Obama science advisor advocates climate engineering
In an interview with the Associated Press, John Holdren, President Obama’s newly confirmed science advisor, discussed the possibility of ‘climate engineering’ to battle global warming. The radical and somewhat controversial technology would require an extraordinary intervention by man in an attempt to purposely influence the climate.
Secret US-Iran meetings held in Geneva
Academics and specialists from Iran, the United States and Europe have been meeting regularly in the Swiss city of Geneva for high level but informal talks.
Government TARP Losses Reach $100 Billion
The federal government's investments in banks and automotive companies have lost more than $100 billion in value, according to analysis by an economic think tank.
FCC Acting Chairman To Act Boldly On Media Diversity
Federal Communications Commission Acting Chairman Michael Copps said Wednesday he intends to act boldly to help improve the diversity of broadcasters in the U.S.
GM Pensions May Be ‘Garbage’ With $16 Billion at Risk
Den Black, a retired General Motors Corp. engineering executive, says he’s worried and angry. The government-supported automaker is going bankrupt, he says, and he’s sure some of his retirement pay will go down with it.
Crew retakes seized ship, Pentagon says
A U.S. military official said Wednesday the crew of a U.S.-flagged cargo ship has retaken at least part of the vessel from Somali hijackers.
A sky filled with assassins
By Tom Engelhardt
The Pentagon and the military-industrial complex surrounding it - including mega-arms manufacturers, advanced weapons labs, university science centers, and the official or semi-official think tanks that churned out strategies for future military domination - went right on.
Former FBI chief defends flow of money to Saudi ambassador
Former FBI Director Louis J. Freeh says $2 billion that flowed from a British arms manufacturer to U.S. bank accounts controlled by Prince Bandar bin Sultan, then Saudi ambassador to the U.S., was not a bribe, but was instead part of a complex barter involving the exchange of Saudi oil for British fighter jets.
Moody's Downgrades The Whole Country
The Federal government is still AAA, but every municipal debt issuer is now suspect and shaky according to Moody's.
Pentagon: U.S. crew in control of hijacked ship
Pentagon officials said Wednesday that the American crew of a U.S.-flagged cargo ship had retaken control from Somali pirates who hijacked the vessel far off the Horn of Africa.
Somali Pirates hijack ship with 20 Americans onboard
Somali pirates hijacked a U.S.-flagged, Danish-owned container ship on Wednesday with 20 American crew on board in a major escalation in attacks off the lawless Horn of Africa nation, officials said.
Haaretz: Obama team readying for confrontation with Netanyahu
In an unprecedented move, the Obama administration is readying for a possible confrontation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by briefing Democratic congressmen on the peace process and the positions of the new government in Israel regarding a two-state solution.
Market bear Roubini sticks to dour forecasts
There's still bad news ahead for the U.S. economy -- and by extension for Canada -- and the bear market for stocks is not over yet, according to a prominent economist who foretold much of the current turmoil.
Zardari: 'Give us the drones and we will take out the militants ourselves'
Pakistan's president has called on America to provide his country with an arsenal of drones and missiles to target militants blamed for a wave of violence rather than carrying out independent operations that violate the nation's sovereignty.
Latinos drive record surge in U.S. naturalizations
Nearly half of the record-setting 1 million new U.S. citizens sworn in last year were Latino immigrants — a 95 percent increase among that ethnic group from the previous year, according to an analysis by an Hispanic advocacy organization.
The Declaration Of Independence Has Been Repealed
On April 2, 2009, the work of July 4, 1776 was nullified at the meeting of the G-20 in London. The joint communiqué essentially announces a global economic union with uniform regulations and bylaws for all nations, including the United States.
Dobbs Concludes U.S. Allows Drugs In
Last night Lou Dobbs agreed with the President of Mexico that drugs are flowing into the United States because our government permits it. President Calderon said U.S. corruption permitted drug imports. "If there is traffic in the United States, it is because there is some corruption in the United States," Calderon said. Dobbs agreed....
Early signs: Netanyahu seeking to shake things up
As the new Netanyahu government gets rolling, the early signs are that there will be significant changes in foreign policy. The Likud leader has strongly signaled that he intends to be more proactive in dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat and has withdrawn his predecessor's commitments to a two-state solution with the Palestinians and a pullback from the Golan Heights in return for peace with Syria.
First Amendment will face difficult trials
The freedom of the press clause in our beloved First Amendment is about to undergo perhaps its most serious challenges, because “the press” isn’t as neatly defined as it once was. A fascinating case in Phoenix is headed for court, and it ought to give any practicing journalist pause.
Chinese and Russian cyberspies 'penetrate US electrical grid'
Foreign spies have infiltrated the US electrical grid, leaving behind software programs that could disrupt the system in a time of war, American national security officials have claimed.
Changing the rules of the blame game
By Bill Moyers and Michael Winship
A cartoon in the Sunday comics shows that mustachioed fellow with monocle and top hat from the Monopoly game -- “Rich Uncle Pennybags,” he used to be called -- standing along the roadside, destitute, holding a sign: “Will blame poor people for food.”
Those Mass Shootings
By Michael Gaddy
For several decades the state and its willing accomplices in the media and talk radio have marginalized and demonized anyone who alleges involvement of the state in illegal activities or conspiracies to provide false information to support its illegal wars and other agendas. Those who do so are referred to as "conspiracy nuts" or in the case of Rush Limbaugh, Keepers of Odd Knowledge Society members. (K.O.O.K.S)
N Korea warns against retaliation
North Korea has warned it will take "strong steps" if the United Nations Security Council takes any action in response to its long-range rocket launch.
Hard Rain Keeps Falling: Talking Peace in Prague, Dropping Bombs in Pakistan
By Chris Floyd
While the usual gaggle of sycophants and media hive-minders -- along with some ordinarily perspicacious analysts -- tell us that Barack Obama literally changed the course of human history by disgorging a great load of thrice-chewed cud about nuclear disarmament in Prague this week, the high-tech drone war the great hero of peace is waging inside the sovereign territory of America's ally, Pakistan, is helping drive tens of thousands of people from their homes and killing civilians almost daily.
World Economy Falling Faster Than in 1929-1930
Barry Eichengreen, an expert on the Great Depression, and Kevin O'Rourke, take issue with the notion that the current downturn is less severe than the Great Depression. While the slump in the US is not as bad, that mis-states the global picture.
Protesters attack Thai PM's car as tensions rise
Anti-government protesters attacked Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's car and trapped him inside a beach hotel Tuesday as the kingdom's political turmoil boiled over into violence.
The Meter Is Running
Ready to pay for your internet by the banner ad? Time Warner thinks you are
Last week, Time Warner Cable announced Phase 2 of its new broadband pricing model, a tiered billing system that would charge internet users based on their monthly consumption.
21st Century Internment Camps: Disaster relief or civil rights disaster?
By Maha Zimmo
The question we must ask ourselves is simple: if NECEA is meant to address natural disasters, then why is the scope of the Act so vague, large and open-ended? The flipside of which is: if NECEA is only meant to address natural disasters, they why isn’t NECEA crystal clear on this point?
Instead, we find that the purpose of these military-based emergency centres may be used to “meet other appropriate needs, as determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security.” It is when we attempt to understand the pocket of obscurity created by NECEA’s vagueness, and while factoring in the readying of the U.S. military’s response to the anticipated civil unrest (due to the economic war being waged on all but the ‘haves’), that the potentially insidious nature of the centres becomes evident.
Spain Investigates What America Should
By Marjorie Cohn
A Spanish court has initiated criminal proceedings against six former officials of the Bush administration. John Yoo, Jay Bybee, David Addington, Alberto Gonzales, William Haynes and Douglas Feith may face charges in Spain for authorizing torture at Guantánamo Bay.
Israel points Arrow II at Iran, Syria
Israel has test fired its Arrow II ballistic missile system to be prepared to counter what it calls Iranian and Syrian missile threat.
Training children to be spies
The schools launched the "Text-A-Tip" program Tuesday in partnership with the Douglas County Sheriff's Department. The program gives high school students a text number they can use to report bullying, weapons, drugs and even a suicidal classmate.
U.S. to Offer Aid to Life Insurers
The Treasury Department has decided to extend bailout funds to a number of struggling life-insurance companies, helping an industry that is a lynchpin of the U.S. financial system, people familiar with the matter said.
U.S. apartment market worsens with economy
The vacancy rate for U.S. apartments hit a three-year high in the first quarter and asking rents dropped the most in at least 10 years as the number of excess apartments on the market ballooned, according to real estate research firm Reis Inc.
Obama's economic dilemma: Spend or save?
U.S. President Barack Obama needs to convince Americans to spend now and save later in order to get the U.S. economy back on solid footing. If they really wanted to turn the economy around they would cut the tax rate in half, downsize the federal government, eliminate the Federal Reserve and quit getting us in debt.
President Approves New Spy Satellites
After more than a decade of false starts by the intelligence community, President Barack Obama approved a new constellation of highly capable electro-optical surveillance satellites.
California's anti-tax crusaders talk revolt
Taking inspiration from a landmark 1970s tax revolt, a determined group of activists say the moment is right for another voter uprising in California, where recession-battered residents have been hit with the highest income and sales tax rates in the nation.
Greece Teeters on the Verge of Bankruptcy
Greece is on the brink of bankruptcy despite the fact that the global recession has yet to hit the country with full force. Strikes are paralyzing the country and the EU is putting on the pressure. But the government is still trying to put a positive spin on things.
FOLLOW THE MONEY / MADOFF, MOSSAD, AIG AND 9/11
The Madoff investigation is very similar to the 9-11 investigation in that evidence of a larger conspiracy is being avoided and ignored. It is possible that the billions that Madoff stole, and is still unaccounted for, was being used to finance Israel’s vast global spy and sabotage network Mossad with connections to both AIG and quite possibly 9/11 itself
It's More or Less Official: We're In a Global Depression
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the organization that audits the books of countries world-wide to determine their real financial health. The IMF is also responsible for bailing out countries in trouble, and stabilizing the world's economic systems.
New and worse secrecy and immunity claims from the Obama DOJ
By Glenn Greenwald
When Congress immunized telecoms last August for their illegal participation in Bush's warrantless eavesdropping program, Senate Democratic apologists for telecom immunity repeatedly justified that action by pointing out that Bush officials who broke the law were not immunized -- only the telecoms. Some so called conservatives say Obama is a fascist, while others say he's a communist or socialist. Their the same people that promoted Bush and his warrrantless spy program. What I'm wondering is, do those same conservatives still think it's such a wonderful idea, now that Obama is president, to have a fascist, communist or socialist, spying on them? Truth is, warrantless spying was never good policy in the first place. Source: Bank 'stress test' results delayed
The U.S. Treasury Department is planning to delay the release of any completed bank "stress test" results until after the first-quarter earnings season to avoid complicating stock market reaction, a source familiar with Treasury's discussions said Tuesday.
Ted Stevens' conviction set aside
A federal judge Tuesday set aside the conviction of former Sen. Ted Stevens. The judge also initiated criminal contempt proceedings against the government lawyers who prosecuted the 85-year-old Alaska Republican.
Borderless World the Long-held Dream of Bilderberg Group
Bilderberg will continue to push for world government at the May 14-19 secret meeting in Vouliagmeni, Greece, according to a participant. Alice Rivlin, who has represented the Brookings Institution at Bilderberg, smiled and nodded when asked if the agenda this year includes “world government, a world without borders and an American Union.”
Iceland investigators turn to SFO
Investigators looking into alleged corruption in the Icelandic banking system want to enlist the help of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and Europol.
Peru court rules Fujimori guilty
Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori has been found guilty of ordering death-squad killings and kidnappings in the 1990s.
Inmate's chopped up body found in western Mexican jail
An inmate who was serving time for drug trafficking was murdered and chopped up in pieces in a prison in the western Mexican town of Uruapan, authorities in the state of Michoacan said Monday.
The Storm Widens
By Dahr Jamail
One week after Iraqi government forces arrested an Awakening Group (commonly referred to as Sons of Iraq, al-Sahwa) leader, Adil al-Mashhadani, head of a patrol unit in central Baghdad's Fadhil neighborhood in Baghdad, sparking gun battles that raged for hours between US-backed Iraqi forces and US-allied Sunni militiamen that killed three people, militiamen have once again been detained, widening concerns that sectarian violence may once more engulf Baghdad. There are 50,000 Sahwa fighters in Baghdad alone.
The Financial War Against Iceland
By Prof Michael Hudson
Iceland is under attack not militarily but financially. It owes more than it can pay. This threatens debtors with forfeiture of what remains of their homes and other assets. The government is being told to sell off the nation’s public domain, its natural resources and public enterprises to pay the financial gambling debts run up irresponsibly by a new banking class.
Signs emerge of global crime wave
In all catastrophes, there are always winners among the host of losers and victims. Bad times, like good ones, generate profits for someone. In the case of the present global economic meltdown, with our world at the brink and up to 50 million people potentially losing their jobs by the end of this year, one winner is likely to be criminal activity and crime syndicates.
Gun fight with the feds in Big Sky Country?
In the wake of the easy passage through the Montana legislature of Montana House Bill 246, Governor Brian Schweitzer's signature is all that is needed to set up a potentially explosive battle between state sovereignty on the one hand, and smothering, centralized federal power on the other.
The Financial New World Order: Towards a Global Currency and World Government - Part 2
By Andrew G. Marshall
Indeed, the current "solutions" being proposed to the global financial crisis benefit those that caused the crisis over those that are poised to suffer the most as a result of the crisis: the disappearing middle classes, the world's dispossessed, poor, indebted people. The proposed solutions to this crisis represent the manifestations and actualization of the ultimate generational goals of the global elite; and thus, represent the least favourable conditions for the vast majority of the world's people.
Bad news gets worse for euro zone
The euro-zone economy's record contraction in the final three months of 2008 was even deeper than previously thought, statistics agency Eurostat said Tuesday in its final estimate of fourth-quarter gross domestic product.
Toxic debts could reach $4 trillion, IMF to warn
Toxic debts racked up by banks and insurers could spiral to $4 trillion (£2.7 trillion), new forecasts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are set to suggest.
Goodbye, Bill of Rights
By Philip Giraldi
hose who hoped that the change promised by candidate Barack Obama would include repeal of the various acts that have stripped Americans of their constitutional rights should be disappointed. Benjamin Franklin supposedly wrote, "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." The citation is likely apocryphal, at least in terms of its attribution to Franklin, but it is useful shorthand for the unfortunate abandonment of many of the liberties guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution as a consequence of 9/11.
GM and Segway create new vehicle
US carmaker General Motors is joining with scooter maker Segway to make a new type of two-seat electric vehicle.
A city in ruins, a warning ignored
Blindsided residents dig desperately through rubble after early-morning earthquake kills at least 207 and leaves thousands homeless, while scandal brews over seismologist's dismissed predictions
No threat to kill Obama Turkish official says
Turkish police detained a man after receiving a hoax tip that he was plotting to kill President Barack Obama but quickly released him without charge, a government official said Tuesday.
Judge: U.S. used mentally ill witness in Guantanamo cases
The Justice Department improperly withheld important psychiatric records of a government witness who was used in a "significant" number of Guantanamo cases, a federal judge has concluded.
Report Calls CIA Detainee Treatment 'Inhuman'
Medical officers who oversaw interrogations of terrorism suspects in CIA secret prisons committed gross violations of medical ethics and in some cases essentially participated in torture, the International Committee of the Red Cross concluded in a confidential report that labeled the CIA program "inhuman."
The ‘war on drugs’ is a war on you
By Michael Boldin
The drug war is based on a repugnant assertion that you do not have ownership over your own body; that you don’t have the right to decide what you’ll do with your body, with your property and with your life. The position of the drug warriors is that you should be in jail if you decide to do something with your body that they don’t approve of.
Bernanke's Financial Rescue Plan: Will the US default on its debt?
By Mike Whitney
Fed chief Ben Bernanke has embarked on a radical and ruinous financial rescue plan. According to Bloomberg News, the Fed has already lent or committed $12.8 trillion trying to stabilize the financial system after the the bursting of Wall Street's speculative mega-bubble.
Big Brother ID cards 'could use chip-and-pin'
The UK's ID cards could be fitted with chip-and-pin technology to tackle identity fraud, the head of the agency responsible for them has said.
Pentagon Chief Calls for Cuts; Congress Opens Fire
It was the opening shot in what is certain to be a long war. In many ways, Gates, in taking on the defense contractors and their many friends in Congress, has invited a fight with an opponent more potent than any he has faced in Iraq and Afghanistan as President Obama's and before that President George W. Bush's defense secretary.
US Recovery Is Far Off, Banks Are 'Basically Insolvent': Soros
The U.S. economy is in for a "lasting slowdown" and could face a Japan-style period of relatively low growth coupled with high inflation, billionaire investor George Soros said on Monday.
U.S. fighter jets scrambled to intercept stolen plane
A pilot stole a small airplane in Canada on Monday and headed south, forcing U.S. military officials to scramble F-16 fighter jets to trail him, before landing on a highway in Missouri and fleeing on foot.
Borrowing from a Depression-era idea, they are aiming to help consumers make ends meet and support struggling local businesses.
Budget Expands Government as Economy Contracts
By Ron Paul
Last week the House passed another budget that increases federal power, raises taxes, and increases the national debt. I voted against it, and was pleased to see that not a single Republican representative voted for it.
National Security Claptrap
By Karen Kwiatkowski
I have never received a National Security Letter. NSLs require the recipient to "turn over information." I understand this as typical federal jackbootedness, but I do understand it. The part about how "this letter does not exist – tell no one" seems over the top, Mafioso, ten-year-old little boys playing spygam
US Deficit Reaches $1 Trillion For First Half Of 2009
The Congressional Budget Office has released preliminary deficit numbers, which indicate that for the first half of 2009 the deficit has already hit $1 trillion, $640 billion more than the comparable 2008 period, when the deficit was $313 billion.
Procuring Academics for Empire: The Pentagon Minerva Research Initiative
By James Petras
The biggest, but not the only, Pentagon-funded empire building research program in the social sciences is dubbed the Minerva Research Initiative (MRI). The MRI has contracted scores of academics from the usual prestigious academic brothels, including the veteran academic hookers and ambitious neophytes among post-doctorates and graduate assistants.
Bank of Japan Widens Range of Collateral for Loans
The Bank of Japan will provide more funds to commercial banks by broadening the range of collateral it accepts in an effort to encourage lending to companies.
Officer Is Charged in Shooting of Texas Man
A Harris County grand jury on Monday indicted a white Bellaire police sergeant who shot a black man in the driveway of his own home while responding to what turned out to be an erroneous stolen vehicle report.
House Preparing To Legalize Payday Loans With 391% APRs
A House subcommittee wants to legalize payday loans with interest rates of up to 391%. Lobbyists from the payday industry bought Congress' support by showering influential members, including Chairman Luiz Gutierrez, with campaign cash. The Congressman is now playing good cop, bad cop with the payday industry, which is pretending to oppose his generous gift of a bill.
GM Said to Speed Bankruptcy Plans as Board Crafts Savings Goals
General Motors Corp. is speeding up preparations for a possible bankruptcy filing even as directors seek deeper savings this week to avoid that outcome, people familiar with the plans said.
Useless Currencies of the World Unite!
By The Mogambo Guru
My brain went into some kind of weird spasm when Zhou Xiaochaun, head of the People’s Bank of China, went on record as saying that he doesn’t trust the dollar to be the world’s reserve currency anymore, and wants, instead of gold, the International Monetary Fund to expand the supply of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), which is just another stupid fiat currency, to use as the world’s reserve currency! Gaaahhhh!
IRS Gives Financial Companies an Audit Pass
espite the overwhelming place of the financial services sector in the broader corporate world, however, documents and data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) show that in FY 2008 the IRS allocated only 15% of its overall corporate revenue agents to the agency group that has the lead authority for auditing this complex and now troubled segment of the nation's economy.
Free Speech and Porn Flicks
By Jacob G. Hornberger
Students at the University of Maryland are receiving a valuable lesson about the welfare state and, specifically, the education dole that state officials provide institutions of higher learning. The students had scheduled a showing of a porn flick on campus as part of their studies on constitutional law. A Maryland state legislator threatened a cutoff of state funds to the university, which caused university officials to cancel the showing. Citing the First Amendment, the students are protesting by scheduling an unauthorized viewing of the film on campus.
