FEMA for the Internet ???

FEMA for the Internet ??? Source: Business WeekFor all the fears of sophisticated digital intrusions preoccupying many computer security professionals, President Obamas leading candidates for cyber czar also are focusing on an all-too-human vulnerability: The nations inability to respond to a full-fledged Internet-borne crisis for lack of a central cyber commander.Former White House cybersecurity [...]

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[Source: Mint Dollar

U.S. Troops to practice mass gun confiscation in Iowa

Source: Daily Times Herald in Carroll, Iowa.The Carroll National Guard unit will train on urban military operations by holding a four-day exercise at Arcadia.The purpose of the April 2-5 drill will be to gather intelligence, then search for and apprehend a suspected weapons dealer, according to Sgt. Mike Kots, readiness NCO for Alpha Company.Citizens, law [...]No related posts.

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[Source: War On You: Breaking Alternative News - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

FEMA for the Internet ???

FEMA for the Internet ??? Source: Business WeekFor all the fears of sophisticated digital intrusions preoccupying many computer security professionals, President Obamas leading candidates for cyber czar also are focusing on an all-too-human vulnerability: The nations inability to respond to a full-fledged Internet-borne crisis for lack of a central cyber commander.Former White House cybersecurity [...]

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[Source: Mint Dollar - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Re: The Secret History of the 9/11 Attack

Quote

Cheney worked behind the scenes, and GWB was a front man for him and his cronies. Do you remember when the attacks happened, and GWB was in a classroom, and how shocked he seemed to be? This was necessary so he could present the proper face to the public. Notice Ch...

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[Source: WAR ON YOU FORUMS - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Malcolm X on Zionism

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22046.htm


Zionist Logic

Malcolm X on Zionism

By Malcolm X (Omowale Malcolm X Shabazz)

Taken from The Egyptian Gazette -- Sept. 17, 1964

February 20, 2009 "Informat...

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[Source: WAR ON YOU FORUMS - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Deek Jackson's Latest FKN NEWZ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KSk8yhCPzs (External Embedding Disabled)

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Google exposes US airbase in Pakistan used to launch drones

Instead of blanket-wiretapping Americans, maybe the Bush Administrations intelligence agencies should have spent a little more time with Google Earth.Until recently, Google Earth prominently displayed an image of a clandestine US airbase that housed unmanned Predator drones in Pakistan. An image appeared to show three drones outside a hangar at the end of a runway, [...]

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[Source: vote tags: Tracking the Vote - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Adam Carolla hangs up on Ann Coulter

conservative pundit Ann Coulter called the Adam Carolla radio show an hour and a half after she was scheduled. (Coulter had not called as scheduled a week earlier, either). This is what happened when she finally did call the program
[url=http://vidzking.com/?q=Tags...

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[Source: WAR ON YOU FORUMS - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Trouble at Treasury: Geithner gets the keys to the henhouse

The Obama Team has a big problem on their hands; Timothy Geithner. Geithner was picked as Treasury Secretary because he is a trusted ally of the big banks and has a good grasp of the intricacies of the financial system. The problem is that Geithner can’t handle the public relations part of his job. His [...]No related posts.

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[Source: War On You: Breaking Alternative News - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

New Dems Seek to Lead Regulations Rewrite

Occupying a place roughly equidistant between the Blue Dogs and the Progressives, but slightly to the right of the House Democratic caucus as a whole, the New Democrats are an often overlooked third (and now fourth) ideological group within the House Democratic caucus as a whole. Ideologically speaking, the New Democrats are closely aligned with 1990's Clintonian policies, and the Democratic Leadership Council. Generally speaking, it is a corporatist group that is left-wing on cultural issues. Of any ideological group in either major political party, the New Democrats were consistently the staunchest supporters of the Wall Street bailout, for example.

Peaking in the 1990's and the early part of this decade, their relative power has swooned a bit in recent years. First, they were passed by the Progressives in overall size. Next, the Blue Dogs stole all their media mojo. More recently, they lost their most prominent member, Rahm Emanuel, and the representation within the House Democratic leadership that Emanuel provided.

Looking for a path back to relevance, the New Democrats have seized upon the forthcoming revamping of financial sector regulations for influence (more in the extended entry):

The New Democrat Coalition, comprising 60-plus centrist Democrats, are planning a news conference early next week to unveil its principles for revamping financial market regulation, Politico has learned.

The group is working with the White House on the issue and has already met with former New Dem Rahm Emanuel, the former Illinois congressman who's now Obama's chief of staff. The New Dems are also planning a meeting with the president himself.

Already, key coalition members have met recently with Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the powerful chairman of the House Financial Services Committee who'll lead the financial regulatory reform effort in the House.

This sounds all well and good in practice, as they are talking with the real leaders on the effort, Chairman Barney Frank and the Obama administration. However, financial industry lobbyist megaphone Melissa Bean (IL-08) reveals their real agenda--keep the regulations to a minimum:

Their regulatory principles focus on putting robust consumer protections in place, but also ensuring the new rules support overall economic growth, "which is critical to getting our economy back on the foundation that it needs for the future," Bean explained in an interview.

"Congress can be very well intentioned," she said, "but in its best intentions sometimes so overreacts or overcompensates that it can create other unintended consequences that are problematic and stifling to our economy."

The New Democrats see themselves as helping counteract such overreaching and overreaction, she said.

In our current economic climate, it takes an extraordinary level of deference to the financial sector to argue that the real problem with the federal government's relationship with that industry is that it often over-regulates. And yet, even as our economy has collapsed largely because of lax regulations, Melissa Bean tells the Politico, with a straight face, that Congress is well intentioned but often over-regulates.

With spokespeople like this, its no wonder the New Democrats have seen their influence decline over the past few years.

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[Source: RETROGRESSING - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Majority Oppose Chapter 11 of NAFTA

Majority Oppose Chapter 11 of NAFTAFriday, 13 February 2009 06:34By Dana GabrielA recent binational poll commissioned by the Council of Canadians, found that the majority of Americans and Canadians oppose provisions found in Chapter 11 of NAFTA. The poll found that 70% believe that energy corporations should not be allowed to sue governments for changes [...]No related posts.

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[Source: War On You: Breaking Alternative News

Blackwater Worldwide renamed Xe as company tries to salvage its tarnished brand

US Security Firm Mired in Iraq Controversy Changes Its NameBlackwater Worldwide is abandoning its tarnished brand name as it tries to shake a reputation battered by oft-criticised work in Iraq, renaming its family of two dozen businesses under the name Xe. The parent companys new name is pronounced like the letter z.Blackwater Worldwides headquarters is [...]

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[Source: vote tags: Tracking the Vote

Out of Iraq?

President Obama's campaign promise to get us out of Iraq in sixteen months gave him the electoral heft to oust "frontrunner" Hillary and catapulted him into the White House. Yet, now that the public's attention is fixed on our swiftly deteriorating economic plight, that promise is being quietly – but definitely – broken. I've been predicting that for god-knows-how-many weeks, but now we have substantial evidence that my hunch presaged an emerging reality. Eli Lake reports in the Washington Times:

"As President Obama weighs options for withdrawing U.S. combat troops from Iraq, the country's military is purchasing American helicopters, cargo planes and tanks equipment that typically requires a prolonged U.S. presence for maintenance and training.

"Lt. Gen. Frank Helmick, who is in charge of training Iraq's security services and military, told The Washington Times that some of the ordered equipment would not be delivered until 2012, even though a new status of forces agreement (SOFA) requires all U.S. troops to exit the country by [the end of] 2011."

To Gen. Helmick, this looks like the Iraqis are seeking "a long-term strategic relationship with the United States."

Translation: We ain't leaving!

Remember that "residual force" Obama mumbled about under his breath, right after pledging to Get US Out? Yeah, well they'll be there well beyond 2011, maintaining, guarding, and otherwise souping-up all the neat gear we're going to be selling them. Hey, it's all part of the economic "stimulus" plan, don'tcha know – after all, the military-industrial complex needs a bailout, too, along with the banks, the auto industry, and the makers of bridges-to-nowhere. As Lake reports:

"The deals also will begin to redress the economic costs borne by United States to wage the Iraq war. Among the U.S. companies that will benefit from contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars are General Dynamics, which makes the M1 Abrams tank, Bell Boeing, which produces the assault helicopters, and Lockheed Martin, which makes the C130-J Super Hercules tactical airlifter. Lockheed Martin also makes the F-16 fighter jet, which also is generating some Iraqi interest, Gen. Helmick said."

Got that? The costs are borne by the United States government – but the "redress" goes to General Dynamics, Boeing, and Lockheed-Martin. Funny how that works….

Yes, folks, the General predicts that we're in for a "long-term strategic relationship" with the Iraqis – kind of like a sugar-daddy/ho arrangement, with US aid flowing into Iraqi coffers and into the pockets of politically-favored US companies. It's the new crony capitalism in action – with a distinctly military beat.

The status of forces agreement stipulates that all US forces must be out by the end of 2011, but nothing must be allowed to get in the way of the war industry's profits: according to Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell, the US will ask for an "adjustment" in the agreement – which can no doubt be made after some more cash exchanges hands.

The Iraqis are already slated to go shopping for arms in the US: defense minister Abdul Qader al-Obeidi will be in Washington next week for consultations with Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Senor al-Obeidi – fresh from a trip to South Korea, where he extolled the 50-year master-slave US-Korean relationship as exemplary – will also meet with "defense contractors and weapons makers," reports Lake.

The Korean model, you'll recall, came up in the summer of '07, when the presidential campaign was underway and the Democrats were driving home the point that John McCain anticipated a fifty to one-hundred year occupation of Iraq. Tony Snow, confronted with the Korean analogy, played agnostic, answering "I don't know" to a reporter's question about whether we'd be in Iraq for the next half century or so:

"So you're not suggesting that U.S. troops would be there for over 50 years in a –

"MR. SNOW: No, no, I'm not. I don't know. It is an unanswerable question, but I'm not making that suggestion."

Well, now that Bush is gone, and an ostensibly "antiwar" President is in the White House, we know the answer to that question, which is: yes, not only will we be in Iraq well after the mythical sixteen-month cut-off point, but the Korean model is on the agenda. This isn't a strategic hook-up, after all: it's a long-term strategic relationship. If not quite a marriage, then a long-standing affair – one that, however stormy and dysfunctional, is held together by the offspring, i.e. a motley crew of war profiteers and ambitious politicians, both American and Iraqi.

Another major factor practically precluding a real US withdrawal is the Kurds, our troublesome "friends" in the region who might be expected to act up if and when we packed our bags and left. Lake cites Thomas Donnelly, defense guru over at the "center-right" (i.e. neocon) American Enterprise Institute, as saying: "The Kurds will feel more secure and behave better if there is a long-term deployment of American troops in Iraqi Kurdistan."

They'll be better behaved if we stay on – you know, like rambunctious children who, left to their own devices, will jump on the bed, break the china, and disturb the neighbors. We'll be babysitting them for a long time to come. Such are the wages of "liberation."

U.S. out of Iraq? Not in my lifetime. President Obama has already stated his own "regional" perspective, in which our relations with Iraq are inextricably linked with our ambitious plans in Afghanistan, Pakistan – and Iran. Sixteen months from now, that "residual force" will be battling suicide bombers, restraining the Kurds, and keeping the Shi'ites and Sunnis from each others' throats.

Campaign promises? Don't be a fool. By the time Obama is up for reelection, this country will be so mired in the global economic downturn that we won't even remember his out-of-Iraq pledge – or, at least, the average voter won't. The pundits will compliment Obama on his "maturity," and the Washington establishment – and their corporate allies – will breathe a sigh of relief, as war profits continue to flow and the Afghan front opens up all sorts of new investment opportunities for them.

The US empire is like the Borg, or the old Warsaw Pact – once you're absorbed, that's it. Only a complete collapse, economic and/or military, would succeed in cutting the Iraqis loose. That's not out of the question, by any means, but it's a subject best left for another column. In the meantime, don't hold your breath waiting for Obama to make good on his pledge to end the war – unless blue is your favorite color.

NOTES IN THE MARGIN

Be sure to check out my essay, “The Old California,” over at Taki’s Magazine. I had great fun writing it.
~ Justin Raimondo

Expect New, More Populist Tactics From President Obama

Elitist (as in, only accountable to large donors), false (as in, doesn't describe any actual problems we face), non-transparent (as in not offering clear choices to the electorate), and right-wing (as in consistently thwarting progressive governance) are only some of the ways we have described "bi-partisanship" here at Open Left.  Now, we can add "strategy shelved by the Obama administration" to that list:

White House aides say they have concluded that Obama too frequently lost control of the debate and his own image during the stimulus battle. By this reckoning, the story became too much about failed efforts at bipartisanship and Washington deal-making, and not enough about the president's public salesmanship.

For Obama's next act, the program is the same as he has been planning for months: New Deal-style plans to rescue struggling homeowners and rewrite regulations on the financial markets, plus a budget proposal that lays the groundwork for sweeping health care reform.

But the strategy to promote these items is getting an emergency overhaul. Obama plans to travel more and campaign more in an effort to pressure lawmakers with public support, rather than worrying about whether he can win over Republican votes in Congress.

Awesome. I am excited about this shift in focus, and eager to engage in the legislative battles that will take place over the coming months. What we need now is a populist, progressive President who offers a clear choice to Americans, and allows his activist supporters to place pressure on fence-sitters. President Obama seems prepared to move in that direction.


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[Source: RETROGRESSING

Wary Netanyahu in Driving Seat

Excerpt: JERUSALEM -- Israel's foreign minister Tzipi Livni clung precariously to a narrow lead over her right-wing rival Benjamin Netanyahu as vote counting neared conclusion from Israel's Tuesday general election. Both would-be prime ministers continue to claim victory: "I won," read the headline of the country's biggest newspaper, Yedioth Ahronot, alongside the photos of the two.

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[Source: AntiWar.com

Hoping for a Spontaneous Regime Change in Iran

Excerpt: With the new U.S. administration comfortably situated and setting political goals and policies, looming Iranian elections cast a long shadow over one of its thorniest issues: how to deal with the Islamic Republic.

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[Source: AntiWar.com

Americas Most Mysterious Places

From UFO hotspots on the West Coast to mystifying castles in Florida, weird and wonderful places await.By Adrien GloverRacetrack PlayaDeath Valley National Park, Calif.The Mystery: People have long scratched their heads over the Sailing Stones, which mysteriously move across the sandy playas surface on their own, leaving visible tracks in their wake.Fact: Given that these [...]

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[Source: Meggido

Does Planet X Exist? Is Nibiru Inhabited and Inbound?

Robert Sepehr’s effort to inform and make public information that has been witheld or forgotten by the masses for millennia.

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[Source: Meggido

US Housing Crisis Pushing Up Homelessness

Every Christmas season a large electric star visible for miles is illuminated on a mountainside overlooking Bethlehem, Pa., to commemorate the time the holy family of Christianity took refuge in a manger on the night of Christs birth. This past Christmas, this city of 71,000—whose principal landmark is the rusting remains of the [...]No related posts.

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[Source: War On You - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]