tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35942766027404371192023-11-15T23:07:40.558-08:00The Latest OutrageOur Enemy The State And Its CrimesVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-11396008698335814122009-11-13T07:08:00.000-08:002009-11-13T07:09:52.219-08:00Never Trust The State's Forcasts<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRHyii2MFKrd6c0nDXAnnZJFWPNXEI8Mjv62NQmRqNkV50OaNotWpSfImj-gfIFGyJdX3LLixUmNOd4iLDITnl2sswuNwnBjRLvi9On2t1VKYSL7ijm-TVFLH-d8uA6BpVaaB65BhfwAiB/s1600-h/11-09-unemployment1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 262px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRHyii2MFKrd6c0nDXAnnZJFWPNXEI8Mjv62NQmRqNkV50OaNotWpSfImj-gfIFGyJdX3LLixUmNOd4iLDITnl2sswuNwnBjRLvi9On2t1VKYSL7ijm-TVFLH-d8uA6BpVaaB65BhfwAiB/s320/11-09-unemployment1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403605416739824402" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://biggovernment.com/2009/11/06/so-hows-that-stimulus-thing-working-for-you/print/">Source</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-56864969557723879732009-11-05T06:44:00.000-08:002009-11-05T06:46:12.242-08:00Dudley Did-Wrong: Taser Torture in the Great White Northby William Grigg<br /><br />What would <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxj3r1Mt8MQ">Constable Benton Fraser</a>, the genteel, scrupulously honest, and self-effacing Canadian Mountie from “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108756/">Due South</a>,” say about <a href="http://license.icopyright.net/user/viewFreeUse.act?fuid=NTY2ODExNA==">this</a>:<br /><br />“A Selkirk, Man., RCMP officer denies any wrongdoing in the case of a teenage girl who says she was injured with a Taser while in police custody two years ago….<br /><br />The teenager was taken into custody after she and some friends were found drunk in her parents’ van, which her mother had reported stolen.<br /><br />In her statement of claim, the girl says she was put in a cell by several officers, and after punching or shoving one of them, was allegedly shoved onto the floor, knelt on by four officers, and hit with a stun gun in her thighs three times.<br /><br />In the documents, Gavel admits that a stun gun was used, but only after `it became necessary to physically restrain [the girl, and] fit her with a spit mask.’<br /><br />Contrary to the girl’s claims of being shocked numerous times, the documents said the Taser was `successfully applied’ only once to the inside of the girl’s thigh.”<br /><br />So, let’s get this straight: A 16-year-old girl was pinned to the floor by four fully-grown men (well, nominal males, in any case), and then subjected to electro-shock “pain compliance” torture in which the business end of the Taser was pressed against her inner thigh. That’s the sort of thing that, if done by people not on a government’s payroll, would result in someone being placed on a sex offender registry.<br /><br />In literature, drama, and even cartoons, the Mounties have been depicted as a corps of professional, highly disciplined police not given to the violence, corruption, and vulgarity so frequently found here in the Lower 48. (Once, when exceptionally frustrated, Constable Fraser let loose with his idea of a curse word: “Bindlesnitch!”)<br /><br />Apparently, whatever it is that has turned so many American policemen into state-licensed sadists is contagious, and the Mounties have come down <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/11/14/bc-taservideo.html">with a severe dose</a>.<br /><a href="http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/42138.html#more-42138">Source</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-39517411281480495852009-11-02T08:10:00.000-08:002009-11-02T08:16:37.915-08:00Agent of Empire Visits Vassal<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Rare bit of truth from one of our overlords.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"At the risk of sounding undiplomatic, Pakistan has to have internal investment in your public services and your business opportunities," Clinton told businessmen, taking swipe at tax evasion in the cash-strapped country.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"The percentage of taxes on GDP is among the lowest in the world... We (the United States) tax everything that moves and doesn't move, and that's not what we see in Pakistan," she said.</span><br /><a href="http://www.watoday.com.au/breaking-news-world/clinton-tackles-pakistan-on-alqaeda-20091030-hnzq.html">Source</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-31374109917398144332009-05-28T07:08:00.000-07:002009-05-28T07:18:14.133-07:00North Korea Detonates Mass Murder Device<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The state is excellent when it comes to the production of "bads". Mass murder is, unfortunately, one of those things that the state is accomplished at, creating large amounts of weapons (nuclear and non-nuclear) designed specifically for this purpose. It was brought to my attention recently that had the United States captured, lined up, and shot hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians during WWII the world would have been outraged. However, dropping two bombs to do essentially the same thing is defended vigorously. Why is that?</span><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >North Korea Conducts Nuclear Weapons Test</span><br />Posted By Jason Ditz On May 24, 2009<br /><br />South Korea’s cabinet is holding an emergency meeting this morning after it detected an “artificial earthquake” in North Korea, a sign that the nation may have conducted a test explosion of an atomic weapon.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >Those fears were later confirmed by North Korea’s Central News Agency (KCNA), which confirmed that the nation conducted its second underground nuclear test</span> at approximately 10:00 am Monday local time (roughly 9 pm Sunday EST). The seismic activity detected was similar to the October 2006 test. The South Korean stock exchange plummeted over the news. The Japanese market lost some of its gains as well.<br /><br />Yet the news was not entirely shocking, as South Korean officials said they had detected “brisk” activity at the nation’s nuclear test site earlier this month. Japan’s Foreign Ministry has promised to respond responsibly, while the European Union termed the test “worrying.”<br /><br />North Korea pulled out of 6-party talks last month after the United Nations condemned them for what they claimed was a satellite launch but which the West dubbed a “missile test.” The nation ordered International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors out and said it was preparing new nuclear tests.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/05/24/north-korea-conducts-nuclear-weapons-test/">Source</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-27469213947552967402009-05-27T06:47:00.000-07:002009-05-27T06:54:49.442-07:00Truth From A Liar's Mouth<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Amazing. A 1:54 he says: "...you are privatizing something that is what essentially sets a nation-state apart which is the monopoly on violence."</span><br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KpsBM1rmx-M&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KpsBM1rmx-M&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-44952286456021532602009-05-27T06:21:00.000-07:002009-05-27T06:38:12.200-07:00No One Dares Call It Fascism<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">This will not end well. It now seems inevitable that the American people will be on the hook for sinking auto companies burdened by regulations, unions, mismanagement, and backward thinking. What fresh hell will tomorrow bring?</span><br /><blockquote><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >U.S. Expected to Own 70% of Restructured G.M.</span><br />By MICHELINE MAYNARD<br />Published: May 26, 2009<br /><br />DETROIT — <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >The government will hold a large share of General Motors after the company emerges from bankruptcy protection, and will provide G.M. with about $50 billion in financing so that it can reorganize, people with direct knowledge of the situation said Tuesday.<br /><br />The Treasury Department will receive about 70 percent of the new G.M., while the United Automobile Workers union will hold 17.5 percent through its retiree health care fund.</span> The fund also would receive warrants for an additional 2.5 percent of stock in the new G.M., with a price to be determined later, potentially giving it a total of 20 percent.<br /><br />That is about half of the stock that the U.A.W.’s fund, called a Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association, or VEBA, was expected to receive under plans drafted this spring.<br /><br />The figures were outlined to union leaders in Detroit, who met Tuesday to consider a new agreement between the U.A.W. and G.M.<br /><br />Bondholders will receive about a 10 percent stake of the new company, and others will receive a smaller percentage, these people said.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">G.M., which has already received $19.4 billion in financing from Treasury, would get an additional $50 billion or slightly more in debtor-in-possession financing, which it would draw upon during its reorganization.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Treasury plans to create a new version of G.M. with its most attractive assets, like Chevrolet, Cadillac and some of its manufacturing operations. The rest of G.M. would be sold or liquidated.</span></span></blockquote><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/business/27auto.html?_r=2&ref=business">Source</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-13828528383271565482009-05-26T08:29:00.000-07:002009-05-26T08:31:06.633-07:00Music Video - "Hero of War"<a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpnWgCVfAxw">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpnWgCVfAxw</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-42596263441065782162009-05-26T08:19:00.001-07:002009-05-26T08:26:36.160-07:00No Missle Defense For You!<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The Israeli Military is labeled "Made In The USA".</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" ></span><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >US Promises to Fully Fund Israeli Missile Defense System, While Cutting Its Own</span><br />Posted By Jason Ditz On May 20, 2009 @ 5:12 pm<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >Even as Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was being raked over the coals in Congress for the decision to cut funding to America’s missile defense systems, Israeli defense officials have revealed that Israel’s own Arrow 3 missile defense system will be “fully funded” by the United States yet again this year.</span><br /><br />Israel has been working on the Arrow defense system for over 20 years with heavy US backing. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >It is reported that the costs for the upcoming year will be nearly $100 million.</span> Israel’s system will be showcased later this year in a joint operation with the US military.<br /><br />A successful test of a long-range Iranian missile today brought the issue of America’s missile defense systems in Europe into focus, though the missile’s maximum range still put it well short of the US bases in Poland and the Czech Republic, ostensibly being built for that purpose.<br /><br />Secretary Gates defended the $1.2 billion in cuts to the Missile Defense Agency, despite criticism from some members of Congress. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >Gates said the suitability of some of the cut programs for their purposes were “highly questionable.” The newfound concern over the usefulness of US weapons programs will not, it seems, extend to foreign military aid.</span></blockquote><br /><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/05/20/us-promises-to-fully-fund-israeli-missile-defense-system-while-cutting-their-own/">Source</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-83658284419418692012009-05-21T07:21:00.000-07:002009-05-21T07:35:45.841-07:00Entrapment Results in State Enforcer Grandstanding Photo Op<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">So, let me get this straight... some guys with animosity toward the USA's foreign interventions are stirred up by state agents, who also sell them fake weapons they would not have been able to obtain otherwise, get arrested because they would have blown up innocent people had the federal agents made real weapons available to them? Unfortunately, this is going to fool a lot a people, and these poor saps will go to jail for having listened to and accepting help from undercover agents.</span><br /><blockquote><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">4 Accused of Bombing Plot at Bronx Synagogues</span></span><br /><br />By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ and AL BAKER<br />Four men were arrested Wednesday night in what the authorities said was a plot to bomb two synagogues in the Bronx and shoot down military planes at an Air National Guard base in Newburgh, N.Y.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">The men, all of whom live in Newburgh, about 60 miles north of New York City, were arrested around 9 p.m. after planting what they believed to be bombs in cars outside the Riverdale Temple and the nearby Riverdale Jewish Center, officials said. But the men did not know the bombs, <span style="font-style: italic;">obtained with the help of an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation</span>, were fake.</span></span><br /><br />The arrests capped what officials described as a “painstaking investigation” that began in June 2008 involving an F.B.I. agent who had been told by a federal informant of the men’s desire to attack targets in America. As part of the plot, the men intended to fire Stinger missiles at military aircraft at the base, which is at Stewart International Airport, officials said.<br /><br />“This latest attempt to attack our freedoms shows that the homeland security threats against New York City are sadly all too real and underscores why we must remain vigilant in our efforts to prevent terrorism,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said in a statement. The mayor was expected to appear at 6:45 a.m. Thursday at the Riverdale Jewish Center morning services, joined by Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly.<br /><br />The charges against the four men represent some of the most significant allegations of domestic terrorism in some time, and come months into a new presidential administration, as President Obama grapples with the question of how to handle detainees at the Guantánamo Bay camp in Cuba.<br /><br />Rabbi Jonathan I. Rosenblatt, the senior rabbi at the Riverdale Jewish Center, a modern Orthodox congregation, said the police informed him on Wednesday evening that his synagogue was a target of the plot, as well as the Riverdale Temple, a Reform synagogue that is a short distance away, on Independence Avenue. The two buildings are about six blocks apart, each with a brick facade. Outside the synagogues on Wednesday night, the streets were eerily quiet.<br /><br />Rabbi Rosenblatt said in a phone interview that he took the news with “shock, surprise — a sense of disbelief that something which is supposed to belong to the world of front pages and the evening news had invaded the quiet world of our synagogue.”<br /><br />Jonathan Mark, associate editor of The Jewish Week newspaper who grew up in Riverdale, said it would have been the third plot in the past decade against the synagogues in Riverdale.<br /><br />Law enforcement officials identified the four men arrested as James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen, all of Newburgh. Some of the men were of Arabic descent, and one is of Haitian descent, according to law enforcement officials. At least three were United States citizens, according to officials. They are all Muslim, a law enforcement official said.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >Mr. Cromitie, whose parents had lived in Afghanistan before his birth, had told the informant that he was upset about the war in Afghanistan and that that he wanted to do “something to America.”</span> Mr. Cromitie stated “the best target” — the World Trade Center — “was hit already,” according to the complaint.<br /><br />In April, Mr. Cromitie and the three other men selected the synagogues as their targets, the statement said. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >The informant soon helped them get the weapons, which were incapable of being fired or detonated, according to the authorities.</span><br /><br />Mr. Kelly told Jewish leaders Wednesday evening that the attackers planned simultaneous attacks, and the men planned to leave the bombs in the cars in front of the two synagogues, drive back to Newburgh and retrieve cellphone-detonating devices and then proceed with the attack on the air base — simultaneously shooting down aircraft while remotely setting off the devices in the cars.<br /><br />On Wednesday night, they planted one of the mock improvised explosive devices in a trunk of a car outside the temple and two mock bombs in the back seat of a car outside the Jewish center, the authorities said. Shortly thereafter, police officers swooped in and broke the windows on the suspects’ black sport utility vehicle and charged them with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction within the United States and conspiracy to acquire and use antiaircraft missiles.<br /><br />Around 9 p.m., a law enforcement official said an 18-wheel New York Police Department vehicle blocked the suspects’ black sport utility vehicle at 237th Street and Riverdale Avenue. Another armored vehicle arrived and officers from the department’s Emergency Service Unit took the men out of the truck and handcuffed them.<br /><br />After the plot was broken up, the team of uniformed officers took the suspects away.<br /><br />Three of the four men were escorted by federal agents from Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan around 1 a.m. Thursday. They were handcuffed and did not respond to reporters’ questions as they were loaded into the back of vehicles to be taken to the nearby Metropolitan Correctional Center. There, they emerged one by one.<br /><br />Mr. Cromitie, who was wearing a dark blue shirt and jeans, gazed at the assembled reporters and photographers but again did not respond to questions. David and Onta Williams also did not answer questions as they quickly walked by, staring at the ground. The four defendants were to be taken to White Plains later on Thursday morning, where they were to appear in federal court.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >A federal law enforcement official described the plot as “aspirational” — meaning that the suspects wanted to do something but had no weapons or explosives — and described the operation as a sting with a cooperator within the group.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">“It was fully controlled at all times,” a law enforcement official said.</span></span><br /><br />Stewart International Airport is used by the New York Air National Guard and United States Air Force, according to the complaint, and it stores aircraft used to transport military supplies and personnel to the military in Iraq and Afghanistan.<br /><br />Political leaders responded to the news of the arrests with statements expressing relief.<br /><br />“This was a very serious threat that could have cost many, many lives if it had gone through,” Representative Peter T. King, Republican from Long Island, said in an interview with WPIX-TV. “It would have been a horrible, damaging tragedy. There’s a real threat from homegrown terrorists and also from jailhouse converts.”<br /><br />Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said in a statement: “If there can be any good news from this terror scare it’s that this group was relatively unsophisticated, infiltrated early, and not connected to another terrorist group. This incident shows that we must always be vigilant against terrorism — foreign or domestic.”</blockquote><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/nyregion/21arrests.html?_r=1&bl&ex=1243051200&en=5e6557f1159edce7&ei=5087%0A">Source</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-84044779001051132872009-05-20T08:02:00.000-07:002009-05-20T08:06:01.089-07:00Stormtroopers Popping Pills<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">To the State, people are just resources to be used. </span><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">U.S. military: Heavily armed and medicated</span></span><br />Prescription pill dependency among American troops is on the rise<br />By Melody Petersen<br />updated 7:30 a.m. CT, Tues., May 19, 2009<br /><br />Marine Corporal Michael Cataldi woke as he heard the truck rumble past.<br /><br />He opened his eyes, but saw nothing. It was the middle of the night, and he was facedown in the sands of western Iraq. His loaded M16 was pinned beneath him.<br /><br />Cataldi had no idea how he'd gotten to where he now lay, some 200 meters from the dilapidated building where his buddies slept. But he suspected what had caused this nightmare: His Klonopin prescription had run out.<br /><br />His ordeal was not all that remarkable for a person on that anti-anxiety medication. In the lengthy labeling that accompanies each prescription, Klonopin users are warned against abruptly stopping the medicine, since doing so can cause psychosis, hallucinations, and other symptoms. What makes Cataldi's story extraordinary is that he was a U. S. Marine at war, and that the drug's adverse effects endangered lives — his own, his fellow Marines', and the lives of any civilians unfortunate enough to cross his path.<br /><br />"It put everyone within rifle distance at risk," he says.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >In deploying an all-volunteer army to fight two ongoing wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon has increasingly relied on prescription drugs to keep its warriors on the front lines.</span> In recent years, the number of military prescriptions for antidepressants, sleeping pills, and painkillers has risen as soldiers come home with battered bodies and troubled minds. And many of those service members are then sent back to war theaters in distant lands with bottles of medication to fortify them.<br /><br />According to data from a U. S. Army mental-health survey released last year, about 12 percent of soldiers in Iraq and 15 percent of those in Afghanistan reported taking antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, or sleeping pills. Prescriptions for painkillers have also skyrocketed. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >Data from the Department of Defense last fall showed that as of September 2007, prescriptions for narcotics for active-duty troops had risen to almost 50,000 a month, compared with about 33,000 a month in October 2003, not long after the Iraq war began. </span><br /><br />In other words, thousands of American fighters armed with the latest killing technology are taking prescription drugs that the Federal Aviation Administration considers too dangerous for commercial pilots.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30748260/">Read More...</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-71890664778183820792009-05-20T07:55:00.000-07:002009-05-20T07:58:54.997-07:00Guantanamo Concentration Camp to Remain<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Change we can believe in?</span><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Senate Dems to Block Funding for Gitmo Closure</span></span><br /><br />Posted By Jason Ditz On May 19, 2009<br /><br />Earlier this month, Congressional Democrats pulled funding from the “emergency” war funding bill which was to be used in the Obama Administration’s pledge to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. Today, a top Democratic official revealed that the Senate Democrats will block funding for the Guantanamo closing going forward.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >President Obama’s pledge to close the facility has been put into serious doubt by his declaration last week that he was going to restart the military tribunals, which he had previously ordered halted pending the facility’s closure.</span><br /><br />The administration has yet to provide a plan to Congress for the closure of the facility, and it is speculated that the Senate may reconsider funding if it approves of a future plan. At the same time, Republicans are pushing an amendment which would bar the 241 detainees from ever seeing trial on American soil.<br /><br />Senator Mitch McConnell (R - KY) says he believes “shuttering this facility now could only serve one end: and that is to make Americans less safe than Guantanamo has.” Republicans have been quite encouraged by the administration’s willingness to go back on its previous promises of change and transparency, they will likely have another reason to take heart, as one more promise goes unfulfilled.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/05/19/senate-dems-to-block-funding-for-gitmo-closure/">Source</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-64981575733326892262009-05-18T13:06:00.000-07:002009-05-18T13:14:01.710-07:00City Calls Enforcers To Force A Tree To Be Planted<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Property is not owned in this country. It is occupied at the indulgence of the legal gangs. Ownership is but an illusion.</span><br /><blockquote><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Brooklyn woman objects to city tree - and gets threatened with jail</span></span><br />Saturday, May 16th 2009, 10:39 PM<br /><br />The million trees program should be cut to 999,999.<br /><br />Or maybe the city could just move the tree it planted outside Marion D. Smith's home on 11th St. in Park Slope on Friday.<br /><br />The Brooklyn block has two empty tree pits, but of course the work crew went right to where the city had promised the 79-year-old widow it would not put a tree.<br /><br />A tree had stood on this spot for decades but died six years ago, shortly after Smith lost her husband.<br /><br />"It died right after he died," she noted.<br /><br />She kept after the city for five long years before the stump was finally removed. She is disabled and had expressed concern that she would have difficulty sweeping up the leaves if a new tree were planted there.<br /><br />"Don't worry, they won't put another tree there," a very nice city official assured her.<br /><br />With that pledge, Smith had the pit paved over at her own expense. She was understandably surprised to see a small bulldozer with a pavement-busting attachment take up position there Friday morning.<br /><br />"What are you doing?" Smith inquired from her front door.<br /><br />"We're putting in a tree," the man in charge said.<br /><br />"I didn't ask for a tree," Smith said. "I told them I didn't want a tree there. Put it somewhere else."<br /><br />"This is going here," the man said.<br /><br />"I don't want a tree there!" Smith exclaimed. "Who's going to rake the leaves?"<br /><br />A particularly good-hearted neighbor, Nancy Cardozo, approached and attempted to intervene.<br /><br />"She doesn't want a tree," Cardozo noted.<br /><br />"Sorry, I have the contract and I have a big payroll," the man replied. "I have to put the tree there."<br /><br />The man's tone remained remarkably amiable, even though Cardozo positioned herself in a way that might impede the work.<br /><br />"You can have the tree moved later," he offered.<br /><br />"Wouldn't it make more sense just to put it where we want it?" Cardozo inquired.<br /><br />"No, this is what I have to do," he said.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >Cardozo dialed 311 from her cell phone. An operator informed her the city owns the sidewalk and has the right to put a tree there.<br /><br />"Who's responsible if somebody slips on the leaves?" Cardozo inquired.<br /><br />"The homeowner," the operator replied.</span><br /><br />The operator then connected Cardozo to somebody in the Parks Department who did not answer. Cardozo left a message that would not get a reply.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the man in charge was on his own cell phone to the Parks Department forestry office. He handed his phone to Cardozo.<br /><br />"The tree's going in," an instantly nasty forestry guy told Cardozo. "There's nothing she can do about it."<br /><br />Cardozo inquired if perhaps the work could be suspended until Smith spoke to the city.<br /><br />"Do you want me to send the police and have you arrested?" the forestry guy responded.<br /><br />"No, thank you, but I would like you to give me your name," Cardozo said.<br /><br />"I need you to move," the forestry guy said.<br /><br />"I need you to tell me your name," Cardozo insisted.<br /><br />"You'll find out my name soon enough," the forestry guy said.<br /><br />Smith called to Cardozo from her front door, asking what was happening.<br /><br />"They're sending the police," Cardozo replied.<br /><br />"Nancy, I don't want you to get arrested for a tree," Smith declared.<br /><br />Cardozo stepped back from what a passerby might have taken to be the opposite of tree hugging. She is in truth a big supporter of the Million Trees program. And she had to admire the work crew's speed and precision in breaking up the pavement and planting the tree.<br /><br />"One in a million - that's what this tree is, one small step toward a green New York," the tag also said.<br /><br />The tag reported that this particular tree was a ginkgo. A female ginkgo means cleaning up fallen fruit whose smell has been variously compared to rancid butter, vomit and dog droppings.<br /><br />"We're hoping it's not a female," Cardozo said.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/05/17/2009-05-17_tree_drama_is_nuts_bklyn_woman_objects_to_planting__and_gets_threatened_with_jai.html">Source</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-12587520431978962592009-05-14T06:28:00.000-07:002009-05-14T06:37:34.639-07:00Taxeater Drives Stolen Car On Taxpayer's Dime<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The powers conferred upon state employees presents temptations towards corruption that are hard to resist for present oriented fat cats that populate city halls around the country.</span><br /><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Illinois State Police Seize and Keep Desirable Cars for Personal Use</span><br />Influential Illinois State Police official gets personal use of a muscle car confiscated from a motorist.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >Illinois State Police troopers seized a high-performance muscle car and set it aside for the personal use of an influential police official. The Associated Press reported that a suspected drunk driver in a 2006 Dodge Charger was pulled over in January 2007. The troopers used a state seizure law to confiscate the vehicle.</span><br /><br />Once the paperwork was complete, the 425-horsepower vehicle -- which had an as-new base price of $38,000 -- was handed over for the personal use of Ron Cooley, 56, the Executive Director of the Illinois State Police Merit Board. Taxpayers also pick up the fuel tab for gas-guzzling 6.1 liter V-8 as he drives to and from work each day and on various business trips.<br /><br />A good relationship with the merit board is essential for any state trooper looking to move up into a position of responsibility.<br /><br />"The mission of the Illinois State Police Merit Board is to remove political influence and provide a fair and equitable merit process for the selection of Illinois State trooper candidates and the promotion and discipline of Illinois State Police officers," the board website explains.<br /><br />According to AP, the Charger is just one of two dozen desirable cars -- including an Audi and a Cadillac Escalade -- grabbed and kept by state troopers. State police officials decline to identify the beneficiaries of the confiscated car policy claiming it could endanger officers if the type of car they drove at taxpayer expense were made public.<br /><br />Source: AP Exclusive: <a href="http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/27/2767.asp">Bureaucrat driving seized hotrod</a> (Associated Press, 4/30/2009)</blockquote>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-83907124642430125382009-05-08T07:14:00.000-07:002009-05-08T07:25:20.476-07:00Afghans riot over air-strike atrocity<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">"They hate us because we are free." Ha!</span><br /><blockquote><br />Witnesses say deaths of 147 people in three villages came after a sustained bombardment by American aircraft. Patrick Cockburn, in Herat, reports<br /><br />Friday, 8 May 2009<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold;">Shouting "Death to America" and "Death to the Government", thousands of Afghan villagers hurled stones at police yesterday as they vented their fury at American air strikes that local officials claim killed 147 civilians.</span></span><br /><br />The riot started when people from three villages struck by US bombers in the early hours of Tuesday, brought 15 newly-discovered bodies in a truck to the house of the provincial governor. As the crowd pressed forward in Farah, police opened fire, wounding four protesters. Traders in the rest of Farah city, the capital of the province of the same name where the bombing took place, closed their shops, vowing they would not reopen them until there is an investigation.<br /><br />A local official Abdul Basir Khan said yesterday that he had collected the names of 147 people who had died, making it the worst such incident since the US intervened in Afghanistan started in 2001. A phone call from the governor of Farah province, Rohul Amin, in which he said that 130 people had died, was played over the loudspeaker in the Afghan parliament in Kabul, sparking demands for more control over US operations.<br /><br />The protest in Farah City is the latest sign of a strong Afghan reaction against US air attacks in which explosions inflict massive damage on mud-brick houses that provide little protection against bomb blasts. A claim by American officials, which was repeated by the US Defence Secretary Robert Gates yesterday in Kabul, that the Taliban might have killed people with grenades because they did not pay an opium tax is not supported by any eyewitnesses and is disproved by pictures of deep bomb craters, one of which is filled with water. Mr Gates expressed regret for the incident but did not go so far as to accept blame.<br /><br />The US admits that it did conduct an air strike at the time and place, but it is becoming clear, going by the account of survivors, that the air raid was not a brief attack by several aircraft acting on mistaken intelligence, but a sustained bombardment in which three villages were pounded to pieces. Farouq Faizy, an Afghan radio reporter who was one of the first to reach the district of Bala Baluk, says villagers told him that<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"> bombs suddenly, "began to fall at 8pm on Monday and went on until 10pm though some believe there were still bombs falling later"</span></span>. A prolonged bombing attack would explain why there are so many dead, but only 14 wounded received at Farah City hospital.<br /><br />The attack was on three villages – Gerani, Gangabad and Koujaha – just off the main road. It is a poppy growing area of poor farmers and there were several fields of poppies near the villages. The Taliban are traditionally strong here and the police and soldiers waiting around the villages were said by eyewitnesses to be frightened. This would explain why Afghan army commanders might have been eager to call for US airstrikes, though they would have needed the agreement of American special operations officers.<br /><br />Provincial officials, including the governor Rohul Amin, say that in the lead-up to the bombing there was heavy fighting between hundreds of Taliban and the Afghan Army and police. Going by Mr Faizy's account there had been, "a fight some seven or eight kilometres from the three villages in which two Afghan Army and a US Humvee were destroyed. A third Afghan Army vehicle was captured." Three police were killed and four wounded, as was one American and one Afghan army soldier. This was hardly a major military engagement, but the pro-government forces seem to have got the worst of it and their burned out vehicles still stand in the road.<br /><br />The loss of life in Afghanistan from air strikes is often worse than in Iraq where houses are more modern and usually have basements. In the villages in Farah, people were living in compounds with mud brick walls which crumbled easily. Pictures of the aftermath of the attack show people standing beside the remains of a relative which often only looks like a muddy pile of torn meat. One elderly white bearded man, said by neighbours to have lost 30 members of his family, squats despairingly beside a body that has been torn into shreds. Among the few wounded to stay alive is a child with a badly burned face.<br /><br />One reason why US bombing inflicts such heavy civilian casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq is that both are very poor countries in which houses are very crowded. When the US used air strikes and heavy artillery with little restraint in the siege of Fallujah in 2004 it caused serious loss of life. Wedding parties in both countries have often been mistaken for "terrorist" gatherings and bombed.<br /><br />In Afghanistan opinion polls show that support for the Taliban and for armed attacks on foreign forces rises sharply after events like the bombing in Farah. President Hamid Karzai frequently criticises the US military for wantonly inflicting civilian casualties, attacks which his opponents say is an opportunistic effort to burnish his nationalist credentials.<br /><br />The Taliban increasingly use tactics developed by insurgents in Iraq, notably suicide bombing on a mass scale and IEDs, or mines in the road detonated by a control wires or electronically. In Helmand province yesterday a suicide bomber killed 12 civilians in an attack on a foreign military convoy near the bazaar of the town of Gereshk. No foreign troops were killed by the explosion, though two were wounded.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/afghans-riot-over-airstrike-atrocity-1681070.html">Source</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-66701055634560264112009-05-06T07:40:00.000-07:002009-05-06T07:44:20.084-07:00US Air Strikes in Iraq Killed Mostly Women and Children<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Bombs do not know the difference between the innocent and the guilty no matter how "smart" you make them.</span><br /><br /><blockquote><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold;">In a report to be published in tomorrow’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers have concluded that air strikes by US-led coalition forces have killed mostly women and children. 39 percent were children, while 46 percent were women.</span></span><br /><br />Interestingly enough, though the high-tech weaponry used by the invading forces killed a disproportionately large number of (presumably mostly non-combatant) women and children, it showed that among victims of suicide bombings only 12 percent were children.<br /><br />The researchers used a database of 60,481 civilians violently killed during the first five years of the war, which was compiled by Iraq Body Count. They say that the shocking number of women and children killed are a function of using air strikes in urban combat settings, and the report may have policy implications elsewhere, where US air strikes seem to be killing large numbers of innocent civilians as well.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/04/15/report-us-air-strikes-in-iraq-kill-mostly-women-children/">Source</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-18274058571197016432009-04-20T11:31:00.000-07:002009-04-20T11:52:02.858-07:00Report: US Air Strikes in Iraq Kill Mostly Women, Children<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Wondering whether or not Saddam Hussein would have done worse to them is irrelevant. He was a cruel despot. We expect this sort of thing of his kind, but we should demand better of those coming in the name of "peace".</span><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" ><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In a report to be published in tomorrow’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers have concluded that air strikes by US-led coalition forces have killed mostly women and children. 39 percent were children, while 46 percent were women.</span></span><br /><br />Interestingly enough, though the high-tech weaponry used by the invading forces killed a disproportionately large number of (presumably mostly non-combatant) women and children, it showed that among victims of suicide bombings only 12 percent were children.<br /><br />The researchers used a database of 60,481 civilians violently killed during the first five years of the war, which was compiled by Iraq Body Count. They say that the shocking number of women and children killed are a function of using air strikes in urban combat settings, and the report may have policy implications elsewhere, where US air strikes seem to be killing large numbers of innocent civilians as well.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/04/15/report-us-air-strikes-in-iraq-kill-mostly-women-children/print/">Source</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-69479946722473462972009-04-17T12:14:00.000-07:002009-04-17T12:19:17.477-07:00Family Massacred by Liberators<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The state does at lease one thing well. Unfortunately it involves murder.</span><br /><br /><blockquote>ALI DAYA, Afghanistan (AFP) – An Afghan army colonel whose wife and children died in a US-led raid demanded action against the troops responsible Friday as President Hamid Karzai condemned the killings.<br /><br />The operation in the eastern province of Khost around midnight Wednesday killed the wife of Afghan National Army artillery commander Awal Khan, two of his children and a brother.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >The troops, who had been hunting a militant linked to radical Islamist groups, also shot a pregnant woman and killed her unborn baby, which had almost come to term, Khan and a provincial health official said. The woman survived the shooting.</span><br /><br />The mounting civilian death toll from military operations is one of the main sources of tension between Afghan authorities and the US and NATO-led forces in Afghanistan.<br /><br />"The (international) coalition has to stop this cruelty and brutal action," a grieving Khan told AFP in the village of Ali Daya a few kilometres (miles) south of Khost.<br /><br />Khan said he was flown home from his base in the eastern province of Ghazni in a military helicopter Thursday after being told of the deaths.<br /><br />"I want the coalition leaders to expose those behind this and punish them," Khan said, adding that the Afghan government should resign if it could not protect its people.<br /><br />Khan lost his schoolteacher wife, a 17-year-old daughter named Nadia, a 15-year-old son, Aimal, and his brother, who worked for a government department. Another daughter was wounded.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >After the shooting, the pregnant wife of Khan's cousin, who lived next door, went outside her home and was shot five times in the abdomen, the army officer said.</span><br /><br />She was taken to Khost provincial hospital, where the nine-month-old foetus was removed, he said.<br /><br />"She survived but her child died. The child was hit by bullets," said Khost province health director Abdul Majeed.<br /><br />Police said troops stood on the roofs of houses surrounding that of a militant suspect, and appeared to be intruders to neighbouring residents, who came out with weapons and opened fire.<br /><br />The US-led military initially said four people killed by troops were "armed militants."<br />But a statement Thursday said investigations "suggest that the people killed and wounded were not enemy combatants as previously reported."<br /><br />US military spokesman Colonel Greg Julian told AFP Friday it had become clear that the four were not associated with the targeted militant, who was arrested.<br /><br />"It was an unfortunate set of circumstances where they may have thought they were being robbed or attacked and came out, and the forces may have thought they were associated with the targeted individual," he said.<br /><br />"There will undoubtedly be some financial assistance and other types of assistance," he added.<br />In a statement expressing sadness about the incident, Karzai said he had ordered his interior and defence ministries, the intelligence service and local government to investigate and present their findings to him Saturday.<br /><br />Karzai had "for several years repeatedly asked the international military forces (to) carry out their counter-terrorism operations in ways that do not cause civilian casualties," it said.<br /><br />The Khost provincial council, meanwhile, stopped work to protest against the military action.<br />International humanitarian organisation CARE said in a statement that the slain schoolteacher had been working at a school that it supports.<br /><br />"CARE strongly condemns the action and demands that international military forces operating in Afghanistan are held accountable for their actions and avoid all attacks on innocent civilians in the country," it said.</blockquote><br /><br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090410/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunrestcivilianlead">Source</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-36390705644573226532009-04-15T06:03:00.000-07:002009-04-15T06:08:44.950-07:00Video of British Police Beating Bystander at G20 Summit<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">This sort of thing happens everyday. Not shocking considering the attitude of state enforcers that citizens are to be treated with suspicion and contempt.</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2009/apr/07/g20-police-assault-video">http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2009/apr/07/g20-police-assault-video</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-5582252481879426092009-03-30T07:45:00.000-07:002009-03-30T07:55:44.467-07:00Fascism in America: Il Duce Fires Head of GM<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">It's really not funny how politicians who have never run a business and leeched off of others for most if not their entire life are in the position of controlling multi billion dollar industries. What right does he have to do this? Why are we paying for this crap? Why are we putting up with this abuse? How much longer will we remain silent while this state rapes our land!?</span><br /><blockquote><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >General Motors CEO will resign: White House</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >General Motors Corp. chairman and chief executive Rick Wagoner will step down immediately at the request of the White House, administration officials said Sunday.</span><br /><br />The news comes on the eve of U.S. President Barack Obama's unveiling of his plan to reinvigorate the U.S. auto industry.<br /><br />Obama and other administration officials have said they will demand deeper restructuring from General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC before they get any more government loans.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >Both companies are surviving on a total of $17.4 billion US in government aid from Washington.</span><br /><br />Appearing on the CBS show Face the Nation in a Sunday broadcast, Obama said the Detroit automakers and all those with a stake in their survival need to take more hard steps to help them restructure for the future and receive additional government aid.<br /><br />"They're not there yet," he said.<br /><br />Wagoner's departure indicates that more management changes may be part of the bailout deal. Wagoner has repeatedly said he felt it was better for GM if he led it through the crisis.<br /><br />Wagoner, 56, joined the company in 1977, serving in several capacities in the United States, Brazil and Europe. He's been CEO since May 1, 2003.<br /><br />Resignation worries Canadian Auto Workers<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >The head of the Canadian Auto Workers union said Wagoner's departure, combined with the release of Obama's restructuring plan for the U.S. auto industry, are making Canadian employees extremely nervous about the future.<br /><br />"That just puts all of us on more pins and needles," Ken Lewenza said. "It leaves us all in this… emotional state of, What happens next?<br /><br />"I never, ever thought the White House or the Parliament of Canada could manage and operate an automobile company," he said.</span><br /><br />Lewenza said Wagoner's departure is unfortunate because he is a "car man" and given the troubles that GM is facing, now is not the best time for a shakeup at head office.<br /><br />That the White House said it orchestrated Wagoner's departure is also worrying, Lewenza said. "It would reflect a lack of confidence in the business plan of General Motors."<br /><br />Canadian restructuring plans due Tuesday<br /><br />GM Canada and Chrysler Canada are supposed to submit finalized restructuring plans, including new labour contracts, to the federal and Ontario governments by March 31 in order to receive the billions in aid they have requested. GM Canada is seeking up to $7 billion in government loans, while Chrysler Canada has asked for about $2.8 billion.<br /><br />Chrysler and the CAW have been holding talks but remain far apart on a deal on wage concessions, according to Lewenza.<br /><br />The union reached a deal with GM earlier this month that would cut labour costs by about $7 an hour.<br /><br />However, Chrysler is demanding more concessions than the union made to GM. Ford of Canada has also called the agreement with GM insufficient for its needs.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/03/29/general-motors-wagoner-quitting.html">Source</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-78575499588891037402009-03-23T09:55:00.000-07:002009-03-23T10:11:36.723-07:00Conterfeiter Brazenly Robs From Innocent Bystanders<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">A chief evil in modern economies is the Central Bank. There is only one main difference between them and criminal counterfeiters: they are legal. They unrepentantly print up money using various contrived reasons to justify it, but the cumulative result is to rob purchasing power from those holding the currency (saving) and giving it to those favored by the state. History is replete with examples of the destruction caused by money managed by the state.</span><br /><blockquote><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Swiss franc plunges on intervention</span></span><br /><br />The Associated Press<br />Thursday, March 12, 2009<br />LONDON: <span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Swiss franc slumped by a record amount against the euro Thursday after the country's central bank confirmed it was intervening to stem the currency's sharp appreciation due to its status as a safe haven.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">In its statement accompanying its latest interest rate reduction, the Swiss National Bank said it would "increase liquidity substantially by engaging in additional repo operations, buying Swiss franc bonds issued by private sector borrowers and purchasing foreign currency on the foreign exchange markets."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Following the announcement and its apparent actual intervention in the markets, the euro shot up over 3 percent from 1.4880 Swiss francs to a high of 1.53.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">During the financial crisis over the last three months the Swiss franc has been in demand as investors looked to put their money into what is widely considered to be a safe haven asset.</span></span><br /><br />Simon Derrick, currency strategist at Bank of New York Mellon, said the Swiss National Bank was clearly concerned that its recent hefty interest rate reductions were not keeping the franc from rising. A stronger franc makes life more difficult for the country's hard-pressed exporters.<br /><br />In its statement alongside the quarter point rate cut, which took the three-month Libor target rate to 0.25 percent, the Swiss National Bank predicted that the country was on course to experience deflation of 0.5 percent in 2009 as a result of the hefty fall in imported goods and services and goods.<br /><br />It also warned that economic output would fall between 2.5 percent and 3 percent in 2009, with nearly all sectors of the Swiss economy hit hard by the global economic slowdown. Export industries will be particularly affected, it said.<br /><br />Bank of New York's Mellon said the repercussions of the Swiss National Bank's move in the currency markets were widespread with gold surging and the yen falling.<br /><br />Gold has risen from $908 an ounce before the announcement to a high of $930 as investors looked for the other major asset considered to be a safe haven.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the yen has fallen against the dollar as the market speculated that the Bank of Japan, itself concerned by the export-sapping appreciation of the Japanese currency, may be next to intervene in the currency markets.<br /><br />Derrick said there's a real danger now that "beggar thy neighbor" policies could be enacted around the world as countries look to gain an advantage relative to others by reducing the value of their currencies.<br /><br />It is widely considered that one of the reasons why the 1930s depression lasted so long was that countries acted independently to protect their own interest by undermining their currencies and that as a result it may come up in discussions, at least on a bilateral level, at this weekend's G-20 meeting of finance ministers and central bankers in southern England.<br /><br />"I have to suspect that given that this has happened, it will be on the agenda at least away from the main forum as the last thing anyone wants is beggar-thy-neighbor policies," said Derrick.<br /><br />Christine Lagarde, France's finance minister, has been vocal in her concerns about how Britain is gaining an advantage by doing nothing to stem the sharp fall in the pound against the euro, and has argued that the monetary authorities have been pursued a policy of benign neglect in the hope that it will give Britain an edge in export markets when they recover.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=20785805">Source</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-51220194085997553002009-03-23T09:49:00.000-07:002009-03-23T09:55:06.670-07:00Use of Military During Shooting Investigation Under Review<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Each encroachment of state power must be taken seriously. Deployment of professional killers among the civilian population must be greeted with great suspicion.</span><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Army reviews troop use after fatal Ala. shootings</span></span><br />By JAY REEVES – 4 days ago<br /><br />BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >The Army said Wednesday it opened an inquiry into whether federal laws were broken when nearly two dozen soldiers were sent to a south Alabama town after 11 people died in a shooting spree last week.<br /><br />State officials said the deployment of 22 military police officers and the provost marshal from Fort Rucker was requested neither by Republican Gov. Bob Riley nor the White House, which typically is required by law for soldiers to operate on U.S. soil.<br /><br />Col. Michael J. Negard of the Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, Va., said officials are trying to determine who ordered the soldiers to Samson, who requested them, why they were sent and what they did there.</span><br /><br />"In addition to determining the facts, this inquiry will also consider whether law, regulation and policy were followed," he said. He declined further comment.<br /><br />Former Samson resident Michael McLendon, 28, fatally shot nine victims in the town and killed a 10th in a neighboring county. The March 10 spree ended when McLendon killed himself, and the soldiers arrived in the hours after.<br /><br />Investigators said McLendon was despondent over his inability to hold a job and his failure to become a Marine or a police officer.<br /><br />Riley isn't concerned whether the military overstepped its bounds, said Press Secretary Jeff Emerson.<br /><br />"From what I understand it was a few folks who came to direct traffic or help where they could," Emerson said. "If it had been more than what it was there might be a reason for concern, but these folks just came to see if they could help and left."<br /><br />The White House press office did not immediately return a message seeking comment.<br /><br />Reporters and curious citizens poured in after the slayings, overwhelming the town of 2,000 near the Florida state line. Samson is about 35 miles from Fort Rucker, the Army's main helicopter training base.<br /><br />Samson's tiny police force and county officers were stretched to the limit after the shootings, which left investigators with at least seven different crime scenes to check for evidence.<br /><br />Samson Mayor Clay King said he did not know why the soldiers showed up in town, but he was glad they did.<br /><br />"The only function they did was directing traffic. They took drinks and snacks to other people working crime scenes," King said. "I'm proud they were here."<br /><br />Residents said soldiers from Fort Rucker, a major employer in southeastern Alabama, have a reputation for helping nearby communities in emergencies.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >According to a summary by the Congressional Research Service, federal law generally prohibits the armed forces from being used as domestic police. Exceptions include emergencies, when troops can help civilians but don't directly act as police.</span><br /><br />The chairman of the Libertarian Party of Alabama, Stephen Gordon, said while many are worried about the use of Army troops in civilian police roles, he doubts there was anything nefarious about the soldiers in Samson.<br /><br />"There is no apparent harm here, but the principle still needs to be upheld," Gordon said. "The barrier has been lowered for the next time, and we really need to take a look at what happened."</blockquote><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i8CbzUeIBWcQ-VUtTTdTnlgX_oqAD970M3RO0">Source</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-32627203112395114592009-03-23T08:57:00.000-07:002009-03-23T09:02:07.665-07:00Minimum Wage Causing Kidnapping Wave<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">What happens when the illegitimate power of the state over the economy is held by the economically illiterate? Unintended consequences. </span><br /><blockquote><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Honduras Kidnappings on the Increase</span></span><br /><br />SAFETY & SECURITY<br />Americas - Honduras<br />6 Mar 2009<br /><br />Overview<br /><br />Over the past three years, kidnappings for ransom in Honduras have steadily increased. According to Government of Honduras statistics, kidnappings rose from five in 2005, to 16 in 2006, 42 in 2007, and 121 in 2008. Ransoms were paid in 40 percent of the kidnappings in 2008, totaling an estimated US$ 850,000. The Regional Security Officer in Tegucigalpa notes that kidnappings are often underreported throughout Honduras, and these figures may not be representative of the real amount.<br /><br />Honduran kidnapping gangs prefer to target affluent Honduran entrepreneurs or their family members. These gangs have targeted, to a lesser extent, foreign and local business managers of multinational corporations or their family members. U.S. citizens, although not specifically targeted for kidnapping, have been kidnapped in Honduras. There have been three kidnappings of U.S. citizens in February alone. In these cases, however, their abductions appear to have little to do with their U.S. citizenship but more to do with the victim’s family connection to an affluent Honduran entrepreneur.<br /><br />Tactics<br /><br />Kidnapping gangs in Honduras spend time studying potential victims before selecting a target, which could be either an affluent entrepreneur or a family member. Potential targets include those with predictable routines and who do not pay attention to their surroundings. A typical kidnap for ransom incident includes armed individuals who force the victim into their car. The kidnappers then drive to a second location to call the victim’s family in order to transmit a ransom demand. In most cases, the family negotiates a ransom, the ransom is paid and the hostage is subsequently released.<br /><br />Recent Incidents<br /><br />• In September 2008, gunmen kidnapped an owner of a hotel in San Pedro Sula and held him hostage for a week. According to open source press reporting, four gunmen accosted the victim in front of his hotel and forced him into his car. Honduran government officials stated that the victim was found in Copan, about 250 miles west of Tegucigalpa.<br />• In February, the brother of a Honduran Congressman was kidnapped in Copan. According to Honduran media reporting, the kidnappers demanded a ransom of US$ 1 million. The victim was abducted by two armed men and forced into his car, which was later found abandoned not far from the scene of the kidnapping. At this time, there are no reports on the status of the victim.<br /><br /><br />Analysis<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >In January, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya increased the minimum wage 60 percent, raising monthly wages from US$ 181 to $289. As a result, an estimated 15,000 people have been laid off in urban areas. This number is expected to steadily increase as businesses cannot afford the new mandatory wages. Remittances from Hondurans in the U.S. have also decreased throughout 2008.<br /><br />Some analysts predict increased crime in Honduras due to citizens unable to find legitimate sources of income. Many unemployed Hondurans could look to kidnapping for ransom in order to obtain large sums of money for a small amount of planning and effort. As the disparity between economic classes continues, wealthy Hondurans or foreigners of affluent appearance conducting business in Honduras could continue to be targeted at a higher rate.</span><br /><br />Best Practices<br /><br />The following best practices have been provided by the Regional Security Officer:<br /><br />o All travelers should take measures to ensure their health, valuables, and personal property are safeguarded during their stay in Honduras.<br />o Excessive or expensive jewelry should not be worn and visitors should not carry large sums of money or other valuables.<br />o Visitors should maintain a low profile at all times and never resist an armed robbery attempt.<br />o If possible, vary routes and times to and from home or the office, in order to avoid developing routines.<br />o Whenever possible, visitors should travel in groups of two or more persons, particularly after dark.<br />o Protect personal information, and instruct household staff not to share any detailed information with strangers.<br />o Thoroughly vet household staff in order to prevent hiring anyone with links to organized crime.<br /><br />Conclusion<br /><br />While U.S. citizens are not targeted specifically for kidnapping, those not paying attention to their surroundings can become victims when in the wrong place at the wrong time. Local-nationals working for OSAC constituents are at an increased risk if in mid- or upper-level management, and U.S. citizens related to wealthy Hondurans are also at an increased risk of kidnapping. It is useful to apply some of the listed best practices in order to prevent becoming a victim. Finally, it is important to report instances of kidnapping to your corporate security manager and the Regional Security Officer in Tegucigalpa.</blockquote><br /><a href="https://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=98328&print">Source</a> and <a href="http://www.qando.net/?p=1373">Secondary Source</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-45832564224246791642009-03-23T08:49:00.000-07:002009-03-23T08:55:21.406-07:00<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Troops are just fodder for the War Machine. Pawns of the Merchants of Death. Wake up Universal Soldier! </span><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pentagon knowingly exposed troops to cancer-causing chemicals, document shows</span></span><br /><br />Filed by John Byrne<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >A newly leaked military document appears to show the Pentagon knowingly exposed US troops to toxic chemicals that cause cancer, while publicly downplaying the risks exposure might cause.</span><br /><br />The document, written by an environmental engineering flight commander in December of 2006 and posted on Wikileaks (PDF) on Tuesday, details the risks posed to US troops in Iraq by burning garbage at a US airbase. It enumerates myriad risks posed by the practice and identifies various carcinogens released by incinerating waste in open-air pits.<br /><br />Because of the difficulties in testing samples, investigators could not prove that chemicals exceeded military exposure guidelines. But a military document released last December found that chemicals routinely exceeded safe levels by twice to six times.<br /><br />The leaked report was signed off by the chief for the Air Force's aeromedical services. Its subject is Balad Airbase, a large US military base about 70 kilometers north of Baghdad.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >"In my professional opinion, the known carcinogens and respiratory sensitizers released into the atmosphere by the burn pit present both an acute and a chronic health hazard to our troops and the local population," Aeromedical chief Lt. Colonel James Elliott wrote.</span><br /><br />According to the document, a US Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventative Medicine investigator said Balad's burn pit was "the worst environmental site I have ever personally visited," including "10 years working... clean-up for the Army."<br /><br />While the Curtis memo document is a new release to Wikileaks, it was previously disclosed online by the founder and editor of VAWatchdog.org, Larry Scott, in December 2008.<br /><br />Military outfits have routinely incinerated garbage in what are called burn pits. At Balad, the trash was hauled by contractors from the engineering giant KBR, a former Halliburton subsidiary.<br /><br />Last December, the Pentagon issued a "Just the Facts" sheet about the burn pits to troops. While acknowledging that lab tests from 2004-2006 had found occasional carcinogens, it asserted that "the potential short- and long-term risks were estimated to be low due to the infrequent detections of these chemicals."<br /><br />The sampling reports are classified, according to the Army Times.<br /><br />The Pentagon report adds, "Based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidance, long-term health effects are not expected to occur from breathing the smoke."<br /><br />Strikingly, however, it does acknowledge that air samples taken in 2007 found particulate matter levels higher than military recommendations in 50 of 60 cases -- some two times allowable toxic levels, but others as many as six times.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >The flyer given to troops appears to contradict assertions by the Air Force's own investigators. In the leaked document, titled "Burn Pit Health Hazards," Air Force Bioenvironmental Engineering Flight Commander Darrin Curtis expressed shock that troops were knowingly exposed to such risks.<br /><br />"It is amazing that the burn pit has been able to operate without restrictions over the past few years without significant engineering controls being put in place," Curtis wrote.<br /><br />"In my professional opinion, there is an acute health hazard for individuals," he added. In addition to carcinogens, "there is also the possibility of chronic health hazards associated with the smoke."</span><br /><br />Curtis noted that the chemicals associated with burning plastics, rubber and other common trash items included arsenic, benzene, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide, sulfuric acid and various other chemicals.<br /><br />"Just the Facts," while playing down long-term risks, also identified dioxins among tested samples. Dioxins were also present in Agent Orange, the notorious herbicide used during the Vietnam War. Benzene is known to cause leukemia, and cyanide and arsenic have throughout history been used as poisons to induce death.<br />Soldiers complain of chronic conditions<br /><br />An Army Times investigation in 2008 found anecdotal evidence of health conditions caused by exposure to the fires.<br /><br />"Though military officials say there are no known long-term effects from exposure to burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan, more than 100 service members have come forward to Military Times and Disabled American Veterans with strikingly similar symptoms: chronic bronchitis, asthma, sleep apnea, chronic coughs and allergy-like symptoms. Several also have cited heart problems, lymphoma and leukemia," Army Times reporter Kelley Kennedy wrote in December.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >"A lot of soldiers in my old unit have asthma and bronchitis," a staff sergeant stationed in Iraq in 2005 was quoted as saying. "I lived 50 feet from the burn pit. I used to wake up in the middle of the night choking on it."<br /><br />"I've seen four or five cardiologists, but no one can tell me what's wrong with my heart," the staff sergeant added.</span><br /><br />"It seems like most of these cases, anecdotally, are people who were exposed heavily to the burn pits and they got sick quickly," Kerry Baker, legislative director for Disabled American Veterans, said. "There must be some areas that take a hit much harder than others. Everything seems to be pointing opposite to what the Defense Department is saying."</blockquote><br /><a href="http://rawstory.com//printstory.php?story=14736">Source</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-30547707556722957202009-03-23T08:44:00.000-07:002009-03-23T08:47:16.208-07:00Surprise! State Collaborators Will Not Be Punished<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The state's monopoly of justice is often selectively used. </span><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Panetta: No one to be punished for interrogations</span><br /><br />Panetta: No CIA employees to be punished as a result of Senate review of harsh interrogations<br /><br />Mar 05, 2009 17:42 EST<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >CIA Director Leon Panetta says agency employees who took part in harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects are not in danger of being punished.</span><br /><br />Panetta delivered that message to CIA employees in an e-mail Thursday, reiterating what he told Congress last month. He said then that he would oppose prosecutions of any CIA employee who adhered to their legal guidance on interrogations.<br /><br />He sent the message after the Senate Intelligence Committee announced its review of the CIA's interrogation and detention program under President George W. Bush.<br /><br />The committee will look at how the CIA decided whom to interrogate, whether it told Congress the truth about the program and whether it was legal. It will also try to determine whether the harsher methods the CIA used elicited valuable intelligence.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/03/05/panetta-no-one-to-be-punished-for-interrogations/">Source</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594276602740437119.post-25670007903542378132009-03-23T08:35:00.000-07:002009-03-23T08:43:42.339-07:00360,000 GIs Could Have Brain Trauma<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Disposable heroes. The prosecutors of the states wars are also victims. Listen young people! Pick up your sword to defend yourself and your family but beware of bearing the sword on behalf of empire!</span><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Brain-injured GIs Could Number 360,000</span></span><br /><br />March 05, 2009<br />Associated Press<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >WASHINGTON - The number of U.S. troops who have suffered wartime brain injuries may be as high as 360,000 and could cast more attention on such injuries among civilians, Defense Department doctors said Wednesday.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >The estimate of the number injured - the vast majority of them suffering concussions - represents 20 percent of the roughly 1.8 million men and women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, where blast injuries are common from roadside bombs and other explosives, the doctors said.</span><br /><br />The estimate came in a Pentagon news conference on activities planned this month to bring attention to brain injuries. The doctors said the number could be as low as 180,000, based on estimates that between 10 percent and 20 percent of troops might have received such injuries.<br /><br />The previous high estimate offered publicly was 320,000 in a study released a year ago by the private Rand Corp. It was based on about 1.6 million who had done tours of duty in the wars from late 2001.<br /><br />Though so-called "traumatic" brain injury can range from a mild form such as concussions to severe forms with penetrating head wounds, officials said the majority of injuries among troops are the mild form.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >The overwhelming majority heal - and heal without treatment - but an estimated 45,000 to 90,000 troops have suffered more severe and lasting symptoms, said Brig. Gen. Loree Sutton, the head of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury.</span><br /><br />The Army alone spent $242 million last year for staff, facilities and programs to serve troops with brain injuries, said Lt. Col. Lynne M. Lowe of the Army surgeon general's office.<br /><br />Sutton said that, as in previous wars, the research and other work being done by the military will eventually benefit the civilian world. Whether the injuries occur while people ride bicycles, play football, skateboard or ski, "we know that this is an issue across the country," she said.<br /><br />"In the past ... it was difficult to get this on the radar screen," said Dr. James Kelly, director of the National Intrepid Center for brain injuries and psychological health. "Brain injury was not recognized as a problem ... of any consequence and was, especially in the sports community, often dismissed or trivialized."<br /><br />"I think that now you're seeing it being taken very seriously," Kelly said. "The wartime experience has been a big part of that."</blockquote><br /><a href="http://www.military.com/news/article/braininjured-gis-could-number-360000.html?ESRC=eb.nl">Source</a>Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068752354115705603noreply@blogger.com