Flu Pandemic Would Catch U.S. Unprepared
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has concluded that the nation is unprepared for the true effects of a pandemic such as that expected from avian flu.
Food stamp enrollment jumps to record 31.8 million
A record 31.8 million Americans received food stamps at the latest count, an increase of 700,000 people in one month with the United States in recession, government figures showed on Thursday.
Suspicions grow that attack was 'inside job'
Dramatic footage showing the alleged perpetrators of Tuesday's audacious attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team making their getaway was released by a Pakistani news channel last night.
Is It Now Okay to Talk about Hitler’s Assumption of Dictatorial Power?
By Jacob G. Hornberger
I know that it’s been considered improper to bring up Hitler in the context of what the Bush administration did for the past 7 years, but I wish someone would explain to me how Bush’s powers, as now revealed by those secret legal memos, were different from the dictatorial powers exercised by Hitler after the terrorist attack on the Reichstag in 1933, soon after Hitler became chancellor.
Ron Paul and the conspiracy of history
Not since 1939, when Winston Churchill’s lonely, defiant voice called the Nazi’s for what they really were, has anybody this old, been this right about something so dangerously missed by the rest of the public.
Senate Panel Reaches Terms For Probe of CIA Detentions
The Senate intelligence committee reached an agreement yesterday on the framework of a wide-ranging review of the CIA's past treatment of terrorism detainees, even as members acknowledged that the bulk of the panel's work will be conducted in secret.
Brown says he hasn’t filed federal, state taxes in 2 years
Brown, D-Macon, said Wednesday he’s not sure whether he actually owes the state or federal government any money because he hasn’t filed tax returns. He said he’s gotten extensions, but he declined to give more information or say for what years he received filing extensions.
The Kepler Observatory
It is the first mission with the ability to find planets like Earth -- rocky planets that orbit sun-like stars in a warm zone where liquid water could be maintained on the surface. Liquid water is believed to be essential for the formation of life.
Kepler spacecraft will hunt for planets that are just right for life
The most extensive search for Earth-like planets that could harbour life beyond the solar system is due to get under way in the early hours of tomorrow morning with the launch of a one-tonne spacecraft from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Deutsche sees risk of U.S. GDP falling 10 pct in Q1
Deutsche Bank predicted there are risks that the U.S. economy could contract by as much as 10 percent in the first quarter, given the relentless wave of dismal economic data being reported in early 2009.
Anti-surveillance filmmaker plans eye-socket camera
A Canadian filmmaker plans to have a mini camera installed in his prosthetic eye to make documentaries and raise awareness about surveillance in society.
Israel-Palestine: A Land in Fragments
The U.S. says it supports a secure Israel and the creation of a viable Palestinian state. But the Obama administration has revealed that it will not challenge the facts on the ground the large blocks of land in the West Bank that have been claimed by Israel. Does this undermine the possibility of a viable Palestinian state?
Turley: Bush terror memos are 'definition of tyranny'
Constitutional Law Professor Jonathan Turley presents a legal perspective on memos released about the Bush administrations counter-terrorism policies and whether some members will be prosecuted for them.
Fed Refuses to Release Bank Lending Data, Insists on Secrecy
The Federal Reserve Board of Governors receives daily reports on loans to banks and securities firms, the institution said in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Bloomberg News.
Unopened claims letters hidden at VA offices
A new report about Veterans Affairs Department employees squirreling away tens of thousands of unopened letters related to benefits claims is sparking fresh concerns that veterans and their survivors are being cheated out of money.
Report: Israel nears attacking Iran
Top US politicians have reportedly said that Israel is seriously considering taking unilateral military action against Iran.
Job vacancies and pay fall at record pace
Demand for staff at companies fell at its fastest rate in more than 10 years in February and pay also fell at a record rate as firms slashed costs, a survey showed on Wednesday.
Obama attack on oil & gas industry begins
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner wants to take away tax breaks for oil and gas companies because they contribute to global warming.
Carbon Costs Under Obama Cap-and-Trade
Gasoline prices would rise 12 cents during the first year of a U.S.-wide carbon cap-and-trade system based on President Barack Obama’s budget proposal, according to research firm Point Carbon.
Deal Clears Rove, Miers to Discuss Prosecutor Firings
Attorneys for former president George W. Bush, the U.S. House of Representatives and the Obama administration reached agreement yesterday to resolve a long-running dispute over the scope of executive power, a move that will allow lawmakers to question Bush aides Karl Rove and Harriet E. Miers about their roles in the firing of nine federal prosecutors in 2006.
Study: Modified Genes Contaminated Mexican Corn
One of the more acrimonious scientific debates of the decade may have ended with the publication of a study showing that genetically modified material did contaminate native corn in the crop's birthplace in southern Mexico, scientists said Wednesday.
Ohio couple: Pa. hospital harvested son's organs
The parents of an 18-year-old Ohio man who suffered a brain injury while snowboarding claim in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that doctors at a northwestern Pennsylvania hospital intentionally killed him so they could harvest his organs.
Two Checks on Tyranny
By Jacob G. Hornberger
The purpose of the Bill of Rights was twofold: first, to ensure that certain fundamental rights were protected from federal infringement and, second, to ensure that the American people were expressly guaranteed certain procedural rights in federal criminal prosecutions.
Get ready: DOUBLE DIGIT HYPERINFLATION!
In the last five months, according to the Federal Reserve Board, the money supply in the United States has increased by 271 percent. It has almost tripled.
NSA joining social network for intelligence analysts
The super-secret National Security Agency, traditionally reluctant to share its code-breaking secrets, is joining a new, highly classified social network that links its analysts for the first time with thousands of colleagues at other U.S. intelligence agencies.
Say please' at U. S. border nets pepper spray
A Canadian who demanded courtesy from a U.S. border security guard says he was pepper sprayed and held in custody for three hours for asking the disrespectful officer to "say please" when ordering him to turn his car off during a search.
Ron Paul on Bloomberg (03/03/09)
It's immoral to transfer wealth from the productive to the non-productive members of society. The stimulus and the bailouts will only make the problem worse. Government needs to get out of the way and let the market sort itself out.
Bring Back the Bank Run!
By James Grant
The banking dilemma seems eternal, like the monetary dilemma, the tax dilemma, and the marital dilemma. The essence of the banking dilemma, however, is that the depositors' money is not in the vault awaiting the depositors' decision to withdraw it. Instead it is out on loan or invested in the money market or in mortgage-backed securities.
Report: Diebold Voting System Has 'Delete' Button for Erasing Audit Logs
After three months of investigation, California's secretary of state has released a report examining why a voting system made by Premier Election Solutions (formerly known as Diebold) lost about 200 ballots in Humboldt County during November's presidential election.
But the most startling information in the state's 13-page report (.pdf) is not why the system lost votes, which Wired.com previously covered in detail, but that some versions of Diebold's vote tabulation system, known as the Global Election Management System (Gems), include a button that allows someone to delete audit logs from the system.
Mossad Link Found to One of Key 9-11 Hijackers
A NEW ISRAELI CONNECTION to the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001 has recently been unveiled. Buried in a New York Times story on Feb. 19 was the eye-opening revelation that a Lebanese Muslim Arab who has been taken into custody by the Lebanon—which has accused him of being a spy for some 25 years for Israeli intelligence—just happens to be a cousin of one of the Muslims alleged to have been one of the 9-11 hijackers.
The Inflation Tax
If the American taxpayers knew how much the federal government was actually costing them, there is no doubt that it would be much smaller than it is today. But the true burden of the federal government on the taxpayer is obscured in many ways.
Pakistan declares: 'We are at war'
Pakistan in shock after masked gunmen ambush Sri Lankan cricket team, leaving seven people dead and six players injured
EFF Releases How-To Guide to Fight Government Spying
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) launched its Surveillance Self-Defense project today -- an online how-to guide for protecting your private data against government spying.
Goodbye farmers markets and roadside stands
The "food safety" bills in Congress were written by Monsanto, Cargill, Tysons, ADM, etc. All are associated with the opposite of food safety. What is this all about then?
False Positive Drug Tests Exposed - National Press Club (Video)
The Marijuana Policy Project and the Mintwood Media Collective present the findings of a new study, False Positives Equal False Justice. Video exposes how field drug tests used by police and other government agencies give false positives.
Vietnam "disgusted" by US Agent Orange decision
Vietnamese officials Wednesday harshly criticized the US Supreme Court's decision not to hear an appeal of a lawsuit against the American manufacturers of the toxic defoliant Agent Orange that was thrown out by lower courts.
Chart: Obama Tracks Bush on National Security Cases
In a half-dozen national security lawsuits we've been following, the Obama administration has so far largely stuck by the positions taken by the Bush administration.
UBS official: Bank not giving names of U.S. clients
An official from UBS said today that Switzerland’s biggest bank won’t provide the names of any more American clients to the U.S government in a fight over secrecy and tax avoidance.
Child porn suspect ordered to decrypt own hard drive
In a move sure to stoke debates over constitutional protections against self-incrimination in the digital age, a federal judge has ordered a child porn suspect to decrypt his hard drive so prosecutors can inspect its contents.
Israelis react with fury to British boycott call
Israeli scientists and officials reacted angrily yesterday to calls by more than 400 British academics for the Science Museum to cancel educational workshops planned to promote Israeli science tomorrow.
In U.S. prison spending outpaces all but Medicaid
One in every 31 adults, or 7.3 million Americans, is in prison, on parole or probation, at a cost to the states of $47 billion in 2008, according to a new study.
Criminal correction spending is outpacing budget growth in education, transportation and public assistance, based on state and federal data. Only Medicaid spending grew faster than state corrections spending, which quadrupled in the past two decades, according to the report Monday by the Pew Center on the States, the first breakdown of spending in confinement and supervision in the past seven years.
China to increase defence spending by 15 per cent
China is to increase official military spending by almost 15 per cent this year as it seeks to upgrade its smart technology and improve the living standards of its soldiers.
Italian doctor claims he cloned three babies
An Italian doctor known for helping post-menopausal women to have children has claimed to have cloned three babies who are now living in eastern Europe.
Blagojevich gets six-figure book deal
Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has landed a six-figure book deal to tell his story, his spokesman confirmed to CNN Monday.
Bill Would Put Tobacco Under FDA Control
In what appears to be the best chance since public health groups started pushing for it in the 1970s, Congress is poised to regulate tobacco, a product linked to 1,200 deaths each day but sold largely unfettered for centuries.
Clinton criticises Israeli breach of 'road map'
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticised on Wednesday Israel's plans to demolish dozens of Palestinian homes in Arab East Jerusalem as a violation of its international obligations.
Blueprints for a Police State
By Marjorie Cohn
Seven newly released memos from the Bush Justice Department reveal a concerted strategy to cloak the President with power to override the Constitution.
One in five U.S. mortgage borrowers are underwater
One in five U.S. homeowners with mortgages owe more to their lenders than their properties are worth, and the rate will increase as housing values drop in states that have so far avoided the worst of the crisis, a new study shows.
Private-sector payrolls lose 697,000 jobs
The private sector lost nearly 700,000 jobs in February, according to a report from payroll-processing company Automatic Data Processing released Wednesday, but a separate report showed that employers announced fewer job cuts last month.
Forecast 2009: There Will Be Blood
2009 will be a year of complete destruction for the US economy. 5 Million will lose their jobs. The Dow Jones Industrial average will break below 6,000. Municipalities will fail. Insurers will fail. The unemployed and foreclosed American population will take to the streets and begin rioting. The Greatest Depression is upon us.
Russian general says U.S. may have planned satellite collision
A collision between U.S. and Russian satellites in early February may have been a test of new U.S. technology to intercept and destroy satellites rather than an accident, a Russian military expert has said.
