler's Germany Released [ 08/25/09 ] Page 2 | Page 3    Eerie Stuff

Pro-Israel groups accuse Obama of promoting 'ethnic cleansing' [ 08/25/09 ] "Hardline pro-Israel groups in the US have been confronting President Barack Obama's demands for a halt to settlement expansion by accusing him of promoting the ethnic cleansing of Jews and jeopardising Israel's security ..."

District 9 - A Science Fiction Film With Sophisticated New World Order Propaganda  [ 08/25/09 ] "The sophistication of New World Order propaganda originating from Hollywood is reaching an insane level. Proof of this can be seen with the new release of the Peter Jackson produced and Neill Blomkamp directed science fiction film District 9. I had the opportunity to see this film over the weekend and was blown away with the multiple layers of mind control programming that is included in this movie. Anyone who has researched anything to do with the New World Order should immediately go see this film and analyze it. We live in a world in which everything is backwards. The corporate controlled media conceals the truth where as Hollywood works of fiction usually end up revealing it. This is definitely true for District 9 as this film is obviously meant to condition the viewing audience to accept current realities and even future realities that the global controllers are preparing. The film also fictionalizes many real life truths which is very interesting in its own right ..."

Jackson's Death a Homicide: Coroner [ 08/25/09 ] Note: Jackson was given an overdose of an Israeli-made anesthetic.

CIA Threatened To Kill 9/11 Suspect's Children: Report  [ 08/24/09 ] "A newly declassified CIA report says interrogators threatened to kill the children of a Sept. 11 suspect. The document, released Monday by the Justice Department, says one interrogator said a colleague had told Khalid Sheikh Mohammed that if any other attacks happened in the United States, "We're going to kill your children." Another interrogator allegedly tried to convince a different terror suspect detainee that his mother would be sexually assaulted in front of him -- though the interrogator in question denied making such a threat. The report, written in 2004, examined CIA treatment of terror detainees following the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It has been declassified as part of a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union ..."

How Lockerbie bomber appeal threatened Scottish justice [ 08/24/09 ] "$2m witness payment, bogus forensic evidence and Pentagon memo blaming Iran ... As the political furore over the release of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Al Megrahi engulfs three countries in bitter recriminations, The Mail on Sunday can now reveal the new and compelling evidence which he says would have proved his innocence."  Related: Lockerbie links to Franklin, Dutroux, Mossad, McKee  

Iraqi Official Says Security Forces May Have Colluded in Bombings  [ 08/24/09 ] "Iraq's foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, said Saturday that the coordinated attack that killed more than 100 people, including dozens of his employees, in Baghdad on Wednesday may have been carried out with the complicity of Iraqi security forces ..."

Colonoscopies at U.S. Veterans Affairs hospitals exposed 11,000 vets to hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV.  [ 08/24/09 ] "The veterans were advised equipment used during their treatment was not sterilized. Of those so far that responded by having follow-up blood checks, 8 have tested positive for HIV. Twelve of the veterans have tested positive for hepatitis B, and 37 have tested positive for hepatitis C. This week it was learned a 55-year-old North Miami man, Juan Rivera, a thirteen-year Army veteran with a wife and 5 children, filed notice last month that he will sue the Federal Government claiming he was infected with HIV during a colonoscopy at the Miami Veterans Administration hospital. He had a colonoscopy at the hospital in May last year. Rivera is suing the government for $20 million ..." Note: There's one guy who's not 'taking it up the ass' twice without recourse.

Supreme Court considers major shift in election law   [ 08/24/09 ] "President Theodore Roosevelt campaigned as a trust-busting reformer, but was embarrassed by revelations that his 1904 campaign had received secret contributions from New York insurance companies. At his urging, Congress passed a law to keep corporate money out of political races. Now, that century-old ban stands in danger of being overturned by the Supreme Court's conservative majority, on the basis of an equally venerable principle: free speech in politics. The justices signaled the prospect of a profound shift in election law by scheduling an unusual special argument for Sept. 9. At issue will be whether to overturn two rulings that limit corporate spending in elections ..."

Colorado Springs police may sell seized firearms   [ 08/24/09 ] "The Colorado Springs City Council is expected in coming weeks to approve the final details of a program that would allow the Police Department to sell confiscated firearms to federally licensed gun dealers. Police have already stopped melting down the hundreds of guns they collect from crime scenes, drug houses or civilians who don't need them anymore ..." 

U.S. Shifts, Giving Names of Detainees to the Red Cross [ 08/23/09 ] "In a reversal of Pentagon policy, the military is notifying the International Committee of the Red Cross of the identities of militants who were being held in secret at camps ..."

In South Korea, Freed U.S. Journalists Come Under Harsh Criticism [ 08/23/09 ] " Laura Ling and Euna Lee, the two American journalists released after nearly five months in North Korean custody, have been widely portrayed at home as victims of unduly harsh punishment by a repressive government for simply doing their job. But here in South Korea, human rights advocates, bloggers and Christian pastors are accusing them of needlessly endangering the very people they tried to cover: North Korean refugees and the activists who help them. The accusations stem from a central fear repeated in newspapers and blogs here: that the notes and videotapes the journalists gathered in China before their ill-fated venture to the border fell into the hands of the authorities, potentially compromising the identities of refugees and activists dedicated to spiriting people out of the North ..."

UK to share fingerprints with Canada, Australia  [ 08/23/09 ] "Privacy concerns over biometric data collection have arisen in the past with the UK government's plan to build a database of fingerprints and other data on citizens for ID cards and passports. No2ID, which has campaigned against the ID card scheme, also criticised the agreement covering foreign criminals and asylum seekers. "Matching fingerprints is not an exact science, and if large numbers of fingerprints are being exchanged, the numbers of false matches will be high," said Michael Parker, press officer for No2ID. "Each false match means a family or individual will be harassed, accused and have their life disrupted ..."

'Honor System' Doesn't Work for Oil and Gas Companies, Louisiana Says [ 08/23/09 ] "Louisiana has filed 30 federal lawsuits seeking millions of dollars from oil and gas companies it accuses of grossly underreporting oil and gas production. It claims the oil industry has cheated the state by lying in a tax reporting system that relies upon an honor code ... " 

Fox news 5 reported WTC 7 collapse before it happened [ 08/23/09 ]  Note: The BBC News did, too. Hmmm.

Blackwater's Unwritten Death Contract [ 08/23/09 ] By Ray McGovern.  "According to Mazzetti, Panetta's top lieutenants, many of them holdovers from the last administration, had just told him that, under President Bush, they had farmed out assassinations to their Blackwater subsidiary. I use "they" advisedly, since the CIA holdovers that had kept Panetta in the dark continue to function as Panetta's top managers. Panetta abruptly stopped the project and contritely briefed the intelligence committees. Until now, it was not clear what had prompted Panetta to set up hurried consultations with the intelligence "oversight" committees of the House and Senate ... " 

Legally Wiping out National Debt [ 08/23/09 ] "In international law, odious debt is a legal theory which holds that the national debt incurred by a regime for purposes that do not serve the best interests of the nation, such as wars of aggression, should not be enforceable. Such debts are thus considered by this doctrine to be personal debts of the regime that incurred them and not debts of the state. In some respects, the concept is analogous to the invalidity of contracts signed under coercion. The doctrine was formalized in a 1927 treatise by Alexander Nahum Sack, a Russian émigré legal theorist, based upon 19th Century precedents including Mexico's repudiation of debts incurred by Emperor Maximilian's regime, and the denial by the United States of Cuban liability for debts incurred by the Spanish colonial regime ... " 

 Toxic waste returns to UK from Brazil [ 08/22/09 ] "Britain takes back thousands of tones of toxic waste, which had been sent from the country to Brazil labeled as 'recyclable plastic.' ... "How is it possible for countries that say they are doing everything to protect the environment ... to do this, to send their domestic, chemical and industrial garbage to poor and developing countries to be burned or buried," Brazilian Environment Minister Carlos Minc had earlier asked in a late-July statement ..."

Zardari visits China for 4th time since taking office   [ 08/22/09 ] "Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari begins a five-day visit to its neighbor China reflecting the strong ties the two countries have enjoyed for decades ... Zardari arrived in China on Friday, his fourth visit since taking office last year, with hopes that Beijing can help shore up Pakistan's economic and diplomatic standing ... Annual trade between the two sides is worth $7 billion, according to Pakistan, and the two countries have set a target of $15 billion by 2011. But in the first six months of this year, their bilateral trade shrank by 13 percent compared with the same period last year, according to Chinese customs data. China is Pakistan's main supplier of conventional arms and also provides hundreds of millions of dollars of finance to Pakistan ..."

Belief System Wars:  US Jews protest Catholic document on salvation  [ 08/22/09 ] "Major Jewish groups and rabbis from the three largest branches of American Judaism said Thursday that their relationship with Roman Catholic leaders is at risk because of a recent U.S. bishops' statement on salvation. Jewish groups said they interpret the new document to mean that the bishops view interfaith dialogue as a chance to invite Jews to become Catholic. The Jewish leaders said they "pose no objection" to Christians sharing their faith, but said dialogue with Jews becomes "untenable" if the goal is to persuade Jews to accept Christ as their savior. "A declaration of this sort is antithetical to the very essence of Jewish-Christian dialogue as we have understood it," Jewish leaders said in a letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The signers were the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and rabbis representing the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform movements ..."   Note: Yep. Dumb as a box of rocks, the lot of them. Perhaps on the next simultaneous world ...

American Indian activist denied parole  [ 08/22/09 ] "American Indian activist Leonard Peltier, imprisoned since 1977 for the deaths of two FBI agents, has been denied parole after authorities decided that releasing him would diminish the seriousness of his crime, the Associated Press reported in mid-afternoon on Aug. 21 ..."

UK dealers accused of selling Soviet weapons to blacklisted countries  [ 08/22/09 ] "Britain has launched an urgent investigation into allegations that UK arms dealers have been buying up old Soviet weapons and selling them on to blacklisted countries. In a sign of acute government sensitivity over the allegations, the foreign secretary David Miliband has asked senior MPs on a Commons select committee to suppress evidence of the arms sales. Miliband intervened after a group of MPs were handed a document detailing the arms sales by the deputy foreign minister in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine. The cross-party group of MPs met Oleksandr Gorin during a visit to Kiev in May on behalf of the Commons select committee on arms export controls. In their report, published today, the MPs write: "The document contained a list of UK registered brokers to whom the Ukrainian State Service for Export Control had licensed the export of collectors' items (light arms) from the Soviet stockpile of weapons. We were alarmed to see that the end users on the list included countries for which there are Foreign and Commonwealth Office restrictions on the export of strategic goods ..."

Sweden flatly rejects Israeli request for media quiet   [ 08/22/09 ] "Sweden has turned down a demand that it condemn the recent publication of an article that links Israeli soldiers to the death of Palestinian civilians with the motive of obtaining their organs. ..."

Camera catches Calif. cop hitting suspect [ 08/21/09 ] "A suspended Shafter police officer is facing felony assault charges after videotaping himself clubbing a prone suspect who didn't resist, officers said Wednesday ..." 

Rise of the Super-Rich Hits a Sobering Wall   [ 08/21/09 ] "The rich have been getting richer for so long that the trend has come to seem almost permanent. They began to pull away from everyone else in the 1970s. By 2006, income was more concentrated at the top than it had been since the late 1920s. The recent news about resurgent Wall Street pay has seemed to suggest that not even the Great Recession could reverse the rise in income inequality.

CIA secret prison in former Soviet state of Lithuania   [ 08/21/09 ] "A new report today has identified the location of yet a third CIA secret prison provided by a European nation, a disclosure called “irresponsible” by the CIA, and denied by the alleged facility host, the former Soviet state of Lithuania ... Valdas Adamkus was president of Lithuania during most of the time frame that the prison was allegedly in operation. Adamkus, who was also an American citizen, had worked for the US Environmental Protection Agency where he earned the EPA’s gold medal for achievements in service, and an award of the President for outstanding service. Adamkus resigned in 1997, and was elected president of Lithuania the following year. Lithuania is a member of the European Union and has ratified the Convention Against Torture and the European Human Rights Convention, as did the other European Union host site of CIA prisons, Poland, and Romania. Waterboarding and other practices associated with the operation of the black sites would be criminal acts under Lithuanian law...."

US defends controversial pact with Colombia   [ 08/21/09 ] "While a deal giving the US access to Colombian military bases provokes criticism form Latin American states, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defends the controversial deal ..."

 Irked by US-Colombia deal, Chavez warns of war   [ 08/21/09 ] "Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has again slammed US plans to increase its military presence in Colombia, echoing his earlier remarks in which he warned of an imminent war in the region. The US President Barack Obama is 'lost in the Andromeda' galaxy on Latin American policy, Chavez said on Sunday in his weekly address. He made the comments after Bogota announced a deal that will allow US troops to use seven military bases on Colombian soil. The leftist president believes that a larger US troop presence ups the prospect of a war in the region. Accordingly, Venezuela is planning to revamp its army by buying weaponry from Russia, Chavez said, adding that his country needs to be prepared for an attack. Chavez charged that the United States is after controlling Venezuela's huge oil reserves as well as the Amazon region. "This is just the start of an imperial military expansion," Chavez said, referring to the US-Colombian security arrangement ..."  Related: Moscow: Chavez adamant on Russian warfare gear  

 Ecuador, Russia strike nuclear deal   [ 08/21/09 ] "Ecuador's energy minister announces that Quito has signed an agreement with Moscow to develop nuclear energy "with solely peaceful purposes ..."

 "Zealots Promoting the "Personhood" of Zygotes"  [ 08/21/09 ] "The 'egg-as-person' crusade is driving big money to anti-choice groups ... In just five short years, the primary movers and shakers in the absolutist anti-abortion/anti-choice movement seeking to promote the “personhood” of zygotes (the single cell that forms after a sperm fertilizes an egg) have amassed nearly $58 million in tax-deductible contributions for their cause. Even the lead up to one of the worst economic periods in U.S. history has barely registered a blip in the group's collective money-drawing power according to an examination of IRS and state campaign finance records conducted for RH Reality Check. Four out of the five groups are raising more cash than ever with sophisticated fundraising operations, flush investment portfolios, and robust revenue-generating activities ..."

 Tamiflu puts 600,000 at greater risk of a stroke [ 08/20/09 ] "GPs have been put on alert over fears that Tamiflu can put some people at greater risk of suffering a stroke. A Government watchdog is concerned that the anti-swine flu drug can interact with the blood-thinning medication warfarin, which is taken by more than 600,000 people in the UK ..."  Note: Sadistic officials in the USA have said NOTHING, opting for their usual preferences to let people suffer needlessly under the guise of another fabricated 'problem'.

 UK 'can't find' $13bn in military hardware  [ 08/20/09 ] "Auditors have been unable to find 6.6 billion pounds ($13 billion) worth of British military equipment including vehicles, weapons and radios used by troops, a report said Thursday ..."

 Ridge says Bush Administration pushed to raise terror alert for re-election  [ 08/20/09 ] "A remarkable detail to be published in former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge’s soon-to-be-released book asserts that the Bush Administration attempted to wield the color-coded terror alert system for political gain ..."    Note: Duh. It's only 'remarkable' to the reporter at Raw Story because he's a dim-witted person, and he's only beginning to wake up to 'the possibilities', in a world where it's been obvious to billions of other people on the planet all along.

Commentary: Why We Couldn’t Abolish Slavery Then and Can’t Abolish Government Now  [ 08/20/09 ] "Slavery existed for thousands of years, in all sorts of societies and all parts of the world. To imagine human social life without it required an extraordinary effort ... the same ideas once trotted out to justify opposition to the abolition of slavery are now routinely trotted out to justify opposition to the abolition of government (as we know it). Libertarian anarchists bold enough to have publicly advanced their proposal for abolishing the state will have encountered many, if not all, of the arguments used for centuries to prop up slavery ..."

 UK's biggest jewel heist linked to Israel  [ 08/20/09 ] "Top Israeli officials have been linked to Britain's biggest ever jewelry heist, in which gems worth up to $65 million (£40m) were stolen. According to an Israeli report, three former senior officials in the Israeli army were the main share holders of the company responsible for guarding the Graff Diamond jewelers in central London, where the robbery took place. The Universe Security Group (USG) has been in charge of the security of the store, after a group of Balkan robbers -- dubbed the Pink Panther gang -- carried out an armed raid on the same store in May 2005, taking off with 1 million pounds worth of diamonds. Nahum Admoni, former Mossad chief and Maj. Gen. Uri Sagie, former chief of intelligence in the Israeli army, reportedly resigned from the leadership of the London-based group, just two months before the heist. Another primary share holder of the security company is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's special adviser, Isaac Molho. The police have meanwhile arrested a 50-year-old man in connection with the robbery, but only described him as a 'minor player' in the act. The August 6 raid, which had all the makings of a blockbuster movie, was carried out by two smartly dressed men, who had disguised themselves professionally with make-up layered on latex masks, Metropolitan Police footage showed. In just minutes, the leading men drew handguns, grabbed a female member of staff and headed for the exit with 43 pieces of jewelry including rings, bracelets, necklaces and watches. They fired warning shots, jumped into a waiting blue BMW and abandoned their hostage, speeding through Mayfair. No one was injured in the incident. An international man hunt has been in progress ever since, with insurers offering a 1 million-pound reward for information leading to the capture of the thieves and the recovery of the jewels. Graff on New Bond Street was previously attacked by the notorious Pink Panther gang in 2003 in what until now was reportedly Britain's previous most expensive jewelry robbery, worth 23 million pounds ..."

 In UK, Israel arms deals irk lawmakers  [ 08/20/09 ] "UK lawmakers have called for a review of all arms exports to Israel, as reports confirm that British arms were 'almost certainly' used by Israeli forces in Gaza. The Committees on Arms Export Controls published their annual report on Wednesday which calls for tougher scrutiny of arms exports, especially to places like Israel. The British parliament's Committee on Arms Export Controls said on Wednesday that the government is not doing enough to make sure its weapons are not used against civilians in war zones. The joint report by four House of Commons committees also urged tougher scrutiny and a case-by-case assessment of arms exports, especially to places like Israel. The report comes as the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband in April informed Parliament that Britain would re-examine its arms exports to Israel in light of Operation Cast Lead, in which over 1,400 Palestinians died, many of whom were women and children. Three weeks of non-stop Israeli air strikes as well as a ground incursion inflicted more than USD 1.6 billion of damage on Gaza's economy. The UK committee, meanwhile, called the report "regrettable" stressing that the government should do "everything possible to ensure that this does not happen in future". It also welcomed Downing Street's minimum sanctions against Israel, which has reportedly led to the cancellation of five out of 182 warrants for supplying the Israeli military with equipment. The license review, however, only affects the small armada of Sa'ar 4.5 missile boats -- deployed during the Israeli raids on the impoverished sliver -- which depend on UK supplies. In February, Amnesty International published a report on arms sales to Israel in which it highlighted Britain's role in supplying engines for Hermes 450 drones. According to the report, Israel uses these drones to conduct assassinations in Gaza. The report prompted the Palestinian organization al-Haq to file a lawsuit against the British government, arguing that British arms sales facilitate Israeli operations in the impoverished Gaza. The Israeli military, meanwhile, continues to be generously supported by the US -- its biggest arms supplier which injects USD 2 billion worth of armaments into the defense industry per year ..."

 FBI Says Boston Cops Need M-16s 'to Prevent City from Becoming Next Mumbai'  [ 08/20/09 ] "Warren Bamford, the special agent in charge of the FBI in Boston, said Tuesday that he is baffled by opposition to a proposal to give some neighborhood police officers the semiautomatic weapons,” reports the Associated Press. “In May, Boston Mayor Tom Menino criticized a proposal to arm up to 200 officers with M-16s that the police department had ordered from the U.S. military. Menino said only specially trained units should have the guns.” Menino, after all, has to face the wrath of citizens who will naturally resent the cops walking around as if Boston is Baghdad. The FBI is merely playing its assigned role. From the Pentagon to the Department of Homeland Security to the FBI, the government is on the fast track to turn the country into a police state from sea to shining sea. A major part of that effort is the militarization of the police, a process already well along. Let’s hand it to Boston Mayor Tom Menino — he didn’t buy into the FBI’s malarkey about a terrorist event that will probably never happen ..."  Note: Baffled, is he? Ha!

 Nigeria Nearing Failed State Status, Say Local Lawyers  [ 08/19/09 ] ""The NBA has serious doubts concerning the commitment of government in combating the menace of corruption. There are outstanding issues of corrupt practices in government circles," Nigeria's This Day newspaper quoted Mr Akeredolu as saying. As an example, he said, Nigerians were still waiting to hear the outcome of an investigation into the Halliburton scandal. The US construction firm has admitted paying bribes to top officials between 1994 and 2004 ..."

 PA: Man Tasered in stop by state cops dies  [ 08/19/09 ] "A Philadelphia man who was Tasered during a traffic stop Friday after he and his female companion allegedly assaulted state troopers, died from unknown causes Sunday morning at Crozer-Chester Medical Center. The circumstances of Hakim Jackson's death are being investigated by the state police ..."

 Top Sweden newspaper says IDF kills Palestinians for their organs   [ 08/19/09 ] "A leading Swedish newspaper reported this week that Israeli soldiers are abducting Palestinians in order to steal their organs, a claim that prompted furious condemnation and accusations of anti-Semitic blood libel from a rival publication ..."  Note: Not counting the Rabbi busted in a black market organ selling scandal here in the US, of course! This may well be the case, because recent revelations and arrests for Israeli organ smuggling are on record ..."

 Israel declares shooting of American an "act of war"  [ 08/19/09 ] "Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israel has declared the shooting of unarmed American demonstrator Tristan Anderson in the West Bank to be an “act of war” in a bid to avoid compensating his family. The Israeli Ministry of Defense sent a letter containing this declaration to the Anderson family’s lawyers, according to attorney Leah Tsemel who is perusing a civil suit against the Israeli government. Note: So, if Israel holds that what they are doing in the occupied territories IS war, then the usual rules for war must apply, including death sentences for war crimes. ..."

 ACORN's Financial Nerve Center [ 08/19/09 ] "Citizens Consulting Inc. (CCI), the shadowy financial nerve center of the embattled radical activist group ACORN, has filed false lobbying disclosure reports with Congress, according to Ron Sykes, a former ACORN employee. This revelation is important because, as former ACORN national board member Charles Turner said earlier this year on "The Glenn Beck Program," CCI "is where the shell game begins ..."

 Monsanto to Charge as Much as 42% More for New Seeds   [ 08/19/09 ] "Monsanto Co., the world’s largest seed maker, plans to charge as much as 42 percent more for new genetically modified seeds next year than older offerings because they increase farmers’ output ..."

 UK Family told by NHS: 'Alzheimer's is not a 'health condition'  [ 08/19/09 ] "A family has won £130,000 from an NHS trust after it refused to pay for their mother's care fees, claiming her Alzheimer's was not a health issue. NHS Worcestershire ruled that Judith Roe, 74, did not qualify for NHS funding because her condition was a "social" rather than "health" problem, even though she was so ill she could not make a cup of tea and regularly left the stove on. She was forced to sell her £200,000 home to pay her £600-a-week nursing home fees, which would have been funded if she had been categorised correctly. Mrs Roe's family appealed to the Health Service Ombudsman, which ruled that Mrs Roe's assessment had been incorrect and her treatment should have been funded by the NHS. NHS Worcestershire has now reimbursed them for six years of care. Her son, Richard, 40, urged other families in a similar situation to fight for the care they are entitled to. He said: "The way the health trust behaved was scandalous. It has been very stressful...." Related: NHS compensation costs hit £807m   Legal costs soar from £613m as complaints of medical negligence against the service rise sharply.

 Poll : Illinois Voters Don't Care About Scandals   [ 08/19/09 ] "Illinois Review reports on the a new Rasmussen poll concerning the state of Illinois: Twenty-nine percent (29%) of voters say they are less likely to vote for any Democratic candidate because of the Blagojevich scandal and the state budget crisis. Seven percent (7%) say they are more likely to vote Democratic, while 60% say the scandal and the state’s budget problems will have no impact on their vote ..."

 Mental Stress Training Is Planned for U.S. Soldiers  [ 08/19/09 ] "The Army plans to require that all 1.1 million of its soldiers take intensive training in emotional resiliency, military officials say. The training, the first of its kind in the military, is meant to improve performance in combat and head off the mental health problems, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide, that plague about one-fifth of troops returning from Afghanistan and Iraq ..."  Note: It's too late. They have already largely incapacitated the U.S. Army and Marines."

 North Korea reopens to South as economy weakens  [ 08/18/09 ] "North Korea said on Monday it would reopen its border with the South, ending a self-imposed 9-month blockade on a vital source of cash for its leaders as their ravaged economy is squeezed by tightening U.N. sanctions. It is the latest step by the hermit North to end near complete isolation by the outside world over its months of military grandstanding, including a second nuclear test in May. But in a reminder of tensions on the peninsula, North Korea's KCNA news agency followed the report on the border deal with one warning of a "merciless and prompt annihilating strike", including nuclear weapons, if U.S. and South Korean military drills that started on Monday infringe on its sovereignty ..." Related: What's Behind the Move?

 Scalia: There’s nothing unconstitutional about executing the innocent [ 08/18/09 ] "Almost two decades ago, Troy Anthony Davis was convicted of murder and sentenced to die. Since then, seven of the witnesses against him have recanted their testimony, and some have even implicated Sylvester “Redd” Coles, a witness who testified that Davis was the shooter. In light of the very real evidence that Davis could be innocent of the crime that placed him on death row, the Supreme Court today invoked a rarely used procedure giving Davis an opportunity to challenge his conviction. Joined by Justice Clarence Thomas in dissent, however, Justice Antonin Scalia criticized his colleagues for thinking that mere innocence is grounds to overturn a conviction ..."  Note: Scalia is a piece of work. The 'founding fathers' never dreamed they would have to spell it out.  It's unethical to penalize an innocent person.

 Three Indicted in Largest Corporate Identity Theft Case in History [ 08/18/09 ] "Federal Authorities indicted three men in New Jersey in a massive identity theft case that the Justice Department is labeling as the largest in American history. Albert Gonzalez of Miami, 28, is charged with acting with two unnamed conspirators to locate large corporations and steal vital account information in a crime that the Department of Justice calls "the single largest hacking and identity theft case ever prosecuted." Authorities say more than 130 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen in a corporate data breach involving three different corporations and two individuals. The card numbers, along with additional account information, were allegedly stolen from Princeton-based Heartland Payment Systems; 7-Eleven Inc., a Texas-based convenience store chain and Hannaford Brothers Company, a Maine-based supermarket chain. The indictment also mentions two other unidentified corporate victims as being hacked by the co-conspirators. According to the Justice Department, the suspects used a sophisticated hacking technique called an "SQL injection attack," which "seeks to exploit computer networks by finding a way around the network's firewall to steal credit card and debit information." According to the two-count indictment alleging conspiracy and conspiracy to engage in wire-fraud, beginning in October 2006, Gonzalez and the others would seek out Fortune 500 companies and attempt to identify potential vulnerabilities in their computer systems ... "   Related: Prosecutors say man stole 130M credit card numbers 

 Diet-Drug Lawyers Get 20, 25 Years for Stealing Funds  [ 08/18/09 ] "Two disbarred Kentucky lawyers were sentenced to 20 years and 25 years in prison for stealing from a $200 million fen-phen diet-drug settlement fund, a scheme the sentencing judge said showed “unmitigated greed.” U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves sentenced William Gallion to 25 years and Shirley Cunningham Jr. to 20 years today for their April conviction on nine criminal counts including wire fraud and conspiracy. And he ordered the men to pay $127.7 million in restitution to the 421 former clients who were victims of the fraud. In separate hearings today in Covington, Kentucky, lawyers for Gallion, 58, and Cunningham, 54, argued in favor of leniency. Both men, who were dressed in gray-striped prison uniforms, declined to address the court. “There has not been a grain of remorse that has been shown by either defendant in this proceeding,” Reeves said before announcing Cunningham’s sentence ..."

 Don't give children ham sandwiches, say UK cancer experts  [ 08/18/09 ] "Ham, bacon and other types of processed meat raise the risk of bowel cancer over a lifetime, according to a cancer charity.  Giving sandwich fillers such as ham and salami to children means they get into habits that increase their risk of developing cancer later in life, it claims. Healthier alternatives are fish, low-fat cheese, houmous, or small amounts of unprocessed, lean meat such as chicken ..."

 Majority Of Americans Directly Oppose Obama Economic Policy  [ 08/18/09 ] "A new Gallup poll has revealed that the majority of Americans are directly opposed to the Obama administration's economic policy. 57% say the so called economic "stimulus" package is having no impact on the economy or making it worse, reports USA Today, who commissioned the poll. According to the figures, just 18% believe that the stimulus plan is having any effect on their financial situation. 60% say the Obama policy will have no effect or will make things worse in the long term, with 51% feeling that the government has spent too much on the stimulus. Over three-quarters of those questioned, 78%, said they were either "very worried" or "somewhat worried" that their tax dollars are simply being wasted ..."

 Teacher laws challenged by U.S. program [ 08/18/09 ] "U.S. states are moving to change their teacher-protection laws to become eligible for $4.3 billion in federal education funding, analysts say. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has demanded that states with laws prohibiting the linking of teachers' job evaluations to standardized student test scores drop them to be eligible for the funds. States such as California are vowing to do so, The New York Times reported Monday ..."

 Government Will Hype Fall Swine Flu Outbreak To Save Obamacare, Warns Armey  [ 08/18/09 ] "Former Congressman and House Majority Leader Dick Armey warns that Former House leader says government is preparing to exploit fear to reinvigorate support behind failing agenda ..."

 F-35 Squabble Could Kill Hate Bill [ 08/18/09 ] "This spring, President Obama warned Congress that two things would cause him to veto the 2010 military appropriations bill ..."

 Africa: U.S. Military Holds War Games on Nigeria, Somalia  [ 08/17/09 ] "President Obama has decided instead to expand the operations of Africom throughout the continent. He has proposed a budget for financial year 2010 that will provide increased security assistance to repressive and undemocratic governments in resource-rich countries like Nigeria, Niger, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and to countries that are key military allies of the United States like Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti, Rwanda and Uganda ..."

 Enterprise Rent-A-Car Sold Chevies Without Standard Air Bags To Save Millions [ 08/17/09 ] "Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the nation's largest private buyer of new cars and seller of used ones, chose to "delete" a standard safety feature from thousands of Chevrolet Impala fleet vehicles, saving millions of dollars. What's more, a Kansas City Star investigation found that hundreds of Impalas already sold were incorrectly advertised on Enterprise's Web site as having the very head-protecting feature that the rental company opted to exclude on General Motors’ factory floor. "I've never seen a standard safety feature removed from a vehicle," said Sean Kane, who heads Safety Research & Strategies Inc. in Rehoboth, Mass. "That's what's so unique about this. I've been doing this work for 17 years and, until now, had yet to see this happen." Enterprise officials defended their decision to delete the side air bags on roughly 66,000 Impalas as one that did not violate any federal mandate. That decision saved the company $175 on each Impala, which would total about $11.5 million ..."

 Emanuel Wields Power Freely, and Faces the Risks  [ 08/17/09 ] "Sixteen years ago, it was Mrs. Clinton, then first lady, who helped have Mr. Emanuel demoted as a senior official in Bill Clinton’s White House after he ruffled feathers with his aggressive style. Now all these years later, it is Mr. Emanuel telling Mrs. Clinton what she cannot do as a member of the cabinet. Seven months after moving into his office in the West Wing, Mr. Emanuel is emerging as perhaps the most influential White House chief of staff in a generation. But with his prominence in almost everything important going on in Washington comes a high degree of risk. As the principal author of Mr. Obama’s do-everything-at-once strategy, he stands to become a figure of consequence in his own right if the administration stabilizes the economy and financial markets, overhauls the health care system and winds down one war while successfully prosecuting another. If things do not go well — and right now Mr. Obama’s political popularity is declining, his health care legislation is under conservative assault, the budget deficit is at an eye-popping level and Afghanistan remains volatile — it is Mr. Emanuel whose job will be on the line before Mr. Obama’s. “He’s about to be tested; he’s spinning a lot of plates over there and he breaks a lot of china,” said Joel Johnson, a close friend and fellow veteran official of the Clinton White House. “They’ve had some good success early on, but they’ve got a number of major pieces of the agenda in the queue, and it’s going to be really difficult  ..."

 Facebook Buys Rights To Nearly Everything You Do Online For $47.5 Million [ 08/16/09 ] "Facebook just bought the rights to nearly everything you do online. And it cost them only $47.5 million. Facebook's purchase of FriendFeed, an obscure social-media platform, is potentially momentous. To understand why, we must understand FriendFeed, a start-up that is ubiquitous among techies and unknown to everybody else. It's a sleek application that acts as a clearinghouse for all of your social-media activities. Post something to Flickr? That will show up on your FriendFeed page. Digg something? FriendFeed will know. Post to Twitter from your phone? FriendFeed will syndicate your tweets. Once you initially tell it where to look, it will collect everything and tell it to the world. The goal is to make automatic that which is all too annoying to do manually. If I like an article enough to Digg it, why should I then have to tell all my friends via Facebook or Twitter, as well? The social-media landscape has become disparate enough -- so many start-ups controlling so many different pieces of our lives -- that we need a central place that will organize all of our actions for us. That place is FriendFeed. Facebook has recently shown that it, too, wants to be that place. For all of its genius in harnessing the collective procrastination of an entire planet, Facebook has usually asked you to come to it. For example, want to post photos on Flickr but not Facebook? Good luck telling your Facebook friends about it. In the past, while Facebook was building an audience, this walled garden helped it build its audience. If all your friends were on Facebook, then why not post your pictures there? After all, the point of digital photography in 2009 is to relive memories with the very group of people that lived through them in the first place. That group is most likely found on Facebook ..." Note: Good reason to steer clear of social networking groups and ego-oriented activities online.

 Gay Marriage Fight, "Kiss-In" Protests Smack Mormon Image [ 08/16/09 ] "Salt Lake City - The Mormon church's vigorous, well-heeled support for Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California last year, has turned the Utah-based faith into a lightning rod for gay rights activism, including a nationwide "kiss-in" Saturday. The event comes after gay couples here and in San Antonio and El Paso, Texas, were arrested, cited for trespassing or harassed by police for publicly kissing. In Utah, the July 9 trespassing incident occurred after a couple were observed by security guards on a downtown park-like plaza owned by the 13 million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The court case was dismissed, but the kiss sparked a community backlash and criticism of the church. Mormonism teaches that 'homosexual sex' is considered a 'sin', but gays are welcome in church and can 'maintain church callings and membership' if they 'remain celibate' ..."  Note:  M O R O N S. 

 Lockerbie links to Franklin, Dutroux, Mossad, McKee  [ 08/16/09 ] "A Pan Am investigation is believed to have concluded that the Lockerbie bomb was targeted specifically to kill a small band of US Defence Intelligence Agency operatives (including Major Charles McKee) who had uncovered a drugs ring run by a CIA unit in Lebanon. The drugs-ring is said to have been set up by Israeli Mossad ..." 

 Nevada: Police Breaking Up Phony 'Locksmiths' [ 08/16/09 ] " Just look at the phone book or online and you'll see hundreds of fly-by-night locksmith outfits using phony names and bogus addresses to fleece millions of dollars each year out of locals and tourists. The scam emanates from New York and Florida and appears to be a highly organized criminal enterprise that flaunts local laws and has been known to use threats and intimidation against customers who are invariably in vulnerable situations. .... An undercover police officer posing as a shopper locked out of car calls a company named Right On Time Locksmith. She is routed to another company, S and S Locksmith. When help arrives 15 minutes later in an unmarked van, the man says he works for a 3rd company, Mega-Locksmith. The $30 fee mentioned on the phone gets bumped. "$50 bucks," says "locksmith" Eli Levy on hidden camera. I just say $50. Other companies are charging over $100 to open doors." As soon as they hear a price mentioned, detectives who've been monitoring the exchange move in. Levy is an Israeli national and says this is his second day on the job. He has no business license, work card, or a valid driver's license ..." Note: Levy is probably a Mossad agent ..."  I guess he couldn't get a 'job' at the local Mall kiosk.

  Israel Begins Sell-Off of Refugees’ Land  [ 08/16/09 ] "According to international law, Israel holds the property of more than four million Palestinian refugees in custodianship, until a final peace deal determines whether some or all of them will be allowed back to their 400-plus destroyed Palestinian villages or are compensated for their loss. But last week, in a violation of international law and the refugees’ property rights that went unnoticed both inside Israel and abroad, Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, forced through a revolutionary land reform. The new law begins a process of creeping privatization of much of Israel’s developed land, including refugee property, said Oren Yiftachel, a geographer at Ben Gurion University in Beersheva ..." 

  UN report accuses Israel of Gaza violations  [ 08/16/09 ] "A United Nations probe into Israel’s actions during its invasion of the Gaza Strip at the turn of the year points to serious violations of international humanitarian law, the world body’s human rights commissioner said on Friday. A report by Navi Pillay, UN Human Rights commissioner, said: “significant prima facie evidence indicates that serious violations of international humanitarian law as well as gross human rights violations occurred during the military operations ..." Related:   Israel's Mark Regev STONEWALLS on the killing of 11 unarmed Civilians "Waving white flags" [3:31]

  Iran nuclear plant to start operating by August 22  [ 08/16/09 ] "If anyone bombs that plant now, it will be a radiation disaster equal to Chernobyl. Nobody will see this as a justified or justifiable act...." 

Commentary: Why Corporations Are Snapping Up Huge Chunks of Farmland in the Developing World [ 08/15/09 ] "In the past six months, big players in the global economy have grabbed 50 million acres of arable land, from Africa to Southeast Asia ... Entrenched and developing economic powers -- the U.K., China, South Korea, India and more -- have launched land rushes to outsource production of everything from staples like rice, wheat, corn and sugar to finance bubbles like biofuels. That includes oil-wealthy Gulf States, which recently feasted on commodities speculation that exploded oil prices in 2008. ... The hard numbers are alarming: According to the Guardian, in the last six months over 20 million hectares (around 50 million acres) of arable land, mostly in Africa and Southeast Asia, have been sold or negotiated for sale or lease. That's about half the size of all arable land in Europe, or the size of entire U.S. states North Dakota or Oklahoma. ... The aptly titled report, " 'Land Grabbing' by Foreign Investors in Developing Countries," from the International Food Policy Research Institute, which declined to be interviewed for this article, explains that "details about the status of the deals, the size of land purchased or leased, and the amount invested are often still murky ..." 

  Whose Water Is It? Water Rights in the Age of Scarcity  [ 08/15/09 ] "This question is perhaps the thorniest question in the world of water. Here's a look at some of the laws surrounding it...." 

China backs down over Green Dam internet monitoring software [ 08/14/09 ] "China has dropped plans to force all its computer users to install controversial Green Dam internet monitoring software following a storm of protest at home and abroad. remarks come three months after China announced that all computers sold in the country after July 1 would be required to pre-install the Green Dam software, officially as a measure to protect children and combat pornography on the web. The move was suspended in June, however, in the face of overwhelming pressure from Chinese internet users who feared the software was a back-door attempt at tightening already strict censorship of the internet. They were joined by foreign computer manufacturers, 22 international chambers of commerce and the US Government who all wrote official letters asking the Chinese government to reconsider its "Green Dam" order, which was said to be impractical and anti-competitive. Mr Li said internet users and computer manufacturers had misunderstood the initial statement by his ministry which he said had failed to "clarify the issue" and given the erroneous impression that installation was compulsory ..."

UK: Two convicted for refusal to decrypt data  [ 08/13/09 ] "Two people have been successfully prosecuted for refusing to provide authorities with their encryption keys, resulting in landmark convictions that may have carried jail sentences of up to five years. The government said today it does not know their fate. The power to force people to unscramble their data was granted to authorities in October 2007. Between 1 April, 2008 and 31 March this year the first two convictions were obtained ...Failure to comply with a section 49 notice carries a sentence of up to two years jail plus fines. Failure to comply during a national security investigation carries up to five years jail ... one police force obtained and served a section 49 notice without NTAC approval while acting on "incorrect information from the Police National Legal Database", according to Sir Christopher. The action was dropped before it reached court ..." 

A Window Into C.I.A.’s Embrace of Secret Jails  [ 08/13/09 ] "In March 2003, two C.I.A. officials surprised Kyle D. Foggo, then the chief of the agency’s main European supply base, with an unusual request. They wanted his help building secret prisons to hold some of the world’s most threatening terrorists. Mr. Foggo, nicknamed Dusty, was known inside the agency as a cigar-waving, bourbon-drinking operator, someone who could get a cargo plane flying anywhere in the world or quickly obtain weapons, food, money — whatever the C.I.A. needed ..." 

'Incompetent' Leaders Pose Threat to Recovery [ 08/13/09 ] "Taleb, principal at Universa Investments and coiner of the "Black Swan" term to explain drastic, unpredictable events, said in a live interview that choking debt, continued high unemployment and a system that rewards bad behavior will hamstring an economic recovery. "It is a matter of risk and responsibility, and I think the risks that were there before, these problems are still there," he said. "We still have a very high level of debt, we still have leadership that's literally incompetent ..." "They did not see the problem, and they don't look at the core of problem. There's an elephant in the room and they did not identify it ..." 

  'Disappeared' Veterans [ 08/13/09 ] "How the justice system has been manipulated to put astonishing numbers of vets with PTSD and other psychiatric injuries behind bars ..." 

  US Official Struggles To Explain Clinton's Outburst [ 08/12/09 ] "The State Department struggled Tuesday to explain Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's face-off with a Congolese student and suggested that the questioner's nervousness sparked the outburst with the mention of her husband's name. Clinton snapped at the university student in Kinshasa on Monday when he asked what her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and Congo native and former NBA star Dikembe Mutombo thought about an international financial matter. Mutombo was appearing with her at the university. "Wait. You want me to tell you what my husband thinks?" Clinton asked in response. "My husband is not the secretary of state; I am. So you ask my opinion, I will tell you my opinion. I'm not going to be channeling my husband." State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Tuesday that Clinton reacted that way because of the question ..." Note: Clinton reacted that way because she's unstable. The questioner is not 'responsible' for her exact response. Clinton is. Crowley's answer is moronic.

FDA Drug Chief Accused Of Conflict Of Interest [ 08/12/09 ] "The inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services is investigating a conflict-of-interest allegation involving the official in charge of drug approvals at the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA said. The investigation of Janet Woodcock, the director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, stems from an ethics complaint filed by Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc., a California company that says it has been delayed in its six-year effort to win approval for a generic version of Lovenox, a multi-billion-dollar blood thinner ..." 

Biggest Jewel Heist In British History: Robbers Steal $65M From London Store [ 08/12/09 ] "A raid on a Mayfair jeweller is believed to be the biggest gems heist in British history, it emerged today. Two smartly-dressed armed robbers stole jewellery worth almost £40 million from Graff Jewellers in London's West End last Thursday  ..." 

Irrational Pricing Is Common In Medical Care, Survey Finds [ 08/12/09 ] "A patient in Illinois was charged $12,712 for cataract surgery. Medicare pays $675 for the same procedure. In California, a patient was charged $20,120 for a knee operation that Medicare pays $584 for. And a New Jersey patient was charged $72,000 for a spinal fusion procedure that Medicare covers for $1,629 ..." 

Addicted to War: America's Brutal Pipe Dream in Afghanistan [ 08/12/09 ] "Looks like the "Good War" in Afghanistan is morphing even more directly into the "Drug War" that the U.S. government has been waging all over the world -- and especially against its own people -- for almost 40 years now, with all the attendant aggrandizement of authoritarian powers and degradation of civil liberties and human rights. As The Times reports, and Pentagon brass confirmed, the "continuity government" of the Obama Administration has drawn up yet another "hit list" of people to be arbitrarily assassinated: 50 "drug lords" allegedly associated with the Taliban. No doubt the many drug lords associated with the American-installed Afghan government -- and those cooperating directly with the Western occupation -- are exempt from this dirty laundry list ..." 

Busts of corrupt US border police rise  [ 08/12/09 ] "Based on Freedom of Information Act requests, interviews with sentenced agents and a review of court records, the AP tallied corruption-related convictions against more than 80 enforcement officials at all levels - federal, state and local - since 2007, shortly after Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared war on the cartels that peddle up to $39 billion worth of drugs in the United States each year ..." 

New York City Renting: The Stay-Put Incentive  [ 08/12/09 ] "... Marc Lewis, the president of Century 21 NY Metro, also casts a wary eye on recent busy days at the rental office. “It’s a bull market rally in a bear market,” he said. “It’s not sustainable because there are just no jobs. All the business we’re doing is just people moving to save rent. “The fear that’s going on among landlords is they don’t know what they’re going to do in the fall and winter,” Mr. Lewis added. “They can’t find enough bodies ..." 

Origins and Growth of Al Capone’s Outfit: Chicago’s First Ward Democratic Organization and its Aftermath [ 08/12/09 ] "Barack Obama ran for President with his headquarters in downtown Chicago. Obama's election night victory speech was just blocks away in Chicago's Grant Park. To historians of organized crime both locations are located in a rather historical place: Chicago's old First Ward. This valuable plot of land is where Chicago's Democratic Machine and Al Capone's criminal organization both began. The connection between the two is of great historical significance. Why? Because the Chicago Mob is nothing but an outgrowth of the Chicago's old First Ward Democratic Organization."  Note: If you want to understand the historical ties between the Chicago mob and the Chicago Democratic party, you'll want to read this one.  ..." 

Man accused of threatening judges was a paid informant for the FBI [ 08/12/09 ] "A lightning-rod Internet blogger and radio host out of New Jersey was a paid FBI informant, once turned over a silencer to the feds and even passed on information about a threat against President Obama. But none of that is enough to get him out of jail now, a federal judge ruled Monday. U.S. District Judge Martin Ashman said Hal Turner -- accused of threatening to assault and murder three federal judges -- is still a danger to the community ..." 

Is a VAT Tax Coming in the USA? [ 08/12/09 ] "Levying a Value Added Tax (VAT), atop all the other taxes we already pay, is one of the few options if Congress and the president hope to keep feeding the beast. They can't raise income taxes on anyone making under $250,000 a year because of Mr. Obama's oft-repeated campaign pledge. And they can't raise them on the rich more than they already plan, because there just isn't enough income left at that level to tax (unless income tax rates rise across the board to heights intolerable to most Americans). That leaves the VAT. A VAT would still break Mr. Obama's pledge not to raise the taxes of anyone earning less than $250,000 because every American who buys anything will pay it. But because it could largely be hidden from the view of taxpayers, the president's campaign promise would -- at least to the untrained eye -- appear intact. If it becomes law, the VAT promises to be a whopper of a tax increase. Some have suggested a VAT rate set to raise $1.3 trillion each year. That would raise the taxes of each household in the United States by $10,700 annually on average. All that money, taken from families and businesses and given to a spendthrift president and Congress, would seriously harm the economy. A VAT levied on top of all the income, payroll and other taxes we already pay would mean less money for families to buy goods and services, or to save and invest for rainy days and retirement. Businesses would have less money to expand operations, add new jobs and raise wages. Economic growth, and the jobs and wages that come with it, would suffer ..." 

Grounded: Congress Drops Plan To Buy New Jets  [ 08/11/09 ] "House Democratic leaders said Monday that they will not force the Pentagon to buy four new passenger jets used to ferry senior government officials ..."  Related: Congress Plans To Spend $550 Million On Private Jets  [ 08/08/09 ] "Congress plans to spend $550 million to buy eight jets, a substantial upgrade to the fleet used by federal officials at a time when lawmakers have criticized the use of corporate jets by companies receiving taxpayer funds ..."

Scientific American: Deaths from avoidable medical error more than double in past decade  [ 08/11/09 ] "Preventable medical mistakes and infections are responsible for about 200,000 deaths in the U.S. each year, according to an investigation by the Hearst media corporation. The report comes 10 years after the Institute of Medicine's "To Err Is Human" analysis, which found that 44,000 to 98,000 people were dying annually due to these errors and called for the medical community and government to cut that number in half by 2004 ..."  Related: Consumer protections lost in health care debate 

UK: Swine flu - children 'should not be given Tamiflu'   [ 08/10/09 ] "Researchers have said that Tamiflu's harms outweigh any benefits and Government should review its policy on dealing with swine flu ... Anti-viral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza, reduce the length of time children are ill with flu by about one day and can cause vomiting as a common side effect, Oxford researchers found. Vomiting is more dangerous in children than in adults as it can rapidly lead to dehydration and admission to hospital, they said. Also the drugs had little or no effect on asthma flare-ups, ear infections or the likelihood of a child needing antibiotics meaning on balance the medicine does more harm than good in otherwise healthy children, the authors said. It comes after research last week showed that Tamiflu reduced the length of flu in adults by just half a day ... Tamiflu has also been linked to side effects such as insomnia and nightmares in children ... Together the findings will question whether the Government's policy of stockpiling enough antiviral drugs for 80 per cent of the population was a waste of money. The exact cost of the stockpile has been kept secret for 'commercial reasons' but is expected to run to tens of millions of pounds. Countries around the world have stockpiled around 50m doses of Tamiflu, made by Roche, for use during a flu pandemic ... " Related: UK Swine flu: decreased significantly in the last week and the majority of cases continue to be mild   [ See the Biological Manipulation page link on Society and Living for more related info]

Arkansas crowd mocks lawmakers over Obama health plan  [ 08/10/09 ] "An unruly Little Rock crowd heckled and shouted at two Arkansas Democratic congressmen Wednesday, accusing them of supporting a government-backed health plan that would take away Americans' personal choice and freedom ..."

Immune system cancer found in young 9/11 officers [ 08/10/09 ] "Researchers say a small number of young law enforcement officers who participated in the World Trade Center rescue and cleanup operation have developed an immune system cancer. The numbers are tiny, and experts don't know whether there is any link between the illnesses and toxins ..."

Turning the US army against Americans  [ 08/10/09 ] "An antiwar activist in the state of Washington had been exposed as an undercover informant for the US army, stationed at massive Fort Lewis, south of Tacoma. And in one of those Kafkaesque twists for which our government is renowned, the army is now investigating itself to determine how such an arrangement came to pass ..."   

Oregon Congressman Wants to Charge Cars for Miles Traveled to Fund Infrastructure Repairs Ignored for 60 Years [ 08/09/09 ] "The proposal, H.R. 3311, which calls for a test project costing $150 million-plus, was introduced by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore ..."Oregon has successfully tested a Vehicle Miles Traveled fee, and it is time to expand and test the VMT program across the country," he said in a statement on his website. "A VMT system can better assess fees based on use of our roads and bridges, as well as during times of peak congestion, than a fee based on fuel consumption. It is time to get creative and find smart ways to rebuild and renew America's deteriorating infrastructure," he said."  Note: What an idiot! There's no limit on what some people want to tax. In reality, it's also a plan to force people NOT to travel, to stay in place. Fortunately, they're OUT OF TIME.

Obama 'Reverses Stand' on Drug Industry Deal  [ 08/09/09 ] "Caught between a pivotal industry ally and the protests of Congressional Democrats, the Obama administration on Friday backed away from what drug industry lobbyists had said this week was a firm White House promise to exclude from a proposed health care overhaul the possibility of allowing the government to negotiate lower drug prices under Medicare ..."  Note: He was never really caught between anything ... the fix was in all the time.

California Won't Accept Its Own IOUs [ 08/09/09 ] "Small businesses that received $682 million in IOUs from the state say California expects them to pay taxes on the worthless scraps of paper, but refuses to accept its own IOUs to pay debts or taxes. The vendors' federal class action claims the state is trying to balance its budget on their backs. Lead plaintiff Nancy Baird filled her contract with California to provide embroidered polo shirts to a youth camp run by the National Guard, but never was paid the $27,000 she was owed. She says California "paid" her with an IOU that two banks refused to accept - yet she had to pay California sales tax on the so-called "sale" of the uniforms ..."

Commentary: Fascist America: Are We There Yet? [ 08/08/09 ] "All through the dark years of the Bush Administration, progressives watched in horror as Constitutional protections vanished, nativist rhetoric ratcheted up, hate speech turned into intimidation and violence, and the president of the United States seized for himself powers only demanded by history's worst dictators. With each new outrage, the small handful of us who'd made ourselves experts on right-wing culture and politics would hear once again from worried readers: Is this it? Have we finally become a fascist state? Are we there yet? ..."

Pakistan Passes Law Against Domestic Violence [ 08/08/09 ] "The National Assembly on Tuesday passed a bill on protection against domestic violence covering all types of repressive and abusive behaviour against vulnerable people in domestic relationships. The new law would cover not only intentional acts of gender-based, physical and psychological abuse, but also includes “economic abuse, harassment, stalking, sexual abuse, verbal abuse and any other repressive behaviour” committed against women, children or other vulnerable people, with whom those accused have been or still are in a domestic relationship. The proposed law – passed as private member’s bill moved by the Pakistan People’s Party’s Yasmeen Rehman – would become an act following its approval by the Senate and the president. The legislation is aimed at brining domestic violence into the public domain, as such issues are quite common in society but are seldom reported and there is no data available in the country for such crimes ..."

Army exonerates KBR in electrocution [ 08/08/09 ] "Rules that soldier's death from faulty wiring not 'negligent homicide.'..." Note: A lot of people have been electrocuted by virtue of KBR faulty electrical work - not just this one person.

White House Move to Collect 'Fishy' Info May Be Illegal, Critics Say [ 08/08/09 ] "The White House has been under fire since posting a blog on Tuesday that asks supporters to e-mail any "fishy" information seen on the Web or received electronically ..."

Two Business People Executed In China For Defrauding Investors [ 08/08/09 ] "Two Chinese business people have been executed for defrauding investors out of more than 850m yuan ($120m, £70m), China's state news agency reports. Du Yimin and Si Chaxian "seriously damaged the country's financial regulatory order and social stability", the Supreme People's Court ruled ..."

News Corp Says No More Free News  [ 08/08/09 ] "Quality journalism is not cheap," Murdoch is quoted as saying. However, to prevent people from moving over to free news Web sites, he said that News Corp will make its news "better and differentiate it from other people".   Note: The joke is on them, because everything they do constitutes propagandizing the system, and since no one really cares, and keeping useless information secret is all right, they'll just keep on losing money at an even faster rate. What a putz!

Social Control -UK:  Government database snoops escape prosecution [ 08/08/09 ] "Councils are failing to prosecute staff caught using a sensitive government database to snoop on celebrities and members of the public, disclosures under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed. Computer Weekly has established that staff from at least 34 local authorities have misused the Department of Work and Pensions' (DWP) Customer Information System (CIS) database to look up personal details of the public. The database, which holds 92 million records on the population, underpins the government's ID card programme. It stores sensitive data such as ethnicity, relationship history and whether someone is being investigated for fraud. Nine staff have been quietly sacked from their local authority jobs for abusing the database, nine have been given official warnings, two have been suspended, four resigned and six had their database access privileges removed, Freedom of Information requests lodged by Computer Weekly have revealed ..."

D.C. Circuit Slams IRS, Opens Door to Billions of Dollars Telephone Excise Tax Refunds [ 08/08/09 ] "Comic-strip writer Bob Thaves famously quipped, “A fool and his money are soon parted. It takes creative tax laws for the rest.” In this case it took the Internal Revenue Service’s (“IRS” or “the Service”) aggressive interpretation of the tax code to part millions of Americans with billions of dollars in excise tax collections. Even this remarkable feat did not end the IRS’s creativity. When it finally conceded defeat on the legal front, the IRS got really inventive and developed a refund scheme under which almost half the funds remained unclaimed. Now the IRS seeks to avoid judicial review by insisting the notice it issued, acknowledging its error and announcing the refund process, is not a binding rule but only a general policy statement ..."

Clash at Missouri Town Hall Meeting Highlights Democratic and Union Thuggery [ 08/08/09 ] "Clearly, with all the angry Americans out there, fed up with an out-of-control federal government and arrogant members of Congress, things are reaching a breaking point. And having experienced arrogant state officials in Missouri myself, what happened in St. Louis County is not surprising. My experience involved my discovery in April 2008 that the new Missouri license plates did not have a hyphen in "Show-Me State," something required by state law. Red Dirt Report talked to David Griffith, with the state's transportation department and when told of the mistake, he basically did not care. Their arrogance was shocking ..."  Related: Two town halls turn into near-riots "Ah, American democracy: Over the past week, members of the House -- currently in recess -- have been holding town hall meetings that have gotten progressively nastier as more and more organized opponents of the Democrats' healthcare plan have shown up to protest. The debate between the two major parties over the town halls has gotten pretty nasty too, with claims and counter-claims about who, exactly, is un-democratic and who's trying to stifle the voice of the people. Now, the tension is really starting to erupt, and on Thursday night, two of the town halls turned violent. At one, a forum on aging held in St. Louis County by Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-Mo., six people -- one of them a reporter -- were arrested. Two people, one conservative and one staffer with the Service Employees International Union, were reportedly sent to the hospital with minor injuries sustained during scuffles at the event. In Ybor City, Fla., there were similar scuffles, some of which were reportedly broken up by law enforcement, but no arrests. That forum was organized by a state legislator, Democratic Rep. Betty Reed, but U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., was also there. She didn't get much of a chance to address the crowd, though -- the Tampa Tribune reports, "Castor tried to speak for nearly 15 minutes but the crowd drowned her out, chanting, 'You work for us,' 'Tyranny, tyranny,' and 'Read the bill.' She ultimately left the meeting early, further angering some attendees."    Includes Videos   Angry Mob of Racist Extremists Beats Man at Town Hall Meeting | Town hall heckler ID'd as GOP operative

Ex-employees claim Blackwater pimped out young Iraqi girls [ 08/08/09 ] "Perhaps the most shocking of those charges — quoted by MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann on Thursday from the employees’ sworn declarations — is that Blackwater was guilty of using child prostitutes at its compound in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone and that owner Erik Prince knew of this activity and did nothing to stop it ..."

Philly Officer Accused Of Running Unauthorized Criminal Background Check On Obama [ 08/08/09 ] "Philadelphia's police department is investigating why an officer used his police car's computer to run a criminal background check on President Barack Obama. Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said Friday the officer could face discipline for performing the check Wednesday morning. The Secret Service alerted the department after it learned about the incident from National Crime Information Center. Ramsey says he wants to know what the officer has to say for himself. Police didn't release the officer's name, but he remains on duty. Two Atlanta-area police officers are accused of a similar unauthorized background check on the president July 20. DeKalb County officers Ryan White and C.M. Route were placed on paid administrative leave ..."

FBI Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds Subpoenaed, Set to 'Break' Gag Order Unless DoJ Intercedes [ 08/07/09 ] "Former agency translator called to testify in Ohio election case this Saturday on Turkish infiltration of U.S. government ... Unless the Dept. of Justice re-invokes their twice-invoked "state secrets privilege" claim in order to once again gag former FBI translator-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, her attorneys have notified the department by hand-delivered, sworn letter of declaration [PDF] this week, that she intends to give a deposition, open to the media [Updated: see bottom of article for details], in response to a subpoena this Saturday in Washington D.C.."

Top Obama Adviser Urged a ‘World of Zero Net Physical Growth’ in 1995 World Bank Publication  [ 08/07/09 ] "A top White House adviser to President Barack Obama argued that mankind eventually must face up to the need for a “world of zero net physical growth” and “population limitation” in an essay he co-authored that was included in a 1995 book on environmentally “sustainable” economic activity published by the World Bank ... As CNSNews.com has previously reported, Holdren and the Ehrlichs also called for “zero economic growth” in another book they co-authored, the 1977 “Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment.” “It is by now abundantly clear that the GNP cannot grow forever. Why should it?” they wrote in that book. “Why should we not strive for zero economic growth (ZEG) as well as zero population growth?"  Note: What a stupid, stupid man, rooting for a 'dead world'.  A sequential with a death wish - that is for others' deaths - how charming. Too bad his fantasies of proclaiming himself the decider of who lives and who dies is just that - a delusional, sequential fantasy. And not to mention the fact that earth has a plethora of resources and in actuality has NO such over population problems like they do on sequential planets.

“Swine flu” vaccine has adjuvants that impair fertility  [ 08/07/09 ] "The “swine flu” vaccine contains ingredients that impair fertility. Daniel Solis from the Czech Republic has researched the side-effects of the adjuvant, squalene, and discovered it is known to destroy fertility as well as causing other forms of damage. A patent for a vaccine to impair fertility in animals contains squalene. The plan to use this fertility-impairing adjuvant in the “swine flu” vaccine against a flu that has so far been far less irksome than the ordinary seasonal flu underscores concerns that this H1N1 mass vaccination programme mandated by WHO with the support of pharma companies such as Baxter is designed primarily to cause death and injury, and so significantly reduce the global population. "According to Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, your children should be the first target for mass swine flu vaccinations when school starts this fall. " The dots are more than connected here, for any thinking American. ..."

In Antibribery Law, Some Fear Inadvertent Chill on Business   [ 08/07/09 ] "The federal government in recent years has dramatically stepped up its pursuit of overseas bribery by corporations. The assault on corruption has spanned five continents and delivered steep fines -- $800 million in one case alone. But as the government cracks down on violators of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, some skeptics are pointing out potentially unintended consequences of the initiative that they say could cause corruption to proliferate in emerging markets. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, enacted in 1977 but largely unenforced until about a decade ago, prohibits U.S. companies or companies traded on U.S. stock exchanges from paying, or offering to pay, foreign-government officials or employees of state-owned companies to gain a business advantage. It also covers nonmonetary gifts. The Department of Justice, along with the Securities and Exchange Commission, has used the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to levy record fines and penalties against large and small multinational corporations. At least 120 companies were being investigated for FCPA violations as of this spring. Federal officials also say they have encouraged other nations to adopt their own antibribery laws. In one of the most prominent cases pursued under the law, German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG was accused of spending more than $1 billion to bribe government officials around the globe to win infrastructure contracts. In December, Siemens, without acknowledging bribery, agreed to pay $800 million in U.S. fines to settle the case...."

Prison Cell Jamming Bill Close to Senate Passage  [ 08/06/09 ] "The nation’s prisons are one big step closer Wednesday to being allowed to jam mobile phone signals to keep prisoners from using the phones to commit further crimes, despite strong opposition from digital rights groups that say there are better ways to fight the problem. The bill — passed by a bi-partisan vote in the Senate Commerce committee — would create the first ever exception to the FCC’s ban on jamming devices. The measure could be voted on by the full Senate as soon as early as this, before it takes its August break, according to Texas Republican Kay Bailey Hutchinson, the bill’s primary sponsor who is also running for Texas governor. If the bill makes it to the floor, it is likely to pass. Inmates use smuggled cell phones to stay in touch with their families, run gangs outside the prison and to intimidate lawmakers. Proponents of the bill say that jamming signals is the best answer, while opponents argue the technology is easily thwarted and sets a dangerous precedent. Instead, prisons should reduce demand for the phones by making calls to families less expensive and finding better technology to locate rogue phones within the prison, the groups argue. California’s Solano state prison found more than 2000 phones in 2008, according to San Quentin public relations officer Lt. Sam Robinson. Robinson’s prison found fewer than 10 rogue devices last year, however, since there’s almost no reception at the prison’s remote location. The bill, known as the Safe Prisons Communication Act, now moves for a full vote in the Senate ..."  Related: See bottom of linked page above.

Feingold Set to Oppose Further Troop Boost for Afghanistan  [ 08/06/09 ] "If Gen. Stanley McChrystal proposes, as expected, an increase in U.S. troops for the Afghanistan war, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) is “likely to oppose it,” the senator told TWI. Feingold’s opposition to what would be the second U.S. troop increase in Afghanistan this year is the most forceful Senate dissent so far to a war that President Obama has embraced. It represents a preemptive warning to both Obama and to McChrystal, the new commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, who is scheduled to give the Pentagon an assessment of what additional resources he requires for the war next week. And it highlights what some progressives also opposed to escalation see as an opportunity this summer to change public debate about the eight-year war ..."

Russians moved 2 SS-21 Tactical Nuke Ballistic Missile Launchers into South Ossetia in 2008  [ 08/06/09 ] Video [12:45] "Col. Sam Gardiner notes, in an interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now, Russia has deployed tactical nuclear weapons to South Ossetia. The SS-21 Missile launchers are relatively weak compared to bombs that have already been used against Georgia by the Russian air force. However, this move does indicate Russia is potentially upping the game from a conventional weapons war to a tactical nuclear war ..."   More

You Tube Pulls Hundreds Of Ron Paul Videos  [ 08/06/09 ] "You Tube has expanded its zealous copyright crusade by suspending the popular C-Span Junkie user channel, and in doing so has pulled hundreds of viral Ron Paul videos, which are now completely dead ... 6400 videos gone"

Gay-to-straight conversion therapy is bogus, APA says  [ 08/06/09 ] "At a conference in Toronto Wednesday, the organization voted by a margin of 125 to four to adopt a report (PDF) which concludes that attempts to “convert” homosexual people to heterosexuality can produce negative results, including depression and suicide attempts. “There is insufficient evidence to support the use of psychological interventions to change sexual orientation,” Judith Glassgold, chair of the task force on the issue, said in a statement. “Scientifically rigorous older studies in this area found that sexual orientation was unlikely to change due to efforts designed for this purpose. " Note: It's absurd.

  Social Control -UK:  Hundreds Of ISPs Refuse To Go Along With Big Brother Spy System  [ 08/06/09 ] "A group of over 300 internet service providers and telecommunications firms is fighting back against the British government’s plans to monitor all emails, phone calls and internet activity nationwide. The London Internet Exchange (LINX), which represents some 330 companies, including BT, Virgin and Carphone Warehouse, says that the government is misleading the public about the extent to which it plans to monitor their communications and internet activity ..."

BBC now admits Al Qaeda never existed [ 08/06/09 ] "Al Qaeda is basically just a database of names of jihads who fought the commies in Afghanistan in the 80s ... CIA assets ... all of them, expendible.

Web site tracks world online inaccessibility/censorship reports  [ 08/06/09 ]  " ... Zittrain started Herdict in February - a month before China's block began - to aggregate reports of online inaccessibility and help users detect government censorship on the Web as soon as it happens. Having tracked online censorship since the early 2000s, he wanted to put Web accessibility at the fingertips of those who use it most, rather than a handful of experts ... "The less 'online' class of people generally don't worry about it, until they run into something blocked like the BBC," said Andrew Lewman, executive director of the Boston-based circumvention tool, The Tor Project Inc. "Then they say, 'Hey, what is this? All I want to do is read this one article ..."  See website: Herdict  "Have you ever come across a web site that you could not access and wondered, "Am I the only one?" Herdict Web aggregates reports of inaccessible sites, allowing users to compare data to see if inaccessibility is a shared problem. By crowd-sourcing data from around the world, we can document accessibility for any web site, anywhere ..." Note: I got a chuckle from his "Herdometer" - what's being reported.

Military fraud grows within lax system [ 08/06/09 ] "Last August, the Texas Department of Transportation started asking applicants for more documentation after discovering that at least 11 of the 67 Legion of Merit license plates on the roads had been issued to people who never earned the medal. Last September, the House of Representatives passed a bill naming a post office in Las Vegas after a World War II veteran who, it later turned out, had lied when he claimed he had been awarded a Silver Star. The legislation was rescinded. In May, one of the most prominent veterans' advocates in Colorado was detained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation after it was discovered that his story about heroic service in Iraq and severe injuries from a roadside bomb was an elaborate hoax. Military impostors are nothing new. But the problem has grown, or at least become more obvious, as charlatans are easily able to find fake military documents, medals and uniforms on auction Web sites. At the same time, the Internet has also stepped up the cat-and-mouse game, allowing watchdogs to uncover fraudulent claims much faster and mobilize a more effective response ..." 

Trump Bondholders Plan to Challenge Takeover by Donald Trump  [ 08/06/09 ]  "Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. bondholders are preparing to challenge Donald Trump’s plan to buy the bankrupt casino company and leave them with nothing ..."  

In China, DNA tests on kids ID genetic gifts, careers [ 08/06/09 ]  "At the Chongqing Children's Palace, experts are hoping to revolutionize child-rearing with the help of science. About 30 children aged 3 to 12 years old and their parents are participating in a new program that uses DNA testing to identify genetic gifts and predict the future ..." Note: No time left for this sequential bullshit.

Students today, debt slaves forever [ 08/06/09 ]  "As college tuitions rise, so, too, do student debt loads. The average yearly cost of a private four-year college in 2008-09 was $25,143, an increase of 5.9% from the year before, and $6,585 for a four-year public school, up 6.4% from 2007-08, according to the College Board. With tuition levels as high as they are, many students have no alternative but to fund their schooling with loans. Among graduate students in 2007-08, 55% borrowed money for a master's degree, and among those seeking a professional degree, borrowers constituted 86%, according to the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study. That's just one part of the story. Students are carrying credit cards to meet other expenses. In 2008-09, 84% of undergraduates had at least one credit card, and half of all college students had four or more cards, according to the Project on Student Debt. Of course, the study doesn't say who makes the payments on the plastic, the students or their parents. But with the average outstanding balance on a graduate student's credit card sitting at about $8,000, the debt burden carried by young adults can be debilitating ..."  Note: Where would higher tuition prices (greater than CPI almost every year) be without Pell grants, federal student loans, and other funds from the federal government? No time left for this 1950's era fantasy, either.

UK: Fatal illnesses could be misdiagnosed over telephone as swine flu, GPs warn  [ 08/05/09 ] "Serious health problems including kidney infections, meningitis and measles are being missed because the conditions are being misdiagnosed over the telephone as swine flu. A teenager spent six days in hospital recovering from a kidney infection after initially being told he was suffering from the H1N1 virus, it emerged yesterday. Doctors have reported seeing people with severe cases of tonsillitis, measles and even a knee infection who had received telephone misdiagnoses of swine flu and being put on courses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu. A survey of 251 family doctors, published today, shows that 90 per cent believe that other diseases risk going undetected because their symptoms are similar to those caused by swine flu ..."   Related: "THE BRIBE":  £27,000 swine flu bonus for GPs  "Family doctors could see their salaries soar by £27,000 once a swine flu vaccination programme is in place, the Daily Mail can reveal. Yesterday they were trying to thrash out a deal which could see GPs paid £7.51 for every jab they give to patients."   Note: Well, there it is, in black in white. See much more related material in the Society and Living panel, 'Bio-Manipulation and Vaccines News" page.

Lieberman: "Attack May be Only Option on Iran"  [ 08/05/09 ] "Launching a military attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities will be the “only one choice” left for the United States if new economic sanctions fail to convince Tehran to halt its bomb-making program, according to Sen. Joseph Lieberman ..."  Note: Okay Joe, here's your rifle, and here is your parachute. We'll tell them you're coming!

Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder [ 08/05/09 ] "A former Blackwater (currently Xe) employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men claim that the company's owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also alleges that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life  ..."  Related: US Blackwater Nightmare for Peshawaris  "Already shaken by a spate of unrest in their homeland, people in Peshawar now have another source of fear on their city’s streets, the notorious US security firm Blackwater. "We are deeply scared by their presence and movement as they have posed a serious threat to our lives and properties," Ahmed Yar Khan, a local businessman, told IslamOnline.net. According to intelligence sources, the company, which gained world notoriety over involvement in dozens of unprovoked civilian killings in Iraq, has set up different stations in Peshawar and its vicinity."  Related Mindset (2003): Private Contractor Tests New Illegal Ammo By, Killing An Iraqi   " ...1-shot killer. This 5.56mm round has all the stopping power you need — but you can’t use it. Here’s why ..."

Pfizer slips out of $6 billion lawsuit and criminal charges over children killed by experimental drug  [ 08/04/09 ] "Pfizer signed a $75 million agreement Thursday with Nigerian authorities to settle criminal and civil charges that the pharmaceutical company illegally tested an experimental drug on children during a 1996 meningitis epidemic. Nigerian authorities say Pfizer’s test of the antibiotic Trovan killed 11 children and disabled scores more. Pfizer says the deaths and injuries were the result of meningitis  ..."

Bill Clinton visits North Korea [ 08/04/09 ] "Former U.S. President Bill Clinton made an unannounced visit to communist North Korea on Tuesday on a trip seen as a mission to win the release of two jailed American reporters and to ease tensions over Pyongyang's recent nuclear defiance. North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator and a high-ranking parliamentary official met Clinton on the tarmac as he landed in an unmarked jet, footage from broadcaster APTN showed. After exchanging handshakes with the men, Clinton bowed and smiled as a young girl presented him with flowers, a red kerchief tied around her neck. Washington has been pressing Pyongyang for months to free Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV media venture who were arrested along the North Korean-Chinese border in March ..."

Brains of psychopaths are different, British researchers find [ 08/04/09 ] "A difference between the brains of psychopaths and ordinary people has been identified in a study that could promise new approaches to diagnosing and treating the disorder. Research by British scientists using advanced brain-scanning techniques has revealed that a critical connection between two regions of the brain appears to be abnormal in psychopaths. The findings are preliminary and do not show that brain anatomy causes psychopathy but they suggest a plausible biological explanation for the antisocial and amoral behaviour that characterises the condition ..."

Amazon Kindle E-book Deletion Prompts Lawsuit [ 08/03/09 ] "A high school student has sued Amazon , claiming the retailer ruined his homework on George Orwell's 1984 by deleting the electronic version of the book without warning from the teenager's Kindle. Justin D. Gawronski, who lives in Michigan, filed the lawsuit Thursday in federal court in Seattle. He was joined in the complaint by Antoine J. Bruguier of California, who also had the book deleted from his Kindle. The plaintiffs, who claim Amazon did not have the right to remove the book, are seeking class-action status ..."

Schwarzenegger eyes rollback of state worker pensions [ 08/03/09 ] "California faces $63 billion in unfunded retirement liabilities.  The Republican governor said he's motivated by the need to save money. California has at least $63 billion in unfunded pension liabilities, an amount equal to roughly two-thirds of all annual general fund spending. The concern is shared across the country, as local and state governments wrestle with hundreds of billions of dollars in unfunded public employee pension and retiree health care costs. New Mexico this year approved longer work requirements - from 25 years to 30 years - for state employees starting in 2010. New Jersey last year raised the minimum age to qualify for benefits from 60 to 62 ..."

Unemployed College Graduate Sues College For $70,000 Tuition  [ 08/03/09 ]  " She has given new meaning to a class-action lawsuit. Trina Thompson gave it the old college try, but couldn't find work. Now she thinks her sheepskin wasn't worth her time, and is suing her alma mater for her money back. The Monroe College grad wants the $70,000 she spent on tuition because she hasn't found gainful employment since earning her bachelor's degree in April, according to a suit filed in Bronx Supreme Court on July 24. The 27-year-old alleges the business-oriented Bronx school hasn't lived up to its end of the bargain, and has not done enough to find her a job ..."

Israeli Police: Foreign Minister Lieberman Should Be Indicted On Bribery, Fraud Charges  [ 08/03/09 ] "Israeli police recommended Sunday that the state indict Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on charges of bribery, fraud, money laundering, witness harassment and obstruction of justice. A spokesman for the Justice Ministry said the file now moves to the state prosecutor's office and then to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, who would have to approve the recommendation before Lieberman could be formally indicted. That process could take weeks or even months. If the foreign minister is indicted, he will have to resign, according to Israeli law. Lieberman released a combative statement after the police announcement ..."

Montana governor signed "revolutionary" gun law in May allowing state to arm itself  [ 08/02/09 ] "At a time when the most disarming "gun grab" bills in U.S. history are being debated in Congress, the state of Montana passed what could be described as the "lock and load law." The move is seen by many as the most overt challenge to relentlessly advancing federal authority since South Carolina seceded from the union in 1861. Citing the compact between the U.S. government and Montana upon entering the union as the foundation describing the relationship between the two and applicable constitutional provisions and amendments, the Montana legislature passed HB 246 and it was signed by Governor Brian Schweitzer April 15, 2009. The thrust of the law is to restore the right for lawful Montanans to keep and bear arms yet not invite federal intervention by being in violation of the "clause of all our problems" —the commerce clause, wherein the federal government finds the authority to regulate interstate commerce. Ernest Hancock of the news portal Freedom’s Phoenix highlighted the new law’s most important Points: "If guns and ammunition are manufactured inside the state of Montana for sale and use inside Montana then the federal firearms laws have no applicability since the federal government only has the power to control commerce across state lines ..."  

July in Afghanistan: A Month of 'Worsts'  [ 08/02/09 ] "As the US continues to commit more troops to the war, it takes more and more aggressive stances, like launching the Helmand River Valley offensive, the largest the nation has seen since the Soviet occupation. But it has little to show for its escalation, with attacks on the rise and deaths among both allies and bystanders reaching ever higher levels ..."  Related: U.S. generals to demand thousands of additional soldiers for Afghanistan | UK ambassador: We’ll be in Afghanistan ‘for decades’  | UK Home Office: ‘Support our wars or you’ll be denied a UK passport’

Commentary: Hate Crime Bills - who benefits? [ 08/01/09 ] "The United States Senate recently passed the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act (HCPA/S.909), a "Hate Crimes Bill" that provides authorities with the power to increase prosecution and punishment for crimes which were already covered under current laws but which will now receive special attention. The new American law ostensibly only covers "hate violence," but, if we look to Europe and Canada as examples of how it will truly be used, we can see that a seriously threatening can of worms has been opened. Although it sounds at first to many to be a good thing, this legislation in fact represents a slippery slope, the thin edge of the wedge, for tremendous oppression, including increased censorship based on perceived 'hate speech' ..."

Eyeing Iran, US seeks to rush production of 30,000 bomb [ 08/01/09 ] "The US Defense Department is seeking to accelerate by three years the development of a 30,000-pound bomb, a move that underscores growing unease over nuclear threats from Iran and North Korea, the Bloomberg news network reported on Friday ..."   So, in theory, each B-2 (pictured in the article) can only carry a single bomb. Hardly an efficient use of such an expensive aircraft. Or is this a cover-story for the US to use 30Kton yield nuclear weapons against Iran and declare the resulting radioactivity "proof" that the bombed targets were nuclear sites?

Iran: No More Energy Department contracts to deliver crude to the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve [ 08/01/09 ] "In an attempt to force Tehran to halt its enrichment program, the US Senate has voted to put pressure on companies selling gasoline to Iran. A bill approved on Thursday by the Senate says companies that continue to sell gasoline and other refined oil products to Iran will be banned from receiving Energy Department contracts to deliver crude to the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Reuters reported ..."

New York Judge Dismisses Claim Negligent Construction Contributed To WTC 7 Collapse [ 08/01/09 ] "A New York judge presiding over a multi-million dollar insurance case has dismissed the claim that negligent design or construction of WTC Building 7 contributed to its collapse, and in doing so has destroyed a key justification cited by debunkers in claiming that WTC 7 was not deliberately imploded. Though the ruling by no means advocates any factor other than fire and debris from the twin towers as the cause of the collapse of Building 7, it does reject the premise that the diesel tanks stored in the structure contributed to the building’s destruction....

Billions in graft behind Baghdad kidnappings [ 08/01/09 ] "Over the past 10 months interviews have been conducted with senior Iraqi figures and witnesses as well as the former British military officer who investigated the kidnapping for the men’s employers. Their accounts allege the hostage-takers had contacts in the Iraqi Government, and that Ministry of Defence officials warned off witnesses to the kidnapping. The investigation has also uncovered compelling evidence that the one of the motives behind the kidnappings was the nature of the work the hostages were doing in fighting huge corruption in Iraq’s ministries. The intelligence source said: ‘‘Many people don’t want a high level of corruption to be revealed  ..."