World-News

Antoine Reverchon, of Le Monde, interviews Lord Nicholas Stern, professor at the London School of Economics and author of the Stern Report on the costs of global warming, about the nexus between the global economic crisis and what Sir Nicholas calls "the planetary crisis."

http://www.truthout.org/121608E



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=economic+crisis
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Nicholas+Stern
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Antoine+Reverchon

Michael Doyle, McClatchy Newspapers: "Politics corroded Bush administration decisions on protecting endangered species nationwide, federal investigators have concluded in a sweeping new report. Former Interior Department official Julie MacDonald frequently bullied career scientists to reduce species protections, the Interior Department investigators found. Species from the California tiger salamander to plants and crustaceans found in vernal pools were rendered potentially more vulnerable as a result, environmentalists believe."

http://www.truthout.org/121608B



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=endangered+species
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Julie+MacDonald
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Michael+Doyle

Henry Giroux, Truthout: "Under the Bush administration, the language of war has taken on a distinctly new register, more expansive in both its meaning and its consequences. War no longer needs to be ratified by Congress since it is now waged by various government agencies that escape the need for official approval. War has become a permanent condition adopted by a nation state that is largely defined by its repressive functions in response to its powerlessness to regulate corporate power, provide social investments for the populace and guarantee a measure of social freedom."

http://www.truthout.org/121608A



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Henry+Giroux

Douglas MacGregor, Defense News: "Today's world is different from the world of 1991 or 2001. Outside of the United States and Western Europe, nation-building with US military power is a euphemism for imperialism. American financial hegemony has collapsed. As seen in Iraq, the 'total victory' construct as it equates to the imposition of Western-style government and a free-market economy subservient to the US is in full retreat. In the broader Middle East, as well as in most of Africa, Latin America and Asia, 'damage control,' not 'total victory,' is the most realistic goal for US national security strategy."

http://www.truthout.org/121608L



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=imperialism
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=financial+hegemony
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=national+security+strategy
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Douglas+MacGregor

Written by Lloyd Mudiwa Tuesday, 16 December 2008 09:07

An Bord Pleanála has ruled in favour of allowing the retention of telecommunications equipment forming part of a mobile phone communications network at Cork University Hos­pital (CUH)

This followed an appeal by local Councillor Catherine Clancy against an earlier decision made by Cork City Council to grant permission to O2 Com­munications (Ireland) Limited. The retention is for a period of five years from the date of the order issued last week.

Read More...
http://www.irishmedicalnews.ie/index.php/component/content/article/1-news/593-cuh-phone-masts-retained

The Weekly Standard
by Christopher Caldwell

Neither Barack Obama nor John McCain had much of value to say about the financial crisis as it raged through the headlines this fall. Rather than shred their campaign strategies, they played it safe, as most politicians would have. But in the name of justice we ought to recall that there was one candidate who did foresee our predicament with considerable accuracy when it still lay far in the future. Ron Paul, in almost every speech he made during the Republican primaries, spoke of bubbles, reckless credit growth, and the ‘unsustainability’ of present policy. So why isn’t there more demand for the common-sense solutions he put forward? Because common sense is not much use in a financial panic... (for publication 12/22/08)

http://tinyurl.com/63ahha


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=McCain
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ron+Paul
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=financial+crisis
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Christopher+Caldwell

Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland

12/15/08

After the 9/11 attacks, instead of attempting to capture Osama bin Laden using intelligence and law enforcement resources, or kill him in the shadows using Special Forces troops, the Bush administration elected to invade Afghanistan and conduct a nation-building exercise that was far more expansive than just neutralizing al Qaeda, which is now centered in Pakistan. As the Malay communists and Iraqi rebels — and really all insurgent and terrorists groups throughout history — have hoped for, al Qaeda dreamt of a military overreaction by its more powerful adversary to help it score more recruits, money, and propaganda points. Because U.S. intervention in Muslim lands was bin Laden’s original beef, and non-Muslim occupation of Islamic territory has stoked the fires of Islamist radicals for centuries, it seemed obvious that pursuing bin Laden after 9/11 would call for a light footprint in the Muslim world. Instead, not only did the Bush administration invade and occupy one Muslim nation, Afghanistan, but it gave bin Laden a bonus by making it a doubleheader — invading and occupying Iraq and initially using aggressive techniques...

http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2392


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=9/11
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Pakistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ivan+Eland

Tennessean

The U.S. government was already headed for fiscal disaster and then the problem got $3 trillion worse over the past year, Nashville Congressman Jim Cooper and others said Monday. They were responding to the release of the annual financial report of the United States, which said the government faces $56 trillion of unfunded long-term promises. The annual deficit hit $1 trillion for the first time for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the report said. And these figures don’t even include the various bailouts that have followed the collapse of the economy over the past two months. A loosely knit group of Washington budget reformers, which includes Cooper, wants President-elect Barack Obama to appoint a commission upon taking office next month to address these long-term problems...

http://tennessean.com/article/20081215/NEWS01/81215075


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=fiscal+disaster
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=bailout
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jim+Cooper

Die Wut einer enttäuschten Generation
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/29/29354/1.html



Leben im Irrenhaus

Griechenland versinkt in ein Chaos aus Demonstrationen, Skandalen und politischer Misswirtschaft.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/29/29412/1.html

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/12/15-5



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=palm+oil
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=orangutan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Kielburger

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/12/15-7

Supreme Court Sends Guantanamo Torture Case Back to Lower Court
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2008/12/15-7



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Supreme+Court
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Guantanamo
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Center+for+Constitutional+Rights

Trostberger Tagblatt - Bayern, Germany

... die Errichtung einer Mobilfunkanlage über zehn Metern Höhe aber nicht
unter das Planungsrecht der Gemeinden falle, sei etwas faul. ...

http://www.chiemgau-online.de/lokalnachrichten/text_sr.php?satz=18302



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Mobilfunkpakt
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Martin+Runge

15 December 2008

By Chris Visser

Protesters have spoken out against plans for an "eyesore" mobile phone mast in Fulwood.

Vodafone want to place a 13.8m high pole with three antennae and equipment cabinets on the footpath outside the Little Sisters of the Poor care home in Garstang Road.

But Preston Council has received 19 letters of objection including one signed by 14 residents opposed to plans which would impact on the Harris Children's Home Conservation Area.

Read More...
http://www.lep.co.uk/news/Anger-over-plans-for-mobile.4794839.jp

BY ANITA MAGLICIC

16/12/2008 9:53:00 AM

LLANDILO residents are opposing plans for a mobile phone tower to be built on Sixth Avenue, fearing its electromagnetic radiation will compromise the community's health.

Despite receiving negative feedback in two rounds of public consultation and a town petition, Penrith Council passed the development application of the Telstra mobile-phone base station at a council meeting on Monday, December1.

The proposed 35-metre concrete pole will provide for Telstra's Next G network.

Read More...
http://penrith.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/residents-fear-for-their-health-londonderry/1386659.aspx

http://www.lewrockwell.com/shirtz/shirtz10.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=/shirtz

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig8/spielberg8.html



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

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rozeff/rozeff246.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Federal+Reserve
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/rozeff

Whether it's a Tiffany diamond or a three-year-old lawnmower, more and more Americans from all social classes are pawning their possessions to make ends meet.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE4BE02720081215


From Information Clearing House

Latin American and Caribbean leaders gathering in Brazil tomorrow will mark a historic occasion: a region-wide summit that excludes the United States.

http://tinyurl.com/6pxch3


From Information Clearing House

"Around 30 lawsuits have been accepted so far," Qeisi told AFP. The others are still under consideration. "The torture was systemic, and those responsible for it should be punished and the victims should be compensated," he said.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Iraqi_group_files_200_lawsuits_against_1215.html


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Rumsfeld
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=security+firm

U.S. military operations, including the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, have cost USD 904 billion since 2001 and could top USD 1.7 trillion by 2018, even with big cuts in overseas troop deployments.

http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n163271


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=war+costs

The United States believes that India`s air force began preliminary preparations for a possible attack against Pakistan in the immediate aftermath of the recent massacre in Mumbai, a US news channel reported on Monday.

http://paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?208929



'ISI cleared of Mumbai involvement'

After interrogating the sole surviving gunman, The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) concluded that the ISI was cleared of any involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks on November 26, Pakistani daily The Dawn quoted diplomatic sources as saying on Thursday.

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=78821&sectionid=351020401


From Information Clearing House



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

By Patrick Martin

Blagojevich is distinguished not so much by his much-publicized use of four-letter words as by the penny-ante character of his financial aspirations. To the Illinois governor, a $150,000-a-year sinecure for his wife was truly a bonanza. For the New York senator, that is mere petty cash.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21476.htm



Illinois house OKs impeachment inquiry on governor

The Illinois House of Representatives voted on Monday to begin an impeachment inquiry into Gov. Rod Blagojevich, accused of trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE4BA65D20081216



The Real Story Behind the Rushed Blagojevich Bust

Conventional wisdom holds that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald ordered the FBI to arrest Rod Blagojevich before sunrise Tuesday in order to stop a crime from being committed. But the opposite is true.

http://tinyurl.com/5d6jpr



Blagojevich Legal Hurdle: A Crime, or Just Talk?

Tapes of Ill. governor discussing Senate pick may fall into a legal gray area

By David Johnston

"This town is full of people who call themselves ambassadors, and all they did was pay $200,000 or $300,000 to the Republican or Democratic Party," said Mr. Bennett, referring to a passage in the criminal complaint filed against the governor suggesting that Mr. Blagojevich was interested in an ambassadorial appointment in return for the Senate seat.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21480.htm


From Information Clearing House

--------

What Blagojevich was doing right before he was indicted
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/501.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=corruption
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Schumer
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Blagojevich
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=David+Johnston

"The Cook Plan"

By Richard C. Cook

What I am modestly calling the "Cook Plan" is simply to pay each resident of the U.S. a dividend, by means of vouchers for the necessities of life, in the amount of $1,000 per month per capita starting immediately as our fair share of the resources of the Earth and the bounty of the modern industrial economy.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21472.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=bailout
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Richard+C.+Cook

"Understanding the Next Phase of the Global Systemic Crisis"

By Guns And Butter - Audio

Interview with Director of Research for the GlobalEurope Anticipation Bulletin, Franck Biancheri. We discuss the global systemic crisis leading to a Very Great Depression in the United States.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21467.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=collapse+of+US+dollar
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Great+Depression
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Franck+Biancheri

By Ron Paul

The updated total bailout commitments add up to over $8 trillion now. This translates into a monetary base increase of 75 percent over the last two months. This money does not come from some rainy day fund tucked away in the budget somewhere - it is created from thin air, and devalues every dollar in circulation.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21468.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Federal+Reserve
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=bailout
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ron+Paul

By Remi Kanazi

We are led to believe that a soldier can either serve out the rest of his tour or be branded a disgrace and imprisoned for becoming a conscientious objector. In reality the choice is much starker: a soldier can refuse to serve or contribute to the death of a million Iraqis.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21474.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=supporting+the+troops
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Remi+Kanazi

It's not about them...it's about us

By Mike Ferner

We are complicit in the horrors of this administration. We can claim neither ignorance nor innocence. We are complicit by the very fact that we are citizens of the United States, more so because we paid for the war, and even more so for this reason. Listen to a village sheik I met in Iraq describe it better than I ever could.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21473.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=war+crimes
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Mike+Ferner

By David Edwards and Stephen C. Webster

Monday, outgoing Vice President Dick Cheney made a startling statement on a nation-wide, televised broadcast.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21477.htm



Cheney faces 'torture' criticism

A senior US Democrat has condemned Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, for his defence of waterboarding "terror" suspects, saying the abuse amounted to torture and warning there could be prosecutions over the issue under a new administration.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/12/20081218155537836929.html



Deterring Torture Through the Law

By Coleen Rowley and Ray McGovern

Our country's values and the immorality of torture are important considerations. And the law, of course, is also key-or should be. Seldom have we seen it more cynically twisted and abused.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21509.htm



Why Did Cheney Confess On National Television?

Michael Ratner

Cheney's admission of guilt is a plea for a presidential pardon.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21516.htm



Cheney: If President Does it During Wartime, it's Legal

By Andrew McLemore

Dick Cheney is leaving office without remorse and taking some potshots at his successor on the way out the door.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21514.htm


From Information Clearing House

--------

ACLU Rejects Vice President Cheney's Praise Of Guantánamo
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2008/12/16-3

Dick Cheney's Fantasy World
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/12/17-3

--------

Cheney brazenly admits he authorized torture
http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/8155/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

--------

Cheney Was Key in Clearing CIA Interrogation Tactics

Greg Miller, The Los Angeles Times: "Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that he was directly involved in approving severe interrogation methods used by the CIA, and that the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, should remain open indefinitely."

http://www.truthout.org/121708B



Cheney Throws Down Gauntlet

Marjorie Cohn, Truthout: "Dick Cheney has publicly confessed to ordering war crimes. Asked about waterboarding in an ABC News interview, Cheney replied, 'I was aware of the program, certainly, and involved in helping get the process cleared.' He also said he still believes waterboarding was an appropriate method to use on terrorism suspects. CIA Director Michael Hayden confirmed that the agency waterboarded three al-Qaeda suspects in 2002 and 2003. US courts have long held that waterboarding, where water is poured into someone's nose and mouth until he nearly drowns, constitutes torture. Our federal War Crimes Act defines torture as a war crime punishable by life imprisonment or even the death penalty if the victim dies."

http://www.truthout.org/121908J



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Cheney
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Michael+Hayden
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=detainee
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=interrogation
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=waterboarding
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Guantanamo
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=war+crimes
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=ACLU
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=David+Edwards
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Stephen+C.+Webster
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Greg+Miller
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Scott+Ritter
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Marjorie+Cohn
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Coleen+Rowley
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ray+McGovern
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Michael+Ratner
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Andrew+McLemore

By Glenn Greenwald

The culpability which the Report assigns for these war crimes is vast in scope and unambiguous.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21478.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=detainee+homicide
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=war+crimes
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Glenn+Greenwald

http://www.lewrockwell.com/block/block122.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=political+correctness
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/block

Paul Harris, The Guardian UK: "After spending eight years at the helm of one of the most ideologically driven administrations in American history, George W. Bush is ending his presidency in characteristically aggressive fashion, with a swath of controversial measures designed to reward supporters and enrage opponents."

http://www.truthout.org/121508EA



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Paul+Harris

NOW: "Just this week, a top UN official predicted that by the middle of this century, the world should expect six million people a year to be displaced by increasingly severe storms and floods caused by climate change. But for many island nations in the South Pacific, climate change is already more than just a theory - it is a pressing, menacing reality. These small, low-lying islands are frighteningly vulnerable to rising temperatures and sea levels that could cause flooding and contaminate their fresh water wells. Within 50 years, some of them could be underwater."

http://www.truthout.org/121508U

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/8149/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

--------

American dreams: Diary of a mad law professor

The Nation
by Patricia J. Williams

12/16/08

On December 8 the front page of the New York Times featured an arresting image of three snow-white SUVs on the altar of a Pentecostal church in Detroit. Like bullocks led to sacrifice, they were parked amid a swirl of parishioners in choir robes, arms raised in song and seeming supplication. The caption revealed that they were praying for the auto industry to be saved. It might be tempting for some to dismiss such pageantry as idolatry, this beseeched-for sustenance embodied in a once-golden calf, now a dried-up cash cow. But as passion play, it is powerfully evocative of an American spirit. If I were the proverbial Martian anthropologist, I’d see similarities between those SUV anthems and a rain dance, or the miracle of the loaves and fishes. We pray for the cod to be plentiful, we pray for the corn crop, we pray for a harvest of cars. We look for divine signs that our traditional sources of abundance have not been driven to the point of drought or extinction...

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081229/williams?rel=hp_picks


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=bailout
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=automaker
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jim+Kunstler
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Patricia+J.+Williams