Bush Seeks to Make War Powers Permanent,
by Declaring Indefinite State of War |
President Bush has quietly moved to expand the reach of presidential power by ensuring that America remains in a state of permanent war. Buried in a recent proposal by the Administration is a sentence that has received scant attention -- and was buried itself in the very newspaper that exposed it Saturday. It is an affirmation that the United States remains at war with al Qaeda, the Taliban and "associated organizations." full story |
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Slavery Haunts America's Plantation Prisons |
On an expanse of 18,000 acres of farmland, 59 miles northwest of Baton Rouge, long rows of men, mostly African-American, till the fields under the hot Louisiana sun. The men pick cotton, wheat, soybeans and corn. They work for pennies, literally. Armed guards, mostly white, ride up and down the rows on horseback, keeping watch. At the end of a long workweek, a bad disciplinary report from a guard, whether true or false, could mean a weekend toiling in the fields. full story |
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For the First Time in Human History,
the North Pole Can Be Circumnavigated |
Open water now stretches all the way round the Arctic, making it possible for the first time in human history to circumnavigate the North Pole, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. New satellite images, taken only two days ago, show that melting ice last week opened up both the fabled North-west and North-east passages, in the most important geographical landmark to date to signal the unexpectedly rapid progress of global warming. full story |
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Police Plan 'Supermarket Cells' to Hold Shoplifters And Drunks |
The short-term lockups could hold prisoners for up to four hours where they would be finger-printed, photographed and have a DNA sample taken. They would allow beat bobbies to remove offenders from circulation without spending too long off the street themselves. Offenders held in the cells could then either be released with a fine, or referred for further action or charging. full story |
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Popular Plastics Chemical Poses Further Threat |
The rap sheet for bisphenol A, a chemical commonly found in food and water containers, baby bottles and the lining of aluminum cans, just keeps getting longer. But the chemical still has friends at the FDA. A new study examining the effects of bisphenol A in human fat tissue finds that the chemical suppresses a hormone that protects people from heart attacks and type 2 diabetes. Doses examined in the study are typical of what is found in human blood. full story |
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FISA Court Rejects ACLU Request for Transparency |
A court created by the FISA Act denied an ACLU motion Thursday that would have increased public scrutiny of how the Bush admin.'s new spying law is reviewed, according to a statement released Friday. The ACLU filed the motion 10 hours after President Bush signed the FISA Amendments Act into law July 10, requesting that any further proceedings that might question the law's constitutionality be revealed to the public. full story |
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Russia May Cut Off Oil Flow to the West |
Fears are mounting that Russia may restrict oil deliveries to Western Europe over coming days, in response to the threat of EU sanctions and Nato naval actions in the Black Sea. Any such move would be a dramatic escalation of the Georgia crisis and play havoc with the oil markets. Any evidence that the Kremlin is planning to use the oil weapon to intimidate the West could inflame global energy markets. full story |
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Black Helicopters Swarm Downtown Portland |
Monday’s exercise involved helicopters hopping from one downtown skyscraper to another. The sudden appearance of black helicopters carrying apparently armed men and buzzing around Portland generated dozens of calls to emergency dispatchers and the mayor's office from residents and visitors. "It's nothing to worry about," city and federal officials insisted Tuesday."And, by the way, you might see more of the same tonight." full story |
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New Spy Software Coming On-Line:
"Surveillance in a Box" Makes Its Debut |
Privacy and human rights advocates say the system bears a remarkable resemblance to China's "Golden Shield," a massive surveillance network that integrates huge information databases, internet and email monitoring, speech and facial recognition platforms in combination with CCTV monitoring. Designed specifically for "fusion centers", the Intelligence Platform promises to provide "real-time" high-tech tools to foil terrorist plots before they're hatched (or keep tabs on antiwar/antiglobalization activists). full story |
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Ron Paul: 'There's No Difference' between McCain And Obama |
"Their foreign policies are identical," Paul explained. "They want more troops in Afghanistan. They want to send more support to Georgia to protect the oil line there. Neither one says bring home the troops from Iraq from the bases, you know the bases are going to stay there, the embassy as big as the Vatican, that's going to remain. So their foreign policies are exactly the same. They're both very, very aggressive with Iran. full story |
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ABC Reporter Arrested in Denver Taking
Pictures of Senators, Big Donors |
Police in Denver arrested an ABC News producer today as he and a camera crew were attempting to take pictures on a public sidewalk of Democratic senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the Brown Palace Hotel. Police on the scene refused to tell ABC lawyers the charges against the producer, Asa Eslocker, who works with the ABC News investigative unit. full story |
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Halliburton Sued for Human Trafficking |
Thirteen Nepali men were recruited and held against their will for thirteen months in a human trafficking scheme engineered and perpetrated by Halliburton and its Jordanian contractor, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday in California federal court. The Nepali men, each between the ages of 18 and 27, were allegedly hired as kitchen staff by the then-Halliburton subsidiary KBR and its Jordanian subcontractor, Daoud & Partners. full story |
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Protesters Denied Access to Attorneys,
Forced to March in Leg Shackles |
The ACLU issued a stinging rebuke to the Denver Police Department Wednesday, alleging that the department may have violated laws and constitutional rights of protesters arrested outside the DNC. In the letter the ACLU revealed that the police refused those arrested access to attorneys. Police did not let detainees use phones unless they posted their own bonds, and even failed to provide shoes... full story |
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Real ID: Connecting the Dots to an International ID |
The significant opposition to a national ID system in the past extends to the REAL ID issue today. This conviction has united both Democrats and Republicans as well as such normally opposed groups as the ACLU and the ACLJ. Whether the concern is privacy, religious rights, states' rights, or cost of implementation, REAL ID has galvanized broad and deep resistance, currently including an estimated six hundred groups. full story |
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Terror Watchlist "Upgrade" Is "Imploding," Legislator Says |
In a letter to the inspector general at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence last week, Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC) complained that the National Counterterrorism Center's "Railhead" initiative, designed to upgrade the government's master database of suspected terrorists, "if actually deployed will leave our country more vulnerable than the existing yet flawed system in operation today." full story |
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Backlog of US Homes for Sale Is Worst On Record |
The number of unsold homes on the market in the United States is at levels not seen for at least 40 years, and prices are continuing to slide, according to a disheartening new survey. Two out of every five sales are now distressed sales - such as foreclosed homes put on the market by banks - and desperate sellers are continuing to drop their prices. full story |
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Democrats Convene in Denver amid Police
State Security And a Sea of Corporate Cash |
The more than 4,000 Democratic delegates, covered by an army of some 15,000 members of the press, are convening in what amounts to a political bubble surrounded by security measures consistent with those of a police state. The convention itself, not to mention the lavish parties being thrown for the delegates, many of them elected officials, is being paid for largely by major corporations looking to buy political influence. full story |
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Safe in Our Cages |
In the Queen's speech this autumn Gordon Brown's government will announce a scheme to institute a database of every telephone call, email, and act of online usage by every resident of the UK. It will propose that this information will be gathered, stored, and "made accessible" to the security and law enforcement agencies, local councils, and "other public bodies". full story |
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Admission of Organ Harvesting Is
'Undeniable,' Say Investigators |
An audio recording of the doctor admitting to having taken part in harvesting organs from Falun Gong practitioners, together with a state-endorsed documentary in which the same doctor acknowledges taking part in the conversation, is “an undeniable, inculpatory admission of the harvesting of Falun Gong practitioner prisoners for profit,” say David Matas, a human rights lawyer, and David Kilgour, former Canadian secretary of state. full story |
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Denver Police Hit Protesters with Pepper
Spray from Cannons, Arrest 100 |
Denver police have taken 100 protesters into custody after ordering them to disperse and spraying them with pepper spray from cannons. Riot police forced several hundred protesters out of the civic center and blocked them before they could reach the 16th St. Mall. They used at least two armored vehicles, according to the Denver Post. full story |
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Diebold Admits To E-Voting Security Flaws |
Video showing Diebold reversing its previous statements and admitting that there are serious flaws in it's electronic voting machines. full story |
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Councils Spy on Sex Lives of Taxpayers |
The sex lives of council-tax payers are being secretly monitored by local authority inspectors to establish whether residents claiming single person's discounts are really living alone. Undercover snoopers are being used to find out how often lovers visit and whether supposedly single residents are sharing a bed every night with the same person. full story |
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Joe Biden's New World Order Speech |
In his speech in Clayton Hall, "On the Threshold of the New World Order: A Rebirth for the United Nations," Biden said the world's leaders must adopt a new understanding of security. "Collective security today must encompass not only the security of nations," he said, "but also mankind's security in a global environment that has proven vulnerable to debilitating changes wrought by man's own endeavors. full story |
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Feeling 'Threatened' as They Broke
Into the Home, Police Opened Fire |
The mayor went into the bedroom to change his clothes. He was wearing only his boxer shorts when cops with drawn guns kicked in the door and stormed in, screaming. They shot the couple's two Labrador retrievers to death and seized the unopened package. Which contained about 30 pounds of marijuana. Police now admit the couple appear to have been the innocent victims of a scheme. full story |
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Obama's VP Needs to Come Clean
on 9/11 Bagman Mahmood Ahmed |
Joe Biden, as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met with Mahmood. Ahmed also met with George Tenet, CIA head, senators Bob Graham and John Kyl, Rep. Porter Goss, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, and Secretary of State Colin Powell. It is common knowledge that Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, going under the name Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad, sent about $100,000 from the United Arab Emirates to Mohammed Atta. full story |
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Texas Truant Students to Be Tracked by GPS Anklets |
Students in the program will wear the ankle bracelets full-time and will not be able to remove them. They'll be selected as they come through her court, and Penn will target truant students with gang affiliations, those with a history of running away and skipping school and those who have been through her court multiple times. But at least one group is worried the ankle bracelets will infringe on students' privacy. full story |
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Cheney's Link to Corrupt Senator Stevens Exposed |
In a conversation secretly recorded by the FBI on June 25, 2006, Stevens "discussed ways to get a pipeline bill through the Alaska Legislature with Bill Allen, an oil-services executive accused of providing the senator with about $250,000 in undisclosed financial benefits." Only two days later, Cheney took the unusual step of writing a letter to the Alaska legislature which pushed the members to "promptly enact" a bill that would approve the pipeline. full story |
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Documents Reveal PR Push for Iraq War Preceded Intel Findings |
A new report on the documents from George Washington University's National Security Archive presents compelling evidence that the Bush admin. pressured the CIA and other intelligence agencies to tailor their reports to back-up Bush's desire to invade. The report suggests the bulk of this effort was run out of Dick Cheney's office, backing up numerous other post-war examinations of the path to invasion that saw Cheney as the mastermind of the plan to oust Saddam Hussein. full story |
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Obama Sued in Philly Fed. Court on Grounds
He's Constitutionally Ineligible for Presidency |
A prominent Philadelphia attorney and Hillary Clinton supporter filed suit this afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic National Committee and the Federal Election Commission. The action seeks an injunction preventing the senator from continuing his candidacy and a court order enjoining the DNC from nominating him. full story |
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Companies Import Poisonous Chinese Toothpaste In Disguise |
Four defendants pleaded guilty yesterday to importing from China more than a half million tubes of toothpaste falsely labeled as the popular brand Colgate and containing a toxic chemical found in antifreeze. Laboratory tests conducted by the FDA and Colgate-Palmolive revealed the toothpaste not only lacked fluoride but was also tainted with bacillus spores and diethylene glycol, a sweet-tasting poison found in engine coolant. full story |
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This Time, the World Is Not Buying It |
The success of the Bush Regime's propaganda, lies, and deception with gullible and inattentive Americans since 9/11 has made it difficult for intelligent, aware people to be optimistic about the future of the US. For almost 8 years the US media has served as Ministry of Propaganda for a war criminal regime. Americans incapable of thinking for themselves, reading between the lines, or accessing foreign media on the Internet have been brainwashed. full story |
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Obama's $845 Billion U.N. Plan Forwarded to U.S. Senate Floor |
The U.S. Senate soon could debate whether you, your spouse and each of your children, as well as your in-laws, parents, grandparents, neighbors and everyone else in America, each will spend $2,500 or more to reduce poverty around the world. The plan sponsored by Sen. Barack Obama is estimated to cost the U.S. some $845 billion over the coming few years in an effort to raise the standard of living around the globe. full story |
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And None Dare Call It Treason |
Randy Scheunemann is the principal foreign policy adviser to John McCain and potential successor to Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski as national security adviser to the president of the United States. He is a dual loyalist, a foreign agent whose assignment is to get America committed to spilling the blood of her sons for client regimes who have made this moral mercenary a rich man. full story |
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As Fed. Agency Declares 'New Phenomenon'
Downed WTC 7, Activists Cry Foul |
According to a federal agency report released Thursday, a "new phenomenon" known as thermal expansion was directly responsible for the mysterious collapse of World Trade Center 7 on Sept. 11, 2001. However, Richard Gage, founder of Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth and a member of the American Institute of Architects, doesn't believe a word of the theory. full story |
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USDA: US Food Prices to Post Biggest Rise in 20 Years |
U.S. consumers should brace for the biggest increase in food prices in nearly 20 years in 2008 and even more pain next year due to surging meat and produce prices, the Agriculture Department said on Wednesday. Food prices are forecast to rise by 5 percent to 6 percent this year, making it the largest annual increase since 1990. Just last month, USDA forecast food prices would climb between 4.5 and 5.5 percent in 2008. full story |
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FCC Comcast Order Is Open Invitation to Internet Filtering |
Buried in the commission's vitriolic-filled 67-page decision, which was announced three weeks ago and formalized in written form on Wednesday, lurks an open invitation to internet service providers to filter content. In essence, the commission said carriers cannot discriminate against file sharing protocols, but they may act as a traffic cops and block illegal material and "transmissions that violate copyright law." full story |
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Senators: FBI Rules Could Target Innocent People |
Proposed rules to help the FBI catch terrorists could lead to innocent Americans being spied upon by government agents or informants "all without any basis for suspicion," a group of Democratic senators said Wednesday. Among their fears: Americans could be targeted in part based on their race, ethnicity or religion - or free speech activities protected by the Constitution. full story |
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New Law Requires Grass Be Cut 12 Inches |
A proposed ordinance in Omaha will soon require all yards to be trimmed at 12 inches, down from the previous mandate of 18 inches. Councilman Garry Gernandt said he originally wanted the limit to be 8 inches but worked with the Parks Commission to establish the new limit. He said the ordinance is a small step to the big goal of sprucing up the city's image. full story |
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Law and order: Curfew America |
The police state has not arrived quite yet but it may feel like it to the residents of some American cities, where a handful of embattled mayors and police chiefs are imposing strict and sometimes sweeping curfews. In Helena-West Helena on the banks of the Mississippi in Arkansas, small pockets are under a 24-hour curfew that all ages must respect. Police are enforcing it, moreover, with night-vision goggles and M16 military rifles. full story |
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Documents: U.S. Strike Aided Bin Laden Taliban Ties |
The U.S. cruise missile strike on an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan in 1998 was meant to kill Osama bin Laden. But he apparently left shortly before the missiles struck, and newly declassified U.S. documents suggest the attack cemented an alliance with his Taliban protectors. The State Department documents provide details of the evolving relationship between Taliban leader Mullah Omar and al-Qaida chief bin Laden in 1998. full story |
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Army Barracks Whistleblower Forced Out |
Barracks for wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan at the Army's Fort Sill are infested with mold. In addition, soldiers living in the units said that "their complaints about mold and other problems" have been ignored for months and that they were told to keep quiet about the problems. An Army social services coordinator, who told USA Today about poor conditions at Fort Sill’s unit for wounded soldiers has been forced out of his job. full story |
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Citizens' U.S. Border Crossings Tracked |
Officials say the Border Crossing Information system, disclosed last month by the DHS in a Federal Register notice, is part of a broader effort to guard against terrorist threats. It also reflects the growing number of government systems containing personal information on Americans that can be shared for a broad range of law enforcement and intelligence purposes, some of which are exempt from some Privacy Act protections. full story |
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'Failsafe' Face Scanners Could Replace
Passport Officers at Airports |
Facial recognition machines are to be installed at airports to replace passport officers under border control plans announced today. The machines will scan a travellers' face to compare them with the images on their biometric passports and open an automated gate when a match is registered. Critics fear that the technology could generate too many false readings in which passengers with genuine passports are refused automatic entry. full story |
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Keith Olbermann Needs to Take Obama
to Task for His FISA Betrayal |
Olbermann showed his real colors. He said the next president, assumed to be Obama, as Olbermann is a Democrat, will be saddled with Bush’s intelligence "embryo." Keith made it sound like Obama disapproves and the already long established and well developed snoop state apparatus will be a yoke around his neck. In fact, Obama voted in the Senate for the current FISA bill, to the chagrin of no shortage of Democrats. full story |
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Vaccines Found to Cause Diabetes in Children |
Dr. J. Bartholomew Classen of Classen Immunotherapies and David Carey Classen of the University of Utah compared more than 100,000 children who had received between 1 and 4 doses of the hemophilus vaccine with more than 100,000 unvaccinated children. The Classens found that after seven years, children in the vaccination group had a 26% higher risk of developing diabetes than children in the non-vaccine group. full story |
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Supreme Defiance: D.C. City Council Still
Trying to Shred Second Amendment |
After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the District of Columbia's ban on firearms was unconstitutional, the City Council approved new firearms legislation that allows residents to apply for handgun permits. This is the normal course of business a governmental body takes when the Supreme Court determines whatever it was doing was unconstitutional. That is unless it's the D.C. City Council that's acting unconstitutional. full story |
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States Throw Out Costly E-Voting Machines |
After the disputed 2000 presidential recount, Congress provided more than $3 billion to replace punch card and lever-operated machines. State officials across the country said the new systems would eliminate human error and political tampering. But problems with the machines soon followed: vanishing votes, breakdowns, malfunctions and increasing evidence that the devices were vulnerable to hackers. full story |
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Google Puts $10m into New Geothermal Technology |
The move is part of Google's effort to pump hundreds of millions of dollars into green energy sources, starting with solar thermal, high-altitude wind power and now, geothermal energy. Heat from below the earth's surface could one day be a massive contributor to the nation's electricity supplies because it is available around the clock, Google said. full story |
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CCTV Cameras Spying on Hundreds of Classrooms |
CCTV monitors classrooms at one in 14 schools, according to a survey. The poll of teachers also found that almost a quarter feared there might be more cameras hidden around the campus that they did not know about. Most said their schools were fitted with surveillance cameras. Almost 80 per cent said there were cameras at the entrance and more than 7 per cent said there were some in classrooms. full story |
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Magpies Reflect on a Newly Discovered Intellectual Prowess |
They may have a brain the size of a pea but magpies have been shown to possess the intellectual prowess necessary to recognise themselves in a mirror - a feat that, until now, has only been seen in humans, apes, elephants and dolphins. Self-recognition is considered to be one of the hallmarks of a highly evolved brain so it has come as a surprise to find that the magpie can see its own reflection for what it is. full story |
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Florida Wildlife Crowded by Swelling Human Population |
Florida's wildlife, already displaced from much of its habitat by human activities, will face even greater pressure over the next 50 years as the human population doubles its current size. Continuing the past patterns of urban sprawl could result in fragmented natural places that will squeeze Florida's wild species such as bears, panthers, bobcats, alligators, eagles and wild turkeys, manatees, gopher tortoises and Florida scrub-jays. full story |
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US Govt. in Collusion with Illegal Alien Drug Growers? |
The President and his admin. slashed the numbers of new ICE agents and new Border Patrol agents. Clearly the only explanation that makes sense is that the President was adamant about not securing our borders and not enforcing the immigration laws, even though this enables drugs, criminals and terrorists to have easy access to our nation even as the President and his administration 'bobble heads' invoke the "War on Terror" at every turn. full story |
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Neocon Crybabies |
The smoke had barely cleared when the Bush Administration, the neoconservative pundits, and our lapdog media started crying foul. Russian leader Vladimir Putin was, inevitably, likened to Adolf Hitler. Georgia was portrayed as an innocent victim of unprovoked aggression. The Ossetian victims were quickly relegated to the Orwellian memory hole. full story |
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Basic Premises |
You can make a career out of just criticizing obvious bloopers committed by the various departments of government, because they all commit them. The Romans built roads that are still around, but states today continue to build roads that will pothole and crack within a year, sometimes sooner. Look at the federal airport-security people. They take nail trimmers away from grandmothers but allow real weapons to get through. full story |
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Deaths of 14 Children Could Be Linked
to GlaxoSmithKline Trial Drug |
Authorities in Argentina are investigating whether there is a link between the deaths of 14 children and an experimental vaccine. The children took Synflorix as part of a clinical trial run by the British pharmaceutical company Glaxo-SmithKline. Dr Marchesse said some illiterate parents were not told that the vaccine given to their children was experimental. full story |
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How Big Brother Watches Your
Every Move - 3,000 Times a Week |
In one week, the average person living in Britain has 3,254 pieces of personal information stored about him or her, most of which is kept in databases for years and in some cases indefinitely. The data include details about shopping habits, mobile phone use, emails, locations during the day, journeys and internet searches. The Govt. published plans to grant local authorities and other public bodies access to the email and internet records of millions. full story |
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Rounded up into Torture Camps: the,
'Undesirables' China Doesn't Want You to See |
From street children, hawkers, the homeless and prostitutes, to the mentally ill, black migrants, drug dealers and gays caught in public bathhouses, the camps on the outskirts of the city started filling up with Beijing's 'undesirables' last year as part of the Chinese regime's determination to present what it sees as an acceptable face to the world. full story |
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Ohio Battles over Payday Loan Interest Rate Cap |
HB 545 was signed in June by Governor Ted Strickland, and will go into effect in early September. Under the law, the APR for a payday loan will be capped at 28%, and an Ohioan would be limited to four loans per year. Opponents of the legislation argued that outlawing such small, short-term loans, with an APR of up to 391%, will eliminate 6,000 jobs in Ohio and force as many as 1,500 statewide store locations to close. full story |
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News Crew Crashes Denver's DNC 'Concentration Camp' |
In Denver, police are preparing what a local political organizer calls a 'concentration camp,' laying in wait for mass arrests anticipated during the upcoming Democratic National Convention. "Each of these fenced in areas is about five yards by five yards," said Sallinger. "There's a lock on the door. How long those arrested will be kept here is not known. A sign on the wall reads, 'Warning! Electric stun devices used in this facility.'" full story |
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Fat Children 'Should Be Taken from
Parents' to Curb Obesity Epidemic |
Grossly overweight children may be taken from their families and put into care if Britain’s obesity epidemic continues to escalate, council chiefs said yesterday. The Local Government Association argued that parents who allowed their children to eat too much could be as guilty of neglect as those who did not feed their children at all. full story |
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Revisiting the "Battle of Tskhinvali" |
There are no military installations in the city of Tskhinvali. In fact, there are no military targets at all. It is an industrial center consisting of lumber mills, manufacturing plants and residential areas. It is also the home to 30,000 South Ossetians. When Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili ordered the city to be bombed by warplanes and shelled by heavy artillery last Thursday, he knew that he would be killing hundreds of civilians in their homes and neighborhoods. full story |
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BBC Video Proves Georgia to Blame for Hostilities |
Forget neocon platitudes about the poor Georgians and their supposedly besieged “democracy” (i.e., their NED and CIA installed tinhorn dictatorship). As the video here demonstrates, the neocons support ethnic cleansers, butchers, snipers, child killers, and assorted psychopaths. It really is quite amazing the BBC ran this report as it later put in extra duty to turn the entire event on its head and blame the Russians. full story |
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Once Rare, Coastal Dead Zones Are Multiplying Worldwide |
Around 1910, when scientists began studying the marine areas of low oxygen known as dead zones, there were only four of them worldwide. Now, there are 405 dead zones in the world's coastal waters, covering a total area of 95,000 square miles, according to the latest research published today in the journal "Science." The number of dead zones has increased by a third between 1995 and 2007. full story |
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U.S. May Ease Police Spy Rules |
The Justice Department has proposed a new domestic spying measure that would make it easier for state and local police to collect intelligence about Americans, share the sensitive data with federal agencies and retain it for at least 10 years. Quietly unveiled late last month, the proposal is part of a flurry of domestic intelligence changes issued and planned by the Bush administration in its waning months. full story |
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Obama Fanatics Slam Author for Questioning 9/11 |
An army of frenzied Barack Obama acolytes have been busy attempting to smear writer Jerome Corsi, author of Obama Nation, by citing his skepticism towards the official 9/11 story, seemingly ignorant of the fact that such doubts are shared by the majority of Americans. The New York Times also got in on the act with a sneering attempt to validate the attack on Corsi, which is being supported by Obama’s own campaign staff. full story |
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Recovery Dawns for Humpbacks and Southern Right Whales |
The humpback whale and other species of large whales are now more secure against extinction than they have been in the recent past, according to the latest cetacean update of the 2008 Red List of Threatened Species released on Tuesday by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. "Humpbacks and southern right whales are making a comeback in much of their range mainly because they have been protected from commercial hunting." full story |
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Barack Zelig |
When others have raised such criticisms, Obama has responded that they have not been listening to him. On this one, I am with Obama. How can one take this guy seriously as an "antiwar" candidate when he has voted for hundreds of billions of dollars to fund the Iraq war and to slaughter hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis? Neither Ron Paul nor Dennis Kucinich nor Barbara Lee voted for these funds for a "war of aggression." full story |
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'Gitmo on the Platte' Set as Holding Cell for DNC |
CBS4 News has learned if mass arrests happen at the Democratic Convention, those taken into custody will be jailed in a warehouse owned by the City of Denver. The newly created lockup is on the northeast side of Denver. Protesters have already given this place a name: "Gitmo on the Platte." Inside are dozens of metal cages. They are made out of chain link fence material and topped by rolls of barbed wire. full story |
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Same as the Old Boss: Both McCain and
Obama's Advisors Want War in Georgia |
For months previous to the start of hostilities in the Georgia-Russian war, American trainers have been getting the Georgians ready for war. As revealed in a July article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution: "A large contingent of Georgia Army National Guard soldiers flew to the Republic of Georgia on Sunday for joint military exercises at a time when tension is brewing in the region". full story |
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US Foreclosure Filings Surge 55 Percent |
The number of homeowners stung by the dramatic decline in the U.S. housing market jumped last month as foreclosure filings grew by more than 50% compared with the same month a year ago, according to data released Thursday. Nationwide, more than 272,000 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice in July, up 55% from about 175,000 in the same month last year and up 8% from June. full story |
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Hair Samples in Anthrax Case Don't Match |
FBI agents and U.S. Postal Service inspectors analyzed the data in an effort to place Fort Detrick, Md., scientist Bruce E. Ivins at the mailbox from which bacteria-laden letters were sent to Senate offices and media organizations, the sources said. The hair sample is one of many pieces of evidence over which researchers continue to puzzle in the case, which ended after Ivins committed suicide July 29. full story |
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Uncle Sam Wants Your Brain |
Drugs that make soldiers want to fight. Robots linked directly to their controllers' brains. Lie-detecting scans administered to terrorist suspects as they cross U.S. borders. These are just a few of the military uses imagined for cognitive science -- and if it's not yet certain whether the technologies will work, the military is certainly taking them very seriously. full story |
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GOP Can Choose Change |
By choosing Ron Paul as the Republican nominee for president of the United States, the delegates to the Republican National Convention will give the American voter the opportunity to choose what the vast majority of Americans want - real change, a return to constitutional government where government does not interfere with the life of the individual, thereby reducing the causes of inflation, war, tyranny and economic crises. full story |
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Democrats Want to Ban Gun Shows |
"While promising to preserve our Second Amendment rights, the party platform demonizes semiautomatic sport utility rifles and wants them banned, calls for anti-gun show legislation and proposes so-called 'common-sense' gun laws," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. "Boiled down, all it really means is that the Democrats are still the party of gun control no matter how they try to re-package the rhetoric." full story |
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Prince Charles: GM Crops Risk Causing
the Biggest-ever Environmental Disaster |
The mass development of genetically modified crops risks causing the world's worst environmental disaster, The Prince of Wales has warned. In his most outspoken intervention on the issue of GM food, the Prince said that multi-national companies were conducting an experiment with nature which had gone "seriously wrong". full story |
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Fairness Doctrine Could Lead to Government Regulation of Web |
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell says that the potential re-introduction of the Fairness Doctrine under a Democratic administration could lead to "government dictating content policy" on the Internet. The Fairness Doctrine was an FCC regulation mandating broadcasters afford time to opposing viewpoints. It was abolished in 1987 by the Supreme Court after it was found to be harmful to journalistic freedom and anathema to the First Amendment. full story |
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Bush Proposal Bypasses Endangered Species Experts |
The Bush administration has proposed sweeping changes to the Endangered Species Act, releasing a plan to give federal agencies the authority to decide without expert consultation whether their activities could harm endangered and threatened species. Administration officials contend the proposal will make the law easier to implement, but critics say the plan would undermine federal protection of imperiled plants and animals. full story |
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Public Bodies to Snoop through Internet Activity Records |
Dubbed the 'snooper's charter' by some MPs, the proposal will involve storing "a billion incidents of data exchange a day" and could cost taxpayers £46m. Telecommunications companies already voluntarily store details of internet activity but the Government said it would now become mandatory thanks to a new European directive. It also released plans of a 'super' database that will contain all data on all telephone calls and internet activity. full story |
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U.S. Media Distorts Reality of Georgia/Russia Conflict |
The U.S. media is consistently distorting the true cause of the conflict between the U.S. and Israeli backed Georgian government and Russia. Instead of reporting facts, the U.S. media is choosing to spin everything by blaming the Russians for the war, when that assertion is totally false considering that the European press and others have almost universally reported that the Georgian military started the war by invading South Ossetia without any sort of provocation. full story |
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Neocons Call for U.S. to Launch War against Russia |
Russia's increasing aggression is putting a spark into American neoconservatives. Today on the Times op-ed page, one of their leaders, William Kristol, claims the U.S. must "defend" Georgia's sovereignty as a reward for its participation in Iraq, while the conservative Washington Times is calling for "maximum pressure" on Russia. full story |
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Whales under Threat of Extinction |
A quarter of whales, dolphins and porpoises are threatened with extinction, with one in 10 species endangered to the very highest levels, a study by conservationists will reveal today. IUCN reports a change in the conservation status of 1/3 of all marine mammals, with the majority said to be at a greater risk of extinction than before. Critically endangered species include the Antarctic blue whale, Maui's dolphin, the Pacific grey whale and the Baltic harbour porpoise. full story |
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Video: Arkansas Town on Lockdown |
Mayor of West Helena, Arkansas, puts town into martial law. full story |
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U.S. Cities Would Be Locked Down,
Quarantined under Pandemic Flu Plan |
The federal government would need to quarantine infected households and ban public gatherings to contain pandemic flu, according to a computer simulation study conducted by researchers from Virginia Tech. The consensus among health experts is that a pandemic, or global epidemic, of influenza is inevitable. The last such pandemic, in 1918, killed between 40 and 100 million people. full story |
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One Third of New Owners Owe More Than House Is Worth |
Negative equity and declining prices are making it difficult for homeowners to sell property for a profit. Almost one-quarter of U.S. homes sold in the past year were for a loss, Zillow said. That contributes to the foreclosure rate because some homeowners can't absorb the loss and end up surrendering their homes to the bank that holds the mortgage, said Stan Humphries, Zillow's vice president of data and analytics. full story |
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Beijing Plans Labor Camp Tours for Press |
Chinese authorities are secretly moving Falun Gong practitioners out of Beijing-area labor camps and detention centers to prepare for potential visits by foreign media, a group that monitors the plight of Falun Gong in China said Monday. The Falun Dafa Information Center says the move came after it released a guide leading journalists to jails where Falun Gong practitioners are tortured, the Center said. Many of the sites in its guide are near Olympic venues in China. full story |
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War in the Caucasus: Towards a Broader Russia-US Military Confrontation? |
During the night of August 7, coinciding with the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, Georgia's president Saakashvili ordered an all-out military attack on Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia. The aerial bombardments and ground attacks were largely directed against civilian targets including residential areas, hospitals and the university. The attacks resulted in some 1500 civilian deaths. full story |
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War between Russia And Georgia Orchestrated from USA |
The US administration urged for an immediate cease-fire in the conflict between Russia and Georgia over the unrecognized republic of South Ossetia. In the meantime, Russian officials believe that it was the USA that orchestrated the current conflict. The chairman of the State Duma Committee for Security, Vladimir Vasilyev, believes that the current conflict is South Ossetia is very reminiscent to the wars in Iraq and Kosovo. full story |
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Is Your Organic Food Really Organic? |
The USDA just announced Monday it was putting 15 out of 30 federally accredited organic certifiers they audited on probation, allowing them 12 months to make corrections or lose their accreditation. At the heart of the audit for several certifiers were imported foods and ingredients from other countries, including China. full story |
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Ron Paul: The US is Heading into an Illegal Attack on Iran |
"If we do (attack) it is going to be a disaster," the congressman told the Alex Jones radio show. "I was astounded to see on one of the networks the other day that the debate was not are we going to attack, but are we going to attack before or after the election?" Paul continued. Experts have predicted gas will rise to $6 per gallon if the resolution passes. Paul believes that may happen anyway, just by anticipation. full story |
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European, American And Japanese Electronic
Waste Poisoning the Environment in Ghana |
A Greenpeace analysis of soil and sediment taken from two electronic waste (e-waste) scrap yards in Ghana has revealed severe contamination with hazardous chemicals. The report "Chemical contamination at e-waste recycling and disposal sites in Ghana", released today, exposes the extent of environmental contamination caused by recycling and disposal of e-waste in Ghana. full story |
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CIA Official: Order to Forge Iraq-9/11 Letter
Came on White House Stationery |
A forged letter linking Saddam Hussein to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks was ordered on White House stationery and probably came from the office of Vice President Dick Cheney, according to a new transcript of a conversation with the Central Intelligence Agency's former Deputy Chief of Clandestine Operations Robert Richer. full story |
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U.S. Headed Toward Bankruptcy, Says
Top Budget Committee Republican |
The ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee said the U.S. government is headed toward bankruptcy if it stays on its current fiscal course. To back up this claim, Ryan cited an estimate by the non-partisan Government Accountability Office that says the government faces a $53-trillion shortfall to cover the costs of promised benefits in its entitlement programs. full story |
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Massive US Naval Armada Heads for Iran |
The build up of naval forces in the Gulf will be one of the largest multi-national naval armadas since the First and Second Gulf Wars. The intent is to create a US/EU naval blockade (which is an Act of War under international law) around Iran (with supporting air and land elements) to prevent the shipment of benzene and certain other refined oil products headed to Iranian ports. full story |
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Bush Classifies $200 Million Cybersecurity
Program, Redacts Contractors Questions |
The Bush Administration is finalizing plans to establish yet another massive surveillance program -- and has classified almost every single detail. The Comprehensive National Cyber Security Initiative, established by National Security Presidential Directive 54 and Homeland Security Presidential Directive 23 in January, is intended to improve the government's ability to defend against cybersecurity attacks. full story |
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Conyers Reiterates Demand for RNC Documents |
The Judiciary Committee has spent more than a year trying to get its hands on the RNC documents in its probe that began with an inquiry into the firing of nine US Attorneys and has expanded to consider all aspects of the Justice Department, including the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman. Critics and whistleblowers say Rove helped orchestrate the Siegleman prosecution; at the time he was sent to jail on what many see as trumped-up charges, Siegelman was the only Democratic governor in the south. full story |
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Texas Biofuels Waiver Request Shot Down |
The Bush administration today denied a request by Texas to cut the U.S. biofuels mandate in half, rejecting the claim that the massive increase in corn-based ethanol is causing economic harm to the state's livestock industry and raising food prices. Few stakeholders were surprised by the decision, but debate over the U.S. biofuels mandate reflects lingering concern about the economic and environmental impact of nation's ethanol boom. full story |
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Bush Lectures Chinese Government as It
Apes His Own "Free Speech Zone" Policy |
In a scenario resembling that of the pot calling the kettle black, President Bush has hit out at the Chinese government for its crackdown on dissent during the Olympics, while the Communist regime is aping a "free speech zone" policy created by Bush's own administration. Bush made the remarks hours before he left for Beijing to attend tonight's Games opening ceremony. full story |
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Thought Crimes Agenda Already Being Implemented |
The DHS is moving towards implementing a provision of the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 otherwise known as the thought crimes bill. This is despite the fact that the legislation has not been signed into law. One of the bill’s provisions gives the DHS the authority to fund a University based Center of Excellence to study ways to thwart what the govt. believes are extremist belief systems and radical ideologies of individual Americans. full story |
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Anti-War Website Operator Threatened by Armed Thugs |
The operator of a leading alternative news and strongly anti-war website has become the target of nefarious thugs apparently in the employ of the U.S. government who have continually harassed him and ordered him to shut down his website. Tom Feeley, owner and editor of InformationClearingHouse.info, has endured public harassment, home invasions, death threats and threats to his family simply for running a website. full story |
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Judge: Denver Can Restrict Protests at Convention |
Protesters at the Democratic National Convention in Denver can be restricted to fenced-in areas, federal judge ruled on Wednesday, saying that security needs outweighed curbs on their rights. A dozen groups who intend to protest at the August convention sued the U.S. Secret Service and the city of Denver over plans to confine their activities to a parade route and fenced-in zone, saying that their Constitutional rights to free speech were being violated. full story |
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Border Agents Spread Unevenly on Border |
Despite efforts to add Border Patrol agents to areas where immigrant traffic is high and drug violence is flaring, officers assigned to the 2,000-mile boundary with Mexico are bunched up near the California coast. And some critics see politics at play. The San Diego sector, with the shortest section of border and fences covering half the boundary, has 4 times the number of agents per mile that West Texas does and 3 times as many as most of Arizona. full story |
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Unmanned Spy Planes to Police Britain |
The Government is drawing up plans to use unmanned "drone" aircraft currently deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan to counter terrorism and aid police operations in Britain. The MoD is carrying out research and development to enable the spy planes, which are equipped with highly sophisticated monitoring equipment that allows them to secretly track and photograph suspects without their knowledge, to be deployed within three years. full story |
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Newly Discovered Congo Gorillas Brighten Conservation Picture |
Unknown to the outside world, more than 125,000 endangered western lowland gorillas have sheltered in the remote northern forests of the Republic of Congo in Central Africa, the Wildlife Conservation Society revealed today. Documented by WCS and Congolese scientists, the discovery of these imperiled animals shows that there is hope for the conservation of other endangered species, scientists said. full story |
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French Leaders Accused of Complicity in Rwanda Genocide |
The two-year investigation said France helped the extremists who carried out the genocide and even took part in some of the killings. It named François Mitterand, France's late former president, and former prime minister Dominique de Villepin among 33 military and political leaders. In 100 days 14 years ago, more than 800,000 of Rwanda's minority Tutsi tribe and moderates from the majority Hutus were killed. full story |
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Chinese Police Beat, Detain Two Newsmen |
An NTV reporter and a photographer from The Tokyo Shimbun were beaten and temporarily detained by Chinese police in Kashgar in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region while reporting a bombing incident that killed 16 police there Monday, according to the Japanese Embassy in Beijing. The two suffered minor injuries after they were beaten in detention, the embassy said. full story |
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DHS Claims Authority to Steal Private Property | |
The Department of Homeland Security more popularly known as the Department of Homeland Enslavement has now come out and stated that they have the authority to confiscate people’s personal property including laptops, electronic devices and even paperwork at the border without any probable cause. They also claim that they can hold those items for an unspecified period of time. All of this they claim is justified under the guise of fighting terrorists. full story |
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A Second, Far Larger Wave of U.S. Mortgage Defaults Is Building |
With the U.S. economy struggling, homeowners with better credit are now falling behind on their payments in growing numbers. The percentage of mortgages in arrears in the category of loans one rung above subprime, so-called alternative-A, or alt-A, mortgages, quadrupled to 12% in April from a year earlier. Delinquencies among prime loans, which account for most of the $12 trillion market, doubled to 2.7% in that time. full story |
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Primates 'At Risk of Extinction' |
Nearly half of all the species of monkeys and apes in the world are in danger of extinction with primates as a whole representing one of the most threatened group of mammals today, a study has found. The latest assessment of man’s closest living relatives has found that 48 per cent of the 634 different kinds of primates could soon die out completely due to factors such as habitat loss and hunting. full story |
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The Three Amigos | |
Both John McCain and Barack Obama recently spoke at the annual convention of the National Council of La Raza. "La Raza" is Spanish for "The Race." That McCain and Obama would pander before an organization such as La Raza indicates just how deeply both the Republican and Democrat parties are committed to appeasing the pro-illegal immigration forces. And mark it down: there is not a more pro-illegal alien organization in existence than La Raza. full story |
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U.S. Army Private LaVena Lynn Johnson, RIP |
According to the U.S. Department of Defense, Private LaVena Lynn Johnson killed herself on July 19, 2005, eight days before her twentieth birthday. Exactly how did she end her life? She punched herself in the face hard enough to blacken her eyes, break her nose, and knock her front teeth loose. She douched with an acid solution after mutilating her genital area. She poured a combustible liquid on herself and set it afire. full story |
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Don't Call the Cops. Ever. |
It's clear from reading the daily news that the police in this country have become as big a menace to the average American as any officially designated "criminal" could ever be. Officially designated criminals at least are restrained by fear of discovery and try to make their behavior as inconspicuous as possible whereas the police have no such fear because they are "the law." They feel no compunction against using all manner of force, including sexual assault and murder... full story |
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Is the DEA Contracting Blackwater? |
Blackwater is not only providing intelligence to “foreign governments, but to Fortune 500 corporations.” Moreover, Blackwater’s Total Intelligence Solutions appears to be a catch-all for former CIA spooks, including J. Cofer Black, who ran the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program. As Tim Weiner wrote for the New York Times on January 20, 2002, the CIA now operates domestically, never mind this is prohibited by its charter. full story |
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Major International Transport Hub Censors Political Websites |
While establishment media outlets in the UK spent most of last week reporting on China’s censorship of political websites in anticipation of the Olympic games, they ignored the fact that London’s St. Pancras International, one of the biggest transport hubs in the west, has already implemented stringent filters that block users of their wi-fi service from accessing even mildly political websites. full story |
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Video: Military Coverup of Deadly Vaccinations |
Video showing how soldiers are getting sick from secretive vaccinations given to them by the military. full story |
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Unique Law Lets Police Seize Guns Before a Crime is Committed |
The state's gun seizure law is considered the first and only law in the country that allows the confiscation of a gun before the owner commits an act of violence. Police and state prosecutors can obtain seizure warrants based on concerns about someone's intentions. State police and 53 police departments have seized more than 1,700 guns since the law took effect in October 1999. full story |
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Scientists Question FBI Probe on Anthrax |
Colleagues and friends of the vaccine specialist remained convinced that Ivins was innocent: They contended that he had neither the motive nor the means to create the fine, lethal powder that was sent by mail to news outlets and congressional offices in the late summer and fall of 2001. Mindful of previous FBI mistakes in fingering others in the case, many are deeply skeptical that the bureau has gotten it right this time. full story |
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Chimpanzees Used for Medical Testing 'Show Signs of Torture' |
Chimpanzees subjected to medical experiments suffer similar psychiatric symptoms to those shown by tortured humans, according to a study to be released next week. An assessment of the behaviour of 116 chimpanzees who have been involved in animal research found that 95 per cent display at least one of the distinctive patterns of behaviour that people show when suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. full story |
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Solar Power Breakthrough Stores Energy for Later Use |
Within 10 years, homeowners could power their homes in daylight with solar photovoltaic cells, while using excess solar energy to produce hydrogen and oxygen from water to power a household fuel cell. If the new process developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology finds acceptance in the marketplace, electricity-by-wire from a central source could be a thing of the past. full story |
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Travelers' Laptops May Be Detained at Border |
Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed. Also, officials may share copies of the laptop's contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons. full story |
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Philadelphia Social Workers Charged in Starving Girl to Death |
Two Philadelphia social workers were among nine charged yesterday in the death of a Danieal Kelly, a 14-year-old girl who starved to death in 2006, her body eaten by bed sores to the bone. Unveiling a blistering grand jury report today, District Attorney Lynne Abraham blasted the city’s Department of Human Services as an indifferent and callous agency that had let Kelly die needlessly. full story |
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Secret "War on Terror" Prison on Diego Garcia Confirmed |
The news will be an embarrassment to the US govt., which has persistently denied claims that it operated a secret "War on Terror" prison on Diego Garcia, and will be a source of even more consternation to the British govt., which is more closely bound than its law-shredding Transatlantic neighbor to international laws and treaties preventing any kind of involvement whatsoever in kidnapping, "extraordinary rendition" and the practice of torture. full story |
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Surge At Home? |
"Answering a question about his approach to combatting crime, John McCain suggested that military strategies currently employed by US troops in Iraq could be applied to high crime neighborhoods here in the US. McCain called them tactics 'somewhat like we use in the military. You go into neighborhoods, you clamp down, you provide a secure environment for the people that live there, and you make sure that the known criminals are kept under control." full story |
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Homeland Security Stays Mum on New 'Cyber Security' Center |
The Bush administration’s newly created National Cyber Security Center remains shrouded in secrecy, with officials refusing to release information about its budget, what con |
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