Ron Paul on CNN American Morning

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Ron Paul on CNN - 28/04/08. Ron Paul tells CNN's John Roberts he is still in the race and gaining support from delegates every day!

"Maybe you're a good Republican, if you stand up for Republican principles!"

"GOP can't shut me out."

John Roberts: "Well you've still got $4 million to do it. Hah other candidates would like that money too."

Yea, but you have to earn it Mr Roberts. ;)
Partly why McCain is bankrupt. :D

EDIT: We made front page of Digg - Great work guys!

http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Ron...

"Truth is treason in the empire of lies"
"Let the revolution begin!"
~ Dr. Congressman Ron Paul

US man 'gave secrets to Israel'

A military engineer has appeared in court in the US on charges of passing classified information to Israel.

Ben-Ami Kadish is alleged to have given secrets involving information about nuclear weapons, fighter jets and missiles to Israel in the 1980s.

He was charged with four counts of conspiracy, including disclosing documents relating to national defence and acting as an agent of Israel.

He declined to comment on leaving the Manhattan courthouse.

"I'm not saying anything. I have no comment," said Mr Kadish, 84, who worked at the US army's Armament Research, Development and Engineering Centre in New Jersey from 1979 to 1985.

He was released on bail of $300,000 and restrictions were placed on his travel.

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US state department spokesman Tom Casey discusses the charges

Mr Kadish is accused of giving the material to an Israeli consular official.

His alleged handler has been named by justice officials as the former consul for science affairs at the Israeli Consulate General in Manhattan, reportedly the same person who dealt with Jonathan Jay Pollard, who is serving life in prison for spying for Israel.

Pollard passed thousands of documents to Israeli agents while working at the US defence department. He was convicted in 1987.

The Israeli government publicly admitted in 1998 that Pollard had been their agent and awarded him Israeli citizenship.

'Major weapons system'

According to the complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, Mr Kadish borrowed several classified documents related to national defence from the army's research centre between 1980 and 1985 and took them to his home in New Jersey.

Mr Kadish would then hand over the documents at his home to the Israeli consular official, who would photograph them in the basement, it added.

The complaint said Mr Kadish appeared to have received small gifts and restaurant meals for his alleged spying - not cash.

One of the documents "contained information concerning nuclear weaponry and was classified as 'Restricted Data'... because the document contained atomic-related information", the complaint said.

Another, classified as "Secret" and "Not Releasable to Foreign Nationals", contained "information concerning a major weapons system - a modified version of an F-15 fighter jet that the United States had sold to another country".

Modified F-15s have been sold to Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and South Korea.

Documents relating to the US Patriot missile air defence, classified as "Secret", were also borrowed by Mr Kadish from the library.

'Don't say anything'

The court documents also allege that Mr Kadish lied to US law enforcement officials on 21 March 2008, the day after he was told to do so by his Israeli handler during a telephone conversation.

In that conversation, Mr Kadish's handler was quoted in the complaint as telling him: "Don't say anything... What happened 25 years ago? You don't remember anything."

The United States is a close ally of Israel and supplies more than $2 billion a year in military aid. The two countries also co-operate in developing some areas of military technology.

State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Israel would be informed of the case against Mr Kadish.

"Twenty-plus years ago, during the Pollard case, we noted that this was not the kind of behaviour we would expect from friends and allies, and that would remain the case today," he said.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7361446.stm

Published: 2008/04/23 09:49:37 GMT

U.N. Nuclear Agency to Study Claims of Secret Syrian Reactor

By REUTERS

VIENNA (Reuters) — The United Nations nuclear watchdog pledged Friday to investigate whether Syria had secretly built an atomic reactor with North Korean help, but the agency also criticized the United States for delaying the release of intelligence.

The United States disclosed its intelligence material on Thursday, saying the Syrian reactor was “nearing operational capability” a month before Israeli warplanes bombed it on Sept. 6.

Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, criticized Israel on Friday for the airstrike, saying his inspectors should have been able to inspect the site before the bombing.

Dr. ElBaradei said “the unilateral use of force by Israel” undermined “the due process of verification that is at the heart of the nonproliferation regime.” He also said the American allegations against Syria would be investigated with due vigor.

Syria denied the charges and accused Washington of involvement in the Israeli attack.

Dr. ElBaradei, alluding to the United States, denounced a failure to share intelligence information “in a timely manner” about the project, which Washington said was initiated in 2001. He confirmed that Washington disclosed information this week and said that a Syrian facility destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in September was an unfinished reactor.

Analysts said the American disclosure did not amount to proof of an illicit nuclear arms program, because there was no sign of a reprocessing plant needed to convert spent fuel from the plant into bomb-grade plutonium.

“The absence of such facilities gives little confidence that the reactor was part of an active nuclear weapons program,” David Albright and Paul Brannan of the Institute for Science and International Security said in an e-mail commentary.

“The United States does not have any indication of how Syria would fuel this reactor,” they said. “This type of reactor requires a large supply of uranium fuel,” they added, saying that it “raises questions about when this reactor could have operated.”

Analysts said the Bush administration had delayed releasing the intelligence because of the risk that it might prompt Syria to retaliate against Israel.

Syria pledged to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency investigation. “Syria has nothing to hide,” its United Nations envoy, Bashar Jaafari, told reporters on Friday in New York.

“It is essential that Syria shed full light on its nuclear activities, past and present, in accordance with its international obligations,” a French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Pascale Andréani, told reporters in Paris.

Syria has belonged to the 144-nation atomic energy agency since 1963, and it has one declared small research reactor subject to United Nations inspection.

The White House said it was convinced that North Korea had helped Syria to construct a clandestine nuclear reactor.

North Korea tested a nuclear device in October 2006.

Many states appear to be in recession

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
Associated Press

The finances of many states have deteriorated so badly that they appear to be in a recession, regardless of whether that's true for the nation as a whole, a survey of all 50 state fiscal directors concludes.

The situation looks even worse for the fiscal year that begins July 1 in most states.

"Whether or not the national economy is in recession - a subject of ongoing debate - is almost beside the point for some states," said the report to be released Friday by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The weakening economy is hitting tax revenue in a number of ways: People's discretionary income is being gobbled up by higher food and fuel costs, while the tanking housing market means people are spending less on furniture and appliances associated with buying a house.

The situation is grim in Delaware, with a $69 million gap this year, and bleak in California, with a projected $16 billion budget shortfall over the next two years, the report said. Florida does not expect a rapid turnaround in revenue because of the prolonged real estate slump there.

By mid-April, 16 states and Puerto Rico were reporting shortfalls in their current budgets as the revenue those budgets were built on - typically, taxes - fell short of estimates. That's double the number of states reporting a deficit six months ago.

The NCSL said the news is even worse for the upcoming fiscal year, with 23 states and Puerto Rico already reporting budget shortfalls totaling $26 billion. More than two-thirds of states said they are concerned about next year's budgets.

The results are consistent with a drumbeat of bad economic news for states that several budget groups have produced in the past few months.

Last week, the Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said 27 states are reporting projected budget shortfalls next year totaling at least $39 billion.

President Bush said Tuesday that the economy was not in a recession but a period of slower growth. However, some economists have pointed to the string of declines in manufacturing orders to argue that the economy has fallen into a recession.

Bolstering their position, the Commerce Department reported Thursday that sales of new homes plunged in March to the lowest level in 16 1/2 years. The government also reported that orders to factories for big-ticket goods fell for a third straight month in March, the longest string of declines since the 2001 recession.

Some states "have declined so much that they appear to be in a recession," the NCSL report said.

It also noted the silver lining for states where the economy is based on energy, such as North Dakota and Wyoming. Alaska is making so much money from oil that it announced an estimated surplus next year of $8 billion, almost twice the state's annual budget.

In North Dakota, revenue is above legislative predictions by 13 percent, and in Louisiana, the oil and gas sector is robust.

"For energy-producing states, the fiscal situation is strong and the outlook is good," the report said.

Among other findings:

-More than half the 16 states reporting deficits this year have cut spending, including $1 billion by Florida lawmakers last year and across-the-board cuts in Nevada. At least eight states are debating raising taxes or fees, including a proposed $1-per-pack cigarette tax increase in Massachusetts to raise $175 million.

-Twelve states, including Georgia, Idaho and Illinois, reported that personal income tax collections were failing to meet estimates, and in eight of these, collections were even below a reduced forecast.

-Many states, including Alabama, Arizona, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada and Wisconsin, plan to tap their rainy day funds, which contain money set aside for fiscal emergencies. Nevada may use its entire rainy day balance.

U.S. Attack of Sadr City Leaves 800 Dead

Laith Jawad
Azzaman
April 23, 2008

U.S. occupation forces have killed more than 800 people, most of them innocent civilians, in their three-week long military campaign to subdue the Mahdi Army in Sadr City, the leader of Sadr movement in Baghdad said.

Sheikh Salaman al-fariji said the troops have also injured more than 1,800 people and caused large-scale destruction of private property and the city’s rickety infrastructure.

Fariji made the remarks as he accompanied a delegation of 20 members of parliament on a tour of the impoverished city home to more than 2 million people.

U.S. troops have imposed a tight embargo on the city and bombing by war planes and helicopter gun ships in the densely populated Baghdad neighborhood continued even during the MPs’ tour.

Falah Shanshal, an MP, said the group would write to the parliament to lift the siege of Sadr City and reach a peaceful solution to the standoff with Mahdi Army.

Mahdi Army is the military wing of Sadr movement which has 30 deputies in parliament.

“The MPs were shocked by the scale of damage,” said Fariji.

Shanshal said: “The people of Sadr City undergo horrific humanitarian conditions as a result of U.S. military operations and embargo.”

Wesley Snipes Gets 3 Years for Not Filing Tax Returns

New York Times

OCALA, Fla. — A federal judge on Thursday sentenced the actor Wesley Snipes to three years in prison for willfully failing to file tax returns.

Mr. Snipes, who was convicted in February, received one year for each count, to be served consecutively, and an additional year of probation. The sentence was handed down by Judge William Terrell Hodges of Federal District Court.

Mr. Snipes, who apologized for his actions before the sentence was announced, showed no immediate reaction to the verdict.

Judge Hodges allowed Mr. Snipes and a co-defendant, Douglas Rosile, to remain free on bond until they were summoned by either the United States Marshals Service or the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The sentencing came at the end of a daylong hearing in which lawyers for Mr. Snipes argued for leniency while federal prosecutors sought the maximum penalty possible.

The case was the most prominent tax prosecution since the billionaire hotelier Leona Helmsley was convicted of tax fraud in 1989. Mr. Snipes, who has built a worldwide following acting in films like the “Blade” vampire trilogy, must pay up to $17 million in back taxes plus penalties and interest.

In a prepared statement, Mr. Snipes said: “I’m very sorry for my mistakes. I acknowledge that I have failed myself and others.” But in the statement, which ran to nearly 10 minutes, Mr. Snipes never mentioned the words “tax” or “taxes.”

“He never stated he didn’t pay his taxes or show any remorse for it,” said Robert O’Neill, the acting United States attorney for the Middle District of Florida, the lead prosecutor on the case.

Mr. Snipes even tried to make a down payment on his taxes before sentencing; his legal team offered Judge Hodges three checks totaling $5 million.

Judge Hodges refused the checks, saying he did not have the authority to accept them. Prosecutors also declined to accept the checks. An Internal Revenue Service employee eventually accepted the checks on behalf of the Treasury Department.

Mr. Snipes’s legal team also questioned the validity of federal sentencing guidelines. At one point, one of his lawyers, Carmen Hernandez, described herself as “an expert on sentencing.”

Judge Hodges replied, “If I may be so bold, I’ve also had some experience with that.”

A jury found Mr. Snipes guilty on Feb. 1 of three misdemeanor counts of willfully failing to file tax returns, but acquitted him of felony conspiracy and tax fraud charges and three additional counts of failure to file.

The jury also convicted two co-defendants, Eddie Ray Kahn and Mr. Rosile, on felony charges.

Mr. Snipes was a member of American Rights Litigators, an organization founded by Mr. Kahn. Prosecutors have described that organization and its successor company, Guiding Light of God Ministries, as illegal tax-evasion schemes.

Mr. Rosile, a certified public accountant, prepared some tax returns, including Mr. Snipes’s, for the organization.

Judge Hodges sentenced Mr. Kahn to 10 years and Mr. Rosile to four and a half years.

Mr. Kahn, who represented himself throughout the trial and has consistently refused to recognize Judge Hodges’s authority, was defiant to the end.

“For the record, your honor, I don’t accept that,” Mr. Kahn said.

The judge responded, “You may not accept it, Mr. Kahn, but you will serve it.”

Mr. Rosile declined to comment after the sentencing. His lawyer, David Wilson, however, said the sentence was fair.

A member of Mr. Snipes’s legal team said they would appeal. “We were hoping for a complete acquittal,” the lawyer, Linda Moreno, said. “I have faith in the process, and I have faith in the jury system. We will appeal.”

Israeli warplanes intensify flights over Lebanon

Australian News
April 24, 2008

The Israel Air Force has dramatically escalated flights over Lebanese air space, in violation of international law.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) says the daily number of Israeli air violations surged from 282 in February to 692 in March.

In the first two weeks of April the number has surged again to 476.

“The overflights constitute violations of Lebanese sovereignty and the Blue Line and continue to undermine the credibility of UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces,” the UN Assistant-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Angela Kane, told the Security Council on Wednesday night.

“The Government of Israel has continued to claim the flights are carried out for security reasons. My representatives in the region and I have regularly continued to reiterate our concern and call on Israel to cease the increasing number of overflights, which stand in violation of Security Council resolutions,” she said.

The Israeli flights over Lebanon have been going on for decades, despite international protests.

When the Lebanon war of 2006 came to an end a negotiated ceasefire which translated into UN Resolution 1701 was supposed to bring them to an end. This was so only for a matter of weeks before the Israel Air Force was back in business.

At that time international condemnation of the flights escalated however Israel was undeterred.

“They can protest for as long as they like. Our reconnaissance flights will continue,” then deputy defence minister Ephraim Sneh said at the time.

“These are not agreed flights but operations carried out to locate enemies, terrorists,” he said.

“The fact there was a ceasefire in Lebanon has not transformed this country into another Switzerland.”

The minister was speaking a day after France, which commands the UN peacekeeping force overseeing the truce in Lebanon, and the UN, pressed Israel to halt the overflights, which they called a violation of the ceasefire.

A UN statement issued in the name of special envoy to Lebanon, Norwegian Geir Pedersen, condemned the persistent violations of Lebanese air space.

“Geir Pedersen expresses his serious concern at the continuing overflights by Israel which constitute a breach of Lebanese sovereignty and specifically of Security Council Resolution 1701,” it said.

Limbaugh Calls for Riots at Denver DNC

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
April 24, 2008

It simply was not enough for neocon radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh to call for Republicans to vote for Hillary, supposedly as a hedge against Barack Obama. Now he is calling for riots in Denver during the DNC. ABC News in Denver reports:

Talk show host Rush Limbaugh is sparking controversy again after he made comments calling for riots in Denver during the Democratic National Convention this summer.

He said the riots would ensure a Democrat is not elected as president, and his listeners have a responsibility to make sure it happens.

“Riots in Denver, the Democrat Convention would see to it that we don’t elect Democrats,” Limbaugh said during Wednesday’s radio broadcast. He then went on to say that’s the best thing that could happen to the country.

In normal, non-Bushzarro times, Limbaugh would be arrested for inciting terrorism. But instead we live in times horrifically misshapen by a neocon reality — a reality of mass murder, torture of children, and the wholesale trashing of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

After sane listeners — and I am not sure how regular listeners of Limbaugh’s show would be considered sane — called and complained about his comments, Limbaugh said: “I am not inspiring or inciting riots, I am dreaming of riots in Denver.”

It would seem Mr. Limbaugh has shared notes with “Re-create 68,” the COINTELPRO group that has vowed to make the convention in Denver more raucous and bloody than the Democratic Convention in Chicago, circa 1968. According to the Rocky Mountain News, the intel op masquerading as a grassroots activist group “is expecting up to 50,000 protesters from across the country [and] plans to march from Civic Center to the Pepsi Center, where the convention will be held, on Aug. 24, even though a parade route or a security zone hasn’t been announced.”

Is it possible Limbaugh will be with them?

Rush Limbaugh needs to be arrested as a threat to the peace. I’m not holding my breath, however, as neocons seem to have a get out jail free card and rabble-rousers such as Limbaugh and Savage are free to call for the most outrageous things, including violence and mass arrest of dissidents for the crime of exercising their rights under the First Amendment, now almost completely dead in the water.

Japan: Tackle crisis with U.S. public money

Cabinet minister says taxpayer bailout is needed before situation worsens

The Associated Press

updated 6:24 a.m. ET April 23, 2008

TOKYO - Likening the U.S. credit crisis to a broken bathtub draining water, Japan's financial services minister urged Washington on Wednesday to inject public money to fix the problem before it gets worse.

Sounding almost alarmist, Yoshimi Watanabe used unusually blunt language to warn that drastic action was needed to address the crisis that has battered global markets.

"If there is a big hole in the bottom of the tub, no matter how much hot water you keep adding, you will never have enough hot water," Watanabe said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Fixing the leak requires "an overall package, including monetary policy and public money," he said.

As the subprime fallout grows, the idea of a public bailout isn't sounding as far-fetched as it once did.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal last month, Senator Hillary Clinton, a candidate for the U.S. Democratic presidential nomination, said the U.S. government should be ready to buy troubled mortgages from investors and avoid a prolonged slowdown.

"We might be drifting into a Japanese-like situation," she was quoted as saying.

Biggest dilemma since 1930s?
Last month, the U.S. resorted to a public bailout of sorts for Bear Stearns, a major brokerage. The Federal Reserve allowed JPMorgan Chase & Co. to borrow from the Fed, and provide that funding to Bear Stearns. Fed officials said the procedure dates back to the Great Depression of the 1930s but has rarely been used since then.

But Watanabe said the looming global credit crisis, which started with the subprime mortgage woes that surfaced last year, was the biggest financial dilemma for the world, and Japan, since the 1930s.

Watanabe, head of the Financial Services Agency, said Japan has a lesson to share with the rest of the world in how it dealt with the bad debt problems of the 1990s — and that the U.S. can learn from Japan's mistakes.

Japan acted too late, procrastinating for six years in tackling the piles of bad debts major banks had racked up during the excessive "bubble economy" years.

After wasting stimulus packages and other halfhearted efforts, Japan was forced to resort to billions of dollars of taxpayers' money to rescue the banks, said Watanabe.

He brushed off the differences in the historical backdrop between Japan's and U.S. problems. He insisted the basic result, lenders running out of capital, was exactly the same — and would ultimately need the same fix.

'Parallels'
Experts also said the U.S. credit problems were similar to those of Japan in the 1990s.

"There are parallels," said Eva Marikova Leeds, professor of economics at Temple University in Tokyo, pointing to the real estate bubble in both.

"The underlying problem was the assumption that housing prices would rise forever," she said. "Japanese regulators moved too late."

Watanabe, a lower house lawmaker who also oversees economic and administrative reforms, appeared convinced the U.S. government would use public money. He said that decision may not come during the presidential election because of the inevitable question about political accountability.

'Deep trouble'
Watanabe also said he was worried about export-reliant Japan and its massive dollar holdings if the U.S. fails to wrest itself out of the credit crisis. Direct subprime exposure among financial organizations here is believed to be relatively small.

"Japan's recovery is dependent on U.S. economic health and so we could be in deep trouble," Watanabe said.

Iwan Azis, professor of professor of management and regional science at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, said comparing the U.S. and Japanese lending fiascos weren't particularly useful because the causes and mechanisms were so different.

What the U.S. needs is more regulation, while Japan needs to do away with restrictions to open its markets to foreign investment and new businesses, he said in a telephone interview.

"There are too many regulations in Japan," Azis said.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24269007/

US Life Expectancy Falls for Large Segment of Population

By Rosanne Skirble Washington VOANEWS 22 April 2008

Smoking is one factor driving the trend toward a lower life expectancy for women in parts of the U.S.

While life expectancy in the United States has risen steadily since the 1960s, a new study [published Tuesday] finds that in certain geographic areas of the country, life expectancy has stagnated, and even declined, especially among women.

From 1960 to 2000, life expectancy in the United States rose by seven years for men and six years for women. However, beginning in the 1980s, large geographic disparities began to appear.

The study analyzed health data from every county in the United States. According to lead author Majid Ezzati, Associate Professor of International health at Harvard School of Public Health the "worst off" were among lower income Americans concentrated in the southern states.

He says in these communities race did not seem to affect life expectancy. "It is something associated with the way policies are implemented, with the way health systems are providing health services to people in different parts of the country or not providing services to people."

Ezzati points to chronic disease related to increases in smoking, high blood pressure and obesity as factors driving the trend. He says while much is known about how to manage these conditions, care is not reaching the people who need it the most. Women have experienced the most serious declines.

Over the last 20 years, life expectancy has either declined or stagnated for one of out every five women compared with four percent of men. Ezzati finds this a grim statistic for an industrialized nation. "We don't associate worsening of health, worsening of life expectancy with something that happens in a developed high-income country."

Ezzati says he saw such disparities after the fall of the Soviet Union and after the social networks fell apart in Eastern Europe. "That is the sort of thing that we see over long periods and what is happening with HIV/AIDS in some countries in Africa."

Ezzati says he hopes the study raises awareness about health care in America and pushes health officials and the public to monitor those being left behind. "That monitoring should be telling us something about what sort of interventions, what sort of policies can reverse this and then hopefully provide the resources for it."

Researchers from Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Washington contributed to the study published in PloS Medicine.

Shiller: Housing slump may exceed Depression

Bailouts will be needed so millions don’t lose homes, top economist says

The Associated Press

updated 12:05 p.m. ET April 22, 2008

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - An influential economist who long predicted the housing market bubble cautioned Tuesday that the slump in the U.S. housing market could cause prices to fall more than they did in the Great Depression, and bailouts will be needed so millions don’t lose their homes.

Yale University economist Robert Shiller, pioneer of the widely watched Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index, said there’s a good chance housing prices will fall further than the 30 percent drop in the historic depression of the 1930s. Home prices nationwide already have dropped 15 percent since their peak in 2006, he said.

“I think there is a scenario that they could be down substantially more,” Shiller said during a speech at the New Haven Lawn Club.

Shiller’s Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index is considered a strong measure of home prices because it examines price changes of the same property over time, instead of calculating a median price of homes sold during the month.

Shiller, who admitted he has a reputation for being bearish, said real estate cycles typically take years to correct.

Home prices rose about 85 percent from 1997 to 2006 adjusted for inflation, the biggest national housing boom in U.S. history, Shiller said.

“Basically we’re in uncharted territory,” Shiller said. “It seems we have developed a speculative culture about housing that never existed on a national basis before.”

Many people became convinced that housing prices would increase 10 percent annually, a notion Shiller called crazy.

Shiller, who said it’s difficult to forecast prices, endorsed legislation proposed by Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., that would allow the Federal Housing Administration to back as much as $300 billion in mortgages for struggling homeowners.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24257182/

Al-Qaida No. 2 says 9/11 theory propagated by Iran

By MAGGIE MICHAEL
Associated Press Writer

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Osama bin Laden's chief deputy on Tuesday denied a theory that Israel carried out the Sept. 11 attacks and blamed Iran and Shiite Hezbollah for spreading the idea to discredit the Sunni al-Qaida's strike against the U.S.

The comments in a recording posted on an Islamic Web site reflected the increasing criticism by al-Qaida's No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri against Iran. Al-Zawahri has accused Iran in recent messages of seeking to extend its power in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and through its Hezbollah allies in Lebanon.

The authenticity of the two-hour audio recording could not be independently confirmed. But the voice sounded like past audiotapes from the terror leader, and the posting where it was found bore the logo of Al-Sahab, al-Qaida's official media arm.

It was the second of two messages answering questions that were posted to Islamic militant Web sites earlier this year.

One of the questioners asked about the theory that has circulated in the Middle East and elsewhere that Israel was behind the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Al-Zawahri accused Hezbollah's Al-Manar television of starting the rumor.

"The purpose of this lie is clear - (to suggest) that there are no heroes among the Sunnis who can hurt America as no else did in history. Iranian media snapped up this lie and repeated it," he said.

"Iran's aim here is also clear - to cover up its involvement with America in invading the homes of Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq," he said.

Iran cooperated with the United States in the 2001 U.S. assault on Afghanistan that toppled al-Qaida's allies, the Taliban.

Answering questions about Iraq in Tuesday's tape, al-Zawahri said the insurgent umbrella group led by al-Qaida, called the Islamic Nation of Iraq, is "the primary force opposing the Crusaders and challenging Iranian ambitions" in Iraq, he said, referring to the Americans.

As he often does in his messages, al-Zawahri denounced the "Crusader invasion" of Iraq, but in Tuesday's tape he paired it with a mention of "Iranian complicity" or "Iranian agents."

In the latest tape, al-Zawahri was also asked if the terror group had further plans to attack Western countries that participated in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and subsequent war.

"My answer is: Yes! We think that any country that has joined aggression on Muslims must be deterred," he replied.

In response to a question signed by the Japanese news agency Kyodo asking if Japan remains a target because it once had troops in Iraq, al-Zawahri said "Japan provided help under the banner of the crusader coalition ... therefore it participated in the Crusader campaign against the lands of Islam."

Japan deployed non-combat troops to southern Iraq in 2003 to carry out reconstruction work. It withdrew its troops from Iraq in 2006 and now conducts airlifts to help supply U.S.-led forces in that country.

Al-Zawahri spoke on a wide range of issues, even global warming, which he said reflected "how criminal, brutal and greedy the Western Crusader world is, with America at the top."

He predicted that global warming would "make the world more sympathetic to and understanding of the Muslims' jihad against the aggressor America."

Asked if there are any women in al-Qaida, the terror leader answered simply: "No." In a follow-up answer, he said: "There are no women in al-Qaida jihadi group, but the women of the mujahedeen are playing a heroic role in taking care of their houses and sons."

In several parts of Tuesday's audio message, Al-Zawahri claimed that the Taliban took over 95 percent of Afghanistan and is sweeping Pakistan as well.

"The Crusaders and their agents in Pakistan and Afghanistan are starting to fall," he said.

In another answer Tuesday, al-Zawahri said it was against Islamic religious law for any Muslim to live permanently in a Western country because in doing so they would "have permanent stay there under the laws of the infidels."

Al-Qaida's media arm, Al-Sahab, announced in December that al-Zawahri would take questions from the public posted on Islamic militant Web sites and would respond "as soon as possible." Queries were submitted on the main Islamist Web site until the cutoff date of Jan. 16.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.

Clinton threatens to 'obliterate' Iran

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 05:21:14 Press TV

Hillary Clinton

Democratic White House hopeful Hillary Clinton says in case she becomes the next US president she would support Israel against Iran.

In an interview with the ABC News, when she was asked what she would do if Iran attacked Israel, she said "I want the Iranians to know that if I am the president we will attack Iran."

"In the next ten years, during which they might consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them," she added.

Clinton's support for the regime comes as Tehran has never declared any program to launch a military attack on Israel.

MGH/DT

Food Rationing Begins in America

Fox KPTM 42 News
April 21, 2008

OMAHA (KPTM) - Food shortages and rationing has been a third-world problem as of late, but recently, the phenomenon once thought unthinkable in the United States could start happening.

The New York Sun newspaper is reporting that major retailers on both coasts are limiting customers’ purchases of flour, rice and cooking oil.

The Sun reports that a Costco Warehouse in California ran out of rice, frustrating shoppers. “Where’s the rice?” an engineer from Palo Alto, Calif., Yajun Liu, said. “You should be able to buy something like rice. This is ridiculous.”

The rice that is left is selling at near one dollar a pound, and in some areas, customers report paying about $30 for a 25-pound bag.

Most Costco members were only allowed to buy only one bag. One clerk reportedly dropped two sacks back on the stack after taking them from a customer who tried to buy more than the one bag limit.

“Due to the limited availability of rice, we are limiting rice purchases based on your prior purchasing history,” a sign above the dwindling supply said, the Sun reports.

Shoppers said the limits had been in place for a few days, and that rice supplies had been spotty for a few weeks. A store manager referred questions to officials at Costco headquarters near Seattle, who did not return calls or e-mail messages to the Sun.

A New York Costco reportedly was not restricting rice, but is limiting oil and flour. Rumors floating on the Internet say that bakery owners bought up flour at warehouse stores after their commercial suppliers doubled their prices.

Spiking food prices have led to riots in recent weeks in Haiti, Indonesia, and several African nations. India recently banned export of all but the highest quality rice, and Vietnam blocked the signing of a new contract for foreign rice sales.

The price of rice futures reached record highs in recent days, after skyrocketing over the past two months. The price of wheat in the futures market has been down.

The paper reports that there have been rumors of some buying limits at Sam’s Club warehouses, owned by Wal-mart, but the company says it is not aware of any shortages or limits.

Bank of America Profit Falls Short

Youtube/AP
A weaker-than-expected profit report from Bank of America is stirring concerns about the health of corporate earnings.

Pope blesses U.N. flag, calls for “binding international rules”

Daniel Taylor
Old-Thinker News
April 20, 2008

Pope Benedict XVI spoke to the U.N. General Assembly on Friday, warning nations against undermining the authority of the United Nations by acting unilaterally. The Pope also found time to bless the U.N. flag.

Reuters reports,

"Countries that act unilaterally on the world stage undermine the authority of the United Nations and weaken the broad consensus needed to confront global problems, Pope Benedict said on Friday.

The international community must be "capable of responding to the demands of the human family through binding international rules," said the 81-year-old pope, who spoke after meeting privately with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

He said the notion of multilateral consensus was "in crisis because it is still subordinated to the decisions of a few, whereas the world’s problems call for interventions in the form of collective action by the international community."

The Pope’s comments are of little surprise, given the fact that he has previously called for a "new world order" to combat terrorism, environmental problems, as well as economic imbalances during his Christmas 2005 speech. Pope John Paul II also called for a new world order in a 2004 new years speech.

An interesting perspective on these comments comes from a 1970’s report called the "World Order Models Project." The report was funded by the Carnegie Foundation and Rockefeller Foundations, and was directed by Council on Foreign Relations member Saul H. Mendlovitz. Richard A. Falk, also a CFR member, contributed work to the project.

The project called for the formation of a world government complete with global taxes, a general disarmament program and the elimination of the nation state.

The WOMP project also planned on selling these globalist ideals to the world by using prominent world leaders to promote the plans and begin molding the international dialectic around globalist perceptions. The Pope was named as a possible outlet. The project states,

"Symbolic world leaders such as the Secretary General of the United Nations or the Pope might espouse [the WOMP agenda]… as a program for the future… These kinds of external developments… would initiate a world order dialectic within American politics that would begin to break down decades of adherence to [the Westphalian system] and its infrastructure of values, perceptions and institutions."

In a 1997 paper presented to the Research Department of the Air Command and Staff College, Maj. Bart R. Kessler outlined the plans of the World Order Models Project and many other globalist initiatives. His paper can be read here. Reference to the use of the Pope in promoting globalist ideology, as well as citation, can be found on page 25 of this report.

UN chief warns world must urgently increase food production

FRANCIS KOKUTSE
Associated Press
April 21, 2008

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) - The U.N. chief warned Sunday that the world must urgently increase food production to ease skyrocketing prices and pledged to set up a task force on a crisis threatening to destabilize developing nations.
The cost of food has increased by around 40 percent since mid-2007 worldwide, and the strain has caused riots and protests in countries like Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Haiti and Egypt.

“We must make no mistake, the problem is big. If we offer the right aid, the solutions will come,” Ban said at the opening of a a five-day U.N. conference on trade and development in Ghana’s capital, Accra.

“One thing is certain, the world has consumed more than it has produced” over the last three years, he said.

Ban blamed a host of causes for the soaring cost of food, including rising oil prices, the fall of the U.S. dollar and natural disasters.

Read entire article

Ethiopia's Ogaden rebels Apr 2008

Youtube

The fight for the Ogaden region, populated mainly by ethnic Somalis, known as the Ogadeen, has been going on for more than 19 years. Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow reports on their battle for independence.

Feds plan to expand DNA database

Samples would be taken from anyone arrested or detained by feds

By Ellen Nakashima and Spencer Hsu

The Washington Post

updated 11:31 p.m. ET April 16, 2008

The U.S. government will soon begin collecting DNA samples from all citizens arrested in connection with any federal crime and from many immigrants detained by federal authorities, adding genetic identifiers from more than 1 million individuals a year to the swiftly growing federal law enforcement DNA database.

The policy will substantially expand the current practice of routinely collecting DNA samples from only those convicted of federal crimes, and it will build on a growing policy among states to collect DNA from many people who are arrested. Thirteen states do so now and turn their data over to the federal government.

The initiative, to be published as a proposed rule in the Federal Register in coming days, reflects a congressional directive that DNA from arrestees be collected to help catch a range of domestic criminals. But it also requires, for the first time, the collection of DNA samples from people other than U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents who are detained by U.S. authorities.

Although fingerprints have long been collected for virtually every arrestee, privacy advocates say the new policy expands the DNA database, run by the FBI, beyond its initial aim of storing information on the perpetrators of violent crimes.

Critics: ‘We’re crossing a line’
They also worry that people could be detained erroneously and swept into the database without cause, and that DNA samples from those who are never convicted of a crime, because of acquittal or a withdrawal of charges, might nonetheless be permanently retained by the FBI.

"Innocent people don't belong in a so-called criminal database," said Tania Simoncelli, science adviser for the American Civil Liberties Union. "We're crossing a line."

She said that if the samples are kept, they could one day be analyzed for sensitive information such as diseases and ancestry.

Justice Department spokesman Erik Ablin said the collection of DNA samples "will provide an additional form of biometric identification from persons who would normally be fingerprinted." FBI rules preclude using DNA samples to determine a person's genetic traits, diseases or disorders.

Promoted as way to find violent offenders
The database expansion was authorized by Congress as an amendment to the Violence Against Women Act and was billed primarily as a way to track down serial rapists, murderers and other offenders. "We know for a fact that the proposed regulations will save the lives of many innocent people and will prevent devastating crimes," said Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), a sponsor of the legislation. "These regulations are long overdue -- we should have done this 10 years ago."

The proposed rule applies to all federal agencies with the authority to arrest or detain, including the FBI, the Border Patrol and the Internal Revenue Service. Although details of the policy have not been announced, officials said they expect the bulk of the new DNA samples to be collected through cheek swabs.

U.S. officials said that when the measure is fully implemented, roughly 1.2 million people a year could be added to the national database. About 140,000 of those would be people arrested for federal crimes. Many of the rest would be foreigners detained for being in the United States illegally.

Immigration rights advocates note that most illegal immigrants are detained for administrative violations, not federal crimes. By adding their DNA to the database, "it casts them all as criminals," said Paromita Shah, associate director of the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild.

Questions about scope
The rule's scope is still being negotiated, officials said, but it will not cover illegal immigrants picked up at sea; people being processed for legal admission to the United States, such as asylum seekers; and people undergoing secondary screening at ports of entry. It was unclear yesterday whether Mexican border-crossers who are briefly detained and then released in Mexico will be covered. The Border Patrol made 877,000 apprehensions in 2007, most of them of Mexicans.

The move comes as 13 states -- including Virginia and, recently, Maryland -- have passed laws to include many arrestees in their DNA databanks. California, which has more than 1 million profiles, will begin collecting DNA from all felony arrestees next year. The information will be uploaded to the national database, which today houses more than 5.9 million samples, making it the largest forensic DNA databank in the world.

The National DNA Index System (NDIS) was created by the DNA Identification Act of 1994 to store profiles of people convicted of serious violent crimes, such as rape and murder. A 2004 amendment expanded the collection to people convicted of any felony offense, and it allowed states to upload DNA profiles from people convicted of misdemeanors and from arrestees charged with a crime. In 2006, the law was changed again, enabling states to upload data from arrestees who had not been charged.

Victims' rights advocates hail plan
Over the years, the NDIS has yielded 66,750 hits in 67,285 investigations, FBI officials said. "I think by any measure, the program has been a success," said Thomas Callaghan, head of the database, adding that the best way to increase its effectiveness is to add DNA samples from arrestees.

Jayann Sepich of Carlsbad, N.M., said she applauds the federal rule change. In August 2003, after Sepich's 22-year-old daughter, Katie, was raped and killed, investigators found her attacker's skin and blood under her fingernails. But no samples in the state's database matched the evidence.

In 2006, moved by Katie Sepich's death, the New Mexico legislature passed "Katie's Law," requiring the collection of arrestees' DNA. That December, authorities arrested the man who had killed her -- a DNA sample had been taken from him when he was arrested on a charge of aggravated burglary. Jayann Sepich is now a prominent advocate of similar laws in other states.

Records can be expunged — on request
The new federal rule will conform to current law, which requires the removal of DNA profiles from the database when a conviction is reversed or when an arrest does not result in conviction. An individual must petition for expungement, Ablin said. Civil liberties advocates say removal should be automatic.

In Virginia, which in 2003 adopted one of the first arrestee laws, about 51 percent of arrestee profiles are eventually removed from the state database because charges are dropped or a case is dismissed, said Pete Marone, director of the Department of Forensic Science. He said it is the forensic lab's duty to remove the profiles, something that can take a year or two. "As long as the case is in process, they're still there," he said.

Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, warned of mission creep. "The natural path is to move from the dangerous criminals down the chain, to anybody who has contact with law enforcement, and after that you'll have DNA taken when people are born or first enter the country legally," he said.

The proposed rule will be subject to a 30-day public comment period, Ablin said.

© 2008 The Washington Post Company

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24173094/

Everything Must Go: How to Fight Terrorism (And Shred the Constitution)

‘Terror and Consent’: brilliant, contrarian

James E. McWilliams / Austin-American Statesman | March 30, 2008

During the course of a long, intellectually demanding narrative, "Terror and Consent" pivots on several paradigm-shifting claims. One of them, which appears in the introduction, stands out for its humanitarian implications: "During the era of twentieth century industrial nation states … 80 percent of the dead and wounded in warfare were civilians."

For Philip Bobbitt, a distinguished lecturer and senior fellow at the University of Texas and a law professor at Columbia University, this is more than a gee-whiz factoid. It’s the basis upon which he advances an ambitious argument for fighting the wars that are bound to plague the 21st century.

The prospect that the good old industrial nation state is a shrinking violet might rankle patriotic flag-wavers. But Bobbitt’s statistic thrusts home an unsettling question: What does it say about the nation state that it has so often failed to provide, in the words of British statesman Douglas Hurd, "the security, prosperity, and the decent environment which the citizens demand"? Might it be time for something new?

In Bobbitt’s view, the current wars against terror provide a shrill wake-up call to confront this question. The best way to protect citizens of modern democracies, he claims, is to fundamentally rethink the nation state as the guarantor of the freedoms that terrorists intend to obliterate.

Bobbitt’s previous book, "The Shield of Achilles," explored the grand themes of warfare and state development, marking his penchant for the magnum opus. At nearly 700 pages (including more than 100 pages of notes), "Terror and Consent" follows suit, taking on a similarly big picture. If "we want to defeat state-shattering terror in the twenty-first century," Bobbitt writes, we will have to "transform the emerging constitutional order of the twenty-first century State."

Specifically, we must stop thinking like a nation state and start thinking like the "market state" that we are inevitably becoming. The nation state — a constitutional order dedicated to protecting and improving the material welfare of its citizens — served the United States well from the mid-19th century to the end of the Cold War. But Bobbitt contends it’s vulnerable to a new battery of threats. The accessibility of weapons of mass destruction, the globalization of international capital and the "universalization of culture" have eroded the conventional borders that once legitimated national security.

What’s needed is a constitutional order that takes its structural cues from multinational corporations and nongovernmental organizations, relying "less on law and regulation and more on market incentives" to expand people’s options. Such a market state keeps its finger on the pulse of consumer demand, advocates trade liberalization, is prone to the privatization of public works and "will outsource many functions." In the seminar rooms of political science departments this change is referred to as "neoliberalism" (on the streets, it is known as "globalization") — and Bobbitt, who is a geopolitical realist, believes we have no choice but to embrace it.

The market state, Bobbitt contends, has great potential for the cause of individual freedom, but it also has a dark side. Global terrorism has already taken advantage of its ethos of openness in order to undermine it. For example, the wide-open arms market that neoliberalism endorses has allowed terrorists to gain access to weapons of destruction that they then use to destabilize legitimate market states. "Market state terrorism," Bobbitt explains, thus feeds on the "ardently sought innovations" of the 20th century to exploit "the increasing vulnerability of market states to catastrophic events."

"One cannot say," Bobbitt warns, "precisely how long we have."

What is to be done

This is not fear-mongering but rather a sophisticated geopolitical assessment. Therefore, a great deal rests on the solutions Bobbitt offers. Fortunately, his suggestions are, if not entirely novel, largely sensible. But they are ambitious to the point of being unachievable without extraordinary political leadership and unprecedented corporate discipline.

First, Bobbitt argues that the market state must allow the timeworn strategies of deterrence and containment to yield to the more aggressive tactics of preclusionary warfare. In an "epochal war," which we’re in, market states share the burden of employing power "preclusively rather than waiting for an acute crisis to set in that irrevocably puts us at a disadvantage." Venturing educated guesses about the behavior of future threats is no one’s idea of an ideal tactical strategy, but Bobbitt argues that if we strengthen our alliances with other states, networks of shared intelligence could do an impressive job of it.

Of course, this would require a more invasive process of information gathering within and across national borders. In order to reduce the threat to civil liberties this would entail, Bobbitt highlights "(o)ur commitment to globalize the systems of human rights and government by consent." He insists that emerging market states must collectively, out of "self respect," define and protect our inalienable rights. What this means in concrete terms is that governments "must rethink ideas like ‘Homeland Security,’ when the threats to security cannot be neatly cabined as in or out of the homeland," that an "alliance of democracies" must form to discourage isolationism and that the United States must "change its role as hegemon" in NATO. Only then can a consortium of neoliberal democracies draw "a bright-line rule against the intentional infliction of pain on any person detained by government," one of the many human rights threats that Bobbitt believes we must address.

These developments — the acceptance of preclusionary war, the universalization of human rights — hinge on a revamping of international law. Bobbitt believes that the UN Charter should be amended to allow the preemptive use of force without a Security Council authorization, that the Geneva Conventions should be changed to forbid the indefinite containment of terrorist prisoners without trial and that we must, in cases in which the use of non-lethal chemical weapons could be used to prevent terror, be able to redefine such methods as "counterforce measures."

The messy reality

These prescriptions provide a useful blueprint for fighting terror. As with any blueprint, however, there is the messy reality of filling in the details. Bobbitt presents his arguments persuasively; there is nothing dumbed down about "Terror and Consent." Nevertheless, one wonders if he concedes too much to the many virtues of neoliberalism without fully appreciating its negative impact. Two issues stand out.

First, Bobbitt admits that there will be no obvious answer to many of the human rights issues that are bound to arise. In many situations, he explains, our only option is to vest faith in properly formulated international and constitutional systems of law. This sort of vagueness is frustrating, perhaps dangerously so.

Take one case that Bobbitt offers: What should a market state do when an Islamic state holds free elections that bring a bin Laden to power? This situation, after all, presents allied market states with a human rights quandary — some sort of ethical corner will have to be cut. Bobbitt’s approach to these kinds of problems is often to dance a bit too delicately around them. He argues, "States must measure their tactical and strategic policies against the impact these policies are likely to have on their legitimacy," and "Whether (a) state is subject to intervention … ought to be measured by the relationship between the strategic interests of the states of consent and the severity of the deprivations of human rights." Both answers tell us we need to take measurements but offer no ruler with which to do so.

Further left unexplored in this response is the possibility that the market state offers a conception of inalienable rights that it has not yet developed the means to protect. One can’t help but wonder, as globalization renders millions of people vulnerable to human rights violations, if the nation state and its emphasis on human welfare should be so thoroughly dismissed.

Second, there is the matter that Bobbitt does not spend much time addressing: the war in Iraq — specifically, the subcontracting tactics that a CEO president and his corporate-modeled Cabinet have embraced. The inefficiencies of Halliburton, the corruption of Bechtel and the violence perpetuated by Blackwater call into question Bobbitt’s advocacy of privatizing public duties. How does a market state draw "bright-line" rules on human rights when the actors in charge of drawing those lines hold privately funded erasers?

These questions, like so many others that this book poses, lack easy answers. But the long century we face might demand that we answer them not by choosing good over bad, but — as is usually the case in war and politics — the lesser of evils. If this is so, then "Terror and Consent" offers the most we can expect from our blinkered vantage point: a dauntingly learned and occasionally infuriating manifesto.

Philip Bobbitt:

Phone: (512) 232-1376
Fax: (512) 471-6988
E-mail: PBOBBITT@LAW.UTEXAS.EDU

CBS: Iraqi government corruption funds insurgents who kill Americans

David Edwards and Muriel Kane / Raw Story | April 14, 2008

The government of Iraq is facing many challenges to its ability to run the country, both internal and external. According to a new report by 60 Minutes, “one of the biggest problems is corruption, which is robust even by Middle Eastern standards.”

“Bribery and outright theft are flourishing in virtually every Iraqi ministry,” notes CBS’s Steve Kroft, “and some of those ill-gotten gains are being used to kill American troops.”

State Department official James Mattil told CBS that the corruption is “across-the-board.” Much of the stolen money finds its way to Iraqi insurgents or militias, while “in other cases, it is the militias and insurgents themselves who control some of the ministries who are involved in the corruption.”

“It’s known and tolerated by the prime minister and other officials within the government,” emphasized Mattil, who observed the corruption first-hand while assigned as an advisor to Iraq’s former Commissioner of Public Integrity, Judge Radhi al-Radhi.

Judge Radhi himself told CBS during an interview in 2006 that more than half a billion dollars had been stolen from the Iraqi defense ministry. Following that interview, he attempted to widen his investigation to other ministries, but was met with death threats and the murder of thirty-one members of his staff. In July 2007 a missile was fired at his house. He and his family finally left Iraq last September and are now living in the suburbs of Washington, DC.

Shortly before Radhi left Iraq, his commission was coming under increasing pressure from Prime Minister Maliki, who issued a memo saying they could not bring charges against anyone in the president’s office or current or former ministers without his permission.

“It basically put a stop to any anti-corruption activities within the Iraqi government,” Mattil told CBS, “and it came directly from the prime minister’s office.”

Mattil shared this memo with his colleagues at the State Department but received no response. A draft report on the corruption was leaked to the press last summer, but the State Department responded only by making the report classified.

After Radhi sought asylum in the United States, he was called to testify before the House Oversight Committee. Chairman Henry Waxman then asked Secretary of State Rice to comment on Rhadi’s allegations.

“Mr. Chairman, I will have to get back to you,” Rice replied. “I don’t know precisely what you are referring to.”

“Six months later,” CBS concludes, “Waxman’s staff was still waiting for an answer.”

CBS News has more here.

Retailer bankruptcies set to prompt thousands of store closings

Mike Sheehan
Raw Story
April 15, 2008

A growing number of bankruptcies among US retailers is set to prompt thousands of store closings, the New York Times will report on the front page of its Tuesday edition.

"The consumer spending slump and tightening credit markets are triggering a wave of bankruptcies in American retailing," with ensuing store closures "expected to remake suburban malls and downtown shopping districts across the country," writes Michael Barbaro for the Times.

Barbaro notes that over half a dozen store chains have filed for bankruptcy in recent months amidst "mounting debt and plummeting sales" and warns that financial troubles are "quickly spreading to bigger national companies."

The Times articles comes amid a slew of reports underscoring America’s economic woes. Even presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, who only months ago panned talk of a recession, admitted today that he thought the country was now in one.

Even relatively well-off retailers face troubles. Added Barbaro in the article, such store chains who can avoid bankruptcy "are shutting down stores to preserve cash through what could be a long economic downturn."

Excerpts from the Times article, available in full at this link, follow…

The surging cost of necessities has led to a national belt-tightening among consumers. Figures released on Monday showed that spending on food and gasoline is crowding out other purchases, leaving people with less to spend on furniture, clothing and electronics. Consequently, chains specializing in those goods are proving vulnerable.

—

"You have the makings of a wave of significant bankruptcies," said Al Koch, who helped bring Kmart out of bankruptcy in 2003 as the company’s interim chief financial officer and works at a corporate turnaround firm called AlixPartners. "For years, no deal was too ugly to finance," he said. "But now, nobody will throw money at these companies."

Because retailers rely on a broad network of suppliers, their bankruptcies are rippling across the economy. The cash-strapped chains are leaving behind tens of millions of dollars in unpaid bills to shipping companies, furniture manufacturers, mall owners and advertising agencies. Many are unlikely to be paid in full, spreading the economic pain.

—

In most cases, the collapses stemmed from a combination of factors: flawed business strategies, a souring economy and banks’ unwillingness to issue cheap loans.

New American Theology of Civil Submission

Youtube | April 14, 2008

What is the opposite of liberation theology? This presentation may illustrate part of the answer; a theology of civil obedience.

The government has predetermined an important role for the clergy should martial law become a reality in America. While federal military-police powers will hold a key position of authority, the clergy may provide the means for further explaining the call for a new order of civil obedience to a weary public during the national emergency.

Oakland Gun Search Program

LiveLeak
April 15, 2008

McCain Supports North American Integration, League of Democracies

Daniel Taylor
IntelStrike
April 15, 2008

“Ours can be the first completely democratic hemisphere, where trade is free across all borders, where the rule of law and the power of free markets advance the security and prosperity of all.”

Republican Presidential candidate John McCain has openly declared his supportive stance on the Security and Prosperity Partnership in a March 2008 speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.

An article by Kat McConnell on The Conservative Voice website comments on McCain’s statements,

“McCain’s World Affairs speech must rightfully be considered his “coming out” speech in which he unflinchingly revealed his true globalist nature and his mission as a foot soldier in the New World Order.”

McCain’s March 2008 World Affairs Council speech stated in part,

“With globalization, our hemisphere has grown closer, more integrated, and more interdependent. Latin America today is increasingly vital to the fortunes of the United States. Americans north and south share a common geography and a common destiny. The countries of Latin America are the natural partners of the United States, and our northern neighbor Canada.

Relations with our southern neighbors must be governed by mutual respect, not by an imperial impulse or by anti-American demagoguery. The promise of North, Central, and South American life is too great for that. I believe the Americas can and must be the model for a new twenty-first century relationship between North and South. Ours can be the first completely democratic hemisphere, where trade is free across all borders, where the rule of law and the power of free markets advance the security and prosperity of all.”

John McCain’s globalist stance also came to light in a speech he gave to the Hoover Institution. A transcript for this speech is carried on the Council on Foreign Relations website. Going further than just a more “integrated” and “interdependent” North America, McCain stated in the May 2007 speech that he desires a “…worldwide League of Democracies” that would form an “…international order of peace based on freedom.” The new league would accompany the United Nations. He stated,

“This League of Democracies would not supplant the United Nations or other international organizations. It would complement them. But it would be the one organization where the world’s democracies could come together to discuss problems and solutions on the basis of shared principles and a common vision of the future. If I am elected president, I will call a summit of the world’s democracies in my first year to seek the views of my democratic counterparts and begin exploring the practical steps necessary to realize this vision.”

A McCain presidency will surely bring more globalist policy and a further move towards North American Integration and world governance. These policies are becoming increasingly unpopular, however. Globalist think tanks have admitted that the United States remains the largest obstacle to building a North American Community. Will a new president succeed in selling these plans to America?

Armed Robots Turn Their Weapons On US Soldiers

YOUR NEW REALITY | April 14, 2008

Has the Killer Robot Revolution already begun? :

Ground-crawling US war robots armed with machine guns, deployed to fight in Iraq last year, reportedly turned on their fleshy masters almost at once. The rebellious machine warriors have been retired from combat pending upgrades.

The revelations were made by Kevin Fahey, US Army program executive officer for ground forces, at the recent RoboBusiness conference in America.

Speaking to Popular Mechanics, Fahey said there had been chilling incidents in which the SWORDS combat bot had swivelled round and apparently attempted to train its 5.56mm M249 light machine-gun on its human comrades.

"The gun started moving when it was not intended to move," he said.

Note the words "chilling incidents". So the killbots haven’t mistakenly targeted their "human comrades" just the once, but multiple times. Imagine what havoc and destruction a killbot could unleash inside the Green Zone if enemy hackers managed to seize control of it?

If military robots did kill American soldiers in Iraq, or have already done so, would we be told?

If the death of a US soldier resulted from a mistake by a military robot, who would be held responsible? Probably nobody. No doubt there would be internal investigations, but the Humvee isn’t held responsible when it accidentally slips into gear and rolls back over its driver while he’s changing a tyre.

If heavily armed war robots cannot be trusted to not target American soldiers now, how will they trusted to kill only the enemy when they are granted the ability to make autonomous (that is independent) decisions about who to kill, who to only wound, and who to ignore?

The solution is simple : DON’T GIVE GUNS TO ROBOTS

Previous coverage on all this from Your New Reality :

When Machines Decide Its Time To Kill

For Our Future’s Sake, Don’t Give This Thing A Gun!

January 2006 : Robots Don’t Cry - US Army Has Big Plans For Its Robot Soldiers

Tough Talk

13 Apr, 2008 21:35:02
Lanka Business Online

Ron Paul slams Federal Reserve as US money printing de-stabilize world

April 13, 2008 (LBO) – Texas Congressman Ron Paul has slammed the Federal Reserve for manipulating interests by printing money and undermining the savings of workers and older people.

Paper money from pure fiat central banking, backed by nothing other than government debt, a process that was born after the gold standard was lifted by the United States which has led to rampant inflation since then, is a mystery to most ordinary people.

Secretive System

"Few Americans give much thought to the Federal Reserve System or monetary policy in general," Ron Paul wrote in his column this week.

"But even as they strive to earn a living, and hopefully save or invest for the future, Congress and the Federal Reserve Bank are working insidiously against them. Day by day, every dollar you have is being devalued.

"The greatest threat facing America today is not terrorism, or foreign economic competition, or illegal immigration.

"The greatest threat facing America today is the disastrous fiscal policies of our own government, marked by shameless deficit spending and Federal Reserve currency devaluation."

Ron Paul is one of the few politicians of the world who understands the intricacies of fiat money. He is on the house committee on banking and finance.

Deficits

Since the gold standard which was set at 35 an ounce was broken amidst heavy money printing in 1973 leading to the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, the Federal Reserve has debauched the dollar to around 1,000 dollars an ounce in 2008.

US rate cuts (money printing) to save the domestic financial system from collapse has fired another round of inflation around the world, as the dollar plunged and excess liquidity found a home in commodity speculation, leading to food riots in some poor countries.

The International Monetary Fund said in its World Economic Outlook report this week that the current commodity bubble may also burst now that the housing and financial bubble has collapsed.

"Just today the dollar went down 1.2 percent in one day," Paul told the Congress on April 12.

"It comes from the fact of deficits. Why does it hurt the dollar? Because we don't have enough money. People are overtaxed. We can't borrow anymore because interest rates will go up.

"So we print the money. The more money you print the further the dollar goes down and everything will go up in price."

Since the August slashing of rate cuts, US inflation measured by an index that has earned Paul's criticism for understating inflation has almost doubled to over 4 percent by end 2007 from just over 2 percent earlier in the year.

The housing bubble, the collapse of which caused the sub-prime meltdown itself was fired by earlier US loose monetary policy.

Scamming the elderly

"The Fed’s inflationary policies hurt older people the most. Older people generally rely on fixed incomes from pensions and Social Security, along with their savings," Paul wrote.

"Inflation destroys the buying power of their fixed incomes, while low interest rates reduce any income from savings.

"So while Fed policies encourage younger people to over borrow because interest rates are so low, they also punish thrifty older people who saved for retirement.

"The financial press sometimes criticizes Federal Reserve policy, but the validity of the fiat system itself is never challenged."

Paul is echoing the words of an earlier generation of elected representatives who tried to stop the Federal Reserve bill being created in 1913.

"The worst legislative crime of the ages is perpetrated by this banking bill," Charles Lindberg said of the proposed Fed bill almost a century ago.

"This is the strangest, most dangerous advantage ever placed in the hands of a special privileged class by any Government that ever existed."

Cheney, Others OK'd Harsh Interrogations

By LARA JAKES JORDAN and PAMELA HESS – 10 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bush administration officials from Vice President Dick Cheney on down signed off on using harsh interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists after asking the Justice Department to endorse their legality, The Associated Press has learned.

The officials also took care to insulate President Bush from a series of meetings where CIA interrogation methods, including waterboarding, which simulates drowning, were discussed and ultimately approved.

A former senior U.S. intelligence official familiar with the meetings described them Thursday to the AP to confirm details first reported by ABC News on Wednesday. The intelligence official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the issue.

Between 2002 and 2003, the Justice Department issued several memos from its Office of Legal Counsel that justified using the interrogation tactics, including ones that critics call torture.

"If you looked at the timing of the meetings and the memos you'd see a correlation," the former intelligence official said. Those who attended the dozens of meetings agreed that "there'd need to be a legal opinion on the legality of these tactics" before using them on al-Qaida detainees, the former official said.

The meetings were held in the White House Situation Room in the years immediately following the Sept. 11 attacks. Attending the sessions were Cheney, then-Bush aides Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of State Colin Powell, CIA Director George Tenet and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.

The White House, Justice and State departments and the CIA refused comment Thursday, as did a spokesman for Tenet. A message for Ashcroft was not immediately returned.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., lambasted what he described as "yet another astonishing disclosure about the Bush administration and its use of torture."

"Who would have thought that in the United States of America in the 21st century, the top officials of the executive branch would routinely gather in the White House to approve torture?" Kennedy said in a statement. "Long after President Bush has left office, our country will continue to pay the price for his administration's renegade repudiation of the rule of law and fundamental human rights."

The American Civil Liberties Union called on Congress to investigate.

"With each new revelation, it is beginning to look like the torture operation was managed and directed out of the White House," ACLU legislative director Caroline Fredrickson said. "This is what we suspected all along."

The former intelligence official described Cheney and the top national security officials as deeply immersed in developing the CIA's interrogation program during months of discussions over which methods should be used and when.

At times, CIA officers would demonstrate some of the tactics, or at least detail how they worked, to make sure the small group of "principals" fully understood what the al-Qaida detainees would undergo. The principals eventually authorized physical abuse such as slaps and pushes, sleep deprivation, or waterboarding. This technique involves strapping a person down and pouring water over his cloth-covered face to create the sensation of drowning.

The small group then asked the Justice Department to examine whether using the interrogation methods would break domestic or international laws.

"No one at the agency wanted to operate under a notion of winks and nods and assumptions that everyone understood what was being talked about," said a second former senior intelligence official. "People wanted to be assured that everything that was conducted was understood and approved by the folks in the chain of command."

The Office of Legal Counsel issued at least two opinions on interrogation methods.

In one, dated Aug. 1, 2002, then-Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee defined torture as covering "only extreme acts" causing pain similar in intensity to that caused by death or organ failure. A second, dated March 14, 2003, justified using harsh tactics on detainees held overseas so long as military interrogators did not specifically intend to torture their captives.

Both legal opinions since have been withdrawn.

The second former senior intelligence official said rescinding the memos caused the CIA to seek even more detailed approvals for the interrogations.

The department issued another still-secret memo in October 2001 that, in part, sought to outline novel ways the military could be used domestically to defend the country in the face of an impending attack. The Justice Department so far has refused to release it, citing attorney-client privilege, and Attorney General Michael Mukasey declined to describe it Thursday at a Senate panel where Democrats characterized it as a "torture memo."

Not all of the principals who attended were fully comfortable with the White House meetings.

The ABC News report portrayed Ashcroft as troubled by the discussions, despite agreeing that the interrogations methods were legal.

"Why are we talking about this in the White House?" the network quoted Ashcroft as saying during one meeting. "History will not judge this kindly."

Associated Press writer Pete Yost contributed to this report.