News and Developments
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December  2008 

 Lights Out in Gaza, News Blackout in US   [12/31/08 ]  "Despite international outcry over escalating violence, the U.S. mainstream media continues to privilege a prepackaged narrative in which Israel's actions are never disproportionate, never counterproductive and certainly never gratuitous. According to the mainstream media, the U.S. must continue uncompromisingly supporting Israel because the allegedly beleaguered democracy is held hostage by monomaniacal Islamofascists who are inherently evil. Promoting a paradigm in which Israel is always David up against Goliath, the U.S. media presents suffering Palestinians as expendable for the greater cause of Israel winning its epic struggle. To justify U.S.'s carte blanche to Israel, the mainstream media restricts American readers to an echo chamber in which the following claims are repeated ad nausem until they are mistaken for fact ..."

 SEC halts alleged $23 million Ponzi scheme   [12/30/08 ]  " U.S. securities regulators obtained an emergency court order to stop an alleged Ponzi scheme that collected more than $23 million from thousands of investors in Florida's Haitian-American community, the Securities and Exchange Commission said on Tuesday. The SEC alleged that Creative Capital and its principal, George Theodule, launched a scheme as early as November 2007 urging investors to form investment clubs to funnel funds to Theodule and Creative Capital."  Related: Crackdown on hedge funds after Madoff affair

 73,000 retailers to to close in first half of 2009   [12/30/08 ]  "For those of you who don't know, consumer spending makes up roughly 70 pct of the US economy, yet many consumers have been pulling back due to job insecurities, declining credit lines, falling wealth effect (caused by falling home values/cratering retirement plans) and overall general unease about the future. The end result of this pull back: Significantly declining retail sales - leading to numerous store bankruptcies and closings."

  As Oil Prices Fall, Tensions Among OPEC Members Deepen   [12/30/08 ]  "As the OPEC cartel met in Cairo, exporters were being pummeled by a triple whammy of lower prices, falling demand and declining revenue. The group, whose members account for more than 40 percent of global oil exports, is desperately seeking ways to stop the drop in prices, which have fallen from their summer peaks at a record pace."

 Microsoft specs out insane, delusional, 'pay as you go' PC scheme   [12/30/08 ]  "Microsoft Corp. last week applied for a patent that spells out a "pay as you go" concept under which users would be charged for both the software they run and the computing horsepower they use. According to the patent application filed last week with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the "Metered Pay-As-You-Go Computing Experience" scheme would meter software use and access to specific computer hardware. Fees would be charged against a prepaid or billed account."

 As Economy Dips, Arrests for Shoplifting Soar   [12/30/08 ]  "As the economy has weakened, shoplifting has increased, and retail security experts say the problem has grown worse this holiday season. Shoplifters are taking everything from compact discs and baby formula to gift cards and designer clothing. Police departments across the country say that shoplifting arrests are 10 percent to 20 percent higher this year than last. The problem is probably even greater than arrest records indicate since shoplifters are often banned from stores rather than arrested." 

 India denies any ultimatum to Pakistan  [12/30/08 ]  "Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said that no ultimatum has been given to Pakistan's government to act against Mumbai attackers."  Related: Report: United States responsible for heightening Pak-India tensions

 Japan Factory Output Has Biggest Fall On Record    [12/30/08 ]  "Japan’s contracting economy got a slew of bad news Friday when government figures showed that industrial production plunged by its biggest margin on record in November, the jobless rate jumped and household spending fell. “Exports and industrial production are falling so extraordinarily quickly that it almost defies analysis,” said Richard Jerram, chief economist at Macquarie Securities in Tokyo."

 Russia Braced for Unrest as Crisis Bites   [12/30/08 ]  "Russia is bracing for further unrest as the rouble yesterday slid to a new low against the euro after a succession of currency devaluations by Moscow in a week. The move extended six weeks of devaluations by Russia’s central bank designed to offset the impact of the global economic crisis and falling oil prices as the country’s main export commodity approached its lowest level since 2004. Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader, warned Russia faced “unprecedentedly difficult and dangerous circumstances” and could be “heading into a black hole”. “It is not clear what the fate of our rouble will be or if society has sufficient financial and moral resources,” he said.

 Egypt: We can't allow Israeli murder  [12/30/08 ]  "Egypt says it can not condone Israel's 'murder' of the Palestinians, summoning the Israeli envoy to Cairo on Dec 27th over Tel Aviv's aggression in Gaza. "We cannot allow these attacks to continue. We cannot permit the murder of Palestinians," Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit was quoted by AFP as saying about Saturday's Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip ..."

 Bush Refuses To Interrupt Final Vacation As Middle East Crisis Escalates  [12/29/08 ]  "While Bush has been briefed on the situation by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, he has opted not to interrupt his final vacation as president to make a public statement on the crisis. For someone who has enjoyed the most vacation days as sitting president — including days spent relaxing in comfort during Hurricane Katrina and in the lead-up to 9/11 — it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that Bush prioritizes vacationing over crisis management ..."  Related: America can’t wait for Bush to leave

 The Hanukah Massacre on Gaza–Judaism in its Finest Hour  [12/29/08 ]  "The aerial assault on Gaza thus far resulting in several hundred deaths and close to a thousand casualties (much of which will result in even more deaths) must–if it is to be understood correctly–be placed within the historical context of the religious ideas expounded by Judaism since its inception and which today constitute the philosophical lifeblood of the state of Israel ..."

 Civilian houses and medical centers targeted by genocidal Israeli air-strikes  [12/28/08 ]  "Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have been ongoing through the night, with civilian houses and medical centers being targeted by Israeli air-strikes. Last night thousands of Palestinian residents of Gaza were subjected to calls from the Israeli Ministry of Defense saying that "any house that has guns or weapons will be targeted next without further warning or any announcement" in other words, "No matter if your house has guns or not, it has become fair game for complete destruction, as well as the destruction of any and all inhabitants"."

 Government and police cars, bank attacked in Greece  [12/28/08 ]  "A Greek government official's car was firebombed in front of his house on Friday while assailants threw a Molotov cocktail at a bank and another group attacked a police car, authorities said. Attacks on government and banking facilities are frequent in Greece, but they have been widespread since a 15-year-old boy was killed by police earlier this month, triggering a wave of violent youth protests against authorities. The attacks come after three weeks of daily protests over the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos by a police officer on December 6. The teenager's death sparked youth protests which degenerated into the worst rampage Greece has seen in decades with hundreds of shops smashed or looted in Athens and other cities. The Athens Chamber of Commerce said the protests caused 50 million euros (70 million dollars) in damages ..."   Related: Greek Riots 2008 - Agent Provocateur Cops Caught Red Handed

 Report criticizes Bush administration for borrowing to fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan  [12/28/08 ]  "A new study recently released by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments has found that the direct cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could reach as high as $1.7 trillion by 2018, despite forecasts of American disengagement from Iraq. But according to the report, the White House has “fudged the war’s true costs” by borrowing rather than funding the wars through the appropriations process ..."

 Israel deploys remote machine gun weapons systems to mow down Palestinians in Gaza  [12/28/08 ]  Video "An ITV report on the Israeli Defence Force deployment of 'Seer Shoots' remotely operated machine gun system overlooking the Gaza/Israeli border." Rights groups are calling the deployment of the systems immoral and despicable, reducing the killing of Palestinians to little more than a 'video game'. All the weapon systems are manned by women soldiers of the IDF.

 Bush administration spokesman deliberates provokes Hamas  [12/28/08 ]  "The White House has said that Hamas "thugs" were responsible for provoking the Israeli air raids that killed and injured hundreds of people in the Gaza Strip. Gordon Johndroe, the Bush administration spokesman, said Israel must try to avoid civilian casualties, but laid the blame for deaths on the Palestinian groups that controls the impoverished territory."   Again, the Bush administration kowtowing to Israel, the real "thugs" in the area, while the rest of the planet calls on Israel to stop the genocide in the Gaza strip. Ideologies masquerading as philosophies ...  Related: Gazans: Israel violated the truce | “Israel constantly breaks the truce”  | Chorus of International Criticism Against Israeli Aggression on Gaza  | Arab League Delays Meeting to Discuss Gaza Crisis   

 Hamas Calls For Third Intifada In Response To Israeli Airstrikes  [12/28/08 ]  "Khaled Meshaal, Hamas's political leader, has called for an uprising against Israel after an unprecedented attack on the Gaza Strip killed at least 220 Palestinians and wounded 700 more. Israel launched Operation Cast Lead on Saturday, destroying Hamas police stations and interior ministry buildings ..."  Related: IDF mobilizing tanks in event of Gaza ground incursion

 Pakistan says no war with India, US leads diplomatic efforts  [12/27/08 ]  "Pakistan again said on Saturday that it does not want war with India, as the international community tries to defuse tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours after Islamabad moved troops to the border."

 Massive Israeli air raids on Gaza kill at least 140: Hamas  [12/27/08 ]  "Israel launched a massive wave of air strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza on Saturday, killing at least 140 Palestinians after warning of a fiery riposte to ongoing rocket fire, officials said."

 Gold Rises Most in a Week on Middle East, South Asia Tensions (Deliberately Caused Events)  [12/27/08 ]  "Gold prices rose the most in a week as mounting tensions in the Middle East and South Asia boosted the appeal of the precious metal as a haven."

 CIA Using Viagra To Lure Afghan Warlords  [12/27/08 ]  "..In one case, a 60-year-old warlord with four wives was given four pills and four days later detailed Taleban movements in return for more ..."  Gives new meaning to a campaign that's a 'boner'.

 Houston lawyers withholding red-light camera study proving devices don't 'reduce accidents'  [12/27/08 ]  "Two longtime critics of the city's red-light camera program filed an open-records lawsuit against the city Friday, claiming officials refused to release a study on whether the devices reduce accidents. Houston lawyers Paul Kubosh and Randall Kallinen, who have fought the program in courts before, are asking a state district judge to compel the city to release what they say was an August 2008 draft of the report by Rice University professor Bob Stein. They say the public should see the previous version of the report, as well as the final version to be released next week, so the conclusions can be trusted. The city has said that earlier copies were in draft form, and, therefore, not subject to disclosure. "A city cannot label a document 'draft,' and thereby make it not available to the public," said Joe Larsen, a media law attorney and open-records advocate who represents Kubosh and Kallinen. "Otherwise, any governmental body would be in a position of taking out a rubber stamp, putting a stamp on any document, and excluding the public from taking a look and forming their own conclusions."

 Fabled ‘War on Terror’: Herding Humans For Profit  [12/26/08 ]  "Basically, the Pentagon and the CIA are working in tandem to force targeted nations like India and Pakistan to accept the decision which has been made to “outsource” the terror war to them and other patsy nations like them ..."  Related: Terrorism Serves Private Defense Industries Well

 Television: The Weapon of Mind Destruction  [12/26/08 ]  "Television is the most powerful weapon of psychological warfare in history and yet it is a member of the family in most households. The programming that we are constantly assaulted with conditions us to a particular worldview. This fake reality changes our behavior making us less active and more compliant with society’s shortcomings ..."   

 Analyst: One Third Of Banks Could Collapse In 2009  [12/25/08 ]  "Financial analyst Ralph Silva of TowerGroup told CNBC this morning that he expects no less than one third of banks to fail in 2009 and that anything up to a thousand could collapse if they don't merge."  Related: When Trust Runs Out   

 Oil prices fall to just over $35   [12/25/08 ]  "Crude oil prices continue their downward spiral in US markets as the economic decline has led to an increase in gasoline stockpiles." 

 Where Things Stand: Air Marshals Under Arrest  [12/25/08 ]  "A ProPublica investigation, published with USA Today in mid-November, found that dozens of air marshals have been charged with crimes -- from drunken driving and drug smuggling to aiding a human trafficking ring and solicitation to commit murder ... Since the story ran, one air marshal was convicted of felony injury to a child and another was charged with bribery ... Although the actual number is classified, unofficial estimates put the number of air marshals at somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000. The service's director, Robert Bray, said in November that incidents reported in the story involved "a small percentage of bad apples" and that the agency already was doing a lot to address misconduct ..." 

 Holiday sales worst in 40 years: Retailers risk bankruptcies  [12/24/08 ]  "After a particularly slow week before Christmas, with same-store sales declining by 0.6 percent, the International Council of Shopping Centers projected that Christmas sales will drop by as much as 2 percent from last year, in the worst performance since record keeping began in 1969. Last weekend, six in 10 Americans stayed away from the stores altogether rather than shop for presents ... Wal-Mart continued to dominate shopping this year," he said, predicting a rash of financial problems for retailers in the wake of the dismal holiday season ... Retailers generate close to one-quarter of their annual sales and about one-third of their profits during the holidays. Consumers have been spooked by the loss of more than a million jobs in the past three months, a steady drumbeat of new layoff announcements from corporations, the bankruptcy or failure of major big-name businesses, plunging home prices and the sudden loss of financing through home-equity loans and credit cards." 

 UK's Nuclear Bomb Factory Sold to US Company, Bypassing Parliament  [12/24/08 ]  "Britain no longer has any stake in the production of its nuclear warheads after the Government secretly sold off its shares in the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldermaston. Ministers agreed to sell the remaining one-third ownership to a Californian engineering company. The announcement, which means that Americans will now produce and maintain Britain's independent nuclear deterrent, was slipped out on the eve of the parliamentary Christmas holiday. Officials refused to say how much the deal raised. Opposition MPs last night expressed concern that the stake may have been sold off below market value to raise much-needed money for the Treasury. They accused the Government of trying to conceal the sale of the stake in AWE Management Limited by failing to make an announcement in Parliament. There was also anger that Britain would no longer directly control the site where Britain's nuclear warheads are produced and maintained. A terse one-paragraph statement posted on the website of the state-owned nuclear firm BNFL confirmed that its one-third stake in the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) had been sold to the California-based Jacobs Engineering Group, a global engineering firm which already carries out work for the nuclear weapons and research establishment in Berkshire."  Note: Jacobs Engineering corporate members are connected to the Council on Foreign Relations.   See member Joseph Bronson on NNDB ... expand to see connections.

 Japanese homicides fall, but hangings rise  [12/24/08 ]  "Japan is executing criminals at its fastest pace in more than three decades, defying international condemnation and bucking a trend away from the death penalty across Asia. Japan and the United States are the only nations in the Group of Eight large, wealthy countries that still impose the death penalty. Japan hanged 15 convicts this year, up from nine in 2007 and the most since 17 were executed in 1975. In the U.S., 37 have been executed so far this year, down from 42 last year."

 Siemens Sector Energy secures major contract in Iraq   [12/24/08 ]  "The Siemens Sector Energy has secured a major contract from Iraq for the supply of key components for the expansion of the country's power system. The purchaser is the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity. The order volume is approximately EUR1.5 billion. "This is one of the biggest orders Siemens has ever booked in the Middle East," said Wolfgang Dehen, member of the Group Executive Management of Siemens AG and Energy Sector CEO, at the signing ceremony in Baghdad.  Related: At Siemens, Bribery Was Just a Line Item "Reinhard Siekaczek was half asleep in bed when his doorbell rang here early one morning two years ago. Still in his pajamas, he peeked out his bedroom window, hurried downstairs and flung open the front door. Standing before him in the cool, crisp dark were six German police officers and a prosecutor. They held a warrant for his arrest. At that moment, Mr. Siekaczek, a stout, graying former accountant for Siemens A.G., the German engineering giant, knew that his secret life had ended."    Siemans worked for the Nazis during WWII. 

 Ukraine and Gazprom square off for annual gas argument  [12/24/08 ]  "Moscow is threatening to cut off gas supplies to Ukraine over unpaid bills. It follows a statement from Kiev that it won’t be able to clear its debt to Gazprom by the end of the year. Russia says European consumers won’t be affected by the dispute." 

 Hamas showers southern Israel with rockets as Abbas calls for calm   [12/24/08 ]  "Palestinian gunners in the Gaza Strip bombarded southern Israel with dozens of mortars and rockets on Wednesday, sowing panic and despair there."

 Afghan Parents Selling Their Sons to Survive   [12/24/08 ]  "The trade in children is spurred by the battered country's economy and the failure of foreign aid to reach beyond the coffers of central government in the capital Kabul." 

 Bush Invents 'Terrorism Exercises' To 'Test Obama's Readiness'  [12/24/08 ]  "The Bush administration doesn't want to wait to find out. It's planning to test the incoming government's readiness next month in a series of tabletop exercises involving top Bush and Obama officials."  Related:  Condi Rice: Bush Has Almost Eliminated Threat He Created

 No Christmas cheer as recession gathers steam  [12/24/08 ]  "Conditions are expected to get much worse before they get better, with the economy predicted to shrink by as much as 6 percent in the fourth quarter and keep declining for the next six months before a tepid recovery takes hold later in 2009 ... "We are in the midst of the worst recession in the post-war period, even factoring in a massive stimulus program," said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight.

 U.S. property developers look for a bailout from government  [12/23/08 ]  "Some of the nation's biggest property developers are asking the government for assistance as a record amount of commercial real-estate debt comes due, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal on Monday. The industry is reportedly asking to be included in a new $200 billion loan program initially created by the government to assist the market for student loans, car loans and credit-card debt. The industry is warning that thousands of office complexes, hotels, shopping centers and other commercial buildings are headed for defaults, foreclosures and bankruptcies, owing to some $530 million of commercial mortgages that will be coming due for refinancing in the next three years. They say that this poses another major threat to the global financial system, already severely weakened. In a recent letter to Henry Paulson, signed by a dozen real-estate trade groups, the scenario was described as grim. "Right now, we believe there is insufficient systemic capacity to refinance expiring, performing commercial real-estate loans. For many borrowers, [credit] simply is not available."  Related:  Pushing solvent builders into trouble

 Military recruiters kill themselves: Blackmailed By Superiors - Get Recruits, Lie to Them, or get sent to Iraq to Die [12/23/08 ]  "Sgt. 1st Class Patrick Henderson, a strapping Iraq combat veteran, spent the last, miserable months of his life as an Army recruiter, cold-calling dozens of people a day from his strip-mall office and sitting in strangers' living rooms, trying to sign up their sons and daughters for an unpopular war. He put in 13-hour days, six days a week, often encountering abuse from young people or their parents. When he and other recruiters would gripe about the pressure to meet their quotas, their superiors would snarl that they ought to be grateful they were not in Iraq, according to his widow."

 Consumer Demand For Nearly Everything Plunges   [12/23/08 ]  Note: Anyone who defines individuals as cattle-like 'consumers' is as doomed as the dynamic is. After a while, the system, which has its own end embodied in it, falls away like every other ploy the Orion system tries to institute.

 Access International Advisors hedge fund founder found dead Tuesday in Manhattan  [12/23/08 ] "Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, a founder of the hedge fund Access International Advisors, was found dead Tuesday in his office in Manhattan. His fund reportedly lost as much as $1.4 billion that had been invested with Bernard L. Madoff, the money manager accused of running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme ... Mr. de la Villehuchet, 65, was pronounced dead Tuesday morning, and a New York City Police spokesman, Paul Browne, told DealBook that he had apparently committed suicide. He was found with wounds to his arms, with one leg propped up on the desk and a trash can nearby to catch blood."  Silly rabbit, the best things in life are free. Another one bites the dust.

 Three simultaneously cut undersea cables under repair  [12/23/08 ] "Ships have begun repair work on three undersea cables that carry voice and internet traffic between Europe and the Middle East and Asia after they were severed on Friday."  I think this happened back in Jan 08, too.

 Trying To Go Back To Jail In Tough Times: Warm Building, 3 Meals A Day Beats Homelessness  [12/23/08 ] "It's a sign of tough times in the Detroit area where outreach experts say recently freed inmates are making a conscious decisions to get thrown back in jail. The experts say that for some, the relative security of a warm building and three meals a day beats being homeless and hungry in the community. Detroit has, by many measures, replaced New Orleans as America's most beleaguered city."

 White House Philosophy Stoked Mortgage Bonfire  [12/23/08 ] "New York Times published a great article this week-end about Bush's contribution to the economic meltdown."

 New Report: Worldwide Bankruptcy Wave About to Hit  [12/22/08 ] "Europe and the U.S. are about to experience a significant increase in business failures. That's the conclusion reached by Paris-based Euler Hermes, the world's largest credit insurer, in a recently released 57-page report on business insolvencies worldwide. 28,000 businesses went bust in the U.S. in 2007. In 2008, that number increased nearly 45 percent -- to 42,000 insolvencies. Chapter 7 liquidations, Chapter 11 reorganizations, and Chapter 13 filings for individuals all showed dramatic increases in 2008; the only decrease came in the area of Chapter 12 filings, a chapter of the U.S. bankruptcy code usually reserved for family farmers and fishermen. In 2009, Euler estimates that an additional 62,000 U.S. companies will become insolvent. If accurate, those numbers would mark the largest increase in corporate bankruptcies since the U.S. recession of 1993."

 Environmental Activist Throws Utah Oil And Gas Drilling Leases Auction Into Chaos [12/21/08 ] "An environmental activist tainted an auction of oil and gas drilling leases Friday by bidding up parcels of land by hundreds of thousands of dollars without any intention of paying for them, a federal official said. The process was thrown into chaos and the bidding halted for a time before the auction was closed, with 116 parcels totaling 148,598 acres having sold for $7.2 million plus fees. "He's tainted the entire auction," said Kent Hoffman, deputy state director for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Utah. Hoffman said buyers will have 10 days to reconsider and withdraw their bids if they think they paid too much ..."

 U.S. debt approaches insolvency [12/21/08 ] "In the United States, the danger of debt insolvency is growing, putting at risk the currency reserves of foreign countries, China chief among them. According to new figures published by Bloomberg in recent days (Nov. 25, 2008 [1]), the American government has employed a total of 8.549 trillion dollars to stop the financial crisis. This means a total of about 24-25.4 trillion dollars of direct or indirect public debt weighing on American taxpayers."

 Unemployed Saudi's Sell Family Members to Sheiks to Pay Debts [12/21/08 ] "... Arranged marriages involving pre-adolescents are occasionally reported in the Arabian Peninsula, including in Saudi Arabia where the strict conservative Wahabi version of Sunni Islam holds sway and polygamy is common ..."  Slavery is slavery.

 UK: Bailiffs get power to use force on debtors [12/21/08 ] "The government has been accused of trampling on individual liberties by proposing wide-ranging new powers for bailiffs to break into homes and to use “reasonable force” against householders who try to protect their valuables. Under the regulations, bailiffs for private firms would for the first time be given permission to restrain or pin down householders. They would also be able to force their way into homes to seize property to pay off debts, such as unpaid credit card bills and loans ... Bailiffs have for hundreds of years been denied powers to break into homes for civil debt or to use force against debtors, except in self-defence. In a famous declaration, William Pitt the Elder, the 18th-century prime minister, said: “The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the crown.” Ministers have now proposed bailiffs be given powers to physically remove debtors who try to defend their property, for example by draping themselves over a car or blocking the door of their home. Lord Bach, a junior justice minister, has assured the House of Lords that any new powers will be implemented only after a consultation and will not be used to search debtors’ pockets or to remove jewelry ... The government, which wants to crack down on people who evade debts, says the new powers would be overseen by a robust industry watchdog. However, the laws are being criticised as the latest erosion of the rights of the householder in his own home. “These laws strip away tried and tested protections that make a person’s home his castle, and which have stood for centuries,” said Paul Nicolson, chairman of the Zacchaeus 2000 Trust, a London-based welfare charity ...  “They could clearly lead to violent confrontations and undermine fundamental liberties ... It is claimed these powers are already abused. In one case, an 89-year-old grandmother returned home to find a bailiff sitting in her chair having drawn up a list of her possessions. He was pursuing a parking fine owed by her son, who did not even live at the address.”   Note: There's no overt difference between these bailiffs and the mob enforcer ... violence and greed. 

 Hans Blix Would Testify Against Bush-Cheney War Crimes [12/21/08 ] "In an interview with Aljazeera today, former Chief of the UN weapons inspectors in Iraq told the TV that he and the Head of the IAEA “Mohamed Al-Baradei” were subjected to direct threats from Dick Cheney before the war. Blix said that Cheney threatened to defame both men’s reputations if they didn’t came with the “required” answers... Blix also added that he is ready to be a witness on the United States’ false allegations before an International tribunal ..."

 Top banker found hanged in hotel room [12/21/08 ] "A top HSBC banker has been found hanged in the room of a five-star hotel, police said tonight. Scotland Yard said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of Danish-born Christen Schnor, 49, who was found at around 2.40pm on Wednesday at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel in Knightsbridge, west London. The Mail on Sunday reported Mr Schnor, who leaves a wife and two children, was found hanging by a belt, naked in a closet in his room. A spokesman for HSBC said: "Our thoughts are with his family and we will do all we can to help them at this difficult time." Mr Schnor studied at Henley Management College and graduated in 1994. He joined HSBC in June 2007 when he was appointed head of insurance with responsibilities for Europe and the Middle East. 

 US military 'to defy' Iraqi pact [12/21/08 ] "United States military leaders and Pentagon officials have made it clear through public statements and deliberately leaked stories in recent weeks that they plan to violate a central provision of the US-Iraq withdrawal agreement requiring the complete pullout of all US combat troops from Iraqi cities by mid-2009 by reclassifying combat troops as support troops. The scheme to engage in chicanery in labeling US troops represents both open defiance of an agreement which the US military has never accepted and a way of blocking president-elect Barack Obama's proposed plan for withdrawal of all US combat troops from Iraq within 16 months of his taking office. By redesignating tens of thousands of combat troops as support troops, those officials apparently hope to make it difficult, if not impossible, for Obama to insist on getting all combat troops of the country by mid-2010. General David Petraeus, now commander of CENTCOM, and General Ray Odierno, the top US commander in Iraq, who opposed Obama's 16-month withdrawal plan during the election campaign, have drawn up their own alternative plan rejecting that timeline, as the New York Times reported on Thursday. That plan was communicated to Obama in general terms by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen when he met with his national security team in Chicago on December 15, according to the Times. The determination of the military leadership to ignore the US-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and to pressure Obama on his withdrawal policy was clear from remarks made by Mullen in a news conference on November 17 - after US ambassador Ryan Crocker had signed the agreement in Baghdad. Mullen declared he considered it "important" that withdrawal of US forces from Iraq "be conditions-based". That position directly contradicted the terms of the agreement, and Mullen was asked whether the agreement required all US troops to leave Iraq by the end of 2011, regardless of the security conditions. He answered "Yes," but then added, "Three years is a long time. Conditions could change in that period of time ... " Mullen said US officials would "continue to have discussions with them over time, as conditions continue to evolve", and said that reversing the outcome of the negotiations was "theoretically possible". Obama's decision to keep Gates, who was known to be opposed to Obama's withdrawal timetable, as defense secretary confirmed the belief of the Pentagon leadership that Obama would not resist the military effort to push back against his Iraq withdrawal plan."

 Lives sold out for lobbied pay-offs [12/21/08 ] [How earmarks helped Philadelphia firm with defense work ] "Scientists have discovered 'a lotion that can save the lives of U.S. soldiers exposed to chemical weapons -- a product vastly superior to the standard-issue decontamination powder. Naturally, the Defense Department wants to scrap the M291 resin powder and switch to the more-effective lotion, RSDL' But there's a problem: After being lobbied by the company (Rohm and Haas) making the M291 powder, several members of Congress pushed through two earmarks worth $7.6 million that forced the military for the past two years to keep buying the inferior product.  Backstory: The Pentagon told Congress in 2005 that it expected to replace the M291 kit with a new product which worked, RSDL. At the same time, Rohm and Haas, the Philadelphia company (Rohm and Haas) making the M291 resin, turned to Congress 'to keep its product alive' through an earmark. The company spent $830,000 lobbying Congress and the military on the decontamination kits and other issues in 2005, public records show. Since then, the company has spent another $2.3 million lobbying Congress. The Defense Department bought huge stockpiles of Rohm and Haas' (useless) resin in 2005 and 2006, enough to last through 2012, said Douglas Bryce, second in command of the DOD's joint chemical- and biological-defense office. The product, known as M291, is made from a resin sold exclusively by a Pennsylvania chemical company, which is then processed into powder by a New York company, then assembled into individual kits at a facility in Arkansas. Among the lawmakers who championed the earmarks are Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.; Arlen Specter, R-Pa.; and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y."  [NNDB: click on the persons name down at the bottom left, where it says 'Create a map starting with (The persons name) ' to see the political connections] : Thomas W. Haas  | Note: David Haas is the CEO of the William Penn foundation, that benefited from the TARP bailout.

 EPA veils hazardous substances [12/21/08 ] "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency routinely allows companies to keep new information about their chemicals secret, including compounds that have been shown to cause cancer and respiratory problems, the Journal Sentinel has found."

 AP Study Finds $1.6B Went to Bailed-Out Bank Execs  [12/21/08 ] "The founder and software maker of the popular online gaming site, PartyGaming, has pleaded guilty to illegal internet gambling and will pay $300 million in fines. Anurag Dikshit, the former director of Gibraltar-based PartyGaming, has agreed to cooperate with authorities probing the web-based gambling scene. It's illegal to allow those on American

 General George S. Patton was assassinated to silence his criticism of allied war leaders  [12/21/08 ] "Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year, an Associated Press analysis reveals."

 Music Industry to Abandon Mass Lawsuits [12/20/08 ] "After years of suing thousands of people for allegedly stealing music via the Internet, the recording industry is set to drop its legal assault as it searches for more effective ways to combat online music piracy. The decision represents an abrupt shift of strategy for the industry, which has opened legal proceedings against about 35,000 people since 2003. Critics say the legal offensive ultimately did little to stem the tide of illegally downloaded music. And it created a public-relations disaster for the industry, whose lawsuits targeted, among others, several single mothers, a dead person and a 13-year-old girl. Instead, the Recording Industry Association of America said it plans to try an approach that relies on the cooperation of Internet-service providers. The trade group said it has hashed out preliminary agreements with major ISPs under which it will send an email to the provider when it finds a provider's customers making music available online for others to take."

 Biden: U.S. Economy in Danger of 'Absolutely Tanking' [12/20/08 ] "Vice President-Elect Joe Biden said the U.S. economy is in danger of "absolutely tanking" and will need a second stimulus package in the $600-billion to $700-billion range." 

 Retailers Using Survival Tactics to Bolster Sales [12/20/08 ] "Retailers are accelerating their use of survival tactics -- slashing prices further and pulling merchandise off shelves to send to liquidators -- as the number of holiday shopping days dwindles. But January and beyond look scarier for even relatively healthy merchants as the passing of the holidays give shoppers no reason at all to spend."

 Former George Bush aide pleads guilty to theft   [12/20/08 ]  "A former aide in President George W Bush's White House aide pleaded guilty on Friday to stealing from a US government-financed centre that promotes democracy in Cuba. Felipe Sixto pleaded guilty to theft from a federally aided program before US District Judge Reggie Walton. Sixto resigned on March 28 from his job as special assistant to Bush for intergovernmental affairs. The wrongdoing occurred when Sixto was chief of staff of the Centre for a Free Cuba, where he worked for more than three years before moving to the White House. According to the Justice Department, Sixto made more than $579,000 by overcharging the center for radios and flashlights. He will be sentenced in March."  Related: President George Bush portrait unveiled  I can't wait to see the hanging. 

 SEC Report: Employees Browsed Porn, Ran Private Businesses   [12/20/08 ] " ... thanks to little-noticed report from the agency’s inspector general, we have a detailed glimpse into other bad behavior by some SEC employees .."

 Delusional Laura Bush: 'George freed 50 million people' [12/20/08 ]  and contributed to wrecking the planet and allowed policies which have brought the US, and the world, to it's knees. Where are these free people in Afghanistan and Iraq, Laura? Are they part of the delusional movie you're all in, too? Actually, U.S. imperialism has historically cost the lives of more than 30 million.

 FBI agents paid for partying in Iraq   [12/20/08 ]  "FBI agents in Iraq have received millions of tax payer dollars in overtime pay while attending movies and cocktail parties. The FBI encouraged agents to list all waking hours on their time sheets, a move that violated federal pay statutes, regulations and FBI policies, Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine said. In some cases, agents were paid to watch movies, exercise and attend parties. The 1,150 agents who volunteered for war zone assignment in Iraq from 2003 to 2007 uniformly listed 16-hour workdays for each day of their three-month tours, Fine said, plus improper additional 'Sunday pay'. The inspector general could not determine exactly how much money the overtime hours cost the federal government, but the report lists USD 6.4m as a conservative estimate, the Washington Times said." 

 'Russia makes an offer Obama can't reject'   [12/20/08 ]  "Moscow offers to retreat from renovating its nuclear arsenal, but wants President-elect Obama to shelve the missile shield plans in return.  Russia "will undoubtedly respond adequately" should the future US administration make such a compromise, missile chief Col. Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov was quoted by Interfax as saying on Friday. The offer is largely viewed as a great opportunity that the president-elect would not to miss amid a global financial meltdown that has brought the US economy into a recession. Many believe a confrontation with Russia at this point could only further damage America's image." 

 The Five Most Wanted Rip-off Artists from Wall Street and Washington  [12/20/08 ]  " ... Let's meet some of the illusionists who are directly responsible for hurling you, me, America, and most of the world into this dark and as-yet unplumbed economic hole ..."

 Hurtling towards a showdown in Gaza  [12/19/08 ]  "As the economic situation in the Palestinian Gaza Strip becomes untenable, a military showdown, which could have dire regional consequences, is becoming inevitable. The Gaza Strip has been marred with tension, turning it into the focal point of challenge to Israel since the latter withdrew its army and settlers in 2005 and the Islamist Hamas took control of the region after a violent confrontation with secular Fatah. As Hamas continues to hold Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit prisoner, the Israeli blockade has turned the over-populated Strip into a large prison. It has also led to near-starvation among the 1.5 million overwhelmingly poor and young population, 70 per cent of whom are under 30 and 85 per cent of whom are refugees ... The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas ends on December 19 with little enthusiasm to renew it on either side ... More than 500 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire began in July. And tens of elected Hamas legislators remain in Israeli jails accused of inciting violence and terrorism ..."

 Rwanda genocide 'mastermind' jailed [12/19/08 ]  "A UN-backed tribunal has convicted Theoneste Bagosora, a former Rwandan army colonel, of organising the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Two other former military officers were also convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on Thursday for their role in the mass killings of minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The tribunal, based in Arusha, Tanzania, accused Bagosora of leading the troops and Interahamwe Hutu fighters that carried out the killings, which left an estimated 800,000 dead ..."

 Cheney: Bush will be popular in 30 years  [12/18/08 ]  Note: I guess he's hedging that if he maintains his delusions and psychological 'undoing' strategies, it will make a difference. Nope. The only value this incarnation seemingly had was to function as a contributing factor for general planetary duress, as an adjunct to the endgame period and whatever progress individuals make as a result of that duress ... the same function goes on in people's lives ... duress .. choices .. progress/stasis .. As an incarnational persona, Cheney is a darkside, despicable presence with severe psychopathic problems. Boy, is he going to be surprised with what's coming. We get to have the last laugh, because he has a date with a destiny which involves others like him, for a while. Sigh. Die and learn, for some. Related: Bush: “I didn’t 'compromise my soul' to be popular”  Video [5:51]  It's just another experience, George. You'll have to hobnob with people just like you, when you leave this world, for a while. Now, that's priceless! Have fun with that.

 35 Iraq Officials Held in Raids on Key Ministry    [12/18/08 ]  " Up to 35 officials in the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior ranking as high as general have been arrested over the past three days with some of them accused of quietly working to reconstitute Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party, according to senior security officials in Baghdad. The arrests, confirmed by officials from the Ministries of the Interior and National Security as well as the prime minister’s office, included four generals. The officials also said that the arrests had come at the hand of an elite counterterrorism force that reports directly to the office of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. The involvement of the counterterrorism unit speaks to the seriousness of the accusations, and several officials from the Ministries of the Interior and National Security said that some of those arrested were in the early stages of planning a coup ..."

 Psychopathic school systems in U.S. forcing children into isolation in padded cells  [12/18/08 ] "Seclusion rooms, sometimes called time-out rooms, are used across the nation, generally for special needs children. Critics say that along with the death of Jonathan, many mentally disabled and autistic children have been injured or traumatized. Few states have laws on using seclusion rooms, though 24 states have written guidelines, according to a 2007 study conducted by a Clemson University researcher. Texas, which was included in that study, has stopped using seclusion and restraint. Georgia has just begun to draft guidelines, four years after one death. Based on conversations with officials in 22 states with written guidelines, seclusion is intended as a last resort when other attempts to calm a child have failed or when a student is hurting himself or others ..."  

 Detainee: Guantanamo the 'worst place on Earth'  [12/18/08 ] "An Algerian-born man who has just been freed from Guantanamo Bay has described the US "war on terror" camp as the worst place on Earth, in an interview published in a Bosnian newspaper. "For almost seven years, I was at the end of the world, at the worst place in the world,'' Mustafa Ait Idir told the Dnevni Avaz a day after arriving back in his adopted homeland of Bosnia. "It would have been hard even if I had done something wrong (but) it is much harder if one is totally innocent,'' he said ..... "The United States found strength to admit that these people were not guilty and it is a great thing,'' Sulejman Tihic, the head of Bosnia's strongest Muslim political grouping, the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), told Dnevni Avaz. SDA vice-president Bakir Izetbegovic told the daily that "their release is notably good for Bosnia-Hercegovina because it confirms that there are no terrorist cells here''. Note: Easily and convenient for them to say - they were not imprisoned for seven years on a trumped up charge.  Related: Gates orders plan for closing Guantanamo

 Helen Thomas: U.S. forces are “occupiers,” Perino: We’re not occupiers; we’re 'guests'  [12/17/08 ] "During today’s White House press briefing, spokesperson (delusional propagandist) Dana Perino echoed President Bush’s claim that Iraqi journalist Muntader al-Zaidi’s frustrations are not representative of the Iraqi public’s sentiments. She pointed out that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki apologized for the mistreatment of his guest. When reporter Helen Thomas pointed out that U.S. forces are actually “occupiers"

 Drunk George Tenet lashes out at Bush’s neocons [12/17/08 ] "Atlantic reporter Jeffrey Goldberg recently picked up a copy of Patrick Tyler’s forthcoming book, A World of Trouble, which focuses on “America’s tortured relations with the Middle East.” Goldberg says that the book’s prologue contains a “whopper of a scene” featuring former CIA director George Tenet “drunk on scotch, flailing about Prince Bandar’s Riyadh pool, screaming about the Bush Administration officials who were just then trying to pin the Iraq WMD fiasco on him.” According to one witness, he mocked the neoconservatives in the Bush administration and their alignment with the right wing of Israel’s political establishment, referring to them with exasperation as, “the Jews.”  

 Rice: No ‘American Money’ In Iraq Was Lost To Corruption  [12/17/08 ] "In an AP interview yesterday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke highly of U.S. reconstruction efforts in Iraq, stating, “We’ve done a lot of work to get these [reconstruction] structures right, and I think they finally are” — a day after a scathing government report detailed massive waste and poor planning in U.S. reconstruction efforts. When asked about the abuse, Rice claimed that U.S. dollars have emerged unscathed ... In fact, throughout the U.S. occupation of Iraq, billions in tax dollars have been lost due to corruption and incompetence. Some of the most egregious losses have been via “American programs” ..."  Rice is either delusional or lying. Either way, she has to live with it.

 Bush: ‘I’ve Abandoned Free Market Principles To Save The Free Market System’  [12/17/08 ] "President Bush has repeatedly touted his adherence to free markets throughout his term. “Free markets remain the best way to promote growth, create good jobs, and ensure rising living standards. That is why the President has actively sought to open markets,” Gregory Mankiw of the Council of Economic Advisers explained in 2004. But amidst a deep recession characterized by $8.5 trillion in various bailouts, Bush’s laissez-faire ideals are a distant memory. Today on CNN, Bush claimed he has “abandoned” the free market in order to “save” it: BUSH; Well, I have obviously made a decision to make sure the economy doesn’t collapse. I’ve abandoned free market principles to save the free market system. I think when people review what’s taken place in the last six months, uh, and put it all in one, in one, (sigh), you know, in one package, they’re realize how significantly we have moved."  Note: Bush’s logic of abandoning the free market to “save” the free market is deeply flawed. Much of the crisis was caused by the “belief that markets are self-adjusting and that the role of government should be minimal,” Nobel Prize-winning economist Joe Stiglitz explained. Stiglitz recalled this telling exchange from Alan Greenspan: Looking back at that belief during hearings this fall on Capitol Hill, Alan Greenspan said out loud, “I have found a flaw.” Congressman Henry Waxman pushed him, responding, “In other words, you found that your view of the world, your ideology, was not right; it was not working.” “Absolutely, precisely,” Greenspan said."

 S. Calif. residents trade guns for groceries  [12/17/08 ] "A program to exchange guns for gifts has brought in a record number of weapons this year as residents hit hard by the economy look under the bed and in closets to find items to trade for groceries. The annual Gifts for Guns program wound down Sunday in Compton, a working class city south of Los Angeles that has long struggled with gun and gang violence. In a program similar to ones in New York and San Francisco, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department allows residents to anonymously relinquish firearms in return for $100 gift cards for Ralphs supermarkets, Target department stores or Best Buy electronics stores. Turning in assault rifles yields double that amount."

 Court sides with ACLU, strikes down Patriot Act gag provision  [12/16/08 ] "A federal appeals court ruling late Monday is the cause célèbre of the American Civil Liberties Union, as another provision of the Bush administration's Patriot Act falls to the judicial system. Until the ruling, recipients of so-called "national security letters" were legally forbidden from speaking out. The letters, usually a demand for documents, or a notice that private records had been searched by government authorities, were criticized as a cover-all for FBI abuses. Because of the ruling, the government will now be forced to justify individual gag orders before a court, instead of casually wielding the power of a blanket gag as the Bush administration has done since the blindingly fast passage of the Patriot Act in Oct. 2001. In Sept. 2007, a federal judge ruled unconstitutional provisions within the Patriot Act which allowed the government to obtain search warrants without probable cause."

 First the Chinese accumulated dollars, now everyone is joining the stampede  [12/16/08 ] "The US borrowed too much and the Chinese lent too much. In an arithmetical sense, this assertion contains some truth. The US has lived with a whopping deficit on the current account of its balance of payments for countless years. The Chinese, in turn, have experienced an ever-widening surplus. According to this thesis, China’s surplus results from the pursuit of a mercantilist exchange rate policy designed to promote Chinese exports at the expense of manufacturing jobs elsewhere in the world. China deliberately prevented its exchange rate from rising by using its trade surplus to buy dollars in the open market. This led to a massive increase in China’s foreign exchange reserves, most ofwhich were invested in US Treasuries. US interest rates ended up lower as a result, leading to the housing boom and sub-prime crisis. Based on this view of the world, the US economy would eventually collapse when Chinese and other foreign investors in US assets reached a point of saturation where they simply had too much exposure to the US economy. At that moment, the US would discover the folly associated with its constant borrowing from abroad. Capital inflows would dry up, domestic financial markets would tumble and the dollar would collapse. Thatwas the theory. There is, though, one big problem. The dollar may have been weak at the beginning of the crisis but it isn’t any longer. Through much of this year, the dollar has been in the ascendant. China’s currency, the renminbi, is struggling to keep up. Other currencies, including the euro and, most obviously, sterling, have fallen on hard times. If, then, this is a story about the unwinding of global imbalances, it’s a story that appears to have lost the plot ..." 

 Colorado Roadless Rule Hits Roadblock  [12/16/08 ] "At least one 11th hour regulation by the Bush administration has had its momentum slowed. In response to a request by Colorado, the Department of Agriculture will delay implementing a rule that would have allowed more road-building in wilderness areas in the West."

 CIA Embedded in Every State Government  [12/16/08 ] "Jesse Ventura Speaks about his personal experiences and knowledge. Former Governor Jesse Ventura exposes he was interrogated by more than 20 CIA agents during his term of office in Minnesota. Despite the CIA's mission statement which states they are not to be operational within the Unites States, Ventura stated that he had embedded CIA agents working in high level positions of the Minnesota state government. Ventura also said that when these agents retired, their replacements were already chosen for him by the CIA."

 UK Bankers Privately Talk Of The End of Days  [12/16/08 ] "I have spoken to a couple of pretty senior bankers in the past couple of weeks and their story is rather different. They don’t refer to the looming problems as being like 1992 or even 1929. They talk about a total financial meltdown. They talk about the End of Days ... Already we are seeing household names disappearing from the high street and with them will go the suppliers whose names have only ever been visible behind the grime on motorway vans. The job losses will mount. And mount. And mount. And as they climb, the bad debt will put even more pressure on the banks until every single one of them stutters and fails ... It is impossible for someone who scored a U in his economics A-level to grapple with the consequences of all this but I’m told that in simple terms money will cease to function as a meaningful commodity. The binary dots and dashes that fuel the entire system will flicker and die. And without money there will be no business. No means of selling goods. No means of transporting them. No means of making them in the first place even. That’s why another friend of mine has recently sold his London house and bought somewhere in the country . . . with a kitchen garden ... Eventually, of course, the system will reboot itself, but for a while there will be absolute chaos: riots, lynchings, starvation. It’ll be a world without power or fuel, and with no fuel there’s no way the modern agricultural system can be maintained. Which means there will be no food either. You might like to stop and think about that for a while ... believe the government knows this is a distinct possibility and that it might happen next year ..."

 US Anti-Kidnapping Expert Kidnapped In Mexico  [12/16/08 ]  "U.S. security consultant Felix Batista _ who claims to have helped resolve nearly 100 kidnap and ransom cases _ was in Saltillo in Coahuila state to offer advice on how to confront abductions for ransom when he himself was seized, local authorities said."    Now, that's career experience at its best!

 National Lampoon Chief Faces Charges  [12/16/08 ]  "The chief executive of National Lampoon, Daniel S. Laikin, was charged on Monday with conspiracy and securities fraud in what prosecutors said was an attempt to raise the value of the company’s stock artificially .... “These schemes were designed to corrupt the market and reap large profits for these defendants at the expense of the average investor.” Mr. Laikin was accused of promising kickbacks to a stock promoter to raise the value of National Lampoon’s stock. The investigation was conducted by the Philadelphia offices of the F.B.I., the Securities and Exchange Commission and the United States attorney ..."

 Preparations are underway for a full-scale invasion of Gaza  [12/16/08 ] "It is clear that Defense Minister Ehud Barak is preparing for large-scale military action (either in Gaza) or perhaps on a much larger scale. As captured by the InfoTV earlier this week, Barak attended IDF exercises in the Golan Heights before rushing off to Jerusalem to attend a military planning session for a potential invasion of the Gaza Strip."

 Dollar Staggers as U.S. Unleashes Cash Flood, Deficit  [12/16/08 ] "U.S. policy makers are flooding the world with an extra $8.5 trillion through 23 different plans designed to bail out the financial system and pump up the economy. The decline shows that the increased supply of money may be overwhelming investors just as the government steps up debt sales, the trade and budget deficits grow and de-leveraging by investors slows."

 Terrorism adviser to Scotland Yard is on wanted list  [12/16/08 ] "A man wanted by Interpol for his links to an alleged terrorist organisation has been advising Scotland Yard on countering Muslim extremism, a Times investigation has discovered."

 Retail sales in U.S. dropped for fifth consecutive month in November  [12/16/08 ] "Struggles in the auto industry and mounting job losses helped to push retail sales in November down for the fifth straight month."

 New Midnight Regs: Helmet Laws, Toxic Trains and More  [12/16/08 ] "Last week was a busy one in the land of midnight regulations. Rules were finalized, and rules were withdrawn. We expect the next several days to be even busier. For a rule to take effect before Bush leaves office, it has to be finalized this week."

 UK: Public support for ID cards dips to 55 per cent  [12/15/08 ] "The latest Home Office poll on public attitudes to the planned National ID card indicates that support for the scheme has eroded slightly, with the proportion of those in favour down from 60 to 55 per cent. The survey, carried out among 2,098 randomly selected Brits from 31 October to 4 November, showed opposition to the Card remaining steady. Seventeen per cent of respondents disagreed strongly with the plans and 9 per cent slightly, up from August by a single percentage point each."

 Sweden: Electrolux to cut 3,000 jobs  [12/15/08 ] "Waning demand for electrical goods such as washing machines, vacuum cleaners and cookers has hit sales, the company said, forcing it to make SEK1.2 billion of savings by cutting staff. The Swedish company, which employs 57,000 staff worldwide and around 600 staff in the UK, said the job cuts would affect all its operations."  Highly ironic that when business sucks, it's impossible to sell expensive things that are built to suck on purpose.

 Crash in trash creates mountains of unwanted recyclables in US    [12/15/08 ] "Towns are being forced to abandon recycling after the global economic crisis hit the once profitable market for "trash".

 Google cranks up the Consensus Engine  [12/15/08 ] "Google this week admitted that its staff will pick and choose what appears in its search results. It's a historic statement - and nobody has yet grasped its significance."

 And now for a world government  [12/15/08 ] "A “world government” would involve much more than co-operation between nations. It would be an entity with state-like characteristics, backed by a body of laws. The European Union has already set up a continental government for 27 countries, which could be a model. The EU has a supreme court, a currency, thousands of pages of law, a large civil service and the ability to deploy military force. So could the European model go global? There are three reasons for thinking that it might."

 10 false flags operations that shaped our world  [12/15/08 ] "From Nero to 9/11, via Pearl Harbour and the Gulf of Tonkin incident... Joe Crubaugh provides an "all time greatest hits" of false flag operations, whereby one scenario is repeated... as the world keeps falling for the same lie ..."

 Australia: Discrimination against white males will soon be encouraged  [12/15/08 ] "Discrimination against dominant white males will soon be encouraged in a bid to boost the status of women, the disabled and cultural and religious minorities. Such positive discrimination -- treating people differently in order to obtain equality for marginalised groups - is set to be legalised under planned changes to the Equal Opportunity Act foreshadowed last week by state Attorney-General Rob Hulls." 

 UK: "Mystery illness" paralyses girl given cervical cancer jab within 30 Minutes  [12/15/08 ] "A 12-year-old schoolgirl has been left paralysed from the waist down by a mystery illness that came on 30 minutes after she was given the new anticervical cancer jab. Ashleigh Cave suffered dizziness and headaches soon after the vaccination at her school and then deteriorated rapidly, collapsing several times over the following days. A week later she was admitted to hospital after losing all strength in her legs and, two months on, there has been no improvement. Her mother Cheryl, 37, from Aintree, Merseyside, is blaming her daughter’s condition on the human papillomavirus (HPV) jab, which was introduced in Britain in September as part of a government-funded vaccination programme. All girls aged 12 and 13 are being offered vaccinations with Cervarix, a drug that stimulates the body to defend itself against HPV, to protect against the later onset of cervical cancer which is linked to the virus. In America, where an immunisation programme using a similar product, Gardasil, began more than a year earlier, there have been dozens of serious “adverse events” reported in which a link to the vaccinations is suspected ..."

 The 8 Most Baffling "Sports" From Around The World  [12/14/08 ] "Once again we're taking time to celebrate the one tradition common to all cultures: gathering in large groups to participate in utterly pointless and often mind-bogglingly dangerous sports, and not one of them is in Japan."  Related: The 7 Dumbest Things Ever Done by Airport Security |Scientists baffled by mysterious acorn shortage And the resulting shortage of squirrels ... Mystery piano in woods perplexes police "Authorities in Harwich, Massachusetts, are probing the mysterious appearance of a piano, in good working condition, in the middle of the woods"  

 Canada coroner matches pair of mysterious feet  [12/14/08 ] "A coroner has matched a pair of dismembered female feet that mysteriously washed up on the shores of British Columbia. The British Columbia coroner said Friday it had matched a female right foot discovered on Canada's West coast in November with a left foot discovered in May. Both were encased in New Balance running shoes. They were among five feet that have mysteriously floated ashore along the Strait of Georgia between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland since August 2007. A sixth foot was found on Washington State's Olympic Peninsula about 30 miles west of Port Angeles in August. The peninsula is separated from B.C.'s Vancouver Island by the Strait of Juan de Fuca. All six feet were found in athletic shoes ..."    Something's afoot.

 ABC News: "Are Conspiracy Theorists Mentally Ill?" Focuses on Icke readers  [12/14/08 ] "A man standing on a street corner with a sign reading "the lizard people rule you all," or, "my neighbors are spying on me for the government" isn't likely to get many supporters ... Or take the former journalist and BBC sports announcer, David Icke, for example ... Icke was laughed out of the public eye in the early '90s when he started wearing only turquoise and explaining that voices had sent him on an important mission to save the earth. Decades later, Icke has written books, has fans in 47 countries and can gather a crowd of 2,500 people in a city simply by posting a date for a lecture on his Web site. The cornerstone of Icke's theories is that a malicious race of lizard people -- the "shadowy elite" -- rules the world and all its political leaders primarily by controlling the media and orchestrating fear-mongering catastrophes, such as Sept. 11. Icke said he already has speeches lined up for 2009 in Los Angeles, Mexico, Croatia, New Zealand and Australia ..."

 Homelessness & Hunger On The Rise In U.S.  [12/14/08 ] "Homelessness and hunger increased in an overwhelming majority of 25 US cities in the past year, driven by the foreclosure crisis and rising unemployment, a survey showed Friday. Out of 25 cities across the United States surveyed by the US Conference of Mayors, 83 percent said homelessness in general had increased over the past year while 16 cities, or nearly two-thirds of those polled, cited a rise in the number of families who had been forced out of their homes. In Louisville, Kentucky, the number of homeless families increased 58 percent in 2008 to 931 families from 591 people in 2007, with the rise blamed on soaring food, health care, transportation and energy prices. Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island blamed the rise in family homelessness on evictions by landlords whose rental properties were foreclosed. Meanwhile, the number of people seeking food assistance for the first time was up in all 21 cities with data on the issue, and was "particularly notable among working families stressed by the increase in food prices and the slowdown in the economy," the report said ..."

 James Baker "War was only an economic preventative measure"  [12/14/08 ] "A German-American friend who lives in America sent me the following. It is a quote by Mr. James Baker, III, the former Secretary of State and was published in 1992 in the German magazine Der Spiegel."

 Tasers Are Sold as 'Non-Lethal' -- But They've Killed 400 So Far  [12/14/08 ] "Taser's marketing coup has convinced consumers that there is such a thing as a gun that won't kill. Taser deaths prove otherwise." 

 American Indian land seizures by Bush Inc.  [12/14/08 ] "From Black Mesa to the Western Shoshone's Mount Tenabo, the Bush extended corporation of thieves is seizing Indigenous lands in the final hours."

 UK: Supermarkets' emergency plans to keep shelves full  [12/14/08 ] "Fears that scores of supermarket suppliers will go bust next year have led the country's major chains to draw up emergency plans to replace them, The Observer can reveal."

 Gates - US To Stay In Iraq, Afghanistan 'For Years'  [12/14/08 ] "The United States will not likely launch another regime-changing war "anytime soon," but American troops will remain in Iraq and Afghanistan for years, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday ..."

 200-300 Ships Allegedly Backed Up Outside The Straits of Hormuz  [12/14/08 ] "I was in Oman yesterday and stood on the beach looking out to the straits of Hormuz. The must have been 200-300 tankers and smaller ships on the horizon, outside the straits on the Indian Ocean side. I asked one of the locals if it is normal to have so many ships at anchor like that. He said no. He, too, was puzzled. I also noticed black water all along the coast. I was initially told it was oil in the water. Then I was told it was algae and not to ask so many questions. Something is going on in the straits of Hormuz. I can only guess the following as possible reasons for the number of ships I saw: 1. Some sort of unpublicized low key interdiction is going on. 2. The drop in oil demand is leaving many ships idle - but why anchor them in such a dangerous location?. 3. Low oil prices have ships rushing to the Gulf to load up...and they can no longer get them through the Straits into the shallow Persian Gulf fast enough. 4. OPEC is slowing down tanker fill-ups to restrict supply, so many ships are at anchor in the region. In the UAE Emerite of Fujeriah, they're building oil terminals on both the Indian and Persian gulf sides of that Emirate. Word from the locals is they're expecting trouble in the Straits of Hormuz and the Emirate is taking strategic action to keep the oil flowing."

 Iran arrests nuclear employees suspected of spying (Video)   [12/13/08 ]  Note: It is interesting because the text portion of this page says that the state the spies worked for is unknown, yet in the video window on the same page it is stated that the spies worked for Israel.

 Record Low Temperatures across the United States   [12/13/08 ]  Ice storm socks New England, upstate New York - Blizzard Warning for Cascades: 2 - 4 feet of snow expected - Snow Ramps Up Across South - Snowfall sets record in Beaumont, Texas - Earliest snowfall in Houston since 1895 - Snow in Austin ...  US Current Temperature Graphic

 Taiwan ex-leader indicted on embezzlement charges  [12/13/08 ] "Taiwanese prosecutors indicted former President Chen Shui-bian on graft charges Friday, a stunning blow for a man who rode to power 8 1/2 years ago on promises to reform the island's corrupt political culture. Prosecutor Lin Che-hui said the former leader could be given a life sentence in jail if found guilty on all charges."

 Israeli drug smugglers hit Australia  [12/13/08 ] "Israeli drug lords are increasingly targeting Australia for ecstasy smuggling, according to confidential Israel Police intelligence that shows crime syndicates view it as a booming market for the party drug. Israeli crime syndicates control a significant share of the global ecstasy trade and have a long history of supplying the Australian market."

 Blagojevich Ran former Gambling Operation: Paid Street Tax to Chicago Mob   [12/13/08 ] "The Justice Department's star witness in the Operation Gambat federal trials,Robert Cooley, makes a stunning accusation against Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.Cooley claims Rod Blagojevich ran a gambling operation for The Chicago Mob and paid the Mob a street tax.Go to the 13 minute and 45 second marker in the video.Here's Robert Cooley's quote on Rod Blagojevich: When I was working with the government wearing a wire I reported.. I observed Rod the present Governor who was running a gambling operation out in the western suburbs he was paying street tax to the mob out there..."  Note:  If you’re looking for some light weekend reading, here’s the DOJ 76-page criminal complaint (PDF) against Illinois’ most powerful arrestee: Gov. Rod Blagojevich 

 Emanuel Getting Death Threats Over Blagojevich Scandal  [12/13/08 ] "The president-elect's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, said today he wouldn't go to the Chicago presidential transition offices in order to avoid reporters trying to ask him whether he had contact with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich about the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama's election ... Back at his home, Emanuel appeared "beet-red," according to an ABC News cameraman who was invited inside by Emanuel to use his bathroom this morning. "I'm getting regular death threats. You've put my home address on national television. I'm pissed at the networks. You've intruded too much, " Emanuel said, according to the cameraman." 

 This Week’s Scandals: Blago’s Bribes, Blackwater And More  [12/12/08 ]  

 GM to temporarily close 20 plants to slash output   [12/13/08 ]  The dinosaur is dead. Greed goes nowhere. Stupidity either.

 UK: Lawyers exploited the suffering of thousands to make a fortune from personal injury claims  [12/12/08 ] "A solicitor who became Britain's richest lawyer was yesterday struck off after being found guilty of creaming millions of pounds from compensation paid to sick miners. Jim Beresford, 58, and his partner Douglas Smith, 52, were also ordered to pay substantial costs for serious professional misconduct over the handling of personal injury claims made under a compensation scheme for miners suffering coal dust-related diseases and other injuries. Over five years, Mr Beresford, who was named last year as Britain's highest-earning solicitor, profited by £30.2m in the government-run compensation that is expected to pay out a total of £7bn when it is finally settled. His firm, Beresfords in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, expanded rapidly, acting in more than 83,000 cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and more than 14,500 cases of vibration white finger (VWF), a painful condition caused by working with vibrating tools. The joint earnings of Mr Beresford and Mr Smith went from more than £182,000 in 2000 to £23,273,256 in 2006 ..."

 White House Responsible For Prisoner Abuse, Not Soldiers, Senate Report Finds  [12/12/08 ] "The physical and mental abuse of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was the direct result of Bush administration detention policies and should not be dismissed as the work of bad guards or interrogators, according to a bipartisan Senate report released Thursday ... The report is the result of a nearly two-year investigation that directly links President Bush's policies after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, legal memos on torture, and interrogation rule changes with the abuse photographed at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq four years ago. Much of the report remains classified. Unclassified portions of the report were released by the committee Thursday ... The report comes as the Bush administration continues to delay and in some cases bar members of Congress from gaining access to key legal documents and memos about the detainee program, including an August 2002 memo that evaluated whether specific interrogation techniques proposed to be used by the CIA would constitute torture." 

 GOP Signals Heated Confirmation Battle Over Holder  [12/12/08 ] "More signs have emerged that Eric Holder's nomination for Attorney General will face a bitter committee fight as Republican Senators on Thursday criticized Holder's work in the Clinton White House and even attempted to tie him to disgraced Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) both took to the floor to raise objections not just to the current date for confirmation hearings, which they would like to delay, but to various episodes from Holder's past. "For example," Grassley began, "there are red flags about Mr. Holder's judgment and independence, including his role in securing pardons or clemency for an unrepentant billionaire fugitive tax cheat like Marc Rich or terrorists like members of the FALN [Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional] and the Weather Underground. A lot of people, including this senator, have found these facts to be troubling... In addition, Mr. Holder has been in private practice since he left the Clinton Justice Department over eight years ago. It's important that we know what Mr. Holder has been doing in those eight years, which cases he's been involved with and who his clients are, what speeches he's made and so forth." 

 NASA has become a transition problem for Obama  [12/12/08 ] "NASA administrator Mike Griffin is not cooperating with President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team, is obstructing its efforts to get information and has told its leader that she is “not qualified” to judge his rocket program, the Orlando Sentinel has learned. In a heated 40-minute conversation last week with Lori Garver, a former NASA associate administrator who heads the space transition team, a red-faced Griffin demanded to speak directly to Obama, according to witnesses. In addition, Griffin is scripting NASA employees and civilian contractors on what they can tell the transition team and has warned aerospace executives not to criticize the agency’s moon program, sources said ... " 

 CIA Torture Tapes Destroyed After Watchdog Concluded Methods Illegal  [12/12/08 ] "The CIA destroyed videotapes showing its agents subjecting high-level al-Qaeda detainees to waterboarding after the agency's inspector general issued a classified report in the spring of 2004 that concluded the interrogation methods used on the prisoners "appeared to constitute cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, as defined by the International Convention Against Torture." 

 Prisons Earn $878 Million Annually by Poisoning Inmates and Guards, Lawsuit Alleges  [12/12/08 ] "Freda Cobb alleges that she and more than 300 other people were poisoned by a Florida prison. Cobb and 25 other plaintiffs are suing the Federal Corrections Institute in Marianna for exposing them to dangerous lead levels while prison laborers burst computers with hammers to extract gold from within. Prisons reportedly earned $878 million each year while under contract to Dell and Hewlett Packard by exposing inmates and employees like Cobb to high levels of lead and toxic chemicals." 

 The Best and the Brightest Have Led America Off a Cliff  [12/11/08 ] "Don't expect the so-called experts to fix it either. They can't. They are loyal to the decaying political and financial systems that empowered them." 

 Israel Risks Hurting US Ties By Pushing For Iran Strike, Says Brzezinski [12/11/08 ] "Israel will do harm to its relations with the United States if it insists on lobbying Washington for an American military strike on Iran, Zbigniew Brzezinski, the former national security adviser to Jimmy Carter (and current advisor to Obama) , said in an interview with Haaretz over the weekend." 

 ElBaradei says Iran’s nuclear program is legal: Report  [12/11/08 ] "Director General Mohamed ElBaradei in a telephone interview with Al Hayat newspaper has reaffirmed that Iran’s nuclear activities are “legal”. “Iranians are working under a legal framework. They have permitted the international (atomic energy) agency to monitor their imported materials,” ElBaradei told the London-based newspaper published on Wednesday. On the nuclear activities of Syria, the director stated, “The agency still awaits further explanations from Syria.” “However, the International Atomic Energy Agency cannot deprive Syria from its right to become a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group."

 Sovietizing the Economy: The Final Phase [12/11/08 ] "Insanity,” according to a famous definition, is a condition revealed by the habit of doing exactly the same thing repeatedly in earnest anticipation of a different result. A closely related form of derangement is megalomania, a prominent symptom of which is an individual’s self-exalting belief that he is the divine exception that can make that different result occur. When it’s displayed in private pursuits, megalomania is a harmless if pitiable condition. When coupled with political power, it becomes the propellant of large-scale social experiments that ruin societies and kill people by the tens of millions. Barack Obama suffers from an acute case." 

 Gun Control: Protecting Terrorists and Despots by Ron Paul  [12/11/08 ] "History shows us that another tragedy of gun laws is genocide. Hitler, for example, knew well that in order to enact his “final solution,” disarmament was a necessary precursor. While it is not always the case that an unarmed populace WILL be killed by their government, if a government is going to kill its own people, it MUST disarm them first so they cannot fight back. Disarmament must happen at a time when overall trust in government is high, and under the guise of safety for the people, or perhaps the children. Knowing that any government, no matter how idealistically started, can become despotic, the Founding Fathers enabled the future freedom of Americans by enacting the second amendment. In our own country, we should be ever vigilant against any attempts to disarm the people, especially in this economic downturn. I expect violent crime to rise sharply in the coming days, and as states and municipalities are even more financially strained, the police will be even less able or willing to respond to crime. In many areas, local police could become more and more absorbed with revenue generating activities, like minor traffic violations and the asset forfeiture opportunities of non-violent drug offenses. Your safety has always, ultimately been your own responsibility, but never more so than now. People have a natural right to defend themselves. Governments that take that away from their people should be highly suspect." 

 Role of Alleged CIA Asset in Mumbai Attacks Being Downplayed   [12/11/08 ] "Recent press reports on developments with regard to last month’s attacks in Mumbai, India indicate the role of Dawood Ibrahim, a wanted crime boss, terrorist, and drug trafficker, is being downplayed, possibly the result of a deal taking place behind the scenes between the governments of the US, Pakistan, and India, to have others involved in the Mumbai attacks turned over while quietly diverting attention from a man who some say could reveal embarrassing secrets about the CIA’s involvement in criminal enterprises."

 Carbon Trading is a Scam   [12/11/08 ] Note: Carbon trading is a 'complex derivative' concept based on nothing, using currency that is worth nothing, to create the appearance of something that has nothing backing it up, in order to make a theoretical profit worth nothing, and deplete the quality of life of the population.  More

 Pakistan arrests suspected terror leader   [12/10/08 ] "Pakistan has put the suspected terrorist leader, Masood Azhar under house arrest after he was linked to Mumbai's attacks, media say." 

 Regional Fed Chiefs: Elite Insiders Have “Usurped Authority”  [12/10/08 ] "Regional bank presidents of the Federal Reserve have described the ongoing financial policy making of Washington officials as a complete usurpation of authority and an invocation of emergency powers."

 Russia: Iran could not build A-bomb  [12/10/08 ] "A senior Russian diplomat says that even if Iran sought to make a nuclear weapon, it does not have the necessary "means" to do so."

 Investors Buy $32 Billion in Treasury Bills with ZERO Yield   [12/10/08 ] "Today’s treasury auction outlined the panic that still dominates the financial markets. $36 Billion in T-Bills were auctioned off today which gave a 0% yield. Why would anyone be willing to make an investment in which they were guaranteed to make nothing on? The one word answer is Fear."

The Human Camera, Stephen Wiltshire   [12/10/08 ] "Stephen Wiltshire MBE, (born April 24, 1974) is an architectural artist who has been diagnosed with autism. Wiltshire was born in London, England, to West Indian parents. He is known for being able to draw an entire landscape just by seeing it once...." 

 Chinese committing suicide every two minutes  [12/10/08 ]  After a while, one tires of a world of noodles, rice, and tyrants. Oh, there goes another one.... Yuan Hung Lo ... Ngow Ai Xiump ... 

 15 Images You Won't Believe Aren't Photoshopped  [12/10/08 ]  Self-explanatory, and funny write-ups. Related: 15 More Images    

 Just how many US Military Bases?  [12/10/08 ] "According to the DoD Base Structure Report the US Department of Defense remains one of the world’s largest “landlords” with a physical plant consisting of more than 545,714 facilities (buildings, structures and utilities) located on more than 5,429 sites on 29.8 million acres, valued at over $706 billion. (761 sites are located in 39 foreign countries, excluding Iraq, Afghanistan and many others)."

 The Eisenstadt Hoax: Fraud as metaphor for everything wrong with the big media  [12/10/08 ] "There is a minor controversy bouncing around right now on the internet, and I’d like to do what I can to set the story straight. The controversy involves two incidents ..."

 Site Caught Censoring BoA/Blagojevich Coincidence   [12/10/08 ] "We were happy to see that the member-submitted news media site ran our recent post on TV  (View it HERE) . We were early to break the story about Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich being taken into federal custody. We noted that the timing of the arrest came only one day after the Illinois Governor announced that he has suspended all state dealings with Bank of America until the bank reissues credit to the Chicago based company Republic Windows & Doors, a factory which had to lay off 250 workers. The move was a bold show of support for workers by the Illinois Governor. This was included in the submitted story, yet completely omitted from the TV airing. Current has a user voting system in which members vote for a story, and the most popular stories are aired on TV. Our post remains among the top stories of the day (in it’s entirety), yet they’ve decided to edit out the B of A “Coincidence.”

 Ill. Gov. arrested in Obama successor probe  [12/09/08 ] "Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested on Tuesday on charges that he brazenly conspired to sell or trade the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Barack Obama to the highest bidder. Blagojevich also was charged with illegally threatening to withhold state assistance to Tribune Co., the owner of the Chicago Tribune, in the sale of Wrigley Field, according to a federal criminal complaint. In return for state assistance, Blagojevich allegedly wanted members of the paper's editorial board who had been critical of him fired ... Federal agents made undercover tape recordings of Gov. Rod Blagojevich with the help of one of his closest advisers. Investigators are looking into allegations of corruption, involving Blagojevich and the Health Facilities Planning Board, as well as the Teachers Retirement System. The investigation has been going on for several years, and initially, Blagojevich dismissed the claims. But the probe later resulted in the indictment and conviction of Antoin “Tony” Rezko, Blagojevich’s chief political fundraiser."  Related: Ill. Governor suspends all state business with Bank of America 

 China: Complainers Drugged, Put In Psych Wards  [12/09/08 ] "Authorities in eastern China have a new way to deal with residents who complain: checking them into a mental hospital and force-feeding them drugs, it was reported yesterday. Authorities in Xintai, a municipal region in Shandong province, had forced at least 18 people with grievances, ranging from police brutality to property disputes, into a mental hospital, the Beijing News said ...."

 GlaxoSmithKline Presses Third World Families Into Deadly Vaccine Trials As Guinea Pigs  [12/09/08 ] "Major pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline has been accused of pressuring poor Third World parents into enrolling their children in experimental drug trials that have led to the deaths of at least 12 infants. The company is currently testing an experimental pneumonia vaccine on children under the age of one in Argentina, Colombia and Panama. According to the Argentine Federation of Health Professionals (Feprosa), poor Argentinean parents have been "pressured and forced into signing consent forms." In most cases these are underprivileged individuals, many of them unable to read or write, who are pressured into including their children," said Juan Carlos Palomares of Fesprosa. "This occurs without any type of state control [and] does not comply with minimum ethical requirements," the federation said ... Critics such as Ana Maria Marchese, a pediatrician at the Santiago del Estero children's hospital where the study is taking place, accuse Glaxo of using Third World children as guinea pigs. "Because they can't experiment in Europe or the United States, they come to do it in third-world countries," she said."

 Low-Dose Mercury Exposure From Fillings, Vaccines and Fish Linked to Heart Disease  [12/09/08 ]  Profit, profit, profit

 Irradiated Food Thought Responsible for Cat Deaths in Australia   [12/09/08 ] "The irradiation of foods has long been a center of controversy. The FDA continues to approve more foods to be irradiated, and Canada follows. According to an FDA pamphlet, "So far, the FDA has approved irradiation of the following foods to enhance their safety: raw meat, raw poultry, shell eggs, seeds for growing sprouts, and herbs and spices. The FDA has also approved low-dose irradiation of foods to kill insect pests and to extend shelf life." .... However Rosalie Bertell, Ph.D. in a paper written for the International Institute of Concern for Public Health, has very opposing views on irradiation than the FDA. See link.  Dr. Bertell explains that irradiation is a method used to slow the death or decay process once a fruit is picked or meat producing animal is killed. Although the FDA, USDA, and EPA all claim that irradiation of food prevents bacteria growth, Dr. Bertell states that irradiation does not have the "ability to differentiate between desirable and undesirable bacteria."

 UK: Banks withdraw business overdrafts   [12/09/08 ] "Business overdraft facilities are being withdrawn at a "significantly" higher rate than this time last year, the leading high streets banks have admitted to the Government. Where facilities remain in place, banks are scaling back the amounts they are prepared to extend ..."

 Merrill Lynch's John Thain waives $10 million bonus after outcry  [12/09/08 ] "Mr. Thain, who guided the investment bank to a merger with Bank of America (BoA) just hours before Lehman Brothers collapsed in September, on Monday night told the board that his decision not to take a bonus was appropriate "given current economic and market conditions". In a statement from the bank, Merrill said that Mr. Thain would be joined by four other senior Merrill managers – including President Greg Fleming and chief financial officer Nelson Chai – in relinquishing their rights to a bonus for this year. However the statement came after a day of criticism, following a report that Mr. Thain had let it be known to the board’s compensation committee that he deserved a $5-$10m bonus. The report suggested that he felt he had earned the money for helping to secure a future for Merrill, something which rivals at other firms, such as Lehman, failed to do. That suggestion was immediately seized upon by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who, in a drafted letter to Merrill, said the report, if true, was “nothing less than shocking.” 

 'September 11 defendants' 'ask to plead guilty' after years of torture    [12/09/08 ]  I guess after years of torture, they'll do anything to save their lives, forming a 'patsy' for the Bush administration and cohorts, who really did the deed.

 State Silences 8-Year-Old (sequential) Guitarist  [12/09/08 ] "Tallan Latz is an American blues guitar prodigy. He received his first musical instrument, a drum kit, at the age of three and began playing acoustic guitar at age four. By the age of eight, he had played on-stage with performers the likes of Jackson Browne and Les Paul ... you see, in Wisconsin it's perfectly legal for Tallan to drink in a bar with his father present. It is not, however, legal for Tallan to "perform" in the same setting."

 Massive riots cripple Greece's main cities  [12/09/08 ] "Greece's interior minister says the massive protest riots in cities across the country are "unacceptable" but insists that police are doing all they can to protect people's lives and property. Thousands of youths are rampaging through Athens, the northern city of Thessaloniki and several other cities in the third day of riots Monday after police shot and killed a teenager on Saturday."

 Missing atheist sign found in Washington state    [12/08/08 ] "An atheist sign criticizing christianity that was erected alongside a Nativity scene was taken from the Legislative Building in Olympia, Washington, on Friday and later found in a ditch. The sign, which celebrates the winter solstice, has had some residents and christian organizations calling atheists Scrooges because they said it was attacking the celebration of 'jesus' birth. "Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds," the sign from the Freedom From Religion Foundation says in part. The incident will not stifle the group's message, Gaylor said. Before reports of the placard's recovery, she said a temporary sign with the same message would be placed in the building's Rotunda. Gaylor said a note would be attached saying, "Thou shalt not steal." "I guess they don't follow their own commandments," Gaylor said. "There's nothing out there with the atheist point of view, and now there is such a firestorm that we have the audacity to exist. And then [whoever took the sign] stifles our speech." Dan Barker, a former evangelical preacher and co-founder of the group, said it was important for atheists to see their viewpoints validated alongside everyone else's. Barker said the display is especially important given that 25 percent of Washington state residents are unaffiliated with religion or do not believe in 'god'. "Most people think December is for christians and view our signs as an intrusion, when actually it's the other way around," he said. "People have been celebrating the winter solstice long before christmas. We see christianity as the intruder, trying to steal the holiday from all of us humans." In Washington, D.C., the American Humanist Association began a bus ad campaign this month questioning belief in 'god'. "Why believe in a god?" the advertisement asks. "Just be good for goodness sake." That ad has caused the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to field hundreds of complaints, the group said, but it has heard just as much positive feedback, said Fred Edwords, the association's spokesman. The anger over the display in Olympia began after it was assembled Monday. The sentiment grew after some national media personalities called upon viewers to flood the phone lines of the governor's office. "I happen to be a christian, and I don't agree with the display that is up there," Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire told The Olympian newspaper. "But that doesn't mean that as governor, I have the right to deny their ability to express their free speech." The atheist message was never intended to attack anyone, Barker said. "When people ask us, 'Why are you hateful? Why are you putting up something critical of people's holidays? -- we respond that we kind of feel that the christian message is the hate message," he said. "On that nativity scene, there is this threat of internal violence if we don't submit to that master. Hate speech goes both ways." 

 'Mumbai attacks mastermind arrested'   [12/08/08 ] "Pakistani security forces have reportedly arrested the mastermind behind Mumbai terror attacks which left nearly 170 people dead. Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operation chief, was arrested during a secret crackdown on the LeT members and its sister organization Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir. The US and Indian intelligence reports had earlier suggested that the Mumbai attacks were carried out by the militant group. The arrests came after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressured Islamabad to take action following the deadly attacks, saying there was evidence Pakistan had been used by 'non-state actors' to mount the Mumbai attacks. Lashkar-e-Taiba, founded in 1989, was established to fight Indian rule in Kashmir and was branded as outlaw in Pakistan after India alleged that it was behind a 2001 attack on the Indian parliament in New Delhi." 

 Obama spells end of blank cheques for Israel   [12/08/08 ] "Israel can no longer expect "blank cheques" from Washington once president-elect Barack Obama's administration takes over in January, a former US ambassador to the Jewish state said on Sunday. "The era of the blank cheque is over," said Martin Indyk (Note: "Indyk" is Polish for 'turkey') , director of the Centre for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institute who is considered close to incoming secretary of state Hillary Clinton."

 Naomi Klein: The Shock Doctrine Got Shot Down in Canada  [12/08/08 ] "Canada's Bush-imitating prime minister gets a political smackdown for trying to ram through radical policies." 

 John McCain, Lieberman, While Visiting Pakistan Dangerously Agitate Situation  [12/08/08 ] "John McCain on a visit to Pakistan together with Joe Lieberman seems determined to talk India into attacking targets in Pakistan if Pakistan continues to refuse to hand over the ‘terrorists’ that India demands. McCain and Lieberman both know very well that the Pakistan government is no position to do any such thing since to do so would be an admission that their own intelligence service, the ISI, was complicit in the Mumbai attacks."

 Arrest Provides More Evidence India, Israel, and the U.S. Behind Mumbai Attacks   [12/08/08 ] "It now appears Indian intelligence played a large part in the terrorist attacks. On Saturday, the Associated Press reported that a “counterinsurgency police officer who may have been on an undercover mission” was arrested for illegally buying mobile phone cards used by the gunmen."

 India uncovers Hindu terror group that carried out bombings blamed on Islamists  [12/08/08 ] "India is in something of a state of shock after learning from official sources that its first Hindu terror cell may have carried out a series of deadly bombings that were initially blamed on militant Muslims. The revelation is forcing the country to consider some difficult questions."

 Bottom drops out of recycling industry  [12/08/08 ] "Just months after riding an incredible high, the recycling market has tanked almost in lockstep with the global economic meltdown. As consumer demand for autos, appliances and new homes dropped, so did the steel and pulp mills' demand for scrap, paper and other recyclables. Cardboard that sold for about $135 a ton in September is now going for $35 a ton. Plastic bottles have fallen from 25 cents to 2 cents a pound. Aluminum cans dropped nearly half to about 40 cents a pound, and scrap metal tumbled from $525 a gross ton to about $100."

 Situation in Somalia Seems About to Get Worse  [12/08/08 ] "Somalia’s transitional government looks as if it is about to flatline. The Ethiopians who have been keeping it alive for two years say they are leaving the country, essentially pulling the plug. or the past 17 years, Somalia has been ripped apart by anarchy, violence, famine and greed. It seems as though things there can never get worse. But then they do. The pirates off Somalia’s coast are getting bolder, wilier and somehow richer, despite an armada of Western naval ships hot on their trail. Shipments of emergency food aid are barely keeping much of Somalia’s population of nine million from starving. The most fanatical wing of Somalia’s Islamist insurgency is gobbling up territory and imposing its own harsh brand of Islamic law, like whipping dancers and stoning a 13-year-old girl to death." 

 Israel willing to go it alone on Iran attack  [12/07/08 ] "Israel is drawing up plans for an attack on Iran's nuclear infrastructure that does not require America's support, it has been claimed ... Defence sources told the Jerusalem Post they were considering going it alone in a strike on Iran. Conventional military thinking states that Israel would need America's backing if only to allow Israeli warplanes to reach Iran by overflying Iraq, where the airspace is controlled by the United States Air Force. But the paper said Israeli planners had come up with ideas that did not require support from the United States ..."  Related: Israel presses Obama against Iran  "Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has demanded that the Obama administration "face up to Iran", amid Israeli preparations for war." 

 Milwaukee neighborhoods could print own money [12/07/08 ] "Experts estimate there are at least 2,000 local currencies all over the world—but it is a practice that tends to burgeon during economic downturns. During the Great Depression, scores of communities relied on their own currencies."

 Foreclosures soar 76% to record 1.35 million [12/07/08 ] "A record 1.35 million homes were in foreclosure in the third quarter, driving the foreclosure rate up to 2.97%, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Friday. That's a 76% increase from a year ago, according to the group's National Delinquency Survey."

 Big Three may survive another 90 days  [12/07/08 ] "Congressional Democrats have reached an agreement in principles to provide a USD 15-17b aid package to the Big Three automakers." 

 Pentagon preparing for Afghan surge  [12/07/08 ] "US military has started building new facilities in Afghanistan for 20,000 extra troops that will pour into the country early next year." 

 The rise of the 'booboisie' [12/06/08 ] " Relentlessly provocative, doggedly elitist and decidedly cynical about America's most sacred institutions, Mencken's Notes on Democracy will be considered even more offensive by readers today than it was in his own time. And that would undoubtedly delight the great satirist, who routinely characterized American democracy as a comic sham and referred to the middle class as the "booboisie" .... One of the recurring themes of Notes on Democracy is that the democratic system is based on little more than a mob psychology that promotes "mountebanks" and "charlatans" to its highest positions of leadership. Most people with intellect and integrity see the folly of running for elective office in a democracy, Mencken maintains, and those of substance who are quixotic enough to try the system are rejected by the mob ...."  Related:  H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956) Quotes to Ponder   

 Rice tells Pakistan to act ‘or US will’ [12/07/08 ] "The US Secretary of State, Dr Condoleezza Rice, is reported to have told Pakistan that there is ‘irrefutable evidence’ of involvement of elements in the country in the Mumbai attacks and that it needs to act urgently and effectively to avert a strong international response. Contrary to the formal statements issued by Pakistani authorities and her own statement at the Chaklala Airbase before her departure, sources said she “pushed the Pakistani leaders to take care of perpetrators, otherwise the US will act”

 Sharif: US must respect Pak sovereignty  [12/07/08 ] "Washington should respect Pakistan's sovereignty, ex-PM Nawaz Sharif said after meeting with the defeated US Presidential Candidate John McCain." 

 John Mc Cain arrives Islamabad [12/06/08 ] "Senator John Mc Cain of United States has arrived here for two-day official visit of Pakistan. Senator John Mc Cain will visit Raiwind today (Saturday) to meet PML-N Chief Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif. US Senator Labor Man and Lindsay Graham are also accompanying him. During his stay, John Mc Cain will hold meetings with President, Prime Minister and Chief of Army Staff and discuss situation erupted after the Mumbai attacks. Issues pertaining to the war on terror and Pakistan-US relations will also come under discussed. It is said that US Senator John Mc Cain visit to India would ease mounting tensions between Pakistan and India."   So, having a pathetic 'hawk' visit is supposed to mean something progressive.

 China, U.S. Deepen Financial Ties, Aid Global Trade  [12/06/08 ] "China and the U.S. pledged $20 billion to fund trade and agreed to deepen financial ties, stepping up efforts to counter the credit crisis in their final economic talks before President-elect Barack Obama takes office. The U.S. agreed to speed up approvals for Chinese financial institutions investing in the country, the nations said in a joint statement as the Strategic Economic Dialogue ended in Beijing today. China said it would widen access to its bond market and ease borrowing limits for foreign banks." 

 FBI claims that US has jurisdiction in Mumbai terror probe [12/05/08 ] "The FBI is assisting Indian investigative agencies in collecting evidence in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, the US attorney general has said as he insisted that his country has the jurisdiction to prosecute the terrorist captured during the deadly strikes."   The only reason would be to conceal evidence linking the problems to the US or Israel.

 Pakistan city hit by deadly blast [12/05/08 ] "At least 20 people have been killed and 70 injured in a suspected car bombing in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar, police say. The blast hit a heavily populated area outside a Shia mosque near the central Kissa Khwani bazaar. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack. Recent violence in north-west Pakistan has included sectarian clashes as well as fighting between the army and Islamist militants." 

 Employers Shedding Jobs As Recession Deepens [12/05/08 ] "Skittish employers slashed 533,000 jobs in November, the most in 34 years, catapulting the unemployment rate to 6.7 percent, dramatic proof the country is careening deeper into recession. The new figures, released by the Labor Department Friday, showed the crucial employment market deteriorating at an alarmingly rapid clip, and handed Americans some more grim news right before the holidays. The net loss of more than a half-million jobs was far worse than analysts expected."

 Former U.S. Interrogator: Torture Policy Has Led to More Deaths than 9/11 Attacks [12/05/08 ] " .... the number of Americans killed in Iraq because of the U.S. military's use of torture is more than 3,000. He writes: "It's no exaggeration to say that at least half of our losses and casualties in [Iraq] have come at the hands of foreigners who joined the fray because of our program of detainee abuse. The number of U.S. soldiers who have died because of our torture policy will never be definitively known, but it is fair to say that it is close to the number of lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001. How anyone can say that torture keeps Americans safe is beyond me -- unless you don't count American soldiers as Americans."

 Jack Daniels and Finlandia Vodka report awesome quarter [12/05/08 ]  "It's not just a joke: People are really turning to drink in this economy. Brown Forman (BF) the maker of Jack Daniels and Finlandia Vodka reported an awesome quarter..."

 Israel ‘Will Pay a Price’  [12/05/08 ] "Israel has imposed strict military censorship over news of a recent air strike deep inside Syrian territory. U.S. officials have confirmed that an air strike did take place on Sept. 6 but have not provided further details. Vaguely sourced reports, including accounts of a Syrian-North Korean nuclear program that have yet to be substantiated, are seeping into the media. What do the Syrians have to say about it? Newsweek's Jeffrey Bartholet sat down with Syria’s ambassador to the United States, Imad Moustapha, to get his version of events."

 Lawmakers Dodd, Frank Warn Paulson May Not Get Second Half of TARP Money [12/05/08 ] "Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said he opposes giving the Bush administration the second half of the $700 billion financial rescue plan, joining Republicans upset with how it is being managed."

 Leaked Memos Reveal Holder’s Involvement In OKC Murder Cover-Up [12/05/08 ] "Leaked DOJ memos shed new light on the role of Barack Obama’s Attorney General nominee Eric Holder in the cover-up of the death of Kenneth Michael Trentadue, who was tortured to death by FBI agents after they confused him with one of Timothy McVeigh’s accomplices in the Oklahoma City bombing."

 Shoppers ready to call it quits [12/05/08 ] "More than one-third of consumers chose not to shop at all last month, except on Black Friday, according to Britt Beemer of America's Research Group. That's borne out in the November sales numbers from retailers, who have a lot to worry about in December as well, says Beemer. "Over half the people we talked to, who bought one of those advertised loss leaders on [Black Friday] morning, said that may very well be the only gift they give their entire family for the Christmas season," he says."

 China, U.S. Agree to Deepen Financial Ties, Aid Global Trade  [12/05/08 ] "China and the U.S. pledged $20 billion to fund trade and agreed to deepen financial ties, stepping up efforts to counter the credit crisis in their final economic talks before President-elect Barack Obama takes office." 

 3-D Movie Plans Stalled by Credit Crisis as Theaters Scale Back [12/05/08 ] "The credit crisis is stalling plans to convert thousands of theaters to digital projection, threatening profits on more than a dozen 3-D films Hollywood will release next year, including DreamWorks Animation SKG’s “Monsters vs. Aliens.” 

 California May Pay With IOUs for Second Time Since Depression  [12/05/08 ] "California, the world’s eighth largest economy, may pay vendors with IOUs for only the second time since the Great Depression, State Finance Director Mike Genest said." 

 Congress Builds Itself a $621 Million Bunker [12/05/08 ] "People visit the U.S. Capitol to walk where history happens, yet the new Capitol Visitor Center reminds you of a stone-slathered ballroom in a convention hotel. Endlessly delayed, the $621 million addition opened this week. 

 Bear Stearns Shareholder Lawsuits Dismissed by New York State Court Judge  [12/05/08 ] "Bear Stearns Cos. won dismissal of investor lawsuits challenging the bank’s buyout by J P Morgan Chase & Co., with a judge finding company officials pursued the deal to prevent a “potentially cataclysmic” bankruptcy." 

 Discover Claims Morgan Stanley Held Secret Talks With Visa, MasterCard [12/05/08 ] "Discover Financial Services claims in a lawsuit that it was forced to agree to a $2.75 billion legal settlement because its former parent, Morgan Stanley, held secret, unauthorized talks with Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc." 

 Global Socialists Toast Victory Over America [12/05/08 ] "Now that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has admitted that his $700-billion plan didn’t work out as planned, some in the media are acknowledging that they helped stampede the Congress into passing it..." 

 Elaborate FBI sting snares politicians in Massachusetts  [12/04/08 ] "The meeting appeared routine — a businessman and politician stopped at a sandwich shop to chat about plans to develop a nearby parcel of land. But this get-together had an unusual twist: The state senator allegedly got $10,000 in bribe money and authorities left with more evidence in the most elaborately orchestrated public corruption sting in decades in Massachusetts. For 18 months, the operation targeting former state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson played out in upscale restaurants and scruffy eateries, through the marbled halls of the Massachusetts Statehouse and Boston City Hall."

 Governor Bank of Israel slated as President of New York Federal Reserve Bank  [12/04/08 ] "Stanley Fischer, the governor of the Bank of Israel, is reportedly again a candidate to replace Timothy Geithner as president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, according to media reports."

 Bailout Report Card--A Failing Grade and a Frightening Outlook for 2009  [12/04/08 ] "The United States government has been in non-stop bailout mode for the last three months. How has it done? How has the nation’s economy been impacted if at all? Here’s a report card."   Related: Prepare For Depression Level Unemployment 

 Private sector sheds 250,000 jobs in November  [12/04/08 ] "Private employers cut 250,000 jobs in November, the most in seven years, a report by a private employment service said on Wednesday."  

 Atheists sue to take 'Diety' out of state's terrorism law  [12/04/08 ] "An atheists-rights group is suing the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security because state law requires the agency to stress "dependence on Almighty God" as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth."

 SPLC: 'hate crimes' and the racial justice racket  [12/04/08 ] "The Southern 'Poverty' Law Center is a thriving business. The Alabama-based "nonprofit" firm has become a font of riches for founder Morris Dees and his associates. Its last tax return (2005) showed it took in nearly $111 million in donations the previous four years alone and reported assets of $189.4 million at the end of 2005 ... Its business is fundraising, and its success at raking in the cash is based on its ability to sell gullible people on the idea that present-day America is awash in white racism and anti-Semitism, which it will fight tooth-and-nail as the public interest law firm it purports to be. That might lead a skeptic to wonder why it spends little on litigation and why Mr. Dees pockets a lot of money sent in by panicked donors who buy into the smear campaigns against organizations or prominent individuals who question racial preference programs."  Another body-id bottom feeder. 

 100 nations sign treaty banning cluster bombs, US refuses  [12/04/08 ] "Some 100 nations began putting their names Wednesday to a landmark treaty banning cluster bombs, amid calls for major arms producers such as China, Russia and the United States to join them ... Norway -- which played a key role in hammering out the worldwide ban on using, producing, transferring and stockpiling of cluster munitions -- was the first country to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) ... Laos, the country most affected by cluster bombs, was the second to sign Wednesday's treaty at Oslo city hall. Between 1964 and 1973, the US Air Force dropped 260 million cluster bombs on Laos, or the equivalent of a fully-loaded B-52 bomber's payload dropped every eight minutes for nine years. Over two days, around 100 countries -- including Britain, Canada, France and Germany -- are to sign the treaty that was finalised in Dublin in May ... In 2006, Obama voted in the US Senate to ban the use of cluster munitions 'in heavily populated areas', but in the end the motion was rejected."   

 Georgia Senate win stymies Democrats’ chance for filibuster-proof majority [12/04/08 ] "Democratic hopes of gaining a 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority in the U.S. Senate collapsed Tuesday, as Georgia Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss was projected to win re-election in a runoff."

 UK: ID cards are not voluntary  [12/04/08 ] "When the Government introduced its ID card legislation several years ago, it made one thing clear. Even though it would be obligatory to register on the ID database when obtaining a new passport, it would not be compulsory to carry a card. This has led some people to assume that the scheme is voluntary. It is not, except insofar as someone whose passport has expired is happy never to travel abroad again. But ministers recognised that the scope for ID ‘matrydom’ was high if people were forced to carry an ID card. The last identity system was abolished in 1952 following a celebrated case prompted by the refusal of a man called Clarence Willcock to produce his card when required to by a police officer. Mr Willcock reasoned that as the war that necessitated their introduction was over, he had no need to carry ID with him. The Government wanted to avoid creating an army of Clarence Willcocks so deliberately did not make it a legal requirement to carry ID. Now it turns out that they are planning to sneak in just such a power presumably hoping that no-one noticed. But the eagle-eyed lawyers at Liberty spotted that clauses in the draft Borders, Immigration and Citizenship Bill – confirmed as part of the Government’s programme for this session of parliament in the Queen’s Speech - give state officials the power to make anyone who has ever entered the country, at any time, prove who they are. This would effectively cover any British citizen who has ever left the UK, even for a holiday, because they will have "entered" the UK on their return. It will mean that for the first time in more than half a century that the police will be able to demand your papers. One reason for publishing a draft Bill is so that it can be closely scrutinised before it gets into parliament for precisely such hidden powers or for clumsy drafting. Perhaps the Government did not intend the legislation to be so widely drawn and meant it merely to apply to people when they arrive at the border as part of a proper immigration control system. If this is a drafting error, then the remedy is simple: when the Bill is formally introduced the offending clause can be withdrawn or amended. If the Government insists upon proceeding with the measure in its current form, then we can draw our own conclusions."  Related: UK: Police to get 'war-time' power to demand ID in the street 

 Gates: Stop-loss will continue through 2009 [12/04/08 ] "During a press conference today, Secretary of State Robert Gates was asked whether he foresaw an end to the practice of stop-loss — where military personnel can be forced to remain in the military even after completing their enlistment terms — by 2009 ... Between May 2007 and March 2008, “the number of soldiers forced to remain in the Army rose 43% to 12,235."

 Moscow races to finish Iran’s Bushehr reactor by mid-2009 [12/04/08 ] "Iranian and Moscow sources report that Atomstroiexport, the Russian firm under contract to build and activate Iran’s nuclear reactor at Bushehr, is offering nuclear engineers and technicians top salaries to leave for Iran at short notice."  Note: The source of this report is Debkafile, which is suspected of being Mossad connected. Nevertheless, it may underscore previous reports of this nature from other sources.

 FDA Reluctantly Admits Mercury Fillings Have Neurotoxic Effects on Children [12/04/08 ] "For the first time, the FDA has issued a warning that the mercury contained in silver dental fillings may pose neurological risks to 'children and pregnant women'."

 The Cost of Hegemony is Beyond Reach: The New Arms Race [12/03/08 ] "Undeterred by massive budget deficits from wars, a falling economy, and financial bailouts, the US government has managed to start a new cold war with Russia."

 From The “Panic” Of 2008 To The “Collapse” Of 2009 [12/03/08 ] "The country’s top trends forecaster, who accurately predicted the “panic” of 2008 nearly a year before it unfolded, is now ominously suggesting that next year will come to be known as “the collapse of 2009?"

 India raises spectre of war over Mumbai attacks  [12/03/08 ] "The Indian foreign minister has refused to rule out military action against Pakistan following the Mumbai attacks, contradicting earlier statements."

 Mob runs riot as Zimbabwe runs out of water [12/03/08 ] "The seething anger felt by ordinary Zimbabweans exploded yesterday as hundreds of off-duty soldiers went on the rampage in the centre of Harare. Witnesses said that the violence erupted at a bus depot on the edge of the city centre where soldiers, frustrated at not being able to draw cash from banks, confronted illegal moneychangers. The dealers scattered and the soldiers turned on the city, followed by civilians spurring them on."

 Iran, Lebanon sign 5-year security pact [12/03/08 ] "Iran and Lebanon have signed a security agreement, according to which Iran will supply the Lebanese army with weapons and equipment over the next five years, the London-based daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat reported."  Israel may well attack Lebanon again before Iran can send any of the new weapons.

 For the GOP, the Economic Meltdown May Have Happened Just a Wee Bit Early    [12/02/08 ] "Comment: Key officials inside the Administration knew that the financial system was swirling inside the economic toilet bowl and would eventuate in a massive meltdown; after all, there were numerous economists, inside and outside the government, who more than a year ago were warning about the housing bubble getting ready to burst, with disastrous impact on the availability of credit. But, in this scenario, the CheneyBush higher-ups believed that, with luck, denial and a helluva lot of deficit financing, they could delay the inevitable collapse until after the election."

 US manufacturing hits 26-year low in November   [12/02/08 ] "US manufacturing slumped to a 26-year low in November, highlighting the abrupt downturn in the world's biggest economy, a survey showed Monday. Comment: What is being measured with this number is not the total amount of manufacturing but the rate of change. So what this number means is that we are losing manufacturing at the fastest rate seen in the last 26 years."

 Cities cut back, expecting shortfalls    [12/02/08 ] "A survey in September found that city finance officers expect revenue from property, sales and income taxes to decrease 4.3% this year, Hoene says. The problem will be worse next year, he says, because there is a lag between current economic conditions and when they affect city revenue. "Local officials know that if things are tight now," he says, "tougher choices are coming." The survey found that 79% of cities expect their finances to worsen in 2009."

 Venezuela Proposes New Regional Currency During ALBA Summit   [12/02/08 ] "We are going to create a proposal for a monetary zone of solidarity-based commercial exchange,” said Chávez. “The hegemony of the dollar must end.”

 China reveals 300,000 children were made ill by tainted milk   [12/02/08 ] "Nearly 300,000 children were made sick and six may have been killed by milk tainted with the toxic plastic melamine, Beijing has said in a major revision of numbers of those affected by China's worst recent health scare."

 90% U.S. Infant Formula May Be Contaminated with Melamine; FDA Abruptly Declares Chemical Safe   [12/01/08 ] "Up to 90 percent of the infant formula sold in the United States may be contaminated with trace amounts of melamine, the toxic chemical linked to kidney damage, according to recent tests. The FDA's test results, which the agency hid from the public and only released after the Associated Press filed a Freedom of Information Act request, showed that Nestle, Mead Johnson and Enfamil infant formula products were all contaminated with melamine."

 You Cannot Pardon a Crime You Authorized  [12/01/08 ] "Statement from the Steering Committee for the Prosecution for War Crimes of President Bush and His Subordinates. Never before has a president pardoned himself or his subordinates for crimes he authorized. The closest thing to this in U.S. history thus far has been Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence. Bush is widely expected to follow that commutation with a pardon. Not only did Libby work for the White House, but he was convicted of obstruction of justice in an investigation that was headed to the president. Evidence introduced in the trial, including a hand-written note by the vice president, implicated Bush, and former press secretary Scott McClellan has since testified that Bush authorized the exposure of an undercover agent, that being the crime that was under investigation .."

 Obama criticised for economic team's link to failed bank chief  [12/01/08 ] "As Barack Obama prepares to announce the appointment of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State this week, the first notes of dissent over the President-elect's choices are being heard across America. The loudest complaints concern his economic team's ties to Citigroup, the banking behemoth that all but collapsed last weekend. In particular, criticisms are mounting over the role to be played by Robert Rubin, a director at Citigroup and President Clinton's former treasury secretary. Obama, who last week called for a massive stimulus package to prevent the US economy from 'falling into a deflationary spiral', has taken several protégés of 70-year-old Rubin as advisers, among them Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary, Lawrence Summers as senior White House economics adviser and Peter Orszag as budget director, even as Rubin himself has been defending his key role in deregulating the financial markets and steering Citigroup towards taking greater trading risks to expand its business and reap higher profits ..."  Related:  Obama's Mother A CIA Cut-Out | Obama Is An Intel Spook

 Mossad role in Turkey coup plot revealed  [12/01/08 ] "Israel's national intelligence agency Mossad has been behind a failed coup in Turkey, the Turkish daily newspaper, Milliyet reports. A secret investigation into detained Ergenekon group members and other studies outside Turkey indicate that Mossad orchestrated the coup plot against the Turkish government, the report says."

 One Man’s Military-Industrial-Media Complex  [12/01/08 ] " ... Through seven years of war an exclusive club has quietly flourished at the intersection of network news and wartime commerce. Its members, mostly retired generals, have had a foot in both camps as influential network military analysts and defense industry rainmakers. It is a deeply opaque world, a place of privileged access to senior government officials, where war commentary can fit hand in glove with undisclosed commercial interests and network executives are

 New York Times Misleads on Taliban Role in Opium Trade [12/01/08 ] "The New York Times and other major U.S. media sources commonly report on the production of opium in Afghanistan as though it were under the control of the Taliban. The facts on the ground, however, tell a different story. Who dominates the Afghan opium trade? Foreign Policy Journal investigates."

 Bush’s 11th-Hour Bid for Secrecy [12/01/08 ]  "The times are unprecedented. Not since 1861 have we watched the last gasps of an outgoing administration with such anxiety. Then the nation was concerned with drift and inertia; now we watch for further ideological mischief. Republicans were aghast in 2001 to discover that President Bill Clinton’s staff allegedly had dropped the “W” from White House computer keyboards. Frat house stuff. George W. Bush has left a legacy significantly more troubling, measured by the breakdown of normal government processes, as well as of constitutional guarantees and practices. We watch last-minute rushes to implement new administrative rules, to transform and burrow political appointees into tenured civil servants, to further weaken environmental safeguards, to shift public funds to a desired end, and to lay down policy declarations to leave the current administration’s successors bound or embarrassed until they are undone.”

 Smoking Satellite Pics [12/01/08 ] "According to a report by The Associated Press, Mohamed ElBaradei, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, finds it "baffling" that there are apparently no commercial satellite pictures available of a site in Syria taken in the months just after the Israelis allegedly destroyed whatever was allegedly there prior to September 6th, 2007. Except, of course, for the before/after photos, allegedly taken via commercial satellite, somehow obtained and published [.pdf] last year by David Albright at the Institute for Science and International Security."