Keith Olbermann on Obama and Wiretapping

Countdown With Keith Olbermann on MSNBC had excellent coverage of and commentary on the Obama DOJ's radical new arguments in Jewel v. NSA, the EFF's lawsuit against the NSA for illegal surveillance. Here is the video:

Olbermann's second guest, GWU Law Professor Jonathan Turley, aptly summarizes why the new ruling is so disappointing:

"I think right now, the Bush people are bringing out their mission-accomplished sign, because they've not only gotten Obama to protect Bush and Cheney and others from any criminal investigation on torture, but he's now gone even further than they did in the protection of unlawful surveillance. This is the ultimate victory for the Bush officials. They have Barack Obama adopting the same extremist arguments, and in fact exceeding the extremist arguments made by President Bush...

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Bolivian president on hunger strike over vote law

President Evo Morales went on a hunger strike on Thursday to demand Bolivia's Congress pass an electoral law that could make it easier for him to win control of the legislature in December's general election.

Tensions flared last week when members of the ruling Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, party clashed with the opposition over the bill, which could help the leftist president by assigning more seats to poorer, rural areas.

Allies of Morales control the lower house in the Andean country, but the opposition holds a majority in the Senate, allowing his opponents to block the election reform proposal.

"Faced with the negligence of a bunch of neoliberal lawmakers, we have no choice but to take this step (hunger strike) ... they don't want to pass a law that guarantees the implementation of the constitution," Morales told reporters at the presidential palace in La Paz.

Reuters

Shell complicit in execution of Nigerian rights activist

A landmark human rights lawsuit, accusing Royal Dutch Shell of complicity in the execution of author and human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa some 14 years ago, will proceed to trial in a New York courtroom.
The Center for Constitutional Rights and Earth Rights International, along with Mr. Wiwa's son, allege the International oil company "financed, armed, and otherwise colluded with the Nigerian military forces that used deadly force and conducted massive, brutal raids against the Ogoni people of the Niger Delta."

They claim Shell was complicit in the 1995 military executions of nine activist leaders, including Ken Saro-Wiwa.
"Shell began oil production in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria in 1958," the groups say on a new Web site dedicated to promoting the suit. "After more than 30 years of environmental devastation and exploitation by Shell, a popular nonviolent movement of the Ogoni people developed in the early 1990s in opposition to its presence in the region. At the request of Shell, and with Shell’s assistance and financing, Nigerian soldiers used deadly force and massive, brutal raids against the Ogoni people throughout the early 1990s to repress the growing movement against the oil company."

More on The Raw Story

Also see The Niger Delta Oil War: What Does it Take to Get the World’s Attention? on zendiplomat.com

C.I.A. to Close Secret Prisons, Scenes of Harsh Interrogations

The Central Intelligence Agency said Thursday that it would decommission the secret overseas prisons where it subjected Al Qaeda prisoners to brutal interrogation methods, bringing to a symbolic close the most controversial counterterrorism program of the Bush administration.

But in a statement to employees, the agency’s director, Leon E. Panetta, said agency officers who worked in the program “should not be investigated, let alone punished” because the Justice Department under President George W. Bush had declared their actions legal.

Mr. Panetta and other top Obama administration officials have said they believe that waterboarding, the near-drowning method used in 2002 and 2003 on three prisoners, is torture, which is illegal under American and international law. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which interviewed 14 prisoners, said in a report made public this week that prisoners were also repeatedly slammed into walls, forced to stand for days with their arms handcuffed to the ceiling, confined in small boxes and held in frigid cells.

NYTimes.com

Tent-Cities in the US

All around the US, phenomenon’s called ‘Tent-Cities’ are popping up as a response to the current economic crisis. There are large groups of people, banding together in open spaces, and they all have one thing in common: a desperation to survive in the growing desert that is the economy.

This is not a new story. We have all heard tales from our parents, and grandparents about these types of encampments. In The Great Depression, communities like Tent-City were not a phenomenon but rather the norm. Anyone who has fallen on financial troubles has had the thought, if they could just slow the outpour of money, they could catch their breath and start anew. Today, living in the dawn of The New World Order - this type of self help has become illicit.  infowars.com – Wikipedia 

As always the rich are getting off the hook by getting bailed out by the government while the middle class and the poor are the ones taking the full hit.

Foreclosure rates in USA are up 30% compared to last year and almost 300 000 homes in the US  got a foreclosure notice in February. Things are equally bad in UK - home repossessions are up 92% compared to the third quarter of 2008. - financialjesus.com

The Other America: Tent Cities on the Rise

FOX News: 2012 Alert!

Security leak by senior Scotland Yard commander prompts arrests in suspected al-Qaida plot

Counter-terrorist police arrested 10 young men across the north-west tonight in an operation hastily brought forward following an embarrassing security leak by a senior Scotland Yard commander.

The men, detained at John Moores University in Liverpool, an internet cafe and a house in the Cheetham Hill area of Manchester, as well as at addresses in Lancashire, are suspected of involvement in an al-Qaida plot aimed at attacking the UK. At least one is believed to be a student, the others were born in Pakistan.

The arrests were triggered after Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick, head of Scotland Yard's specialist operations wing, was photographed this morning clutching sensitive documents as he arrived in Downing Street. Clearly visible on top of a large bundle of papers under his arm was a white document marked "secret" that carried an outline for briefing on a current counter-terrorism operation. He was on his way to attend a cabinet security committee.

guardian.co.uk

Moldova blames Romania after anti-government riots

Moldova's Communist president, Vladimir Voronin, accused neighbouring Romania today of trying to overthrow his government and ordered mass arrests of protesters in Europe's poorest state.

Moldova's former Soviet master Russia backed Voronin's allegation of foreign interference but NATO and EU member Romania rejected the veteran leader's words as a "provocation".

Western powers urged all sides in Moldova to keep calm and avoid a repeat of yesterday's riots, in which one person died, more than 270 people were injured and 193 were arrested.

Opposition parties called off further protests after the violence, when demonstrators contesting last weekend's Communist election victory set fire to the parliament building and broke into presidential offices.

The Independent

Requiem for the American Dream

The Eagle is the symbol of Babylon.
The Eagle is the symbol of the first,
second and third Reich / empire.
The Eagle is the symbol of pride.
Pride comes before the fall.

Blair: Pope is wrong about gays – and most Catholics think so too

The Pope and the Vatican have an "entrenched attitude" towards homosexuality which is less tolerant than the views of ordinary Catholics, Tony Blair says in comments published today.

Mr Blair, here sharing a secret Masonic handshake with Pope Benedict XVI.

The former prime minister, who converted to Catholicism shortly after leaving office two years ago, said he disagreed with the Pope's stance on gay rights and controversially suggested that the Church should reform itself along similar lines to how he re-organised the Labour Party.

"Organised religions face the same dilemma as political parties when faced with changed circumstances," he said.

Independent.co.uk

North Korean rocket launch caught on film

A striking satellite image released yesterday shows the moment North Korea launched a long-range rocket on Sunday in defiance of international pressure.

The image was taken from an altitude of 308 miles (496km) by the WorldView-1 satellite moments after the rocket blasted off at 11.10am local time.

North Korea's official news agency said the Taepodong-2 rocket placed a satellite in orbit that is now broadcasting revolutionary songs. The Pentagon claimed the launch failed and the rocket broke up and fell into the Pacific Ocean.

The Guardian

G20 Protest Death

BBC airs Guardian video of police pushing man to ground who subsequently had heart attack.

Legalisation of drugs could save UK £14bn, says study

The regulated legalisation of drugs would have major benefits for taxpayers, victims of crime, local communities and the criminal justice system, according to the first comprehensive comparison between the cost-effectiveness of legalisation and prohibition. The authors of the report, which is due to be published today, suggest that a legalised, regulated market could save the country around £14bn.

For many years the government has been under pressure to conduct an objective cost-benefit analysis of the current drugs policy, but has failed to do so despite calls from MPs. Now the drugs reform charity, Transform, has commissioned its own report, examining all aspects of prohibition from the costs of policing and investigating drugs users and dealers to processing them through the courts and their eventual incarceration.

The Guardian

The Doomsday Code

Tony Robinson travels to America, the Middle East, the Mediterranean and Africa to gather evidence that might uncover the realities behind the prophecies contained within the Book of Revelation.

The Doomsday Code - Channel 4

Knights Templar hid the Shroud of Turin, says Vatican

Medieval knights hid and secretly venerated The Holy Shroud of Turin for more than 100 years after the Crusades, the Vatican said yesterday in an announcement that appeared to solve the mystery of the relic’s missing years.

The Knights Templar, an order which was suppressed and disbanded for alleged heresy, took care of the linen cloth, which bears the image of a man with a beard, long hair and the wounds of crucifixion, according to Vatican researchers.

The Shroud, which is kept in the royal chapel of Turin Cathedral, has long been revered as the shroud in which Jesus was buried, although the image only appeared clearly in 1898 when a photographer developed a negative.

Times Online - Shroud of Turin FAQ

Huffington Post Founder Says What She Really Thinks About Barack Obama

Footage of Huffington Post founder Ariana Huffington making some surprising comments about Barack and Michelle Obama.It seems even the staunchest liberals have their concerns about America's new socialist leader.

Huffington Post

'Satisfaction' from Kim over N. Korea launch

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il expressed "great satisfaction" Sunday after his reclusive state launched a long-range rocket, according to state-run media.

The North Korean government insisted the Sunday morning launch was a peaceful launch of a satellite into orbit, but the United States, Japan and other nations have deemed the move an act of provocation and a violation of a U.N Security Council resolution.

Kim observed the 11:20 a.m. (2:20 a.m. GMT) launch from the command center, the Korean Central News Agency reported.

"Expressing great satisfaction over the fact that scientists and technicians of the [North Korea] successfully launched the satellite with their own wisdom and technology, he highly appreciated their feats and extended thanks to them," according to KCNA.

The North Korean government characterized the act as a successful, peaceful launch of a satellite into orbit. U.S. and South Korean officials condemned the launch as a provocative act. American military sources said the launch was a failure, saying that the rocket's payload failed to enter into orbit.

'Satisfaction' from Kim over N. Korea launch - CNN.com

For more about North-Korea see Daily NK - The Hub of North Korean News

Google is just an amoral menace

Google presents a far greater threat to the livelihood of individuals and the future of commercial institutions important to the community. One case emerged last week when a letter from Billy Bragg, Robin Gibb and other songwriters was published in the Times explaining that Google was playing very rough with those who appeared on its subsidiary, YouTube. When the Performing Rights Society demanded more money for music videos streamed from the website, Google reacted by refusing to pay the requested 0.22p per play and took down the videos of the artists concerned.

It does this with impunity because it is dominant worldwide and knows the songwriters have nowhere else to go. Google is the portal to a massive audience: you comply with its terms or feel the weight of its boot on your windpipe.

Despite the aura of heroic young enterprise that still miraculously attaches to the web, what we are seeing is a much older and toxic capitalist model - the classic monopoly that destroys industries and individual enterprise in its bid for ever greater profits. Despite its diversification, Google is in the final analysis a parasite that creates nothing, merely offering little aggregation, lists and the ordering of information generated by people who have invested their capital, skill and time. On the back of the labour of others it makes vast advertising revenues - in the final quarter of last year its revenues were $5.7bn, and it currently sits on a cash pile of $8.6bn. Its monopolistic tendencies took an extra twist this weekend with rumours that it may buy the micro-blogging site Twitter and its plans - contested by academics - to scan a vast library of books that are out of print but still in copyright.

Henry Porter - The Observer

Karzai bows to international calls to scrap Afghan 'rape' law

Afghanistan is to review legislation which the UN says would legalise rape within marriage after a dramatic reversal from the president, Hamid Karzai, who signed the rules into law last month.

Karzai (Here with US special forces. Middle Row, Third from Left, with turban) has bowed to intense international pressure to scrap the law, described by the UN human rights chief in Afghanistan as "reminiscent of the decrees made by the Taliban regime".

It is said to forbid women to refuse to have sex with their husbands and force them to get their spouses' permission before leaving the house, looking for a job, going to the doctor or receiving education.

guardian.co.uk

Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe

We have discovered distinctive red/gray chips in all the samples we have studied of the dust produced by the destruction of the World Trade Center. Examination of four of these samples, collected from separate sites, is reported in this paper. These red/gray chips show marked similarities in all four samples. One sample was collected by a Manhattan resident about ten minutes after the collapse of the second WTC Tower, two the next day, and a fourth about a week later. The properties of these chips were analyzed using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (XEDS), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The red material contains grains approximately 100 nm across which are largely iron oxide, while aluminum is contained in tiny plate-like structures.

Separation of components using methyl ethyl ketone demonstrated that elemental aluminum is present. The iron oxide and aluminum are intimately mixed in the red material. When ignited in a DSC device the chips exhibit large but narrow exotherms occurring at approximately 430 °C, far below the normal ignition temperature for conventional thermite. Numerous iron-rich spheres are clearly observed in the residue following the ignition of these peculiar red/gray chips. The red portion of these chips is found to be an unreacted thermitic material and highly energetic.

The Open Chemical Physics Journal
Bentham Science Publishers

Also see: Evidence for Explosives in the Twin Towers
and more on Plaguepuppy

Nato allies boost Afghanistan force

Barack Obama, the US president, has praised Nato allies for agreeing to send 5,000 extra military personnel to Afghanistan following his call for a greater role for the alliance in the war.

Speaking at the Nato summit in the French city of Strasbourg on Saturday, the US president said the alliance's members had given "strong and unanimous" support to his "new strategy" for Afghanistan.

He said the allies had pledged to boost forces in Afghanistan in order to secure the Afghan presidential elections in August, as well as to further train and fund Afghan forces.

Al Jazeera

Taliban behind massacre, FBI deny Taliban involvement

The FBI today ruled out claims by the leader of the Taliban in Pakistan that he was responsible for the deadly attack on a US immigration centre yesterday.

“Based on the evidence, we can firmly discount that claim.” FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said.

Terror boss Baituallah Mehsud had said this morning that he had ordered the attacks that left 13 dead in response to an attack on Taliban bases by US drones. "I accept responsibility," he said. "They were my men. I gave them orders in reaction to US drone attacks,".

The Sun

Silvio Berlusconi Telephone Call Leaves Merkel Hanging

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi created a stir Saturday by making the German chancellor wait while he chatted on his mobile phone with Turkey's prime minister about who should become NATO's new chief.

In images shown live on European television stations, Berlusconi appeared to gesture to his phone to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as if to explain why he wasn't proceeding with other NATO leaders to be greeted by her.

A visibly perplexed Merkel eventually went ahead without Berlusconi, who was deep in conversation and walked toward the bank of the river as he talked on the phone instead of joining the other chiefs of state.

The Huffington Post

Noam Chomsky on the US economy and democracy

Noam Chomsky speaks to Paul Jay on the Obama - Geithner plan. Chomsky says that "they're simply recycling, the Bush-Paulson measures and changing them a little, but essentially the same idea: keep the institutional structure the same, try to kind of pass things up, bribe the banks and investors to help out, but avoid the measures that might get to the heart of the problem."

The Real News Network

On the Edge of War!