Spam volumes drop by 2/3 after firm goes offline

The volume of junk e-mail sent worldwide plummeted on Tuesday after a Web hosting firm identified by the computer security community as a major host of organizations engaged in spam activity was taken offline. (Note: A link to the full story on McColo's demise is available here.)

Experts say the precipitous drop-off in spam comes from Internet providers unplugging McColo Corp., a hosting provider in Northern California that was the home base for machines responsible for coordinating the sending of roughly 75 percent of all spam each day.

Read full story

'Too Big to Fail' Has an Easy Answer: Anti-Trust or Public Control and Ownership

The one thing we are not hearing from Congress or from incoming president Barack Obama in the current economic crisis facing the country are the words “anti-trust” and “public ownership.”

From the moment the crisis first struck, with the near collapse of AIG, the mantra has been that companies like AIG, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Citibank, etc.--and more recently General Motors Corp. and Ford--are “too big to fail.” That is, it is argued that these companies are so huge that if they were to collapse into the rubble they deserve to be, it would damage the nation irreparably.

The question is, if that is genuinely the case, why were they allowed to be that big in the first place, and why aren’t we rethinking that policy?

read full article

Tom Henegan: False Flag planned between now and 11/22/08

I'm just passing this along, as you should judge for yourself what to make of this, especially in light of the following stories. - Ed.

United States of America – It can now be reported that CNN Network (202) 898-7900, along with rogue Israeli Mossad-Pentagon forces, are trying once again to play the Osama bin Laden card aka CIA asset Tim Osman.

Remember Osama bin Laden has been dead for seven (7) years.

The purpose of this propaganda is to create a script involving a FALSE FLAG terrorist attack that would take place on American soil between now and November 22^nd.

Read full story

US special ops get robot whispercopter fleet this month

The US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) secret military forces are receiving their first robotic whisper-mode helicopters, according to reports. The plan is for the you-never-saw-us-we-aren't-even-here brigade to receive a ten-strong fleet of Boeing A160T "Hummingbird" droid kill-choppers, under an extended demonstration programme.

Read full story

Malmstrom missile wing fails nuke inspection

The 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., failed its nuclear surety inspection after inspectors found problems with the wing’s weapons storage area and its personnel reliability program, which monitors who can work with nuclear weapons, an Air Force official said.

Air Force Space Command inspectors allowed the wing to keep its certification to handle nuclear weapons and will return in 90 days to re-inspect the areas where it found deficiencies, according to an official statement from Space Command.

Read full story

KBR wins Army Corps contract

BR Inc. has been awarded a $75 million disaster relief contract by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for emergency power.

The Houston-based engineering company will be supplying the power to the Western region of the United States.

The five-year contract was created by the Army to respond immediately to power emergencies caused by natural or manmade disasters.

KBR (NYSE: KBR) will provide labor, transportation, equipment, materials, supervision and required internal logistics support to perform generator set activities.

Source

Human Conflict (part 1 of 5)

The Five Stages of Collapse, by Dmitry Orlov

This is has been around a while. Great stuff. - Ed.

Hello, everyone! The talk you are about to hear is the result of a lengthy process on my part. My specialty is in thinking about and, unfortunately, predicting collapse. My method is based on comparison: I watched the Soviet Union collapse, and, since I am also familiar with the details of the situation in the United States, I can make comparisons between these two failed superpowers.

I was born and grew up in Russia, and I traveled back to Russia repeatedly between the late 80s and mid-90s. This allowed me to gain a solid understanding of the dynamics of the collapse process as it unfolded there. By the mid-90s it was quite clear to me that the US was headed in the same general direction. But I couldn't yet tell how long the process would take, so I sat back and watched.

Read full story


Dmitry Orlov's Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects -- The Thom Hartmann 'Independent Thinker' Review

read review

Globalization and the rise of monopolization speeds economic failure

Capitalism's base tenant of supply and demand requires a healthy environment of competition. Many of the calculated moves toward a global market have undermined that tenant. In a competitive arena, there are bound to be winners, and the governments used to regulate that to prevent monopolies from consolidating control in market sectors.

Read full story

The New Kleptocracy

“Considering that there is an $800 billion giveaway, to be followed by another trillion and another trillion after that, this is the biggest giveaway since the land giveaway to the railroads in the mid-nineteenth century and just as that giveaway created a power elite that would rule America for a century and a half, this is creating a new power elite that has changed America from a democracy into an oligarchy. And as Aristotle said, ‘what is democracy but the stage immediately preceding oligarchy?’” --

Read full story

For Russia's Putin, knockabout with Obama is just the ticket

MOSCOW (AFP) — Still Russia's dominant politician, Vladimir Putin can only relish the prospect of a new bout of Russian-US rivalry with American leader-in-waiting Barack Obama, say analysts.

Vladimir Putin

While much of the world celebrated Obama's US presidential win, a stony-faced Russian reaction was a reminder of Cold War-style tensions between Washington and Moscow.

On the Internet, Russian bloggers portrayed the victory of a black candidate as evidence of American decline. On an official level, President Dmitry Medvedev chose the day of Obama's win to announce the deployment of short-range missiles to Kaliningrad, a Russian outpost in Europe.

Numerous analysts said Medvedev's response was clearly authored by Putin, no longer president himself but powerful in the prime minister's post and long the spearhead of Russian attacks on the United States.

Read full story

Ex-KGB general cautions US against Iran war

A former KGB general and Russian prime minister says a war on Iran would produce a question mark over the Republican Party's sanity.

In a televised interview on Monday, Yevgeny Primakov downplayed the prospects of a US- or Israeli-waged war on Iran over its nuclear program.

"I doubt Republicans would commit themselves to such an imprudent measure," said Primakov.

Read full story

Obama foreign policy may not require a 'clean break'

WASHINGTON, Nov 10 (IPS) - While much of the world and many of his U.S. supporters are expecting a sharp break with his predecessor's foreign policy after President-elect Barack Obama takes office Jan. 20, they may be surprised by the degree of continuity between the two administrations.

That continuity -- which would be made more concrete if, as expected, Pentagon chief Robert Gates is asked to remain at his post -- has less to do with Obama's hesitation in following through on his more sweeping campaign promises than with the fact that President George W. Bush, has quietly -- if grudgingly -- moved key U.S. policies in directions that are largely compatible with Obama's own intentions.

Read full story

Froomkin: Plotting Bush's Undoing

Excerpts:

"'The important thing he gets out of it,' the historian Doris Kearns Goodwin said, 'is a public perception of him as somebody who is leaving in classy fashion, by opening his house and his information and his government. He wants to leave on a note that says he did everything possible to help this next president run the country.'"

Oh, Doris. His house, our house...what's the difference? - Ed.

...In this excerpt from his book, The Audacity of Hope, Obama recounted two early meetings with Bush. At the second, Bush called Obama over -- "Obama!" -- and after some smalltalk, "[t]he president turned to an aide nearby, who squirted a big dollop of hand sanitizer in the president's hand," Obama wrote. "'Want some?' the president asked. 'Good stuff. Keeps you from getting colds.' Not wanting to seem unhygienic, I took a squirt."


Read full story

Documents linking Iran to nuclear weapons push may have been fabricated

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has obtained evidence suggesting that documents which have been described as technical studies for a secret Iranian nuclear weapons-related research program may have been fabricated.

The documents in question were acquired by U.S. intelligence in 2004 from a still unknown source -- most of them in the form of electronic files allegedly stolen from a laptop computer belonging to an Iranian researcher. The US has based much of its push for sanctions against Iran on these documents.

The new evidence of possible fraud has increased pressure within the IAEA secretariat to distance the agency from the laptop documents, according to a Vienna-based diplomatic source close to the IAEA, who spoke to RAW STORY on condition of anonymity.

Read full story

Retired auto workers 'scared to death' about potential industry collapse

Shares of General Motors stock hit a 60-year low Monday.

Some fear the company is close to collapsing. GM recently reported a $2.5 billion loss, and analysts say the company doesn't have enough cash flow to keep it open past December without a bailout package.

There are 4,000 retired auto workers who now call Florida home. Those who live in our area have a monthly union meeting Tuesday, and Monday night the union president tells WINK News he's afraid he won't have good news to share about their future.

Read full story

Palin says she might run for high office again

WASILLA, Alaska – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says she wouldn't hesitate to run for the presidency in four years if it's God's will, even though she never thought Campaign 2008 would be "as brutal a ride as it turned out to be."

In a series of interviews in the wake of last Tuesday's elections, Palin said she had no problem with Republican presidential nominee John McCain, but that she resents rumors she said were spread about her and her family by the Arizona Republican's aides. She emphatically denied that she was a drag on the GOP ticket.

"I think the economic collapse had a heckuva lot more to do with the campaign's collapse than me personally," the governor said in an interview broadcast Tuesday on NBC's "Today" show.

Read full story

Kamen's Revolt

MANCHESTER – The same day that Ford and General Motors announced catastrophic third-quarter losses, Dean Kamen was showing off his new electric car.

The prototype vehicle, a zippy two-seat hatchback designed with more than a passing resemblance to the Volkswagen Beetle, can go about 60 miles on a single charge of its lithium battery and with practically zero emissions.

The secret?

"It's the world's first Stirling hybrid electric car," its inventor said with a flourish.

Installed in the car's trunk compartment is a Stirling engine invented at DEKA, Kamen's technology company in the Manchester Millyard. It powers the features that would normally drain huge power from the battery, notably the defroster and heater.

That leaves the battery primarily for propulsion. "You're running a pure electric, which is enormously cheaper to operate and enormously more environmentally friendly," Kamen explained.

And if the battery does run low, the Stirling can recharge it, so you'll never get stranded, he said. That's why Kamen calls his Stirling engine "an insurance policy" for the electric car.

Kamen showed off his state registration for his new car, listed as a 2008 DEKA Revolt. "I'm a car manufacturer!" he grinned. "It's so exciting!"

Read full story

Intelligent pill, 'iPill', gets good gut reaction

New York An “intelligent pill” that can be targeted to release drugs in a specific area of the body has been developed by scientists. Containing a microprocessor, battery, wireless radio, pump and a reservoir for medication, the inch-long capsule is designed to treat digestive tract disorders such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

Developed by Philips, the “iPill” measures acidity to determine its location in the gut and can release drugs exactly where they are needed, so doses can be lower and the risk of side-effects reduced. It can also record temperatures and report to an outside receiver.

Read full story

KarmaTube: Do Something

KarmaTube is a collection of short, "do something" videos coupled with simple actions that every viewer can take. Our mission is to spread the good. Thank you for your partnership in service.

Visit site

Why There Will Be No Change

Conned Again

By Paul Craig Roberts

If the change President-elect Obama has promised includes a halt to America’s wars of aggression and an end to the rip-off of taxpayers by powerful financial interests, what explains Obama’s choice of foreign and economic policy advisors? Indeed, Obama’s selection of Rahm Israel Emanuel as White House chief of staff is a signal that change ended with Obama’s election. The only thing different about the new administration will be the faces.

read full article


The Election: It Had to Be this Way

By Timothy V. Gatto

The Democrats winning Congress and the White House just had to happen. If we are ever going to change this country from an empire to a representative democracy, we have to rid ourselves of the notion that one corporate political party can do anything toward that goal. Barack Obama will be the catalyst for a new movement, away from false hope and false promises, not because he will deliver to the people of this country anything worthwhile, but because he won’t. This will be the final nail in the coffin of our corporatist society.

read full article


Won't Get Fooled Again

Now THAT'S necessary in Georgia, USA.

Mm hmm. Isn't Georgia also where they have a million plastic coffins laying around, too? - Ed.

“You always hope that you don’t have to use it, but this is becoming a fact of life,” SWAT commander Lt. Joel Preston said.

Story at BagNewsNotes

Secret plan for IMF world dictatorship

This is a confidential strategy paper for the November 15 G-20 summit in Washington DC. This is not a new Bretton Woods in any sense, but rather a British-steered attempt to impose the dictatorship of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the entire planet, wiping out all hope of economic recovery, the modernization of the developing countries, and national sovereignty at the same time.

Under this plan, the IMF would dictate the economic policies of all states. The IMF orthodoxy is austerity, sacrifice, deregulation, privatization, union busting, wage reductions, free trade, the race to the bottom, and prohibitions on advanced technologies. These policies would strangle humanity.

Read full story

Gordon Brown calls for NWO to beat recession

Mr Brown will call on fellow world leaders to use the current worldwide economic downturn as an opportunity to thoroughly reform international financial institutions and create a new "truly global society" with Britain, the US and Europe providing leadership.

His call comes ahead of an emergency summit of world leaders and finance ministers from 20 major countries, the G20, in Washington next weekend.

Read full story

Treasury slipped in a secret windfall of $140B for bank in bailout bill

The financial world was fixated on Capitol Hill as Congress battled over the Bush administration's request for a $700 billion bailout of the banking industry. In the midst of this late-September drama, the Treasury Department issued a five-sentence notice that attracted almost no public attention.

But corporate tax lawyers quickly realized the enormous implications of the document: Administration officials had just given American banks a windfall of as much as $140 billion.

Read full story

Fed defies transparency aim in refusal to disclose

Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return.

Read full story

Treasury covering for banks' failure to lend

Did you get mad when you learned that the banks admitted they wouldn't use your bailout money to make new loans?

How about when you found out that the banks are using your money to pay executive bonuses, distribute dividends to shareholders, and - with the government's assistance - to buy out their competitors?

Well, the head of Treasury's bailout program is making excuses for the banks' failure to lend. As CNBC writes:

Read full story

Who are the architects of economic collapse?

The October 2008 financial meltdown is not the result of a cyclical economic phenomenon. It is the deliberate result of US government policy instrumented through the Treasury and the US Federal Reserve Board.

This is the most serious economic crisis in World history.

The "bailout" proposed by the US Treasury does not constitute a "solution" to the crisis. In fact quite the opposite: it is the cause of further collapse. It triggers an unprecedented concentration of wealth, which in turn contributes to widening economic and social inequalities both within and between nations.

The levels of indebtedness have skyrocketed. Industrial corporations are driven into bankruptcy, taken over by the global financial institutions. Credit, namely the supply of loanable funds, which constitutes the lifeline of production and investment, is controlled by a handful of financial conglomerates.

With the "bailout", the public debt has spiraled. America is the most indebted country on earth. Prior to the "bailout", the US public debt was of the order of 10 trillion dollars. This US dollar denominated debt is composed of outstanding treasury bills and government bonds held by individuals, foreign governments, corporations and financial institutions.

Read full story

Bush spy revelations anticipated when Obama is sworn in

When Barack Obama takes the oath of office on January 20, Americans won't just get a new president; they might finally learn the full extent of George W. Bush's warrantless domestic wiretapping.

Since The New York Times first revealed in 2005 that the NSA was eavesdropping on citizens' overseas phone calls and e-mail, few additional details about the massive "Terrorist Surveillance Program" have emerged. That's because the Bush administration has stonewalled, misled and denied documents to Congress, and subpoenaed the phone records of the investigative reporters.

Read full story

The ascendency of the scientific dictatorship

?? - Ed.

As antiquity gave way to modern history, the religious power structure shifted to an autocracy of the knowable, or a 'scientific dictatorship.' Subtly and swiftly, the ruling class seized control of science and used it as an 'epistemological weapon' against the masses. This article will show that the history and background of this 'scientific dictatorship' is a conspiracy, created and micro-managed by the historical tide of Darwinism, which has its foundations in Freemasonry.

Read full story

We are sick of the American-Israeli interference

Excerpt:

We Palestinians are sick and tired of the Palestinian Authority, which is implementing the Israeli-American so-called “security plan” instead of the Israeli military, with a mission of terrorizing, chasing, arresting people, destroying the houses of civilians and boasting about their vile crimes in the streets. Everybody knows that these forces are useless cowards during the Israeli raids on Palestinian cities under their authorities. The Palestinian civil society is sick of the so-called “Hamas authority”, the radical Palestinian movement which distorts the face of Islam, and which has turned the holy mission of the Palestinian struggle into a struggle for their own pockets and unknown foreign agendas.

Read full story

Catholic priests can marry says leading bishop (UK)

Hell freezing over now... - Ed.

London, Nov 9 (ANI): Priests should be allowed to marry, according to a leading candidate to become the next head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

The Rt Rev Malcolm McMahon, Bishop of Nottingham, said that there is no doctrinal reason preventing them from getting married.

Read full story

Epochal Transformation Accelerates As Global Financial Matix Disintegrates

Now that the genie is out of the bottle, worldwide economic, political and social events will proceed with the inexorable force of destiny. The forthcoming changes, shifts and breaks with the past that are delineated below do concern the unsavory business of WHAT, positively, will not be brought into the future. This is of critical importance. Why? Because those who do not know, and understand, and heed history, are always, always forced to repeat it.

read full article

George Ure sorts through the 'Another 9/11?' scenario

Not that we don't have enough to worry about, what with the economy seeming to surge, the futures pointing up, but perhaps that is largely based on what I told you to expect last week - a renewed call for more funding to be pushed into the failing automakers, but nevertheless, the timing of a new attack on the West would be, to say the least, "convenient" this week. Especially given that the G20 meetings may try to bust up some of the US dollar's supremacy as the global reserve currency.

Specifically I refer to the curious piece reported on the web site News from Jerusalem headlined "Warnings from world leaders all within 72 hours."

Maybe it's just the 'old newsman' in me being overly worried, but there are a number of items floating around the inbox that give me pause. Little things: A Seal's family advising that their son is being rushed back for expected action this week, The prime minister saying "Now is the time to build global society" and the NY Times revelation today that a previously undisclosed secret order has allowed for additional attacks against al Qaeda that have not been publicized. Over the weekend, the UK's Sun headlined "Bin Laden video alert for Obama."

Read full story

Warnings from world leaders all within 72 hours

"Australian PM Kevin Rudd - “Nuke strike would make 9/11 insignificant” and other weird warnings"

"Over the last 72 hours there has been a strange melange of cryptic messages leaked from world political leaders about what could be in store for America over the next few months.

These predictions of impending doom come from England, France, Australia and the United States.

Read full story

Putin v Obama: the Ukraine...a thought experiment

The more that I think about, the more that I am convinced that it will be Vladimir Putin that will test Barack Obama like Joe Biden predicted. First, with oil prices in a free fall, there is only so long that Putin can wait until permanent damage is done the Russian economy. The Ukraine is located strategically by the Odessa/Brody pipeline. Putin no doubt noticed that Europe was weak when he brazenly invaded Georgia. Finally, he must be licking his chops to test the mettle of this foreign policy novice.

Domestically, President Obama would face a very difficult situation in any confrontation with Vladimir Putin. With the economy top priority, it's unclear just how much preparation President Obama would make in such a confrontation. Russia has already rattled sabres with little notice.

Read full story

Operation 'The Eagle Strikes'

August 26, 2008

Like most people who have any awareness of the world, you've probably been wondering about the events in Georgia. Is Russia going to be 'isolated'? Is NATO going to expand into Georgia and the Ukraine? Will Russia bomb the missile systems the US is deploying in Poland? Might things spiral out of control into a nuclear exchange? I too have been wondering, and watching the developments carefully. The picture is now beginning to become clear.

The first thing to realize is that everything that is happening has been planned out well in advance by the usual suspects in Washington. The events have not in any sense been caused by tensions in the Caucus, rather those tensions have provided a convenient venue for Washington to pursue its grand designs.

The second thing to realize is that Russia has no interest whatsoever in conflict. By this I don't mean 'Russia is good', but rather 'Russia is sensible'. The conflicts now and to come are entirely the creation of US/EU elites, in their pursuit of global domination.

The third thing to realize — and this is well known in both Washington and Moscow — is that the US has been preparing for many years to carry out a nuclear first-strike against Russia. That's what Reagan's 'Star Wars' was about, and the thread continues to space-based lasers, and right down to the missiles in Poland.

Read full story

A message

From the beginning of my part, in the telling of the tale of the program, which would one day change this world, I've have known, it would not be easy. As it was explained all those years ago, if the resistence fought, the powers would be forced to bankrupt them, which would bring a shudder to the world. One that would not be quickly forgotten and in fact, would be the basis of the future generations, a rebirth, if you will. If you are more technical, you could call this a 'reboot' of the system. We have left the 20th century but some have tried to keep it going, so afraid of a world, they no longe controlled, even tho a new system had been designed that served the whole rather than just the few. Trepidation is in the air, as many question what has happened.

Read full story

Obama not to attend G20 summit

This is when the world will be settling the score with GWB. - Ed.

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President-elect Barack Obama will not be attending a summit of world leaders for economic crisis talks in Washington next week, his spokeswoman said Friday.

Obama's transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter confirmed the president-elect would not be attending the upcoming summit.

Read full story

The strange case of falling international reserves

During the past 10 years, at least, I have been following the growth of International Reserves. The first graph I elaborated to show their growth was back in 1999 and it was based on IMF data up to 1997. Recently, I have been updating the graph using Alex Tanzi´s numbers. Alex works at Bloomberg and from time to time, Doug Noland at www.prudentbear.com quotes his numbers regarding International Reserves, excluding gold.

As of August 2008, as you can see from the graph, according to Alex Tanzi International Reserves were growing at the explosive annual rate of 26.5%. Suddenly, since August, Reserves have stopped growing.

Read full story

Obama wins, Medvedev speaks

Just hours after Barack Obama won the U.S. presidential election, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev delivered his first address to the Federal Assembly, making statements that grabbed attention both at home and in the West.

To Medvedev's proposal to lengthen the presidential term in Russia from four to six years, LJ user oleg-kozyrev responded (RUS):

I've found a way out. I support Medvedev's proposal to rule for six years. Only along with that, they should also change the legislation regarding the duration of the year. One year has to be 243 days long.

Read full story

Putin website shows disputed islets as Japanese territory

MOSCOW--A map on Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's official Web site depicts the Russian-held islets north of Hokkaido as Japanese territory, it was learned Friday.

Clicking on the map highlights the disputed islets in magenta, signifying they are part of Japan.

The four islets, which are effectively under Russian control, are known as the northern territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia.

Read full story

Lord Mandelson discussed tarrifs with oligarch

You mean he lied? - Ed.

Lord Mandelson did discuss European Union trade issues with Oleg Deripaska, the Russian oligarch, despite his denials that they had ever talked about the subject.

The business secretary, who at the time was the EU’s trade commissioner, wanted to know whether Deripaska supported or opposed tariffs on Russian timber exports to Europe.

Read full story

Credit crunch and lack of faith sees Bush appointees hunting jobs

Many of President Bush's 3,000 political appointees are struggling to find jobs as they leave office because of the ailing economy and a lack of desire among some employees to hire people from an administration with a reputation for incompetence and cronyism.

Mr Bush himself is fine. He told a biographer recently that he will "give some speeches, just to replenish the ol' coffers" — he has assets estimated at $27 million (£16.8m) — and will move to Dallas, Texas, where he will work on establishing his planned Freedom Institute.

Read full story

Corporate Government Conspiracy 101

(Nov. 7, 2008) All crimes are commercial and have a commercial value to them.

It makes you look at improvements to the freeways, cities and towns in a different light -- especially when those improvements are funded by 'municipal bonds.'

You'll also understand why there's no hurry to end the war in Iraq.

All criminal prosecution is for the purpose for raising revenue for the United States. Now you'll have a better understanding of why people are in jail, why they are in prison, why they are on probation and why they are charged with everything from jaywalking on up through murder one.

An American soldier who dies in Afghanistan and Iraq probably carries a $10 million life insurance on him carried by the government.

Read full story

Settlers stone 6 year old boy in Hebron

Hebron – Ma’an – Israeli settlers wounded six-year-old Palestinian Bilal Da’na from Hebron after pelting the young boy with stones near the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba, Palestinian sources in Hebron said.

Israeli soldiers stationed in the area stood by without preventing the group of settlers from assaulting the boy, locals reported, adding that when Israeli police arrived on the scene, none of the rock-throwers were arrested.

Read full story

Student detained after refusing to shake hands with Israeli president

On November 2nd, Hebrew University student Ali Bahar was detained for three hours after refusing to shake hands with Israeli president Shimon Peres.

Read full story

Bush could be executed for war crimes

Progress... - Ed.

November 2008

Members of the Bush administration and George W. Bush personally conspired to violate the Geneva Convention, US obligations to it as well as US criminal codes! When it became apparent to Bush that he and high ranking members of his administration were culpable and could be put to death upon conviction, Bush tried to make his crimes legal --but only after he had committed them.Clearly --the Bush administration itself is aware that it is in deep, deep trouble.

Read full story

Hague prosecutor says Bush-Blair could face war crimes charges

March 2007

International Criminal Court prosecutor announced on Sunday that US President George W Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair could face war crimes charges at the Hague, after it emerged that up to one million Iraqis have been killed since the illegal invasion.

Chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said that he could envision a situation in which Mr Bush and Mr Blair found themselves in the dock.

"Of course that could be a possibility. Whatever country joins the court can know that whoever commits a crime in their country could be prosecuted by me," Mr Moreno-Ocampo affirmed.

Days before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein approached lawyers in Britain about signing up to the International Criminal Court, but his effort was overtaken by events.

Read full story

The spy who loves us: pay no attention to the Mossad agent on the line

More flash-backs... - Ed.

After Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard was sentenced to life in prison in 1986, the U.S. negotiated an understanding with Israel—a “gentlemen’s agreement” —stipulating that neither nation would thenceforth conduct espionage operations in the other’s territory without consent. But the agreement was a sham from the beginning. The Israeli government didn’t even honor its commitments in the aftermath of the Pollard case, failing to return the estimated 360 cubic feet of stolen information to enable the U.S. to conduct a damage assessment.

The United States, for its part, continued to recruit and run agents inside Israel throughout the 1980s and 1990s. And it was known within the intelligence and counterintelligence communities that Israel did the same in the United States. David Szady, the FBI’s assistant director for counterintelligence, was so dismayed by the level of Israeli spying in the late ’90s that he called in the head of the Israeli Embassy’s Central Institute for Intelligence and Special Activities (Mossad) office and told him, “Knock it off.”

Read full story

Clinton's pardoned buddy spied for Israel

More from the way-back machine, mentioning the agent "mega." - Ed.

President Clinton's close friend, a billionaire and fugitive from justice, was a top Mossad source - and could wreck plans by Hillary Clinton if she decides to run for the presidency.

Billionaire fugitive Marc Rich, a close personal friend of President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, was one of the most important high-level contacts Mossad had in the United States.

The revelations, published here for the first time, could be a serious blow for Hillary Clinton's plans to run for the presidency.

Read full story

Rahm Emanuel heads N America Mossad + PROMIS + laundered profits to Israel/Russia

A 'conspiracy' link from 10/2006. - Ed.

Rosen is also tied to Ted Olson, Coca Cola copyright controversy and a scandal now developing which will link Rosen to Rahm Emanuel and the Mossad in the sale of and transfer of PROMIS Software involving the alleged Russian spy Robert Hanson and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and laundered profits to both Israel and the Russian Federation...

Read full story

FBI finds most terrorism threat reports baseless

Captain Obvious strikes yet again.

Via: Reuters:

The FBI tracked about 108,000 potential terrorism threats or suspicious incidents from mid-2004 to November 2007, but most were found groundless, a Justice Department review found on Friday.

Read full story

Treasury, Congressional Dems clash on policing bank loans

Hey, guys, free tip: next time write it into the legislation. - Ed.

Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Democrats are demanding that the U.S. Treasury force banks participating in the government's $700 billion financial rescue plan to show they are using the funds to increase lending.

Senators Charles Schumer of New York and Robert Menendez of New Jersey wrote a letter yesterday urging Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to issue rules requiring banks accepting public funding to lend to companies and consumers rather than using the money to finance takeovers.

``Loans must not be used to acquire healthy banks, hoard in their coffers, or pay shareholder dividends,'' the two Senate Banking Committee members wrote to Paulson. ``We are also troubled by the fact that the Treasury Department appears to be taking a `hands off' approach to this issue, preferring instead to leave decisions solely up to the discretion of senior bank executives.''

Read full story

Is Rahm Emanuel a security risk?

Ummm...yes? - Ed.

Rahm Emanuel's background is well-known. His father was a member of the Israeli Irgun, which was a violent underground movement against the British in Palestine. Rahm has deep ties to Israel and served as a civilian volunteer in the IDF in 1991. That, in and of itself, doesn't make him a security risk. What is disturbing, though, is that the FBI has, according to Wayne Madsen, a Counterintelligence file on him for his past connections with Mossad, and that this is what forced him out of the Clinton White House in 1998.

Read full story

The sun shows signs of life

Nov. 7, 2008: After two-plus years of few sunspots, even fewer solar flares, and a generally eerie calm, the sun is finally showing signs of life.

"I think solar minimum is behind us," says sunspot forecaster David Hathaway of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

His statement is prompted by an October flurry of sunspots. "Last month we counted five sunspot groups," he says. That may not sound like much, but in a year with record-low numbers of sunspots and long stretches of utter spotlessness, five is significant. "This represents a real increase in solar activity."

Read full story

Scientists nearer to understanding dark matter

It is one of the biggest mysteries in science which has baffled scholars for more than 75 years, but now a team of cosmologists believes it has found a way of discovering what the universe is made of. About 85 per cent is neither stars nor planets but some form of mysterious matter. It cannot be seen or detected by conventional scientific instruments, which is why the precise nature of this "dark matter" has eluded the finest minds in science.

Read full story

DOD restriced access to troops reactions to election

On a night like no other when America’s open and democratic virtues were put on worldwide display, an ill-advised policy within the Department of Defense proclaimed to servicemembers and the news media alike: “No you can’t.” What a servicemember and a journalist couldn’t do, the policy drafters ordered, was engage in conversation on a military base as the returns from a momentous election rolled in.

Read full story

Gun sales soar after Obama's election

Buying Guns, for Fear of Losing the Right to Bear Them
By KIRK JOHNSON

DENVER — Sales of handguns, rifles and ammunition have surged in the last week, according to gun store owners around the nation who describe a wave of buyers concerned that an Obama administration will curtail their right to bear arms.

“He’s a gun-snatcher,” said Jim Pruett, owner of Jim Pruett’s Guns and Ammo in northwest Houston, which was packed with shoppers on Thursday.

Read full story

FBI file on Emanuel

How's that spotlight feeling on you now, Rahm? - Ed.

Wayne Madsen Reports via There Are No Sunglasses

WMR has learned from informed U.S. intelligence sources that prospective Barack Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has an active FBI counter-intelligence file maintained on him. Emanuel’s rise to the Chief of Staff position may pose a significant security problem for President-elect Obama if the FBI insists on conducting the full background security investigation normally required for senior White House officials.

Questions about Emanuel’s links to the Israeli intelligence service, the Mossad, were allegedly so great that President Bill Clinton was forced to dismiss Emanuel from the White House staff in 1998. One of the FBI agents who discovered Emanuel’s dealings with Israeli intelligence was, according to our sources, the late FBI counter-terrorism Assistant Director John O’Neill. O’Neill retired after being set up in a smear operation involving a temporarily stolen brief case in 2001. O’Neill and another FBI agent who still works for the bureau and shall remain nameless at this point to protect him and his career discovered that Emanuel was heavily involved in the decision to place intern Monica Lewinsky close to President Clinton. O’Neill accepted the top security
position for Kroll Associates at the World Trade Center. O’Neill was killed in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. WMR has also reported that O’Neill was a close friend of slain retired Houston CIA station chief Roland V. “Tony” Carnaby, who was similarly investigating Israeli intelligence operations in the Houston area when Houston police shot and killed him last April.

Emanuel reportedly had knowledge of Israeli intelligence penetration of White House communications systems and Lewinsky, in sworn testimony before the Office of Independent Counsel, stated: “He [Clinton] suspected that a foreign embassy [it is now known that embassy was that of Israel] was tapping his telephones, and he proposed cover stories.” Lewinsky continued, “If ever questioned, she should say that the two of them were just friends. If anyone ever asked about their phone sex, she should say that they knew their calls were being monitored all along, and the phone sex was just a put on.”

WMR has learned from U.S. intelligence sources that Emanuel was discovered to be part of a political intelligence and blackmail operation directed against Clinton by Israel’s Likud Party and Binyamin Netanyahu to sink Clinton’s proposed Middle East peace deal. We have also learned that the FBI investigation of Emanuel is part of a file code-named the “Mega file.” “Mega” is a reference to a top-level Mossad agent in the Reagan administration who was said to have run a number of Israeli agents, including U.S. Navy spy Jonathan Pollard.”

Individuals, Secede!

The colossal stupidity of the American people is on grand display today. Some people are bubbling over with elation while others have been trampled by a mighty political hangover, neither group seeing that they were in fact making a non-choice and lending their support to a quantifiably meaningless charade that enhances the power of the state at their own expense.

read full article

Sarah Palin to run for Ted Stevens' US Senate Seat

You didn't think we were gonna get rid of her that easily, did you? - Ed.

Exclusive by the Earl of Stirling

I have spent a good deal of time speaking to a number of political leaders in the state of Alaska. This includes people at the Federal level, in the Governor's office, and on both sides of the political fence in the state legislature.

I can report that Governor Sarah Palin will be running in a special election for the US Senate seat currently held by long term Republican US Senator Ted Stevens.

Read full story

CT Dems: Lieberman's 'extraordinary disloyalty' means he must resign from party

Connecticut Democrats fed up with Sen. Joe Lieberman are eagerly waiting to hear what happens in Washington, but their own censure resolution now pending before the state central committee is pretty clear about what should be done.

Lieberman's "extraordinary disloyalty" means he should resign from the party. Lieberman's "support of right-wing candidates cannot be reconciled with the ideals and values of the Democratic Party,'' the resolution states.

Read full story

Chris Matthews openly in the tank

From LewRockwell.com

In this segment, Christ Matthews decides he will not be playing hardball with the coming administration. Yes, he has a "new" job: trying to "make this presidency work." I had no idea that journalists were assigned this responsibility, but here it is.

Matthews was OK sometimes at flushing out lies from the Bushies, but I guess his new job requires that he cover up the lies or ignore them altogether. I hardly can wait for this Brave New World.

Transition website: Foreign policy page

Starting off with some nice Zionist propaganda.... - Ed.

The Problem: Iran has sought nuclear weapons, supports militias inside Iraq and terror across the region, and its leaders threaten Israel and deny the Holocaust. But Obama and Biden believe that we have not exhausted our non-military options in confronting this threat; in many ways, we have yet to try them. That's why Obama stood up to the Bush administration's warnings of war, just like he stood up to the war in Iraq.

Read full story

JFK: The debris of history

Comment: This is the first in a series of articles written in 2006 commemorating the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of JFK that we will carry every weekday as we approach the 45th Anniversary of that tragedy for mankind.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a man who apparently used the system to get elected and then, once in office, he let it be known that he really was all about change and helping the masses, and he died for it. It is quite fitting for us to remember JFK and the conspiracy against him at a time when a new US president who also talks about change has just been elected... If Obama really means it, he'll have to be a lot smarter than Kennedy was - a very tall order indeed.

We find it interesting that Joe Biden's predictions for an Obama presidency make an explicit reference to JFK:

"Mark my words. [...] It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy... Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

It looks like Biden, and perhaps even Obama, know the details of the plan.

Read full story

The Men Behind Obama

h/t Connecting the Dots in the New World Order

Tarplay raises some great points, but it's far from certain that Russia and China and the world would fall into such a trap. - Ed.

Declaration of Independence from Israel

Being of sound mind and having the clarity to see where world problems originate from and having the determination to bring about resolution to those problems, we hereby declare ourselves free from the state of Israel and it’s influence in our lives.

We understand that Israel is a Zionist state, which offers a refuge for the world’s criminals and is rife with drug and people trafficking, and that Jerusalem is the world’s center for organized crime and crimes against humanity. We understand that “Al Qaeda” is really Mossad creating terror in the world for it’s own objectives. We understand that the Zionist influence has spread across the world and has corrupted our governments. In an effort to take back our rights as citizens of the world, we make the following pledge:

We refuse to fund, engage in or participate in any way, in wars fought on Israel’s behalf.

Read full story

The Brothers Emanuel (written in 1997)

The best Rahm Emanuel story is not the one about the decomposing two-and-a-half-foot fish he sent to a pollster who displeased him. It is not about the time - the many times - that he hung up on political contributors in a Chicago mayor's race, saying he was embarrassed to accept their $5,000 checks because they were $25,000 kind of guys. No, the definitive Rahm Emanuel story takes place in Little Rock, Ark., in the heady days after Bill Clinton was first elected President.

It was there that Emanuel, then Clinton's chief fund-raiser, repaired with George Stephanopoulos, Mandy Grunwald and other aides to Doe's, the campaign hangout. Revenge was heavy in the air as the group discussed the enemies - Democrats, Republicans, members of the press - who wronged them during the 1992 campaign. Clifford Jackson, the ex-friend of the President and peddler of the Clinton draft-dodging stories, was high on the list. So was William Donald Schaefer, then the Governor of Maryland and a Democrat who endorsed George Bush. Nathan Landow, the fund-raiser who backed the candidacy of Paul Tsongas, made it, too.

Read full story

Once and future Treasury Secretary?

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- There has been much talk of whom President-elect Barack Obama will name as his Treasury secretary. The guessing game on Wall Street and in Washington, serious stuff even before the election, has become even more intense. A job that was once a good part ceremonial - with the ultimate perk being your signature on the nation's currency - has become full-time serious. The new Treasury secretary is probably Obama's most significant appointment, and arguably the first significant decision the next president will make.

Read full story

Dealing with the great mirage

The Obama victory presents the authentic Left with a genuine challenge, one just as tricky as if John McCain had been pronounced the victor in the latest exercise in American managed elections. At a point when the Empire’s massive moral, political, and economic crimes had begun to threaten the continuing legitimacy of capitalist rule; when the old machinery of rhetoric and delusions that allow the US corporate oligarchy to rule pretty much undisturbed by the demands and needs of the masses was beginning to show signs of fatigue, they seem to have found a savior in Barack Obama, the ideal politician toplant hope, confound skeptics at home and replenish luster to America’s name abroad.

Read full story

Obama top advisor has long ties to neocons

GENEVA, Nov 2 (IPS) - With the 2008 presidential campaign at its end, pundits have begun to discuss in earnest what expected winner Barack Obama's administration might look like. An important piece of evidence is Obama's campaign team, which largely escaped the harsh scrutiny that his opponent's lobbyist-laden team received.

Because of Obama's relative inexperience on foreign policy, it is this part of his team that is getting much of the attention, and one adviser in particular -- Dennis Ross, Bill Clinton's Mideast envoy whose record includes supporting the pro-Iraq War advocacy campaigns of the Project for the New American Century and serving as a consultant to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), a bastion of Israel-centric policy thinking in Washington.

Read full story

Obama's first appointment is son of Zionist terrorist

Rahm Israel Emanuel’s father was member of militant terror group that bombed hotels, massacred villagers - Obama pick is keen supporter of lobbying group aimed at creating militarized youth brigades

President elect Barack Obama’s first appointment, Rahm Israel Emanuel, who is set to become chief-of-staff, is the son of a member of the Zionist terrorist group Irgun, which was responsible for bombing hotels, marketplaces as well as the infamous Deir Yassin massacre, in which hundreds of Palestinian villagers were slaughtered.

Read full story

Rubin removes himself from consideration for Treasury

Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said he won't be joining the administration of President- elect Barack Obama, narrowing the field of potential candidates to become the next government's top economic official.

Obama is ``terrific,'' Rubin said today in an interview in New York. ``But I've spoken with him and told him I'm not interested in going back into government.''

Rubin, who served at the Treasury's helm from 1995 to 1999 under President Bill Clinton, has been mentioned as a possibility for several jobs in Obama's cabinet, including his former position. Rubin's decision boosts the chances for former Treasury chief Lawrence Summers and New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner.

Read full story

Socialists: Obama no socialist

These are hard times to be a socialist in America. And not just because there's a bourgeois-bloated Starbucks on every other corner, thumbing its capitalist nose at the proletariat.

No, it's tough these days because you've got politicians on the right, the same guys who just helped nationalize the banking system, derisively and inaccurately calling the presidential candidate on the left a socialist. That's enough to make Karl Marx harumph in his grave.

Local communists, rarely tapped as campaign pundits, say Sen. Barack Obama and his policies stand far afield from any form of socialism they know.

Read full story

Taxpayers may pay legal bills for mortgage execs

WASHINGTON (AP) --

Well, since it's an AP story, I'm not going to excerpt from it. But if you want to read about the many ways taxpayers can be screwed, just click through...

Read full story

79 Optical Illusions and Visual Phenomena

Just seemed appropriate today. - Ed.

These pages demonstrate visual phenomena, and »optical« or »visual illusions«. The latter is more appropriate, because most effects have their basis in the visual pathway, not in the optics of the eye. When I find the time I will expand the explanations, to the degree that these phenomena are really understood; any nice and thoughtful comment welcome.

You may be glad to know: There are no tasteless surprises here; you know, these infantile pranks where you scrutinize a picture and suddenly an ugly face (or the opposite end) screams at you…

Don’t distress yourself if you don’t see the effect described, even if trying carefully. For many illusions, there is a small percentage of people with perfectly normal vision who just don’t see it, for reasons currently unknown.

Read full story

Only God can fix America; Obama is not God

China - China Daily - Original Article (Chinese)

The 2008 American presidential elections have come to a close. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, hoping to win, spent the most money in U.S. history and had the longest presidential campaign in history. Will Obama, who carries the expectations of American voters, be able to lead America out of its current predicament? The director of the Research Center of American Affairs at Renmin University of China, Professor Shi Yin Hong said, "Only God can fix 'the American predicament,' but Obama is not God."

Read full story

Word from Iran

Actually NATO, we can block off the Persian Gulf in the blink of an eye.

And Obama, please fulfill your promises.

Hackers and Spending Sprees

An awful lot of dirt coming out of Newsweek, of all places. - Ed.

Excerpt:

Officials at the FBI and the White House told the Obama campaign that they believed a foreign entity or organization sought to gather information on the evolution of both camps' policy positions—information that might be useful in negotiations with a future administration. The Feds assured the Obama team that it had not been hacked by its political opponents. (Obama technical experts later speculated that the hackers were Russian or Chinese.) [Naturally. - Ed.] A security firm retained by the Obama campaign took steps to secure its computer system and end the intrusion. White House and FBI officials had no comment earlier this week.

NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin's shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy.

Read full story

Transition team speculation

Could somebody please jam the Z$&%^$ revolving door?!?!?!? - Ed.

Barack Obama’s promises of change will immediately be measured against his efforts to form an administration that inspires confidence and produces rejuvenation. In the days before his inauguration, his main influence on the future will be through his appointments.

A host of names are being bandied about as possible members of an Obama administration.

Paul Volcker, a key economic advisor, who was federal reserve chairman under Ronald Reagan and broke the back of an inflation crisis in the early 1980s, could return briefly to his old post to try and stabilize the economy.

Investor Warren Buffett and Robert Rubin, a former Clinton treasury secretary, could also assume economic posts in an Obama White House.

Read full story

Israel instructs Obama not to have dialogue with Iran

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel said Thursday U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's stated readiness to talk to Iran could be seen in the Middle East as a sign of weakness in efforts to persuade Tehran to curb its nuclear program.

"We live in a neighborhood in which sometimes dialogue -- in a situation where you have brought sanctions, and you then shift to dialogue -- is liable to be interpreted as weakness," Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said, asked on Israel Radio about policy change toward Tehran in an Obama administration.

Read full story

Obama, please do me a personal favor

Obama my dear, they tell me that you are going to change the world. Do me a favour, come and change my life personally.

Come to Israel, grab its stupid leadership by the throat and take its foot off the neck of another people. Come and force us to do what is clear, and written, and fitting, and necessary, come and get us out of the Territories, if necessary do it with a smile that reveals million-dollar teeth. If necessary bare your teeth and force us to do it.

Make it so that I don’t have to get up in the morning – I who hate to get up early, to go to the checkpoints, to watch and to weep. Make it so I will not have to see 19-year-old children who have been duped into believing that they are defending the home front by pointing rifles at five-year-old children.

Read full story

Mr. President, We too have a dream

Dear Mr. President-Elect, Barack Obama,

First of all, let me convey my heartiest congratulation to you on your election as the President of the United States of America.

I consider your election as President of United States of America as a miracle in itself. Born as the son of a Kenyan man and a white woman from Kansas who weren't well-off or well-known, through hard work and perseverance today you have become the President of United States of America. Unlike most of your predecessors, your humble background and past experience including your work as community leader will surely provide a different perspective about the reality from the grassroots level. Taking into consideration the path you treaded to reach the pinnacle of power, I surely believe that it is not without a purpose, particularly as you campaigned and got elected on the platform of 'Change'. I only hope that this purpose is for the well being of humanity as a whole. In fact, your election as the President of USA has suddenly brightened the image of your country and hope you enhance this expectation with the right policies that will unite humanity.

Read full story

Rahm Emanuel

As he prepares to take office, President-elect Barack Obama is relying on a small team of advisers who will lead his transition operation and help choose the members of a new Obama administration. Following is part of a series of profiles of potential members of the administration.

Read full story

Is Obama serious about protecting our liberty?

Obama, a former Constitutional law professor, promised during his campaign to curb the unconstitutional practices of the executive branch.

If he is serious about this, he must appoint vigorous advocates for constitutional principles and the rule of law to serve as heads of the following agencies:

• Department of Justice

• FBI

• CIA

• Treasury (which oversees the Secret Service and - of course - the bailouts)

• NSA

Read full story

Bush calls economic summit for Nov 15

Is it the beginning of the NWO? Is it the end of bush family corruption? Could it be both? - Ed.

Washington — The leaders of 20 nations have been invited to attend an economic summit in Washington to discuss the current financial crisis, its causes and efforts to resolve it through more effective regulation and reform, the White House says.

“In addition, we expect that the leaders will discuss the effects of the crisis on emerging economies and developing nations,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said October 22. A growing concern among developed economies is what impact the current financial crisis will have long-term on developing nations and foreign financial assistance.

Read full story

Video: End of US financial leadership

Watch video.

Pentagon ready to brief incoming administration immediately

The Pentagon said it was prepared to begin briefing the president-elect’s team immediately, stressing the importance of a smooth wartime transition, as the US voted for a new president Tuesday.

Read full story

Sources: McCain aid fired for "trashing" staff

(CNN) — Randy Scheunemann, a senior foreign policy adviser to John McCain, was fired from the Arizona senator's campaign last week for what one aide called "trashing" the campaign staff, three senior McCain advisers tell CNN.

One of the aides tells CNN that campaign manager Rick Davis fired Scheunemann after determining that he had been in direct contact with journalists spreading "disinformation" about campaign aides, including Nicolle Wallace and other officials.

Read full story

Scheunemann denies it...

However, Goldfarb did concede that Scheunemann's campaign e-mail was cut off, and his blackberry was taken away late Friday. Goldfarb admits that senior McCain aides were mad at Scheunemann, and wanted to fire him, but he insists they stopped short of that, and instead simply turned off his campaign communication.

Israel now calling the shots on UK security?

Stuart Littlewood looks at how Israel lobbyists have penetrated deep into Britain’s security establishment, and argues that it’s time that Friends of Israel groups were registered as agents of a foreign power.

The corridors of power at Westminster are swarming with Israel supporters, even though the British public has little sympathy for the rogue regime.

The Israel lobby has now achieved a dangerous numerical advantage at the heart of Britain's security establishment thanks to the appointment of Kim Howells, formerly minister in charge of Middle East affairs and a one-time chairman of Labour Friends of Israel, to the chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee.

This committee has oversight of the Security Service (MI5), the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the work of the Joint Intelligence Committee and the Intelligence and Security Secretariat, which includes the Assessment Staff in the Cabinet Office. The committee also takes evidence from the Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS), part of the Ministry of Defence.

Read full story

Urban Survival: Changing Presidents vs Changing Paradigms

The cabinet picks will give us a very good idea of where this thing's going. The Treasury job, in particular, will be fraught with meaning. - Ed.

Excerpt:

From a 'paradigm' perspective, really little is likely to change until we start to see how the Obamanation takes shape. Summers and Emanuel are considered by some to be top picks for chief of staff and Treasury Secretary. But nothing is in the bag: A couple of New Jersey democorps are saying former Goldman exec turned governor John Corzine is being considered for Treasury Secretary. Seems to me that here lately, the major qualification for that post has been having a stint at Goldman Sachs on the résumé.

Read full story

Now that Obama has won...there is no excuse

PILE ON, people. PILE ON. As much as the politicians have no excuse to go back to business as usual, neither do We The People. Stay awake now, and make your voices heard. Don't roll over and go back to sleep. Scroll down to read the wisdom from www, who understands what being an American means better than a great many Americans. - Ed.

Now that a Democrat has been elected president, the Democrats in Congress have no excuse. They can no longer pretend that they have to "hold back" to win the election.

They have no excuse to delay war crimes charges against Bush, Cheney and company for Iraq.

They have no excuse to delay war crimes charges for torture.

They have no excuse to delay criminal charges for spying on Americans.

They have no excuse to delay criminal charges for 9/11.

Now is not the time for Democratic machine politics. Now is the time to implement true American values - cherished across the political aisle - of liberty and justice.

Read full story

The Onion: Nation finally shitty enough to make social progress

WASHINGTON—After emerging victorious from one of the most pivotal elections in history, president-elect Barack Obama will assume the role of commander in chief on Jan. 20, shattering a racial barrier the United States is, at long last, shitty enough to overcome.

Although polls going into the final weeks of October showed Sen. Obama in the lead, it remained unclear whether the failing economy, dilapidated housing market, crumbling national infrastructure, health care crisis, energy crisis, and five-year-long disastrous war in Iraq had made the nation crappy enough to rise above 300 years of racial prejudice and make lasting change.

"Today the American people have made their voices heard, and they have said, 'Things are finally as terrible as we're willing to tolerate," said Obama, addressing a crowd of unemployed, uninsured, and debt-ridden supporters. "To elect a black man, in this country, and at this time—these last eight years must have really broken you."

Read full story

2008 Election Map adjusted for population

Read more.

With hope restored, now the work begins

Congratulations President-Elect Obama. You rose above the nasty partisan politics that have infected this country for so long now and lifted this nation up from the nightmare of the past eight years. The country has put their faith in you and now the real hard work begins. You will have a majority in both houses to assist you, so the road could be considerably easier at least for the first two years. The amount of the vote seems to indicate that even your enemies cannot use the silly “no mandate” mantra. Things have aligned themselves for you well.

Do not lose sight of why so many were dissatisfied though. It is not a repudiation of traditional republicanism or conservatism. It was a resounding “no more” to the neo-con vision for America. That is what you must seek to undo as your presidency unfolds.

Read full story

A Dear John letter to Sarah Palin

Dear Sarah

Or may I call you "Governor" seeing as that is the title that the majority of your fellow Americans decided that you should retain?

Oh yes, I know about the "Senator" scenario. We all do. It is just that, should you yield to the temptation offered by that scenario, a relationship already fraught with irreconcilable differences would pass breaking point. It would head for a bridge to nowhere, if you will.

We cannot be together anymore. It would be best if we agreed that you return to Alaska, and do all of that wonderful work we have heard so much about, even if we had some trouble believing it.

Read full story

Election Reaction from China

Like American people on the other side of the Pacific, we are excited, too, at the landslide win of Democrat Barack Obama, who will become the 44th President of the United States of America on January 20 next year.

We wish him all the best in bringing America out of the present financial quagmire as soon as possible, and re-energize the world's largest economy with his brand-new ideas and vision. A strong US economy is in the interest of China and all other countries that trade with it.

We also hope the good momentum of a relatively amicable and constructive bilateral relationship between China and the US will sustain and extend during the incoming four years of the Obama presidency.

Read full story

Election Reaction from the Muslim World

I am writing this column Tuesday morning as Americans vote in their presidential election. Wednesday morning we should know who wins, and Americans can be proud of another quite spectacular exercise in electoral democracy. Nowhere else in the world does a national leadership achieve incumbency by going through such intense, sustained – and at times silly - scrutiny by the media, local political and social institutions, and – most importantly of all - daily, direct contact with the voting public. Yet, there is a dark side to American political culture that we experience alongside its wondrous aspects, which the electoral campaign exposed in all its ugliness.

Read full story

Election Reaction from Russia

Only Satan would have been worse than the Bush regime. Therefore it could be argued that the new administration in the USA could never be worse than the one which divorced the hearts and minds of Americans from their brothers in the international community, which appalled the rest of the world with shock and awe tactics that included concentration camps, torture, mass murder and utter disrespect for international law. Yet in choosing Obama, the people of America have opted to come back into the international fold. Welcome back, friends!

Read full story