Will Washington's Failures Lead To Second American Revolution? The Internet is a large-scale version of the "Committees of Correspondence" that led to the first American Revolution — and with Washington's failings now so obvious and awful, it may lead to another.
Plan to Aid 9/11 Victims Is Rejected in House House Republicans on Thursday blocked a Democratic plan to provide billions of dollars for medical treatment to rescue workers and residents of New York City who suffered illnesses from the toxic dust and debris at ground zero.
Schwarzenegger and Rupert Murdoch makes trek to Bohemian Grove Plutocrats and powerbrokers, including former presidents, annually flock to the 2,700-acre wooded retreat where neither women, other than grove employees, nor outsiders of either gender are permitted.
US embassy vehicles torched in Kabul Rioting erupted in Kabul Friday when two US embassy vehicles were set ablaze after one collided with a civilian car, killing a number of occupants, officials and witnesses said.
US closes consulate in violence-hit Mexican border city The United States has closed its consulate in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez to carry out a security review amid spiraling drug gang-related violence, officials said Friday.
BP's `Kill' Start May Be Delayed Due to Storm Debris BP Plc’s next attempt to more fully seal its Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico may be delayed by a day so the company can remove debris from a relief well.
China says it opposes EU sanctions against Iran China said Friday that it opposes the sanctions the European Union is imposing on Iran over its disputed nuclear program, saying it supports Iran's renewed efforts to hold talks on a possible swap of nuclear fuel.
Syria, Saudi leaders urge Lebanon rivals to avoid violence Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi King Abdullah on Friday urged Lebanon's rival factions to avoid violence, on an unprecedented joint trip to Beirut aiming to defuse political tensions.
Pentagon returns Wikileaks suspect to U.S. A military intelligence analyst suspected in the leak of more than 90,000 classified field reports from Afghanistan was returned to the United States from a base in Kuwait Thursday, an Army spokesman said.
July the deadliest month of Afghan war for US An AP photographer embedded with U.S. soldiers in southern Afghanistan filmed a wounded soldier being airlifted to safety as July became the deadliest month for American troops in the nine-year-old war.
Al-Qaida Plants Flag, Burns Bodies In Iraq Attack Militants flew an al-Qaida flag over a Baghdad neighborhood Thursday after killing 16 security officials and burning some of their bodies in a brazen afternoon attack that served as a grim reminder of continued insurgent strength in Iraq's capital.
UN endorses Israel’s siege of Gaza Recently, the United Nations broke its silence on the siege of Gaza which is about to enter its fourth year, not to denounce it or speak up against it, but, shockingly, to endorse it.
Pentagon: Leak probe may go beyond military A criminal investigation into the leak of tens of thousands of secret Afghanistan war logs could go beyond the military, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday, and he did not rule out that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange could be a target.
UK PM cautions Pakistan over 'terror exports British Prime Minister David Cameron has warned Pakistan not to have any relationship with groups that "promote the export of terror".
Poll: Nearly 6 In 10 Pakistanis View US As Enemy Despite billions in aid from Washington and a shared threat from extremists, Pakistanis have an overwhelmingly negative view of the United States, according to results of a Pew Research Center poll released Thursday.
Before the CIA, there was the Pond It was a night in early November during the infancy of the Cold War when the anti-communist dissidents were hustled through a garden and across a gully to a vehicle on a dark, deserted road in Budapest. They hid in four large crates for their perilous journey.
Iran ready to stop uranium enrichment: report Iran pledged to halt enriching uranium if world powers agree to a nuclear fuel swap deal it signed with Turkey and Brazil, a newspaper on Thursday quoted Turkey’s foreign minister as saying.
Ariz. governor considers changing immigration law Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said Friday she is asking legislators to consider whether they should change the state's immigration law in the wake of a judge's ruling blocking enforcement of key parts of it.
Wikileaks contacted Obama Admin. before release of documents but got no response When asked by Judge Andrew Napolitano of Fox News why he should not be held responsible for potential deaths caused by the leak, Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, answered that he contacted the White House about the leaks before they were released and asked them to review them. The White House’s response? Nada.
Anthony Weiner's Spitting Mad Rant Against Republicans On The House Floor (VIDEO) The House was debating a bill last night that would provide up to $7.4 billion in health care aid to rescue and recovery workers who have faced health problems since their work in the wake of the September 11 attacks. The bill ultimately failed to get the needed two-thirds majority, 255-159, and Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) was not happy about it. Not one bit.
Ethics subcommittee recommends reprimand for Rangel The ethics panel investigating Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) is recommending that he be reprimanded for the conduct that resulted in 13 charges against the veteran lawmaker.
BP Fights U.S., Spill Victims Over Venue for Lawsuits BP Plc, the U.S. and plaintiffs who filed hundreds of lawsuits seeking billions of dollars for damages stemming from the largest oil spill in U.S. history are fighting over where the cases should be heard first.
House Republicans Giving Green Light for Israeli Strike on Iran Nearly one third of the Republican congressmen in the U.S. House of Representatives have introduced a resolution that would support Israel's right to use “all means necessary to confront and eliminate nuclear threats posed by Iran”, including military force.
Graham eyes 'birthright citizenship' Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) announced Wednesday night that he is considering introducing a constitutional amendment that would change existing law to no longer grant citizenship to the children of immigrants born in the United States.
Political operatives on Journolist worked to shape news coverage Despite its name, membership in the liberal online community Journolist wasn’t limited to journalists. Present among the bloggers, reporters and editors were a number of professional political operatives, including top White House economic advisors, key Obama political appointees, and Democratic campaign veterans.
SEC Says New Financial Regulation Law Exempts it From Public Disclosure So much for transparency. Under a little-noticed provision of the recently passed financial-reform legislation, the Securities and Exchange Commission no longer has to comply with virtually all requests for information releases from the public, including those filed under the Freedom of Information Act.
Mass. Legislature approves plan to bypass Electoral College The Massachusetts Legislature has approved a new law intended to bypass the Electoral College system and ensure that the winner of the presidential election is determined by the national popular vote.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Brazil's Omo Uses GPS to Follow Consumers Home Unilever's Omo detergent is adding an unusual ingredient to its two-pound detergent box in Brazil: a GPS device that allows its promotions agency Bullet to track shoppers and follow them to their front doors.
UK supermarket starts contactless payments The supermarket chain will roll out contactless payment kit to its 2600 stores over the next couple of years at a cost of £700,000, which it intends to recoup from the lower transaction fees that the card companies levy on contactless transactions, NFC World reports.
"New evidence" of global warming is just a new cherrypick Compiled by old frauds. For a start, they left out of their dataset the most accurate climate record of all: The satellite data. You'll never guess why! Below is the DT report, with further comments at the foot of it
Science Turns Authoritarian Science is losing its credibility because it has adopted an authoritarian tone, and has let itself be co-opted by politics.
One in five Californians say they need mental health care Almost 5 million California adults say they could use help with a mental or emotional problem, according to a survey released Wednesday by researchers at UCLA. About 1 million of them meet the criteria for "serious psychological distress."
New Study Shows Vaccines Cause Brain Changes Found in Autism Abnormal brain growth and function are features of autism, an increasingly common developmental disorder that now affects 1 in 60 boys in the US. Now researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Thoughtful House Center for Children in Austin, Texas, have found remarkably similar brain changes to those seen in autism in infant monkeys receiving the vaccine schedule used in the 1990’s that contained the mercury-based preservative thimerosal.
An Order of Seven Global Cyber-Guardians Now Hold Keys to the Internet You may have heard the rumor that swirled briefly last month about an Internet “kill switch” that could power down the Web in the case of a critical cyber attack. Those rumors turned out to be largely overblown, but it turns out there are now seven individuals out there holding keys to the Internet. In the aftermath of a cataclysmic cyber attack, these members of a “chain of trust” will be responsible for rebooting the Web.
MONEY & MARKETS
Europe's €30 trillion headache European banks have amassed €30 trillion in liabilities and face a serious funding threat over the next two years as authorities withdraw emergency support, according to a new report by Standard & Poor's.
The Most Damaging Propaganda Campaign in History. And its Aimed at You and Me Citibank saw an opportunity in South Dakota. They flew out to meet with the state’s Governor and made a deal. South Dakota agreed to quickly pass legislation that was actually drafted by Citibank, and it eliminated all usury laws… in other words, you could now charge as much interest as you wanted to. No limits. Citibank picked up and moved its credit card operations there, bringing 3,000 high-paying white-collar jobs to the state.
Dollar Declines to Lowest Level in 2010 as U.S. Growth Slows The dollar touched a level below 86 yen for the first time this year and had a third straight monthly loss against Japan’s currency as a government report showed U.S. economic growth slowed in the second quarter.
Europe Crisis Is Not Over, May Lead to Fiscal Union, UBS Says Europe’s debt crisis is “far from over” and the most likely outcome is closer fiscal ties among nations as officials seek to strengthen the region against future disasters, UBS AG analysts said.
China Becomes Second Biggest World Economy China has overtaken Japan to become the world's second-largest economy, the fruit of three decades of rapid growth that has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.
Marc Faber Questions if Dow Could Hit 1,000 In the August edition of the ‘The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report’ Marc Faber questions whether the Dow could hit 1,000 as predicted by Robert Prechter, based on his interpretation of Elliot Waves, Fibonacci numbers and socioeconomic trends.
IMF Says U.S. Financial System May Need $76 Billion in Capital The U.S. financial system remains fragile and banks subjected to additional economic stress might need as much as $76 billion in capital, according to the results of International Monetary Fund stress tests.
CBO Warns of the Risk of a U.S. Fiscal Crisis It’s difficult to forget the drama—including riots, fires, and even deaths—that unfolded during Greece’s recent fiscal crisis. But what would happen if bad budget policy led to a financial crisis in the United States?
Citigroup Said to Pay $75 Million to Settle SEC Subprime Case Citigroup Inc. will pay $75 million to settle U.S. regulatory claims that it misled investors by understating holdings linked to subprime mortgages by billions of dollars as the housing crisis unfolded in 2007.
Look What Surprises They Snuck Into The Financial Reform Bill Even just a decade ago, major pieces of legislation in the U.S. Congress would be just a few dozen pages long. But today, it seems like every time Congress passes an important bill it ends up being over a thousand pages long.
Bank of England chief says stimulus still needed The governor of the Bank of England said Wednesday that the need to stimulate the economy still takes precedence over concerns about high inflation at a time when the outlook for the global economy remains uncertain.
Fed Member’s Deflation Warning Hints at Policy Shift A subtle but significant shift appears to be occurring within the Federal Reserve over the course of monetary policy amid increasing signs that the economic recovery is weakening.
COMMENTARY
Neocon Nutballs Ramp Up Campaign
By Gareth Porter Reuel Marc Gerecht’s screed in the Weekly Standard seeking to justify an Israeli bombing attack on Iran coincides with the opening of the new Israel lobby campaign marked by the introduction of House resolution 1553 expressing full support for such an Israeli attack.
The (war) games go on
By Donald Kirk The drama over United States and South Korean war games in the seas off the coasts of South Korea is about to enter its second act. The South Korean navy plans to stage military exercises next week in the Yellow Sea near where one of its ships was sunk in March with the loss of 46 sailors.
The Southern Avenger: Obama is a Threat to National Security When Wikileaks released over 90,000 classified documents painting a more grim picture of the war in Afghanistan than is usually portrayed, the whistleblower website didn't compromise national security. They did a valuable service.
Wiki-Leaks Is Israel, Like We All Didn't Know
By Gordon Duf Now “Wiki-Leaks” is busy selling phony bin Laden stories, having the long dead Osama humiliating the CIA by running around villages in Afghanistan selling vacuum cleaners. What is our “leak” site really about?
Calling All Patriot Business Owners
By Chuck Baldwin Without a doubt, had not committed shopkeepers, physicians, lawyers, bankers, merchants, ranchers, and businessmen of all types assisted our fight for independence, the cause would certainly have been lost.
The Future is Being Written Right Now
By Daniel Taylor The world, it seams, is reaching a critical juncture in history. Current trends are pointing towards dramatic changes in government and society. Long standing institutions are scrambling to stay afloat as new rivals challenge old ideas.
A Persian message for Obama
By M K Bhadrakumar The season of diplomacy on the Iran nuclear issue is once again approaching. Another harsh winter has passed. Rhetoric has touched a point of diminishing returns.
The Ruling Elite Called I just got off the horn with the Ruling Elite. We had an emergency conference call and to tell you the truth, they ain’t happy.
The Nature of Resistance
By Arthur Silber I wanted to highlight the great heroism of those who run Wikileaks and are otherwise involved in these continuing leaks and offer my thanks for their invaluable work, while contrasting their immense courage with the loathsome, murderous behavior of the rulers of the American imperial state.
The Plunderbund's Persecution of Phil Hart
By William N. Grigg Rep. Hart's actual offense was not withholding payment of taxes, but rather refusing to surrender to the IRS the names and contact information of the thousands of people who purchased his self-published book Constitutional Income: Do You Have Any?, a detailed, scholarly examination of the history of the federal income tax.
Patrick Cockburn on Missing Billions in Iraq and Soaring Cancer & Infant Mortality Rates in Fallujah In Iraq, an official audit by the US Special Investigator for Iraq Reconstruction found that the Pentagon cannot account for almost $9 billion taken from Iraqi oil revenues between 2004 and 2007 for use in reconstruction. Meanwhile, a new medical study has found dramatic increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukemia in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was bombarded by US Marines in 2004.
A Critical Examination of Matt Simmons’ Claims on the Deepwater Spill Simmons has lately been making hyperbolic claims related to the deepwater spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Based on the scenarios Simmons has outlined, he argues for responses such as using a nuclear explosion to seal the well and evacuating 20 million people from the Gulf Coast. Extraordinary responses such as these would impact a great many people, so The Oil Drum staff felt that a critical look at some of Simmons’ claims was in order.
Slipping into war... Yesterday, Ron Paul spoke on the House floor during debate on a privileged resolution to invoke the War Powers Act and remove our troops from Pakistan.
Government Has Run Amok Since 9/11
By Sheldon Richman Those who understand the exploitative nature of big government suspected that the U.S. response to the 9/11 attacks had little to do with the security of the American people and much to do with power and money. Still, the magnitude of the scam, as revealed by the Washington Post last week, is astonishing.
The Graveyard of Empires
By Jacob Hornberger They don’t call Afghanistan the graveyard of empires for nothing. Just ask Great Britain and Russia. It seems that the U.S. Empire, however, is bound and determined to prove that it’s the exception to that adage.
PRISON PLANET
Feds raid Amish dairy and threaten action over raw milk sales The U.S. government gestapo is at it again in its crusade against raw milk. Recently, the jackboots swarmed a Pennsylvania Amish man's private dairy farm for the second time, falsely accusing him of violating the ridiculous prohibition on selling raw milk across state lines.
Obama approves more funds for wars US President Barack Obama has signed a spending bill allocating USD 37 billion to the unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Another force to investigate officer shoving woman The Vancouver Police Department has called in an outside force to investigate after one of its members pushed a disabled woman to the ground in the city's impoverished downtown east side.
Obama Administration In Danger Of Establishing 'New Normal' With Worst Bush-Era Policies, Says ACLU The Obama administration has repudiated some of the Bush administration's most egregious national security policies but is in danger of institutionalizing others permanently into law, thereby creating a troubling "new normal," according to a new report released today by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Amnesty by bypassing congress According to an internal U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services memo going the rounds of Capitol Hill and obtained by National Review, the agency is considering ways in which it could enact “meaningful immigration reform absent legislative action” — that is, without the consent of the American people through a vote in Congress.
Google, CIA Invest in ‘Future’ of Web Monitoring The investment arms of the CIA and Google are both backing a company that monitors the web in real time — and says it uses that information to predict the future.
White House proposal would ease FBI access to records of Internet activity The Obama administration is seeking to make it easier for the FBI to compel companies to turn over records of an individual's Internet activity without a court order if agents deem the information relevant to a terrorism or intelligence investigation.
Source of leaked military docs unknown: WikiLeaks While the United States is trying to hunt for the individual behind the massive leak of US military data on Afghanistan war, the whistleblowers' website, that made the 91,000 classified documents available to the world, has said that the source of leak is unknown.
The Year America Dissolved
By Paul Craig Roberts It was 2017. Clans were governing America. The first clans organized around local police forces. The conservatives’ war on crime during the late 20th century and the Bush/Obama war on terror during the first decade of the 21st century had resulted in the police becoming militarized and unaccountable.
Federal judge blocks part of Arizona immigration law A federal judge has blocked one of the most controversial sections of a tough Arizona immigration law, granting a preliminary injunction Wednesday that prevents police from questioning people about their immigration status.
Leaked files indicate U.S. pays Afghan media to run friendly stories Buried among the 92,000 classified documents released Sunday by WikiLeaks is some intriguing evidence that the U.S. military in Afghanistan has adopted a PR strategy that got it into trouble in Iraq: paying local media outlets to run friendly stories.
Pentagon can't account for $8.7 billion in Iraqi funds The Defense Department is unable to properly account for $8.7 billion out of $9.1 billion in Iraqi oil revenue entrusted to it between 2004 and 2007, according to a newly released audit that underscores a pattern of poor record-keeping during the war.
‘US psywar plan includes 2 hot wars’ Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the United States and Israel plan to attack two countries in the Middle East as part of a conspiracy to apply pressure on Iran.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange: more revelations to come The Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, said today that the organisation is working through a "backlog" of further secret material and was expecting a "substantial increase in submissions" from whistleblowers after one of the biggest leaks in US military history.
Toxic legacy of US assault on Fallujah ‘worse than Hiroshima’ Dramatic increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukaemia in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was bombarded by US Marines in 2004, exceed those reported by survivors of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, according to a new study.
Researchers confirm subsea Gulf oil plumes are from BP well Through a chemical fingerprinting process, University of South Florida researchers have definitively linked clouds of underwater oil in the northern Gulf of Mexico to BP's runaway Deepwater Horizon well — the first direct scientific link between the subsurface oil clouds commonly known as "plumes" and the BP oil spill, USF officials said Friday.
BP accused of trying to silence science on spill The head of the American Association of Professors accused BP Friday of trying to buy the silence of scientists and academics to protect itself after the Gulf oil spill, in a BBC interview.
White House Emails Show More Extensive Improper Contact With Google Recent email communication between White House Deputy Chief Technology Officer Andrew McLaughlin, who is Google’s former head of Global Public Policy, and multiple outside individuals raise new questions about the official’s alleged circumvention of federal ethics and recordkeeping rules.
Deficit Estimate to $1.47 Trillion President Barack Obama’s budget office forecast this year’s federal deficit will be a record $1.47 trillion, about $84 billion less than forecast in February because of lower spending for unemployment and some government programs.
Michigan Says Enough To Fed: Takes Matters Into Own Hands As It Starts Using Own Currency…And Gold Either in anticipation of QE2 which will cut the value of the dollar by another 50% once another $2 trillion in toxic crap becomes the “assets” backing the viability of the dollar, or just because they are sick of Fed policies, mid-Michigan has taken monetary matters into their own hands, and in one simple act, completely bypassed the destabilizing influence of the domestic currency printers.
Google's Wi-Spying and Intelligence Ties Prompt Call for Congressional Hearing Citing new information about Google's classified government contracts and the Internet giant's admitted Wi-Spying activity, Consumer Watchdog today said it is more imperative than ever for the Energy and Commerce Committee to conduct hearings into possible privacy violations by Google.
U.S. Government to America’s Vets: Drop Dead From 1991 to 2003, hundreds of thousands of our bravest men and women sought help from the Veterans Administration, from the Defense Department, from the White House, all to no avail.
Growing Number of Prosecutions for Videotaping the Police That Anthony Graber broke the law in early March is indisputable. He raced his Honda motorcycle down Interstate 95 in Maryland at 80 mph, popping a wheelie, roaring past cars and swerving across traffic lanes.
BP Moves the Goalpost for the Oil Well Integrity Test As Coast Guard admiral Thad Allen has explained, sustained pressure readings above 8,000 pounds per square inch (psi) would show that the wellbore is more or less intact, while pressures of 6,000 psi or less would mean there could be major problems
Top Secret America - A hidden world, growing beyond control The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.
Tim Shorrock Asks Why It Took the Washington Post So Long to Investigate the US Intelligence System "With all due respect to the Washington Post—and Dana Priest and Bill Arkin are very good reporters—we have to ask, why did it take them seven years to do this story?" says Tim Shorrock, an investigative journalist and author of Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing. "Anyone who’s been covering intelligence or national security in Washington knows that intelligence has been privatized to an incredible extent."
