World-News

By Joel S. Hirschhorn

The hardest thing for Americans to do right now in this presidential election season is to fight distraction and, instead, focus on the failure of all three branches of the federal government. And also to resist the propaganda masquerading as patriotic obligation that voting will fundamentally fix the federal government.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21026.htm



No Dog in this Fight

By P Jerome

By November 5, the same people will be controlling our lives, regardless of the election outcome. Real power never gets voted out of office. It must be confronted and overturned.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21025.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=2008+elections
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Joel+S.+Hirschhorn

U.S. Could Guarantee $2 Trillion For Banks

By The Associated Press

That's the equivalent of about 20 percent of the national debt, which recently blew past $10 trillion, and roughly 14 percent of U.S. gross domestic product - the economy's total output of goods and services.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21023.htm



The 56 Trillion Dollar Deficit

Bill Maher Interviews Fmr. Comptroller General David Walker

Video

Comptroller General David Walker, explains that we have a debt of $480,000 per US household?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21024.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Dollar+deficit
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Comptroller+General
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bill+Maher

By Phyllis Bennis

It is false to claim that Iran is violating the Non-Proliferation Treaty by enriching uranium for its nuclear power plants. The NPT (Article IV) allows every country that signs on as a non-nuclear weapons state, including Iran, the inalienable right "to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21018.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/topics/Is+Iran+next/
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=proliferation
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Phyllis+Bennis

By Sherwood Ross

Massachusetts law school Dean Lawrence Velvel will chair a Steering Committee to pursue the prosecution for war crimes of President Bush and culpable high-ranking aides after they leave office Jan. 20th.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21022.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=prosecution+of+Bush
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bush+war+crimes
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Lawrence+Velvel
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Sherwood+Ross

Waterboarding got nod from White House

By Joby Warrick

The Bush administration issued a pair of secret memos to the CIA in 2003 and 2004 that explicitly endorsed the agency's use of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding against al-Qaeda suspects.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21021.htm

--------

Memos Confirm White House Explicitly Endorsed Torture
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/10/15

--------

Senator demands White House memos

Chicago Tribune

10/15/08

The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee accused the White House on Wednesday of withholding documents showing it authorized the CIA to use waterboarding and other tough interrogation tactics on suspected terrorists. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., was reacting to a report that two White House memos, in 2003 and 2004, gave the CIA written approval for using specific interrogation techniques on al-Qaida suspects...

http://tinyurl.com/4j53ca


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=interrogation
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=waterboarding
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jay+Rockefeller
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Joby+Warrick

Michael Cooper and Megan Thee, The New York Times: "The McCain campaign’s recent angry tone and sharply personal attacks on Senator Barack Obama appear to have backfired and tarnished Senator John McCain more than their intended target, the latest New York Times/CBS News poll has found. Over all, the poll found that if the election were held today, 53 percent of those determined to be probable voters said they would vote for Mr. Obama and 39 percent said they would vote for Mr. McCain."

http://www.truthout.org/101508L



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=McCain

Jeff Bliss, Bloomberg: "President George W. Bush overstepped his authority by withholding an FBI interview of Vice President Dick Cheney from a congressional panel probing the leak of a CIA agent's identity, a draft bipartisan House report said. The interview may shed light on who disclosed former CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity, the draft report said. The report was circulated by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, and Virginia Representative Tom Davis, the panel's senior Republican."

http://www.truthout.org/101508K



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Cheney
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Valerie+Plame
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Henry+Waxman

1:57pm Wednesday 15th October 2008

By Andy Walker

CONTROVERSIAL plans to install an 18-metre mobile phone mast have suffered another set-back, after local councillors agreed to support residents’ objections.

Telecommunications company Vodafone may also now need full planning permission for the mast, which it wants to build on farmland, close to houses, in Sandy Bank, Northallerton.

The site of the proposed mast is close to the ward boundaries of Romanby parish and Northallerton town councils.

At a meeting of the parish council last night, members voted to write to Hambleton District Council, the local planning authority, expressing support for objectors.

It is claimed that more than 100 homes would be within view of the mast, which would be 15 metres tall, with a three metre antenna stalk on top of that.

Read More...
http://www.darlingtonandstocktontimes.co.uk/news/3760082.Set_back_for_mobile_phone_mast_plans/

http://takeaction.oceana.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25180



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=sea+turtle

Oct 16 2008 by Kathryn Williams, Rhondda Leader

RESIDENTS in Ynyshir who stopped a mobile phone company building a phone mast near their homes have now got another fight on their hands.

Three years after fighting off two attempts to put a mast behind Glass Sheet Metal site, Park View residents have now had letters from Rhondda Cynon Taff council to say that Vodafone is trying to put another mast next to the Service Centre on Ynyshir Road.

“We just don’t understand, it’s such a vulnerable area, the schools are nearby and there’s sheltered accommodation here too,” said Park View resident Christine Slatter, who created the Park View Resident’s Association to fight the first battle with Vodafone. I am really, really livid over it. We’ve been told we’ll have more of a fight on our hands this time because the mast will not be as tall, at only 12 metres, but with the two antenna that are meant to go on top, it will be.”

Read More...
http://tinyurl.com/3q2dre

Tennessean
by Saritha Prabhu

10/13/08

The United States has the best institutions of higher learning in the world, has made the most advances in science and technology, attracts the best and brightest from all over, has the best publications and books, the best movies, and I could go on and on. All this progress wasn’t effected by Joe Six-packs, but by brainiacs in every field who moved the intellectual goal posts further and further. And yet, the political discourse of recent years indicates that voters of different stripes seem to prefer in their leaders common-man cred over book knowledge, thought and analysis. It doesn’t make sense to someone like me. I have more than a dozen members of my immediate and extended family in the United States. My relatives aren’t here for freedom or democracy (we have that at home), but to pursue higher learning, go the furthest in their respective fields and realize the American dream in the process...

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008810130336



The return of Rove

Rolling Stone
by Matt Taibbi

10/16/08

Wayne Slater has known Karl Rove for 20 years. As the author of Bush’s Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential, he’s not easily shocked by the Republican strategist’s Gila-monstroid tactics. But even he’s been blown away by Rove’s latest political comeback. At the GOP convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, Slater watched Rove address a delegation from South Carolina on John McCain’s behalf. That would be the same South Carolina where Rove helped torpedo McCain’s campaign in 2000 by reportedly spreading rumors that the candidate’s adopted Bangladeshi daughter was actually his illegitimate black love child. Addressing the convention delegates, though, Rove acted like McCain’s long-lost friend...

http://tinyurl.com/4kgeno


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

--------

The Hoover-Palin Ticket
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/10/15-0



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Palin
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Karl+Rove
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=GOP
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=McCain
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Saritha+Prabhu
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Matt+Taibbi
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+Scheer

Houston Chronicle

10/14/08

The federal budget deficit soared to $454.8 billion in 2008 as a housing collapse and efforts to combat the economic slowdown pushed the tide of government red ink to the highest level in history. The Bush administration said Tuesday the deficit for the budget year that ended Sept. 30 was more than double the $161.5 billion recorded in 2007...

http://tinyurl.com/464vgo


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

--------

Federal Deficit Hits Record $455 Billion

Richard Simon, The Los Angeles Times: "Compounding terrible economic news, budget officials announced Tuesday that the federal deficit has soared to a record $455 billion, injecting new urgency into the closing days of the presidential campaign about spending in Washington, including efforts to stem the financial disaster. The final accounting for fiscal 2008 produced a larger shortfall than had been projected, reflecting the start of federal efforts to address the economic emergency. It is certain to become a significant issue in the campaign, confronting the candidates with new questions about their growing slate of proposals for new spending and tax cuts at a time when red ink is surging."

http://www.truthout.org/101508M



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=budget+deficit
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=federal+deficit
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=financial+disaster
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=economic+slowdown
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=housing
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Richard+Simon

Independent [UK]

10/15/08

Early plans to create a giant “Big Brother” database holding information about every phone call, email and internet visit made in the UK were last night condemned by the Government’s own terrorism watchdog.Lord Carlile of Berriew QC, the independent reviewer of anti-terrorist laws, said the “raw idea” of the database was “awful” and called for controls to stop government agencies using it to conduct fishing expeditions into the private lives of the public.

Today the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, is expected to signal the Government’s intention to press ahead with proposals...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/exclusive-storm-over-big-brother-database-961388.html



Big Brother database threatens to ‘break the back of freedom’

Independent [UK]

10/20/08

Government plans to build a giant database holding information about every phone call, email and internet visit were last night dealt a major blow after the man in charge of prosecuting terrorism in England and Wales warned of the dangers posed by a “Big Brother” security state.

Sir Ken Macdonald, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), told ministers not to “break the back of freedom” by creating irreversible powers that could be misused to spy on individual citizens and so threaten Britain’s hard-won democracy. …. He said: “In all the debates that have raged back and forth, Britain has been absolutely right to hold fast to this course. We would do well not to insult ourselves and all of our institutions and our processes of law in the face of these medieval delusions. As I say, the response to terror is multi-layered. But it should not include surrender...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/big-brother-database-threatens-to-break-the-back-of-freedom-967673.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

--------

UK: Passports will be needed to buy mobile phones

Everyone who buys a mobile telephone will be forced to register their identity on a national database under government plans to extend massively the powers of state surveillance.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article4969312.ece


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=surveillance
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=spying

Trotz der Riesensummen, die die europäischen Regierungen zur Stabilisierung des Finanzsystems einsetzen, bleiben die angekündigten Reformen unklar.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/28/28912/1.html



Die Mutter aller Krisen

Gespräch mit dem Krisentheoretiker Robert Kurz.

Teil 1
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/28/28904/1.html

Teil 2
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/28/28905/1.html



Finanzkrise: Schikanen auf dem Weg zur Weltgesellschaft

Die Personalisierung (Gier) oder das Ausspielen des Staates gegen die Wirtschaft verschleiern den komplexeren Hintergrund der Finanzmarktkrise.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/28/28915/1.html

--------

Rettungspaket: Das große Wegducken
http://www.meta-info.de/?site=metainfo&lid=32775

Financial Times: Banken gerettet, Staat pleite
http://www.meta-info.de/?site=metainfo&lid=32776

--------

Attac kritisiert Banken-Rettungspaket als unsozial und undemokratisch

Attac hat das geplante 470-Milliarden-Euro-Rettungspaket für die Banken als unsozial und undemokratisch kritisiert. Bei einer Protestaktion am Mittwoch (15. Oktober) vor dem Bundestag forderte das globalisierungskritische Netzwerk die Abgeordneten auf, das Rettungspaket nur zusammen mit einer Sonderabgabe auf Vermögen zu verabschieden und Hilfen für Banken an einen echten Systemwechsel zu koppeln. "Dieses Gesetz wurde im Hinterzimmer in einer Runde von Banklobbyisten ausgeklüngelt. Und jetzt verlangt die Bundesregierung vom Parlament einen Blankoscheck über Kapitalhilfen in Höhe von 100 Milliarden Euro – ohne jegliche demokratische Kontrolle, welche Banken das Geld zu welchen Bedingungen erhalten und wer die Kosten trägt. Das Parlament soll seine Macht an Finanzminister Peer Steinbrück abtreten und ihn zum König des Banksystems krönen", kritisierte Stephan Schilling vom bundesweiten Attac-Koordinierungskreis. Dies dürften sich die Abgeordneten im Interesse der Bürgerinnen und Bürger nicht gefallen lassen. Stattdessen müssten sie dafür sorgen, dass den Pleite-Banken nicht das Geld der Steuerzahlerinnen und Steuerzahler in den Rachen geworfen werde.

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?H=N&Nr=18784



Sellering wehrt sich gegen Belastungen durch Rettungspaket für Banken

Die geplante 35-prozentige Beteiligung der Länder am Rettungspaket für die deutsche Finanzbranche stößt bei Mecklenburg-Vorpommerns Ministerpräsident Erwin Sellering (SPD) auf Kritik. Es könne nicht einseitig von einem Partner vorgegeben werden, wie viel der andere zu tragen habe, sagte Sellering am Mittwoch (15. Oktober) im NDR-Fernsehen. "So könne man dem noch nicht zustimmen", sagte er einen Tag vor dem Treffen von Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel (CDU) mit den Ministerpräsidenten der Länder in Berlin.

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?H=N&Nr=18791



Länder müssen bis zu 7,7 Milliarden Euro zahlen

Bund und Länder einig über Rettungspaket für Banken und Spekulanten

Bund und Länder haben sich auf eine Lastenverteilung des 500-Milliarden-Euro-Rettungspakets für die deutsche Finanzbranche geeinigt. Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel (CDU) sprach am Donnerstag in Berlin nach einem Treffen mit den Ministerpräsidenten der Länder von einem "vertretbaren und guten Ergebnis". Nach Angaben von Finanzminister Peer Steinbrück (SPD) sollen sich die Länder zwar weiter mit 35 Prozent an den Kosten beteiligen, es werde aber eine Deckelung von 7,7 Milliarden Euro geben.

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?H=N&Nr=18797



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Finanzkrise

Das UN-Mandat für die Besatzung läuft aus und die Verhandlungen zum Abkommen über die amerikanischen Militärstützpunkte stecken fest.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/28/28916/1.html

http://groups.google.de/group/freepage-news/t/d0593de3979e42bc?hl=en



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Active+Denial+System
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Tom+Burghardt

http://www.infowars.net/articles/october2008/141008Beck.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=martial+law
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=economic+crisis

http://groups.google.de/group/freepage-news/t/d92c59db6d51065b?hl=en

--------

Big banks get $125 million cash going away gift

Economic Policy Journal
by Robert Wenzel

10/14/08

Please sit down before you read this. If you have high blood pressure or heart trouble don’t even try to read this, find a decent sports page instead, this is not for you. Approximately half of the first $250 billion tranche of money approved by Congress for the mortgage crisis will end up in the hands of the “healthy” big banks...

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2008/10/paulson-135-billion-will-go-to-healthy.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Big+Banks
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=mortgage

http://www.lewrockwell.com/huff/huff21.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=warfare+budget
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/huff

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig8/herndon5.html

--------

Welcome to the Revolution

Steve Weissman, Truthout: "With the fall of the Berlin Wall, the United States proclaimed itself the world's only super-power and hawked American-style capitalism as the only economic system worth considering. How the mighty have fallen. A needless war in Iraq now calls into question whether the American military can control the oil and natural gas of the Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea, while the current financial chaos has driven the faith-based Bush administration to pray for government ownership in banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions. No matter who becomes president, Obama or McCain, this double-barreled cock-up will force Washington to redefine the global role of the American military and the economic role of the US government."

http://www.truthout.org/101508J



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=bailout
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=capitalism
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=financial+chaos
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=/herndon
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Steve+Weissman

http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north660.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Keynesianism
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=big+government
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/north

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/444.html

--------

McCain and Palin Are Playing With Fire
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/10/AR2008101002456.html


Informant: John Johnson



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ron+Paul
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Palin
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=McCain

"This is now over. The game is out. It does mean a very serious adjustment for America," added Soros.

http://tinyurl.com/4anclf



Europe to U.S.: You messed up the rescue, too

First you mess up the world's financial system. Then you blow the rescue of it. Now let's show you how to do it properly.

http://tinyurl.com/5x594e


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=globalized+market
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=financial+system
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Soros

The Army says no, but a graphic video and eyewitness testimony indicate that a U.S. tank killed two American soldiers. The mother of one soldier demands answers.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/10/14/friendly_fire/


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=friendly+fire

Pakistan's president warns the US on strikes against Pakistan, saying the violation of the country's border would not be tolerated.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=72103&sectionid=351020401


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Pakistan

Video Report

Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere and the poverty has fuelled restavek, a system of domestic servitude of hundreds of thousands of children that is tantamount to modern-day slavery.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21017.htm



Economic Peace

By Garda Ghista

A "toxic combination" of poverty and social injustice is killing people on a grand scale, with more than one billion people as poor as ever.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21043.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=poverty
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Haiti
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=slavery

By Monica Benderman

Every day they seek to divide us; to isolate us from the opportunity for joining together and fighting back.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21013.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Monica+Benderman

By Paul Craig Roberts

The explanation that has been given for the financial crisis does not match up with the solution that has been devised. Moreover, the windows into the crisis offered by the authorities are opaque rather than transparent.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21014.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=bailout
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=financial+crisis
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Paul+Craig+Roberts

By Afshin Rattansi

The US military is approximately at the scale of the rest of the world combined, and far ahead technologically.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21011.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=hegemony
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Chomsky

By Gordon Lubold

American's armed forces are growing bigger to reduce the strains from seven years of war, but if the US is confronting an era of "persistent conflict," as some experts believe, it will need an even bigger military.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21007.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gordon+Lubold

By Patrick J. Buchanan

With U.S. markets crashing and wealth vanishing, what are we doing with 750 bases and troops in over 100 countries?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21005.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=market+crashing
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=empire
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Patrick+J.+Buchanan

By Aswat al-Iraq

The Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS - Sunni organization) on Monday issued a fatwa prohibiting signing the long-term Iraqi-U.S. security agreement, accusing governmental officials and lawmakers who would approve it of betrayal, according to a release issued by the association.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21008.htm

--------

Iraqi leaders consider troop deal with US

CNN

10/14/08

Iraqi leaders met Tuesday to review a draft of an agreement on the future of U.S. troops in Iraq, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said. A senior Bush administration official said the text calls for U.S. troops to leave Iraqi cities, cease street patrols and return to their bases by June, unless Iraqis request their support...

http://tinyurl.com/3euksm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=security+agreement
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=al-Maliki

John Gallagher, The Free Press: "Of all the threats to the American middle-class standard of living, from stagnating incomes to piles of consumer debt, perhaps the least understood and among the most serious is the looming crisis in retirement."

http://www.truthout.org/101408LA



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=middle+class
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=consumer+debt
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=retirement

Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, interviews Frank Schaeffer, the bestselling author of "Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back." She says, "He's the son of the late evangelist Francis Schaeffer, considered himself a lifelong Republican. He voted for John McCain in 2000. McCain even endorsed one of Schaeffer's earlier books on military service. But on Friday, Frank Schaeffer published an op-ed piece in the Baltimore Sun excoriating McCain for 'feeding the most unhinged elements of our society the red meat of hate.'"

http://www.truthout.org/101408S



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=McCain
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Frank+Schaeffer
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Amy+Goodman

Take Action Now!
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=ejJNL8PTIoI3KlJ&s=clIVJbOPIeJTKfMWIrE&m=hhKQK0MEJjJ2G



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Troy+Davis

http://tinyurl.com/3ksgzw


Informant: Di



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=derivatives