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

Damaged cable causes Internet blackout in four West African countries [ 07/31/09 ] "Five days ago, the Appfrica tech blog reported an Internet blackout in Benin, a West African country roughly the size of Ohio. The outage, which also affected neighboring Togo, Niger and Nigeria, was caused by damage to the SAT-3 submarine communications cable, which links Portugal and Spain to South Africa via the West African coastline ..."

GA Officers Run Background Check On Obama; Placed On Leave [ 07/30/09 ] "Two DeKalb County police officers have been placed on paid administrative leave after an investigation revealed they ran a background check on President Barack Obama. A representative for the DeKalb County CEO’s office identified the officers as Ryan White and C.M. Route. Officials said Obama’s name was typed into a computer inside a DeKalb County police car on July 20 and ran through the National Crime Information Center. The secret service was immediately notified and contacted the DeKalb County Police Department ...It is unclear why the officers ran a check on the president. " Note: Because they could. What is actually unclear why a simple name check should trigger the response.

Franken Blasts Supreme Court During Sotomayor Vote   [ 07/29/09 ] "Al Franken spewed fire and Amy Klobuchar threw brimstone this morning at the Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote on Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Minnesotans joined 10 other Democrats and one Republican in approving the nominee, but not before Franken raked the current Court and Klobuchar decried bias against women on the bench (video). Franken was the last senator to speak before the vote, but his statement was perhaps the most arresting as he threw off the mild-mannered mantle of a first-month senator and threw down a gauntlet over high-court rulings he termed “judicial activism.”  It was a theme that he struck more tentatively during committee hearings and today promised to revisit when the nomination reaches the Senate floor. “Individual rights, individual protections and individual liberties” are under attack by the current Supreme Court, Franken asserted, pointedly citing other senators on specific high-court rulings with which he found fault. With a vehemence not yet seen in his short tenure in Washington, D.C., Franken took issue with rulings on abortion, voting rights, price fixing, age discrimination, and corporate entanglement in elections...." See Franken  Video  [4:41]

Amelia Earhart Mystery: New DNA Evidence May Reveal Truth About Disappearance   [ 07/28/09 ] "It has been 72 years since famed aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared while attempting to fly around the world. But the mystery remains unsolved: Nobody knows exactly what happened to Earhart or her plane ..." 

Iraq: $644 Million Stimulus Program Suspended, Money Siphoned to Insurgents   [ 07/28/09 ] "The top U.S. aid agency has suspended a $644 million Iraq jobs program after two outside reviews raised concerns about misspending, including an inspector general's audit that found evidence of phantom jobs and money siphoned to insurgents. The Community Stabilization Program, launched in 2006, was designed to tamp down the insurgency by paying Iraqis cash to do public works projects such as trash removal and ditch digging. International Relief and Development (IRD), a Virginia-based non-profit corporation, ran the program, one of many it manages for the U.S. government ..." 

Prof says she told FBI about kidney trafficking, seven years ago  [ 07/28/09 ] "Nancy Scheper-Hughes, a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, tipped off authorities seven years ago after learning of Levy-Izhak Rosenbaum's alleged crimes through her research, Ha'aretz wrote ..." 

44 Charged by U.S. in New Jersey Corruption Sweep  [ 07/27/09 ] "It was replete with tales of the illegal sales of body parts; of furtive negotiations in diners, parking lots and boiler rooms; of nervous jokes about “patting down” a man who turned out to indeed be an informant; and, again and again, of the passing of cash — once in a box of Apple Jacks cereal stuffed with $97,000. “For these defendants, corruption was a way of life,” Ralph J. Marra Jr., the acting United States attorney in New Jersey, said at a news conference. “They existed in an ethics-free zone ..."  Related: Rabbi Busts Stun World's Largest Jewish Enclave | Israeli suspected of organ trafficking | Video  - The New Jersey Bust | Commentary: Harvest of Corruption  By Rabbi Benjamin Weiner.  "The New York Post, in its characteristically pithy bad taste, has already dubbed the arrest of several prominent Brooklyn and New Jersey rabbis last week the case of the "kosher nostra." It is an ugly story, and not just how the Post tells it: alleged corruption among ultra-Orthodox leadership in the form of money laundering through charities and, even worse, strong-armed trafficking in human organs. Not two years after the breaking of the Agriprocessors scandal, we have another searing example of immorality dressed in the garb of Jewish piety, complete with all of the cringe-inducing stereotypical overtones. Yes, it’s a full-blown shande far di goyim—a scandal in front of the non-Jewish world ..."

Israel likely to probe alleged money-laundering network  [ 07/27/09 ] "The Israeli Police will likely receive a request from the FBI to assist in the investigation of an enormous money-laundering ring that allegedly involved Orthodox charities operating in the US and Israel, a law enforcement source told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday ..."

Opinion: A Constitution in Full Crisis  [ 07/27/09 ] "America’s extreme left tricked American moderates into supporting their candidate last November by campaigning on post-partisan cooperation and transparency in government. Six months after the election of a freshman senator with a blank résumé, a laundry list of evil associates and a life more secret than your average CIA agent, Obama’s entire history remains a mystery and his administration is the most hardcore partisan dictatorship ever experienced in the USA ..."

Antitrust Chief Facing Resistance From Obama Admin Officials Over Crackdowns   [ 07/26/09 ] "President Obama’s top antitrust official and some senior Democratic lawmakers are preparing to rein in a host of major industries, including airline and railroad giants, moving so aggressively that they are finding some resistance from officials within the administration. The official, Christine A. Varney, the antitrust chief at the Justice Department, has begun examining complaints by the phone companies Verizon and AT&T that their rivals — major cable operators like Cablevision and Cox Communications — improperly prevent them from buying sports shows and other programs that the cable companies produce, industry lawyers said. At the request of some lawmakers, notably Senator Bernard Sanders, independent of Vermont, Ms. Varney is examining whether small agricultural operations are being hampered unfairly by large food processors, particularly in the milk industry, congressional aides said. Ms. Varney has also challenged agreements that the Federal Trade Commission and consumer groups say discourage pharmaceutical companies from marketing more generic drugs. And she is examining a settlement between Google and book publishers and authors to make more books available online. ..."  

Congo: U.N. Agency Reports 536,000 Left Homeless    [ 07/26/09 ] "The United Nations Refugee Agency said Friday that 536,000 people had been chased from their homes in eastern Congo this year as a result of clashes between government forces and Hutu rebels linked to Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. The agency spokesman, Ron Redmond, said in Geneva that 35,000 others have been uprooted since July 12, when the government embarked on its latest military campaign. He said there were widespread reports of killing, rape and torture by the rebels. In all, 1.8 million people have been displaced by years of violence and instability in eastern Congo ..."  

Opinion: Obama Administration Begins Opposition To States Claiming Sovereignty And Gun Rights [ 07/26/09 ] "several states are lining up to reclaim their sovereignty and telling the federal government to butt out. This is being done in myriad ways but all are related in that most claim that the Tenth Amendment protects the states from federal tyranny. States are passing resolutions, memorials and two states have passed laws and they intend to apply those laws for their citizens. The two states are Montana and Tennessee ..."  

Florida Governor Crist's Office Mistakenly Praises Nazi Film   [ 07/26/09 ] Note: Hahahaha! Only on Earth ... Hahahaha!

Texas may reject Nationalized Health Care   [ 07/25/09 ] "Gov. Rick Perry, raising the specter of a showdown with the Obama administration, suggested Thursday that he would consider invoking states’ rights protections under the 10th Amendment to resist the president’s healthcare plan, which he said would be "disastrous" for Texas ..."  

You're (Probably) a Federal Criminal  [ 07/25/09 ] "Federal law now criminalizes activities that the average person would never dream would land him in prison. Consequently, every year, thousands of upstanding, responsible Americans run afoul of some incomprehensible federal law and end up serving time in federal prison ... What is especially disturbing is that it could happen to anyone at all -- and it has. We should applaud Reps. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), then, for holding a bipartisan hearing today to examine how federal law can make a criminal out of anyone, for even the most mundane conduct. This is an inevitable result of the fact that the criminal law is no longer restricted to punishing inherently wrongful conduct -- such as murder, rape, robbery, and the like. Moreover, under these new laws, the government can often secure a conviction without having to prove that the person accused even intended to commit a bad act, historically a protection against wrongful conviction. Laws like this are dangerous in the hands of social engineers and ambitious lawmakers -- not to mention overzealous prosecutors -- bent on using government's greatest civilian power to punish any activity they dislike. So many thousands of criminal offenses are now in federal law that a prominent federal appeals court judge titled his recent essay on this overcriminalization problem, "You're (Probably) a Federal Criminal ..."

Key FDA Docs Reveal : Hazards Of Genetically Engineered Foods--And Flaws With How The Agency Made Its Policy  [ 07/25/09 ] "You will see scanned reproductions (exact copies) of some of the Food & Drug Administration's (FDA) internal memoranda about the hazards of genetically engineered foods. These documents became available through the Alliance for Bio-Integrity's lawsuit (Alliance for Bio-Integrity et al., vs. Shalala, et al.) to gain mandatory safety testing and labeling of these foods. The large numbers on the bottom of each page (i.e. 18952) are the Administrative Record (A.R.) numbers affixed by the FDA. ..."  Related: Obama Puts Monsanto Lobbyist In Charge Of Food Safety

North Korea Executes Christian For Distributing Bible  [ 07/25/09 ] Note: Millions of starving North Koreans in existential angst are not going to stand for someone from another group coming in and trying to influence their immortality strategy belief systems.  Ha!

Ahmadinejad Caves To 'Supreme Leader', Sacks VP  [ 07/25/09 ] Khamenei released a succinct letter demanding that Ahmadinejad dump his controversial choice for vice president Rahim Mashaei (who had come under heavy fire from conservatives and hard-liners in part over comments he'd made praising Israelis), and within hours, Ahmadinejad gave in. From the NIAC blog: Rahim Mashaei has resigned from his post as First Deputy to Ahmadinejad, Fars News Reports [Persian]. Ahmadinejad had resisted firing Mashaei for six days despite an order to do so from the supreme leader. Mashaei was a controversial nominee in part because he said Iran was the friend of the American and Israeli people ..."

Pentagon furious over call for execution of captured soldier  [ 07/24/09 ] "According to NBC’s top Pentagon correspondent, the Department of Defense is furious with Fox News analyst Ralph Peters, who said on July 19 that the Taliban should murder 23-year-old Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl, captured after he strayed from his post, to save the Army “legal hassles and legal bills.” Peters, a well-known Neoconservative and frequent Fox News guest, attempted to clarify his shocking statement on Tuesday night’s O’Reilly Factor, telling right-wing host Bill O’Reilly he believes that Bergdahl had “deserted” his unit and deserved no sympathy. He did not apologize. O’Reilly added that Bergdahl must be “crazy.”  However, Wednesday night MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow fired back, interviewing Jim Miklaszewski, NBC’s top Pentagon correspondent, who said the Department of Defense is furious with Peters and Fox News, adding there is no evidence that Bergdahl is a deserter. Peters’ and O’Reilly’s insidious comments drew a sharp reaction from a bipartisan group of 22 veteran members of Congress, who all signed a letter demanding Fox News CEO Roger Ailes apologize to Bergdahl’s family for allowing a guest on his network to provide “aid and comfort” to America’s enemies. “Mr. Peters’ indefensible comments call into question, without any supporting evidence whatsoever, PFC Bergdahl’s patriotism and commitment to his country, and suggest in a non-subtle way that he deserved to be captured,” they wrote. “The truth is that Mr. Peters’ words give more aid and comfort to the enemy…and put PFC Bergdahl at additional risk of harm.” Congressman Eric Massa (D-NY), a former Navy commander who joined the 22 members of Congress in signing the letter, went a step further and called on Fox News to fire both O’Reilly and Peters....."

Ford posts $2.3 billion profit  [ 07/24/09 ] "Ford Motor Co. announced Thursday a quarterly profit on one-time gains, as it narrowed its operating loss to 424 million dollars in results better than market expectations ... The only one of the Big Three Detroit automakers to survive without a government bailout, has nonetheless been struggling with the collapse in auto sales in the US and other markers, losing 14.5 billion dollars in 2008 ...."

Dozens Arrested, Including Mayors And Rabbis, In Bizarre New Jersey Corruption Probe  [ 07/23/09 ] "Charges Include Trafficking Of Kidneys From Israeli Donors. The mayors of three New Jersey cities, two state legislators and several rabbis were among more than 40 people arrested Thursday in a sweeping corruption investigation that began as a probe into an international money laundering ring that trafficked in goods as diverse as human organs and fake designer handbags. Among 44 people arrested Thursday were Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano III, Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini, state Assemblyman President L. Harvey Smith and state Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt. Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez, who is also an attorney, is charged with agreeing to accept an illegal $10,000 cash payment for his legal defense fund ... According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the investigation initially focused, with the help of the cooperating witness, on the money laundering network that operated between Brooklyn, Deal, N.J. and Israel. The network is alleged to have laundered tens of millions of dollars through charities controlled by rabbis in New York and New Jersey ..."

Shield Law Overturns Warrant for Student Photographer  [ 07/23/09 ] "Legal protections for journalists were upheld last week in a San Francisco Superior Court decision. Counsel for a San Francisco State University photojournalism student successfully won a motion to quash a search warrant executed by police earlier this year. In recognizing the journalistic entitlements of the student, whose name has been sealed by request of his lawyers, Judge Tomar Mason has strengthened precedent supporting the rights of freelance photographers and journalists...."  Note: There was some article recently which indicated that some principles maintained by the press, relative to 'shielding', do not, in fact, exist ... so this is something to consider ..

Education: India Makes Education Compulsory And Free  [ 07/23/09 ] "The Indian parliament has passed a bill to provide universal, free and compulsory education for all children aged between six and 14 ..."  Related: UK: Education spending to be cut by £100 million "Education spending will be cut next year for the first time in more than two decades ..." Note: Minions 1 Sequentials 0

"Radical" Gun Bill Defeated In Senate   [ 07/23/09 ] "Mark Pryor took a few quick steps onto the Senate floor Wednesday, flashed a thumbs down and walked back out. With him went any chance John Thune had of seeing his expansive concealed-gun amendment become law ..." Note: Thune is a very nasty sequentially motivated individual. See how they have to try to force something to happen with respect to gun owners and guns, so they try and cause legislation to be passed allowing problematic situations to come about, on purpose, hoping that various incidents will allow them to institute radical gun control.  Related:  Angry Leahy Cancels Hearing On Gun Bill  "Senate Republicans are pushing a far-reaching gun amendment, which would allow licensed gun owners to carry concealed weapons across state lines as long as they're following the law in their home state. The effort is a fairly radical step for the GOP, emboldened by three previous gun amendments they've been able to tack on to unrelated bills ... Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) is leading the charge this time and plans to tack his new idea on to the Department of Defense authorization bill. .." 

Intense lobbying pressure slows progress of major piece of financial regulatory reform legislation  [ 07/22/09 ] "Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) informed committee members Monday night that a vote on the creation of the Consumer Financial Product Safety Commission will be pushed back until September ... On Monday, a gang of 23 interest groups wrote a letter to Frank asking him to delay consideration of the bill. The coalition includes banks, realtors, advertisers, home builders, insurers, car dealers, the Chamber of Commerce and even the electronics industry ..." 

Obama authorizes extended Secret Service guard for former VP Dick Cheney  [ 07/22/09 ] "Former Vice President Dick Cheney's Secret Service protection has been extended for at least another six months, beginning Tuesday. Normally, ex-veeps only get six months of protection at taxpayer expense. But Cheney asked for an extension, and President Obama - whom Cheney has excoriated in several interviews since leaving office - recently signed off. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano signed the order extending Cheney's security detail, her spokeswoman Sara Kuban confirmed Monday. If the Obama administration hadn't gone along with Cheney's request, he would have been forced to hire his own security agents - or go without. Cheney's friends have said he has become more concerned about his privacy and personal safety in recent years ..." 

HHS Bilderberger Sebelius Faces Hostile Town Hall Over Obama Care  [ 07/22/09 ] "Obama administration officials visited the town of Reserve, Louisiana to pitch the Obama health care plan Monday, and were greeted by a tough crowd. Media reports indicate that it was a tough sell for Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. THE DEAD PELICAN has obtained footage from WGNO in New Orleans where one audience member decried what he called Obama’s “socialistic” health plan. The gentleman attending the rally was greeted with thunderous applause when he told Sebelius that “It will be a cold day in hell before he socializes my country!”   See Video

Exxon faces $1 billion fine for sabotaging Texas oil wells  [ 07/21/09 ] "Exxon Mobil’s sabotage of some 100 Texas oil wells in the past 17 years — going so far as to plug up some wells with explosives — means the world’s largest oil company could be liable for penalties of up to $1 billion, the Texas General Land Office says ..."

Illinois: Cops tasered 3 kids, threatened one with sodomy  [ 07/21/09 ] "A shelter for adolescents in southern Illinois is suing the local sheriff’s office for what it describes as an unprovoked attack by two police officers on four children, three of whom were tasered, and one of whom was threatened with sodomy by a sheriff’s deputy ..."

Buzz Aldrin Punches Moon Landing Conspiracy Theorist In The Face  [ 07/21/09 ] "CNN interviewed the hosts of the show "Mythbusters" about the conspiracy theorists who believe the Apollo Moon landing was faked, and the their extensive efforts debunking the claims of the Moon landing deniers. However, buried towards the end of the interview is a gem of video of Buzz Aldrin, famously one of the first astronauts to walk on the Moon, being confronted by one of these moon landing skeptics several years ago. The man angrily calls Aldrin a "coward" and a "liar." Aldrin tells the man to get away from him, and when he refuses, Aldrin promptly punches him in the face. The conspiracy theorist tried to sue Aldrin but the judge threw out the case ..."   Note: Again, this is another situation which has been polarized into 'we went' / 'we didn't go', when in fact, BOTH are TRUE but refer to different time periods. The Moon Rising video implies what actually happened.

30 Israelis arrested in Romanian clinic  [ 07/20/09 ] "Thirty Israelis suspected of human egg trafficking were detained Sunday in a fertility clinic in Bucharest. Following an interrogation by Romanian police, 28 of the detainees were released after posting bail. Foreign Ministry spokesman Yossi Levi confirmed the details of the report to Israel Radio on Monday, and said that the Israeli embassy in the Romanian capital was cooperating with local authorities ..."

Canada: ISPs must help police snoop on internet under new bill   [ 07/19/09 ] "Internet service providers would have to make it possible for police and intelligence officers to intercept online communications and get personal information about subscribers, under bills tabled Thursday. "We must ensure that law enforcement has the necessary tools to catch up to the bad guys and ultimately bring them to justice. Twenty-first century technology calls for 21st-century tools," said Justice Minister Rob Nicholson as he announced the new bills with Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan at a news conference in Ottawa ..."

Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle   [ 07/18/09 ] "In George Orwell’s “1984,” government censors erase all traces of news articles embarrassing to Big Brother by sending them down an incineration chute called the “memory hole.” On Friday, it was “1984” and another Orwell book, “Animal Farm,” that were dropped down the memory hole — by Amazon.com. In a move that angered customers and generated waves of online pique, Amazon remotely deleted some digital editions of the books from the Kindle devices of readers who had bought them. ... An Amazon spokesman, Drew Herdener, said in an e-mail message that the books were added to the Kindle store by a company that did not have rights to them, using a self-service function. “When we were notified of this by the rights holder, we removed the illegal copies from our systems and from customers’ devices, and refunded customers,” he said. ... Amazon effectively acknowledged that the deletions were a bad idea. “We are changing our systems so that in the future we will not remove books from customers’ devices in these circumstances,” Mr. Herdener said ..."    Note: No, things will be removed under different circumstances. This simple irony has revealed the design of the Kindle to be one where Orwell's concepts are actualized.  

Philadelphia suspends payment of contracts   [ 07/18/09 ] "Running out of cash because of the state budget deadlock, the City of Philadelphia has stopped paying many of its bills until the impasse is resolved, City Finance Director Rob Dubow said this morning. The city must temporarily withhold about $120 million in July and August to avoid running out of cash completely, Dubow said. Payments to contractors stopped Wednesday. Dubow, Budget Director Stephen Agostini and Treasurer Rebecca Rhynhart said that the city will pay its payroll, benefits, debt service and "emergency" contracts. The $4 million a month paid to foster parents, for instance, is considered an emergency, and other contracts will be considered on a case-by-case basis ..."

Paulson Threatened 'Great Depression', 'Food Riots' To Get Bailout Bill Passed  [ 07/18/09 ] "During Paulson’s first appearance on Capitol Hill since he left office yesterday, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs said he told Congress privately that if they rejected the bailout bill another great depression would ensue, that there would be a breakdown in law and order as well as food riots and civil unrest, adding that he couldn’t reveal such things publicly for fear that the situation would “terrify the American people and lead to an even bigger problem” ..."    Note: So ... Paulson committed financial terrorism ... and extortion ... on behalf of others ... and he's free.

Manhattan's Top 20 Distressed Properties   [ 07/18/09 ] Slide Show   Note: I wonder which ones would be sacrificed in a mock terrorist attack to collect the insurance? Does Silverstein own any of them?  Sick people.

Facebook 'breaches Canadian law'   [ 07/18/09 ] "Popular social networking site Facebook is breaching Canadian law by holding on to users' personal information indefinitely, a report has concluded ..."

35,000 UK shops to close this year  [ 07/18/09 ] "As many as 35,000 UK shops could close this year as the recession bites hard into the British economy ..."

Baxter Files Swine Flu Vaccine Patent a Year Ahead of Outbreak   [ 07/18/09 ] "Baxter had the cure for the outbreak before the outbreak happened...."

1018 Pages of HealthCare "Reform" Being Fast-Tracked Through Congress  [ 07/18/09 ] ""If every member pledged to not vote for it (the health care bill) if they hadn’t read it in its entirety, I think we would have very few votes." -- Senator Steny Hoyer, House Majority Leader and ranking sequential ..."

Photo of Cruise Missile that shot down TWA Flight 800  [ 07/18/09 ] "More than likely, the object in the photo was the target drone that was the subject of the AEGIS-CEC test. But the missiles fired to attack the drone received radar echoes from TWO targets, and chose the wrong one; the 747 ..."

Former CBS anchor 'Uncle Walter' Cronkite dead at 92   [ 07/18/09 ] "Walter Cronkite, the CBS anchorman known as "Uncle Walter" for his easygoing, measured delivery and "the most trusted man in America" for his rectitude and gravitas, has died, CBS reported Friday ..."

Judge Denies Bid By Airlines To Question FBI In 9/11 Case  [ 07/17/09 ] "A U.S. judge has denied a motion by a group of airlines to depose several Federal Bureau of Investigation agents regarding the government's probes into the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. In an order Thursday, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan denied a motion by the airlines to question six current and former FBI agents, a potential setback for their defense. The judge indicated the airline defendants hoped to show at trial that the government's failure to apprehend the terrorists and stop the attacks was so considerable that it mitigates and excuses any alleged faults of the airlines and the terrorists likely would have succeeded even if the defendants had exercised due care ..."   Note: In truth, there were NO TERRORISTS, therefore there is no case.

'CIA suspect in Bhutto's assassination'   [ 07/17/09 ] "Slain Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto could have been targeted by the CIA as part of its recently-exposed alleged assassination program, reports say ..." 

Censors come out at Gitmo war crimes hearing   [ 07/17/09 ] "A reference to harsh treatment at CIA prisons brought out Guantanamo's censors Thursday as an official of the war crimes court abruptly cut the sound to prevent spectators from hearing classified information. Cmdr. Suzanne Lachelier, a lawyer appointed by the Pentagon to defend 9/11 suspect Ramzi bin al Shibh, began discussing the prisoner's treatment before he was taken to Guantanamo in September 2006 when the censor hit the switch. "The government can't hide the fact that they used sleep deprivation ..." Lachelier said before she was cut off and the sound of static filled a soundproof spectator section in the courtroom and a separate media viewing room. There is a 40-second delay in the spectator and media rooms. U.S. authorities have cut the sound several times in the past to protect classified information and have held many hearings in private ..." 

Mexican drug cartel murders 12 federal agents  [ 07/17/09 ] "An ultra-violent drug cartel has launched a ferocious campaign against the Mexican government, torturing and killing 12 federal agents before piling their bodies by the side of a road ..." 

Hundreds may have died in Iran post-election 'massacre'   [ 07/17/09 ] "Woman claims to have seen piles of corpses, as tension rises in Tehran over Rafsanjani speech ..."  Related: Martin Amis: the end of Iran's ayatollahs? | Iran's nuclear chief resigns 

US lawyer faces investigation after battling corporations on workers' behalf  [ 07/17/09 ] "Juan Dominguez allegedly falsified evidence in claiming central American plantation workers were harmed by pesticides ... He was the flamboyant lawyer who championed thousands of impoverished banana plantation workers in a battle against US corporations which allegedly poisoned them with pesticides. Juan Dominguez left his penthouse office and Ferrari in Los Angeles to collect witness testimonies in dusty Nicaraguan villages and build a class action suit which could net his clients billions of dollars in compensation. It was his mission, he said, to stand up for the "little guy" ..." 

UK Cops Stop & Search 3,400 Times - Zero Arrests  [ 07/17/09 ] "A police force has suspended searches of people under controversial anti-terror laws after figures exposed the futility of the legislation. Hampshire Police conducted 3,481 stop and searches under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act in 2007/8 – but arrested no one in connection with terror. The statistics marked a huge increase on 2004/5, when the force carried out 275 stop and searches under Section 44, and a large jump from 2006/7 when there were 580. They are in sharp contrast to the similar-sized neighboring force, Thames Valley, which used the stop and search powers 244 times in 2007/08, making 40 arrests unconnected to terrorism. The decision to stop implementing the anti-terror laws was welcomed by civil liberties campaigners ..." 

UK 'Ruling Class' is 1/3 Size of Army  [ 07/16/09 ] "The UK has 29,000 professional politicians - alongside MPs, Peers and MEPs, the figure also includes the part-time Scottish Parliament and those assemblies in Wales and Northern Ireland which are so easily mistaken for the call centres of an insurance company. All hang off the taxpayer like a cave full of vampire bats. Then there is all that cash paid to the Official Opposition known as 'short' money, to help it hire research assistants - several millions of pounds a year, given chiefly to make the Opposition feel important. The 29,000 figure also includes county and district councillors, many of whom are paid salaries if they are appointed to a specific post ... Last, we have the size and cost of the London mayoralty and the capital's anonymous assembly. It sits in a South London building known to locals as 'The Testicle', but you would need the plural of that word to sum up the quality of its debates. Was ever a kingdom so overwhelmed by rulers? At every turn, under every toadstool, politicos lurk. It explains a lot. It explains why business is so overloaded by regulations. The one thing politicians are good at is creating rules. It also explains why our taxes are so high. Most of this lot are on stonking pensions. One report yesterday suggested that the number of politicians has increased tenfold on the figure 30 years ago - when we still had a few last blasts of Empire under our control. Look back 100 years and you find that we once ran entire continents with a handful of parliamentary undersecretaries answering to a Secretary of State for the Colonies. Now, we have Women's Ministers, Ministers for Equality, Ministers for Job Centres, Ministers for individual regions of England. The time- wasting is unbelievable. And the boredom ..."   Related: Cut Population By 33% Say Crowded Brits  Note: They can start with the 'ruling class'.

Obama meets Jewish leaders over 'tough line' on Israel  [ 07/16/09 ] "Iran's nuclear threat and the president's demand for a freeze on Israeli settlement expansion in the Palestinian West Bank were expected to dominate the meeting at White House. Officials had originally tried to keep the meeting secret after it was arranged late last week, but hastily added it to the official schedule after the news leaked out. Though it is not unusual for a US president to meet Jewish groups, the timing of the event reflected rising anxiety among a constituency that overwhelmingly supported Mr Obama in last year's election that he would not be the most dependable of allies ..."   Note: Most dependable? Israel has NO ONE ELSE ... practically speaking.

Sting nabs sticky-fingered JFK TSA airport workers going through luggage [ 07/16/09 ] "Burton, an officer with the Transportation Security Administration, was videotaped July 7 pilfering through the Miami-bound suitcase in an airport screening room while Simmons, a baggage handler, looked on. The thieves also switched the luggage tags, hoping to conceal their handiwork, officials said ..."

GM investing $1B in Brazil for new cars [ 07/16/09 ] "General Motors announced plans to invest $1 billion to develop two new car models in Brazil. The president of GM's operations in Brazil and the Mercosur countries said it is GM's biggest investment since the onset of the global financial crisis. Jaime Ardila says about 50 percent of the money will come directly from GM Brazil while the rest will be borrowed. One new small car and one medium-sized car will be developed at the Gravatai plant in southern Brazil and are expected to be in production by 2012. Ardila says Wednesday GM Brazil has avoided the problems of its parent unit in the U.S. because of strong demand in Latin America's largest economy. GM sold 580,000 vehicles in Brazil in 2008 - its most ever. GM emerged from bankruptcy protection last week, with CEO Fritz Henderson announcing the "business as usual was over" for the automaker. But GM, whose 40 days under court supervision was far shorter than anyone predicted, faces the worst auto sales slump in a quarter-century. The company plans to cut 20 percent of its salaried U.S. workforce by the end of the year, including around 35 percent of it's executive employees ..."

Did a contaminated Israeli anesthetic cause Jackson death?  [ 07/16/09 ] "Teva voluntarily recalled two lots of propofol after investigators found bacterial contamination in some samples caused up to 40 patients in Florida, Arizona and Missouri to develop fevers and chills ...."  Related: LAPD Treating Jackson Death as Homicide "Law enforcement sources tell us the evidence points to the anesthesia Propofol as the primary cause of Jackson's death. As we first reported, vials of Propofol were found in Jackson's home after he died. Law enforcement sources say there is already "plenty of powerful evidence" linking Dr. Murray as the person who administered the drug to Jackson. The evidence includes various items found in Jackson's house, including the Propofol, an IV stand and oxygen tank. Dr. Murray's lawyer would neither confirm nor deny if his client administered the Propofol. And we've learned the LAPD has had "multiple conversations" with the L.A. County District Attorney's office, although the case has not been formally presented to the D.A." Jackson Doc Mum on Administering Anesthesia | Jackson Docs Not Cooperating, Coroner Says

World's largest plant to convert methane gas from garbage to fuel, to open soon in Altamont Pass,CA [ 07/16/09 ] "Later this summer, gas produced by smelly garbage will be transformed into clean-burning fuel. The Altamont Landfill, operated by Waste Management, is putting the finishing touches on a plant that will take landfill-generated methane gas and turn it into liquefied natural gas to fuel garbage-collection trucks. The plant will be the first of its kind in the United States, and the largest in the world...."

ACLU: US discards evidence obtained through ‘torture’ in Gitmo case [ 07/16/09 ] "The government today stated it would no longer rely on evidence obtained through torture and other coercion in the habeas corpus case challenging the unlawful detention of Guantánamo detainee Mohammed Jawad. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a motion on July 1 to suppress Jawad’s statements, and today the Justice Department announced it would not oppose that motion...."

Is the US Postal System Going Bankrupt? [ 07/15/09 ] "The Postal Service is laying off 25,000 employees, asking Congress for permission to reduce delivery days from six to five a week and offering early retirement. It also wants to tap its Retiree Health Benefits Fund, which is managed by the U.S. Treasury Department, to cover projected losses for the next seven years. Its unions are screaming. The crisis stems in part from the continuing transformation of the communications marketplace. But it also is the bitter result of costly congressional mandates, union power, unaffordable employee benefits and rising health-care costs. Similar burdens bankrupted Chrysler and General Motors. But as the Postal Service's decades of travail show that having the government as partner and overseer is not necessarily a solution ..."

Some Choice Words for "The Select Few": Bill Moyers slams corrupt US elite  [ 07/15/09 ] "If you want to know what really matters in Washington, don't go to Capitol Hill for one of those hearings, or pay attention to those staged White House "town meetings." They're just for show. What really happens - the serious business of Washington - happens in the shadows, out of sight, off the record. Only occasionally - and usually only because someone high up stumbles - do we get a glimpse of just how pervasive the corruption has become ..."

Ex-CIA agent revives waterboarding row  [ 07/15/09 ] "A former U.S. intelligence agent said in a report published Monday that terror suspect Abu Zubaydah was subjected to simulated drowning months before the Bush administration’s Department of Justice had written memos approving the use of waterboarding. The claim strikes a serious blow to repeated Bush administration arguments that no laws were broken in the torture of prisoners because legal guidelines had been closely followed. Former Central Intelligence Agency officer John Kiriakou, speaking with BBC’s Panorama, said that internal communications detailed Zubaydah’s torture beginning “at the very end of May or the very beginning of June 2002.” ..."

US, Cuba launch landmark talks  [ 07/15/09 ] "Representatives from arch Cold-War foes the United States and Cuba met for migration talks on Tuesday, the first such meeting in six years. "The talks have started this morning. They will last one day," US delegation spokeswoman Heidi Bronke-Fulton said of the New York-hosted discussions. "We expect to have a statement published later this evening," she told AFP. Ahead of the talks, the US State Department said they would focus on how to create "safe, legal and orderly migration between Cuba and the United States." The move to thaw relations follows President Barack Obama's decision in April to authorize travel and money transfers to the island by US nationals of Cuban descent. US-Cuba dialogue was suspended in 2003 by then US president George W. Bush. Havana informed Washington in late May that it would take up the renewed US offer of talks...."

Unemployment to rise, says Obama  [ 07/15/09 ] "Barack Obama said Tuesday he expects the US unemployment rate, currently at 9.5 percent, to rise further over the coming months. "This has been a more severe recession than we've seen since the Great Depression," Obama said, added the US would "probably continue to see unemployment tick up for several months." In June Obama said he expected the jobless rate to enter double digits this year. It already tops 14 percent in Michigan, the historic heart of the country's auto-making sector. The US president noted that "we have seen some stabilization on the financial markets, and that's good," but said that history showed recoveries can take more time ..."

Famous Conductor and Wife Orchestrate Swan Song At Swiss Clinic  [ 07/14/09 ] "British maestro Edward Downes, who conducted the BBC Philharmonic and the Royal Opera but struggled in recent years as his hearing and sight failed, has died with his wife at an assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland. He was 85 and she was 74. The couple's children said Tuesday that the couple died "peacefully and under circumstances of their own choosing" on Friday at a Zurich clinic run by the group Dignitas ..."

Afghanistan soldiers: "This is a war we just can't win and there's no need for us to win it"  [ 07/14/09 ] Postings on the British army Rumor Service website this past weekend.

Pharmaceutical (Drug) Industry Under Attack From Patients and Law  [ 07/14/09 ] "“No doubt, one day our children’s children will learn in school that in the early part of the 21st century tens of thousands of people died every year after taking unnecessary drugs … They will learn that there were no effective laws to protect people from risky drugs … When will we stop killing the innocent with blockbuster drugs?” The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in March against the drug industry’s demand that they be granted full immunity against all liability for the damage their drugs cause (Wyeth vs. Levine) – a last-ditch effort to escape the consequences of dealing in harmful products ..."

Reuters: Another Study Links Fluoride to Bone Cancer  [ 07/14/09 ] "Randhu and colleagues measured serum fluoride levels in three equal groups of age-matched and sex-matched patients. Group one had osteosarcoma, group two had non-osteosarcoma bone tumors, and group three had musculo-skeletal pain. “Mean serum fluoride concentration was found to be significantly higher in patients with osteosarcoma as compared to the other two groups,” writes Randhu’s team. “(T)his report proves a link between raised fluoride levels in serum and osteosarcoma,” they write. This reinforces a 2006 published Harvard study by Bassin showing a link between water fluoridation and osteosarcoma in young boys ..."

Researchers Find Caffeine Effective Alzheimer’s Treatment  [ 07/14/09 ] "While a number of advanced Alzheimer’s drugs and treatments have been developed in recent years, University of Florida researcher Gary Arendash believes coffee drinkers -- and other caffeine consumers -- are not just protecting themselves, but actually treating symptoms that might appear. “The study gives evidence that caffeine may be a viable treatment for established Alzheimer’s disease and not simply a protective strategy,” Arendash said ..."

UK cuts Israeli weapons contracts  [ 07/14/09 ] "The UK has revoked five export licences for equipment to the Israeli navy because of actions during Israel's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza this year. The British Foreign office said the exports would now contravene its criteria for arms sales, but denied that it had imposed a partial embargo ..."

Cruel and Unusual Punishment: Soy Diet for Illinois Prisoners  [ 07/14/09 ] "The governor's justification for replacing nutritious meat and cheese with toxic soy protein was financial-to lower the enormous costs of running the Illinois Department of Corrections. However, the likely reason is payback for campaign contributions from Archer Daniels Midland, the main supplier of soy products to the Illinois prisons."  Note: And you know what else soy does to male bodies ...

ABC Reporter Bob Woodruff Returns to Iraq To Meet His Fate  [ 07/13/09 ] "ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff returned to Iraq on Monday for the first time since he was nearly killed there by a roadside bomb more than three years ago. Woodruff suffered a serious brain injury from the Jan. 29, 2006, bomb that exploded while he was riding in an Iraqi army tank, his upper body exposed as he stood in the hatch. He returned to ABC News after an arduous 13-month recovery, and he's done extensive reporting on the plight of people who were severely injured in the war. "I have wanted to `get back on the horse again' since my recovery," Woodruff said in a blog post ..."   It's his path ... 

India: 26 Minions Drown After Being Spooked By Lightning  [ 07/13/09 ] "Two boats capsized in western India on Sunday when the passengers panicked after seeing a bolt of lightning, police said. Twenty-six women drowned. Rescuers saved four passengers and two crew from the Wainganga River after the accident late Saturday night, said police Superintendent Suresh Sagar. Eight other women are still missing. After seeing a massive bolt of lightning, the women _ poor farm laborers on their way home from work _ panicked and the ensuing chaos upset the boats."  Back to nature you go.

NY Times: Cheney Is Linked to Concealment of C.I.A. Project  [ 07/12/09 ] Link Fixed "The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency’s director, Leon E. Panetta, has told the Senate and House intelligence committees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday. The report that Mr. Cheney was behind the decision to conceal the still-unidentified program from Congress deepened the mystery surrounding it, suggesting that the Bush administration had put a high priority on the program and its secrecy."

OPED: Baltimore Sun: Global warming alarmism enriches Gore, bankrupts the rest of us  [ 07/12/09 ] "Let us begin today with full disclosure: For those who don't know my position on global warming alarmism and its insidious uses, it is that this phenomenon is the greatest hoax in modern times and is being used to achieve things - bad things - quite apart from its ostensible goal of "saving the planet." Al Gore wanders the spheroid he is determined to save, spouting increasingly inane observations as his bank account grows and his "carbon footprint" becomes ever more Godzilla-like, considering all the jet fuel burned as he hurtles from appearance to appearance. I have read that his speaking fee is now $175,000 a pop, a fee for which his audiences are fed what seems to me to be an amazing concoction of lies, distortions and flights of fancy ..."  Related: Gore: U.S. Climate Bill Will Help Bring About 'Global Governance' 

John Holdren in late 1970's: "Forced Abortions and Mass Sterilization Needed to Save the Planet"  [ 07/11/09 ] " ... Below, you will find photographs, scans, and transcriptions of pages in the book Ecoscience, co-authored in 1977 by John Holdren, Obama’s Science Czar, and his close colleagues Paul Ehrlich and Anne Ehrlich. The scans and photos are provided to supply conclusive evidence that the words attributed to Holdren are unaltered and accurately transcribed ... Of course, Holdren wrote these things in the framework of a book he co-authored about what he imagined at the time (late 1970s) was an apocalyptic crisis facing mankind: overpopulation. He felt extreme measures would be required to combat an extreme problem. Whether or not you think this provides him a valid “excuse” for having descended into a totalitarian fantasy is up to you: personally, I don’t think it’s a valid excuse at all, since the crisis he was in a panic over was mostly in his imagination. Totalitarian regimes and unhinged people almost always have what seems internally like a reasonable justification for actions which to the outside world seem incomprehensible ..."

Big Brother: Pervasive Surveillance Under Obama  [ 07/11/09 ] "... DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano told reporters, "we absolutely intend to use the technical resources, the substantial ones, that NSA has." Seeking to deflect criticism from civil libertarians, Napolitano claims "they will be guided, led and in a sense directed by the people we have at the Department of Homeland Security ... As the "global war on terror" morphs into an endless war on our democratic rights, the NSA is expanding domestic operations by "decentralizing its massive computer hubs," The Salt Lake Tribune revealed ... The agency "will build a 1-million-square-foot data center at Utah's Camp Williams," the newspaper disclosed July 1. The new facility would be NSA's third major data center. In 2007, the agency announced plans to build a second data center in San Antonio, Texas after the Baltimore Sun reported that NSA had "maxed out" the electric capacity of the Baltimore area's power grid ... The San Antonio Current reported in December, that the NSA's Texas Cryptology Center will cost "upwards of $130 million." The 470,000 square-foot-facility is adjacent to a similar center constructed by software giant Microsoft. Investigative journalist James Bamford told the Current that under current law "NSA could gain access to Microsoft's stored data without even a warrant, but merely a fiber-optic cable."

Report: Bush surveillance program was massive  [ 07/11/09 ] "The Bush administration built an unprecedented surveillance operation to pull in mountains of information far beyond the warrantless wiretapping previously acknowledged, a team of federal inspectors general reported Friday, questioning the legal basis for the effort but shielding almost all details on grounds they're still too secret to reveal. The report, compiled by five inspectors general, refers to "unprecedented collection activities" by U.S. intelligence agencies under an executive order signed by President George W. Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks .... The inspectors general interviewed more than 200 people inside and outside the government, but five former Bush administration officials refused to be questioned. They were Ashcroft, Yoo, former CIA Director George Tenet, former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and David Addington, an aide to former Vice President Dick Cheney. According to the report, Addington could personally decide who in the administration was "read into" — allowed access to — the classified program. Note: Addington crafted most of Bush's 'signing statements', disallowing adherance to laws by the Bush administration. Related: Legal Memos On ‘Blatantly Illegal’ Surveillance Still In Place, Says Feingold

House overwhelmingly rejects Obama signing statement   [ 07/11/09 ] "The House rebuked President Obama for trying to ignore restrictions to international aid payments, voting overwhelmingly for an amendment forcing the administration to abide by its constraints. House members approved an amendment by a 429-2 vote to have the Obama administration pressure the World Bank to strengthen labor and environmental standards and require a Treasury Department report on World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) activities. The amendment to a 2010 funding bill for the State Department and foreign operations was proposed by Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), but it received broad bipartisan support ..."

"Ireland Makes Blasphemy Illegal"  [ 07/10/09 ] " ... As part of a revision to defamation legislation, the Dail (Irish Parliament) passed legislation creating a new crime of 'blasphemy'. This attack on free speech, debated for several months in Europe, has gone largely unnoticed in the American press ... For the purposes of this section, a person publishes or utters blasphemous matter if (a) he or she publishes or utters matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion, and (b) he or she intends, by the publication or utterance of the matter concerned, to cause such outrage ..."   Note: Back to the 'dark ages' for these morons. Related: Who Asked For This Law?

"Father McGreer buys an ice cold beer
And a short for Father Loyola
Father Joe’s got the clap again
He’s drinking Coca-Cola"

Florida Prepares for Huge 'Swine Flu Shot Program'  [ 07/10/09 ] "Florida’s surgeon general says the state is preparing for massive swine flu immunizations, starting with schoolchildren, as the Obama administration urges states to prepare for the likelihood that the virus might worsen in the fall ..."  Note: A repeat of the 1976 fiasco ... they think a lot of retirees 'need to die' ... every virus worsens in the fall, because people are crowded inside together, so why should this year be any different? More than 35,000 people kick the bucket from flu every year, and we don't hear much about that, so any biological program could well be conducted alongside 'normal seasonal activities'. It's been done before ... and the huge profits for vaccine companies that politicos have stock in? Priceless.

Judge Urged to Declare Bush Spy Program Illegal  [ 07/10/09 ] "A lawsuit weighing whether a sitting U.S. president may create a spying program to eavesdrop on Americans’ electronic communications without warrants or congressional authorization took another turn Thursday as a federal judge was asked to answer that question with a “no.” The nearly 5-year-old case, despite its tortured procedural history, is the furthest along in challenging the Bush administration’s warrantless, electronic surveillance program adopted in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks ..."

Police Investigating Murdoch UK Tabloids For Spying On UK Deputy Prime Minister, Thousands More  [ 07/10/09 ] "The Guardian newspaper reported yesterday that Murdoch’s News Corp. paid more than 1 million pounds ($1.6 million) to settle lawsuits claiming journalists used private investigators to illegally obtain information on politicians, sports stars and entertainers. The report throws a spotlight on the news- gathering methods of the competitive U.K. newspaper industry. “Following a court order in 2008 we made available a copy of some information from our investigation into the buying and selling of personal information, to lawyers” involved in a related case, Mick Gorrill, assistant information commissioner, said in the statement ..."

Pope calls for a "global authority" on economy  [ 07/10/09 ] "Pope Benedict called on Tuesday for a "world political authority" to manage the global economy and for more government regulation of national economies to pull the world out of the current crisis and avoid a repeat ..."  Note: A stupid man working toward sequentialization. Fortunately, it will all be taken away from them, here. 

‘Life’s tough……it’s even tougher if you’re stupid.” John Wayne

EU finds drug firms make billions stalling generics  [ 07/10/09 ] "European patients, taxpayers and national treasuries are being fleeced of billions of euros because of the big pharmaceutical companies' elaborate campaigns to delay the marketing of cheaper generic drugs, the European Commission says. "There is something rotten in the state [of the pharmaceutical industry]," said Neelie Kroes, the Competition Commissioner, unveiling the findings of an 18-month inquiry. "Makers of original medicines are actively trying to delay the entry of generic medicines on to their markets  ..." 

FBI Agent charged with illegally selling guns  [ 07/10/09 ] "The agent is charged with selling firearms without a license, having gun dealers falsify records, and lying. Federal prosecutors say Shipley bought guns online and at gun shows then resold them for profit; totaling more than a hundred thousand dollars. He then reported his sales to the alcohol, tobacco and firearms agency but Shipley used other gun dealer's records ..."

Cyber attacks may not have come from North Korea  [ 07/09/09 ] "Cybersecurity analysts raised doubts on Wednesday that the North Korean state launched recent attacks on U.S. government and South Korean websites, saying industrial spies or pranksters could be the villains. More than two dozen websites in the United States and South Korea, including that of the U.S. State Department, were attacked in recent days. South Korea's spy agency has said North Korea may be behind the attacks, while the U.S. government has said it is too soon to make such claims -- and Internet security experts agree ... Other analysts shied away from pinpointing North Korea and said the attacks could be financially motivated. "There's a trillion dollars in economic losses sustained due to hacking every year, not just financial data theft but also industrial espionage," Core Security Technologies' Tom Kellermann said. "You're seeing a massive community of mercenaries for hire who are leveraging their computer skill sets, particularly in this global recession, the laid off IT professionals et cetera that are leveraging their attack capabilities and their technological experience to break in and out of systems."  Note: It could also be an inside job, to simulate an attack, for political purposes.

Panetta Says CIA Officials Have Misled Congress Since 2001  [ 07/09/09 ] "The director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Leon E. Panetta, has told the House Intelligence Committee in closed-door testimony that the CIA concealed “significant actions” from Congress from 2001 until late last month ..."  Related: CIA Director Orders Probe Of Secret Spy Program 

Lieberman Touts GAO Report: Major security flaws found at federal buildings  [ 07/09/09 ] "Federal investigators had no trouble smuggling bomb-making materials past ill-trained and poorly supervised guards at federal buildings, senators were told at a hearing Wednesday. "This is the broadest indictment of a federal agency I have ever heard," Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., said at a Homeland Security Committee hearing on the performance of the Federal Protective Service, the office responsible for the safety of some 9,000 federal facilities. "This is really serious stuff ..."   Note: they're always planning something. 

Police In UK City Set Up “Baghdad Style Checkpoints”  [ 07/09/09 ] "Police are to blockade neighbourhoods with Baghdad-style checkpoints in a bid to catch criminals ..."

UK: New 7/7 Bombing Photo Contradicts Official Story  [ 07/09/09 ] "A new photo released on the fourth anniversary of the 7/7 attacks in London appears to contradict the government’s official story that Muslims with backpack bombs were responsible for the Tube and bus bombings which killed 52 people. The image seemingly dovetails with a survivor’s eyewitness statement that the bombs on the Tube trains were placed underneath the carriage and that suicide bombers were nowhere to be seen ..."

  NSA Security said running amok to plug leaks about 9/11  [ 07/09/09 ] " ... NSA’s Security force is reportedly primarily tasked with plugging any leaks of classified or other information that points to U.S. government’s involvement with the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 ..." 

Pope proposes 'new financial order guided by ethics' [ 07/08/09 ] " ... The pope's focus on world finance raised questions about the state of the Vatican's own books. The Vatican was implicated in the 1980s collapse of Banco Ambrosiano, in which the Vatican's bank was the major shareholder, and it agreed to pay $250 million to Ambrosiano's creditors, while denying any wrongdoing ..."  

UK Civil Propaganda Fest:  Police Fear Far Right 'Spectacular' Attack [ 07/08/09 ] "Far right groups could be planning a terrorist "spectacular" to stoke up racial tensions amid the economic downturn, police fear ...Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command has stepped up the number of officers in special unit dedicated to monitoring right wing extremists because of the threat. Muslims, Jews and other minority groups have all been urged to be extra vigilant after an internal police report found that the danger has significantly increased since the onset of recession ..."  Note: What a complete and transparent crock of shit. They're even more stupid than they were when I was there in the mid 1980's.  Related propaganda: "Tube Still 'Extremely Vulnerable' To Attack After 7/7" | £1,000 Fines To Bolster ID Cards |  Note: It's the Bush-Blair social nightmare run amuk on an island .... V for Vendetta cannot be far away.

UK: Four council staff sacked over email [ 07/08/09 ] "Four council workers have been sacked for sending a racist email to colleagues comparing Nazi death camps to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. It is believed those involved brought memory sticks containing the anti-Semitic material in to work to bypass the Lancashire County Council's security system. Authority bosses deemed the 'highly inappropriate' content to be a sacking offence after a three-month investigation, which saw a total of 14 staff suspended. Five others received formal written warnings and a further five have since returned to work."  Oooooo! Thought crime is rampant!

Iraq to unify national ID Cards [ 07/07/09 ]  "The Iraqi government has announced a new plan to unify the national ID cards by launching a single plastic identity card system. Brigadier General Mahmoud Abdul Al-Ghafour, the project's director, made the announcement before reporters in Baghdad on Monday. The new plastic cards will replace four different types of paper documents currently used by 30 million Iraqi citizens, AFP reported. The national ID Card program, which may cost up to 300 million dollars, would be operational in about two years time. However, the plan may help the Iraqi government establish more security and may limit the use of fake identifications by terrorist groups and bandits. Interior Ministry Deputy Minister Adnan Al-Assadi said the new ID cards would be used by all the Iraqi nationals and that the data on the card would be written in both Arabic and Kurdish languages. "

China to slap curfew on riot-torn city [ 07/07/09 ]  "China will slap a curfew over the capital of China’s Muslim region of Xinjiang on Tuesday night after trying to break up protests with tear gas two days after bloody ethnic clashes killed 156 and wounded more than 1,000."

 MI5 accused of bribe offer in torture case  [ 07/07/09 ]  "Jailed Rangzieb Ahmed says he was offered cash to drop collusion claim ... The Security Service MI5 is being accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice by offering a man inducements to drop his allegation that its officers colluded in his torture. Rangzieb Ahmed had three of his fingernails ripped out after MI5 and Greater Manchester police (GMP) drew up a list of questions for officers from a notorious Pakistani intelligence agency who had detained him in Pakistan. He was later deported to the UK and jailed for terrorism offences. Ahmed says he was visited in prison by an MI5 officer and a police officer who offered to secure a reduction in his sentence or a payment of money to withdraw his torture complaints when his appeal against conviction is heard later this year. His lawyers have written to the Crown Prosecution Service to complain that the approach was "grossly inappropriate" and amounted to an attempt to pervert the course of justice. As well as lodging an appeal against his conviction, Ahmed is also suing the British government for damages arising out of his treatment in Pakistan. It is thought that his lawyers are planning to rely to some extent on a judgment made after legal argument that preceded his trial, the full details of which are being kept secret at the request of MI5 and GMP."

 E-Mail Surveillance Renews Concerns in Congress  [ 07/07/09 ]  "The National Security Agency is facing renewed scrutiny over the extent of its domestic surveillance program, with critics in Congress saying its recent intercepts of the private telephone calls and e-mail messages of Americans are broader than previously acknowledged, current and former officials said ..."

 Britain's MI6 intelligence agency chief cover blown by wife on Facebook  [ 07/06/09 ]  "Holiday snapshots and family details about the newly appointed head of Britain's MI6 intelligence agency have been removed from a Facebook page after a newspaper told the government about them. Pictures from the social networking Web site published in the Mail on Sunday newspaper show John Sawers posing with his children, wearing a Santa hat and playing Frisbee on a beach. The paper said the information was posted by Sawers' wife on her Facebook page. It included vacation photos, details about the couple's three children and the location of their London home ..."

 Bill banning forced identity-chip implants clears House [ 07/06/09 ]  "Invasion of privacy is an issue that really gets under State Rep. Babette Josephs’ skin. That’s why the Philadelphia Democrat introduced a bill, passed unanimously last week by the House, that would ban the forced implantation of computer chips in humans ... State Rep. Dan Moul (R., Adams) amended Josephs' bill to allow chips to be implanted by court order. The bill also would allow the chips to be implanted in Guantanamo Bay detainees who end up in Pennsylvania. Josephs called Moul's changes "inflammatory" and "sensational" and hopes the Senate throws them out when it considers the measure ..."

 Former Marine Claims Illness From Mystery Vaccine  [ 07/05/09 ]  "Target 5 has discovered that an alarming number of U.S. troops are having severe reactions to some of the vaccines they receive in preparation for going overseas. "This is the worst cover-up in the history of the military," said an unidentified military health officer who fears for his job. A shot from a syringe is leaving some U.S. servicemen and women on the brink of death. "When the issue, I believe, of the use of the vaccine comes out, I believe it will make the Walter Reed scandal pale in comparison," said the health officer. Lance Corporal David Fey, 20, has dialysis three days a week. His kidneys are failing, his military career is over, and he feels like his country abandoned him ... The Department of Defense stated that "all service members' vaccinations are documented in the individual's permanent medical record." But Fey's military medical records revealed no shot on that day. Another Marine in Fey's unit told Target 5 that there is no shot listed in his medical records either and also said that the people who administered the shot never told his unit what it was. When Cindy Fey called the U.S. Marine Hospital in 29 Palms to find out what kind of vaccine her son was given, she was told that the information was confidential. Eleven months later, her son's medical records were mysteriously changed with a handwritten notation indicating that the mystery shot was a flu vaccine ..."

 Top 10 Ironic Ads From History  [ 07/05/09 ]  More reasons, in retrospect, why people should not trust those who set themselves up as social 'authorities' in any matter.

Iran:  Biden: US not stand in Israel's way on Iran  [ 07/05/09 ]  "Vice President Joe Biden seemed to give Israel a green light for military action to eliminate Iran's nuclear threat, saying the US "cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do." Note: But Israel can hold sway over the U.S. This is disingenuous, at least.  Related: Mousavi labeled 'US agent' as Iran charges UK official  

 Items gone from Nat'l Archives [ 07/05/09 ]  "National Archives visitors know they'll find the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the main building's magnificent rotunda in Washington. But they won't find the patent file for the Wright Brothers' Flying Machine or the maps for the first atomic bomb missions anywhere in the Archives inventory ...”

 North Korea Launches Series of Missiles Off Its Eastern Coast  [ 07/04/09 ]  "Defying the United States on Independence Day, North Korea fired seven missiles on Saturday into the sea off its eastern coast  ...”  Note: No fish were injured during this incident.

OPED:  Nafta Superhighway Returns From The Dead  [ 07/04/09 ]  "Texas Rick Perry is set to push revamped agenda to sell freeways to foreign-owned private companies and convert them to toll roads. The Trans-Texas Corridor, part of the NAFTA Superhighway projected to link the United States with Canada and Mexico as an integral cog of the North American Union, is back on the agenda after Texas Governor Rick Perry lied in claiming that the proposal was dead earlier this year. The open plan to merge the US with Mexico and Canada and create a Pan-American Union networked by a NAFTA Superhighway has long been a Globalist brainchild, but fierce opposition to the plan from activists across the country has stalled the plan at least temporarily. A key component of the NAU transport system was the proposed Trans Texas Corridor, a massive 4,000 mile network of highways that were to be sold to the Spanish company Cintra and operated as toll roads - creating a huge new tax on the American people which would be paid directly to a foreign-owned private company. Texas Governor and Bilderberg invitee Rick Perry launched a PR stunt in January when he claimed that the Trans Texas Corridor was dead, when in reality as Jerome Corsi and others pointed out, the project was merely to have its name changed and its design slightly altered. ...”

 Senate bill fines people refusing health coverage  [ 07/04/09 ]  "The Congressional Budget Office estimated the fines will raise around $36 billion over 10 years ...”

 Helen Thomas: Not Even Nixon Tried to Control the Media Like Obama  [ 07/04/09 ]  "Following a testy exchange during Wednesday’s briefing with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas told CNSNews.com that not even Richard Nixon tried to control the press the way President Obama is trying to control the press. “Nixon didn’t try to do that,” Thomas said. “They couldn’t control (the media). They didn’t try. “What the hell do they think we are, puppets?” Thomas said. “They’re supposed to stay out of our business. They are our public servants. We pay them.”

 Troops gather on Georgian border  [ 07/04/09 ]  "The tranquility of the rolling green fields and lush vineyards belie it, but many fear that another summer war between Russia and Georgia like the one 11 months ago which killed hundreds of civilians is no more than a stutter of automatic gunfire away from breaking out. And if it happens, this standoff at Ergneti could be the flashpoint. Russian troops this week embarked on large-scale war games in the North Caucasus, just a few dozen miles away, preparation for "potential conflict situations in the region," the generals say. Similar exercises preceded the war last summer ..."

 UN's Falk slams Israel, says relief boat seizure ‘unlawful’  [ 07/04/09 ]  "Israel’s two-year blockade of the Gaza Strip is a continuing crime against humanity, and its seizure of a ship carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza was “unlawful”, says a UN human rights investigator ..."

 Israeli sub sails Suez, signaling reach to Iran  [ 07/04/09 ]  "An Israeli submarine sailed the Suez Canal to the Red Sea as part of a naval drill last month, defense sources said on Friday, describing the unusual maneuver as a show of strategic reach in the face of Iran. Israel long kept its three Dolphin-class submarines, which are widely assumed to carry nuclear missiles, away from Suez so as not to expose them to the gaze of Egyptian harbormasters ..."  Note: So, who is provoking whom in this situation?

 Palin resigning as Alaska governor  [ 07/04/09 ]  "Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Friday she is resigning from office at the end of the month, raising speculation that she would focus on a run for the White House in the 2012 race. The more I think about this, the less sense it makes. 2021 is a long way off, and she could finish the current term as Governor and simply choose not to run for another term. But this report says she is stepping down and Alaska's Lt. Government will take over ..." Note: There is more to this than meets the eye.

Editorial: The Base Court: Another Fortress Rising in America's Ring of Iron  [ 07/04/09 ]  "The American power structure, whether led by Neanderthal conservatives or ultramodern "progressives," has no intention of giving up the global archipelago of military bases that are the physical footprint of the American imperium: what is being done about those military bases anyway ? now close to 800 of them dotted across the globe in other people's countries? Even as Congress and the Obama administration wrangle over the cost of bank bailouts, a new health plan, pollution controls, and other much needed domestic expenditures, no one suggests that closing some of these unpopular, expensive imperial enclaves might be a good way to save some money. Instead, they are evidently about to become even more expensive. On June 23rd, we learned that Kyrgyzstan, the former Central Asian Soviet Republic which, back in February 2009, announced that it was going to kick the U.S. military out of Manas Air Base (used since 2001 as a staging area for the Afghan War), has been persuaded to let us stay. But here's the catch: In return for doing us that favor, the annual rent Washington pays for use of the base will more than triple from $17.4 million to $60 million, with millions more to go into promised improvements in airport facilities and other financial sweeteners. All this because the Obama administration, having committed itself to a widening war in the region, is convinced it needs this base to store and trans-ship supplies to Afghanistan. Chalmers believes that the ring of iron that the United States has wrapped around the world will ultimately be the unmaking of the empire: I have a suggestion for other countries that are getting a bit weary of the American military presence on their soil: cash in now, before it's too late. Either up the ante or tell the Americans to go home. I encourage this behavior because I'm convinced that the U.S. Empire of Bases will soon enough bankrupt our country, and so ? on the analogy of a financial bubble or a pyramid scheme ? if you're an investor, it's better to get your money out while you still can ..."

 US Judge Seeks To Ban Internet News Linking  [ 07/03/09 ]  " ... One of America's most influential conservative judges, Richard Posner, has proposed a ban on linking to online content without permission. The idea, he said in a blog post last week, is to prevent aggregators and bloggers from linking to newspaper websites without paying ... Posner's notion set off an eruption from the likes of Jeff Jarvis, Matt Welch and Erick Schonfeld, among others. And they are right to be furious. Not only would Posner stop online media dead in their tracks, but he would also overturn long-established rules of fair use, which, among others things, allow for the reproduction of short excerpts of copyrighted material for the purposes of commentary, parody and the like – precisely what bloggers and aggregators do all the time ... And Posner, who sits on the seventh circuit court of appeals in Chicago, has a way of getting his way. A brilliant, provocative thinker and a frighteningly prolific writer, he was described in a 2001 New Yorker profile as "the most mercilessly seditious legal theorist of his generation". And if, at 70, Posner and his generation are not quite so influential as they once were, he is still a formidable presence on the legal scene ... In something of an irony for journalists who might be inclined to cheer Posner's latest, it was a 2003 opinion he wrote that helped cement journalists' modern status as cultural and social pariahs. Posner's decision in the case of McKevitt v Pallasch did more than any other to vanquish the idea that journalists called into court had some protection under the first amendment from having to reveal their confidential sources ... For a generation, journalists and their lawyers had relied upon the hazy wording of a 1972 supreme court case called Branzburg v Hayes, in which a bare majority ruled there was no reporter's privilege. One of the majority, Lewis Powell, wrote what his fellow justice Potter Stewart called "an enigmatic concurring opinion" suggesting that maybe, in some cases, there was a privilege. As retired New York Times lawyer James Goodale explained in the Frontline documentary News Wars several years ago, media lawyers used Powell's opinion to keep the reporter's privilege on life support for more than 30 years until Posner, finally, pulled the plug ..."   Note: sequentialization means that people with limited vision have power .... or think they do. Only a sequential would ban 'everyone' from something to permit a short-term 'tweak' for a problem that bothers those in power.

 Lawsuit accuses Xe contractors (formerly Blackwater) of murder, kidnapping, child prostitution [ 07/03/09 ] Link Fixed "A just-amended lawsuit alleges six additional instances of unprovoked attacks on Iraqi civilians by Blackwater mercenaries. Three people, including a 9-year-old boy, are said to have died. Also added to the suit is a racketeering count accusing Blackwater founder Erik Prince of running an ongoing criminal enterprise ...The racketeering count added to the suit this week accuses Prince's companies of engaging in murder, weapons smuggling, money laundering, tax evasion, kidnapping, child prostitution, illegal drug use and destruction of evidence ..."

 "India decriminalizes homosexuality"  [ 07/03/09 ] But only in New Delhi, and it's still illegal everywhere in India, so it's bullshit. Bad headline, because it's misleading. Since minions are largely bisexual anyway, and comprise a huge number of India's population, there is really no point to the article, as you will see, other than to stimulate the ire of those who disagree, in the midst of a body DNA reaction to concepts they don't even fully comprehend.

 British prisoners report ill treatment in Israeli jail  [ 07/03/09 ]  "A message smuggled out of the Ramla Givon prison in an email from members of the solidarity boat crew arrested earlier this week has accused the Israeli authorities of maltreatment and keeping them in poor conditions ..."

 Pitt Study: Accidental release blamed in swine flu outbreak  [ 07/02/09 ]  "Sick pigs at the 1918 Cedar Rapids Swine Show in Iowa, and scientists' accidental release of an "extinct" flu virus in 1977 , played key roles in creating a strain that has swept the globe and sparked fear of a more deadly flu season this winter ..."

 AMA Reverses Position, Says Open To Government-Funded Insurance  [ 07/02/09 ]  "The new president of the American Medical Association, which represents the interests of the nation’s doctors, said Wednesday the group is open to a government-funded health insurance option for people without coverage. Dr. J. James Rohack told CNN that the AMA supports an “American model” that includes both “a private system and a public system, working together.” In May, the AMA told a Senate committee it did not support a government-sponsored public health insurance option. “The AMA does not believe that creating a public health insurance option … is the best way to expand health insurance coverage and lower costs across the health care system,” the organization wrote, explaining that a public insurance plan could lead to “an explosion of costs that would need to be absorbed by taxpayers.”..."

 Paleontologists brought to tears, laughter by Creation Museum [ 07/01/09 ]  "For a group of paleontologists, a tour of the Creation Museum seemed like a great tongue-in-cheek way to cap off a serious conference. But while there were a few laughs and some clowning for the camera, most left more offended than amused by the frightening way in which evolution -- and their life's work -- was attacked. "It's sort of a monument to scientific illiteracy, isn't it?" said Jerry Lipps, professor of geology, paleontology and evolution at University of California, Berkeley. "Like Sunday school with statues... this is a special brand of religion here. I don't think even most mainstream Christians would believe in this interpretation of Earth's history ..."

 New British £750 million electronic border control plan ‘breaks EU law’ [ 07/01/09 ]  "Britain’s multi-million pound electronic borders project breaches European data protection laws and the free movement of EU citizens, MPs were warned today ..."

 German court halts ratification of Lisbon Treaty [ 07/01/09 ]  "The EU’s Lisbon Treaty may not be ratified in Germany until legislation has been put in place to safeguard national parliamentary powers, the country’s top court ruled on Tuesday ..."

 Israeli defense minister, US envoy meet in New York [ 07/01/09 ]  "On Monday the State Department said it was not ruling out the possibility of a compromise with Israel on a settlement freeze, amid reports that Israel might be ready to agree to stall settlement construction for three months ..."  Note: Wow, a whole three months!

OPED: The Truth Behind The Iraq “Sovereignty” Propaganda  [ 07/01/09 ]  "“As of now, there are approximately 130,000 U.S. military personnel in Iraq. Most of the U.S. soldiers that had been deployed in Iraqi cities are being returned to garrison elsewhere in country. The United States Air Force controls Iraq’s airspace. The United States Navy controls Iraq’s territorial waters,” points out the Cryptogon blog. “Sovereignty: No. Propaganda: Yes ..."

OPED:  Honduras-The CIA Never Quits [ 07/01/09 ]  "... The history of US involvement in Honduras in very interesting. The United Fruit Company set up many banana plantations there. There were US military interventions in Honduras in 1903, 1907, 1911, 1912, 1919, 1924, and 1925. These were the so-called Banana Wars and occurred in other countries in the region, as well. There was a massacre of banana workers working for the United Fruit Company in Colombia in 1928, during which the Colombian military machine-gunned an unknown number of people. In fact, marine Major General Smedley Butler mentions his military operations in Honduras in his famous speech where he refers to himself as having been a "high class muscle man for big business, for Wall Street and the bankers ..."

 U.S. re-approves Israel loan guarantees program [ 07/01/09 ]  "Israel still has $3.8 billion left to use by 2011 after already issuing $4.1 billion in bonds backed by the U.S. and a $1.1 billion deduction for Israeli settlement building and concerns over the West Bank separation fence ..."

 Worldwide Depression: Review of Global Markets  [ 07/01/09 ]  "As you have already seen this is a worldwide depression and no one will escape. Europe’s economy is already in a shambles as is the US economy. Inflation will rage all over the world, because every nation has created massive amounts of money and credit as demanded by US and British elitists. They have all overmedicated the patient. As the Broadway hit play of many years ago told us, we are going to have to go through a “Period of Adjustment.” Some nations will get off easier than others. There will be no decoupling and many nations could have revolutions ..."