Fed Determines 10 Banks Need Capital of $74.6 Billion
The Federal Reserve determined that 10 U.S. banks need to raise a total of $74.6 billion in capital, a finding that Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said should reassure investors about the soundness of the financial system.
CIA Says Pelosi Was Briefed on Use of 'Enhanced Interrogations'
ntelligence officials released documents this evening saying that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was briefed in September 2002 about the use of harsh interrogation tactics against al-Qaeda prisoners, seemingly contradicting her repeated statements over the past 18 months that she was never told that these techniques were actually being used.
WHO: Up to 2 billion people might get swine flu
The World Health Organization said Thursday that up to 2 billion people could be infected by swine flu if the current outbreak turns into a pandemic. The agency said a pandemic typically lasts two years.
WHO considers flu alert overhaul
The World Health Organisation is considering an overhaul of its pandemic ratings system amid growing criticism that it provoked unnecessary alarm by rapidly escalating its warnings over swine flu.
Ex-cop Peterson indicted on murder charge in wife's death
Drew Peterson, the brash, mustachioed former police sergeant who found tabloid fame after his fourth wife's disappearance more than 1 1/2 years ago, was indicted Thursday in the drowning of an ex-wife found dead in an empty bathtub in 2004.
House Demands Full Disclosure On DHS “Right-wing Extremism” Report
House Republicans demanded Wednesday that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano detail how the controversial "right-wing extremism" report was compiled, using a rare legislative maneuver that ensures that the Democrats must take a public stand - one way or another.
The Charge? Assault With a Deadly Web Site
If it weren’t so laughably unconstitutional, the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act would truly be cause for concern, criminalizing as it does a broad spectrum of speech protected by the First Amendment.
David Rothschild "climate change" ad
Mr. Rothschild again demonstrates that it is his family, along with Al Gore, perpetrating this myth, for the purpose of global carbon taxation. As usual, he is using the Nazi tactic of appealing to children with dumbed-down messages of propaganda.
NY Fed chair quits over Goldman role
The chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York resigned Thursday, days after coming under attack for his continuing involvement in a company regulated by the institution.
Government Could Destroy Records in Hundreds of Guantanamo Cases
A stockpile of documents about hundreds of Guantanamo Bay detainees, some written by the prisoners themselves, could be destroyed under a little-known provision of a federal court order the Bush administration obtained in 2004.
The Economy Will Not Recover Until The Perpetrators Of Our Crises Are Held Accountable
One of the leading business schools in America - the Wharton School of Business - has written an essay on the psychological causes and solutions to the economic crisis. Wharton points out that restoring trust is the key to recovery, and that trust cannot be restored until wrongdoers are held accountable.
EU urges Obama to support terror cult
After removing an anti-Iranian terror group from their blacklist, European Union lawmakers are now urging President Barack Obama to follow suit.
More than 100 members of the European Parliament have tried to persuade the US president to lift an American ban on the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), AFP reported on Thursday.
666: Goldman's latest bonus bears the mark of the beast
Something strange is afoot when Popbitch – provider of a weekly email beloved of students, stuffed full of celebrity tittle-tattle and links to the silliest miscellany of the web – breaks off from such glorious trivia to encourage readers to support GoldmanSachs666.com, a deadly serious website measuring the political tentacles of the mighty investment bank.
FDA Floats Hydroxycut Scare to Discredit Yet Another Supplement Company
After tens of millions of doses of Hydroxycut were taken by consumers, one person died. This, along with reports of a few dozen liver-related side effects, caused the FDA to push for an industry-wide recall of virtually all Hydroxycut products. The thinking behind the warning? The risk of side effects is very low, but the FDA doesn't believe consumers should be exposed to such risks.
Bank to print extra 50 billion pounds
The Bank of England stepped up its campaign to boost the struggling economy, raising the size of its asset purchase programme on Thursday in a surprise move tantamount to printing an extra 50 billion pounds to get banks lending again.
Blackmail and threats to avoid accountability...
This is so shameful it is beyond description:
"At a hearing today with Attorney General Eric Holder, Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee suggested that any potential criminal investigation into the CIA's harsh interrogation methods might not easily be contained.
Activities intensify at NKorea nuke, missile sites
North Korea has intensified activities at weapons sites after threatening to stage more nuclear and missile tests in response to UN sanctions, a South Korean newspaper reported Thursday.
College Student Shoots, Kills Home Invader
A group of college students said they are lucky to be alive and they’re thanking the quick-thinking of one of their own. Police said a fellow student shot and killed one of two masked me who burst into an apartment.
Klaus vetoes Czech approval of Lisbon Treaty
The Czech President Vaclav Klaus said he would not ratify the Lisbon Treaty after it was approved by the senate yesterday, raising a new obstacle to plans to reform the EU.
Rolling Out the Product: A New Full-Court Press for Pakistan War
By Chris Floyd
We are now in the midst of a full-blown campaign to "roll out the product" for a new war: this time, in Pakistan. Anyone who lived through the run-up to the invasion of Iraq should be able to read the signs -- anyone, that is, who is not blinded by partisan labels, or by the laid-back cool of a media-savvy leader far more presentable than his predecessor.
Sinister Sites - Astana, Khazakhstan
Astana is the 1st capital being built in the 21st century and it represents perfectly where the world is headed. It is truly one man’s vision: Nursultan Nazarbayev, the president of Kazakhstan (yes Borat’s country, I know). Backed by billions of petrodollars, the city is being built from scratch in a remote and deserted area of the Asian steppes. The result is astonishing: a futuristic occult capital, embracing the New World Order while celebrating the most ancient religion known to man: Sun Worship. The city is still a huge construction site, but the buildings that are already completed already sum up perfectly Nazarbayev’s occult vision.
Weapons grade uranium found in Egypt
The UN nuclear watchdog is investigating the discovery of traces of highly enriched uranium (HEU) -- at or near weapons grade level -- in Egypt, reports say.
Australian Military Buildup And The Rise Of Asian NATO
On March 2, 2009 the Australian Department of Defence released a 140-page white paper called Defending Australia in the Asia Pacific century: force 2030 (1), which announced $72 billion in new military spending for an island nation of barely 20 million inhabitants with no adversaries except those it chooses to make for itself.
Israel Reacts With Shock, Dismissal at US Calls to Join NPT
Yesterday’s comments by Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller, suggesting that the Obama Administration would like every nation, including Israel to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) came as a considerable shock to the Middle Eastern nation, which has for the past 40 years kept its nuclear arsenal one of the most poorly-kept secrets in the world.
Obama seeks to double tax law enforcement budget
President Barack Obama proposed on Thursday nearly doubling funds to enforce U.S. tax laws next year, with an aim of more than quadrupling funding for tax compliance to $2.1 billion within five years.
Obama budget cuts have little deficit impact
The $17 billion in proposed savings are easily lost in just the interest payments on a federal government debt that is now more than $11.2 trillion. Those interest payments are totaling hundreds of billions of dollars a year.
Hackers Threaten to Expose Va.'s Private
The FBI is on the trail of hackers who claim to have accessed the personal information of millions of Virginians. They're holding the information hostage, and are threatening to dispurse the sensitive data on the Internet if they don't receive a $10 million ransom
Be wary of hosting US torture camps
The US government’s handouts should not be taken lightly considering recent revelations that the US is expanding its secret detention centres for terror suspects to Mauritania, Ethiopia, some countries in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia
Criminal Charges Against ACORN Raise Concerns About Its Partnership With Census Bureau
Criminal charges filed in Nevada against ACORN, a liberal activist group that is under investigation in several other states for alleged voter registration fraud in 2008, have sparked increased concerns about the organization’s partnership agreement with the U.S. Census Bureau to help recruit workers for the 2010 Census.
Oil rises to six-month high near $58
Oil prices jumped to near $58 a barrel Thursday in Asia, extending gains to near six-month highs on investor expectations global economic growth may begin to rebound by the end of the year.
The Roots of the Financial Crisis: Who Is to Blame?
The top subprime lenders whose loans are largely blamed for triggering the global economic meltdown were owned or bankrolled by banks now collecting billions of dollars in bailout money including several that have paid huge fines to settle predatory lending charges.
Afghans protest deadly US-led strikes
Angry Afghans shouted "death to America" and hurled stones at government offices on Thursday to protest against the killing of civilians in US-led air strikes, witnesses said.
Israeli 'dove' speaks of Iran war
The Israeli President says undiplomatic options are still on the table to deal with Iran if the US fails to halt Iran's nuclear program through diplomacy.
GM posts loss; burns through $10 billion
General Motors Corp said it burned through $10.2 billion in the first quarter as it failed to cut costs fast enough to offset a sharp decline in global sales and was kept afloat by a federal bailout.
Dollar Hovering at Cliff’s Edge
Is the dollar about to collapse? We’ll know soon enough, since the U.S. Dollar Index fell yesterday to within a hair of an important correction target that we flagged for subscribers a couple of weeks ago.
White House to Release Photo From New York Flyover
The White House plans to release a photo from the controversial New York City flyover of an Air Force One backup plane, despite earlier claims that there was no need to release any images.
U.S. May Add Shots for Swine Flu to Fall Regimen
The Obama administration is considering an unprecedented fall vaccination campaign that could entail giving Americans three flu shots -- one to combat annual seasonal influenza and two targeted at the new swine flu virus spreading across the globe.
Madoff protecting others
Bernard Madoff's longtime secretary says the disgraced financier is not cooperating with authorities in order to protect others.
Britain first modern totalitarian state
By Hal G. P. Colebatch
BRITAIN appears to be evolving into the first modern soft totalitarian state. As a sometime teacher of political science and international law, I do not use the term totalitarian loosely.
US terror watchlist has 35% error rate
A report from the US Justice Department has found the country's 1.1 million-strong watch list of suspected terrorists has a 35 percent error rate and no established way to remove or update records.
Army's case against Watada ends, his lawyers say
The Army is prohibited from pursuing court martial charges against Honolulu-born 1st Lt. Ehren Watada who three years ago refused to be sent to Iraq, his lawyers said.
Bush attorneys who wrote terror memo face backlash
Pressure is mounting against two former Bush administration attorneys who wrote the legal memos used to support harsh interrogation techniques that critics say constituted torture.
Changes Coming for the 401(k) Plan
Policy makers and some industry representatives say major changes to retirement investing and 401(k) plans are becoming increasingly likely under the Democratic Party's control of Congress.
Ron Paul’s Economic Theories Winning GOP Converts
A funny thing has started happening to Paul since his long-shot presidential campaign ended quietly in the summer of 2008. More Republicans have started listening to him.
Taliban Seize City as Up to 500,000 Civilians Flee
The Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has reportedly wrested control of the Swat Valley’s largest town, Mingora, from the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) government and Pakistani security forces. The move comes just one day after the group announced that it was formally withdrawing from the controversial Swat Valley peace deal in response to ongoing military offensives in and around the valley.
No, it'll be a blockbuster because we get a chance to cheer for a new dark antihero, the infamous Depression era gangster, machine-gun-toting John Dillinger: Cheer because this new Dillinger is doing what we all secretly want to do -- rip off our corrupt banking system, turn the tables on the guys who have been ripping us off for too long.
Of Pork and Baloney - Obama's Defense Budget
By Winslow T. Wheeler
This week, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is set to roll out the final details of the defense budget for 2010. Beware the articles and commentary you read; many will be factually inaccurate or misleading - mostly both.
FBI's Lapses on Terrorist Watch List Put Nation at Risk, Report Warns
The FBI has retained almost 24,000 names on the nation's terrorist watch list without current or proper justification, while failing to include people who are subjects of terrorist investigations, according to a Justice Department report issued yesterday.
U.K. to keep innocent on DNA database
The genetic profiles of hundreds of thousands of innocent people are to be kept on the national DNA database for up to 12 years in a decision critics claim is designed to sidestep a European human rights ruling that the "blanket" retention of suspects' data is unlawful.
Qatar eyes multimillion dollar hotel in Cuba
Qatar and Cuba on Wednesday launched a joint $75 million project to create a five-star resort on the Caribbean island, officials said.
Gun ownership threatened, demand for firearms, ammo and training increases
It’s no secret that one sector of our struggling economy today is doing quite well. That portion of America’s economy has to do with the sale of guns and ammunition. The new owners of the arms and ammunition are the private citizens of the United States and they’re not buying quantities of guns and ammunition because they’re afraid that the new administration is going to ban guns. They’re buying their private weapons for self-protection from a citizenry that could turn violent if the economy really bottoms out and as a hedge against proposed enormous taxation on guns and ammunition that could happen in the near future.
Obama Pushes Anti-gun Treaty
After a meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon last month, Barack Obama announced his support for the “Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing and Trafficking in Firearms” treaty, also known by its Spanish acronym CIFTA. The gun-control treaty was signed in 1997 by former President Bill Clinton, but was not ratified by the Senate as required by the Constitution.
Ammo hard to find as gun owners stock up
Gun shops across the country are reporting a run on ammunition, a phenomenon apparently driven by fear that the Obama administration will increase taxes on bullets or enact new gun-control measures.
Partially completed Southern California housing tract demolished
A foreclosed tract of partially completed homes was demolished after the bank that owns the project deemed it a hazard and calculated that finishing and selling the dwellings would be a money-losing proposition, a bank official said Tuesday.
Surprised by Money Destruction
By The Mogambo Guru
I was pretty surprised that Total Fed Credit fell by a gigantic $81.5 billion last week, taking the total down to $2.088 trillion – but not THAT surprised, since the Federal Reserve has acted so despicably that I am hardly surprised at anything they do anymore, including a huge drop in Fed Credit, even though the Federal Reserve itself bought up $22 billion in various crap last week!
Senior use of psychiatric drugs spikes
About 15% of elderly Americans had prescriptions for psychiatric drugs in 2006, double the percentage a decade earlier, according to an analysis of federal databases out today.
Fed Dread
By Eliot Spitzer
The New York Fed is the most powerful financial institution you've never heard of. Look who's running it.
L.A. Unified pays teachers not to teach
Every school day, Kim's shift begins at 7:50 a.m., with 30 minutes for lunch, and ends when the bell at his old campus rings at 3:20 p.m. He is to take off all breaks, school vacations and holidays, per a district agreement with the teacher's union. At no time is he to be given any work by the district or show up at school.
Brian Rohrbough says Columbine segment for Oprah permanently canceled
In a statement, Winfrey says she made the decision because the footage focused too heavily on killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. But other issues were also in play. Randy Brown, the father of a Columbine student, confirmed in this space that he and other parents complained to producers about the guests in the pre-taped segment -- Kate Battan, Jefferson County's chief Columbine investigator; Dwayne Fuselier, an FBI profiler whose son, also a Columbine student, made a parody video depicting the destruction of the school two years before the assault; and Dave Cullen, author of the book Columbine.
AIG reveals $454 million in 2008 performance bonuses
Embattled insurer American International Group paid some $454 million in previously undisclosed performance bonuses to employees for 2008, the company said in answers to questions from a U.S. lawmaker that were released on Tuesday.
Regrettable statistical error
According to the statistics provided by the Bureau, 75.5% of Israel’s residents at this time are Jewish, while only 24.5% of the country’s residents are not Jewish.
However, it appears that these figures were tainted by a regrettable error. The source of the error has to do with the strange existence of what is known around here as the Green line. Yes, that same Green Line , which has seemingly passed away a long time ago, has reemerged from its grave yet again (and perhaps it was even pulled out of the grave by force) – this tends to happen every time the country’s statistical or public relations needs require it.
NEWS CORP. STUDIES WEB CONTENT PLATFORMS
Media companies have had a hard time getting consumers to pay for content online, but Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is attempting to leverage its worldwide news-gathering operation to get them to do just that.
Your Blog is a Weapon? House Bill suggests Hurting Feelings illegal
Law prof Eugene Volokh blogs about a U.S. House of Representatives bill proposed by Rep. Linda T. Sanchez and 14 others that could make it a federal felony to use your blog, social media like MySpace and Facebook, or any other web media “To Cause Substantial Emotional Distress Through “Severe, Repeated, and Hostile” Speech.”
124 congressman demand audit of Federal Reserve
A bill calling for the comptroller general of the United States to audit the private Federal Reserve is gaining widespread support in Congress, as 124 representatives have added their names to its growing list of co-sponsors.
Urgency of the American Monetary Act
By Richard C Cook
On Thursday, April 23, 2009, Stephen Zarlenga, director of the American Monetary Institute (AMI), delivered two briefings on Capitol Hill on the American Monetary Act that AMI drafted and that may be introduced as legislation during the current congressional session.
Stanford Anti-War Alumni, Students Call for Condi War Crimes Probe
By Marjorie Cohn
During the Vietnam War, Stanford students succeeded in banning secret military research from campus. Last weekend, 150 activist alumni and present Stanford students targeted Condoleezza Rice for authorizing torture and misleading Americans into the illegal Iraq War.
Reviewing Ellen Brown's "Web of Debt:" Part I
By Stephen Lendman
This is the first of several articles on Ellen Brown's superb 2007 book titled "Web of Debt," now updated in a December 2008 third edition. It tells "the shocking truth about our money system, (how it) trapped us in debt, and how we can break free." Given today's global economic crisis, it's an appropriate time to review it and urge readers to digest the entire work, easily gotten through Amazon or Brown's webofdebt.com site. Her book is a remarkable achievement - in its scope, depth, and importance.
Top US Senator: US no longer wants Iranian 'regime change'
The United States no longer seeks "regime change" in Iran and Tehran should respond accordingly by heeding demands it freeze its suspect nuclear program, a top US senator said Wednesday.
Israel would inform, not ask U.S. before hitting Iran
When he first got word of Israel's sneak attack on the Iraqi atomic reactor in 1981, U.S. President Ronald Reagan privately shrugged it off, telling his national security adviser: "Boys will be boys!"
401(k)s Hit by Withdrawal Freezes
Some investors in 401(k) retirement funds who are moving to grab their money are finding they can't.
Sharea Twymon was found not guilty in a jury trial last month on charges of resisting arrest, obstruction of official business and disorderly conduct stemming from the incident.
