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  November  2008

Trial Begins over California Prison Crowding  [11/19/08 ]  "Attorneys for the state and inmates' rights groups clashed Tuesday at the opening of a high-stakes trial over whether California's jam-packed prisons have led to unconstitutionally poor medical and mental health care. If the special panel of three federal judges rules against the state, another trial will be held next year to determine remedies. Possible solutions include an order to release inmates before they have completed their full sentences, a move opposed by the Schwarzenegger administration ..."  Related: Growing Inmate Population Is Boon to Private Prisons

Banker Manipulation Of Gold And Silver Prices Further Exposed   [11/19/08 ]  "Commodities experts are in agreement that the price of gold and silver is being manipulated by bankers and government officials in order to halt a mass abandonment of paper currencies and the debt based economy." 

 Most Subprime Lenders Weren’t Subject to U.S. Lending Law  [11/19/08 ]  " ... A Register analysis of more than 12 million subprime mortgages worth nearly $2 trillion shows that most of the lenders who made risky subprime loans were exempt from the Community Reinvestment Act. And many of the lenders covered by the law that did make subprime loans came late to that market – after smaller, unregulated players showed there was money to be made. Among our conclusions: Nearly $3 of every $4 in subprime loans made from 2004 through 2007 came from lenders who were exempt from the law ...."

Decorated U.S. Agent Arrested on Drug Charges      [11/19/08 ]  "Government officials say a decorated federal immigrations officer has been arrested on drug distribution charges. The officials tell The Associated Press that Special Agent Kevin Merkel is accused in a secret indictment of possession and intent to distribute crystal methamphetamine. They spoke on condition of anonymity because charges have not been unsealed. It is not clear if Merkel has been cooperating with authorities since his arrest ..."

China Passes Japan as Biggest U.S. Treasuries Holder    [11/19/08 ]  "China surpassed Japan in September to become the biggest foreign holder of U.S. Treasuries, as foreign investors sought the relative safety of government debt as stocks plunged 9.1 percent that month."

Cheney, Gonzales Indicted By South Texas Grand Jury   [11/18/08 ]  "A South Texas grand jury has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in Willacy County's federal detention centers. The indictment criticizes Cheney's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees by working through the prison companies. Gonzales is accused of using his position while in office to stop an investigation into abuses at the federal detention centers. Another indictment charges state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. with profiting from his public office by accepting honoraria from prison management companies."

Howard Zinn: “I Don’t Care” If 9/11 Was An Inside Job   [11/18/08 ]  "World renowned peace activist and left-wing anti-war icon Howard Zinn recently told an audience that he didn’t care if 9/11 was an inside job, echoing the disdainful and apathetic rhetoric of fellow liberal gatekeepers Noam Chomsky and Alexander Cockburn in dismissing the efforts of the 9/11 truth movement."

Obama [master of ambiguity] worries national security hawks   [11/18/08 ]  "One of Barack Obama's former University of Chicago colleagues, Rashid Khalidi, had this to say last spring about having a policy discussion on the Middle East with the president-elect: "You may come away thinking, 'Wow, he agrees with me.' But later, when you get home and think about it, you are not sure." It was noted more than once during the presidential campaign that Obama has a quality enabling all sorts of folks to project their aspirations on him. That has helped make him the most phenomenally successful politician in a generation. While artful ambiguity can work wonders in winning votes and political friends, it can make for trouble in the complex world of international relations ..."

The verdict is in   [11/18/08 ] Video  "Judge Andrew Napolitano discusses the Treasury’s new plans to buy stakes in the banks, rather than their original plan which was to purchase the toxic assets and how the Treasury Secretary’s actions are not constitutional. However, he doesn’t stop there." 

Top judge: US and UK acted as 'vigilantes' in Iraq invasion  [11/18/08 ]  "One of Britain's most authoritative judicial figures last night delivered a blistering attack on the invasion of Iraq, describing it as a serious violation of international law, and accusing Britain and the US of acting like a "world vigilante". Lord Bingham, in his first major speech since retiring as the senior law lord, rejected the then attorney general's defence of the 2003 invasion as fundamentally flawed. Contradicting head-on Lord Goldsmith's advice that the invasion was lawful, Bingham stated: "It was not plain that Iraq had failed to comply in a manner justifying resort to force and there were no strong factual grounds or hard evidence to show that it had." Adding his weight to the body of international legal opinion opposed to the invasion, Bingham said that to argue, as the British government had done, that Britain and the US could unilaterally decide that Iraq had broken UN resolutions "passes belief"."

Washington's handling of the bailout may well be illegal  [11/18/08 ]  "The more details emerge, the clearer it becomes that Washington's handling of the Wall Street bailout is not merely incompetent. It is borderline criminal. In a moment of high panic in late September, the U.S. Treasury unilaterally pushed through a radical change in how bank mergers are taxed -- a change long sought by the industry. Despite the fact that this move will deprive the government of as much as $140 billion in tax revenue, lawmakers found out only after the fact. According to the Washington Post, more than a dozen tax attorneys agree that "Treasury had no authority to issue the [tax change] notice."

Clinton to accept offer of secretary of state job  [11/18/08 ]  No surprise there. These people are addicted to power and control.

Sopranos actor Brancato goes on trial for killing of police officer  [11/18/08 ]  "Lillo Brancato made a name for himself playing mob characters on the small and big screen. With his Italian New York upbringing, and an uncanny ability to imitate the tough dialect of local crime families, he was recruited to play opposite Robert De Niro and appeared in six episodes of the TV series the Sopranos as a wannabe mobster who was killed before he could achieve his dreams. Now Brancato's own ambitions face extinction as he goes on trial for the second degree murder of a police officer in 2005. Brancato is alleged to have been involved in a bungled robbery in search of prescription drugs, in which his accomplice, Steven Armento, shot the officer at close range."

[Lack of Intelligence] Policy to Stay Largely Intact  [11/17/08 ]  "Barack Obama is unlikely to radically overhaul controversial Bush administration intelligence policies, advisers say, an approach that is almost certain to create tension within the Democratic Party."

UK: PM Gordon Brown Pushes Harvesting of Organs of Population By Presumed Consent  [11/17/08 ]  "Gordon Brown is not ruling out a change in the law on organ donation even though a panel of experts has rejected the idea of "presumed consent". Note: I get the image of a bunch of lizards waving livers over their heads.

Brazilian Trader Shoots Himself On Exchange Floor  [11/17/08 ]  "Paulo Sergio Silva, 36, a trader for the brokerage arm of Brazilian banking giant Itau, shot himself in the chest during the afternoon trading session, the exchange said, and hospital staff said he was in critical condition." 

Iraq Dismisses Oversight Officials Despite Soaring Corruption  [11/17/08 ] "The government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is systematically dismissing oversight officials who were installed to fight corruption in Iraqi ministries by order of the American occupation administration, which had hoped to bring Western standards of accountability to the notoriously opaque and graft-ridden bureaucracy here ..." 

UK: Police officers stay in jobs despite serious convictions  [11/17/08 ] "Dozens of officers at a single force are patrolling the streets despite convictions for gun crimes, actual bodily harm, theft and other offences."

Panel finds widespread Gulf War illness  [11/17/08 ] "The extensive body of scientific research now available consistently indicates that ’Gulf War illness’ is real, that it is the result of neurotoxic exposures during Gulf War deployment, and that few veterans have recovered or substantially improved with time,” said the report, being released Monday by a panel of scientists and veterans."

Palin Book Deal Said To Be Worth $7 Million [To The Neurologically Impaired]  [11/17/08 ] "She failed to save John McCain from presidential election doom, but Sarah Palin, the Republican senator's controversial running mate, may yet emerge as the savior of the American publishing industry. Literary agents are queuing up to sign her to a book deal that could earn her up to $7m ..."

G20 heads set rescue deadline  [11/17/08 ] "World leaders in the US have set an end of March deadline for concrete proposals on tightening global financial regulation and oversight while boosting market transparency. The heads of state and government from the world's 20 largest economies are to task their finance ministers with drawing up a series of proposals and recommendations to be put forward by March 31, a source close to the G20 talks said."  Related: Financial Meltdown Summit Featured Lavish Dinner Menu, $300 Bottles of Wine | G-20 Meets, Dines in DC, Does Nothing to Save the World Economy

Things are not going the US’s way   [11/17/08 ] "Nothing much is going right for the US these days. Leaving aside the troubles with its financial system..."

Secret Directed-Energy Tech Protecting the President?  [11/16/08 ] "The Secret Service is tasked with protecting the President of the United States from assailants; and given that President-elect Obama has already been the target of assassination plots they may have their work cut out after January. But they have more than earpiece radios and armored limos to help them; the Secret Service can call on the very latest technology. Documents from a recent court case indicate that they have advanced directed-energy devices which are highly classified." 

Justice department flooded with requests for pardons and commutations  [11/16/08 ] "The Justice department is getting flooded with a new wave of requests for pardons and commutations from convicted felons hoping for clemency from President Bush before he leaves office. A number of politically connected Washington lawyers have been retained to push the cases, but there are few signs that Bush will be open to anything resembling the last minute "pardon party" that marked President Clinton's final days in office. Bush has taken a stingy stand on pardons, granting fewer of them—just 157, and none of them high profile—than any president in modern history. He has directed all hopefuls to submit applications to the Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney, which evaluates all requests using strict, longstanding guidelines, including a requirement that applicants have finished serving their sentences and expressed remorse. The office received a record 555 pardon requests during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 and an additional 103 in the past month."

Anti-Prop. 8 Protests Spread Across the Country  [11/16/08 ]  Justifiable resistance to group manipulation of people's lives.

Bill Clinton's Foreign Deals May Pose Issue For Hillary Clinton As Secretary Of State  [11/16/08 ] "Former President Bill Clinton's globe-trotting business deals and fundraising for his foundation sometimes put his activities abroad at odds with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and could cause complications if President-elect Barack Obama picks her to be secretary of state ..."

Chicago Mayor: Prepare For Mass Layoffs in November, December  [11/16/08 ] "The warning is out – Mayor Richard M. Daley says a parade of corporate chief executives have told him huge layoffs are planned around the city and will carry into next year. The news is especially alarming because the discussion concerns not just city jobs, but the private sector. Thus, it seems the City That Works is about to become the city that gets laid off." 

Poverty, Pension Fears Drive Japanese Seniors to Shoplift, Pick Pockets  [11/16/08 ] "More senior citizens are picking pockets and shoplifting in Japan to cope with cuts in government welfare spending and rising health-care costs in a fast-ageing society." 

U.S. Postal Service Billions In The Red  [11/16/08 ] "The Postal Service ended its fiscal year $2.8 billion in the red, battered by a faltering economy that cut the amount of mail being sent. Postmaster General John Potter said the agency is making sharp cuts in hours and overtime but added there are no plans for layoffs. The mail being sent dropped by 9.5 billion items. "We expect the new fiscal year to be another difficult one," Potter said, adding: "We're not panicking here." The cost of sending packages will go up in January, and the annual increase in the cost of letter mail is still scheduled for May. By cutting back on spending the post office had a net operating income of $2.7 billion in 2008, but still ended up in the red because of the requirement for a $5.6 billion payment to a health benefit fund for retirees. Even so, the $2.8 billion loss was well short of last year's $5.1 billion postal deficit."

Signals from secret US-Australian navy base may have caused Qantas jet dive  [11/16/08 ] "An investigation into the incident by Australia's air safety agency said it was possible that the aircraft's flight computers had been affected by strong bursts of electromagnetic interference. The Airbus, with 303 passengers and 10 crew, was cruising at 37,000 feet (11,200m) from Singapore to Perth on October 7 when it suddenly gained altitude, then plummeted more than 1,000 feet in little over a minute. Passengers on board, including babies and children, were flung around the cabin and crashed against rooftop luggage compartments before the pilots regained control and made an emergency landing ... The navy base on Australia's northwest coast is the most powerful transmission station in the southern hemisphere and has been a frequent target of peace protests since it opened in 1963." 

Fake News Epedemic  [11/16/08 ] "The Center for Media Democracy and Free Press today exposed an epidemic of fake news infiltrating local television broadcasts across country. At a press conference in Washington with FCC Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein, the groups called for a crackdown on stations that present corporate-sponsored videos as genuine news to an unsuspecting audience. CMD, which unveiled the results of a 10-month investigation, found scores of local stations slipping commercial "video news releases," or VNRs, into their regular news programming. The new multimedia report released today includes footage of 36 separate VNRs and their broadcast as "news" by TV stations and networks nationwide, including those in the nation's biggest markets."

Blackwater Busted: Six Guards May Be Charged in Iraq Massacre  [11/16/08 ] "After more than five years of rampant violence and misconduct carried out by the massive army of private corporate contractors in Iraq -- actions that have gone totally unpunished under any system of law -- the US Justice Department appears to be on the verge of handing down the first indictments against armed private forces for crimes committed in Iraq ..."

No missiles in Europe until OSCE summit, urge EU, Russia  [11/16/08 ] "Russia and the United States should both refrain from siting any new weapons systems in Europe before a major summit of European and North American powers in June or July 2009, the French and Russian presidents said on Friday."  Related: Russian President Calls For Talks With Obama | Russia Backs Off On Europe Missile Threat

Freddie, JPMorgan in Dispute Over Bad WaMu Loans  [11/16/08 ] "JPMorgan, which took over Washington Mutual's assets after the thrift collapsed, told Freddie it won't buy back mortgages sold by WaMu that failed to match promises made about their quality, McLean, Virginia-based Freddie said today in a regulatory filing." 

2009 (False Flag) Terror Attack Being Peddled By Establishment Media, Intelligence Sources   [11/15/08 ] "The notion that terrorists will attack America shortly after Barack Obama takes office is again being vigorously pushed by the corporate media as well as shadowy intelligence sources, and has reached the same crescendo that preceded 9/11, a disturbing sign that the public is being prepared for a newly manufactured mass casualty event ... "  Related: Barack Obama told to expect early 'al-Qaeda' attack 

Wikipedia deletes Benjamin Emanuel entry  [11/15/08 ] "Wikipedia has delete Rahm Emanuel’s father’s page. Benjamin M. Emanuel’s entry was recommended for deletion shortly after Obama named the younger Emanuel as his Chief of Staff, and it looks like it had already been deleted (or recommended for deletion) once before in January of 2007."  Note: Actually, this happened a week or so ago, but not before I went in there and made a PDF file of it.

Lawmaker Joins Fight To Outlaw Human Microchip Implants [11/15/08 ] "A Pennsylvania Lawmaker has joined a growing movement of representatives in seeking to outlaw identification implants in humans." 

Baron David de Rothschild sees a New World Order in global banking governance  [11/15/08 ] "Among the captains of industry, spin doctors and financial advisers accompanying British prime minister Gordon Brown on his fund-raising visit to the Gulf this week, one name was surprisingly absent. This may have had something to do with the fact that the tour kicked off in Saudi Arabia. But by the time the group reached Qatar, Baron David de Rothschild was there, too, and he was also in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Although his office denies that he was part of the official party, it is probably no coincidence that he happened to be in the same part of the world at the right time. That is how the Rothschilds have worked for centuries: quietly, without fuss, behind the scenes. “We have had 250 years or so of family involvement in the finance business,” says Baron Rothschild. “We provide advice on both sides of the balance sheet, and we do it globally ..." 

Hedge fund D-Day - Nov 15th  [11/15/08 ] "Anxiety is sweeping the hedge fund industry before a crucial deadline on Nov 15th, when investors angered by recent heavy losses are expected to demand the return of billions of dollars. "Managers have a pretty good feeling for what is coming, and there are significant redemption requests out there,'' said Stewart Massey, founding partner of Massey, Quick & Co, an investment consultant that puts money into hedge funds. Saturday is the last day for thousands of investors to notify hundreds of hedge funds if they want their money back by year's end. Hedge funds that require three months notice from investors who wanted to exit by year's end had a similar deadline on September 30 - also known in the industry as "D-Day.'' More such deadlines loom for funds that allow investors to give less notice before taking their money out, fund managers said ..."

At Bailout Deadline, 60 Banks Approved for $173 Billion  [11/14/08 ] "November 14th was the last day that public banks could apply for an infusion of the Treasury Department’s bailout dollars. According to our running tally, 60 banks have so far announced preliminary approval, a commitment of about $173.4 billion by Treasury. Of course, that total is bound to rise. Although today is the deadline for banks to apply, it’s not the deadline for Treasury to approve those applications. Judging from regulatory filings and news stories, more than 20 banks have announced an intention to apply for the program. That’s not quite the "thousands" of banks that Treasury officials anticipated applying. But perhaps that’s picking up. Execs with the country’s biggest banking association say that there has been significant interest in the program; about 40% of the industry wants in, they say."

Attractive Period for Israel to strike Iran?  [11/14/08 ] "Israel might strike Iran between November 5 and January 19, 2009. This Israel did on December 8, 1988 when it targeted a cave-based headquarters 20 km. south of Beirut, serving the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, headed by Ahmed Jibril, writes Yaakov Lappin. His article is published in Jerusalem Post on November 6, 09. . Title of the article is "Might Israel strike at Iran before Obama takes over? Mr. Lappin quotes historian Benny Morris about the likely attack. "Speaking to The Jerusalem Post this week, Morris said he continued to believe that time period [November 5 and January 19] was a "reasonable" one for Israeli action. There is certainly a friendly president in the White House until January 20." 

Fearing Taliban, Pakistani Cops resign   [11/14/08 ] "Ismaeel Khan is one of hundreds of cops in the restive valley of Swat who have recently resigned after being threatened by Taliban militants to either quit or face "dire consequences ..."

Colombian pyramid scam leads to rioting  [11/14/08 ] "Colombians have lost hundreds of millions of dollars in pyramid schemes that are collapsing around the country, sparking deadly riots and threatening to hurt an economy already slowed by global financial turmoil. The schemes flourished until the swindlers started disappearing with the uninsured deposits. Investors this week stormed and looted the offices of the agencies and battled riot police as they clamored for repayment ..." Related: Rioting over pyramid scheme kills 1 in Colombia "At least one man was killed in rioting over the collapse of a pyramid scheme that offered 70 percent returns and fleeced its mostly poor investors out of millions of dollars, Colombian authorities said Thursday. The victim was shot dead Wednesday evening in a southern cocaine-producing region where angry investors were demanding their money back from a company called "Dinero Rapido Facil Efectivo," or DRFE. Related: 2nd death tied to failed Colombian pyramid scheme "A security guard for a Colombian investment company that collapsed under pyramid scheme was shot and killed, police said Friday, the second victim of rioting by investors who lost millions in savings. Police said a total of 600 million pesos ($270 million) is believed to have been lost in the scheme. Authorities had a hard time on Friday explaining why they hadn't stopped the scheme, which involved at least 240 offices offering absurdly favorable returns. In some cases, the company promised to at least double people's money in a month. The scheme collapsed this week as rumors spread that its owner, Carlos Alfredo Suarez, fled the country, and fleeced investors rioted across southern Colombia after the company shut down. Police confiscated some 57 billion pesos ($26 million), but said most of the money was gone, and that Suarez's whereabouts are unknown. At least 13 towns were put under curfew because of rioting, said Gen. Orlando Paez, national police operations chief."  Riots in Columbia, as 'investment firms' make off with public savings Video (Real News) [1:44]  

 FBI informant becomes co-conspirator, promoting violence and embellishing conspiracy for own profit  [11/14/08 ] "The FBI informant who infiltrated a band of alleged South Jersey terrorists complained in September 2006 that one suspect "was gonna have a problem with me" because he kept refusing to plan, train or arrange meetings to discuss an attack. The comment by the informant, Mahmoud Omar, was recounted for jurors this morning in Camden, where five Muslim immigrants are being tried on charges of plotting to kill U.S. soldiers. Defense attorneys contend that Omar, an Egyptian national and convicted felon, concocted and encouraged the conspiracy so he could keep collecting a paycheck. In his fifth-day of cross-examination, attorney Rocco Cipparone continued to highlight for jurors dozens of conversations where Omar appeared to complain about the pace of the plotting, the lack of training or other concrete steps by the defendants. "We didn't conduct a good reconnaissance on that site," Shnewer said. "We need to do surveillance of the area two or three more times." But Shnewer never again proposed the surveillance and it never occurred, Omar testified. Prosecutors say Shnewer, a laborer and cab driver from Cherry Hill, and his four codefendants were "jihadist" Muslim immigrants who drew inspiration from Al Qaeda and wanted to launch an attack within the United States. The other suspects include brothers Shain, Eljvir and Dritan Duka, roofers from Cherry Hill, or Serdar Tatar, a convenience store clerk in Philadelphia."

 Auto Industry bankruptcy protection won't work  [11/14/08 ] "A Chapter 11 restructuring bid by one of the three top U.S. automakers is unlikely to succeed due to the damaged economy and frozen credit markets, and may even result in the company folding, billionaire investor Wilbur Ross told Bloomberg in an interview."

 Maddow: New rule kicks Patriot Act foes 'right in the teeth'  [11/14/08 ] "The Bush administration has been planning since last spring to issue a final burst of federal regulations just before leaving office. It was recently announced that over 90 new regulations would be finalized before November 22 -- 60 days prior to the end of Bush's term -- making them difficult, though not impossible, for President Obama to reverse. Although many of the regulations have to do with energy and the environment, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow noted on Tuesday that there's also "one that'll kick opponents of the Patriot Act right in the teeth." The proposed regulation "would allow state and local law enforcement agencies to collect intelligence on individuals and organizations even if the information is unrelated to any criminal matter," Maddow explained. She added, "Even if they weren't already watching you -- they soon could be."

 3 to 4.3 Billion Barrels of Technically Recoverable Oil Assessed in North Dakota and Montana’s Bakken Formation  [11/14/08 ] "North Dakota and Montana have an estimated 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil in an area known as the Bakken Formation. A U.S. Geological Survey assessment, released April 10, 2008, shows a 25-fold increase in the amount of oil that can be recovered compared to the agency's 1995 estimate of 151 million barrels of oil."

 UK falsely brands 12,000 as criminals  [11/14/08 ] "A government agency in Britain has a lot of explaining to do after it wrongly accused 12,000 people of being convicted criminals, reports the Daily Mail. The innocent victims, according to the newspaper, were labelled by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) as paedophiles, thieves and violent thugs ..."

 Euthenasia killing gets green light in Italy  [11/13/08 ] "The President of Iraq's Kurdistan local government has warned of a 'civil war' if Baghdad refuses to sign a security agreement with the US. "If the pact is not signed, the situation in the country may deteriorate to the point of a civil war," Voices of Iraq news agency quoted Masoud Barzani as saying at a press conference on Wednesday. Barzani had earlier said his region will provide the US with military bases if the Iraqi government refuses to sign the Status of Forces

 85,000 homes lost in October  [11/13/08 ] "As government and industry scrambled to stem the housing crisis, another 84,868 homes were lost to foreclosure in October, according to a report released Thursday. Last month 279,561 struggling borrowers received foreclosure filings, including default notices, notices of auction sales and bank repossessions, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosures. That's a 5% increase from September, and up 25% from October 2007 ..." 

 Barzani: sign SOFA or face civil war  [11/13/08 ] "The President of Iraq's Kurdistan local government has warned of a 'civil war' if Baghdad refuses to sign a security agreement with the US. "If the pact is not signed, the situation in the country may deteriorate to the point of a civil war," Voices of Iraq news agency quoted Masoud Barzani as saying at a press conference on Wednesday. Barzani had earlier said his region will provide the US with military bases if the Iraqi government refuses to sign the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). Baghdad and Washington are negotiating the deal to provide a legal basis for the presence of US troops in Iraq after their UN mandate expires in December 2008. Based on the agreement's provisions, the US would be granted the permission to build military bases, camps and prisons inside Iraq. The deal, however, has met fierce opposition from the country's political and religious leaders who are concerned about those SOFA provisions which would "violate Iraq's sovereignty". Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has also declared that any agreement with the United States should consider the country's sovereignty and national interests."  Related: Syria: SOFA threatens regional stability

 Iraq to vote on US pact at weekend  15-16 Nov  [11/13/08 ] "The Iraqi cabinet will vote on a controversial military pact (SOFA) to govern the presence of US troops in the country on either Saturday or Sunday, Iraq's finance minister said. "We received the last draft from the Americans and now it is being discussed between the American and the Iraqi committees and the prime minister's office," Baqer Jabr Solagh told AFP on Wednesday. "The cabinet will meet (Saturday or Sunday) to see the last draft and then the cabinet will vote ... They have to vote, yes or no."  Note: I can't wait to see what happens if they vote "no". Dec 31 is the end of the UN mandate.   

 Iranian diplomat kidnapped in Pakistan  [11/13/08 ] "Unidentified gunmen have reportedly abducted an Iranian diplomat and killed his driver in an ambush in the Pakistani city of Peshawar." 

 US stocks fall over Paulson's remarks  [11/13/08 ] "US stocks have plunged after Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said his department would consider capital needs of non-bank institutions." 

 Jarrah's spy equipment found in Lebanon  [11/13/08 ] "The Lebanese Army has raided the residence of two Lebanese brothers accused of spying for the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad."

 Bush Push To Lock Policy For Obama Has Loophole    [11/13/08 ] "Last May, White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten instructed federal agency heads to make sure any new regulations were finalized by Nov. 1. The memo didn’t spell it out, but the thinking behind the directive was obvious. As Myron Ebell of the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute put it: “We’re not going to make the same mistakes the Clinton administration did.” ... But that strategy doesn’t account for the Congressional Review Act of 1996. The law contains a clause determining that any regulation finalized within 60 days of congressional adjournment — Oct. 3, in this case — is considered to have been legally finalized on Jan. 15, 2009. The new Congress then has 60 days to review it and reverse it with a joint resolution that can’t be filibustered in the Senate. In other words, any regulation finalized in the last half-year of the Bush administration could be wiped out with a simple party-line vote in the Democrat-controlled Congress. Given how often the Bush administration have sidelined Congress to push their own policies, the notion that a majority of Congress can so easily sideline Bush's last six months in office has a delicious sense of 'karma' about it."  See Video Keith Olbermann explains.

 Treasury continues to harpoon the Real Economy    [11/12/08 ] "With the ever increasing amount of taxpayers' money handed over to "bail out" Financial Firms, manufacturing firms and Insurance firms, the Treasury has given a new meaning to the term "Venture Capital".

 Gun sales and the paranoid: A sucker born every minute    [11/12/08 ] "Before Election Day, the NRA was doing what it always does: Raising the specter of the liberal bogeyman -- you know, the Incipient Dictator Who Wants To Take Your Guns Away -- in the person of Barack Obama. So it shouldn't really be a big surprise that, after the election, one of the only segments of the retail economy that did well was in guns ... There is also a racial component to these fears, which surfaces in attitudes like those voiced in a NYT piece about the decline of the South's political influence ...It's worth remembering, perhaps, that the NRA is largely underwritten by the arms-manufacturing industry." 

 Cheney And Biden To Meet Privately At VP Residence   [11/12/08 ] "Thursday Nov 13, at the Naval Observatory" Bring bagels, cream cheese, leather pants and a whip.

 King Abdullah Tries to Use UN To Push Global 'Blasphemy Law'   [11/12/08 ] "World leaders gathering at the United Nations this week for a special session of the General Assembly to advance interfaith dialogue should have no illusions that their efforts will miraculously promote mutual respect between religious communities or end abuses of religious freedom. Saudi King Abdullah, who initiated this week's special session, is quietly enlisting the leaders' support for a global law to punish blasphemy – a campaign championed by the 56-member Organization of Islamic Conference that puts the rights of religions ahead of individual liberties ... They undermine the standards codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the keystone of the United Nations, by granting greater rights to religions than to individuals ... Another stark irony hangs over the UN special session this week. Saudi Arabia is one of the world's worst abusers of religious freedom, a fact recognized by the Bush administration when it named it a "country of particular concern" under the International Religious Freedom Act in 2004 ..." Note: More nut cases and their sequentialized bullshit mind control. Interesting, in that the more chaotic society becomes, the more groups are trying to make their body-id "immortality strategy" the predominant one, and 'protect' it.  It's all a show about nothing!  Dumber than a box of rocks. Related: Atheists Want New DoD Rules on Prayer   [11/12/08 ] "A coalition of atheists and agnostics wants the new White House to protect young military members from what they see as rampant religious discrimination in the services. The Secular Coalition for America held a news conference Monday urging new rules against proselytizing and more training for chaplains on how to handle nonreligious troops. "When they say ‘there are no atheists in foxholes’ it’s slanderous," said Wayne Adkins, a former Army first lieutenant who served in Iraq in 2004 and 2005. "To deny their existence is to deny that they serve." Note: Aside from the fact that all these people on both sides are idiots, the use of the word "atheist" is loaded.  People normally think of the word as referring to someone who 'doesn't beLIEve in a 'god', however, Theism, in its most inclusive usage, is the belief in at least one deity. So if a person is a theist, the person beLIEves in a god. I find is strange, that of all the words in the English language, eliminating a 'space' between the 'a' and the 'theist' can convince people that it means the opposite. What this 'conundrum' really means is that everyone who deems themselves to be an "atheist", has been suckered into using a word which actually deems them to be the opposite, because in a 'god-believing' society, why have a word which permits real 'dis-beLIEf' to be an acceptable position linguistically? Layer upon layer of fools.

 Forget Red vs. Blue -- It's the Educated vs. People Easily Fooled by Propaganda   [11/12/08 ] "Millions of Americans live in a non-reality-based belief system informed by childish clichés - they can barely differentiate between lies and truth. We live in two Americas. One America, now the minority, functions in a print-based, literate world. It can cope with complexity and has the intellectual tools to separate illusion from truth. The other America, which constitutes the majority, exists in a non-reality-based belief system. This America, dependent on skillfully manipulated images for information, has severed itself from the literate, print-based culture. It cannot differentiate between lies and truth. It is informed by simplistic, childish narratives and clichés. It is thrown into confusion by ambiguity, nuance and self-reflection. This divide, more than race, class or gender, more than rural or urban, believer or nonbeliever, red state or blue state, has split the country into radically distinct, unbridgeable and antagonistic entities. There are over 42 million American adults, 20 percent of whom hold high school diplomas, who cannot read, as well as the 50 million who read at a fourth- or fifth-grade level. Nearly a third of the nation's population is illiterate or barely literate. And their numbers are growing by an estimated 2 million a year. But even those who are supposedly literate retreat in huge numbers into this image-based existence. A third of high school graduates, along with 42 percent of college graduates, never read a book after they finish school. Eighty percent of the families in the United States last year did not buy a book ... The core values of our open society, the ability to think for oneself, to draw independent conclusions, to express dissent when judgment and common sense indicate something is wrong, to be self-critical, to challenge authority, to understand historical facts, to separate truth from lies, to advocate for change and to acknowledge that there are other views, different ways of being, that are morally and socially acceptable, are dying ..."  Note: Of course, the "educated" people are easily fooled by the synthetic reality presented in the culture, which is again just another level of ignorance.

 Tony Blair's bodyguard triggers Israeli airport panic when gun goes off by accident   [11/12/08 ] "Tony Blair's bodyguard caused a major security scare at an Israeli airport yesterday when his gun went off by mistake. The police special protection officer was unloading his gun prior to boarding a plane to London with Mr Blair when he accidentally fired into the ground. No one was injured in the incident, but Israeli security guards and police rushed to the scene and detained him. An initial investigation revealed that the incident was due to an error by the bodyguard."    What? 

 Afghan War Plans May Run Into Weary Public, Deficits    [11/12/08 ]  "... Intensifying violence is ramping up U.S. involvement, costing money and lives when America faces a record budget deficit and the public is weary of war ... Meanwhile, the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated, with a reconstituted and emboldened Taliban mounting more attacks on American forces. Neighboring, nuclear-armed Pakistan -- threatened by domestic extremists, assassination attempts and a financial crisis -- hasn't been able to control border security in its autonomous tribal areas where militants take shelter. General David McKiernan, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, has asked for 20,000 more American troops next year; the 3,500-person 3rd Brigade Combat Team deploying in January from Fort Drum will be the tip of that spear ..." Related: We can't defeat Taleban, says Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith

 Lawmakers Demand to See Bailout Chief - Neel Kashkari to Testify Before Congress   [11/12/08 ] "The Treasury Department's top bailout official will testify before Congress Nov 14th, after two congressmen wrote to demand he appear."  

 Fed Hires Failed Bear Sterns Risk Management Officer to Gauge Health of Banks   [11/12/08 ] "The Federal Reserve Bank is drawing jeers for hiring a former top executive from the now-defunct investment bank Bear Stearns to help it gauge the health of other banks. Michael Alix was head of risk management for Bear Stearns for two years until the institution imploded this spring, a victim of its (risky) subprime-mortgage related investments. Last Friday, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York quietly announced it had hired Alix to advise it on bank supervision. "You're kidding me," said economic policy expert Dean Baker, of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Economic Policy and Research. While he didn't know Alix personally, he said, "You would think [his record] would be a big strike against him."  Related: Where Was the SEC? Video  ABC News  Investigative Report After IG Report  

 Internet attacks seen as more potent and complex   [11/11/08 ] "Attackers bent on shutting down large Web sites — even the operators that run the backbone of the Internet — are arming themselves with what are effectively vast digital fire hoses capable of overwhelming the world's largest networks, according to a new report on online security. In these attacks, computer networks are hijacked to form so-called botnets that spray random packets of data in huge streams over the Internet. The deluge of data are meant to bring down Web sites and entire corporate networks. Known as distributed denial of service, or DDOS, attacks, such cyberweapons are now routinely used during political and military conflicts, as in Estonia in 2007 during a political fight with Russia, and in the Georgian-Russian war last summer. Such attacks are also being used in blackmail schemes and political conflicts, as well as for general malicious mischief. A survey of 70 of the largest Internet operators in North America, South America, Europe and Asia found that malicious attacks were rising sharply and that the individual attacks were growing more powerful and sophisticated, according to the Worldwide Infrastructure Security Report. This report is produced annually by Arbor Networks, a company in Lexington, Massachusetts, that provides tools for monitoring the performance of networks ..."

 Video Clip: Report from the 2008 Davos World Financial Conference   [11/11/08 ]  The buzz in Davos. [5:21]

 Fed Hides Destination Of $2 Trillion In Bailout Money   [11/11/08 ] "The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return."  Related: Officials Refuse to Provide Details on Secret Previous Bailout  " ...Top government officials are refusing to provide details on a secretive deal it made to manage billions in assets from an earlier bailout. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has been pressing top officials for months to provide details on a deal the Federal Reserve made for a private firm to manage $30 billion in financial assets from the collapsed investment bank Bear Stearns, as part of an arrangement to facilitate J.P. Morgan Chase's purchase of the bank in March."  America Discovers That Bailout Will Be Used To Pay Wall Street Bonuses

 Bloomberg Picks a Fight With the Federal Reserve  [11/11/08 ] "Information provider Bloomberg has started a fight with the Federal Reserve that may turn some stones in the secretive private organization that has never been audited. Bloomberg had asked the Fed to see documents concerning the collateral the Fed accepts in exchange for freshly digitized credit in its bailouts. The Federal Reserve first insisted a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request and then said the data required is from the Fed New York which does not fall under the FOIA ... collateral may not prove to be worth as much as it was said to be at the time the loan was made. Inquiring minds are curious as to what, exactly the Fed has taken, particularly as the numbers are becoming stratospheric. Bloomberg has asked nicely for some of this information, and is now being forced to sue under to the Freedom of Information Act, and the Fed intends to fight ... If the Fed indeed was taking conservatively valued collateral as it has always claimed it was, there would be no reason for it to attempt to squash this request ... David Merkel's Aleph Blog was quick to come up with five reasons for the Fed's secrecy, all of them most alarming for believers in a free market system. Headlining "What Do You Have To Hide" he lists the following: The Fed is breaking its own rules, and lending on collateral that it publicly said that it wouldn’t lend against. They are playing favorites with institutions, and don’t want that to be revealed. The assets in question are technically in compliance with the rules of the Fed, but are worth far less than the amount loaned against them. Certain banks would be embarrassed by revealing what they own. It’s just a power game, and the Fed thinks it is above the law, particularly during a crisis (that it helped to cause) ..."  More info

 Secret Plan For IMF World Dictatorship: G-20 Summit In DC [11/11/08 ] "This is a confidential strategy paper for the November 15 G-20 summit in Washington DC. This is not a new Bretton Woods in any sense, but rather a British-steered attempt to impose the dictatorship of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the entire planet, wiping out all hope of economic recovery, the modernization of the developing countries, and national sovereignty at the same time. Under this plan, the IMF would dictate the economic policies of all states. The IMF orthodoxy is austerity, sacrifice, deregulation, privatization, union busting, wage reductions, free trade, the race to the bottom, and prohibitions on advanced technologies. These policies would strangle humanity ..."

 Iran test-fires newly-designed missile   [11/11/08 ] "The Iranian Armed Forces have been holding military exercises on a regular basis after Israel conducted a massive air maneuver over the Eastern Mediterranean and Greece in early June, which according to Pentagon officials, appeared to be a 'dress rehearsal' for a potential bombing attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. Israel, the sole possessor of a nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, accuses Iran - a signatory to the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) - of making efforts to develop a nuclear bomb ... An unnamed senior European Union diplomat said last week that a possible Israeli strike against Iran 'is not completely off the radar' ... "Israelis would consider a move such as this before Bush and Cheney leave," said the EU diplomat, adding that once Obama takes office, Israel's chances of striking Iran would become meager. Iran has warned that in case of coming under attack by either the US or Israel, it will target 32 American bases in the Middle East as well as the heart of Israel." 

 Postal Service Looks To Cut 40,000 Jobs In First Layoff In History  [11/10/08 ] "We lost 2 billion dollars and like any other business we have to stay afloat." And to keep from sinking, the United States Postal Service is considering cutting thousands of jobs nationwide. Lavelle Pepper with the post office in Shreveport says they too are feeling the affects of the same disease hitting the country... a struggling economy. "We employ about 685,000 people. If we do layoffs it would include clerks, carriers, mail handlers across all crafts." Pepper says the postal service is looking to eliminate 40,000 jobs nationwide. There's not an exact number on how many of those could be from the Ark-La-Tex. Pepper says workers who are not part of union with six or less years of service would likely be the first on the chopping block. "We've identified 16 thousand people that are not covered under contract. We'll see what those numbers add up to ..."  Related:  DHL halts US domestic service, cutting 9500 Jobs | Wall Street Could Slash 70,000 More Jobs: Report

 UK forces sent in to Helmand Province 'half-cocked' on 'con' mission, says officer [11/10/08 ] "British forces were sent into Afghanistan's troubled Helmand Province on a "half-cocked" campaign to "con" world opinion about the country's military strength, a former senior officer who resigned from the army has claimed."  Related: UK: MPs seek to censor the media  "Britain's security agencies and police would be given unprecedented and legally binding powers to ban the media from reporting matters of national security, under proposals being discussed in Whitehall." Note: Of course anything can be deemed a 'matter of national security", so the lockdown on the press will be total. It never occurs to these people that the 'national security state' is a paranoid concept that did the Romans no good, or anyone else, so why maintain it? Dumber than a box of rocks. But, that's the Orion way.| Obama's 'Hate Bill' Steals Right to Free Speech 

 Mikhail Khazin: U.S. will soon face second "Great Depression" [11/10/08 ] "... After becoming seriously consumed in our studies of the U.S. financial system, we found an unprecedented parallel (with what had happened in Russia). Just as our T-bill market had sucked all the juices out of the Russian economy, the U.S. financial market was sucking the resources out of the entire planet. We realized a similar fate awaited the U.S. financial system. Our article was published in the summer of 2000 in the "Ekspert" magazine, titled, "Is the U.S. Digging for an Apocalypse." We concluded that it was just as impossible to avoid an economic crisis in the U.S. as the financial collapse in Russia ... the U.S. did create a very high standard of living by stimulating consumer demand. Generations lived without having to experience poverty. But it's impossible to live forever in debt. Household debt has now surpassed the national economy — more than $14 trillion. Now it's time to pay up. Of course, Wall Street tried to postpone this collapse. I won't go into detail about derivatives and other such financial assets, but this was just a gasp for air before an inevitable death ... Another problem in the U.S. is that powerful industries were built around this growing demand. Whatever decision Wall Street takes right now, the demand is going to fall. What will happen to these industries? In 2000, we estimated that 25 percent of the U.S. economy would disappear. Today, we think the number is closest to one-third — if not more ... That's an incredible amount! But what exactly does this mean — the destruction of one-fourth of the U.S. economy? It means an uncontrollable increase in unemployment, a horrible depression, a sharp increase in the effect of social services on the budget... Now, the U.S. is jumping all over the place doing everything its can to rescue this fraction of the economy. The government is stimulating banks and manufacturing... But regardless, in 2-3 years, the U.S. will face a crisis similar to the Great Depression."  Note: The reptards figure it will happen by '2010'. Graduation, however, is an independent variable in this dynamic, not dependent on anything that goes on in planetary society.

 Dmitriy Medvedev makes first state-of-the-nation address [11/10/08 ]  Interesting to see where the 'perspective' is with Medvedev, and it will figure into an analysis of the current game dynamic, which of course has different 'teams' in the same 'club'. Some text from his speech, on liberties " ... The dramatic fluctuations in the political and economic climate and even the escalation of military and political tensions will not be used as a pretext for dismantling democratic institutions and nationalizing industries and banks. The political freedoms and private property of citizens are inviolable. I want to underline once more that the state will fulfill all its obligations before the people. According to Article 7 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, this is a social state that protects the free development of the individual, while maintaining guarantees on social safety. Thus, impinging civil liberties and impairing the material well-being of the people is not only immoral, but also illegal .... I advise whoever wishes to earn political capital on the global economic crisis, is intent on political gossip, or would like to destabilize society to achieve his personal ambitions, to read the Constitution. I consider it my personal duty to warn whoever hopes to aggravate the political situation. We will not permit the engendering of social and inter-ethnic discord, lying to the people or dragging them into unlawful acts. Constitutional order will continue to be assured by all legal means ... For centuries, the cult of the government and would-be wisdom of the administrative machine ruled in Russia. But the individual person, his rights and liberties, and his personal interests and problems, were at best viewed as a means and at worst a hindrance to the entrenchment of governmental might ... Once again, I will repeat that this is how things were for centuries ..." 

 Operation Vigilant Shield, running from Nov 12-18, 2008    [11/09/08 ] "Operation Vigilant Shield 08, renamed VS 09, is running from Nov 12-18, 2008, is much too big to ignore, as it will link multiple concurrent exercises including USSTRATCOM Global Lightning 09, Bulwark Defender 09, Canada Command Determined Dragon, California National Guard Vigilant Guard, and State of California Golden Guardian. Unfortunately, according to USNORTHCOM, specific information about Vigilant Shield scenarios will not be available for weeks, permitting less time to analyze the situation. Once an urban area has been designated an exercise target, that designation increases its odds of actually experiencing a future false flag attack. It takes considerable resources to corrupt an area, and false flag insiders like to get a return on investment. Since Houston, Chicago, Portland, Seattle, and Phoenix have already been “prepared” in prior exercises, they remain especially vulnerable. In addition, Vigilant Shield will probably add new areas in northern California to the potential target list. It's worth to remember that the 9/11 "terrorist attack" happened precisely the day an anti-terrorist exercise involved the US Air Force so that New York and Washington were practically deprived of their protecting combat jets... We also remember that the 7/7 "terrorist attack" in London happened precisely the day an anti-terrorist exercise was on in the area... What is going to happen now? All what is known from the Northcom is that the projected exercise beginning on November 18 will involve the simulation of three simultaneous nuclear explosions on the US territory..." More    

 FEMA sources confirm coming martial law     [11/09/08 ] "WMR has learned from knowledgeable Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sources that the Bush administration is putting the final touches on a plan that would see martial law declared in the United States with various scenarios anticipated as triggers. The triggers include a continuing economic collapse with massive social unrest, bank closures resulting in violence against financial institutions, and another fraudulent presidential election that would result in rioting in major cities and campuses around the country. In addition, Army Corps of Engineer sources report that the assignment of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team (BCT) to the Northern Command’s U.S. Army North is to augment FEMA and federal law enforcement in the imposition of traffic controls, crowd control, curfews, enhanced border and port security, and neighborhood patrols in the event a national emergency being declared. The BCT was assigned to duties in Iraq before being assigned to the Northern Command ... On April 3, 2008, WMR reported on a highly-classified document regarding the martial law scenario: WMR has learned from knowledgeable sources within the US financial community that an alarming confidential and limited distribution document is circulating among senior members of Congress and their senior staff members that is warning of a bleak future for the United States if it does not quickly get its financial house in order. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is among those who have reportedly read the document. The document is being called the "C & R" document because it reportedly states that if the United States defaults on loans and debt underwriting from China, Japan, and Russia, all of which are propping up the United States government financially, and the United States unilaterally cancels the debts, America can expect a war that will have disastrous results for the United States and the world. "Conflict" is the "C word" in the document. The other scenario is that the federal government will be forced to drastically raise taxes in order to pay off debts to foreign countries to the point that the American people will react with a popular revolution against the government. "Revolution" is the document’s "R word."

 Thousands of Indian farmers are committing suicide after using genetically modified crops    [11/09/08 ] "Shankara, like millions of other Indian farmers, had been promised previously unheard of harvests and income if he switched from farming with traditional seeds to planting GM seeds instead. Beguiled by the promise of future riches, he borrowed money in order to buy the GM seeds. But when the harvests failed, he was left with spiralling debts - and no income. So Shankara became one of an estimated 125,000 farmers to take their own life as a result of the ruthless drive to use India as a testing ground for genetically modified crops."

 US asks Venezuelan diplomats in Houston to leave    [11/09/08 ] "The State Department is asking officials at the Venezuelan consulate in Houston to leave the country after the South American government moved its offices in that city before receiving permission. The Venezuelan officials were being asked to depart because the unauthorized move violated international protocol, Nicole Thompson, a State Department spokeswoman, said Saturday."

 Royal Dutch Shell oil company and the Iraqi Oil Ministry have struck a secret deal    [11/09/08 ] "Royal Dutch Shell oil company and the Iraqi Oil Ministry have struck a secret, as-of-yet non-binding agreement that gives a monopoly over southern Iraq's natural gas to the energy giant. It marks the first time in over 35 years a Western oil company has played a major role in the country's most lucrative industry. Signed Sept. 22 and obtained by United Press International, the "Heads of Agreement" document -- basically a legal framework for a contract -- delegates Shell sole access to the reserves for the next 25 years, with an option to extend that term."

 Russia president tells police to crush crisis unrest     [11/09/08 ] "Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered police on Friday to stamp out any social unrest or crime arising from the global financial crisis."

 FBI finds most terrorism threat reports baseless     [11/09/08 ] "The FBI tracked about 108,000 potential terrorism threats or suspicious incidents from mid-2004 to November 2007, but most were found groundless, a Justice Department review found."

 Cities, States Questioning Wisdom of Adding Fluoride Chemicals to Public Water Supplies    [11/09/08 ] "Grand Rapids, Mich. has become the most recent city to question the practice of fluoridating public water, as part of a growing tendency for local governments to question the use of many chemicals that formerly been taken for granted." 

 Georgia fired first shot, say UK monitors     [11/09/08 ] "Two former British military officers are expected to give crucial evidence against Georgia when an international inquiry is convened to establish who started the country’s bloody five-day war with Russia in August." Related: New York Times report questions Georgia’s role in Ossetian war  | U.S. concedes Georgia attack attack in South Ossetia was a mistake 

 U.S. probes air strikes as Afghan fury grows    [11/08/08 ] "The U.S. military is investigating two airstrikes this week that Afghan officials say killed as many as 60 civilians. The latest incident happened Thursday morning in northwestern Afghanistan and left up to 30 civilians dead, according to officials in Badghis province."  Related: Afghanistan: the wrong war at any time  "For months now Afghanistan has been deadlier for U.S. troops than Iraq, even though there are 32,000 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan and 160,000 in Iraq."

 Sarah Palin blamed by the US Secret Service over death threats against Barack Obama<