World-News

The Need to Demilitarize US National Security

Melvin A. Goodman, Truthout: "Secretary of Defense Robert Gates gave a provocative and even dangerous speech at the National Defense University (NDU) last week that revealed the cold-war thinking of a key holdover from the Bush administration. With language reminiscent of the worst days of the cold war in the 1950s, Gates argued that the 'demilitarization of Europe - where large swaths of the general public and political class are averse to military force and the risks that go with it - has gone from a blessing in the 20th century to an impediment to achieving real security and lasting peace in the 21st century.'"

http://www.truthout.org/too-much-bang-bang-the-need-demilitarize-us-national-security57294



Law, Morality and Conscience in War

Camillo "Mac" Bica, Truthout: "War has been a part of my life virtually for as long as I can remember. First, as a child and adolescent playing and then preparing for war, as a young adult participating in war and then attempting to recover from its effects, and as an old man striving to understand war and to use what I have learned as a means to educate others about differentiating war's realities from the mythology that dominates, not unintentionally, our media and public perspective on war."

http://www.truthout.org/law-morality-and-conscience-war57295



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+Gates
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=national+security
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Melvin+A.+Goodman
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Camillo+"Mac"+Bica

By Chris Hedges

We owe Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney an apology. They were right about Barack Obama. They were right about the corporate state. They had the courage of their convictions and they stood fast despite wholesale defections and ridicule by liberals and progressives.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24889.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=corporate+state
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ralph+Nader
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Cynthia+McKinney
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Chris+Hedges

http://www.ufppc.org/us-a-world-news-mainmenu-35/9449/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Supreme+Court
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Clean+Water+Act

The Nation
by Greg Kaufmann

02/25/10

Ongoing Congressional investigations into the AIG bailout have put the incestuous and murky relationship between the Federal Reserve and Wall Street in the spotlight — and put Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Fed chair Ben Bernanke in the hot seat. Calls for Geithner’s resignation regularly reverberate inside the Capitol, and Bernanke’s recent reappointment was opposed by thirty senators, including Republican John McCain and independent Bernie Sanders. Critics from both sides of the aisle fault Geithner and Bernanke for mismanagement, unnecessary secrecy and undermining Congressional oversight. But neither of them has been the target of questions about gaming the system for personal financial gain...

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100315/kaufmann


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=bailout
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Geithner
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bernanke
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Treasury
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Federal+Reserve
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Wall+Street
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=AIG+insurance

MSNBC

President Barack Obama has signed a one-year extension of several provisions in the main U.S. counterterrorism law, the Patriot Act. Provisions in the measure would have expired on Sunday without Obama’s signature Saturday. The act, which was adopted in the weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, expands the government’s ability to monitor Americans in the name of national security...

http://tinyurl.com/yegcuu6



Why the treasonous Patriot Act was renewed

Fr33 Agents
by Szandor Blestman

03/06/10

On the 28th of February, on the very last day possible, Mr. Obama signed a bill that renewed the Patriot Act in full for another year. Had he waited a few more hours, many of the more intrusive and objectionable aspects of the law would have expired. Not only was this done at the eleventh hour without fanfare, but it was hidden in a bill which had nothing else to do with the Patriot Act. This suggests to me that the Democrat controlled congress and the Obama administration knew exactly what they were doing and consciously made an effort to ignore one of the mandates their constituents put on them when they were elected into office. They must have known they were doing something wrong to go to such lengths to be so sneaky and secretive. They must be worried about what their constituents would think should this action be subjected to the light of day. I think, more than this, they have even more nefarious reasons for extending this bill than they care to admit. The Patriot Act wasn’t renewed to protect you from terrorists. The Patriot Act was renewed to protect the power elite from you...

http://tinyurl.com/yevu3wk



Obama, Congress wink at massive surveillance abuses

Cato Institute
by Julian Sanchez

03/03/10

Here’s how it was supposed to be. Under his administration, candidate Barack Obama explained in 2007, America would abandon the ‘false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we provide.’ There would be ‘no more National Security Letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime’ because ‘that is not who we are, and it is not what is necessary to defeat the terrorists.’ Even after his disappointing vote for the execrable FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which expanded government surveillance power while retroactively immunizing telecoms for their role in George W. Bush’s warrantless wiretapping, civil libertarians held out hope that the erstwhile professor of constitutional law would begin to restore some of the checks on government surveillance power that had been demolished in the panicked aftermath of the September 11 attacks. The serial betrayal of that hope reached its culmination last week, when a Democratic-controlled Congress quietly voted to reauthorize three controversial provisions of the USA Patriot Act without implementing a single one of the additional safeguards that had been under consideration …

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11426


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bush+legacy
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=power+elite
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=national+security
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=counterterror
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Patriot+Act+prov
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=surveillance
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=telecoms
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=what+change
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Szandor+Blestman
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Julian+Sanchez

http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul642.html

Will the new "healthcare" bill "create 4 million jobs"?
http://www.lewrockwell.com/alston/alston63.1.html

--------

Health Care Reform

After months of lobbying, grandstanding and political theater, Americans are wondering if there's any real reform left in the health reform bill. Bill Moyers sits down with former insurance executive turned public health advocate Wendell Potter, who argues that all is not lost in the health care bill and details what he likes about the legislation.

http://www.truthout.org/bill-moyers-journal-health-care-reform57344

--------

The stimulus scam

Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Antony P. Mueller

03/14/10

The recent improvement of the global economy, with particularly high economic-growth numbers for the United States, is just one more deception in a long series of deceptions that have plagued policy makers and investors. While official statistics register a rising gross domestic product, the long-term production potential of many economies around the world is actually contracting. The present economic expansion is brought about by massive stimulus policies. This kind of economic expansion does not constitute genuine economic growth...

http://mises.org/daily/4158


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Pelosi
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=stimulus
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=healthcare
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ron+Paul
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/paul
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=/alston
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Moyers
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Antony+P.+Mueller

http://www.lewrockwell.com/casey/casey40.1.html



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

http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl2/hyperinflation-guide.html

The Bright Side of Hyperinflation
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/franklin-t1.1.1.html

--------

Hey, America: It's Time to Redefine the "Good Life"

By Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson

Although economic growth has been the most important driver of human progress in the past and still has a crucial role to play in improving lives in developing countries, we in the developed world must now look elsewhere for further improvements in the real quality of life.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24892.htm



What Kind Of World Do We Want?

Video

Capitalism and Other Kids' Stuff tries to find answers to why we live the way we do and suggests possible alternatives.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24881.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=capitalism
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=hyperinflation
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=John+Silveira
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Kate+Pickett
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Richard+Wilkinson

Nadya Williams, Truthout: "Josh Stieber and Conor Curran spoke to a gathering of Veterans For Peace and civilian peace activists in San Francisco, as part of their six months of walking and biking from the East Coast to the West to engage in dialogue about war and to become involved in community service along the way ... They spoke of their motivations for joining the Marines, their experiences in Iraq and the turning points that made them reject violence."

http://www.truthout.org/turning-point-when-soldiers-have-had-enough57257



The Other Victims of Battlefield Stress; Defense Contractors' Mental Health Neglected

T. Christian Miller, ProPublica: "While suicide among soldiers has been a focus of Congress and the public, relatively little attention has been paid to the mental health of tens of thousands of civilian contractors returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. When they make the news at all, contractors are usually in the middle of scandal, depicted as cowboys, wastrels or worse."

http://www.truthout.org/defense-contractors%E2%80%99-mental-health-neglected57255



Carrying a Backpack of Sorrow ... Soldiers on the Edge of Suicide

Nadya Williams, Truthout: "More of our young soldiers are now killing themselves than are being killed in our wars in the Middle East. The sad statistics are at the end of this article, but the following poem by a 24-year-old former Marine, who slashed his wrists twice after four years of duty and two tours of combat, tells it all."

http://www.truthout.org/carrying-a-backpack-sorrow-soldiers-edge-suicide58208

--------

The Picture

By David Glenn Cox

I want you to look very closely at this picture and try and keep it in your minds eye. This was a perfectly healthy twenty two-year-old young man who in the service of his country got half of his head blown off. I think that's important, I think that's newsworthy.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24891.htm



Veteran commits suicide in front of Dayton VA center

Jesse C. Huff, address unknown, was wearing full military fatigues and was armed with a military-style rifle, which he used to shoot himself twice in the head about 5:45 a.m. Friday, April 16, according to police and the Montgomery County Coroner's Office.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/veteran-commits-suicide-in-front-of-dayton-va-center-656012.html



18 veterans commit suicide each day

Seven percent of the attempts are successful, and 11 percent of those who don't succeed on the first attempt try again within nine months.

http://snipurl.com/vs5r2



Feeling Warehoused in Army Trauma Care Units

Last August, Specialist Crawford attempted suicide with a bottle of whiskey and an overdose of painkillers. By the end of last year, he was begging to get out of the unit.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/health/25warrior.html



Flags, Crosses & Circuses... And Apathy

Visit any church parking lot in my town, during Sunday services, and count the flags, yellow ribbons and bumper stickers that in reality support the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. Would Jesus condone what our country is doing?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25313.htm


From Information Clearing House

--------

Shadow army, hidden casualties

AntiWar.Com
by Kelley B. Vlahos

03/02/10

We often talk about the ’shadow army’ fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, describing of course, the tens of thousands of civilian contractors hired by the U.S. military to do everything the regular Army once did — from guarding diplomats and training local police to driving supply trucks and serving chow on base. Then it makes perfect sense to talk about the ’shadow casualties,’ which, as of December 2009, totaled 1,757 deaths and more than 39,000 injuries among all contractors on the U.S. payroll since 2001. Add that to American military casualties so far (4,386 fatalities and at least 88,105 injuries), and you have a good picture of the ‘cakewalk’ these wars in Afghanistan and Iraq turned out to be...

http://tinyurl.com/ygolhew


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

--------

As Afghanistan Contracting Surges, Who's Following the Money?
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/03/04-5



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Veterans+For+Peace
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=shadow+army
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Army+suicide
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=defense+contractor
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=casualties
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Nadya+Williams
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=T.+Christian+Miller
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=David+Glenn+Cox
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Kelley+B.+Vlahos

A joint Australian - French study has discovered the calving of a large iceberg from the Mertz Glacier in the Australian Antarctic Territory.

http://sonnenseite.kjm4.de/ref.php?id=d8741688267ms196



The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

William's dream is that other African's will learn to help themselves - one windmill and one light bulb at a time - and that maybe one day they will be able to power their own computers, and use the internet, and see for themselves how his life has changed after picking up that book in the library.

http://sonnenseite.kjm4.de/ref.php?id=d8741688266ms196
[ http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com/williamkamkwamba/2009/04/my-book-the-boy-who-harnessed-the-wind.html ]



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

Ein Eisberg in der Größe Luxemburgs ist in der Antarktis gegen einen Gletscher geprallt und hat dort einen weiteren riesigen Eisberg losgelöst.

http://sonnenseite.kjm4.de/ref.php?id=d8741688229ms196



Expedition erforscht Plastikmüllstrudel im Pazifik

Kinofilm "Plastic Planet" macht auf Kunststoff-Problem aufmerksam. „Plastic Planet“ seit dem 25. Februar in den deutschen Kinos.

http://sonnenseite.kjm4.de/ref.php?id=d8741688249ms196



Die wahren Visionäre unserer Zeit

Wir Journalisten sind meist problembesessen und lösungsvergessen. Die aktuellen Probleme arbeiten wir relativ gut und umfassend auf. Aber darüber hinaus sind wir ziemlich blind für die Lösungen unserer Zukunftsprobleme. Fehlendes Wissen, weil mangelnde journalistische Aufklärung, ist aber eines der Hauptprobleme unserer Zeit.

http://sonnenseite.kjm4.de/ref.php?id=d8741688225ms196



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

Armutskonferenz: Kampf gegen Krise darf Ungleichheit nicht verstärken. Wenn auch seitens der Finanzwelt immer wieder das Ende der Wirtschaftskrise ausgerufen wird, hat die soziale Krise ihren Höhepunkt noch nicht erreicht.

http://sonnenseite.kjm4.de/ref.php?id=d8741688224ms196



Alarmierend und lösungsorientiert: der Weltagrarbericht

Warum führt unsere industrielle Überproduktion dazu, dass eine Milliarde Menschen hungert, eine Milliarde an krankhaftem Übergewicht leidet und eine weitere Milliarde fehlernährt ist?

http://sonnenseite.kjm4.de/ref.php?id=d8741688231ms196



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Wirtschaftskrise
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Armut

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/27/AR2010022703754_pf.html


Informant: Kev Hall



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