Resolution urges U.S. to withdraw from a North American union

daily herald
A House committee unanimously passed a joint resolution Tuesday that urges the president and Congress to withdraw from the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. The resolution, sponsored by Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem, now moves to the House floor for a vote.

The SPP, while not an institution, is harshly criticized by some Utah groups. Resolution supporters told the committee Tuesday that the purpose of the SPP is to remove sovereignty from the United States and give it to a North American union, similar to the European Union. The SPP involves the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Wally McCormick, of the Utah Constitution Coalition and Utah Minuteman Project, said that the SPP will allow for "a 5-square-mile area, that is supposedly going to be owned by Mexico, within our own country, run by their officers, run by their soldiers."

McCormick called the SPP a scam. Referencing previous testimony, McCormick said that "The federal income tax is the second biggest scam perpetrated on the American people. I extend that further in saying that this scam about the SPP and what it is going to do to America may be the first biggest scam upon the American people."

According to the SPP Web site, it isn't a treaty or agreement. It is "a dialogue to increase security and enhance prosperity among the three countries."

"The SPP builds upon, but is separate from, our long-standing trade and economic relationships," says a statement on the SPP Web site.

The White House released a statement in September of last year highlighting achievements of the SPP. Among them was that "the SPP constitutes a 'comprehensive agenda for cooperation' while 'respecting the sovereignty and unique cultural and legal heritage' of each country."

The SPP also states one of its main goals as recognizing that "our security and our economic prosperity being mutually reinforcing."

The joint resolution addresses concerns of the SPP lacking congressional oversight and a highway planned for north-south travel from Texas.

The bill also expresses the concern of legislators that, "state and local governments throughout the United States would be negatively impacted by the SPP and North American Union process, such as the "open borders" vision of the SPP."

HJR 7, Resolution Urging United States Withdrawal from Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem. This resolution of the Legislature urges the United States to withdraw from the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America and any other activity which seeks to create a North American Union.

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I dont want to get my hopes up, but getting out of the SPP would be a huge victory. Still being realistic, we should know nothing will come of this. This talk about withdrawing from the SPP is just sweet talk. Do you really think our CFR run government will pull out of the north american SPP? If you think they would read this CFR report. If we want to get out of the North American Union, then first we need to get the CFR out of our government.

Ahmadinejad dismisses US 'threats'

Ahmadinejad dismisses US 'threats'

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president, has said that the US is incapable of inflicting damage on Iran, in an interview with state television on Tuesday.

The Iranian leader also said that "wise" Americans would not allow George Bush, the US president, to attack Iran, as a US Navy carrier group moved toward the country.

Ahmadinejad said: "They [the US] are not really in a position to carry out this action [of attacking Iran]. I believe there are many wise people in the United States who would not let it happen."

Nuclear ambitions

He said Washington had not campaigned further against Tehran, despite recent UN Security Council sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme.

He said: "In 2003, they openly threatened to attack Iran. Now they have indirectly made such threats"

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president

"US rhetoric against Iran has not increased.

"In 2003, they openly threatened to attack Iran. Now they have indirectly made such threats.

"They want to put us under pressure because they see the Iranian nation as an obstacle in the way of their goals in the region, but they are unable to do so."

The US is firmly against Iran's uranium enrichment, a process that can produce material for nuclear reactors or bombs.

Washington and its allies accuse Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear programme is purely for civilian use.

US military mobilised

The US aircraft carrier USS John C Stennis has been sent to the Gulf as part of a buildup of forces that Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, hopes will show Iran that US military power is undiminished.

Ahmadinejad has recently faced criticism in the local press and has been accused of stirring opposition to Iran by taking a hard-line on the nuclear dispute.

"Iran is not seeking confrontation with anybody," he told interviewers.
Ahmadinejad appeared indifferent to the prospect of a US military strike against Iran, which has been mooted as a response to its nuclear programme.

"The United States is unable to inflict serious damage on Iran," he said.

Ahmadinejad has recently been accused of failing to improve Iran's economy. He blamed inflation on the economic structure he inherited when he took office in 2005.

He also said the rise in prices was partly due to the early arrival of winter and what he called fabricated reports in the media.

U.S. immigration swoop targets criminal aliens | US News | Reuters.com

U.S. immigration swoop targets criminal aliens | US News | Reuters.com

Wed Jan 24, 2007 8:25 AM ET

PHOENIX (Reuters) - U.S. immigration police have rounded up hundreds of criminal aliens in southern California, as part of one of their largest ever roundups of foreign lawbreakers and immigration violators, police said on Tuesday.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice said the week-long sweep identified 423 criminal aliens due for release from jails across five counties in the Los Angeles area, and took them into custody.

The operation also led to the arrest of 338 undocumented immigrants in the area, more than 150 of whom were classed as "immigration fugitives" -- foreign nationals who ignored final deportation orders.

"It is one of the largest crackdowns on criminal aliens ever carried out in the United States," Kice told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"The goal of our enforcement efforts is two-fold. First, it's about restoring integrity to our nation's immigration system. Second, it's about safeguarding our communities from those who brazenly disregard our laws," she added.

Those arrested in the swoop have all either been removed from the United States already or face deportation.

The sweep came as part of "Operation Return to Sender," a nationwide initiative targeting criminal aliens, foreign nationals dodging deportation orders and other immigration violators.

ICE said most of those detained came from Mexico, although the sweep also netted nationals from 14 countries including Ukraine, India, Japan, Poland and Trinidad.

The operation is the latest in a series of raids in the interior of the United States, where immigration enforcement has been stepped up in recent months.

In December, ICE agents arrested more than 1,300 mostly Mexican workers in coordinated swoops on Swift & Co. meat processing plants in six states.

India, Russia plan joint production of fighter aircraft

M&C
New Delhi - India and Russia have agreed to begin joint production of a multi-role transport plane and a similar agreement on fifth generation fighter aircraft was likely soon, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said at a joint press conference with his Indian counterpart AK Anthony in New Delhi Wednesday.

The deal on the multi-role transport plane is likely to be signed during the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to India on Friday, defence sources said.

Ivanov, who began the day by laying a wreath at the memorial to the forgotten soldier in the heart of the Indian capital, held wide-ranging talks with Anthony on Indo-Russian defence cooperation.

He is also scheduled to meet India's national security advisor MK Narayanan, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

India, which has the world's third largest armed force with about 1.3 million serving personnel, is currently in the process of upgrading its long-neglected defence capabilities.

There are plans to buy advanced fighter jets, submarines, surveillance equipment and other armaments.

Defence ties between Russia and India date back to the Soviet era and about 70 per cent of India's military hardware is of Soviet or Russian make.

The high-level Russian visits by Ivanov and Putin, who is to be acompanied by a large business delegation, are being seen as attempts to secure Moscow's position as India's primary military equipment supplier, especially in the context of the latter's increasing closeness to the United States.

An agreement on joint production of MiG-29 aircraft engines by India's state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited is expected to be among the defence deals to be signed during Putin's visit. The Russian-designed MiG-29 forms the bulk of India's fighter fleet.

India is keen to move away from its buyer-seller relationship with Russia on defence hardware and move into more efforts at joint production like that of the Brahmos cruise missile, the Indian prime minister was quoted as saying.

'We need to work on further strengthening the linkages between Indian requirements and the Russian defence industry in the longer term,' Singh said in an interview to a Russian daily on the eve of Putin's visit, PTI news agency reported.

'Defence cooperation has provided a vital element of trust and stability and a solid foundation to our bilateral ties,' he said, adding that India had played a role in easing a difficult situation for Russia's defence industry after the collapse of the Soviet Union, with orders worth billions of dollars.

Ivanov, who is also Russia's deputy prime minister, said in the southern Indian city of Bangalore Tuesday that Russia would submit its new MiG-35 in a tender for 126 light fighter aircraft for the Indian air force, PTI news agency reported.

The air force plans to float the tender soon in an attempt to upgrade its ageing fleet of fighters, comprising largely of Russian-made MiG 29s and British Jaguars. The MiG-35 is an advanced version of the MiG-29.

Bids for the aircraft are also expected from Lockheed Martin and Boeing companies of the United States, Dassault of France, Gripen-SAAB of Sweden and the Eurofighter consortium, sources said.

3 Killed, Scores Hurt in Lebanon Clashes

washingtonpost(AP)
BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Hezbollah-led protesters burned tires and cars and clashed with government supporters Tuesday, paralyzing Beirut and areas across Lebanon in the worst violence yet in the pro-Iranian group's campaign to topple U.S.-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.

At least three people were killed and dozens injured as the two camps battled each other around street barricades with stone-throwing and in some cases gunfire. Black smoke poured into the sky over Beirut from burning roadblocks.

A Lebanese opposition member is seen in front of burning tires on a roadblock in Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2007. Opposition protesters paralyzed Lebanon Tuesday by burning tires and cars at major thoroughfares in the capital and its approaches to enforce a general strike that aims to topple the government.

A Lebanese opposition member is seen in front of burning tires on a roadblock in Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2007. Opposition protesters paralyzed Lebanon Tuesday by burning tires and cars at major thoroughfares in the capital and its approaches to enforce a general strike that aims to topple the government.

The fighting quickly took on a dangerous sectarian tone in a country whose divided communities fought a bloody 1975-1990 civil war. Gunmen from neighboring districts in the northern city of Tripoli _ one largely Sunni Muslim, the other largely Alawites, a Shiite Muslim offshoot _ fought each other, causing two of the fatalities.

The day gave a frightening glimpse of how quickly the confrontation between Saniora's government and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its allies could spiral out of control, enflame tensions among Sunnis, Shiites and Christians and throw Lebanon into deeper turmoil.

In the evening, the opposition announced it would call off the roadblocks and the nationwide general strike that sparked the unrest, saying it had delivered a warning to the government. But it threatened more protests.

Opposition supporters began withdrawing from their street blockades, leaving behind burning tires, concrete blocks and debris. At one abandoned roadblock in the north of Beirut, a fire engine extinguished the burning tires.

Suleiman Franjieh, a Christian opposition leader, told Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV the next steps "will be nothing compared to what we saw today" if the government does not respond to the opposition's demands.

The Hezbollah-led opposition is growing increasingly frustrated after two months of sit-in protests outside Saniora's offices in downtown Beirut failed to force him to step down or form a new government giving the opposition more power.

Saniora vowed not to give in, saying in a televised address: "We will stand together against intimidation and to confront sedition."

But he repeated his willingness to discuss a political solution to the impasse and called for a special session of Parliament.

The violence called into question whether Saniora will be able to attend a conference of donor nations in Paris on Thursday aimed at raising billions in aid for rebuilding the devastation wreaked on Lebanon by last summer's Israel-Hezbollah war.

Saniora has been expected to attend and the suspension of the strike increased the likelihood. But the government has not made a formal announcement about his travel plans.

Israeli President in sex scandal refuses to quit

SMH.com
THE Israeli President, Moshe Katsav, was expected to stand aside temporarily following a decision to prosecute him on charges including rape, indecent acts and sexual harassment involving four former female employees.

But yesterday Mr Katsav was resisting widespread calls for him to resign as head of state, with his lawyers saying he will fight to establish his innocence. If convicted on the rape charge he faces a maximum sentence of 16 years in prison.

The Attorney-General, Menachem Mazuz, formally announced on Tuesday that he intends to prosecute the 61-year-old former Likud minister on charges of raping one young former employee and of indecent assault and sexual harassment in relation to her and three others.

The woman who was allegedly raped worked in Mr Katsav's office when he was tourism minister in 1998 and 1999, while the other three were employed in the president's office. Similar complaints from another woman were dropped for lack of evidence, while the statute of limitations was judged to apply to allegations made by five others.

It was reported yesterday that details of these five cases could still be introduced in court if prosecutors want to establish Mr Katsav's alleged modus operandi.

Mr Katsav also faces preliminary charges of fraud, illegal wire-tapping and attempting to interfere with an investigation.

His lawyers have said they hope to persuade Mr Mazuz to drop all the charges at a preliminary hearing due in the next three months.

The Katsav affair is the most high-profile in a series of scandals involving the Israeli political establishment. The former justice minister, Haim Ramon, is facing trial for harassing a young female soldier, and several leading politicians - notably the Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert - are being investigated for financial offences or influence-peddling.

The Katsav case came to light six months ago, when the President complained to police that one of his employees was trying to blackmail him with false allegations of sexual misconduct. Subsequent interviews with former employees uncovered a string of complaints against Mr Katsav, portraying him as a sexual predator.

Neocons Baiting Iran With Second Strike Group

infowars
Waiting with anticipation for any excuse to pounce
A top US diplomat has confirmed that a second U.S. aircraft carrier strike group has been deployed to the Gulf in order to send a clear signal to Iran that they will be crushed if they continue to defy the wishes of the US government by enriching uranium.

"The Middle East isn't a region to be dominated by Iran. The Gulf isn't a body of water to be controlled by Iran. That's why we've seen the United States station two carrier battle groups in the region," Nicholas Burns, U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, said in an address to the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center, an influential think-tank, as reported by the AP .

"Iran is going to have to understand that the United States will protect its interests if Iran seeks to confront us," Burns continued.

Yes, it is of course Iran who are doing the confronting, not the country that has deployed Patriot anti-missile missiles, aircraft carriers, and cruise-missile-firing ships, nor the country that has already allegedly attempted to engage in pre-emptive strikes upon Iran.

Despite reports that Iran is willing to conduct talks, the White House is still refusing to even entertain the idea, sticking to the "we don't converse with evil" mantra, deciding instead to deploy war cruisers.

The likelihood of some kind of conflict is looking increasingly probable with arch neocons such as Richard Perle preaching that the President would have no hesitation in attacking Iran.

Discussing a possible US involvement in a strike on Iran , Perle said at a conference in Israel: "Would this president do it? I think that until the day he leaves office, this is a president that, if he is told, 'Mr. President, you are at the point of no return,' I have very little doubt that this president would order the necessary military action."

Perle began his speech by saying it wasn't clear whether "it's our time or Iran's that is over."

With Bush's approval rating at an all time low of 28% now, and the current situation in Iraq, it is clear he has nothing left to lose now and indeed may be "at the point of no return" as far as the American people are concerned.

Interestingly Bilderberg shill John Edwards was also in attendance at the same conference as Perle in Herzliya, Israel, where he also today told the watching Israeli delegates that Iran must be stopped at all costs.

With a second strike group deployed it does seem like the neocon warmongers are expecting something to happen very soon.

Last week, a former commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Eduard Baltin , revealed that he believes a missile attack on the Iranians is imminent, while Republican Congressman and 2008 Presidential candidate Ron Paul fears a staged Gulf of Tonkin style incident may be used to provoke air strikes on Iran.

Indeed there were numerous strange reports of incidents occurring in the Gulf from rumours of nonexistent clashes between Iranian and American battleships to those of missile strikes on U.S. vessels.

Meanwhile the AP and Reuters have been filing misleading reports stating that Iran has barred IAEA inspectors, an allegation that turns out to be inaccurate according to the IAEA themselves who today stated:

"It should be noted however, that there are a sufficient number of inspectors designated for Iran and the IAEA is able to perform its inspection activities in accordance with Iran's Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement."

Iran has also begun massing troops along its borders with north Iraq, in addition to launching missile war games , while top a Middle East analyst and former State Department official has gone public with claims that U.S. plans envision a broad attack on Iran, rather than surgical strikes, as part of a war that likely would further destabilize the Middle East for years.

Chinese Regime Admits To Organ Harvesting From Prisoners

epochtimes
CHINA—In the middle of January, 2007, the BBC Chinese website published an interview regarding organ harvesting in China. For the first time, China's Ministry of Health spokesman Mao Qunan admitted to the practice of organ harvesting from executed prisoners in China, which he had publicly denied before. However, Mao evaded key evidences of organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners and denied that accusation.

This interview was conducted by BBC senior reporter Hua Ying. An Epoch Times journalist also did an interview with Dr. Wang Wenyi, who protested at the White House during communist regime leader Hu Jintao's visit to the United States on April 20, 2006 regarding the BBC's interview

The Chinese regime has had a long history of harvesting organs from executed prisoners, and an equally long history of denying this practice. In November of 2005, the regime's Deputy Minister of Ministry of Public Health, Huang Jiefu, admitted to using organs taken from executed prisoners, at an international conference in Manila.

Later in April 2006, Mao stated that organs from executed prisoners constituted a very small portion of organs used in China's organ transplant industry.

In November 2006, Minister Huang again admitted in a conference in Guangzhou that most of the organs used in transplants, except for a small portion from organ donors in traffic accidents, came from executed prisoners. His statement was quoted by newspapers in China.

When the reporter, Hua Ying, questioned Mao on the above statements, he reluctantly answered: "I don't have anything to add to this question' you have explained it very clearly."

In the whole interview, Mao kept denying the existence of organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in China and denied the necessity for international organizations going into China for a thorough and independent investigation.

Regarding Mao's statement, Dr. Wang Wenyi said: "Under pressure from international societies, the regime admitted to harvesting organs from executed prisoners in order to shift attention away from the harvesting of organs from Falun Gong practitioners. The regime continues to cover up the truth, because Mao's admission to harvesting organs from executed prisoners does not explain the widespread and unusual expediency of organ matching for transplants in Mainland hospitals."

Wang further explains that after the Mainland hospital receives payment, the transplant surgery could be performed in as soon as three days to a week. This means that a few days later, there would be a "prisoner" not only with the same blood type and matching tissue as the patient (who paid an enormous fee for the procedure,) but also this criminal would just happen to be scheduled for execution at that time, and would also be willing to donate his organs.

In the BBC program, Hua Ying also interviewed vice-chairman of the China Medical Organ Transplant Association Shi Bingyi. Shi denied that he had made the statement that "China had conducted over 90,000 organ transplants in total up to now (beginning of 2006;) there were nearly 10,000 kidney transplants and nearly 4,000 liver transplants performed in last year (2005) alone." This statement was published in Chinese by Health Paper Net (2006-03-02)—the official media outlet of the Ministry of Public Health. The Web page of this report has been deleted from its original site but can still be traced back in Internet archives.

In the Report Into Allegations Of Organ Harvesting Of Falun Gong Practitioners In China , the authors David Matas and David Kilgour used the above information to conclude that "the source for 41,500 transplants for the six-year period from 2000 to 2005 is unexplained" and "the allegation of organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners provides an answer."

Shi also denied knowledge of the number of organ transplants performed in China, and refused to give an estimated number. He accused the Health Paper Net of making a false report. When reporter Hua Ying challenged Shi and Mao that the Health Paper was actually the official paper for the Chinese Ministry of Health, both of them made no comments.

Regarding Shi's replies, Dr Wang Wenyi said, "It is a joke that the vice-chairman of China Medical Organ Transplant Association does not know the figures for China organ transplants. I have visited officials from the health departments of more than 30 counties and districts. All of them are very clearly aware of the transplant data in their areas. How is it possible that Shi "does not know" the most basic data for total transplants carried out in a year? The only explanation is that there are serious issues behind the data that he does not dare to admit."

Contradictory Statements From the Chinese Communist Regime About the Allegations of Organ Harvesting in China

On November 7-9, 2005, at the WHO conference in Manila, Deputy Minister of Public Health, Huang Jiefu, admitted that most of the donors used in organ transplant in China are from executed prisoners.

In March, 2006, the spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Qin Gang, said at a press conference, "It is a complete lie that China harvests organs from executed prisoners for transplant."

On April 10, 2006, in reply to reporter's questions, Mao Qunan, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Health, denied that China harvests the organs of executed prisoners for transplants. He said that most of the transplant organs came from voluntary donations from Chinese citizens.

On October 10, 2006, in response to BBC reporter Rupert Wingfield-Hayes' article "Organ sales 'thriving' in China," China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeman Qin Gang said, "Some foreign media fabricate fake news when reporting on organ transplant in China to attack China's legal system."

On November, 2006, Huang Jiefu, the vice-minister of Ministry of Public Health, again admitted at a conference held in Guangzhou that most of the organs used in transplants in China are from executed prisoners.