US diplomats add a moat to their expenses at $1bn London embassy
The United States has unveiled plans for its new $1 billion high-security embassy in London — the most expensive it has ever built.

A Third of All U.S. Casualties in Eight-Year Afghan War Have Occurred Since Obama Ordered Escalation
More than 300 U.S. soldiers have died in the war in Afghanistan since May 15, 2009, the day when the first major wave of new troops ordered by President Barack Obama arrived in the country.

Greek Protestors Clash With Riot Police Over Government's Austerity Measures
Much of Greece has come to halt as the second 24-hour national strike in as many weeks gets underway. Police clashed with youths in the country's capital as thousands of people took to the streets in protest over government cuts.

Racist birth control? Claims Israel culling Ethiopian Jews
A feminist movement has accused the Israeli government of adopting a racist policy towards the country's Ethiopian Jews. Activists believe black women are deliberately being given a controversial contraceptive, to bring about a drop in the population - a claim the government denies.

US warns Iran 'time and patience is running out'
The United States warned Iran on Tuesday that "time and patience is running out" with its nuclear program, saying Tehran had shown no interest in allaying world fears.

US denies links to captured Iran militant
Iranian allegations that a top Sunni militant had been to an American military base in Afghanistan prior to his capture are "totally bogus," a senior US official said Tuesday.

Protesters blockade Greek stock market
Protesters blockaded the Athens Stock Market on Tuesday, on the eve of a general strike, as the leader of Greece's largest labor union warned the government's fiscal austerity measures could lead to an "eruption" in unemployment.

More British, Irish passports used in Dubai killing
The United Arab Emirates has identified four more suspects who carried British and Irish passports in the Dubai killing of a Hamas commander, a source familiar with the investigation said on Tuesday.

Top brass grilled over Turkey 'coup plot'AFP
Investigators began questioning more than 40 military figures on Tuesday, including the retired chiefs of the Turkish navy and air force, after mass arrests over an alleged plot to oust the Islamist-rooted government.

Iran says any atomic fuel swap must be on its soil
Iran said on Tuesday any exchange of nuclear fuel must take place on its soil, underlining its rejection of a plan to ensure it does not amass possible atom bomb material.

U.S. Afghan death toll hits 1,000
The number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan has reached 1,000, an independent website said on Tuesday, with deadly bombings in the south and east highlighting the struggle to stabilize the country.

Top Bush adviser defends using nuclear weapons on civilians
The senior Justice Department legal adviser to President Bush who made the legal case for the Bush Administration’s use of torture tactics on terror suspects defended comments that the president could unilaterally “massacre” civilians in wartime in a newly released interview.

Harvard Fellow calls for genocidal measure to curb Palestinian births
A fellow at Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Martin Kramer, has called for “the West” to take measures to curb the births of Palestinians, a proposal that appears to meet the international legal definition of a call for genocide.

Algeria recalls envoy from Mali over Qaeda row
Algeria recalled its ambassador to Mali on Tuesday to protest the West African country's decision to free four suspected Islamist militants demanded by al Qaeda in exchange for sparing the life of a French hostage.

'Dubai murder another act of Israeli state terrorism'
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has condemned the assassination of a top Hamas official in Dubai as another act of 'Israeli state terrorism.'

Iran to 'hide nuclear plants inside mountains'
Iran said on Monday it is considering plans to build two new uranium enrichment plants concealed inside mountains to avert air strikes, drawing condemnation from the United States.

Details posted on alleged CIA-flights to Poland
Human rights groups present new findings on the CIA's alleged rendition flights to Poland

26 people killed in brutal attacks across Iraq
Assailants killed an Iraqi family of eight Monday, shooting some and beheading others in a brutal attack south of Baghdad reminiscent of the sectarian killings that raged through the area a few years back.

Al Qaeda Suspect Admits New York Bomb Plot
Al Qaeda suspect Najbullah Zazi pleads guilty to a plot to bomb New York and bring "martyrdom to Manhattan".

Former Gitmo Detainee Now Working for U.S.
That man, Taj Mohammed, wore a traditional thick, dark beard, but he also wore a fairly hip pair of dark sunglasses and smiled broadly while speaking a mix of English and Spanish.

Clashes after Hebron mosque declared Israeli heritage site
Confrontations broke out between Palestinians and Israeli forces in Hebron on Monday, as public figures declared a general strike amidst growing anger at the Israeli cabinet's move to recognize shrines in the occupied West Bank as Israeli heritage sites.

Clinton criticized for dodging question on Israel nukes
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is criticized for dodging a question on Israel's nuclear arsenal during a "town hall" meeting at a Jeddah college.

About 50 Turkish commanders held over coup plot
Turkish police detained about 50 military commanders Monday in a crackdown that once would have been unthinkable, accusing the suspects of planning to blow up mosques in order to trigger a military takeover and overthrow the Islamic-rooted government.

71% Give Congress Poor Rating
Voter unhappiness with Congress has reached the highest level ever recorded by Rasmussen Reports as 71% now say the legislature is doing a poor job.

Bernie Sanders compares climate skeptics to Nazi deniers
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is comparing climate change skeptics to those who disregarded the Nazi threat to America in the 1930s, adding a strident rhetorical shot to the already volatile debate over climate change.

'Impeach Obama' sign pops up on U.S. 41
Along the most heavily traveled highway in northeastern Wisconsin, giant bold, red letters stretch across two-thirds of a 14-by-48-foot sign that juts some 15 feet in the air.

Read His Lips: Obama Calls for Increasing Payroll Taxes on ‘Households’ Earning Less Than $250,000 Per Year
President Obama presented a new health care plan on Monday that calls for raising the Medicare payroll tax on some households earning less than $250,000, an apparent breach of his campaign pledge not to raise taxes on families earning less than that amount.

Boy Shot At Deer Creek Now In Critical Condition
A teacher tackled a man armed with a high-powered rifle just after he shot two teenage students Tuesday at a suburban Denver middle school that's just miles from Columbine High School, the site of one of the nation's deadliest school shootings, authorities said. (Also see today's related story tittled Colorado students fight for gun rights)

Climategate Meets the Law: Senator Inhofe To Ask for DOJ Investigation
Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) today asked the Obama administration to investigate what he called “the greatest scientific scandal of our generation” — the actions of climate scientists revealed by the Climategate Files, and the subsequent admissions by the editors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4).

McCain: Paulson and Bernanke Promised that the $700 Billion Troubled Asset Relief Program Would Focus on the Housing Meltdown
McCain isn’t the only one to say that Paulson was doing a bait-and-switch.

Bullet-Proof Case (Not Ivins ... The FBI Cover-Up)
In a new post, vaccine expert Dr. Meryl Nass shreds the FBI's case against Bruce Ivins

The Articles OF Freedom
A Plan to save the Constitution

Brown votes for jobs bill, Joins Dem Majority
A modest job-creation bill advanced in the U.S. Senate on Monday as the chamber's newest Republican bucked his party and sided with Democrats on a $15 billion package of tax cuts and highway spending.

Bayer pesticide banned over threat to honeybees
A U.S. District Judge from Manhattan has banned the sale of spirotetramat, a pesticide produced by Bayer CropScience. Citing allegations by environmental groups and commercial beekeepers that the pesticide is toxic and is killing off the nation's honeybee population, Judge Denise Cote has declared that sales of spirotetramat must cease after January 15.

Climate scientists withdraw journal claims of rising sea levels
Scientists have been forced to withdraw a study on projected sea level rise due to global warming after finding mistakes that undermined the findings.

New Climate Agency Head Tried to Suppress Data, Critics Charge
The scientist who has been put in charge of the Commerce Department’s new climate change office is coming under attack from both sides of the global warming debate over his handling of what they say is contradictory scientific data related to the subject.

US Air Force builds supercomputer using PlayStation 3s
A US Air Force research team has built a supercomputer using just over 2,000 PlayStation 3 game consoles, according to military news site Stars and Stripes. Dubbed the 500 TeraFLOPS Heterogeneous Cluster it is almost 100,000 times faster than existing high-end processors.

Smoked Marijuana Can Be Effective in Treating Pain, Calif. Report Says
There is "reasonable evidence" that smoked marijuana can provide relief for certain pain-related ailments, according to a new report prepared for the California legislature by researchers at the University of California at San Diego.

Greece Gives Germany Another Reason Not To Bail It Out After Mentioning Nazi Gold Theft
Greece is giving Germany even fewer reasons to bail them out from their debt crisis as the Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos mentioned Nazi gold theft in a BBC interview last night reported on FT Alphaville.

A Simple Guide To How Algorithms Are Manipulating The Market Right Now
I am growing more and more tired of seeing what appears to be a very "helpful" algorithm running in the SPY.

Secret AIG Document Shows Goldman Sachs Minted Most Toxic CDOs
When a congressional panel convened a hearing on the government rescue of American International Group Inc. in January, the public scolding of Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner got the most attention.

Report: Wall Street doled out $20 billion in bonuses in 2009
The New York state comptroller says Wall Street bonuses rose 17 percent to more than $20 billion in 2009, the year after taxpayers bailed out the financial sector.

US bank lending falls at fastest rate in history
Bank lending in the US has contracted so far this year at the fastest rate in recorded history, raising concerns that the Federal Reserve may have jumped the gun by withdrawing emergency stimulus.

Europe Demands More Austerity Measures From Greece As Critical Bond Auction Looms
Greece has so far proposed a 5.5% maximum cut in gross salaries to civil servants via entitlement cuts, while the EU is now suggesting an average 7% cut.

Cash-for-clunkers rebates offered on new appliances
Three dozen states will launch programs in March and April to distribute almost $300 million in rebates to consumers buying energy-efficient appliances.

States Reported Fifth Consecutive Drop in Tax Collections in the Fourth Quarter of 2009
State tax revenues declined by 4.1 percent nationwide during the final quarter of calendar 2009, the fifth consecutive quarter of reduced collections, according to a report issued today by the Rockefeller Institute of Government.

Nearly 20% of US Workers Underemployed in Jan
Nearly 20 percent of the U.S. workforce lacked adequate employment in January and struggled to make ends meet with reduced resources and bleak job prospects, according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday.

US regulators report 27 pct jump in problem banks
The number of "problem" U.S. banks jumped 27 percent during the fourth quarter of 2009 to 702, the highest level since 1993 and a sign the industry's recovery is still shaky, regulators reported on Tuesday.

World Gold Council Releases Q4 And 2009 Gold Demand Trends Report
After releasing its Gold Investment Digest last week, which is merely a summary piece of prevailing observations, the World Gold Council today released its much more detailed Q4 and 2009 Gold Demand Trends report (somewhat of a misnomer as it also has an extended supply discussion).

Goldman Issues Press Release On Greek Swaps, Pours More Gas On PR Fire
One wonders why pour more gas on the pr nightmare fire, if indeed everything was according to the books.

Redburn Partners On The Coming Gold War: "Gold Is Money And Nothing Else"
A must read paper by Redburn Partners, “Gold War – Gold is money and nothing else”, written in November 2007 can serve as an sufficiently comprehensive introduction to anyone wishing to get up to speed with the primary forces determining the price of gold and its implications in a fiat-money world.

Euro's Future in Question Even if Greece Saved: Soros
A makeshift assistance should be enough to rescue Greece but bigger problems facing Europe would leave the future of the euro currency in question, billionaire investor George Soros said.

Ron Paul Grills Bernanke On Watergate, Saddam Hussein and the Federal Reserve
Rep. Ron Paul (R., Texas), the chief critic of the Federal Reserve on Capitol Hill, used his five minutes at a House Financial Services Committee hearing this morning to explore the central bank’s role in Saddam Hussein’s reign and Watergate.

Unplug the Signal: The Truth Will Not Be Televised
By Nathan Janes
We have been trained like dogs to be obedient to our television; our master has had our minds on a tight leash.

Keiser Report: Wall Street and the Looting of America
This week Max Keiser and co-host Stacy Herbert report on the scandals of George Soros and the IMF shaking out the gold market; US bank lending falling at the fastest rate in recorded history; and the trickle up unemployment pyramid.

The $100 Trillion Problem: Can America Learn From Chile Before It’s Too Late?
Jose Pinera provides an Entitlement State 101 lecture, in which Chile’s former Labor and Social Security Minister demystifies the U.S.’s $100 trillion unfunded benefits problem.

“Why Real Conservatives Oppose the War on Terror” (Videos)
Is America’s current “War on Terror” essential to keeping our nation safe? Or is it yet another vehicle for the federal government to increase its power over our lives and take away our liberties? Is the “War on Terror” actually weakening our national defense and increasing opposition overseas?

Ron Paul! That's all I have to say…
By Justin Raimondo
Paul’s CPAC victory is a stunning repudiation of the War Party’s long-standing dominance of the GOP, and is bound to ramp up the already quite active campaign to smear and destroy him.

UK politics and the Israel lobby
n this episode of “The Big Story”, she revisits the issue of the Israel lobby’s influence on British politics and the media.

Debt Dynamite Dominoes: The Coming Financial Catastrophe
By Andrew Gavin Marshall
When the crisis is over, the middle classes of the western world will have been liquidated of their economic, political and social status.

Ferguson: We're One Downgrade Away From The End Of American Empire
Niall Ferguson is candidly calling time on the American Empire, or at least pointing to the combination of factors that will soon lead to its demise, in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs.

Why Neocons Hate Muslims
By Jacob G. Hornberger
While there has been much discussion over why Muslims hate Americans, much less attention has been given to why neocons hate Muslims.

There is No Such Thing as a Fair Tax
By Laurence M. Vance
Review of The FairTax Book, by Neal Boortz and John Linder
Boortz makes a lot of dubious, unsubstantiated claims for the FairTax that greatly exaggerate its benefits. He all but states that the FairTax will usher in the millennium.

Why We are Susceptible to Manipulation
Biologists and sociologists tell us that our brains evolved in small groups or tribes.

Wall Street is Running a Casino
Some people believe economic grwoth no longer means job creation.

Liquidating the Empire
By Patrick J. Buchanan
Ron Paul’s victory at CPAC may be a sign the prodigal sons of the Right are casting off the heresy of neoconservatism and coming home to first principles.

Obama aggresses, media echoes lie Iran threatens to "wipe Israel off the map." Citizen action?
By Carl Herman
“Crimes against Peace” is the planning of a War of Aggression. It is illegal under several areas of law wherein all nations bound themselves to prevent the carnage of war: the UN Charter (treaty status), Nuremberg Principles (or London Charter, treaty status), and US military law. US political and media leaders continue war rhetoric to attack Iran, in direct violation of the most important law a nation should uphold (here for encyclopedic background).

Judge Alex Kozinski: The Fourth Amendment is Gone. "Welcome to the fish bowl."
Last week the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied an en banc rehearing of the case United States v. Lemus, which dealt with a warrantless police search of a suspect’s home after he was arrested outside of it. As a result of the 9th Circuit’s denial, the search will stand, which has left Chief Judge Alex Kozinski none too happy. In dissent, Kozinksi basically accused his colleagues of abandoning the Fourth Amendment

Suit possible over baby DNA sent to military lab for national database
An Austin lawyer threatened to pursue a new federal lawsuit Monday after learning that some newborn blood samples in Texas went to the U.S. military for potential use in a database for law enforcement purposes.

Colorado students fight for gun rights
What seemed like common sense to some is nothing less than an assault on the US Constitution to others, which is why a governors meeting at Colorado State University today to approve a ban on students bearing concealed weapons on its main campus in Fort Collins is likely to be rowdy.

Only 9% Say Most in Congress Interested in Helping People
As frustrations toward Congress continue to boil, a new Rasmussen polling report finds that more voters than ever think the average Congressman is more interested in helping himself than helping those he represents.

Australia to use face-scanning and fingerprints to combat terrorism
Australia plans to fingerprint and face-scan visitors from 10 high-risk countries in an attempt to combat terrorism, which has become a "permanent" threat to the country.

White House: If GOP Filibusters, We’ll Pass Health Reform Via Reconciliation
In the course of unveiling Obama’s new health reform proposal on a conference call with reporters this morning, White House advisers made it clearer than ever before: If the GOP filibusters health reform, Dems will move forward on their own and pass it via reconciliation.

Consumer Confidence Falls to Lowest Since April
Confidence among U.S. consumers fell in February to the lowest level in 10 months, a sign that concern about job prospects may hold back the spending needed to sustain the recovery.

Pope Benedict XVI criticises airport body scanners
Pope Benedict XVI has spoken out against the use of body scanners at airports insisting that "human dignity must be preserved".