World-News

Our Own Greek Tragedy
http://list.lewrockwell.com/t/1846753/12759198/113288/0/

America, the Fragile Empire
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/ferguson-n1.html

Big Government Leads to Civil Unrest
http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl2/greece-braces-for-violent-modernization.html

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Has the US Empire of Bases Reached Its High-Water Mark?
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/03/05-6



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=empire
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=big+government
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=bases
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=civil+unrest
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Mark+Steyn
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Niall+Ferguson
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=John+Feffer
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Noah+Barkin
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=George+Georgiopoulos

Waterboarding Too Dangerous, Internal DoD Memo Reveals

Jeffrey Kaye, Truthout: "In recent weeks, former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen has been on a public relations campaign defending the efficacy of waterboarding, going so far as to say that the torture technique sanctioned by the Bush administration is not only safe, but is in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church.... On Tuesday, in an interview with 'Fox News,' John Yoo, the former Justice Department attorney who was the principal author of legal memoranda that cleared the way for CIA interrogators to waterboard 'war on terror' detainees and subject them to other brutal torture techniques, asserted that waterboarding was harmless."

http://www.truthout.org/waterboarding-too-dangerous-internal-dod-memo-reveals57372



Yoo Besmirches Legacy of Jefferson

Ray McGovern, Truthout: "Initially I was shocked at the thought of the University of Virginia (UVA) welcoming former Justice Department lawyer John Yoo to the 'Academical Village' founded by Thomas Jefferson. There was something very wrong about that picture. Was it not Jefferson who condemned tyrannical acts - including ones that fell far short of waterboarding - in the Declaration of Independence?"

http://www.truthout.org/yoo-besmirches-legacy-jefferson57722



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=DoD
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=waterboard
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Yoo
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=interrogat
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jeffrey+Kaye
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ray+McGovern

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says US foreign policy is too dependent on military generals and admirals and not enough on the State Department.

http://snipurl.com/umwsg



General: Demands of Iraq, Afghan occupation hurting Army's ability to train its forces:

The Army's ability to train its forces is "increasingly at risk" because of the nation's protracted commitments to Iraq and Afghanistan, the general in charge of training has told the Army's chief of staff.

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/03/04/2581358/general-demands-of-iraq-afghan.html


From Information Clearing House

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Winter in America: Democracy Gone Rogue

Henry A. Giroux, Truthout: "Democracy in the United States is experiencing both a crisis of meaning and a legitimation crisis. As the promise of an aspiring democracy is sacrificed more and more to corporate and military interests, democratic spheres have largely been commercialized and democratic practices have been reduced to market relations, stripped of their worth and subject to the narrow logics of commodification and profit making. Empowerment has little to do with providing people with the knowledge, skills and power to shape the forces and institutions that bear down on their lives and is now largely defined as under the rubric of being a savvy consumer. When not equated with the free market capitalism, democracy is reduced to the empty rituals of elections largely shaped by corporate money and indifferent to relations of power that make a mockery out of equality, democratic participation and collective deliberation."

http://www.truthout.org/winter-america-democracy-gone-rogue57353



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Mike+Mullen
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=foreign+policy
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=capitalism
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Henry+A.+Giroux

By Mike Whitney

The media has played a big role in fueling deficit hysteria. It's all part of a well-funded public relations campaign aimed at putting the government on a starvation diet.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24919.htm



Ideallergy

By John O'Kane

Obama's stimulus program lacks even the fumes of the Great Society anyway, certainly the parent New Deal, providing minimal funds to the states. It basically props up the existing order.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24921.htm



Ayn Rand's Excellent Proposal

By Ernest Partridge

In Ayn Rand's sprawling novel, Atlas Shrugged, ubermensch industrialist, John Galt, infuriated over the "theft" of his property by the parasitic government, calls upon his fellow "captains of industry" - the "producers of wealth" - to go on strike which, we read, brings down the entire economy.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24920.htm



In God we can only trust, but in hashish rests assurance

By Joe Bageant

Americans already know the purpose of life: to worship god and make money, which have been two sides of the same ontological coin since Alexander Hamilton, one of America's first economists -- who also happened to be one of our first lawyers too -- set about forging our system.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24913.htm



Abe Osheroff on the Struggle for a Better World

Getting Rid of Hope and Faith

By Robert Jensen

The young man said he often felt depressed, not about the circumstances of his own life but about the possibilities for change. Finally, he looked at me and asked, "Once you see what's happening -- I mean really see it -- how are you supposed to act like everything is going to be OK?"

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24918.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=what+change
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=stimulus
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=deficit
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Mike+Whitney
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=John+O'Kane
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ernest+Partridge
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Joe+Bageant

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17709


Informant: Alice Slater

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Push for US to act against Iran intensifying
http://www.ufppc.org/us-a-world-news-mainmenu-35/9451/

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US: The next USSR
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/813.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/topics/Is+Russia+next/
http://freepage.twoday.net/topics/Is+Iran+next/
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Rozoff

CounterPunch
by Franklin C. Spinney

03/03/10

As I indicated in CounterPunch on 3 February 2010, the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) just released by the Obama Pentagon is a bad joke. That bad joke is about to be given the good housekeeping seal of approval by a special panel appointed jointly by the Secretary of Defense and the defense barons of the Armed Services committees in Congress. When this happens, rest assured, any desire to get control of the out-of-control defense budget will plunge far below its already low level. Chalk up another victory in the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex’s (MICC’s) war on the Constitution, the American taxpayer, and programs like Social Security and Medicare, which are hallmarks of civilized society...

http://counterpunch.org/spinney03032010.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+Gates
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Eisenhower
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=budget
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=military-industrial
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Constitution
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=taxpayer
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Franklin+C.+Spinney

Freedom's Phoenix
by Bill Bonner

03/03/10

There’s good news and bad news … and a lot of news in between. Consumers spent a little more than was expected of them. And manufacturing did a little better than expected too. On the other hand, the federal government’s tax receipts plunged in the month of February … and bank lending is still contracting. Last week it shrank $33 billion — the 7th week in a row it has contracted. How does an economy expand when the banks are lending less money? Beats us. We believe the ‘expansion’ reported in the GDP figures is mostly counterfeit. It’s government spending and hot money filtering into the economy. Still, it’s amazing that the GDP figures are positive...

http://tinyurl.com/yjpkbop



A downward cycle

Adam Smith Institute
by Dr. Eamonn Butler

03/03/10

There’s a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the ebb, can land you on the rocks in short order. I am beginning to wonder whether America, Britain and other leading economies are indeed launching themselves onto the rocks. Anyone who has read their Hayek knows how it works...

http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/tax-and-economy/a-downward-cycle/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=spending
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=GDP
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bill+Bonner
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Eamonn+Butler

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/03/03-6



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Daniel+Nasaw

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig9/nemko3.1.1.html

Central Banks Can't Stop Global Unraveling
http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl2/global-unraveling.html

How Long Before You Wake Up, Politicos?
http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl2/in-a-depression.html

Is the Current Recovery a Piñata With No Candy Inside?
http://www.lewrockwell.com/higgs/higgs141.html

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A Deceptive Job Recovery -- Real Unemployment at 16.8%
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/03/05-11

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Regulators close banks in four states

U.S. bank regulators closed four banks in as many states on Friday, bringing the number of failures so far this year to 26 as deteriorating loans continued taking a toll on financial institutions.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6250DO20100306



15,000 S.F. workers given layoff notices

Newsom ordered the layoff notices be sent to most of the city's 26,000 workers and said the overwhelming majority of them will be hired back within two weeks to work 37.5 hours a week instead of their current 40 - meaning they'll see a 6.25 percent cut to their paychecks.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2010/03/06/BAJ11CBKHJ.DTL



Jobless rates rose in every state in '09

The sharpest rise occurred in Michigan, where the average jobless rate for 2009 was 13.6 percent, up 5.3 points from 2008's average of 8.3 percent.

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2010/03/01/daily49.html



42nd US bank failure in '10 is South Carolina bank

Regulators on Friday shut down a bank in South Carolina, marking 42 bank failures in the U.S. so far this year amid mounting loan defaults, especially in commercial real estate.

http://snipurl.com/vew1h


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=recovery
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=real+estate
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=layoff
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=unemploy
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=jobless
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=financial+institution
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=central+bank
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=bank+failure
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=/nemko
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Karl+Denninger
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=/higgs
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Americans+for+Democratic+Action

Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch.com: "Iraq remains a mess from which the US military seems increasingly uninterested in withdrawing fully and Afghanistan a disaster area, but it's never too soon to think about the next war. The subject is already on the minds of Pentagon planners. The question is: Are they focusing on how to manage future wars so that they won't last longer than the American Revolution, the Civil War, and World War II combined?"

http://www.truthout.org/how-fight-a-better-war-next-time-three-fixes-american-way-war57333



Entering the Scary "Lacuna" of American Politics

Bernard Weiner, The Crisis Papers: "I finally finished reading Barbara Kingsolver's latest brilliant novel, 'The Lacuna,' and it's the kind of book that engenders discussion on a wide variety of important topics. For those who haven't read it yet, the sweep of the book - which clearly was composed during the Cheney/Bush years, for good reason - is epic in scale. Dealing with several decades of Mexican and American history, from 1929 to the early 1950's, it touches on the end of empires, the pandering mass-media, the use of fear by demagogues to herd the sheeple..., and much more. (The title refers to the hidden entryways that can lead one to different levels of understanding.)"

http://www.truthout.org/entering-scary-lacuna-american-politics57342



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=empire
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=mass-media
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Tom+Engelhardt
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bernard+Weiner