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Global stock markets set for dismal first half
Oil up 46% this year
PER$ON OF INTEREST: $5.8 million for scientist in anthrax lawsuit
Pictured: The bees fitted with microchips to find out why their species is dying
Claire Cohen
Daily Mail
Friday, June 27, 2008
It is a remarkably hairy close-up.
But this tiny microchip attached to a bee’s back will hopefully explain why so many honeybees are dying from disease.
Professor Juergen Tautz and his team at the University of Wurzburg in Germany are studying the health of more than 150,000 bees, in the hope of halting the apparently inexorable decline in their worldwide population.
North America’s 1st carbon tax rolls out under fire
Allan Dowd
Reuters
Friday, June 27, 2008
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Civic leader Scott Nelson says he is as worried as anyone about global warming, but that does not make him happy to be one of the first North Americans to pay a carbon tax to curb climate change.
EU Constitution Kingpin: We Will Ignore Referendums
Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, author of the rejected European Constitution, has effectively stated that the votes of citizens in EU member states will have no bearing on the future actions of the European Parliament.
No let-up in global stocks slide
BBC News
Friday, June 27, 2008
Global shares have continued their downward path, with New York’s Dow Jones showing further declines after key European markets closed lower.
Man arrested for anti-cop YouTube clip
DAVID GAMBACORTA
U.S. News & World Report
Friday, June 27, 2008
The comments made in the You Tube video are very similar to the death threats made by Michael Reagan to Mark Dice. This individual was arrested while Reagan was not even suspended from his radio show.
It took just a few weeks for Andre Moore to go from YouTube to the slammer.
Members of the state attorney general’s Gun Violence Task Force announced Moore’s abrupt career change yesterday morning by smashing a battering ram through the door of his West Philadelphia apartment.
Report Shows Lawmakers Heavily Invested in War
Pat Shannan
American Free Press
Friday, June 27, 2008
A new study by a nonpartisan research group shows that lawmakers’ stock holdings in various companies doing business with the Defense Department totals more than $196 million, earning the congress critters millions in profits individually since the start of the war in Iraq.
Seizing Laptops and Cameras Without Cause
Alex Kingsbury
U.S. News & World Report
Friday, June 27, 2008
Returning from a brief vacation to Germany in February, Bill Hogan was selected for additional screening by customs officials at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. Agents searched Hogan’s luggage and then popped an unexpected question: Was he carrying any digital media cards or drives in his pockets? “Then they told me that they were impounding my laptop,” says Hogan, a freelance investigative reporter whose recent stories have ranged from the origins of the Iraq war to the impact of money in presidential politics.
The Democrats and the New FISA Law: Embracing Big Brother
CANDACE COHN
Counterpunch
Friday, June 27, 2008
It may be June, but Christmas came early this year for Big Brother and the telecommunications giants. Unfortunately, it is average Americans who will pay–dearly–on three separate counts.
First, precious constitutional and other legal protections against warrantless domestic surveillance have been shattered. The federal government may now secretly and legally eavesdrop on virtually any American’s e-mail, cell phone and landline communications–without first getting a court-ordered warrant.
The World in 2025, According to the National Intelligence Council
Daniel Taylor
Old Thinker News
Friday, June 27, 2008
Life extension technology, artificial intelligence, and an expansive “internet of things” are just a few of the topics that the latest report from the National Intelligence Council, “Disruptive Civil Technologies - Six Technologies with Potential Impacts on US Interests out to 2025“.
Credit crunch forcing US middle classes to live in their cars
Dan Glaister
London Guardian
Friday, June 27, 2008 Homeless people living in cars and motorhomes across the US are being joined by a new breed: the middle class.As mortgage foreclosures continue to rise, growing numbers of middle-class professionals are losing their homes and downsizing from four bedrooms to four wheels.With numbers rising, New Beginnings, a homeless agency in Santa Barbara, California, has launched a safe parking scheme, whose aim is to provide a refuge of sorts for those who have nowhere to go other than their vehicle.Millionaire gets prison for enslaving workers
Wall Street plunges towards worst month since the Great Depression of the early 1930s
Ian Lyall
UK Daily Mail
Friday, June 27, 2008
Shares plunged on both sides of the Atlantic yesterday because of fears over oil, inflation and the global economy.
If The Fed Fights ‘Non-Existent’ Inflation
Raft of bad news pummels Wall St.
US stocks tumbled, sending the Dow Jones industrial average to its worst June since the Great Depression, as record oil prices, credit market write-downs, and a slowing economy threatened to extend a yearlong profit slump.Oil’s surge past $140 a barrel was just one of the day’s worrisome developments.Warnings about the key financial, automotive, and high-tech industries added up to an increasingly troubled economy -Boston Globe
ICE attorney arrested for alleged immigrant bribes
The King Assassination and CNN Disinformation by Dr. William F. Pepper
Dr. William F. Pepper
As a friend and colleague of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., during the last year of his life, James Earl Ray’s attorney, for the last ten years of his life and, finally, lead Counsel for Dr. King’s family in the 1999 civil trial which brought forward evidence from 70 witnesses over 30 days in Memphis, I am compelled to comment, for the record, on the most recent documentary on the assassination by CNN which is being aired on an ongoing basis. The fact that my participation in the program was used to give it some credibility makes this comment even more relevant.
Richard Gage is Presenting in Phoenix Today
OPEC chief sees oil at $150-170 in coming months
Reuters
Friday, June 27, 2008
Crude oil prices could rise to as high as $170 per barrel in the coming months but are unlikely to hit $200 and should ease towards the end of the year, OPEC President Chakib Khelil said in an interview on Thursday.
The Greater Depression & What To Do About It
Oil price hits record near $142
BBC
Friday, June 27, 2008
The price of crude oil has surged to a record, almost breaking through $142 a barrel, amid concerns about the ability of producer nations to meet demand.
This Recession, It’s Just Beginning
This thing’s going down, fast and hard. Corporate bankruptcies, bond defaults, bank failures, hedge fund meltdowns and 6 percent unemployment. We’re caught in one of those vicious, downward spirals that, once it gets going, is very hard to pull out of.
Only this will be a different kind of recession — a recession with an overlay of inflation. That combo puts the Federal Reserve in a Catch-22 — whatever it does to solve one problem only makes the other worse. Emerging from a two-day meeting this week, Fed officials signaled that further recession-fighting rate cuts are unlikely and that their next move will be to raise rates to contain inflationary expectations.
Paul Watson on the Alex Jones Show:CPS History of Abuse!
Sweeping new policies set to be introduced in the UK will mandate parents to get government permission to kiss their children or take them to the swimming pool in public.
The Plan That Never Was Has Now Been Canceled
John F. McManus
JBS
Friday, June 27, 2008
They never intended to build a Trans-Texas Corridor/NAFTA Superhighway. Or so they continued to insist. But now, the Texas Department of Transportation has announced that the plan they never had will no longer be considered.
Still President - North Korea
North Korea is downgraded from part of the axis of evil to a slightly less menacing category.
NBC Uses Shaky Intelligence to Fan Flames of Global Warming Alarmism
Jeff Poor
Business & Media Institute
Friday, June 27, 2008
The June 25 “NBC Nightly News” took a new approach to spreading the message of the global warming alarmist agenda. It led off the broadcast with a new government report to connect carbon dioxide with national security.
No ice at the North Pole This Summer
Ron Paul Speaks Out Forcefully Against War with Iran
Ron Paul on Iran & Energy (C-SPAN 6/26)
Ron Paul gave a speech on the House floor today condemning the “virtual war resolution” soon to be considered by the House of Representatives. This bill already has 208 co-sponsors, and will likely be voted on after the 4th of July holiday. A related bill is being worked on in the Senate, with 29 Cosponsors. Many of the cosponsors are Democrats. Who says the Democratic Party is the anti-war party? You can see the video of Dr. Paul speaking out forcefully against this resolution here, sadly to a nearly empty House chamber.
What War With Iran Would Mean
Oil Surges Above $140
Stocks Plunge
Police chiefs against universal DNA database
Friday, June 27th, 2008
The majority of police chiefs are against a universal DNA database for the people of Britain. At a meeting during the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) annual conference, 61 per cent of police chiefs voted against the idea of putting all UK residents on the …
Agents seize Blackwater firearms
Friday, June 27th, 2008
RALEIGH, North Carolina: Federal agents raided Blackwater Worldwide this week as part of an investigation into whether the private security company sidestepped federal laws prohibiting the private purchase of automatic assault rifles, the company said Thursday. Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said …
NY judge: NSA can refuse to discuss wiretapping
Friday, June 27th, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) | The National Security Agency does not need to tell lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees whether their phones were tapped as part of the Bush administration’s domestic surveillance program, a federal judge in New York ruled Wednesday. The NSA …
Zimbabweans Vote in Runoff Poll Criticized by World
Zimbabweans voted in a runoff election deemed unfair by the international community after President Robert Mugabe’s sole opponent withdrew to protest campaign violence.The Group of Eight said it’s impossible for the ballot to be free and fair because of systematic attacks by Zimbabwe’s security agencies.Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader who denounced the vote as a “sham election,” urged voters to stay away from the polls if they could without risking their lives -Brian Latham/Bloomberg
Mugabe’s War - 10,000 Tortured; 86 Dead, 2,000 Jailed
North Korea blows up reactor cooling tower
North Korea toppled the cooling tower at its plutonium-producing reactor today in a symbolic move to show its commitment to a disarmament deal that comes a day after it submitted an inventory of its nuclear programme.But experts say key questions remain about nuclear weapons and proliferation, and global powers still need to verify the claims in the declaration which details the amount of plutonium it had produced
Olmert Survives Again, For Now
Embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert won yet another reprieve this week, just hours before the parliament was set to vote to dissolve itself in a move that would almost certainly have led to new elections and Olmert’s ouster from office.But the prime minister’s latest escape had a price: to head off the threat of early elections Olmert was forced to agree to a leadership run-off in his ruling centrist Kadima party by no later than Sep. 25 -Peter Hirschberg/IPS
U.S. and China Go Bump in the Middle East
For China these days it seems that nothing — not rising energy prices; not sanctions aimed at its more unsavoury business partners, Burma and Sudan; not even the prospect of a nuclear Iran — can curb its thirst for oil.As China’s energy needs grow at a rate higher than any other country’s, so too have its economic relationships with the oil-producing nations of the Gulf.China appears poised to challenge U.S. interests in the region -Khody Akhavi/IPS
Torture Policy Framers Testify
If last week’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearings on torture represented a watershed of disclosure, today’s long-awaited testimony from David Addington and John Yoo reached the opposite extreme.Coerced into testifying under oath after years of resistance and obstruction, both controversial torture advocates labored tirelessly to tell a House panel as little as possible -Spencer Ackerman/Washington Independent
THE SUBPRIME TRUMP CARD: STANDING UP TO THE BANKS
A basic principle of contract law is that a plaintiff suing on a written contract must produce the signed contract proving he is entitled to relief.If there is no signed mortgage note or recorded assignment, foreclosure is barred.But when the plaintiffs bringing subprime foreclosure actions have been challenged, in most cases they haven’t been able to produce the notes.Why not? It appears to be more than just sloppy paperwork -Ellen Brown, J.D.
What’s next after Supreme Court’s gun decision?
The Supreme Court’s landmark decision Thursday striking down the District of Columbia’s gun ban will have wide-ranging legal, political and public safety consequences.There will be more lawsuits, probably lots of them.Some guns laws will survive, while others will fall.The decision will help showcase the Supreme Court as a potential issue in the 2008… Most immediately, the court’s 5-4 decision in District of Columbia v. Helle poses myriad questions for which answers are still a work in progress -Michael Doyle/McClatchy Newspapers
Delinquencies Rise at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
In a sign of continuing trouble in the housing market, mortgage delinquency rates doubled over a 12-month period at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two industry giants reported yesterday.Neither company’s figures fully captured the problems borrowers have had making payments, because they excluded loans for which payment terms had been relaxed.The collapse of the housing bubble has left them the dominant players in housing finance -Washington Post
USFed Blinks: Propaganda & Bluffs
For the last couple weeks, my attention has been given to the amusement and desperation behind propaganda, bluffs, and the utter desperation of the USFederal Reserve in the orchestrated rumors of a new position wherein they would soon or eventually raise the official interest rate in order to combat the horrendous price inflation brought about by the falling crippled USDollar.What utter nonsense! -Jim Willie CB
MPAA Kills Anti-Pretexting Bill
A tough California bill that would have prohibited companies and individuals from using deceptive “pretexting” ruses to steal private information about consumers was killed after determined lobbying by the motion picture industry, Wired News has learned.
The bill, SB1666, was written by state Sen. Debra Bowen, and would have barred investigators from making “false, fictitious or fraudulent” statements or representations to obtain private information about an individual, including telephone calling records, Social Security numbers and financial information. Victims would have had the right to sue for damages.
IRAN: American public won’t allow another war, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman says
George Carlin, Diet Coke With Aspartame & Cardiac Death
FLASHBACK: Congress Seeks F.B.I. Data On Informer; F.B.I. Resists
The Federal Bureau of Investigation had a confidential informer who rented rooms in California to two of the Sept. 11 hijackers, but the bureau is resisting a request from the Congressional committee investigating the attacks to interview the informer and his F.B.I. handler, government officials said.
Ron Paul Revolution March July 12
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The Post-9/11 Afghan Heroin Explosion
Senator Orrin Hatch Has “Truthers” On The Brain!
Hatch compares FISA critics to those ‘who wear tin foil hats and think 9/11 was an inside job.’»
Speaking today on the Senate floor in favor of the Foreign Service Intelligence Act legislation, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) compared critics of the bill — which include Sens. Harry Reid (D-NV), Chris Dodd (D-CT), and Barbara Boxer (D-CA), among others — to deluded conspiracy theorists. Hatch mocked the what he called “onerous oversight provisions” included in the bill, and said those who raise the specter of unchecked executive wiretapping power “feed the delusions of those who wear tin foil hats around their house and think that 9/11 was an inside job.”
State-Sponsored Terror: British and American Black Ops in Iraq
In January of 2002, the Washington Post ran a story detailing a CIA plan put forward to President Bush shortly after 9/11 by CIA Director George Tenet titled, “Worldwide Attack Matrix,” which was “outlining a clandestine anti-terror campaign in 80 countries around the world.What he was ready to propose represented a striking and risky departure for U.S. policy and would give the CIA the broadest and most lethal authority in its history.” -Andrew G. Marshall/Global Research CA
Paul Supports Supreme Court Ruling On DC Gun Case
In a statement issued late yesterday, Paul called the ruling “encouraging,” saying it affirmed individual rights against federal intrusion.
“Today is an exciting day for the Bill of Rights as the Supreme Court ruled in a landmark case that individuals do indeed have a Constitutional right to own guns. I am pleased with this ruling,” Paul said. “As a strong proponent of Second Amendment rights, it is encouraging to see the Supreme Court defining this important right as an individual right against federal intrusion.”
Paul added that gun control laws only lead to criminals being the only ones with guns. He also cautioned against future restrictions on gun ownership.
Comparing Ron Paul to Obama - What Are the REAL Differences?-VIDEO
This is an attempted non-biased voting record comparison between two candidates, Barack Obama and Ron Paul.
Prodigy: Conspiracy Scholar - Obama Fake , Ron Paul Real
Prodigy: When it comes to the President election, I feel American people  should first have the choice on who should be candidates. Because the government out these candidates in front of us and then we have to choose from the lesser of the evils. It’s not fair. In true democracy, we should vote for our candidates and vote for our Presidents. Just because Obama is black, doesn’t mean that Blacks  should vote for him. It’s not about color, it’s about who is mentally capable of leading American people; defending our freedoms, our human and constitutional rights. We need to spend money on healing and education, not war and one world government.
As far as Ron Paul, he was the only candidate addressing these things and that probably why he’s out of the election. And umm, I wanna like Obama, but he’s all about the world government, world banking, war and stuff like that. He’s a phony. I wish nothing but love and happiness for him. But he’s either gonna be assassinated to create chaos and bring about Marshall Law or he’ll live and then years down the line, at the end of his term, everybody will see that he’s just like the rest of these plastic Presidents, who does absolutely nothing good. Just another puppet for the Royal family.
Why I Spend $85,000 To Support Presidential Candidate Ron Paul
The America that I grew up in believed in the rule of law, not the rule of men.
The America that I grew up in believed in telling the truth. The America that I grew up in believed in following Judeo- Christian values, and yet made room for those of different faiths and backgrounds. The America I grew up in had a religious flavor, but we were wary of those who wore their religion on their sleeves. The America that I grew up in believed in the golden rule: treat people the way we would like them to treat us. The America that I grew up in believed that you did not lie, cheat or steal. The America that I grew up in believed in the inherent goodness of most men, but recognized that evil exists.
Ron Paul should be part of convention
As he was speaking, I thought to myself: This man sounds more like a  Founding Father than anyone I’ve ever heard in my lifetime. He has dedicated himself to faithfully abiding by principles spelled out in the U.S. Constitution, a rarity in Washington, D.C. today.
Due to a shortage of Steele County delegates present that morning, my friend and I were immediately seated, six rows from the front, from that vantage point, it was very interesting to see how convention officials controlled the whole “process” (sham).
North Pole May Be Ice Free for First Time This Summer
Aalok Mehta aboard the C.C.G.S. Amundsen
National Geographic NewsArctic warming has become so dramatic that the North Pole may melt this summer, report scientists studying the effects of climate change in the field.
Missile defense success: First intercept of warhead after separating from missile…
Islam Targets First Amendment In US Next
Kucinich: ‘We went to war for the oil companies’
Nick Juliano
Raw Story
Friday, June 27, 2008 Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who has introduced measures to impeach George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, said Thursday that oil executives who secretly met with the vice president in 2001 should be held criminally liable for pushing an illegal war.
McCain doesn’t want to impeach Bush
David Edwards and Nick Juliano
Raw Story
Friday, June 27, 2008
Republican presidential candidate John McCain was asked Thursday his opinion of an attempt to impeach President Bush. His answer shouldn’t surprise anyone.
Sign Kucinich’s Impeachment Petition
Barack Obama calls Iran a ‘threat’
Press TV
Friday, June 27, 2008
US Presidential hopeful Barack Obama calls the Islamic Republic of Iran a ‘threat’ during a word association game in a TV interview.
In an interview on Fox Business channel Thursday, Obama played a word association game, responding in rapid-fire to words thrown at him by the program anchor.
Obama Waffles on School of the Americas
NIKOLAS KOZLOFF
Counterpunch
Friday, June 27, 2008
For a candidate who talks the talk on human rights, Barack Obama has little to say about the infamous School of the Americas (SOA). Originally established in the Panama Canal Zone in 1946, the school later moved to Fort Benning, Georgia in 1984. Since its inception, the institution has instructed more than 60,000 Latin American soldiers in military and law-enforcement tactics.
Bolton Bristles When Challenged On Getting It Wrong On Iraq: That’s ‘An Ad Hominem Attack’
Think Progress
Friday, June 27, 2008
Former UN Ambassador John Bolton has been intensifying his calls for a war with Iran, telling Fox News last weekend that Israel may attack Iran before the inauguration of a new U.S. President. He added that Arab states “would be delighted” if this happened.
Hewitt: U.S. will get ‘blown up by the Islamists under Obama.’
Think Progress
Friday, June 27, 2008
On his radio show yesterday, conservative talker Hugh Hewitt announced that he was “living for” the Sept. 13 football game between USC and Ohio State, adding that he predicts that it will be the last game played before the United States “gets blown up by the Islamists under Obama.”
“Soldiers Are Fed Up”
“People Are Coming Out In Larger Numbers And Speaking Out Against The War, Standing Up For What They Believe In” “I Think The Times Are Telling Us A Lot Right Now”
Jailed and Tortured Fighting for Free Speech
Ben Hurley
Epoch Times
Friday, June 27, 2008
Somewhere in the world, the warm fire crackles as giggling children, adorn their Christmas tree with the colourful lights that William Huang made in jail. A United States living room is coloured with the ornamental flowers he put together, glitter sticking to the sweat on his body, bursting calluses on his hands. Others, somewhere in Europe, chat and munch on the pistachio nuts that he pried open with pliers, or clambered over to use the open toilet, in the bedroom-sized production room that was home to over 20 prisoners.
Trailer #2 - TRUTH RISING: The 9/11 Chronicles Part One
The 9/11 Chronicles Part One: Truth Rising follows the growing momentum of the 9/11 truth movement, as people throughout the world take action against their globalist masters.
WeAreCHANGE Confronts Democrats at press conferance
Ex-weapons inspector says Iran not pursuing nukes, but U.S. will attack before ‘09
Jason Leopold
Online Journal
Friday, June 27, 2008
In 2002, Scott Ritter, the former chief United Nations weapons inspector In Iraq, publicly accused the Bush administration of lying to Congress and the public about assertions that Iraq was hiding a chemical and biological weapons arsenal.
Greece: We did not prepare for Iran war
Press TV
Friday, June 27, 2008
Athens has denied a report suggesting that its joint military maneuver with Israel was in ‘preparation’ for an aerial strike on Iran.
Saakashvili says Russia a threat to ex-Soviet states: report
AFP
Friday, June 27, 2008
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said Russian intervention in Abkhazia must be stopped or the sovereignty of other former Soviet states will be at risk, in an interview published here Thursday.
Who’s Planning Our Next War?
Patrick J. Buchanan
Lew Rockwell.com
Friday, June 27, 2008
Of the Axis-of-Evil nations named in his State of the Union in 2002, President Bush has often said, “The United States will not permit the world’s most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world’s most destructive weapons.”
Le Téléprésident: Sarkozy tightens his grip over French state TV
Angelique Chrisafis
London Telegraph
Friday, June 27, 2008
Nicolas Sarkozy’s plans to increase government control over state TV yesterday sparked an outcry from his political opponents who accused him of tightening a Berlusconi-style grip on the airwaves and dragging France back into its dark age of postwar censorship and propaganda.
Senate Passes Broad War Funding Measure
In a 92 to 6 vote, the Senate yesterday approved unrestricted funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that allows continuation of the current military course of action through the end of President Bush’s term and beyond.In exchange for that unencumbered freedom to operate in Iraq, Bush agreed to demands by congressional Democrats to create a new higher-education benefit for veterans and their families, and to extend unemployment benefits -Washington Post
We can strike back
Friday, June 27th, 2008
Socialist Worker | Gordon Brown says we must all take a wage cut – but up to 800,000 local government workers are set to walk out over pay. Gordon Brown, chancellor Alistair Darling, and Bank of England governor Mervyn King lined up …
EU Constitution author says referendums can be ignored
Friday, June 27th, 2008
By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels | Future referendums will be ignored whether they are held in Ireland or elsewhere, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, the architect of the European Union Constitution said. The former President of France drafted the old Constitution that was rejected by French …
Oh! What a Lovely (drugs) War
Friday, June 27th, 2008
By Ron F | According to UN figures, in the 2000 growing season opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan covered 82,000 hectares. (1) Following a ban ruthlessly enforced by the Taliban opium cultivation declined to 8,000 hectares in the following year, according to …
Iraq authorities say U.S. soldiers killed 9 civilians
Friday, June 27th, 2008
By Doug Smith | BAGHDAD — Nine Iraqi civilians were killed Wednesday in two armed clashes involving U.S. soldiers, local authorities reported. The military said U.S. soldiers were fired upon first in both incidents. In the capital, three people were killed in a fiery …
Zimbabwe and the Question of Imperialism
Friday, June 27th, 2008
Democracy Now! | Listen to the Interview Audio stream Download mp3 Criticism of Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and the actions of his ruling Zanu PF party is growing. The most recent condemnation comes from former South African President Nelson Mandela, who mourned the “tragic …
Gitmo Detainee’s Lawyer ‘Not Allowed To Tell Him’ He’s No Longer An ‘Enemy Combatant’
Friday, June 27th, 2008
Think Progress | Nearly two weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that detainees held at Guantánamo Bay have the right to habeas corpus and can thus challenge their detention in civilian courts, a U.S. Court of Appeals dealt another blow to …
Five Myths About the New Wiretapping Law
Friday, June 27th, 2008
By Patrick Radden Keefe | Sometime today, the Senate is likely to approve the most comprehensive overhaul of American surveillance law since the Watergate era. Unless you’re a government lawyer, a legal scholar, a masochist, or an insomniac, chances are you haven’t read …
Yoo and Addington Visit Congress, Say Nothing
Today’s House Judiciary Committee questioning of John Yoo and David Addington, architects of the Bush Administration’s interrogation policies, was not impressive.Some of the congressmen questioning them weren’t even in Congress when the policies were formed, and none of them have focused on these issues full-time.As a result, the questioning was at times laughably one-sided -Jonathan Stein/Mother Jones
How the Pentagon Turned an Interrogation Resistance Program into a Blueprint for Torture
Friday, June 27th, 2008
By Spencer Ackerman | In August 2004, a Defense Dept. panel convened to investigate detainee abuse after the Abu Ghraib scandal issued its much-anticipated report. Interrogation techniques designed for use at Guantánamo Bay, which President George W. Bush had decreed outside the scope of the Geneva Conventions, had “migrated” to …
The Pentagon’s Stealth Corporations
Now, imagine that, due to a little more Pentagon/Bush administration wizardry, even this black budget estimate is undoubtedly a low-ball figure. One reason is simple enough: The proposed $541 billion Pentagon 2009 budget doesn’t even include money for actual wars. George W. Bush’s wars are all paid for by “supplemental” bills like the $162 billion one Congress will soon pass — so the Department of Defense’s $34 billion black budget skips “war-related funding.” This means that even the overall figure for that budget remains darker than we might imagine (as in “black hole”). The Pentagon not only produces stealth planes, it is, in budgetary terms, a stealth operation. If honestly accounted, the actual Pentagon yearly budget, including all the “military-related” funds salted away elsewhere, is probably now more than $1 trillion a year.
Sarkozy lays out plan for Internet tax
France will ban prime-time advertising on public television as of Jan. 1 and plans to tax Internet, phone and commercial broadcasting companies to replace the lost funding, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday.
The ‘W.’ Stands for ‘War Criminal’
In a June 6 letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey–largely ignored by a press immersed in the future of Hillary Clinton–56 Democrats in the House of Representatives asked for “an immediate investigation with the appointment of a special counsel to determine whether actions taken by the President, his Cabinet, and other Administration officials are in violation of the War Crimes Act (18 U.S.C. 2441) . . . and other U.S. and international laws.” This isn’t front-page news?
Top US military officer heads to Israel with Iran on the agenda
US military chief Admiral Michael Mullen was expected in Israel this week for discussions including Iran, the Pentagon said Wednesday, amid speculation Israel is seeking Washington’s tacit approval to strike Tehran’s nuclear program.
Bush/McCain’s gas price scam is an Enron rerun
The Bush/McCain gas price escalation is an Enron rerun. It is Chapter 2 of the scam Bush crony “Kenny Boy” Lay used in 1999-2001 to steal $100 billion from California ratepayers.
Now this administration is replicating that crisis to funnel untold billions into the coffers of its oil baron backers . . .
Honey Bee Crisis Could Push Food Prices Even Higher
Food prices could rise even more unless the mysterious decline in honey bees is solved, farmers and businessmen told lawmakers Thursday.
“No bees, no crops,” North Carolina grower Robert D. Edwards told a House Agriculture subcommittee. Edwards said he had to cut his cucumber acreage in half because of the lack of bees available to rent…. The cause behind the disorder remains unknown. Possible explanations include pesticides; a new parasite or pathogen; and the combination of immune-suppressing stresses such as poor nutrition, limited or contaminated water supplies and the need to move bees long distances for pollination.
(WRH: Note the one potential cause they are careful NOT to mention; genetically modified crops. Yet it has been known since 1999 that pollen from genetically modified crops can harm beneficial insect species. )
Scalia says Gore to blame for 2000 election mess
Congress votes to remove Mandela from terror watch list
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is open, the phone lines are being installed, and we are busy at work. Our membership is already climbing towards 100,000. Invite your friends and family to join the Campaign for Liberty with our new email invitation tool. Can we get to 75,000 by Independence Day?
Paulites have been this season. The NeoCon/establishment faction within the Party has diligently worked to eliminate all true vestiges of the real Reagan Revolution from the party, as exampled by their behavior this election season. They have but one thought: Power and control at any cost. Yet, the record shows they keep losing running against historic principles of the Party.
let the market adjust, as painful as that will be for some. We should not force taxpayers, including renters and more frugal homeowners, to switch places with the speculators and take on those same risks that bankrupted them. It is a terrible idea to spread the financial crisis any wider or deeper than it already is, and to prolong the agony years into the future. Socializing the losses now will only create more unintended consequences that will give new excuses for further government interventions in the future. This is how government grows - by claiming to correct the mistakes it earlier created, all the while constantly shaking down the taxpayer. The market needs a chance to correct itself, and Congress needs to avoid making the situation worse by pretending to ride to the rescue.”
smaller government, much greater personal freedoms, dramatically reducing the size, the scope, the power of the federal government, and whether or not Chuck Baldwin, whether or not that’s an important, substantive part of his program, I don’t know. But I can assure those supporters of Ron Paul, that’s dead center where I am.”
economists lately. When economists critiqued his gas tax holiday scheme, McCain said,