truthseeds.org

Centennial College Announces MANDATORY Global Citizenship Course
Canada News Wire
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Mandatory Course Explores the Responsibilities of Global Citizenship

Centennial College will officially launch its groundbreaking Signature Learning Experience jointly with its humanracebook.com campaign. The innovative philosophy opens Centennial students’ minds to the current issues that affect our world, helping them learn how they can get involved, make a difference, exert their influence and impart change.

Pelosi Supports Revival of Media ‘Fairness Doctrine’

Six Years Late, Court Throws Out Gitmo Case
In the history of legal challenges to the Bush administration’s assertion that it can hold “War on Terror” prisoners indefinitely without charge or trial, Parhat v. Gates has just joined a trio of Supreme Court verdicts — Rasul v. Bush (2004), Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006) and Boumediene v. Bush (twelve days ago) — as significant challenges to executive overreach.The verdict has been a long time coming -Andy Worthington/CounterPunch

Billion-Dollar Babies
There’s a select group that are masters of the universe in the ever-expanding military-corporate complex, regularly scoring more than a billion tax dollars a year from the Department of Defense. Unlike Lockheed, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman, however, most of these billion-dollar babies manage to fly beneath the radar of media.So, who are some of these mystery defense contractors you’ve probably never heard of? Here are snapshot portraits, culled largely from their own corporate documents, of five of the Pentagon’s secret billion-dollar babies -Nick Turse/Tomdispatch.com

Chris Dodd’s Speech and a Glimmer of Hope for Stopping the FISA Bill
Chris Dodd’s relentless delaying tactics — his filibuster and holds and other procedural tactics designed to block quick enactment of the bill, supported at every step by Russ Feingold — forced Reid to pull the bill from the floor and prevented the Senate from considering the bill until the following February.Chris Dodd went to the Senate floor last night to speak against the FISA bill and delivered one of the most compelling and inspired speeches by a prominent politician that I’ve heard in quite some time -Glenn Greenwald/Salon

States Come After Countrywide
Countrywide’s rap sheet just keeps getting longer.On Wednesday, California and Illinois said they were suing Countrywide Financial for deceptive mortgage practices, while TradeTheNews.com reported that the company was said to be on the verge of losing its license to operate in Washington state.The revelations came as more than 69.0% of Countrywide shareholders voted to swap their stock to become a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America -Maurna Desmond/Forbes

Silvio Berlusconi’s ‘iron fist’ laws approved
By Malcolm Moore in Rome

Soldiers could be sent into Italy’s cities, illegal immigrants will be imprisoned and all non-serious court cases will be frozen for a year under new measures approved by Italy’s senate.

The senate voted 166 to 123 to approve a wide-ranging package of measures which will allow Silvio Berlusconi to govern Italy with an iron fist.

20 people killed in Mexican border city in 36 hours

Great Things Coming
I’m in haste as I head out to lunch, but I thought I’d test out the blog by noting that it’s not just a cliche — great things really are coming together at the Campaign for Liberty. I’ve been following the discussions across the web about what you’re hoping this organization will be, and boy will you be pleasantly surprised. It’s just what you’re hoping for. Within the next couple weeks we hope to present you with a full, detailed overview of just what we’ll be doing and how we’ll be doing it. You’ll see the website gradually become more extensive and interactive. And we’ll keep listening to your suggestions.
Lots to come, so stay tuned and spread the word!

GOP convention looked too liberal
There was a certain amount of stink made over the Ron Paul supporters, many of whom were delegates trying to push conservative values and shift the party to the right. Excuse me? Am I in the right place? You’d have thought we were a bunch of terrorists or something. Imagine, having the gall to demand adherence to our Constitution and preaching CONSERVATISM at a REPUBLICAN convention, of all places. Disgraceful.
If you were being swept down a raging river, would you condemn the people who were throwing you a rope? I couldn’t believe some of the arguments I was hearing.

Ron Paul Reagan and Goldwater Platform Video
This is a promo video for the traditional conservative Reagan, Goldwater, Paul platform.

Fed Sets Price of Money Today, 2:15pm ET
Politicians and the mainstream press often praise America’s “free markets,” but they never stop to question how truly free these markets can be if the price of money itself is set by a small group of unelected officials. Money touches every financial transaction we make. If its value is not freely determined, the market itself cannot truly be said to be free. As the Fed destroys the value of the dollar (under the official guise of “managing the economy”), prices everywhere are on the rise: Two dollars for pizza delivery. A $10 surcharge for lawn-mowing service. An extra 8.5% to ship a package via UPS or FedEx (increasing to 9.5% in July).

Fed Keeps Rate at 2%, Cites `Upside’ Inflation Risks (Update3)

The Weapon of Mass Destruction Is Cancer
The DoD hasn’t gone public with their findings. WRAMC has dedicated floors six and seven to the stricken soldiers arriving daily — their life may have been spared on the battlefield, but the savage beast within — cancer — had created its own war.

Since soldiers are uninformed about depleted uranium (DU), they are not wearing protective gear and are unknowingly inhaling and ingesting the toxic dust.

While the DoD denies that cancer is a “War Wound,” many are left inflicted with the life-threatening illness, uncertain and fearful of their own mortality and military career.

BREAKING NEWS : ‘Agents Provocateurs’ “caught” in the UK
George Galloway again catches the establishment trying to smear him. This time using Agents Provocateurs at last week’s demonstration against Bush during his visit to London.

The Un-American Lies of Antonin Scalia

Biofuels has made 30 million people worldwide poor
news.bbc.co.uk — Oxfam says so-called green policies in developed countries are contributing to the world’s soaring food prices, which hit the poor hardest.

McCain event draws record number of protesters
rawstory.com — A John McCain campaign event in Santa Barbara drew about 100 protesters. The protest is considered to be the largest yet against the McCain campaign…

Saudis Arrest 700 over ‘Oil Attack’ plots

State-Sponsored Terror: British and American Black Ops in Iraq
Andrew G. Marshall

Cuts judgment in EXXON Valdez disaster…

Mr Duyet implying that that Senator McCain lied about his treatment at the Hanoi Hilton?

“He did not tell the truth,” he says. “But I can somehow sympathise with him. He lies to American voters in order to get their support for his presidential election.”

Supreme Court rejects death penalty for raping children

GUN RIGHT FIGHT: TOMORROW…

Natural Gas Prices Set to Jump 52%!
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The government released a short-term energy outlook last week, revising projections for natural-gas prices upward. According to a report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), natural gas will cost a whopping 52% more this year than last year.

George Carlin is NOT dead; he lives in our hearts

KQRS FM: “9/11 Truthers, Grandpa Touched Them Up”

The Thirty-Four Minute Gap
The official story of the interception of Payne Stewart’s Lear Jet has always been a problem for the 9-11 cover-up. How to explain the speed with which military jets intercepted the wandering Lear Jet while excusing the inaction on 9-11 itself. As it turns out, Payne Stewart’s jet was intercepted by F-15s even earlier than is widely known.

Dam Inspection Data Withheld From Press Under Patriot Act
News outlets seeking inspection and safety data on local dams, in light off the recent string of floods in the Midwest, have been stonewalled by government officials who have withheld such data as part of the Patriot Act, according to Investigative Reporters and Editors.

Elites Seek Control Over Rising Cashless Society
Lee Rogers | The modern day priest class that is in control seeks the total destruction of economic privacy and they are doing an excellent job at doing just that.

Justice Scalia, The DoD, and the Perpetuation of an Urban Legend
Justice Scalia, The DoD, and the Perpetuation of an Urban Legend. (Justice Scalia, in writing his dissenting opinion against allowing Guantanamo Detainees the right to challenge their imprisonment in civilian courts, claimed that 30 detainees already released have returned to combat against the US. As it turns out, the claim is false.)

Raining hydrocarbons in the Gulf
Below the Gulf of Mexico, hydrocarbons flow upward through an intricate network of conduits and reservoirs. They start in thin layers of source rock and, from there, buoyantly rise to the surface. On their way up, the hydrocarbons collect in little rivulets, and create temporary pockets like rain filling a pond. Eventually most escape to the ocean. And, this is all happening now, not millions and millions of years ago, says Larry Cathles, a chemical geologist at Cornell University.

Housing Bill Has Provision To Track Financial Activity of Small Businesses
Hidden deep in Senator Christopher Dodd’s 630-page Senate housing legislation is a sweeping provision that affects the privacy and operation of nearly all of Americas small businesses. The provision, which was added by the bill’s managers without debate, would require the nation’s payment systems to track, aggregate, and report information on nearly every electronic transaction to the federal government.

U.S. Occupation Embassy Staff: Soldiers Killed in Baghdad Blast

An explosion rocked a municipal building Tuesday in Baghdad’s Sadr City neighborhood, killing six Iraqis, two U.S. occupation soldiers and two civilian U.S. Embassy employees, officials said.

Poll: 44% of Americans favor torture for terrorist suspects
Nick Juliano
Raw Story
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Majority disapprove of torture, 1 in 10 favor in any instance

A new poll of citizens’ attitudes about torture in 19 nations finds Americans among the most accepting of the practice. Although a slight majority say torture should be universally prohibited, 44 percent think torture of terrorist suspects should be allowed, and more than one in 10 think torture should generally be allowed.

British use anti-terror cameras to spy on litterbugs
David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Raw Story
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

British civil libertarians are charging that local governments have gone too far in spying on their own people, particularly through the use of surveillance cameras that were intended to foil terrorists.

EU countries obstructing investigations into CIA renditions, report says
LEIGH PHILLIPS
EU Observer
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The “most important” of the CIA’s secret detention prisons, or ‘black sites’, in the years immediately following the 11 September attacks was situated in Szymany, some 160km north of Warsaw, according to officers with the US intelligence service.

Civil liberties: At long last, someone takes a stand
Deepak Tripathi
Online Journal
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

LONDON — Britain is in the midst of an extraordinary national debate. It comes after the decision by a leading member of the opposition Conservative Party to resign his seat in Parliament and stand again in a by-election over the single issue of the erosion of civil liberties.

Big Shots Jump at Bilderberg’s Oil Orders
James P. Tucker Jr.
American Free Press
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Powerful world leaders ran like dogs to the whistle to champion Bilderberg’s decree (AFP June 23, 2008) to put a lid on surging oil prices. Meanwhile, Bilderberg’s world government project suffered another severe setback when Irish voters killed the latest version of the European Constitution.

London Exchange Says Efforts to Curb Speculation are ‘Foolish’
Governments would be “foolish” to limit participation in commodity markets and curb speculation because prices are based on supply and demand, London Metal Exchange Chief Executive Officer Martin Abbott said.Rising demand from emerging markets and a lack of investment by suppliers have created a “structural change” in commodity markets, fueling higher prices, Abbott said yesterday in an interview in New York.Increasing regulation to limit speculative interest won’t lower prices and may hamper the market’s role in price discovery, he said -Dale Crofts & Millie Munshi/Bloomberg

OPEC, European Union Clash Over Record Crude Prices
OPEC and the European Union clashed over record oil prices as producer countries blamed speculators while EU importers called for more crude output.A supply increase from Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, won’t be matched by additions from other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the group’s Secretary-General Abdalla el-Badri said today. “The market is currently hijacked by speculators,” el- Badri said in Brussels, where EU and OPEC officials met for their annual meeting -Fred Pals & Jonathan Stearns/Bloomberg

$2 billion in U.S. aid to Pakistan questioned
The United States has paid more than $5 billion to reimburse Pakistan for counter-terrorism expenses that have often been exaggerated, if not fabricated, according to a government audit released Tuesday that blasts the Pentagon for poor management of the program.The report concluded that the Pentagon could not properly account for as much as $2 billion in payments to Pakistan over a three-year period from 2004 to 2007 -Greg Miller/LA Times

Arms Dealer Had Troubled History
When the Army last year awarded a contract worth up to nearly $300 million to a tiny Miami Beach munitions dealer to supply ammunition to Afghanistan’s security forces, it overlooked a very checkered past.A Congressional committee revealed Tuesday that by the time the Army awarded the bid, State and Defense Department officials had canceled or delayed at least six earlier contracts with the company, AEY Inc., for poor quality or late deliveries -Eric Schmitt/NY Times

Single Best Comment of the Day
May I comment on that? That’s really an extraordinary statement. That’s an extraordinary statement, as someone who lived through the effects of the Federal Reserve, that we invited the devaluation of the dollar because we were attacking Iraq. I don’t think I’ve heard that before, and I’ve heard some pretty absurd explanations for why we should get rid of the Federal Reserve.”

Ron Paul Republican B.J. Lawson Interview
Lawson: My motivation running for Congress is to advance a Constitutional federal government, and to question the “politics as usual” that is bankrupting our country and eviscerating our freedoms. Today’s political process is simply broken: we have legislators who don’t read bills before they vote, we have Congress delegating rule making to unelected bureaucrats and lobbyists, we have legislators piling special favors into legislation that is deemed likely to pass, and few even question if proposed legislation is the Constitutional role of the federal government. These are symptoms of a political process that no longer represents the people.

Ron Paul: Statement on HR 6304, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments
The main reason I oppose this latest version is that it still clearly violates the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution by allowing the federal government to engage in the bulk collection of American citizens’ communications without a search warrant. That US citizens can have their private communication intercepted by the government without a search warrant is anti-American, deeply disturbing, and completely unacceptable.

Israel Prodding U.S. To Attack Iran

Jones & Bermas on Mike Reagan and Military Murders 6-23-0

Ray McGovern on the Alex Jones show warns of “false flag attack” and possible nuclear strikes on Iran
Ray McGovern and Alex Jones discuss the possibility of an attack on Iran, to the benefit of the Neocons and Israel. McGovern openly warns of a naval False Flag attack as one possibility to get things started.

32:14 7.49MB

Homeless man gets nearly 5 years for Bush threats

Britons fear the carbon cops are coming
Reuters
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

First there were the thought police, then the surveillance society, now Britons fear the carbon cops are coming to ensure compliance with climate change legislation, a survey showed on Wednesday.

Scalia Cites False Information in Habeas Dissent
MARJORIE COHN
Counterpunch
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

To bolster his argument that the Guantánamo detainees should be denied the right to prove

their innocence in federal courts, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in his dissent in Boumediene v. Bush: “At least 30 of those prisoners hitherto released from Guantánamo have returned to the battlefield.” It turns out that statement is false.

US may quickly lift terror label from NKorea: White House
AFP
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The United States said Wednesday that it could move to take North Korea off its list of state sponsors of terrorism “quite soon” after the North makes a full accounting of its nuclear programs.

Bush admin allows N Korea to exclude atomic bombs from a required disclosure of its nuclear activities
Nicholas Kralev
Washington Times
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

President Bush canceled plans Tuesday to visit Seoul next month amid protests over U.S. beef imports, and his administration made a key concession to North Korea by allowing it to exclude atomic bombs from a required disclosure of its nuclear activities.

Media, Authorities Hype “Blonde Haired Terrorist” Threat
Following in the footsteps of Fox News, and almost word for word repeating unsubstantiated claims by the head of the CIA, ABC News ran a piece earlier this week alleging that white westerners are being trained in Al Qaeda terror camps in Pakistan with the intention of carrying out attacks in Europe and the USA.

Blond, white schoolboy is al-Qa’eda extremist, say police
Richard Edwards
London Telegraph
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

A schoolboy aged 12 has been identified as an al-Qaeda inspired extremist after sending beheading videos to his classmates, police have disclosed.

White House won’t admit that Bush met with military analysts
Eric Brewer
Raw Story
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

At Wednesday’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Dana Perino claimed that she doesn’t know whether President Bush ever met with TV military analysts who participated in the Pentagon’s secret propaganda program that was suspended earlier this year after its existence was revealed in a NY Times story by David Barstow.

ABC News: White European Al-Qaeda training in Pakistan LexisNexis

Clinton says her husband determined to help Obama
Thomas Ferraro
Reuters
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Hillary Clinton brushed off suggestions on Wednesday that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, does not seem to share her enthusiasm for campaigning for Democratic White House candidate Barack Obama.

World’s First ‘Building In Motion’ Set For Dubai
Italian Architect Poised To Build 80-Story Tower With Revolving Floors Powered By Wind Turbines (Some kind of metaphor here…a building that can dodge false flag attacks?!)

Food relief line grows long, tense
Frustration rises, officials caught off-guard as thousands turn out for flood assistance

How Psychologists Have Abetted the CIA
The CIA’s Torture Teachers, psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen [see Eban and Mayer for a reminder of their work], are in the news again. In a front page New York Times article on the interrogation of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, it is mentioned that the subject of the story, Deuce Martinez is now employed by the dynamic torture firm.

Mitchell and Jessen reverse-engineered the tactics inflicted on sere trainees for use on detainees in the global war on terror, according to psychologists and others with direct knowledge of their activities. The C.I.A. put them in charge of training interrogators in the brutal techniques, including “waterboarding,” at its network of “black sites.”

Israel closes Gaza after rockets
Israel says it has closed its border crossings with Gaza in response to a Palestinian rocket attack on southern Israel that breached a ceasefire.

Israel had been allowing more imports into Gaza since the truce was agreed, but officials said the crossings would now remain closed until further notice.

Wolfowitz chilling speech
Few months before 911 Wolfowitz gave a chilling speech at west point. It was all doom and gloom. It sounded strange. I recently acquired a copy of the speech and I do not know what to make of it.

Is War Good For the Economy? In short: No.
Yet there comes a time when the obscuring mists are cleared and the costs of our foreign policy of perpetual war become readily apparent, and surely that time is approaching. Indeed, it may have already passed. Garrett dubbed ours’ “the empire of the Bottomless Purse,” yet we are just about scratching bottom about now. It remains for Paul and the movement he generated to point out how all of this is paid for. As Paul puts it: “Congress and the Federal Reserve Bank have a cozy, unspoken arrangement that makes war easier to finance. Congress has an insatiable appetite for new spending, but raising taxes is politically unpopular. The Federal Reserve, however, is happy to accommodate deficit spending by creating new money through the Treasury Department. In exchange, Congress leaves the Fed alone to operate free of pesky oversight and free of political scrutiny. Monetary policy is utterly ignored in Washington, even though the Federal Reserve system is a creation of Congress.
“The result of this arrangement is inflation. And inflation finances war.”

We DON’T Have High Gas Prices - VIDEO
Starring Ron Paul and Peter Schiff and some media shills.

Most Affordable Ronvoy rates yet!
Not going to DC, but want to help others get there? Please feel free to donate to the Ronvoy to DC right here! Donating to the Ronvoy will ensure that those who ARE able to go, but just can’t afford it, can get there! We thank you for any amount you can spare! These donations are being used to pay the deposit for those who volunteer to drive the Ronvoy vans, so if you are qualified to be a driver, this is an easy way to get your ticket confirmed! NOTE: Routes that currently have passengers, but no confirmed driver will be top priority.

U.S. Steps Up Pressure on Zimbabwe
U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee issued a veiled warning Tuesday that if the Mugabe government goes forward with its planned Friday electoral run-off — in the absence of an opposition candidate — the U.S. will view the resulting government as illegitimate and take the “expected” steps.Speaking from the capital, Harare, via teleconference, McGee painted a dire picture of the current situation and urged African leaders to play a more active role in pressuring President Robert Mugabe to cease violence against leaders and members of the opposition -Alison Raphael/IPS

PRESIDENT SARKOZY NEEDS NEW GLASSES

President Sarkozy started the press conference by saying that the only way that Israel can have security is by creating” viable, modern and democratic Palestinian state.”

TWO WRONGS DO NOT MAKE A RIGHT
Israel is a party to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip…. but continues to systematically destroy the infrastructure and the people living in the Occupied West Bank. Israel might see a difference between the two entities of this separated nation… but Palestine is ONE…. and Palestinians are ONE.

Overzealous drug war claims another casualty
The question isn’t whether a Pembroke Pines police officer was justified in fatally shooting Vincent Hodgkiss in his home early Thursday morning, or whether illegal drug activity was taking place there.

The real question is this: Was a paramilitary-style dawn raid the best way to go about serving a drug-related search warrant?

Deputy Police Chief David Golt defended the use of the Special Response Team, Pembroke Pines’ version of SWAT, to carry out the 6:30 a.m. raid that left Hodgkiss, 46, dead.

City Questions 9/11 Workers’ Claims Of Illness
nytimes.com
When there are masses like this in the mass tort case against the City, there will always be a few that stain the legitimacy of those that are severely sick and ill from their heroic action at ground zero following the horrific events from 9/11/01. Do not believe for one second that many brave souls, men and woman, are not sick because of the toxic cloud they worked under, and do not believe for one second that they are not sick because of the lies told by our City, State and Federal Government about the air quality.

I have lived 9/11 everyday since 9/11. Seeing first hand healthy men and woman get sicker and sicker, and have sadly seen some die. For those who have lied about their role in history is disappointing, but for those that have seen history lie to them, I stand by you all and give you my 100% support. - John Feal, 9/11 First Responder And Founder Of The FealGood Foundation

Israeli ’suicide cop’: family refute claims that he killed himself
“We scornfully reject the claims that our son took his own life. He was a kindhearted and happy person. He had a family and there was no reason for him to do such a horrible thing.”

The officer’s father, Asaad Ghanan, said he had last seen his son in good spirits. “He had a family, he had friends, he had plans for the future and had no reason to commit suicide.”

Biofuel use ‘increasing poverty’ Oxfam says so-called green policies in developed countries are contributing to the world’s soaring food prices, which hit the poor hardest. (WRH: Biofuels are NOT “carbon neutral”. The processing of plant material into ethanol actually creates more carbon emissions than you would get burning an equivalent amount of petroleum. Second, there is far less energy in ethanol than in an equivalent amount of gasoline, so you have to buy and burn more of it to drive the same distance. Third, farmland is finite (and we just lost a chunk of it in the midwest). Land that grows plants for ethanol is land NOT growing food for humans. The reduction in food production is why we have shortages and higher food prices. And finally, as Germany belatedly realized, the addition of ethanol to gasoline damages the internal seals of vehicle engines, resulting in costly repairs for everyone using ethanol fuels.

Far from being a boon to mankind, biofuel, like so much else connected to “The Cult” is all about making a few people very rich at the expense of everyone else.)

Morford - Scientists Says Earth Is Humming Music

GUN RIGHT FIGHT

Nader: Obama ‘talking white’…

McCain says only World War III would justify draft
Reuters
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Only World War III would prompt Republican presidential candidate John McCain to bring back the military draft, McCain said on Tuesday.

Illinois Sues Countrywide
The Illinois attorney general is suing Countrywide Financial, the troubled mortgage lender, and Angelo R. Mozilo, its chief executive, contending that the company and its executives defrauded borrowers in the state by selling them costly and defective loans that quickly went into foreclosure.The lawsuit, which is expected to be filed on Wednesday in Illinois state court, accused Countrywide and Mr. Mozilo of relaxing underwriting standards, structuring loans with risky features, and misleading consumers -Gretchen Morgenson/NY Times

Obama requested possible pre-travel briefing
Jonathan Martin
Politico
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Barack Obama was to have a military briefing from officials with the Joint Chiefs of Staff office last week, but canceled to attend Tim Russert’s funeral.

Obama Adviser On FISA: We’ll Trust The Inspector General To Prevent Surveillance Abuses
M.S. Bellows, Jr.
Huffington Post
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Dennis McDonough, a foreign policy adviser to the Obama campaign, said in a conference call this morning that legislation expanding presidential power to conduct warrantless surveillance of Americans’ communications is acceptable to Senator Obama because the United States Inspector General will ensure accountability.

Telecom Donations Tied to FISA Vote
When scores of House Democrats joined Republicans last week to reauthorize a controversial White House spying program, many critics attributed that support to election-year jitters.But as liberal voters continue to bash Democrats on the issue, some campaign finance reformers charge that political contributions from the telecom industry, which benefited handsomely under the bill, probably also swayed votes -Mike Lillis/Washington Independent

Will the National Surveillance State Prevail Again?
Late last week, the House Democratic leadership (which is to say, Congressman Steny Hoyer) announced a “breakthrough” in discussions with the White House and the Republicans which would produce a “compromise” in the long fight over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.I have taken several days to look over the legislation and have some comments.First, the debate over FISA is of vital significance to our country -Scott Horton/Harper’s

CCTV cameras ‘taught to listen’
BBC
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

CCTV cameras which use artificial intelligence software are being developed to “hear” sounds like windows smashing, researchers have revealed.

Be quiet: the surveillance cameras might hear you
Jonathan M. Gitlin
ars Technica
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Although crime statistics point to the fact that law-and-order issues are actually less of a problem now than in the past, the general public’s perception remains one convinced that muggery and buggery hides behind every street corner.

Europe has ‘powerful enemies’ in US, says French Europe minister
HONOR MAHONY
EU Observer
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

France’s Europe minister, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, has said that Europe has enemies in Washington, suggesting that neo-conservatives played a significant role in the Irish rejection of the Lisbon treaty earlier this month.

Terrorist Attack Lesson

Bush cancels S Korea trip after street protests over beef imports
Weeks of street protests in South Korea against the resumption of US beef imports have forced George W. Bush to cancel a trip to the country next month.The White House had hoped the US president’s visit would cement its improved ties with Seoul since the conservative Lee Myung-bak was elected president last December, after years of thorny relations with his left-leaning predecessor.But the relationship has been complicated by Washington’s efforts to end the South Korean ban on US beef that was imposed after an outbreak of “mad cow disease” among American cattle in 2003 -Andrew Ward & Daniel Dombey/Financial Times UK

Report: Bush admin wants N. Korea off terror watch list

McCain Admits Iraq and Afghanistan Wars Are About Oil & Gas
jedreport.com — At a town hall on Monday June 23 in Fresno, John McCain linked the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to oil and gas prices.

Pursue criminal aliens, not workers, Congress urges administration
While the nation’s immigration cops have raided job sites and picked up illegal aliens across the country in the past year, hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants sit in jails, already convicted of crimes.Yet they often are released back into the community instead of being deported.This week in Congress, Democrats — with almost no resistance from Republicans — are trying to force the Bush administration to focus more on the criminals -Barbara Barrett/McClatchy Newspapers

The Bush House of Cards is Collapsing
reuters.com — Economy on brink of recession - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned on Tuesday the U.S. economy was on the brink of a recession, with the chances of that happening at more than 50 percent. The U.S. economy has been hit by a credit crisis, gas crisis, housing crisis, food crisis, war, poverty…

WikiLeaks: How to train death squads and quash revolutions from San Salvador to Iraq
Wikileaks | Wikileaks has released a sensitive 219 page US military counterinsurgency manual.