Obama issues signing statement on $106B war bill 26 Jun 2009 President Obama signed the $106 billion war-spending bill into law Friday, but not without taking a page from his predecessor and ignoring a few elements in the legislation. Obama included a five-paragraph signing statement with the bill, including a final paragraph that outlined his objections to at least four areas of the bill. President [sic] George W. Bush was heavily criticized for his use of signing statements, declaring he'd ignore some elements of legislation by invoking presidential prerogative. The Obama administration announced in the statement it would disregard provisions of the legislation that, among other things, would compel the Obama administration to pressure the World Bank to strengthen labor and environmental standards and require the Treasury department to report to Congress on the activities of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The Coalition of the Bribed, on steroids: U.S. Senate approves bill to triple aid to Pakistan 24 Jun 2009 The Senate on Wednesday approved tripling U.S. aid to Pakistan to about $1.5 billion a year for each of the next five years, part of an American plan to fight foment extremism with economic development killer drone attacks. The $1.5 billion in annual funding includes money for Pakistani schools, the 'judicial system,' parliament and law enforcement agencies. "This legislation marks an important step toward sustained economic and political cooperation with Pakistan," said Senator Richard Lugar, the senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. [*WHAT the f*ck?* WHY are US taxpayers paying for schools in Pakistan? I realize this is Obusha's Coalition of the Bribed on steroids, but WHY isn't that money used here? DICK Lugar, a GOP a**wipe (one of many) wouldn't vote to spend *two cents* to build a school in the US if God himself commanded it! If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention. --LRP]
'Militants' blow up girls' school in Pakistan 26 Jun 2009 'Militants' bombed a girls' primary school on the outskirts of Pakistan's Peshawar city on Friday, the latest in a series of such attacks blighting the northwest of the country, police said. The school was badly damaged during the attack in Mattni village, local police official Abdul Ghafoor Afridi told AFP. Forty kilograms (88 pounds) of explosives [Wow! Who can get their hands on 88 pounds of explosives?] were used to raze the building, although some of the structures were left standing, he added. "Three rooms and the outer wall of the government-run community model girls primary school was totally destroyed while the staff room was damaged," the police official said. [Guess what? Now US taxpayers can pay to rebuild that which was mysteriously destroyed.]
Miliband rebukes Iran after arrest of British embassy employees 28 Jun 2009 Nine employees of the British embassy in Tehran have been detained by the authorities in a worrying escalation of tensions between Iran and Britain. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, has issued a sharp rebuke to Iran after the arrests, which are part of a campaign by the clerical regime in Iran against what it has portrayed as foreign interference in its politics. The employees were arrested on suspicion of playing a role in the demonstrations that followed Iran's disputed presidential election.
Obama to fund anti-govt. elements in Iran: Report 28 Jun 2009 US President Barack Obama is re-branding a Bush-era plan to fund anti-government Iran-based elements through domestic and foreign entities, a report says. The Obama White House has apparently refused to act on the former administration's decision to allocate USD 66 million to Iranian dissidents, devising a new approach instead, USA TODAY reported on Friday. Citing 'security concerns', the State Department and the foreign policy agent declined to name the recipients of the funds.
USAID soliciting applications for $20 million in grants to destablize Iran 26 Jun 2009 The Obama administration is moving forward with plans to fund groups that support Iranian dissidents, records and interviews show, continuing a program that became controversial when it was expanded by President [sic] Bush. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which reports to the secretary of state, has for the last year been soliciting applications for $20 million in grants to "promote democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in Iran," according to documents on the agency's website. The final deadline for grant applications is June 30. U.S. efforts to support Iranian opposition groups have been criticized in recent years as veiled attempts to promote "regime change," said Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council, the largest Iranian-American advocacy group.
US State funds covert Israeli linked Iran Visual News Corp aka Peyman Online 2007 (WikiLeaks) 12 Apr 2008 This file provides budgetary information regarding a specific covert new media initiative funded by the US State Department that targets Iran. This document was leaked because the man who is in charge of the initiative has strong ties to Israeli Intelligence and subcontracts portions of the work to Israeli intel fronts such as MEMRI using US tax dollars. It is currently not known if this project is still being funded by the US State Department. [Apparently, it *is.* Grants Administrator: Ann Perrelli, 202-776-8545, perrelliAM@state.gov. Recipient's Administrator: Avi Davidi, 202-374-3420, avidavidi2006@gmail.com.]
CIA has Distributed 400 Million Dollars Inside Iran to Evoke a Revolution 18 Jun 2009 Former Pakistani Army General Mirza Aslam Beig claims the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has distributed 400 million dollars inside Iran to evoke a revolution. In a phone interview with the Pashto Radio on Monday, General Beig said that there is undisputed intelligence proving the US interference in Iran. "The documents prove that the CIA spent 400 million dollars inside Iran to prop up a colorful-hollow revolution following the election," he added. Pakistan’s former army chief of joint staff went on to say that the US wanted to disturb the situation in Iran and bring to power a pro-US government.
Iran accuses CIA of killing protester 28 Jun 2009 Iran is accusing the United States of being behind the killing of Neda Agha-Soltan, the 26-year-old Iranian woman whose fatal videotaped shooting made her a symbol of opposition to the disputed June 12 presidential election results. Iranian Ambassador to Mexico Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri made this accusation on Saturday night in an interview to the CNN television network. He denied that the young woman was killed by Iranian security forces and suggested that the CIA or another intelligence service may have been responsible.
Gaza 'war crimes' hearing under way 28 Jun 2009 A public hearing organised by a UN team investigating alleged war crimes by Israel and Hamas during the Gaza war is under way. As part of its investigations into the December 2008-January 2009 Gaza conflict, the UN fact-finding mission will listen to testimony from victims of the conflict for two days in Gaza City and hold a second round of public hearings on July 6 and July 7 in Geneva.
UN General Assembly president slams Honduras coup 29 Jun 2009 The president of the UN General Assembly, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, has strongly condemned the army coup that deposed President Manuel Zelaya in Honduras. D'Escoto "firmly and categorically condemns the criminal action by the army in the Republic of Honduras that has broken the constitutional order by carrying out a coup d'etat against President Manuel Zelaya," his office said in a statement yesterday.
Chavez: CIA Behind Coup in Honduras 28 Jun 2009 Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez requested Sunday that US President Barack Obama, to be pronounced against the military coup in Honduras, which he considered is carried out with the participation of the Central Intelligence Agency. In statements to television channel Telesur, Chavez stated that he rejected the coup "right from its bone marrow" and asked the Honduran military troops not to face the people that went out to the streets to request the return of President Manuel Zelaya. "The United States has a lot to do with this, Obama should be pronounced to reject the coup right from the marrow," the Venezuelan leader stated.
Obama's First Coup D'etat --President Zelaya of Honduras has just been kidnapped --As of 11:15am, Caracas time, President Zelaya is speaking live on Telesur from San Jose, Costa Rica. He has verified the soldiers entered his residence in the early morning hours, firing guns and threatening to kill him and his family if he resisted the coup. He was forced to go with the soldiers who took him to the air base and flew him to Costa Rica. He has requested the U.S. Government make a public statement condemning the coup, otherwise, it will indicate their compliance.By Eva Golinger 28 Jun 2009 The text message that beeped on my cell phone this morning read "Alert, Zelaya has been kidnapped, coup d’etat underway in Honduras, spread the word." It’s a rude awakening for a Sunday morning, especially for the millions of Hondurans that were preparing to exercise their sacred right to vote today for the first time on a consultative referendum concerning the future convening of a constitutional assembly to reform the constitution.
South to Boost Surgical Strike Capability Against North 26 Jun 2009 The South Korean military plans to speed up efforts to deploy ground, air and naval weapons systems for use in strikes against key facilities in North Korea in the event of war, the Ministry of National Defense said Friday. The ministry unveiled the revision of the Defense Reform 2020 initiative drawn up in 2005. The updated plan is focused on securing independent capabilities to remove North Korea's asymmetrical military threat of nuclear and missile programs by deploying sophisticated surveillance, reconnaissance and striking assets.
North Korea threatens to shoot down Japanese spy planes 27 Jun 2009 North Korea threatened today to shoot down any Japanese planes that intrude into its airspace, accusing Tokyo of spying near one of its missile launch sites. The North has designated a no-sail zone off its eastern coast from June 25 to July 10 for military drills, raising concerns that it might test-fire short- or mid-range missiles in the coming days. North Korea's air force said Japan's E-767 surveillance aircraft conducted aerial espionage near the Musudan-ri missile site on its northeast coast on Wednesday and Thursday.
New H1N1 flu not going away: U.S. health agency 26 Jun 2009 More than 1 million people in the United States may have been infected with the new H1N1 swine flu, U.S. health officials said on Friday, and infections continue to rise. The new H1N1 influenza virus that has triggered a global pandemic is infecting people in the United States well beyond the normal period for influenza season, Dr. Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters in a telephone briefing.
500K New Yorkers May Have Swine Flu Virus 27 Jun 2009 As many as 500,000 New Yorkers may have been infected with the H1N1 virus that causes swine flu, federal officials said yesterday, far more than initially estimated by the city's Department of Health. The new data is based on a community survey that found 6.9 percent of New Yorkers experienced a flu-like illness during a three-week period in May when the illness was at its most active. "About half a million New Yorkers may have been infected," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC.
Strange Martial Law via Food Control: HR 2749 --Not what the American people ordered -- HR 2749, martial law and the enslavement of their farmers By The Writers’ Collective 28 Jun 2009 HR 2749 is a strange bill in many ways. While the other "food safety" bills have been around since winter, allowing for much public discussion on the internet, HR 2749 has only suddenly appeared. It is a mutant conglomeration of the worst of the other bills, with the addition of one very original part – martial law... HR 2749 would empower FDA to regulate how crops are raised and harvested. It puts the federal government right on the farm, dictating to our farmers.
Quick action! HR 2749 is both insane and cruel. And the deceptiveness of hiding a Patriot Act in it and the brutal rush to slip it through Congress are ANTI-democratic. Go here to tell Congress, "No."
Homeland Security Is Ordered to Respond to Petition on Immigration Jails 27 Jun 2009 Substandard and abusive conditions in immigration detention "are of the utmost importance," a federal judge in Manhattan said Thursday, ruling that the Department of Homeland Security’s 2 ½-year delay in responding to a petition for legally enforceable regulations was "unreasonable as a matter of law." The judge, Denny Chin of Federal District Court in Manhattan, ordered the Obama administration to grant or deny the petition asking for detention rules within 30 days. He denied the government’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit, filed last year by two former immigration detainees and two advocacy agencies, seeking to force a response.
'Moonlighting' MPs braced for embarrassing revelations: 'One member runs an eco-cemetery and occasionally digs graves' [
Boehner: Climate bill a 'pile of s--t' 27 Jun 2009 Minority Leader John Boehner (R-sociopath-Ohio) had a few choice words about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) landmark climate-change bill after its passage Friday. When asked why he read portions of the cap-and-trade bill on the floor Friday night, Boehner told The Hill, "Hey, people deserve to know what's in this pile of s--t." [It takes one to know one.]
Gag me with a chainsaw! Obama could mull second stimulus if needed: adviser 28 Jun 2009 President Barack Obama could discuss a second stimulus package to boost the economy if needed, but at the moment no more new money looks necessary, a top White House adviser said on Sunday. "Much of the stimulus is yet to come, and let's see how this works before talking about next steps," senior adviser David Axelrod told NBC Television's Meet the Press program.
Four banks fail, bringing 2009 tally to 44 26 Jun 2009 Four banks in Georgia, Minnesota and California were closed by regulators Friday, as the ongoing credit crisis continued to claim victims. Villa Rica, Ga.-based Community Bank of West Georgia and Newman, Ga.-based Neighborhood Community Bank were closed, as were Irvine, Calif.-based MetroPacific Bank and Pine City, Minn.-based Horizon Bank. The closures brought the national tally this year to 44, and marked the ninth so far in Georgia.
AP Interview: SC 1st lady told gov to stop affair 28 Jun 2009 When South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford disappeared, his wife hoped he was really hiking on the Appalachian Trail as his staff had claimed. Like the rest of America, she was stunned to find out he had dared to go to Argentina to see his mistress, a trip she told him not to take. "He was told in no uncertain terms not to see her," Jenny Sanford said in a strong, steady voice as she sat in her oceanfront living room Friday. "I was hoping he was on the Appalachian Trail. But I was not worried about his safety. I was hoping he was doing some real soul searching somewhere and devastated to find out it was Argentina. It's tragic."
Previous lead stories: Secret US-equipped 'Dirty Brigade' in Iraq forefront 26 Jun 2009 Iraqi security services employ an elite, American-trained force [death squad] with a reputation that leads many Iraqis to call it "the dirty brigade." Its real name is the Counter Terrorism Bureau. The elite units, armed with high-tech U.S.-made equipment, often pair up with American special forces to go after Iraq's foes. Formed soon after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the force became known as the "Dirty Brigade" because it was secretive and until recently operated outside the Iraqi chain of command, reporting directly to its U.S. handlers. The little-known group was rumored to be used against the government's opponents in the political mainstream_ a charge denied by the Iraqis and the Americans. The group is reported to have doubled in size to about 9,000 members and now reports directly to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
US wants to [again] delay release of CIA report 26 Jun 2009 The U.S. government wants to wait until next week [LOL, during the July 4 holiday, when no one is paying attention] to give the American Civil Liberties Union a 5-year old internal CIA report that criticizes its harsh interrogation torture program. On Friday, the Justice Department asked a federal judge to allow the release of the report to be delayed until Wednesday -- two weeks since it was first expected. The government is struggling over how much of the classified CIA inspector general's report should be made public.
Under cover of the Friday afternoon Obama Administration civil liberties/environmental 'bad news' dump: White House Drafts Executive Order to Allow Indefinite Detention of Terror Suspects --Friday 26 Jun 2009 5:18 PM The Obama administration, fearing a battle with Congress that could stall plans to close Guantanamo, has drafted an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely, according to three senior government officials with knowledge of White House deliberations. Such an order would embrace claims by former president [sic] George W. Bush that certain people can be detained without trial for long periods under the laws of war. Under one White House draft that was being discussed earlier this month, according to administration officials, detainees would be imprisoned at a military facility on U.S. soil but their ongoing detention would be subject to annual presidential review. U.S. citizens would not be held in the system.
