Friday 22 January 2010

News For January 22, 2010

Olbermann: U.S. Government For Sale -

Freedom of speech has been destroyed


Video And Transcript

They can spend all the money they want. And if they can spend all the money they want — sooner, rather than later — they will implant the legislators of their choice in every office from President to head of the Visiting Nurse Service. Continue


Supreme Court OKs Unlimited Corporate Spending on Elections

By David G. Savage

Overturning a century-old restriction, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that corporations could spend as much as they wanted to sway voters in federal elections. Continue


Conservatives On Fire
Constitution in Flames

By Gordon Duff

Will our new debates in Congress be between members representing the opium warlords against the Columbian cartels? Their cash, which long ago has infiltrated one major corporation or bank after another is now heading for your local representative. Continue


Corporate Personhood Should Be Banned, Once and For All

By Ralph Nader

This corporatist, anti-voter decision is so extreme that it should galvanize a grassroots effort to enact a Constitutional Amendment to once and for all end corporate personhood and curtail the corrosive impact of big money on politics. Continue


How Wall St Destroyed Private Medicine

By Paul Craig Roberts

The U.S. is creating a “health care” system that is more costly and less efficient than single-payer national health systems. But it will enrich corporations and provide play for Wall Street. Continue


Obama Disconnected

A movement is a terrible thing to waste.

By Micah Sifry

Despite Obama’s explicit promises, the people who voted for him weren't organized in any kind of new or powerful way, and the special interests — banks, energy companies, health interests, carmakers, the military-industrial complex — sat first at the table and wrote the menu. Continue


How to Squander the Presidency in One Year

By David Michael Green

There's only one political party in the entire world that is so inept, cowardly and bungling that it could manage to simultaneously lick the boots of Wall Street bankers and then get blamed by the voters for being flaming revolutionary socialists. Continue


Obama at One:

Little Surprising in Absence of Progressive Social Movement

By Howard Zinn

I think people are dazzled by Obama's rhetoric, and that people ought to begin to understand that Obama is going to be a mediocre president--which means, in our time, a dangerous president--unless there is some national movement to push him in a better direction. Continue


The Government is Desperate For Money

Doug Casey on Unemployment

Interviewed by Louis James

It’s absolutely true that for an American, the safest wealth is the wealth that’s outside of the U.S. Your biggest risk is a political risk, from a completely bankrupt U.S. government. Continue


How I Fought to Survive Guantánamo

By Patrick Barkham

For nearly six years, British resident Omar Deghayes was imprisoned in Guantánamo and subjected to such brutal torture that he lost the sight in one eye. But far from being broken, he fought back to retain his dignity and his sanity. Continue


FBI Broke Law for Years in Phone Record Searches

By John Solomon and Carrie Johnson

The FBI illegally collected more than 2,000 U.S. telephone call records between 2002 and 2006 by invoking terrorism emergencies that did not exist or simply persuading phone companies to provide records, according to internal bureau memos and interviews. FBI officials issued approvals after the fact to justify their actions. Continue


Israel: New Obstacle in U.S. Peace Mission

By AP / AMY TEIBEL

Israel wants to keep troops on the West Bank's border with Jordan even if a deal is reached. Continue


In Memory of Martin Luther King

By Gilad Atzmon

I also have a dream that one day the Jewish state, a state sweltering in the heat of injustice, sweltering in the heat of oppression; will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and fairness. Continue


Rabbinic Text or Call to Terror?

By Daniel Estrin

The marble-patterned, hardcover book embossed with gold Hebrew letters looks like any other religious commentary you’d find in an Orthodox Judaica bookstore — but reads like a rabbinic instruction manual outlining acceptable scenarios for killing non-Jewish babies, children and adults. Continue


Two American occupation force soldiers under Canadian command killed in Afghanistan: The pair were on a foot patrol with Afghan soldiers, looking for an ammunitions cache in the dangerous Arghandab district just north of Kandahar city.

US occupation force Airman killed near Kandahar : Tech. Sgt. Adam K. Ginett, 29, of Knightdale, N.C., died Jan. 19 near Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device

Israeli drones take over Afghan skies: While Israeli soldiers can't fight in the war in Afghanistan, Israeli drones can. Starting next week, five NATO member countries will be operating unmanned aerial vehicles produced in the Jewish state in anti-Taliban operations in the Central Asian country.

Pakistan: Nine killed in Swat operation: Five militants, including a commander, were killed in a clash with security forces in Madyan in Swat district on Thursday. Official sources said security forces carried out search operations in Madyan area and killed five militants, including a commander, in an exchange of fire.

No military push against Taliban in 2010, says Pakistan: "We are not going to conduct any major new operations against the militants over the next 12 months," Abbas told the BBC. "The Pakistan army is overstretched, and it is not in a position to open any new fronts

‘Blackwater, DynCorp working in Pakistan’: Gates: Gates conceded that US security companies Blackwater and DynCorp are operating in Pakistan in private capacities. He said the companies would comply with Pakistani laws.

Iraq's new election fiasco: The banning of more than 500 candidates will severely test the upcoming Iraqi elections' legitimacy.

Hans Blix warned Tony Blair Iraq might not have WMD: The United Nations' former chief weapons inspector in Iraq told the official inquiry into the war that he had cautioned Tony Blair the month before the 2003 invasion about the possibility that no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) would be found.

Gordon Brown To Face Inquiry Before Election: In a brief statement at the start of the hearing on Friday, inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot confirmed Mr Brown had taken up an offer to give evidence within the next two months and it is expected he will appear in late February or early March.

Iraq littered with high levels of nuclear and dioxin contamination, study finds": Greater rates of cancer and birth defects near sites - Depleted uranium among poisons revealed in report

Russia warns against new Iran sanctions: "If our logic is to punish Iran, or if we take up the posture of the offended ... this will not be a sober approach," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters.

Hezbollah and Syria on alert fearing IDF attack on Lebanon: Syria and Hezbollah have gone on alert anticipating an Israeli attack on Lebanon, the London-based A-Sharq al-Awsat daily reported on Friday.

U.S. given authority over Haiti ports and roadways in earthquake relief effort: The United States on Friday secured formal approval for the U.S. military to help oversee all Haitian air and sea ports, and to help secure Haitian roads in support of international relief efforts, according to an agreement signed in Haiti by the United States and the United Nations.

Children missing from Haiti hospitals: The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Friday children have gone missing from hospitals in Haiti following the devastating earthquake in the country, raising fears they are being trafficked for adoption abroad.

American Gulag: Justice task force recommends about 50 Guantanamo detainees be held indefinitely: "There is no statutory regime in America that allows us to hold people without charge or trial indefinitely," said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

One quarter of US grain crops fed to cars - not people, new figures show: Biofuel revolution is impacting on world food supplies

UBS Client Wins Case on Transfer of Tax Data to U.S. : A UBS AG account holder won a Swiss court case preventing data from being disclosed in a ruling that may impede a U.S. crackdown on overseas tax evasion.

Big Banks Have Already Figured Out The Loophole In Obama’s New Rules: Big banks have already begun poking the holes in Obama’s new rules—holes they expect their banks to pass through basically unchanged.

Two Dozen States’ Unemployment Funds in the Red, Nine More Within Six Months: Some states have focused the pain, like Virginia, where unemployed seniors who also receive Social Security face steep benefit cuts. Other states, like Pennsylvania, have taken a broader approach: all unemployment beneficiaries will receive 2.4 percent smaller checks starting this month.

Jobless rates rose in all 50 states for 2009: All 50 states ended 2009 with higher unemployment rates than a year earlier, according to a report issued Friday morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Fitch: U.S. Retail Credit Card Defaults Hit Near-Record Levels with No Relief in Sight: U.S. consumers defaulted on store-branded credit cards at near-record levels during the holiday shopping season, with 2010 likely to bring more of the same trend, according to Fitch Ratings.

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