Momentum Builds For Ron Paul's "Fed Transparency" Act
For years, Ron Paul has been a lone voice in Congress, questioning the wisdom of the Federal Reserve -- both its various chairmans and the institution itself.
FDIC Assesses Levy; Looks for More?
Regulators agreed to levy a special fee on the banking industry to bolster the fund that insures consumer deposits, and signaled they likely would ask for more before year end.
The move to collect an estimated $5.6 billion from banks to reload the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s deposit-insurance fund highlights the reality for regulators: the fallout from the financial crisis is far from over.
Darpa’s Simple Plan to Track Targets Everywhere
Darpa’s 2009 strategic plan offers a fascinating overview of the different approaches the agency is taking to better track and identify these elusive targets. Some of these, like the Forester foliage- penetrating radar, tackle a specific problem: detecting enemy troops moving under the cover of dense jungle canopy. But another program, called NetTrack, would provide more persistent reconnaissance by linking together and comparing information from different sensors to track a target, even if it moves behind a solid obstruction.
Revolution in the air
The government is failing, as war and economic catastrophe are dealt with in increasingly unconvincing fashion by second-rate public servants. There is, for the first time in a generation, a sense of revolution brewing.
This is not today's Britain. It is England in 1381, the year that witnessed one of the greatest popular risings in our history: the Peasants' Revolt.
Morley Safer Doesn’t Trust Citizen Journalism
If Safer is really concerned with responsibility, he ought not to lash out indiscriminately at online journalism. If he wants to cast a net around “every nut with a keyboard,” and label them all journalists, then I should be able to do the same with his medium and every nut with a microphone.
The Climate-Industrial Complex
By Bjorn Lomborg
Some business leaders are cozying up with politicians and scientists to demand swift, drastic action on global warming. This is a new twist on a very old practice: companies using public policy to line their own pockets.
Israel destroying Gaza's farmlands
On the morning of 4 May 2009, Israeli troops set fire to Palestinian crops along Gaza's eastern border with Israel. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) reported that 200,000 square meters of crops were destroyed, including wheat and barley ready for harvest, as well as vegetables, olive and pomegranate trees.
Loud Paradigm Shift Rumblings
By Jim Willie CB
Numerous events have taken place of global importance. Alone, each story seems of some significance. Together, they paint a mosaic of extreme change in a very dangerous sequence of events that fit together. The greater aggregate story is that a tremendous paradigm shift is underway, with early steps and major moves by global players in clear view.
Gerald Celente: The New Bubble Is the Biggest Ever (With Video)
As the Federal Reserve throws more and more money at the economic crisis and holds interest rates down at historic lows, it could be inflating a devastating ‘bailout bubble,’ Gerald Celente, director of Trends Research Institute, told CNBC.
OBAMA INHERITS CHENEY'S ARMY OF ASSASSINS
By Justin Raimondo
As the story of Bush administration's war crimes comes out in fits and starts, it appears that torture is only one aspect – and not the worst, by any means – of this horrific history. In an interview in mid-March, Seymour Hersh let slip the following:
"After 9/11 – I haven't written about this yet – but the Central Intelligence Agency was very deeply involved in domestic activities against people they thought to be enemies of the state. Without any legal authority for it. They haven't been called on it yet. That does happen."
Well, yes, that's hardly surprising. The PATRIOT Act and other legislation passed by Congress gives the government the legal "right" to spy on American citizens and, in the case of Jose Padilla, lock them up without a trial and throw away the key. But, as Hersh reveals, it gets worse.
Obama Expands the American Warfare State
By Sherwood Ross
Not even the prospect of a $3.1 trillion combined budget deficit for this year and next deters him. Let them chop the budget for black colleges and police officer death benefits, the Pentagon and its contractors continue to feast at the champagne-and-caviar table.
FBI Agent on Synagogue Case Has Questionable Record
The FBI agent with a high-profile role in yesterday's arrests of four men for plotting a terror attack in New York has a pretty interesting -- and controversial -- track record.
Trouble Ahead: Millions of Mortgages Will Ratchet Upward Soon
Zacks Research analyst Dirk van Dijk warns that another major mortgage crisis lies ahead as huge numbers of homeowners who have been making only minimum payments on their “pick a payment” mortgages have to start paying in full.
Rachel Maddow: Indefinite detention? Prolonged Detention - Shame on you... President Obama Can you imagine living in a society where the government has technology to monitor it's citizens thoughts and claims it has a right to do so in order to prevent future crimes? They want to be able to detain people in prison just because the government alleges they committed a thought crime. A Microchipped society, here we come!
Obama's Detention Plans Face Scrutiny
The Obama administration's efforts to craft what it calls a "preventive detention" plan for suspected terrorists will face constitutional challenges similar to those raised against the Bush administration's policies.
One is a petty criminal who spent a day in 2002 snatching purses and shooting at people with a BB gun from an SUV. His lawyer calls him "intellectually challenged.
The informer was to have helped the plotters build the bomb and supply the fake powder, but the plan was called off by an F. B. I. supervisor who had other ideas about how the informer, Emad Salem, should be used, the informer said.
Conservative Shock Jock Mancow Submits to Waterboarding, Says It's Torture (With Video)
Chicago radio “shock jock” Erich “Mancow” Muller took his listeners’ advice and voluntarily underwent waterboarding on May 22 and reluctantly concluded it was “torture.” Mancow had earlier pooh-poohed the conclusion that waterboarding was torture (though the U.S. government prosecuted as war criminals some Japanese soldiers who had conducted waterboarding against U.S. soldiers, and even court-martialed a U.S. soldier who had engaged in it in Vietnam).
U.S. to Steer GM Toward Bankruptcy
The Obama administration is preparing to send General Motors into bankruptcy as early as the end of next week under a plan that would give the automaker tens of billions of dollars more in public financing as the company seeks to shrink and reemerge as a global competitor, sources familiar with the discussions said.
Pew Research Center Poll: 39% of US residents identify as independents
On May 21, the Pew Research Center released this public opinion poll on political values. It is an extensive survey, in twelve sections, and used a sample of 3,013 respondents. Among many other findings, the poll shows that 39% of U.S. residents identify themselves as independents, 33% as Democrats, 22% as Republicans, and 6% no opinion or “other”.
Dollar hits new multimonth low vs euro, pound, yen
The dollar kept falling Friday, notching fresh multimonth lows against the euro, pound and yen as a warning that Britain's debt level may result in its credit rating being cut ricocheted into worries about the massive U.S. deficit.
GM's Turn on Obama's Chopping Block
By Shamus Cooke
The Obama administration has made no secret about its plans for GM: the Chrysler bankruptcy was the “test case,” and now Obama’s Wall Street buddies inside the Auto Task Force plan to replicate it.
Geithner Vows to Cut U.S. Deficit on Rating Concern
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner committed to cutting the budget deficit as concern about deteriorating U.S. creditworthiness deepened, and ascribed a sell-off in Treasuries to prospects for an economic recovery.
Parade of Lies
We are talking about the operation of the modern American propaganda apparatus. A couple of examples of big lies are that Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone, assassinated President John F. Kennedy and that Timothy McVeigh masterminded the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
Have you heard 'the Hum'?
For decades, hundreds of people worldwide have been plagued by an elusive buzzing noise known as "the Hum". Some have blamed gas pipes or power lines, others think their ears are faulty. A few even think sinister forces could be at work.
Facts and myths about Obama's preventive detention proposal
By Glenn Greenwald
Far more significant, "preventive detention" allows indefinite imprisonment not based on proven crimes or past violations of law, but of those deemed generally "dangerous" by the Government for various reasons (such as, as Obama put it yesterday, they "expressed their allegiance to Osama bin Laden" or "otherwise made it clear that they want to kill Americans"). That's what "preventive" means: imprisoning people because the Government claims they are likely to engage in violent acts in the future because they are alleged to be "combatants."
Humanity Under Siege
By Jim Kirwan
The DNA of humanity is under siege by faceless sociopaths that see the human herds in the world today as nothing more than useless eaters that are preventing them from having the luxury of the total control they seek over the entire planet.
In Bronx Bomb Case, Missteps Caught on Tape
They bought cellphones, the authorities said; they bought a camera in a Wal-Mart to take photographs of the synagogues in New York City that they wanted to blow up. When their attempt to buy guns in Newburgh, N.Y., fell through — their gun dealer told them she had sold out — they drove downstate, buying a $700 pistol from a Bloods gang leader in Brooklyn.
How MI5 blackmails British Muslims
Five Muslim community workers have accused MI5 of waging a campaign of blackmail and harassment in an attempt to recruit them as informants.
Bilderberg Group orders destruction of US Dollar?
A new Kremlin report on the shadowy Bilderberg Group, who this past week held their annual meeting in Greece, states that the West’s financial, political and corporate elite emerged from their conclave after coming to an agreement that in order to continue their drive towards a New World Order dominated by the Western Powers, the US Dollar has to be “totally” destroyed.
TARP Warrant Sale Shows Banks May Reap ‘Ruthless Bargain’
Banks negotiating to reclaim stock warrants they granted in return for Troubled Asset Relief Program money may shortchange taxpayers by almost $10 billion if Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s first sale sets the pace, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Rogue Economics Undermines World Justice
The fall of the Berlin Wall kick-started the return of rogue economics. This is not a new phenomenon; on the contrary, it is part of our history. It is a force constantly lurking in the background of progress, kept at bay by politics, a force that comes out at times of great transformation: when governments lose control of economics, economics falls into the hands of ruthless rogue entrepreneurs.
From Russia With No Love
By Judi McLeod
Pravda, former official voice of the Soviet Union in the days of former President Mikhail Gorbachev, is cheering the Death of America under the leadership of “Marxist” Barack Hussein Obama.
Mexico: Dangerous Prisoners Flee As Guards 'Stand By'
About a dozen of the prisoners are drug cartel suspects and several have been jailed for kidnapping, said Ricardo Najera, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office. The inmates stole 23 guns from a prison storage room before escaping, Mr Najera said. He also revealed that 51 people will face investigations into their possible involvement, including the prison director and all 44 guards on duty at the time.
Neocon Group Calls for Military Strikes
By Jeremy Scahill
A new report for a leading neoconservative group which pushes a belligerent “Israel first” agenda of conquest in the Middle East suggests that in future wars the US should make censorship of media official policy and advocates “military attacks on the partisan media.”
US keeps nuclear "don't ask, don't tell" -Israel aide
The U.S. administration of President Barack Obama will not force Israel to state publicly whether it has nuclear weapons, an Israeli official said on Thursday.
Sept. 11 Commission official selected to head US National Intelligence Council
Christopher Kojm will chair the National Intelligence Council, which oversees the analysis and production of interagency intelligence reports. That includes national intelligence estimates, documents that feature the consensus of analysis on critical national security issues.
41 U.S. Counter-Terrorism and Intelligence Agency Veterans Challenge the Official Account of 9/11
Following in the footsteps of well over 1,000 scientists and other professional groups who have already gone on record questioning the official theory, more than 40 U.S. Counter-Terrorism and Intelligence Agency veterans have come forward to challenge the Government’s rendition of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Their behind-the-scenes knowledge and experience of sensitive and classified issues places them in a uniquely authoritative position and their critical stance is particulary damning for the government
Bilderberg Agenda Exposed
Bilderberg boys are a bunch of grumpy old men but remain fiercely dedicated to usurping sovereignty in the United States and throughout the world. Patriots can celebrate their setbacks but never let up: Bilderberg still threatens the sovereignty of all nations while fighting for world government.
Senate passes $91.3B war funding bill
The Senate has passed a $91.3 billion war spending bill that would fund stepped-up military operations in Afghanistan but deny President Obama money to close the Guantanamo Bay prison.
Spy Satellite Photos Used To Fight Drug Smugglers
"The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, part of the Department of Defense, is using satellites to track the activities of drug cartels operating along the US-Mexican border.
Bilderberg: the meeting of the mediocre minds
By Hans Vogel
Practically no one has been reporting on the 2009 meeting of the Bilderberg group in a fancy seaside resort near Athens. The Greek newspaper To Vima, however, published a list of the 150-odd participants at the conference.
Mexico lifts flu bans, as world puzzles over virus
Mexico City has fully lifted all swine flu restrictions imposed on the sprawling metropolis, as global health authorities puzzle over the origins and severity of the A(H1N1) virus.
DNA-collection bill signed into law
Area legislators hailed Thursday’s passage of Colorado’s version of Katie’s Law as a means of protecting the public and exonerating the innocent.
Despite Torture Video, U.S. and Emirates Sign Key Pact
The United States signed an agreement with the United Arab Emirates on Thursday to help develop its civil nuclear program, despite an outcry over a video depicting the torture of an Afghan man by a member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi, one of the emirates.
German firm plans 'Gold-to-Go' ATMs to sell tiny, pricey gold bars
A German asset management company plans to set up 500 "Gold-to-Go" ATMs in Germany, Switzerland and Austria this year. A gold-dispensing automatic teller machine (ATM) was on display at Frankfurt's main railway station for a one-day marketing test yesterday
US, Israel together in 'dismantling Iran'
As the US and Israel apparently diverge, the Israeli foreign minister says Washington and Tel Aviv share a full understanding on strategic issues including Iran.
Cheney's speech contained omissions, misstatements
Former Vice President Dick Cheney's defense Thursday of the Bush administration's policies for interrogating suspected terrorists contained omissions, exaggerations and misstatements.
Obama and Cheney Deliver Dueling Speeches on National Security
President Obama and former vice president Richard B. Cheney yesterday gave the country the national security debate it never had during last year's campaign, with the two outlining starkly divergent views of American power and the presidency in the fight against terrorism.
PM Netanyahu vows Jerusalem will remain Israel's capital 'forever'
Right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Thursday that Jerusalem would remain Israel's capital "forever" as the Jewish state marked the 42nd anniversary of the annexation of the city's mainly Arab sector.
U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve. Federal Reserve holding over $2 trillion in the Darkest Balance Sheet in Financial History
The U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve have arguably two of the least transparent balance sheets known to humankind. This wouldn’t be such a big issue if the amount of money funneled into these organizations was small. That is not the case. The Federal Reserve since October of 2008 has held on its balance sheet over $2 trillion in reserve bank credit and also, Federal Reserve Holdings of U.S. Treasuries. This of course is the biggest bait in switch in history because in exchange for U.S. Treasuries, banks can offload practically any collateral (i.e., mortgages, auto loans, credit card loans, etc). The U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve are creating the biggest put option in the history of the world and the American taxpayer stands to lose big.
World Economies Plummet
Steep declines in the economies of three of the U.S.'s biggest trading partners -- Mexico, Japan and Germany -- underscored the severity of the global recession and put pressure on major industrialized nations to revive moribund global trade talks.
California already looking at CAFE 2016+
In the immediate wake of President Obama’s announcement of more stringent mileage standards by 2016, California air czar Mary Nichols told Reuters yesterday that, “California will be immediately getting to work on what the standards should be for beyond 2016,” and that she expects, “a much more stringent standard.”
Florida bank collapses - firms swoop in
$13 billion BankUnited closed in biggest failure of year. Florida thrift bought by Wilbur Ross, Carlyle Investment, Blackstone Capital and other private firms.
U.S. Insurer of Pensions Sees Flood of Red Ink
The deficit at the federal agency that guarantees pensions for 44 million Americans tripled in the last six months to a record high, reaching $33.5 billion, largely as a result of surging bankruptcies among companies whose pensions it expects it will soon need to take over.
United Arab Emirates exit leaves Gulf currency plan on brink of failure
A project to establish a common currency for the Gulf has been dealt a near-fatal blow with the decision by the United Arab Emirates to abandon monetary union after disagreement with Saudi Arabia over the location of a future central bank.
An awesome warning
Japan's brutal economic decline has been brought about by circumstances very similar to those now emerging in Britain.
Computer virus strikes US Marshals, FBI affected
Law enforcement computers were struck by a Mystery computer virus Thursday, forcing the FBI and the U.S. Marshals to shut down part of their networks as a precaution.
Housing's Big Picture Isn't Pretty
By Peter Schiff
While economists and real estate investors "celebrate" the slight deceleration in the pace of home price declines in the recent data, a quick look at home price trajectories over the past 100 and 50 years reveals little to cheer about and much to be feared.
Obama: from anti-war law professor to neocon hawk in 100 days
By Alexander Cockburn
How long does it take a mild-mannered, anti-war, black professor of constitutional law, trained as a community organiser on the South Side of Chicago, to become an enthusiastic sponsor of targeted assassinations, 'decapitation' strategies and remote-control bombing of mud houses at the far end of the globe?
US Promises to Fully Fund Israeli Missile Defense System, While Cutting Its Own
Even as Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was being raked over the coals in Congress for the decision to cut funding to America’s missile defense systems, Israeli defense officials have revealed that Israel’s own Arrow 3 missile defense system will be “fully funded” by the United States yet again this year.
Top Israeli Official Mocks Two-State Plan as ‘Childish and Stupid’
Just hours after reports began to emerge of the Obama-Abdullah Plan, which sought a two-state solution involving a contiguous Palestinian state which would be banned from having a military or entering any defensive pacts, one aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at the very idea of a two-state solution, calling it “childish and stupid.”
‘What Pelosi knew’ is a ‘war on terrorism’ red herring
By Larry Chin
A red herring is a fallacy in which an irrelevant topic is used to divert attention from the original issue. The furor over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s knowledge of the Bush/Cheney administration’s use of torture is the latest Washington noise that conveniently diverts attention from the illegitimate “war on terrorism” that continues to serve as the justification for torture, murder and war.
FCC’s Warrantless Household Searches Alarm Experts
You may not know it, but if you have a wireless router, a cordless phone, remote car-door opener, baby monitor or cellphone in your house, the FCC claims the right to enter your home without a warrant at any time of the day or night in order to inspect it.
Libya Says Islamist Militant Hanged Self In Jail
Libya's state prosecutor said on Thursday the death of a Libyan Islamist whose bogus testimony about al Qaeda was used by the Bush administration to justify the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was suicide.
Jobless Claims Set Another Record
More Americans than forecast filed claims for unemployment insurance last week, and the total number of workers receiving benefits rose to a record, signs the job market continues to weaken even as the economic slump eases.
No we can’t: Obama’s Guantanamo
By Cori Cride
You would be hard-pressed to find a kid more thrilled on Barack Obama’s first day in office than Mohammed el Gharani. On January 21, had you been standing at the right corner of Guantanamo Bay, you could have heard him whoop for joy when the U.S. President made history so we thought by closing the prison where el Gharani grew up.
U.K. May Lose AAA Rating at S&P as Finances Weaken
Britain may lose its AAA credit rating for the first time as government finances deteriorate in the worst recession since World War II.Britain may lose its AAA credit rating for the first time as government finances deteriorate in the worst recession since World War II.
House rejects probe into Pelosi CIA claims
House Democrats on Thursday defeated a Republican push to investigate House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's assertion that the CIA misled her in 2002 about whether waterboarding had been used against terrorism suspects.
Valerie Plame: Obama is on Bush’s side
Plame, you’ll remember, was the undercover CIA agent working on ensuring that Iran did not acquire nuclear weapons and who was outed as a CIA agent in a July 2003 Washington Post syndicated-column by Robert Novak about her husband, Joe WIlson. Wilson, a former U.S. Foreign Services diplomat, had been sent by the CIA to Africa to check out claims that Iraq was buying uranium yellowcake from Niger. His findings, published in The New York Times op-ed “What I Didn’t Find in Africa” in mid-2003, didn’t please the Bush adminsitration.
Day of reckoning looms for the U.S. dollar
The U.S. dollar's day of reckoning may be inching closer as its status as a safe-haven currency fades with every uptick in stocks and commodities and its potential risks - debt and inflation - are brought under a harsher spotlight.
Obama Is Said to Consider Preventive Detention Plan
President Obama told human rights advocates at the White House on Wednesday that he was mulling the need for a “preventive detention” system that would establish a legal basis for the United States to incarcerate terrorism suspects who are deemed a threat to national security but cannot be tried, two participants in the private session said.
Human rights advocates are growing deeply uneasy with Mr. Obama’s stance on these issues, especially his recent move to block the release of photographs showing abuse of detainees, and his announcement that he is willing to try terrorism suspects in military commissions a concept he criticized bitterly as a presidential candidate.
Synagogue targeted in NY plot, four charged
Four men were arrested on Wednesday in a suspected plot to bomb a synagogue and Jewish community center in New York City and to shoot at military planes with stinger missiles, law enforcement officials said.
Did White House OK Earliest Detainee Abuse?
It is clear that increasingly abusive interrogation techniques were used on Abu Zubaydah, the first high-value detainee, in the months between his capture and the first Justice Department memo authorizing harsh interrogations. But the legal guidance that authorized those early interrogations remains shrouded in secrecy.
Credit Card Bill Allows Guns In National Parks
The U.S. House of Representatives followed the Senate's lead and passed the Credit Card Holders Bill of Rights -- but there's more. The bill contains an amendment that has nothing to do with credit cards. The bill allows concealed weapons to be carried in America's national parks.
Prescription pill dependency among American troops is on the rise
In deploying an all-volunteer army to fight two ongoing wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon has increasingly relied on prescription drugs to keep its warriors on the front lines. In recent years, the number of military prescriptions for antidepressants, sleeping pills, and painkillers has risen as soldiers come home with battered bodies and troubled minds. And many of those service members are then sent back to war theaters in distant lands with bottles of medication to fortify them.
The Crimes of Wall Street: The Scams and Sleaze at the Top
By Danny Schechter
So many of us know in detail about all the false warnings and exaggerated claims that were used to justify the war in Iraq. By now, six years later, and after many books, reports, news stories and films (hopefully including my two books and film, Weapons of Mass Deception), we see the pattern of lies and deception. We realize what a fraud was committed against the American people and what its consequences have been for the people of this country, Iraq and Afghanistan.
60 killed as violence spikes in Iraq
IRAQ has been engulfed by a wave of violence, with suicide and bomb attacks killing 23 people after a massive bomb devastated a Baghdad Shiite neighbourhood slaughtering 40 civilians yesterday,
Tamil Tiger leaders were shot 'while trying to surrender
A pair of Tamil Tiger leaders were shot dead as they tried to surrender following desperate last-minute negotiations to guarantee their safety, it was claimed last night.
Companies could vaccinate 4.9 bln against H1N1: WHO
Companies could potentially turn out 4.9 billion doses of vaccine against the new H1N1 influenza strain within a year under the best-case scenario, World Health Organization officials said on Tuesday.
Obama Seeks To Retake Terrorism Front
After antagonizing the political left with several unexpected national security moves, President Obama on Thursday will seek to reassert control over the politically sensitive area of fighting terrorism.
Fed Open to Buying More Securities
Some Federal Reserve officials are open to raising the amounts of mortgage and Treasury securities purchase programs beyond the $1.75 trillion that they have already committed to buying, according to minutes from the Fed’s April meeting.
House Democrat Crafts Alternative on Probe of DHS 'Right-Wing' Report
After House Republicans demand that the Department of Homeland Security explain why it compiled a study that cast "right-wing groups" as a potential terrorist threat, Democrat draws up his own resolution that would require DHS to explain.
Western Media Propagandize Iran’s Missile Test
Iran announced on Wednesday that it had successfully tested its Sejil 2 surface-to-surface missile, and Western media sources took the opportunity to portray the Middle Eastern nation as a threat to world peace and, specifically, as a threat to Israel.
US president calls for demilitarized Palestinian 'state'
Amid much speculation over US President Barack Obama's upcoming address to the Muslim world, reports published on Wednesday outlined the details of his Middle East peace plan, which are said to include a demilitarized Palestinian state.The US president's initiative, which was formulated in consultation with Jordan's King Abdullah II during the two leaders' recent meetings at the White House, reportedly does not significantly stray from the pan-Arab peace initiative proposed in 2002. Rather, it bolsters certain details within the Saudi-proposed plan. The Obama-Abdullah plan was put together in response to concerns from both Israel and the US that the Arab plan was too general and intransigent, and according to a report in Wednesday's Yediot Ahronot, will call on Arab countries to take trust-building measures in order to clear the air with Israel.
The Backdoor Draft
By Aaron Emery
Call it a backdoor draft, call it entrapment, call it obligation, but don't call it an all-volunteer military.
Obama Has Revived Hitler's Genocide Program
By John Hoefle
In October 1939, Nazi Leader Adolf Hitler issued an order, written in his own hand, ordering the extermination of those who were considered "unworthy of life." The order, entitled "The Destruction of Lives Unworthy of Life," stated that patients "considered incurable according to the best available human judgment of their state of health, be accorded a mercy death."
Modern Survivalism Tenet Number One
By Jack Spirko
The survivalist community is often perceived as a bunch of gloom and doom types sitting on a pile of MREs, ammunition and guns in some far out corner of the North West.
‘Go home Nazi scum,’ Serb hardliners tell Biden
Serb ultra-nationalist lawmakers held up insulting signs in a live TV broadcast from parliament on Wednesday as US Vice President Joe Biden, considered a strong backer of Kosovo independence, arrived in Belgrade.
Hundreds rally in China over police beating
As many as 1,000 protestors took to the streets in northwestern China after police officers allegedly beat a cyclist for running a red light, state media reported Thursday.
Germans resist Street View invasion of privacy
Google's all-seeing Street View is attempting to convince German authorities that it should be allowed to retain "partially censored images" which Hamburg and 15 other states want purged from the search monolith's databases.
FBI director schooled on marijuana by Rep. Steve Cohen (Video)
This is Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn) completely taking it to FBI Director Robert Mueller. He forces Mueller to admit that nobody has died from marijuana and jumps all over him when the Director tries to bring up the gateway theory.
US pension agency's ex-chief refuses to testify
The former head of the U.S. agency that insures corporate pensions refused to testify Wednesday at a Senate hearing examining allegations that he had improper contacts with Wall Street firms.
Geithner works to fill out Treasury team
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is surrounding himself with former aides to President Bill Clinton as he attempts to rebound from a rocky start even as top-tier vacancies have slowed decision-making.
Google: Ditching data could hinder flu tracking
Larry Page, the co-founder of Google, questioned whether the search engine giant was right to cut the amount of time it held personal search data, when by retaining information the company could help combat future pandemics.
Military attorney: Waterboarding is tip of the iceberg
Yvonne Bradley, a lawyer assigned to defend a British man detained at Guantanamo Bay detention center, told CNNs Jim Acosta that detainees may have faced interrogation techniques that were worse than waterboarding.
Dollar still top currency in Russia reserves-cbank
The dollar remains the top currency in Russia's foreign exchange reserves, the central bank said on Wednesday, qualifying an earlier report that suggested the euro had edged ahead in the world's third biggest reserves.
GPS System Could Fail Next Year, Report Warns
Mismanagement and underinvestment by the U.S. Air Force could possibly lead to the failure and blackout of the Global Positioning System (GPS), a federal watchdog agency says.
Panel votes for probe of 'extremist' report
Democrats joined Republicans on a key House panel Tuesday in voting for a formal inquiry into the development and distribution of a contentious Homeland Security Department report that described military veterans as possible recruits for extremists.
Tagged for dropping sweets
A motorcyclist has told how he was electronically tagged for four months and given a 36-hour community order – for dropping mint imperials while riding.
Soy Protein Used in "Natural" Foods Bathed in Toxic Solvent Hexane
Virtually all "protein bars" on the market today are made with soy protein. Many infant formula products are also made with soy protein, and thousands of vegetarian products (veggie burgers, veggie cheese, "natural" food bars, etc.) are made with soy protein. That soy protein is almost always described as safe and "natural" by the companies using it.
CIA head: J'lem knows not to attack Iran
CIA director Leon Panetta on Wednesday said that Jerusalem knew it needed to coordinate its strategy on Iran with other nations and was aware of the fact that launching an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities would mean "big trouble."
Wary of U.S. debt, China shifts gears on investment
China has engineered a subtle yet significant shift in the investment of its foreign exchange reserves, a sign of how it is willing to act on concerns about financing an explosion of U.S. debt.
In a 22-page decision issued Tuesday evening, U.S. District Court Judge John Bates ruled that members in Al Qaeda or the Taliban could be detained, but that mere support for Al Qaeda activities is not a sufficient basis for the government to hold prisoners at Guantanamo Bay or elsewhere.
Billionaire Donors Hold Secret Meeting
"Under a cloak of secrecy, some of the world's wealthiest people gathered in an unprecedented meeting early this month in New York City possibly to coordinate strategies for giving their vast fortunes to charity in the midst of the financial crisis," ABC News reports.
U.S. crude futures rise $2 as EIA says supply fell
U.S. crude oil futures rose more than $2 per barrel on Wednesday, pushing to a 2009 front-month intraday peak above $62 a barrel as the government reported crude oil and gasoline inventories fell last week.
Gold Demand Surges 38% on Investment
Gold purchases rose 38 percent in the first quarter, led by investment demand that exceeded usage by jewelers for the first time since at least 2004, according to the World Gold Council.
Birmingham police beating video: Five officers fired (With Video)
Five Birmingham police officers have been fired for a January 2008 beating of an already-unconscious suspect with fists, feet and a billy club, a battering caught on videotape until a police officer turned off the patrol car camera, city and police officials said today.
Report: Spain trying to rein in judges on Israel war crimes trial
'Wall Street Journal' reports Spanish government proposing legislation that would prevent courts from dealing with cases not directly related to Spain. Unclear if bill would have impact on open war crimes investigations against US, China and Israel
Woman vows fight over handrail ticket
The Montreal woman who was handcuffed and fined $420 for not holding a subway station escalator handrail is planning to fight the tickets, saying she was treated like a "criminal" for trying to avoid germs.
Democrats seek financial rescue of minority-owned broadcasters
High-ranking House Democrats are urging the Treasury Department to prop up minority-owned broadcasters suffering from a lack of capital and lost advertising revenue amid the economic slump.
Washington Watch: Ex-AIPACer: There is no military option in Iran
There is no viable military option for dealing the Iranian nuclear threat, and efforts by the Israeli government and its supporters to link that threat to progress in peace with the Palestinians and Syria are "nonsense" and an obstacle to the Arab-Israeli and international cooperation essential to changing Iranian behavior.
New York Times Falsifies Obama-Netanyahu Meeting
What is more disturbing and far more consequential is that the Times made this meeting into a story about Iran. They read into Obama's careful and measured remarks exactly the hostile intention toward Iran and the explicit deadline for results from his negotiations with Iran that Obama had taken great pains to avoid stating.
Letter from a Dodge Dealer
My name is George C. Joseph. I am the sole owner of Sunshine Dodge-Isuzu, a family owned and operated business in Melbourne, Florida. My family bought and paid for this automobile franchise 35 years ago in 1974. I am the second generation to manage this business.
Arms Sent by U.S. May Be Falling Into Taliban Hands
The presence of this ammunition among the dead in the Korangal Valley, an area of often fierce fighting near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan, strongly suggests that munitions procured by the Pentagon have leaked from Afghan forces for use against American troops.
Corrupt Afghan officials hurt aid
Corruption in the Afghan political and legal systems is "pervasive" and "entrenched," a report prepared for the main U.S. aid agency says, posing a challenge to the Obama administration's plans to steer more assistance through the U.S.-backed Afghan government.
The Humanitarian Face of the State, With Fangs
By Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
The glorious Barack Obama, broad-minded humanitarian universalist that he is, promised to reverse the wickedness of the Bush administration, which ran a prison camp in Guantánamo Bay and kept pictures of ruthless abuse from public view to save the face of Bush.
