Headlines for March 31 - April 6

A Stand For Justice


The Awful, Unsaid Truth: We’re Heading Back Toward a Double Dip
How much does the cost of gasoline weigh in this? Isn't that the real cause of the economic downturn of 2008, when gasoline was at the price it is now? If the money Americans would normally spend on goods and services here at home is being shipped overseas to OPEC nations, then that is a big problem, particularly when that number is in the range of billions of dollars. Quite obviously our economy suffers. And the OPEC nations get richer.


UN Staff Killed in Afghanistan Amid Protests over Qur'an Burning
Provincial police spokesman Sherjan Durrani said the demonstrators poured out of mosques in the city in the early afternoon, shortly after Friday prayers where worshippers had been angered by reports that a Florida pastor had burned a copy of the Qur'an.


US to withdraw strike jets from Libya mission
The U.S. military was pulling its warplanes from front–line missions Monday and shifting to a support role in the Libyan conflict, officials said.

Britain, France and other NATO allies will now provide the fighter jets for intercept and ground–attack missions that enforce a no–fly zone over this North African country.


Rising oil prices beginning to hurt US economy
The higher costs have been driven by unrest in Libya and other oil–producing Middle East countries, along with rising energy demand from a strengthening U.S. economy. Hey I know. Let's pour a couple more trillion into the Middle East.


U.S. committed to ending anti-Israel bias on UN council, envoy says
Rice said on Wednesday that she wanted the controversial report to "disappear" but did not think it could be amended despite Goldstone's admission that some of his assessments may have been wrong.

Israel has urged the United Nations to cancel the 2009 report to the U.N. Human, however, Rice told a congressional hearing that she is "not sure it [the report] can be amended." The US is Israel's bitch.


Anger over Quran burning spreads in Afghanistan
Anger over the burning of the Muslim holy book at a Florida church fueled a second day of deadly violence half a world away in Afghanistan, where demonstrators set cars and shops ablaze Saturday in a riot that killed nine protesters, officials said.


Future jobs won’t support decent living standard: Report
Hey I know. Let's pour more money into the defense industry and the Middle East.


Geithner warns U.S. to hit debt ceiling by May 16
The United States will hit the legal limit on its ability to borrow no later than May 16, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Monday, ramping up pressure on Congress to act to avoid a debt default.



Late Easter, gas prices hit U.S. store sales
Low consumer confidence and higher food and gasoline prices appear to be tempering any major recovery, even though shoppers have started to see improving economic data, including last week's reports that the unemployment rate dipped to 8.8 percent and nonfarm payrolls rose again.


What the Patriot Act Does For You by Philip Giraldi
With the Patriot Act, any objection to Washington’s foreign policy can be construed as an act of terrorism. We have empowered the police to read our private communications, place wiretaps into our homes and places of work, look into our finances and medical histories, and even search our houses without a warrant. We no longer have the right to associate freely and our property can be seized by the government while we are being investigated. The Patriot Act opens the door to fishing expeditions by the government that violate the rights of every American citizen.


At least 40 civilians killed in 'humanitarian' airstrikes, bishop says



Budget Deal Would Give Pentagon Extra Funds In Exchange For Social Program Cuts



Who Are We Fighting For? by Patrick J. Buchanan
In short, our ally seized this opportunity to rub America’s nose in what the Rev. Jones did, as though the U.S. government, whose highest civilian and military officials had condemned Jones, is morally culpable for not preventing his Quran-burning and not punishing him for it.


America's Costliest War
The tax dollars being spent on Afghanistan are enough to offset the $100 billion per year that House Republicans are seeking to cut from next year's budget, or enough to fill the projected budget gaps of the 44 states that expect to run deficits in 2012. In other words, if the Afghan war ended and the funds allocated for it were returned to the states, no state in America would run a deficit next year. This would save millions of jobs of teachers, police, firefighters and other public employees while holding the line on basic services like Medicaid and income support for families in poverty. This would in turn be good for the economy as a whole. Military spending creates fewer jobs than virtually any other form of expenditure, from education to housing to transportation. So shifting funds away from war spending will result in a net increase in jobs nationwide.


Russia warns against new UN approval on use of force without clarifications
Russia could oppose the UN Security Council in adoption of any new resolution approving use of military force without clarification, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned on Tuesday


A Community Organizer Goes to War by Patrick J. Buchanan
If our objective was to spare the defenseless people of Benghazi from slaughter, why, mission accomplished, did we not stop bombing? Why are we plunging deeper in?

Did Gaddafi attack us? Did he attack a NATO country, thereby triggering Article 5 of the treaty requiring us to go to war? Have his forces carried out massacres of such magnitude in recaptured towns and cities as to morally mandate our humanitarian intervention?


Cost of US 'free' trade collapse of two centuries of broadly shared prosperity
It’s time to face a brutal truth about the American economy: Even if rising gas and food prices don’t hasten a double-dip recession, our 200-year tradition of broadly shared prosperity is over.


That’s because the great American job machine has been destroyed by a reckless free-trade policy.


Israeli map shows nearly 1,000 Hezbollah sites
The Israeli military on Thursday released a map detailing what it says are nearly 1,000 underground bunkers, weapons storage facilities and monitoring sites built by the militant Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon. Oh!! It was ISRAEL that provided the map. Oh OK. That means we know it's legit. AHAHAHAHAHA. Hilarious!


Lebanon-Israel Tensions Rise over Offshore Oil and Gas
Key to the tensions over the potential gas bonanza is that the maritime border between Israel and Lebanon has never been delineated because the two states are still technically at war. Since when does Israel care about crossing borders and stealing other people's property? It's been going on for 60 years.


US lawmakers urge support for Syrian opposition
Republican Senator John McCain and Independent Senator Joe Lieberman said Obama's effort to engage rather than shun Damascus had "little to show for it" and declared it was time to back protesters against Assad's rule. Here we go again. And it's 2 of Israel's top shills, no less.


'U.K. didn't always feel safe to share intelligence with Israel'
Dearlove added, saying that he had frequent discussions "with Robin Cook as Foreign Secretary about what should or shouldn't be passed to our Israeli colleagues - and there are obvious reasons for that, because we could never guarantee how the intelligence might or would be used by the state of Israel." The Israelis are terrorists. The Brits were their first victims. Menachem Begin had a bounty on him. Do the research.


Neo-Cons Target Assad Regime
Indeed, the notorious 1996 "Clean Break" memo that was prepared for then-incoming Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu by several prominent neo-conservatives who, seven years later, would take senior posts in the Bush administration, depicted the overthrow of Saddam Hussein as one crucial step in a larger strategy designed to destabilise Syria. Neocon foreign policy - always about Israel.


Military Tribunal May Keep 9/11 Motives Hidden
The motive? US support for Israel. Read the 911 Commission report. Poltiicans and media alike ignore this fact.


Liberals and Libya
Today, as most conservatives (including Hannity) either oppose or are highly skeptical of Obama’s “humanitarian” Libyan intervention, those most in favor of it are either the same neoconservatives who were the most enthusiastic about Iraq—and liberals most loyal to Obama. Said neoconservative godfather and Weekly Standard editor William Kristol on FOX News of Obama: “his sound policies are more like the policies people like me have been advocating for quite a while, I’m happy to support them. He’s a born-again neo-con.”


US Approaching Insolvency but there’s always money for Israel



HRW Founder Charts Another Way To Probe Human Rights
underneath this new mandate, the clear motivating factor for Bernstein’s new initiative is his concern for Israel. It rises to the surface as soon as he is asked about the point of starting yet another human rights organization: Israel, as a democratic, open society, should not be under constant investigation by human rights groups, he said. The country and the way it wages war need to be better explained and defended.
Read the first 3 paragaraphs. Expect this to be an(other) organization that refuses to call Israel out on its violations of humanitarian and international law. Israel's minions on Capitol Hill and in the mainstream media will shamelessly promote this new 'human rights organization'.


Syrian authorities make arrests following protests
At least seven people were killed Friday as security forces cracked down on demonstrations, bringing the death toll from two weeks of protest to at least 79. Authorities began arresting people, mostly in and around the capital, Damascus, in the hours after the protests broke up and into early Saturday, activists said.


The Patriot Act Endures



The Sad Defeat of Our Constitution
what does it say about the solemn capabilities of our Department of Justice if it is left to "subcontract out" its duties and responsibilities to the Department of Defense? We should all think about that scary notion for a bit.


Double Standards and Support for Terror
It has also become apparent that the Libyan rebels we are ostensibly supporting have ties to al-Qaeda, according to Libyan rebel commanders as well as top U.S. officials.


Koran-burning pastor says not responsible for UN deaths
An evangelical pastor whose church burned a Koran last month said he was "devastated" but did not feel responsible for the killings Friday of seven UN workers in a violent protest in Afghanistan


Egypt ready to re-establish Iran diplomatic ties
Egypt has long been an ally of the United States and Israel but since Mubarak was toppled there have been signs of warming ties between Cairo and Tehran


Is America Addicted to War? By Stephen M. Walt



Anwar al-Awalaki, U.S.-Yemeni Cleric, Calls Arab Unrest An Opportunity For Al Qaeda
Anwar al-Awlaki write in a new edition of al-Qaida's online magazine that any new governments will be weaker than the regimes they are replacing, and that will create opportunities for al-Qaida and its allies to operate with more freedom.


Koch’s Web of Influence
The money that Koch (pronounced “coke”) has spent on lobbying in Washington has soared in recent years, from $857,000 in 2004 to $20 million in 2008. The Kochs then spent another $20.5 million over the next two years to influence federal policy, as the company’s lobbyists and officials sought to mold, gut or kill more than 100 prospective bills or regulations.


Exposed: The US-Saudi Libya deal
You invade Bahrain. We take out Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. This, in short, is the essence of a deal struck between the Barack Obama administration and the House of Saud. Two diplomatic sources at the United Nations independently confirmed that Washington, via Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, gave the go-ahead for Saudi Arabia to invade Bahrain and crush the pro-democracy movement in their neighbor in exchange for a "yes" vote by the Arab League for a no-fly zone over Libya - the main rationale that led to United Nations Security Council resolution 1973.


Washington Turns Toward Iran as Revolutions Spread in the Middle East
One sign that these approaches are evolving was a March 20 video address for the Iranian New Year of Nowruz by President Obama in which he pointedly highlighted the plight of Iranian dissidents.

Another indication of change was the formation 10 days later of a nongovernmental policy task force focused on developing and building backing for policies that would encourage democracy and respond to human rights abuses in Iran. The task force’s members include one current staffer and another former official with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Washington’s leading pro-Israel lobbying group.


..“No one has been more critical of Obama than I have, but you have to recognize good news,” said Michael Ledeen, a prominent neoconservative writer.

....Israel and its supporters remain focused on increasing the pressure on Iran and ensuring that Washington maintains a credible military threat against Tehran. Speaking at a New York fundraising event for Friends of Israel Defense Forces, Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, said that “it is essential to shift towards crippling and paralyzing sanctions while all options [are] on the table.”
Read on for the other members of the new task force - including more pro-Israelis, not surprisingly. They are the ones in charge of our foreign policy, folks. Read the entire article for the proof, and it's coming straight from the horse's mouth.

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