Blackwater training US Police

Blackwater Training US Police

Blackwater is also planning to establish regional training centers in Potrero, California and Mount Carroll, Illinois, billed as Blackwater West and Blackwater North, respectively. These training centers, in addition to Blackwater's Lodge and Training Center in Moyock, North Carolina -- Blackwater East -- and a possible fourth rumored to be slated for the Pacific Northwest -- Blackwater Northwest -- may result in the establishment of a network of Blackwater-trained police, sheriffs, and other police units around the country. Given Blackwater's dismal record on human rights and brutality, this spells trouble for civilian control of police and paramilitary forces in the United States, from major metropolitan areas to small rural towns.

US, Iraq Negotiate Blackwater Explusion
U.S. and Iraqi officials are reportedly negotiating Baghdad's request that the private military company Blackwater be expelled from the county within six months following last month's deadly shoot out in Baghdad. Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal reports Blackwater is attempting to expand its operations elsewhere. The company recently outbid Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman and Raytheon for a five-year, $15 billion Pentagon contract to fight terrorists with drug ties. The U.S. government reportedly wants to use contractors to help its allies thwart drug trafficking and provide equipment, training and people.



Private US military contractors move into Helmand

As Nato troops reclaim territory from the Taliban, the movement has increasingly resorted to suicide attacks and roadside bombings. "The worry is that there will be a blast, and some contractors will panic and open fire, as happened with Blackwater in Baghdad.
Blackwater provides security for the US embassy in Kabul, but the largest American government contract in the country is believed to be held by Texas-based USPI. According to reports in its home state last week, the company has been accused of overbilling the US government by millions of dollars for non-existent employees and vehicles. USPI acknowledges that it is being investigated, but insists that the allegations are untrue. That is the very last thing that Helmand needs at the moment," said a Western diplomat.

Dahr Jamail: "Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq"
As the UN calls for a vigorous investigation into a U.S. air raid that killed at least 15 women and children in Iraq, we speak to Dahr Jamail about his new book, the 2004 attack on Fallujah, the U.S. use of white phosphorous weapons, the role of Iran in Iraq and more.

Lawmakers say State Department blocks Iraq info

Four congressional committee chairmen on Friday accused the State Department of suppressing information about corruption inside Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government. In a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the four senior Democrats said endemic corruption was fueling the Iraqi insurgency, endangering U.S. troops and undermining their chances of success.

America's greatest crime is radioactive genocide

America's greatest crime against humanity is radioactive genocide particularly against the children of Iraq who are the innocent victims of our illegal war, occupation and economic rape of Iraq. We have the blood of countless innocent children on our hands and it will take generations to remove the stain of our illegal and inhumane transgressions.
Currently, more than 50 percent of Iraqi cancer patients are children under the age of 5, up from 13 percent. Children are especially vulnerable because they tend to play in areas that are heavily polluted by depleted uranium.

U.S. Investigates Civilian Toll in Airstrike, but Holds Insurgents Responsible

The American military said on Friday that it was vigorously investigating a Thursday evening airstrike on a stronghold of insurgent leaders northwest of Baghdad that also killed nine children and six women. The civilian toll is one of the highest to result from a single American military action since the beginning of the Iraq war.

Something is Rotten in Iraq and the Pentagon

Somehow, any innocent bystanding men managed to duck out of the way, or the bullets and bomb fragments (and I'm sure they were fragmentation bombs that were used, as well as a withering spray of machine-gun fire) that hit all those poor women and kids, just somehow (magically?) missed the men. Pretty amazing huh? Except that it's an absurd claim that should insult our intelligence.

Gen. Abizaid on Iraq War: "Of Course It's About Oil"
A former top US general has admitted the war in Iraq was about oil. Former CENTCOM Commander General John Abizaid told an audience at Stanford University “Of course it's about oil, we can't really deny that." Abizaid went on to say “We've treated the Arab world as a collection of big gas stations. Our message to them is: Guys, keep your pumps open, prices low, be nice to the Israelis and you can do whatever you want out back." General Abizaid's comment comes one month after former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan wrote that “the Iraq War is largely about oil."

US tries to halt Turkey attack
Senior US officials were engaged last night in last-ditch efforts to persuade Turkey not to launch a major military incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan to target armed separatists.
About 60,000 Turkish troops are based near the northern Iraqi border. US military officials have said they believe they will get some warning if the Turks attack the PKK.

Congress must approve U.S. attack vs Iran: Pelosi
President George W. Bush must seek congressional approval before taking any military action in Iran, unless Tehran attacks the United States first, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday.

Hillary Clinton: Fooled Again or Neo-Conned?
Hillary Clinton is fond of saying that, if she knew in 2002 what she knows now, she would not have voted to give Bush the power to invade Iraq.
To this day Clinton does not regret her vote, she only regrets “the way the president used the authority that Congress gave him.”
Her campaign mantra, “The mistakes were made by this president, who misled this country and this Congress,” is an attempt to draw a veil of innocence over her vote and implicate all of us in the Iraq swindle.

Ron Paul Stings Hillary Clinton on Iraq War, Warns of Draft

Sounding like a candidate that can win his party’s nomination, Paul said, “She voted for the war now she says she can’t get the troops out until 2013 and she won’t rule out a military first strike against Iran.”

The ‘Good Germans’ Among Us
As the war has dragged on, it is hard to give Americans en masse a pass. We are too slow to notice, let alone protest, the calamities that have followed the original sin.
Instead of taxing us for Iraq, the White House bought us off with tax cuts. Instead of mobilizing the needed troops, it kept a draft off the table by quietly purchasing its auxiliary army of contractors to finesse the overstretched military’s holes. With the war’s entire weight falling on a small voluntary force, amounting to less than 1 percent of the population, the rest of us were free to look the other way at whatever went down in Iraq.
Our humanity has been compromised by those who use Gestapo tactics in our war. The longer we stand idly by while they do so, the more we resemble those “good Germans” who professed ignorance of their own Gestapo. It’s up to us to wake up our somnambulant Congress to challenge administration policy every day. Let the war’s last supporters filibuster all night if they want to. There is nothing left to lose except whatever remains of our country’s good name.

Economy in Gaza Strip on brink of collapse
Truckloads of basic commodities, badly needed by half a million people in the Gaza Strip are still stranded at the crossings into the Strip, manned by Israeli forces. Warehouses are empty and the economy of the Gaza Strip is on the brink of collapse.
Maher At Tabba', head of public relations in the Chamber of Commerce said that there are more than 5,000 factories in Gaza but because of the current situation about 95% are not functioning.

Blair admits he is shocked by discrimination on the West Bank

He was shocked by what he was told about conditions in Hebron and diplomats say he was genuinely taken aback by his trip to the West Bank sector of the Jordan Valley – where Palestinians are allowed to dig wells only a third as deep as Israelis – at the exploitation of resources by the rich Jewish agricultural settlements at the expense of closed in Palestinian farmers.

Analysis: Hunt, State Dept. talked on Iraq oils
A representative from Dallas-based Hunt Oil Corp. did talk with the U.S. State Department prior to signing a controversial oil deal with Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government, according to an internal department communication obtained by United Press International. Hunt Oil, whose chief executive officer is connected to the Bush administration by campaign donations and a seat on an intelligence advisory board, had previously denied the meeting. The company now says the meeting took place but that Hunt did not seek advice from the U.S. government on investing in a country with the world’s third-largest proven oil reserves.

Democrats Question Iraq Oil Contract Signed by Bush Fundraiser
Meanwhile new questions are being raised over how a personal friend of President Bush secured an oil deal with the Kurdish regional government in Iraq. The Texas-based company Hunt Oil signed the deal in September. Hunt CEO Ray Hunt has been a key Republican fundraiser. He sits on the board of directors for Halliburton and is a member of the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board under an appointment from President Bush. On Monday Democratic Congressmen Henry Waxman and Dennis Kucinich questioned whether Hunt used nonpublic information learned from his position on the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board to further his company's economic interests.

Six Iraqi Resistance Groups Unify to Oppose U.S. Occupation
The Guardian newspaper reports six Iraqi resistance groups have taken a step towards unifying the factions fighting the US by announcing the creation of a political umbrella organization. A spokesperson described the alliance as "the political council of the Iraqi resistance". The six Sunni groups said they are opposed to Al Qaida in Iraq but vowed to continue to attack US occupation forces. The new political alliance has refused to recognize the government led by Nuri al-Maliki.

Top Shi’ite seeks total US pullout

A key Shi’ite member of Iraq’s ruling coalition called yesterday for the complete withdrawal of foreign troops from his country and rejected the possibility of permanent bases.

War Without End, Amen: The Sanguinary Vision of Robert Gates
There are actually some quarters where Pentagon honcho Robert Gates is considered a moderate of some kind, one of the few sensible, responsible figures in the Bush Administration able to restrain – or at least moderate – the raging-bull belligerence of Dick Cheney and his crew. This has always been a curious reputation for a man who has spent most of his career hip-deep in militarist skullduggery, as Robert Parry, among others, has amply demonstrated.
But in such desperate and degraded times as these, it's only natural to clutch at the slightest straw of hope that someone, somewhere, will stand between us and the worst excesses of our masters, as we noted here earlier.

What could we do with $700 billion?

I spent my life in the military, worked with some of the finest men and women in uniform and benefited from the best military technology in the history of the world. But I understand that our national security involves far more than unrealistic defense spending. I also know firsthand how a military bureaucracy will demand more and more resources at the expense of other priorities. There will always be a fancier fighter plane or a sleeker ship. But how many more hundreds of billions of dollars will it take before we step back and say, "Enough"?

Gap Between America's Richest and Poorest Widens
New government statistics show the gap between America's richest and poorest is at its widest in at least 25 years. The richest one percent of the country earned over 21 percent of all income in 2005.

Robert Fisk: Do you know the truth about Lockerbie?

The USS Vincennes – nicknamed Robocruiser by the crews of other American vessels – blasted its missiles at the Airbus on the assumption that it was a diving Iranian air force jet. It wasn't – and the Airbus was climbing – but Reagan, after a few cursory apologies, blamed Iran for the slaughter, because it had refused to accept a UN ceasefire in the war with Iraq in which we were backing our old friend Saddam Hussein (yes, the same!).

The man who knew too much

He was the CIA's expert on Pakistan's nuclear secrets, but Rich Barlow was thrown out and disgraced when he blew the whistle on a US cover-up. Now he's to have his day in court.
He soon discovered, however, that senior officials in government were taking quite the opposite view: they were breaking US and international non-proliferation protocols to shelter Pakistan's ambitions and even sell it banned WMD technology. In the closing years of the cold war, Pakistan was considered to have great strategic importance. It provided Washington with a springboard into neighbouring Afghanistan - a route for passing US weapons and cash to the mujahideen, who were battling to oust the Soviet army that had invaded in 1979. Barlow says, "We had to buddy-up to regimes we didn't see eye-to-eye with, but I could not believe we would actually give Pakistan the bomb.

Oil Futures Hit New Record Above $86

Oil prices surged as high as $86 a barrel Monday for the first time after OPEC said crude production by non-member countries is likely falling even as global demand for oil is rising. Prices were also supported by concerns that Turkish forces will pursue Kurdish rebels into Iraq, disrupting oil supplies, and by technical buying by investment funds.

NIST: "We are Unable to Provide a Full Explanation of the Total Collapse"

Specifically, NIST says in its reply: "We are unable to provide a full explanation of the total collapse".
Well, yes! That's exactly the point the petitioners are trying to make. No modern steel frame high-rise building has ever collapsed before or after 9/11 due to fire other than at WTC 1, 2 and 7, even though other fires have burned longer and hotter. And even if they somehow did start to collapse, the collapse would not have occurred at virtual free-fall speeds while creating enormous dust clouds right from the start.

New FDA drug center raises ethical questions

At a time when the FDA’s reputation has been battered by perceptions that it is lax on some safety issues and too cozy with drug makers, consumer advocates say the loosely defined partnership increases the agency’s vulnerability to industry clout despite its promise of groundbreaking success. It’s an ambitious undertaking that puts regulators and companies in a relationship unlike that of any other industry.

Dead Republic Blues: Bush Illegal Wiretapping Scheme Gets Darker and Dirtier

The latest revelations in the Bush Administration's long-unfolding, ever-growing illegal wiretapping scandal carry with them a multiple string. For not only do they bear upon Bush's vast system of lawless espionage aimed at the American people, but they also underscore the perversion of the Justice Department into an armed enforcer of partisan thuggery and confirm that that the unprecedented authoritarian powers that Bush has seized have nothing to do with their ostensible justification, the 9/11 attacks, but were part of a pre-planned evisceration of the constitutional republic that began in the first days of his ill-gotten presidency.



Former CEO Says U.S. Punished Phone Firm

Nacchio's account, which places the NSA proposal at a meeting on Feb. 27, 2001, suggests that the Bush administration was seeking to enlist telecommunications firms in programs without court oversight before the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon. The Sept. 11 attacks have been cited by the government as the main impetus for its warrantless surveillance efforts.

Ex-Mexican leader's statue felled

Opposition protesters in Mexico have torn down a bronze statue of the former president, Vicente Fox, just hours after it was erected.

13-year-old shot in encounter with Seattle police officer

Police say the officer shined a spotlight on them and ordered them to put their hands up, police said. One suspect, a 14-year-old, complied. The other, 13, acted "very agitated" and didn't listen to the officer, who ordered the suspect to put up his hands several times, said John Diaz, deputy chief of operations for Seattle police.



Zimbabwe - Empty Stores

I stared at the teller with his empty shop and filthy money and his eyes were filled with despair. 'Where will I go,' he said; 'what will I do?' I had no answers and could just say: I am so sorry, so very sorry. As I left and the trees dripped their purple flowers at my feet the tears were in my eyes. We are a nation traumatized, regardless of our age or sex, the colour of our skin or our profession and yes, it is all political.

370,000 flee from fighting

Since August the fighting has displaced about 370,000 people and prevented the UN World Food Programme from delivering relief aid to nearly 19,000 people in need. Ocha called on both sides of the conflict to “respect fundamental humanitarian principles”, protect the civilian population and refrain from recruiting child fighters.

Detentions to Be Top Topic for Mukasey

As the chief federal trial judge in Manhattan, Michael Mukasey approved secret warrants allowing government roundups of Muslims in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Six years later, the man President Bush wants to be attorney general acknowledged that the law authorizing those warrants "has its perils" in terrorism cases and urged Congress to "fix a strained and mismatched legal system."

A Wife's Battle
He has nightmares frequently, two to three times a week, in which he sees himself back in Iraq . . . and Baghdad. He sees himself fighting, sees dead bodies, parts of bodies, blood rushing from bodies. In the dreams he smells blood and burnt flesh and he hears bullets passing over his head. He is fearful and scared and wakes up in cold sweats. Flashbacks are also frequent, 2 or 3 times a week, triggered by helicopters passing over, burn flesh smell, barbecue, current Iraq news and sometimes seeing military vehicles brings flashbacks.
He has a lot of guilt feelings that he could not save his sergeant.
Hearing loss. Tremors. Obesity. PTSD. Depressive disorder.

VA rated Troy's disability level at 50 percent, resulting in $860 a month in compensation. Like many wounded soldiers, he was clobbered by a fine-print government regulation known as "concurrent receipt," which prevents double compensation. That meant before he could receive his VA disability check, Troy had to pay back the $11,349 he received when he left the Army. For 13 months, VA withheld his check until the Army amount was reimbursed.

Money became so desperate this spring that Michelle contacted Operation Homefront, a national organization that gives emergency assistance to deployed service members and the returning wounded. In a sign of the deepening financial crisis faced by many back from war, Operation Homefront has provided $2 million in bailout funds to 4,300 families so far in 2007, double last year's caseload.
The Turners received $4,500 to cover three months of late car payments, rent and various other bills, and a grocery card for food. Troy was angry and embarrassed, but Michelle told him they had no other choice. The $860 VA disability check barely covers expenses.

Dangerous Crossroads

KILLING IN THE NAME OF JESUS
Who owns the private army Blackwater? The answer is simple and chilling: Right wing "good Christian" nuts. They control a family fortune of over $1 billion US and Blackwater is just one of their projects. They believe they're doing the "Lord's work."
Blackwater is just one of their projects.
Where does Blackwater get its personnel? Ex-US military, of course. They also go to places like Chile and Colombia to hire US-trained right wing gun thugs.
Could Blackwater ever be used against American citizens?
It already has.
Armed Blackwater operatives making $900 per day were the first into New Orleans before FEMA, the Red Cross and the National Guard.
Currently, Blackwater is suing the families of four of its employees who were killed in Iraq for $10 million each.
Their offense? They wanted to know how their family members were killed, the company refused to tell them, so they sued for the information.



Dangerous Crossroads: US Sponsored War Games

Vigilant Shield 2008 (15 to 20 October, 2007) is designed to deal with a "terrorist" or "natural disaster" scenario in the United States. The operation will be coordinated in a joint endeavor by the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security.
Yet, VS-08, which includes a massive deployment of the US Air Force resembles a war-time air scenario rather than an anti-terrorist drill. The VS-08 war games extend over the entire North American shelf. Canadian territory is also involved through Canada's participation in NORAD.
These war games are being conducted at an important historical crossroads, amidst mounting US pressures and threats to actually declare a "real war" on Iran.
Moreover, the announcement by NORTHCOM of the VS-08 war games-anti-terror drills coincided with a declaration by the Bush administration in early September that military action against Iran is being contemplated at the highest echelons of the US government and Military.



The sun sets early on the American Century

The ‘American Century’ only began 60 years ago. But it seems already to be over, with the disaster of Iraq forcing some of the United States’ ruling elites to realise that its hegemony has been severely weakened. But nobody seems to know what to do next, or even how to behave.

Report: Cheney ordered nuking Iran

A new report has linked the mysterious flight of a nuclear armed B-52 bomber to the US Vice President's secret plan to attack Iran.

Gordon Brown 'will back air strikes on Iran'

Gordon Brown has agreed to support US air strikes against Iran if the Islamic republic orchestrates large-scale attacks by militants against British or American forces in Iraq, according to senior Pentagon officials.
Washington sources say the Prime Minister has been informed of US plans to launch limited air and special forces raids against Revolutionary Guard bases.

Woof-woof.

Cholera spreading, authorities in Baghdad doing little

"We are in need of 150 million chlorine tablets to purify water until the end of this year but we do not have that," a health minister official said.

Women prisoners languish in jail without trial

The prison is in the neighborhood of Kadhimiya and is believed to hold mainly Sunni Muslim women. There are more than 30,000 Iraqis in jails run by the U.S. and Iraqi government and most of them have been incarcerated merely on suspicion and held without trial.

'Press TV' reporter in Afghanistan beaten by US forces

A reporter of Iranian English TV network 'Press TV' was arrested by the US security forces Sunday night in Kabul when he was returning home from office. Faez Khurshid was freed after 18 hours while having bruises on the face showing he was beaten by the American soldiers.

Iran terror label bites deep

General David Petraeus claims Iran's Ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, belongs to the secretive Quds force. This is an elite unit of Iran's revolutionary guard - a force believed to be behind not just some of the violence in Iraq, but also propping up groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
In the aftermath of the US House of Representatives' recent resolution branding the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as terrorist, the White House is reportedly poised to formally place it on the terrorist list of the US State Department, with ramifications to follow, such as a freeze on the IRGC's assets wherever the US can get its hands on them.
This is considered a small victory by anti-Iran hawks, who know the important side-effects of this initiative in inching the US closer to war against Iran.

Tom Delay: "The Second Coming is What I Live For"
Ugh.

US Army cordons off al-Doura in preparation for massive attack
US troops on Sunday cordoned off various neighborhoods in the area of al-Doura southern Baghdad, in preparation for launching a military operation against militias using the area as a barricade.
The troops, and via megaphones, urged residents to evacuate the area before the Army conducts the storming operation, which will also witness aerial attacks, according to a source at the multinational force in Iraq.

Did White House Lie About Solution Provider's Role in Loss of 5 Million E-mails?
When Congress asked about 5 million executive branch e-mails that went missing, a White House lawyer pointed the finger at an outside IT contractor.
The only problem? No such IT contractor exists, according to sources close to the investigation of a possible violation of the Federal Records and Presidential Records acts.

Democrats Seem Ready to Extend Wiretap Powers
Two months after insisting that they would roll back broad eavesdropping powers won by the Bush administration, Democrats in Congress appear ready to make concessions that could extend some crucial powers given to the National Security Agency.

Post editor says Bush, Gonzales should be tortured

An associate editor and columnist for the Washington Post says that until George W. Bush and others in his administration endure the "harsh" treatment to which terrorism suspects are subjected, then Bush "will be remembered as the president who tried to justify torture."
Saying his proposal is a "serious" alternative to Jonathan Swift's "modest proposal," the Post's Eugene Robinson says Bush should endure the same detainee treatment he authorized, which "international conventions deem torture."
"My proposal on torture is serious," Robinson wrote on a washingtonpost.com discussion board Sunday. "Let me know if you agree: Bush administration officials who claim the "harsh" interrogation techniques being used on terrorism suspects are not torture should have to undergo those same techniques. Personally. Repeatedly."
The New York Times revealed last week that secret Justice Department documents explicitly authorized "a combination of painful physical and psychological tactics, including head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures." Bush repeated denials that the US does not torture prisoners, although he has not discussed what specific tactics are used.
"Clearly, he is using a narrow definition of torture: If we haven't actually put anybody on the rack or pulled out his fingernails, we haven't committed torture," Robinson writes. "Until George W. Bush can say, 'Hey, I've been waterboarded, and it wasn't so bad,' or Alberto Gonzales can say, 'To tell the truth, spending those three days naked in a freezing-cold cell wasn't painful or anything,' then I'll continue to believe that history will condemn this administration for a shocking lapse of moral judgment. Bush will be remembered as the president who tried to justify torture."

Annals of Liberation: Iraqis Cite Another Massacre of Civilians by American Airpower

Israel – State of Misery
With her health failing at this time, as the woman began thinking about her final arrangements she asked that someone please go to her home village of Safad, which is located in the Palestinian hills of eastern Galilee. The village was ethnically cleansed of Palestinians in 1948. She asks that someone please bring back to her a handful of sand so that she might be buried with it.

Go And See the Truth For Yourself, I Did

We spent a lot of time at checkpoints in the West Bank. Unfortunately, the word 'checkpoint' sounds so benign that it hardly conveys the horror of the place. Have you seen a cattle shed crammed full of animals? With only one gate to get out, guarded by a farmer with a stick? Well, just replace him with an Israeli soldier with a rifle- and the animals with Palestinians- and you're not far.
Walking through old Hebron, you pass row upon row of abandoned shops with their doors welded together and spray-painted with the Star of David. The resonance of the Warsaw ghetto is chilling.

Politicians use fear to justify wars, Paul says
Rep. Ron Paul believes political leaders are pumping up the threat of terrorism to accomplish political goals. Paul, the 10-term Texas congressman, told Monitor reporters and editors that concerns about the country's security have been overblown to justify needless foreign invasions and domestic surveillance programs.

American AFRICOM initiative is not welcome in Africa
U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM, started functioning as the Pentagon's newest regionally focused headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, because Liberia was the only country to offer its territory for AFRICOM's headquarters.
The new command has extensive, even if a bit vague, tasks, such as promoting stability and civic development, improving living standards and preventing the spread of terrorism, training African servicemen and supplying weapons, and bringing medical aid to Africa.
It all sounds good and noble, but why then have the majority of African states, which hardly ever refuse humanitarian, economic and military aid, said "no" to the Americans? Washington was taken aback.
The explanation is simple: African nations fear that AFRICOM and its headquarters will attract the attention of terrorists and other enemies of the United States.

Giuliani hired the man who crafted Church defense of pedophile priests

Neocons Converge Around Giuliani Campaign
One of the top foreign-policy consultants to the leading GOP candidate is Norman Podhoretz, a founding father of the neocon movement. Podhoretz is in favor of bombing Iran because of the country's unwillingness to suspend its uranium-enrichment program.

Wash. High Court: Campaign Lies Are Protected Speech
A sharply divided state Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a law which bars political candidates from deliberately making false statements about their opponents violates the First Amendment right of free speech.

Another Toe-Tapping Republican Caught In Sting - Ends Senate Bid
Joey DiFatta is the chairman of St. Bernard Parish Council and a prominent Republican leader (until 2004 on the GOP state party Executive Committee). He just withdrew from his state senate race, after his arrests for lewd behavior in a public restroom were made public.

Bush’s torturers follow where the Nazis led
From almost the beginning of the war, it is now indisputable, the Bush administration made a strong and formative decision: in the absence of good intelligence on the Islamist terror threat after 9/11, it would do what no American administration had done before. It would torture detainees to get information.
This decision was and is illegal, and violates America’s treaty obligations, the military code of justice, the United Nations convention against torture, and US law.

Fool Me Twice
how does one explain her vote on a Senate resolution last Wednesday, which resolution provides Cheney and Bush with a short-cut to war against Iran? I am referring to the (John) Kyl-(Joe) Lieberman amendment, the original draft of which was prepared by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. It passed the Senate last Wednesday by a 76-22 vote, with both Hillary and Senate Leader Harry Reid voting in favor.

US steps up accusations against Iran
Statements like those by General Petraeus could be part of an attempt to turn US public opinion in favour of military action against Iran - in particular, air strikes against revolutionary guard bases.
From the President down, the official line is that negotiation, not confrontation is the way forward. But it is clear the verbal barrage against Iran is becoming much more intense.

War On Terror Labelled A Disaster
Report author Paul Rogers said: "Every aspect of the War On Terror has been counterproductive in Iraq and Afghanistan, from the loss of civilian life through to mass detentions without trial. In short, it has been a disaster. Western countries simply have to face up to the dangerous mistakes of the past six years and recognise the need for new policies."

Top US court rejects damages claim by former CIA prisoner
The US administration had called on the Supreme Court to reject the case for reasons of national security, arguing it would reveal the secret activities of the CIA which could not be either confirmed or denied.

US boot camp boy, 14, died after 'routine' crackdown
Charles Helms, a former army drill instructor, and six other guards at Bay County boot camp, Florida, are charged with aggravated manslaughter in connection with the death of Martin Lee Anderson in January last year.
A 30-minute surveillance video shows them hitting, kneeing and dragging the limp boy in the exercise yard as Kristin Schmidt, a nurse from the now-closed camp, looked on. The child died the following day. Ms Schmidt has also been charged.

American Labs Mishandle Deadly Germs

American laboratories handling the world's deadliest germs and toxins have experienced more than 100 accidents and missing shipments since 2003, and the number is increasing steadily as more labs across the country are approved to do the work.

US considered poisons for assassinations

In one of the longest-held secrets of the Cold War, the U.S. Army explored the potential for using radioactive poisons to assassinate "important individuals'' such as military or civilian leaders, according to newly declassified documents obtained by The Associated Press.

USDA Finds Contaminants in Commercial Rice Supply
Investigators with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have found that trace amounts of genetically engineered rice made their way into two commercial varieties of long-grain rice, according to a USDA .
APHIS investigators also determined the agency did not need to pursue any further enforcement action against Bayer CropScience, which developed and field-tested the GE rice line. However, the USDA said it does plan to make some changes to better protect against any GE contamination in the future.
Also, we have absolutely no idea how this GE rice will affect humans, but will continue to allow Bayer CropScience to continue their work, even without knowing the risks.

Science teacher's brush with police ends in heart attack
"One officer crushed his knee into Mr. Jacob's back," the complaint states. "They then repeatedly slammed his head onto the car and then pressed his head against the car for some time."
Additional officers arrived on the scene with a witness to the earlier accident. The witness told them Jacob was the wrong guy.
"'I told you it was a white Maxima,'" the witness reportedly said, according to the complaint. Jacob drives a white Infiniti.
Jacob told the cops he was experiencing chest pains and began coughing uncontrollably.
A female cop said, "Nice acting," according to Jacob, and then drove off. Jacob said he struggled to drive home, stopping to vomit on the side of the road.
His wife rushed him to the hospital, where doctors determined he had suffered a heart attack.

FBI Puts Antiwar Protesters on Criminal Database; Canada Uses It To Ban Protesters From Entry
Two well-respected US peace activists, CODEPINK and Global Exchange cofounder Medea Benjamin and retired Colonel and diplomat Ann Wright, were denied entry into Canada On October third. The two women were headed to Toronto to discuss peace and security issues at the invitation of the Toronto Stop the War Coalition. At the Buffalo-Niagara Falls Bridge they were detained, questioned and denied entry.

Medicare Audits Show Problems in Private Plans
Tens of thousands of Medicare recipients have been victims of deceptive sales tactics and had claims improperly denied by private insurers that run the system’s huge new drug benefit program and offer other private insurance options encouraged by the Bush administration, a review of scores of federal audits has found.

Pelosi prays "all the time" for Bush to change policies
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday that she prays for President Bush to change his policies “all the time” and specifically has prayed for him to sign SCHIP legislation that would expand health insurance for uninsured children.
If you cared at all about US domestic and foreign policies which are driving this nation off a cliff, you'd be doing one heck of a lot more than "praying": you'd be impeaching the president and vice president for lying congress and the American people into an era of wars without end.

Africa" href="http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article3030349.ece" target="_blank">Inside France's secret war
For 40 years, the French government has been fighting a secret war in Africa, hidden not only from its people, but from the world. It has led the French to slaughter democrats, install dictator after dictator – and to fund and fuel the most vicious genocide since the Nazis. Today, this war is so violent that thousands are fleeing across the border from the Central African Republic into Darfur – seeking sanctuary in the world's most notorious killing fields.

Six Years Later, U.S. Expands Afghan Base
Six years after the first U.S. bombs began falling on Afghanistan's Taliban government and its al-Qaida guests, America is planning for a long stay.
Originally envisioned as a temporary home for invading U.S. forces, the sprawling American base at Bagram, a former Soviet outpost in the shadow of the towering Hindu Kush mountains, is growing in size by nearly a third.

Gitmo Prosecutor quits in Pentagon Clash

Col. Davis

War-Crimes Prosecutor Quits in Pentagon Clash
In the latest disruption of the Bush administration’s plan to try detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, for war crimes, the chief military prosecutor on the project stepped down yesterday after a dispute with a Pentagon official.
Colonel Morris D. Davis, a career military lawyer, had been in a bitter dispute with Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann, who was appointed this summer to a top post in the Pentagon Office of Military Commissions, which supervises the war crimes trial system.
Col. Davis contended that the Military Commissions Act “bars outside interference in the ‘professional judgment’ of prosecution and defense lawyers,” and stated, in no uncertain terms, that “If someone above me tries to intimidate me in determining who we will charge, what we will charge, what evidence we will try to introduce, and how we will conduct a prosecution, then I will resign.”

General Hartmann, an Air Force reserve officer who worked as a corporate lawyer until recently, was appointed this summer as the legal adviser to Susan J. Crawford, a former military appeals judge who is the convening authority, a military official who has extensive powers under the military commission law passed by Congress in 2006.
Colonel Davis filed a complaint against General Hartmann with Pentagon officials this fall saying that the general had exceeded his authority and created a conflict of interest by asserting control over the prosecutor’s office. Colonel Davis said it would be improper for General Hartmann to assess the adequacy of cases filed by prosecutors if the general had been involved in the decision to file those cases.
In a statement last week, Colonel Davis said the issue posed a threat to the integrity of the war-crimes process. “For the greater good, Brigadier General Hartmann and I should both resign and walk away or higher authority should relieve us of our duties,” the statement said.
A military official said yesterday that Pentagon officials had sided with General Hartmann in the dispute.
Critics of the administration have argued that the effort to design a military commission system for foreign terror suspects is intended to circumvent the legal protections that detainees would receive if they were charged in civilian courts. Some of those critics said yesterday that the dispute underscored their concerns.
“This is further evidence that the military commission process is completely unraveling,” said J. Wells Dixon, a detainees’ lawyer at the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York. “That is endemic to any system that is made up as you go along.”




Judge blocks Watada court-martial

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle concluded his court had jurisdiction on the request for an emergency stay because Watada "has exhausted his available military court remedies with respect to his double jeopardy claim ..." Settle also decided that claim was "not frivolous."

2nd trial illegal, Watada argues

Watada's case is being appealed on grounds that a second court-martial violates his constitutional protections against double jeopardy because he was court-martialed earlier this year on those charges. But, over his objection, a mistrial was declared "without there being the requisite manifest necessity for such declaration," said court papers filed Wednesday. The military judge, Lt. Col. John Head, ordered a second trial.

WATADA CASE NOW PENDING IN FEDERAL COURT

Judge reverses Guantanamo ruling - Focus on Guantanamo

A judge Friday reversed his ruling that created new hurdles for some lawyers seeking to visit clients held prisoner at Guantanamo Bay.
Attorneys for detainees asked the judge to reconsider the ruling and he did, while noting the Justice Department's move to limit access to the prisoners.
"This court expresses no small concern over the Department of Justice precipitously disrupting petitioners' access to their counsel," Urbina wrote.

Federal Prosecutor Accused In Sex Sting Commits Suicide
John D.R. Atchison, the federal prosecutor who was arrested in an Internet sex sting after he allegedly traveled to Michigan from Florida to have sex with a 5-year-old girl, hanged himself in a Michigan federal prison Friday morning.
Atchison was a married father of three and a respected figure who coached girls' softball and basketball in a park a few blocks from his home in this well-to-do beach community.

General Peter Pace, said Monday that opponents of the war in Iraq could not bring it to an end by voting.

In a statement remarkable for its blunt rejection of democracy, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, said Monday that opponents of the war in Iraq could not bring it to an end by voting.


Plain and Simple

Look, it's very simple, and we've been saying it for years: Bush and his minions are liars. They are proven liars, confirmed liars; they lie for pleasure and they lie for profit, they lie as a matter of course, as a matter of policy. So when they say they are not torturing people, when they say they are following U.S. law and international law and the restrictions of the courts and Congress, they are lying. They lied about it in 2004, they lied about it in 2005, and they are lying about it now.

Notice anything odd about Yale's Official Seal?

Byrd: Senate’s ‘Saber-Rattling’ Is ‘Sleep-Walking’ America To War With Iran

On the Senate floor today, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) decried the recent Kyl-Lieberman amendment on Iran that 72 of his colleagues voted for, calling it an exercise in “international verbal spitball.”
Byrd warned his colleagues against “sleep-walking” into another war, saying “I hope that we can stop this war of words before it becomes a war of bombs.”

Fears of violence in tug-of-war over Kosovo

Gunmen of a self-styled Albanian guerrilla army postured on Kosovo television, stoking fears of violence as Serbia on Thursday rejected a December deadline for talks to decide the fate of its breakaway province. Signs that the West is braced for possible violence over Kosovo were strengthened by a newspaper report that the Pentagon had asked Croatia if it was braced for a refugee crisis.
"The determination by the U.S and NATO, at all costs, to occupy Kosovo and virtually all of Yugoslavia, is spurred on by the enticement of abundant natural resources. Kosovo alone has the richest mineral resources in all of Europe west of Russia. The New York Times observed that "the sprawling state-owned Trepca mining complex, the most valuable piece of real estate in the Balkans, is worth at least $5 billion." producing gold, silver, pure lead, zinc, cadmium, as well as tens of millions of dollars in profits annually. "Kosovo also possesses 17 billion tons of coal reserves and Kosovo (like Serbia and Albania) also has oil reserves."



Oppressive police action is on the rise

Cop Pepper Sprays, Punches, Nearly Breaks Girl's Arm During Curfew Arrest

Another shocking example of police brutality has been caught on camera showing a cop nearly breaking a girl's arm, punching her and then pepper spraying her in the face as she cries after being arrested for violating a city curfew.

Out Of Control School Security Guard Assaults Camerawoman

"If he's willing to do that to me for the world to see on camera, then what is he willing to do when no one is looking?" said Dunfee.

UK: Seized At Gunpoint For Looking At Cops

Two disabled men from Bournemouth, England were seized from a pub at gunpoint by police under the terrorism act, taken to the local police station and questioned for 45 minutes after one of them opened his mail and the other looked at a police officer. Mr Hamlen also made it clear that he has arthritis and brittle bone disease and has been registered disabled for five years, while Mr Burbidge has been paralysed all his life and relies on a wheelchair and crutches to get around. The two men hardly fit the description of hardcore Al Qaeda terror suspects, but then that does not matter because everyone is now a suspect under the 2000 terrorism act.

FBI offered me $4m: Lockerbie bomb witness

A WITNESS in the Lockerbie case has claimed he was offered $4 million (£2 million) by American investigators to lie to the trial judges. Edwin Bollier, head of the Swiss company MEBO that was said to have manufactured the timer used to detonate the Pan Am bomb, claims he was offered the money by the FBI at its Washington HQ in exchange for making a statement that supported the main line of inquiry - that Libya was responsible for the bombing.

Iraq Struggles With Cholera Outbreak

WHO has confirmed at least 3,315 cholera cases and registered more than 30,000 cases of acute watery diarrhea which could also prove to be cholera in its more common, milder form. The group has also warned that as the weather cools and temperatures become more favorable for transmission the bacteria could spread further.

Rice Issues New Rules for Blackwater USA

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ordered federal agents on Friday to ride with Blackwater USA escorts of U.S. diplomatic convoys in Baghdad to tighten oversight after a shooting in which private guards are accused of killing 13 Iraqi civilians. She also ordered video cameras installed in Blackwater vehicles.
The State Department has counted 56 shooting incidents involving Blackwater guards in Iraq this year. All were being reviewed as part of the comprehensive inquiry Rice ordered.
Guess we'll be seeing more like this one soon:

Trophy video - private security contractors shooting up Iraqi drivers - route irish, Baghdad




Snipers say they felt pressure to raise kill count in Iraq

"Interviews and court transcripts portray a 13-man sniper unit that felt under pressure to produce a high body count, a Vietnam-era measure that the Pentagon officially has disavowed in this war," writes Times reporter Ned Parker. "They describe a sniper unit whose margins of right and wrong were blurred: by Hensley, if you believe Army prosecutors; by the Army, if you believe the accused.


This is betrayal

Let's put ourselves in these shoes for a moment, if we can:
You've honorably served in the Army for seven years. You've won commendations. You re-enlisted after your first hitch. You're in Ramadi, Iraq, in 2004 when a rocket hits the building you're in and leaves you unconscious in rubble. Eventually doctors pull shrapnel from your neck and ear canals. You lose 75 percent of your hearing, suffer depression and nightmares. Eventually, the Army discharges you because you had a "pre-existing personality disorder" before you joined the service.
Why are the services doing this?
Money. The departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs save money if they don't have to pay benefits.

Doctors: Only severely wounded Palestinians allowed into Israel

Israel is allowing entry to only the most severley wounded Palestinians, and not to those at risk of losing limbs or suffering other debilitating handicaps, according to Physicians for Human Rights. Out of 44 requests to transfer injured individuals for treatment in Israel, 16 were refused by authorities in Israel, PHR said. In some cases, this meant physicians in Gaza had to amputate limbs because treatment was delayed too long.

Congress approves $1.2 billion worth of US-funded Israeli arms purchases, including 50 huge GBU-28 guided bunker buster
This, while homeless vets sleep in our streets, and the Pentagon sends home one of the longest-serving military units (Minnesota Naiontal Guard Members) one day earlier than the day they'd qualify for their GI education benefits.

IOA demolishes historical fence in Jerusalem built 491 years ago

Sheikh Mohamed Hussein, the Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine, strongly denounced the IOA for demolishing an Islamic archeological fence adjacent to the fountain of Sultan Suleiman al-Qanoni, outside Al-Khalil gate in occupied Jerusalem, which was constructed 491 years ago.
Sheikh Hussein confirmed that this assault on such antiquity comes within the framework of a scheme prepared by the IOA to judaize places of worship and Islamic antiquities, pointing out that the IOA put some Jewish stones in the area in an attempt to conceal Islamic monuments and antiquities as a prelude to erase the history of the holy city and its Islamic character.

Scandal Brewing at Oral Roberts U.

Colleagues fear for the reputation of the university and the future of the Roberts' ministry, which grew from Southern tent revivals to one of the most successful evangelical empires in the country, hauling in tens of millions of dollars in contributions a year. The university reported nearly $76 million in revenue in 2005, according to the IRS.
Richard Roberts is accused of illegal involvement in a local political campaign and lavish spending at donors' expense, including numerous home remodeling projects, use of the university jet for his daughter's senior trip to the Bahamas, and a red Mercedes convertible and a Lexus SUV for his wife, Lindsay. She is accused of dropping tens of thousands of dollars on clothes, awarding nonacademic scholarships to friends of her children and sending scores of text messages on university-issued cell phones to people described in the lawsuit as "underage males."

Christianist Oral Roberts U. engulfed in scandal, with hundreds of texts from Roberts "first lady" to underage males

That’s the nature of the Christianist Project. But they shouldn’t try to kid themselves, or deceive us, that their enterprise is anything more than an power grab to impose their set of tribal so-called “values” on the rest of us. Their enterprise has nothing to do with religion. By definition, it can’t. Which is why Jesus warned against the Pharisees, of whom the Roberts family is but the latest incarnation.

Are U.S. troops being force-fed Christianity?

The Air Force set about reaffirming basic principles in religion guidelines, as a basis for widespread training, but a pushback by Evangelicals later led to Congress setting them aside until hearings could be held. The hearings have not taken place.

27% of Republicans Would Vote for Pro-Life Third Party Instead of Giuliani

If Rudy Giuliani wins the Republican nomination and a third party campaign is backed by Christian conservative leaders, 27% of Republican voters say they’d vote for the third party option rather than Giuliani.





BUSH'S WAR ON AMERICAN CHILDREN

Children demand ‘Health care, not warfare’

"Hell, they only gotta be healthy enough to pull a damned trigger!"




Hawaiian Islands Contaminated With Ballistic Uranium
The Navy accidentally fired two DU rounds from Pearl Harbor in 1994. The rounds landed somewhere above Aiea and were never recovered.

Southern plutonium shipments could begin this week.

The U.S. Department of Energy plans to begin shipping plutonium to the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. as early as Friday -- but state and local authorities won't know any details about the shipments unless there's a serious accident, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports:
The routes that will be used to transport the strategic nuclear material across the country are hush-hush and won’t be shared in advance of the project.
The shipments are part of the government's effort to consolidate the nation's surplus supply of weapons-grade plutonium in South Carolina. The material will be coming from the Hanford Site in Washington, the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. In all, the government plans to transport some 2,300 plutonium storage containers from Hanford and almost 700 from Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos.



Feds waited weeks to warn on tainted meat

Bush Administration officials whose job is to protect the nation's food supply waited an 18 days to warn consumers that millions of pounds of ground beef might be contaminated with E.coli bacteria. They admitted yesterday preliminary tests showed as early as Sept. 7 that frozen hamburger patties from the Elizabeth, N.J.-based Topps Meat Co. showed signs of being tainted.

22 Million pounds of dead cows. Maybe it's not such a good idea to process that much at once???? Or even to eat it at all? Would we eat meat if we had to kill those cows ourselves?

Kraft Recalls Baker's Premium White Chocolate
Kraft Foods Inc said on Wednesday it recalled Baker's Premium White Chocolate Baking Squares distributed throughout the United States due to possible salmonella contamination.
Premium, huh?

World War Two vegetable comes back as 'superfood'

A green that helped sustain the nation through the dark years of World War II is making a comeback as a fashionable superfood.
Kale. It's always been a superfood. It never went away... but now they have a new "hybrid" version that sautees in 2 minutes instead of 5. Buy the original.

DCA, the cancer drug that companies had no interest in testing: Ordinary people step up to fund the first trials

Even though the drug shrinks cancerous tumours, no pharmaceutical companies wanted to fund human trials because they couldn't make enough money selling it. And that's when Peace River stepped in.

Seymour Hersh: Shifting Targets -- Bush's plan for Iran

Seymour Hersh: White House Intensifying Plans to Attack Iran
In his latest article in the New Yorker magazine, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reports there has been a significant increase in the tempo of planning for war with Iran inside the Bush administration. Hersh says the White House recently requested the Joint Chiefs of Staff redraw longstanding plans for a possible attack. Hersh also reports the Bush administration's rationale for bombing Iran has shifted from Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program to Iran's role in Iraq.
Hypocrisy at its finest.

Shifting Targets - Bush's Plans For Iran



Israel unhappy with U.S. plan for Iran

According to correspondent Seymour Hersh, the plan was shared with U.S. allies including Israel, which raised objections to the relative lack of Iranian nuclear facilities on a target roster that instead focused on military training camps.

Hersh: Bush, Cheney 'really want' Iran war

As the president's term draws to a close, Hersh said he was told that Bush's and Cheney's drive for war trumps their loyalty to their party and its future.



Report: Russia Evacuates Entire Bushehr Staff

Iranian and Israeli news outlets are reporting that Russia has evacuated its entire staff of nuclear engineers and experts who were working at the Bushehr nuclear reactor, increasing speculation that the United States is preparing an imminent military attack on Iran.

Neocons Told to Look for Reasons to Attack Iran

British newspaper the Sunday Telegraph claims that Members of the US secretariat in the UN have been asked to "search for things that Iran has done wrong", in order to justify military strikes against the country

Bolton: We Should Carry Out Regime Change In Iran Because ‘It Did Work In Iraq’

Britain 'on board' for US air strikes on Iran after Navy hostage humiliation

Britain is ready to sign up to a bombing campaign on Iran as revenge for the "shame" of the Navy hostage taking, it was claimed today. According to an investigation by leading American journalist Seymour Hersh, the UK is poised to join any US-led action against the rogue state.
"The British may want to do it to get even, but the more reasonable people are saying, 'Let's do it if the Iranians stage a cross-border attack inside Iraq.' "

More Disasterous Iran Legislation On Its Way

Amusingly, one bill is from Illinois Republican Mark Steven Kirk, who supports American unions about 10% of the time yet all of a sudden is passionately devoted to the wellbeing of Iranian labor activists. Then there's the bill condemning Iranian actions in Lebanon, sponsored by a Democratic Representative named Steve Israel. Subtle!

US to reward Iran for ending Iraq arms supply

America is prepared to "reciprocate" if Iran halts shipments of arms to Iraq's Shia Muslim militias, General David Petraeus, the US commander in Baghdad has said.

It's our job to provide them weapons!



Details of contract fraud and bribes arise in Iraq.
Investigation could lead to General David Petraeus. Col. Ted Westhusing was investigating this fraud in Iraq when he was said to have committed "suicide." His superior officer at the time was Petraeus. The "Surge" may be a bunch of senior Army officers being locked up at the Fort Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks.

Rabbis Say Iran Seeks Peace, Respects Judaism

A number of Jewish rabbis carrying placards of “I’m a Jew, not a Zionist” have met President Ahmadinejad at his residence in New York.

Burmese monks 'to be sent away'

Thousands of monks detained in Burma's main city of Rangoon will be sent to prisons in the far north of the country, sources have told the BBC.
About 4,000 monks have been rounded up in the past week as the military government has tried to stamp out pro-democracy protests.
The monks have been disrobed and shackled, the sources told BBC radio's Burmese service. There are reports that the monks are refusing to eat.

Palestinians in Iraq tortured, ill-treated: Amnesty

The London-based human rights group issued an urgent appeal to the Shiite-led Iraqi government, US-led coalition and international community to take concrete steps to protect the Palestinians.
"Palestinian refugees in Iraq have been subjected to gross human rights abuses including abduction, hostage-taking, unlawful killing, torture and other ill-treatment at the hands of armed militia groups," it said.

Syrian 'research station' says shocked to hear of attack on its facility

Apparently the research facility Israel claims to have bombed ... wasn't bombed.

Many soldiers get boot for 'pre-existing' mental illness

Thousands of U.S. soldiers in Iraq — as many as 10 a day — are being discharged by the military for mental health reasons. But the Pentagon isn't blaming the war. It says the soldiers had "pre-existing" conditions that disqualify them for treatment by the government.
Many soldiers and Marines being discharged on this basis actually suffer from combat-related problems, experts say. But by classifying them as having a condition unrelated to the war, the Defense Department is able to quickly get rid of troops having trouble doing their work while also saving the expense of caring for them.

Pentagon takes steps to avert predatory lending

The new rule caps the annual percentage rate charged to service members and their families on payday loans, vehicle title loans, and refund anticipation loans at 36 percent.

36% is not predatory? Give me a break.

Pentagon Official Debra Cagan: "I Hate All Iranians"
The National Iranian American Council is calling on the Bush administration to dismiss a Pentagon official who told a visiting foreign delegation "I hate all Iranians." Debra Cagan, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs made the comment last month during an official meeting with British MPs.
All she needs is a set of armbands.


Senate passes mammoth $648 billion defense bill

The US Senate Monday passed a mammoth 648 billion dollar defense policy bill, shorn of attempts by disappointed anti-war Democrats to dictate President George W. Bush's Iraq strategy. The bill included around 128 billion dollars for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate.



Senate approves $150 billion in war funding & more than 1/2 trillion for weapons, etc.

The Democratic-led Senate has voted to authorize spending another $150 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Senate passed the spending measure by a 92 to 3 vote. Democrats Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Republican Tom Coburn of Oklahoma voted against the war spending. While the Senate bill authorizes the money to be spent, it does not guarantee it. President Bush will have to wait until Congress passes a separate appropriations bill before war funds are transferred to military coffers.

Torture and rape reported in Iraqi children prisons

The children languish in prisons administered by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government. It seems the only story of success U.S. invaders and their Iraqi lackeys can boast of is the construction of numerous prisons now available across the country.
Arab satellite television channels shocked their viewers last week when they aired footage of children bearing marks of torture. The children were detained during military operations in Baghdad neighborhoods of Adhamiya, Latifiya, Doura and Hay al-Amel.

Parents to have money taken away from child support payments

Linda Green couldn't believe what she found when she opened her mail this week. She received a letter from the Colorado Department of Human Services, telling her she would soon have money taken out of the child support payments she receives from her 13-year-old son's father.
The letter stated that under the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, which President Bush signed into law early last year, federal spending on so-called entitlement programs, such as Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and other social programs, would be restrained, in order to pay down the national deficit.



The Rise of the Have-Nots

The American middle class has toppled into a world of temporary employment, jobs without benefits, and retirement without security.

MICHIGAN GOV. SHUTS DOWN

U.S. $10 trillion in the red
This does not include unfunded liabilities, and internal "borrowing" from various trust funds such as Social Security which has to be repaid somehow, on the backs of the taxpayers.

Congress raises limit again as U.S. debt nears $10 trillion

According to the folks who follow this stuff closely, the national debt has been rising by an average of $1.36 billion per day since September of last year.
And each citizen now has a share of nearly $30,000.

THE MESSAGE: Hip Hop Is The New Apple Pie

Now, unable to do anything useful about our catastrophe in Iraq, Congress moves on to a more manageable mortal threat — rap lyrics.

U.N.: Violence in Afghanistan up almost 25 percent in '07

Afghanistan is currently suffering its most violent year since the 2001 U.S.-led intervention, according to an internal United Nations report that sharply contrasts with recent upbeat appraisals by President Bush and his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai.

Gates Tells Lawmakers Iraq War Is Hurting Afghanistan Mission

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told a group of U.S. House Democratic lawmakers that the multinational mission in Afghanistan is suffering from a lack of resources, citing the war in Iraq and the reluctance of U.S. allies to contribute more troops, participants at the meeting said.

U.S. Is Top Arms Seller to Developing World
A new Congressional report reveals the United States remains the leading supplier of weapons to the developing world. Last year the United States agreed to sell over ten billion dollars in weapons to the developing world. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were major recipients of American arms sales.
Death sells, who's buying?

Chertoff: "Illegal Migrants Really Degrade the Environment"
Here in this country, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff defended the construction of a wall along the Mexican border by claiming that it will improve the environment in the Southwest. Chertoff said "Illegal migrants really degrade the environment. I've seen pictures of human waste, garbage, discarded bottles and other human artifact in pristine areas."
As if that's not a common sight anywhere on the planet.



U.S. labs mishandling deadly germs

American laboratories handling the world's deadliest germs and toxins have experienced more than 100 accidents and missing shipments since 2003, and the number is increasing steadily as more labs across the country are approved to do the work. The documented cases reflect poorly on procedures and oversight at high-security labs, some of which work with organisms and poisons so dangerous that illnesses they cause have no cure. In some cases, labs have failed to report accidents as required by law.
The mishaps include workers bitten or scratched by infected animals, skin cuts, needle sticks and more, according to a review by The Associated Press of confidential reports submitted to federal regulators. They describe accidents involving anthrax, bird flu virus, monkeypox and plague-causing bacteria at 44 labs in 24 states. More than two-dozen incidents were still under investigation.
The expansion of the lab network has been dramatic since President Bush announced an upgrade of the nation's bio-warfare defense program five years ago. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which funds much of the lab research and construction, was spending spent about $41 million on bio-defense labs in 2001. By last year, the spending had risen to $1.6 billion.
The number of labs approved by the government to handle the deadliest substances has nearly doubled to 409 since 2004. Labs are routinely inspected by federal regulators just once every three years, but accidents trigger interim inspections.
"It may be only a matter of time before our nation has a public health incident with potentially catastrophic results," said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce investigations subcommittee. Stupak's panel has been investigating the lab incidents and will conduct a hearing Thursday.
Stop the use and torture of animals, and use human tissue samples instead. Why are they experimenting with these things in the first place?

Man Bush chose to lead Pentagon contracting probes left under fire to become Blackwater COO

The private security firm Blackwater USA, which has faced mounting criticism following an incident earlier this month in which armed guards from the group purportedly killed 11 unarmed Iraqi civilians, has numerous links to the White House as well as many current and former Republicans.
The connections include the firm's chief operating officer Joseph Schmitz, who was tapped by President Bush in 2002 to "oversee and police the Pentagon's military contracts as the Defense Department's Inspector General.
Serving until 2005, Schmitz went on to preside over "the largest increase of military-contracting spending in history" and joined Blackwater just a month after his departure from the Pentagon, according to Van Heuvelen.

Waxman questions State Dept. actions after drunken Blackwater contractor killed Iraqi VP's guard

Blackwater involved in rendition of prisoners.
Company headed by right-wing Christian lunatic supports Bush administration's torture program. Very Christian.



Blackwater Portrayed as Out of Control
Henry Waxman, the head of a House oversight panel on Tuesday questioned whether the State Department acted as an "enabler" with private contractor Blackwater in Iraq, casting the company as a rogue mercenary force.
"Privatizing is working exceptionally well for Blackwater," said Chairman Waxman, D-Calif. "The question for this hearing is whether outsourcing to Blackwater is a good deal to the American taxpayer," he said of Blackwater, which has been paid more than $1 billion in government contracts since 2001.
Waxman's House Oversight and Government Reform convened the hearing amid an FBI investigation into a Sept. 16 shootout involving Blackwater personnel that resulted in 11 Iraqis killed. The Justice Department sent the panel a letter Tuesday asking members not to address the incident during the hearing, citing a need to first conclude its investigation.
Waxman said he agreed not to probe the specifics of the incident, (why did he agree to that?) but that it was within the committee's prerogatives to raise questions about the company's overall performance in Iraq. Several Republicans on the committee called it irresponsible for Waxman to pre-empt the administration's investigation.
Blackwater CEO Erik Prince said the company supports legislation written by North Carolina Democratic Rep. David Price, a longtime advocate of increasing the legal oversight of contractors. This week, the House will consider a bill from Price that would make all contractors subject to prosecution in U.S. courts.
Waxman said at least one incident raises questions about the State Department's involvement. In December 2006, after a drunken Blackwater contractor shot an Iraqi guard, the State Department advised the company how much to pay the family and then allowed the contractor to leave Iraq 36 hours after the shooting. Internal e-mails later revealed a debate within the State Department on the size of the payment.
"It's hard to read these e-mails and not come to the conclusion that the State Department is acting as Blackwater's enabler," Waxman said.



Manic Times Exclusive: Australia's Killing Fields

Cat Barton reports exclusively for Manic Times from Phnom Penh, where residents have been ‘dumped’ by the government to make space for urban development in the city, much of it in collaboration with private business.
Internationally well-connected individuals are brokering the deals, and the Australian Government is one of the players. The Australian Embassy in Cambodia has recently bought riverside land to build on, and another 45-by 200-metre plot known as Group 78. 146 dispossessed families live at Group 78, who are now facing summary eviction. The Embassy bought its land from powerful Cambodian businessman, Kith Meng. A former refugee in Australia, the 36-year-old tycoon now owns a pro-government TV station, one of Cambodia’s largest mobile phone companies, and a half share in ANZ’s Cambodian banking venture.



US seizes migrant's life savings

Pedro Zapeta spent 11 years scrubbing pots in a Florida restaurant, dreaming of the day when he would have enough money to buy a small plot of land in his native Guatemala and build a house for his mother and sisters. When he was ready, he stuffed his $59,000 life savings in a duffel bag and headed for the airport.
But he never made it home. US customs inspectors seized the cash, suspecting that Mr Zapeta was a drugs courier, and immigration officials arrested him for being in the country illegally. Now, after a two-year legal battle in Miami, Mr Zapeta is to be deported while the US treasury keeps the money he earned washing dishes at an average hourly rate of $5.50.
The authorities finally accepted that he had earned the money when he produced pay stubs, but the internal revenue service then laid claim to it because Mr Zapeta admitted he had never paid taxes. His lawyers claim tax officials are also pursuing a further $10,000 in public donations made after his case was publicised last year. IRS and customs officials declined to comment.

Zimbabwe runs out of bread

Zimbabwe's bakeries have shut and supermarkets have warned there will be no bread for the foreseeable future as the government admitted that wheat production had collapsed following the seizure of white-owned farms.
The agricultural ministry announcement that the wheat harvest is only about a third of what is required, and that imports are held up by lack of hard currency, came as a deadline passed today for the last white farmers to leave their land or face prosecution for trespass.

Are Cancer Cures Being Hidden From the Public?

According to a 2005 poll reported by the American Cancer Society, 27% of Americans agree with the statement: "There is currently a cure for cancer but the medical industry won't tell the public." Another 14 percent are uncertain.
There is a huge financial incentive to develop continuous treatments rather than one-time cures.

Vaccine Ingredients - Formaldehyde, Aspartame, Mercury, Etc
This following list of common vaccines and their ingredients should shock anyone.
The numbers of microbes, antibiotics, chemicals, heavy metals and animal byproducts is staggering. Would you knowingly inject these materials into your children?

Bush: "... childrens do learn when standards are high and results are measured." Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in UN address, obviously with the American president in mind: "I think the politicians who are after atomic bombs or are testing them, making them, politically, they are backward, retarded."