http://www.rawstory.com/showoutarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Frawstory.com%2F08%2Fafp%2F2009%2F05%2F28%2Faventis-to-pay-95-million-to-settle-fraud-charge%2F
A file photo of the Aventis building in Paris. The pharmaceutical giant must pay more than 95 million dollars in an out-of-court settlement, after overcharging US and local health agencies for medications destined for indigent patients, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
Pharmaceutical giant Aventis must pay more than 95 million dollars in an out-of-court settlement, after overcharging US and local health agencies for medications destined for indigent patients, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
“We will continue to ensure that programs for the most vulnerable portions of our population do not pay any more for pharmaceutical products than they should under the law,” Tony West, an assistant attorney general at the US Justice Department said in a statement announcing the settlement.
Aventis Pharmaceutical Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sanofi-Aventis, acknowledged that it violated the False Claims Act by misreporting drug prices for patients in the Medicaid Drug Rebate program for poor patients.
Under the program, Aventis was required to report to Medicaid the lowest price that it charged commercial customers, and pay quarterly rebates to the states for their Medicaid patients, based on those reported prices.
But Aventis deliberately misquoted the prices, underpaying rebates to Medicaid and overcharging some public health agencies for the medications.
The fraud occured between 1995 and 2000, and concerned the steroid-based anti-inflammatory nasal sprays Azmacort, Nasacort and Nasacort AQ.
“We will continue to be vigilant in investigating and prosecuting those who scam the Medicaid system — a system that is meant to benefit the poor” said Michael Loucks, acting US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, in the Justice Department statement.
“When a drug company agrees to be a provider to the Medicaid programs, it agrees to sell its drugs to them at the same price it gives its best customers. We will, as here, pursue those who break their promises.”
Thursday, May 28, 2009
An Early Call for Obama's Resignation
With Democrats Like Him, Who Needs Dictators?
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/28-3
by Ted Rall
5/28/2009
We expected broken promises. But the gap between the soaring expectations that accompanied Barack Obama's inauguration and his wretched performance is the broadest such chasm in recent historical memory. This guy makes Bill Clinton look like a paragon of integrity and follow-through.
From healthcare to torture to the economy to war, Obama has reneged on pledges real and implied. So timid and so owned is he that he trembles in fear of offending, of all things, the government of Turkey. Obama has officially reneged on his campaign promise to acknowledge the Armenian genocide. When a president doesn't have the 'nads to annoy the Turks, why does he bother to show up for work in the morning?
Obama is useless. Worse than that, he's dangerous. Which is why, if he has any patriotism left after the thousands of meetings he has sat through with corporate contributors, blood-sucking lobbyists and corrupt politicians, he ought to step down now--before he drags us further into the abyss.
I refer here to Obama's plan for "preventive detentions." If a cop or other government official thinks you might want to commit a crime someday, you could be held in "prolonged detention." Reports in U.S. state-controlled media imply that Obama's shocking new policy would only apply to Islamic terrorists (or, in this case, wannabe Islamic terrorists, and also kinda-sorta-maybe-thinking-about-terrorism dudes). As if that made it OK.
In practice, Obama wants to let government goons snatch you, me and anyone else they deem annoying off the street.
Preventive detention is the classic defining characteristic of a military dictatorship. Because dictatorial regimes rely on fear rather than consensus, their priority is self-preservation rather than improving their people's lives. They worry obsessively over the one thing they can't control, what Orwell called "thoughtcrime"--contempt for rulers that might someday translate to direct action.
Locking up people who haven't done anything wrong is worse than un-American and a violent attack on the most basic principles of Western jurisprudence. It is contrary to the most essential notion of human decency. That anyone has ever been subjected to "preventive detention" is an outrage. That the President of the United States, a man who won an election because he promised to elevate our moral and political discourse, would even entertain such a revolting idea offends the idea of civilization itself.
Obama is cute. He is charming. But there is something rotten inside him. Unlike the Republicans who backed Bush, I won't follow a terrible leader just because I voted for him. Obama has revealed himself. He is a monster, and he should remove himself from power.
"Prolonged detention," reported The New York Times, would be inflicted upon "terrorism suspects who cannot be tried."
"Cannot be tried." Interesting choice of words.
Any "terrorism suspect" (can you be a suspect if you haven't been charged with a crime?) can be tried. Anyone can be tried for anything. At this writing, a Somali child is sitting in a prison in New York, charged with piracy in the Indian Ocean, where the U.S. has no jurisdiction. Anyone can be tried. Why is it, exactly, that some prisoners "cannot be tried"?
The Old Grey Lady explains why Obama wants this "entirely new chapter in American law" in a boring little sentence buried a couple past the jump and a couple of hundred words down page A16: "Yet another question is what to do with the most problematic group of Guantánamo detainees: those who pose a national security threat but cannot be prosecuted, either for lack of evidence or because evidence is tainted."
In democracies with functioning legal systems, it is assumed that people against whom there is a "lack of evidence" are innocent. They walk free. In countries where the rule of law prevails, in places blessedly free of fearful leaders whose only concern is staying in power, "tainted evidence" is no evidence at all. If you can't prove that a defendant committed a crime--an actual crime, not a thoughtcrime--in a fair trial, you release him and apologize to the judge and jury for wasting their time.
It is amazing and incredible, after eight years of Bush's lawless behavior, to have to still have to explain these things. For that reason alone, Obama should resign.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/28-3
by Ted Rall
5/28/2009
We expected broken promises. But the gap between the soaring expectations that accompanied Barack Obama's inauguration and his wretched performance is the broadest such chasm in recent historical memory. This guy makes Bill Clinton look like a paragon of integrity and follow-through.
From healthcare to torture to the economy to war, Obama has reneged on pledges real and implied. So timid and so owned is he that he trembles in fear of offending, of all things, the government of Turkey. Obama has officially reneged on his campaign promise to acknowledge the Armenian genocide. When a president doesn't have the 'nads to annoy the Turks, why does he bother to show up for work in the morning?
Obama is useless. Worse than that, he's dangerous. Which is why, if he has any patriotism left after the thousands of meetings he has sat through with corporate contributors, blood-sucking lobbyists and corrupt politicians, he ought to step down now--before he drags us further into the abyss.
I refer here to Obama's plan for "preventive detentions." If a cop or other government official thinks you might want to commit a crime someday, you could be held in "prolonged detention." Reports in U.S. state-controlled media imply that Obama's shocking new policy would only apply to Islamic terrorists (or, in this case, wannabe Islamic terrorists, and also kinda-sorta-maybe-thinking-about-terrorism dudes). As if that made it OK.
In practice, Obama wants to let government goons snatch you, me and anyone else they deem annoying off the street.
Preventive detention is the classic defining characteristic of a military dictatorship. Because dictatorial regimes rely on fear rather than consensus, their priority is self-preservation rather than improving their people's lives. They worry obsessively over the one thing they can't control, what Orwell called "thoughtcrime"--contempt for rulers that might someday translate to direct action.
Locking up people who haven't done anything wrong is worse than un-American and a violent attack on the most basic principles of Western jurisprudence. It is contrary to the most essential notion of human decency. That anyone has ever been subjected to "preventive detention" is an outrage. That the President of the United States, a man who won an election because he promised to elevate our moral and political discourse, would even entertain such a revolting idea offends the idea of civilization itself.
Obama is cute. He is charming. But there is something rotten inside him. Unlike the Republicans who backed Bush, I won't follow a terrible leader just because I voted for him. Obama has revealed himself. He is a monster, and he should remove himself from power.
"Prolonged detention," reported The New York Times, would be inflicted upon "terrorism suspects who cannot be tried."
"Cannot be tried." Interesting choice of words.
Any "terrorism suspect" (can you be a suspect if you haven't been charged with a crime?) can be tried. Anyone can be tried for anything. At this writing, a Somali child is sitting in a prison in New York, charged with piracy in the Indian Ocean, where the U.S. has no jurisdiction. Anyone can be tried. Why is it, exactly, that some prisoners "cannot be tried"?
The Old Grey Lady explains why Obama wants this "entirely new chapter in American law" in a boring little sentence buried a couple past the jump and a couple of hundred words down page A16: "Yet another question is what to do with the most problematic group of Guantánamo detainees: those who pose a national security threat but cannot be prosecuted, either for lack of evidence or because evidence is tainted."
In democracies with functioning legal systems, it is assumed that people against whom there is a "lack of evidence" are innocent. They walk free. In countries where the rule of law prevails, in places blessedly free of fearful leaders whose only concern is staying in power, "tainted evidence" is no evidence at all. If you can't prove that a defendant committed a crime--an actual crime, not a thoughtcrime--in a fair trial, you release him and apologize to the judge and jury for wasting their time.
It is amazing and incredible, after eight years of Bush's lawless behavior, to have to still have to explain these things. For that reason alone, Obama should resign.
Flu Shots Increases Alzheimer's by X10 Fold
http://www.squidoo.com/FlushotsincreasesAlzheimers
Be fore I tell you what's in this Juicy much needed TOXIC shot you need to read.
WARNING!
One Flu shot a year 5 years in a row will increase chances of Alzheimer's by X10 FOLD. WOW! It is criminal that now Babies at 6 months old are getting this TOXIC vaccine.
How toxic and dangerous is the Flu shot?
Click Here for Most Current Adverse Reactions Report
Just so you know only 10% of the adverse reactions gets reported and the count on the site for Flu vaccine so far is over 30,000 adverse reactions so in reality over 300,000 people have had an adverse reaction.
You ask how fast can the Flu vaccine affect your brain and your ability to remember? Here is an adverse reaction that was reported to NVIC on 1990-07-12 "Pt became confused within a minute or two /p receiving Influenza Virus Vaccine. He became disoriented & could not remember the route to his home. Symptoms slowly abated within 3 days."
OK! Can you now see how dangerous and risky this toxic vaccine can be. Here is the good news.
Nobel Prize winner Dr Otto Warberg discovered the main cause for CANCER and many diseases like the Flu, Colds and (MRSA - staf infections) is lack of Oxygen and low Alkaline pH. Dr Warberg's findings determined that NO diseases can exist in an Alkaline environment.
Kill the Flu Naturally with pH Plus and 02 Plus Oxygenation
Click here
Click here to Check out Oxygen Facts
Be sure to check out the new generation of Silver Hydrosol killer bug:
OxySilver.com/10
***COMPARING OXYSILVER and COLLOIDAL SILVERS***
This is a CRIME! You need to get involve. Email this link to everyone you know. Many children's lives are in danger.
FLU Vaccine Ingredients depends upon the manufacturer
FluVirin, FluShield, FluZone, FluMist, Etc, Etc.
* All are made using egg or chicken protein
* Influenza viruses (most! are inactivated)
* Neomycin, polymyxin, gentamycin - antibiotics
* Thimerosal [mercury] - a harmful preservative
* Betapropiolactone - a disinfectant
* Nonoxynol - used to kill or stop growth of STDs
* Octoxinol 9 - a vaginal spermicide
* Formaldehyde - embalming fluid used to kill viruses
* Polysorbate 80 - a potential carcinogen
* Triton X-100 - a detergent
"According to Hugh Fudenberg, MD, the world's leading immunogeneticist and 13th most quoted biologist of our times (nearly 850 papers in peer review journals), if an individual has had five consecutive flu shots between 1970 and 1980 (the years studied), his/her chances of getting Alzheimer's Disease is ten times higher than if they had one, two or no shots. (1)
You ask why this was so? It is due to the mercury that is in every flu shot (and many childhood shots). The gradual mercury buildup in the brain causes cognitive dysfunction.
(1) Dr. Fudenberg at the NVIC International Vaccine Conference, Arlington, VA September, 1997. Quoted with permission.
(2) John's Hopkins Newsletter Nov 1998.
Click here to learn more about the Flu Vaccine and its history
www.vaclib.org/basic/Fluindex
Bottom line. Every one that has received any shots needs to DETOX ASAP! Why you ask? Because the TOXIC load of chemicals are still in your body and your cells are replicating and every 7 years your immunity will decrease and you will then get sick with many off the common diseases like Diabetes, Lupus, Heart problems, Asthma, Alzheimer, Parkinsons and many more.
What are you to do now? Take action ASAP! DETOX From Vaccinations Naturally
To your health and success
Robert
www.Wakeupgethealthy.com
Be fore I tell you what's in this Juicy much needed TOXIC shot you need to read.
WARNING!
One Flu shot a year 5 years in a row will increase chances of Alzheimer's by X10 FOLD. WOW! It is criminal that now Babies at 6 months old are getting this TOXIC vaccine.
How toxic and dangerous is the Flu shot?
Click Here for Most Current Adverse Reactions Report
Just so you know only 10% of the adverse reactions gets reported and the count on the site for Flu vaccine so far is over 30,000 adverse reactions so in reality over 300,000 people have had an adverse reaction.
You ask how fast can the Flu vaccine affect your brain and your ability to remember? Here is an adverse reaction that was reported to NVIC on 1990-07-12 "Pt became confused within a minute or two /p receiving Influenza Virus Vaccine. He became disoriented & could not remember the route to his home. Symptoms slowly abated within 3 days."
OK! Can you now see how dangerous and risky this toxic vaccine can be. Here is the good news.
Nobel Prize winner Dr Otto Warberg discovered the main cause for CANCER and many diseases like the Flu, Colds and (MRSA - staf infections) is lack of Oxygen and low Alkaline pH. Dr Warberg's findings determined that NO diseases can exist in an Alkaline environment.
Kill the Flu Naturally with pH Plus and 02 Plus Oxygenation
Click here
Click here to Check out Oxygen Facts
Be sure to check out the new generation of Silver Hydrosol killer bug:
OxySilver.com/10
***COMPARING OXYSILVER and COLLOIDAL SILVERS***
This is a CRIME! You need to get involve. Email this link to everyone you know. Many children's lives are in danger.
FLU Vaccine Ingredients depends upon the manufacturer
FluVirin, FluShield, FluZone, FluMist, Etc, Etc.
* All are made using egg or chicken protein
* Influenza viruses (most! are inactivated)
* Neomycin, polymyxin, gentamycin - antibiotics
* Thimerosal [mercury] - a harmful preservative
* Betapropiolactone - a disinfectant
* Nonoxynol - used to kill or stop growth of STDs
* Octoxinol 9 - a vaginal spermicide
* Formaldehyde - embalming fluid used to kill viruses
* Polysorbate 80 - a potential carcinogen
* Triton X-100 - a detergent
"According to Hugh Fudenberg, MD, the world's leading immunogeneticist and 13th most quoted biologist of our times (nearly 850 papers in peer review journals), if an individual has had five consecutive flu shots between 1970 and 1980 (the years studied), his/her chances of getting Alzheimer's Disease is ten times higher than if they had one, two or no shots. (1)
You ask why this was so? It is due to the mercury that is in every flu shot (and many childhood shots). The gradual mercury buildup in the brain causes cognitive dysfunction.
(1) Dr. Fudenberg at the NVIC International Vaccine Conference, Arlington, VA September, 1997. Quoted with permission.
(2) John's Hopkins Newsletter Nov 1998.
Click here to learn more about the Flu Vaccine and its history
www.vaclib.org/basic/Fluindex
Bottom line. Every one that has received any shots needs to DETOX ASAP! Why you ask? Because the TOXIC load of chemicals are still in your body and your cells are replicating and every 7 years your immunity will decrease and you will then get sick with many off the common diseases like Diabetes, Lupus, Heart problems, Asthma, Alzheimer, Parkinsons and many more.
What are you to do now? Take action ASAP! DETOX From Vaccinations Naturally
To your health and success
Robert
www.Wakeupgethealthy.com
The US Government cannot protect it's own Citizens much less help other countries!!
http://cpscorruption.blogspot.com/2009/05/united-states-government-can-not.html
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The US Government cannot protect it's own Citizens much less help other countries!!
The United States government says their soldiers are fighting wars to protect other countries to develop Democracy and improve relations. What HOG WASH! The US government can not even protect it's own citizens from it's own Government Agency, Child Protective Services. This corrupt agency terrorize millions of families across the US by violating their Constitutional and Human Rights, as hearsay is the only aspect of usage in court to remove children from their parents.
US citizens pay billions of dollars of taxes for the government agency, Child Protection Services, CPS, to facade "protection", but really commit harm children, defame parents, and destroy families, as CPS, functions on hearsay, subjective, biased, opinionated, and careless lack of 'investigating', and the judges fail to honor their taken oath, but just simply rubber stamp anything said by the CPS workers, without evidence.
The United States of America, allows this government agency, Child Protection Services, CPS, to violate both the Constitution and Human Rights. Many children are abused and murdered at the hands of strangers, given by CPS. This agency is the human trafficking big money laundrying busines that is held under a cloak of secrecy, as there is no one to go to for help. Citizens are forced to surcumb. As complaints are sent to the Federal Government, the feds only tell the citizens to take their complaint back to the people that are committing the crimes against them. There is no avenue of protection against this agency, who has no over sight or responsible for their crimes. If anyone calls with hearsay false allegations just to get a parent in trouble, CPS, will remove children from the innocent parent, without investigating, but will commit perjury in court to remove the parental rights from the parent, and adopt the children out under the federal incentive program to make huge re-imbursements for the state.
Not all children removed from families by Child Protection Services, is really in need of aide. Many children are removed by false allegations, but the CPS workers are negligent, and fail to truly investigate. As a matter of fact, once a child is removed from a home, parents are rarely honored of their rights for the truth to be exposed, as the judges merely rubber stamp the arrogant perjurious statements of allegations without any evidence or proof of their claims.
Many children would not have psycho-social issues in need of care if the government agency, Child Protection Services, was an agency of professionalism, with the ability to know the difference of truth vs fiction, objective vs subjective, and actually investigate allegations, rather than allowing their biased, cultural, opinion, from clouding the issues that are to be investigated. There is no room for the CPS' subjective personal biases, as every family is as individual as a snowflake. Not one family is exactly alike. CASA, if they even meet the child will only side with CPS, the push is to gain children for the profit of federal incentives and big bonuses, not the welfare of the children.
Therefore, helping children to become strong emotionally, mentally, and physically, with a positive self-esteem and self-worth, is not to remove them from their homes, unless there is a definite immediate threat for harm. Families may need assistance, financial support, medical availability, or education and direction to promote well-being as a family unit. However, CPS ignores their own policies and procedures, as they willingly with glee use routine tactics to remove the children from their home to force the parents additional stressors, of which is not the answer. I know what CPS does. I know their lies, willingness to commit perjury, falsification of court records, and their lack of fear to be held accountable or responsible for the harm caused by their lack of performing duties in the best interest of the children and families, rather than the best interest for the states to gain more federal bonus money or grants for the state.
Children in the US are stolen from safe homes, in order to make large profit for baby/child trafficking, in state, out of state, and internationally. Children are in danger all over the world, Human Trafficking and "Slave labor" is rampant, especially in the United States where more than 1.6 MILLION children are taken each year by our Government, yet American citizens are obstructed from knowing the truth. CPS Judges place illegal "Gag Orders" on parents and those who speak out are thrown in jail. Many in society have become desensitized to the horrific actions taken upon innocent, precious, children. My heart is full of sorrow to have been shown the truths regarding how our elected officials fail to act upon the issues and ignore the cries of so many. From abortions of human beings, to abuse, rape, and murder, of the defenseless children, we are living in a society that has become as barbaric and heathenism as ever known. I am outraged, that elected officials down play the issues of many that suffer.
With much prayer, I hope you can being an awakening to this nation to stop the trafficking of innocent children, enlighten the people of the hidden secrets of our government's mistreatment of our children, parents, and families, and empower many to seek God's help to stop our own nation's ruin. What can be done to stop the madness of our children being harmed and families being destroyed, by a government agency, Child Protection Service, which claims to “PROTECT CHILDREN” and “PRESERVE FAMILIES? Our government will not acknowledge, listen, or act, upon the tragic harm they cause. With black and white evidence of what harm and destruction they are causing, they are not concerned. The lives and voices of children go unheard.
To those who need the truth to explain why so many children die each year in the nation of The United States please research how many are foster children. Since 2002 over 30,000 children have died at the hands of the State/ yet autopsies for these children murdered are not mandated nor are the perpetrators prosecuted. Withholding this information misinforms the citizens who are entited to be aware of how many children die under the state care, (direct lack of care), for the children they are supposed to be “protecting’!! Department of Children, known as Child Protection Services, CPS for short, is a government agency for a child trafficking business, a BIG money business, NOT a “protection” agency.
Our children are being abused and killed at the hands of strangers and parents are loosing their entire hope for a piece of themselves to carry on in this world after they pass. Cultures and family heritages are being demolished by those that are to "protect". Until I was forced to witness how CPS truly functions within a secret circle of deception, I never knew the depths of sorrow that could be felt, after witnessing first hand, the crimes CPS has done to so many, and continues to do the same, today.
Crimes committed by Child Protection Services and their affiliates, judges who are comfortable being passive and willing to allow both parents and children to be victimized, is the utter and complete destruction of many lives. The truth is that the government agency, CPS, which is to protect children, fails to do so. The belief that the elected officials will respond to their own constituents when the constituents plead and cry many letters out, phone calls, and walk-ins to the offices, for the help to save a child's life, is only a belief, without any truth or action upon the elected officials to note otherwise. Child Protection Services is allowed to walk about as a god. They refuse to follow any law, act carelessly with the well-being and well-fare of the family unity, the parent’s character, and safety of the child. Child Protection Services have no one to answer to, they investigate themselves, their freedom to use falsification and deception in the judicial courts, is their greatest power, second, to the strongest force of using fear, forcing them into Government programs for profut, making parents sign papers and whatever other manipulation tactics they use. Parents are threatened that they will never see their children again if they refuse to sign the CPS paperwork. CASA and Guardian et Lit-em, and all other CPS affiliates will do the same. CPS is a breed of government that would make Hitler rise from his grave and smile.
Sadness, great sadness, is all that can be said, when one awakens to the facts that surround the numbers of children removed from their homes, alienation from their parents, and siblings scattered into different foster homes. Families are devastated by mere hearsay and biased subjective emotions of a social worker or case manager, and a judges’ disregard for the oath taken. The Constitution is disregarded.
The truth is that many parents, who love and care for their children, are defamed without the ability to protect themselves or their children from the perjury and falsification of court documents done by the state workers. Children who are abused by foster parents are afraid to speak up, for fear of not being listened to. The truth is that CPS, Juvenile judges, do not honor the taken oath, "For liberty and justice for all”, as hearsay, mere hearsay, is judged upon. No truth, no evidence, no facts, and no objective black and white clinical evidence, just hearsay.
The truth is that many children are in foster care due to the lack of the government agency, Child Protection Services, to assess, identify if an allegation has any validity, promote family relationships, intervene with careful planning to maintain family well-being, ability to evaluate all situations, and most importantly, CPS workers, fail to report factual truth. CPS workers function on hearsay, lies, deceptions, falsification of court records, and are willing to ignore the harm a child is in by the person CPS places the child into their care. CPS workers have no concern or fear to be held accountable or responsible for the accuracy of their actions. If anyone thinks this agency has oversight to protect the citizens, that person is very wrong.
This agency’s actions and functions are Criminality and extremely UN-Constitutional!! Not to mention, CPS is allowed to violate the Human Rights, as so does all government agencies, who ignore the crimes, perjury, and falsificaiton of court documents written by CPS. No one has 'Jurisdiction" of CPS. Never held accountable or responsible for their failures and deliberate actions to terrorized families.
PLEASE GET INVOLVED! HELP US STOP THE TRAFFICKING OF CHILDREN IN THE USA!
~Kathleen
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The US Government cannot protect it's own Citizens much less help other countries!!
The United States government says their soldiers are fighting wars to protect other countries to develop Democracy and improve relations. What HOG WASH! The US government can not even protect it's own citizens from it's own Government Agency, Child Protective Services. This corrupt agency terrorize millions of families across the US by violating their Constitutional and Human Rights, as hearsay is the only aspect of usage in court to remove children from their parents.
US citizens pay billions of dollars of taxes for the government agency, Child Protection Services, CPS, to facade "protection", but really commit harm children, defame parents, and destroy families, as CPS, functions on hearsay, subjective, biased, opinionated, and careless lack of 'investigating', and the judges fail to honor their taken oath, but just simply rubber stamp anything said by the CPS workers, without evidence.
The United States of America, allows this government agency, Child Protection Services, CPS, to violate both the Constitution and Human Rights. Many children are abused and murdered at the hands of strangers, given by CPS. This agency is the human trafficking big money laundrying busines that is held under a cloak of secrecy, as there is no one to go to for help. Citizens are forced to surcumb. As complaints are sent to the Federal Government, the feds only tell the citizens to take their complaint back to the people that are committing the crimes against them. There is no avenue of protection against this agency, who has no over sight or responsible for their crimes. If anyone calls with hearsay false allegations just to get a parent in trouble, CPS, will remove children from the innocent parent, without investigating, but will commit perjury in court to remove the parental rights from the parent, and adopt the children out under the federal incentive program to make huge re-imbursements for the state.
Not all children removed from families by Child Protection Services, is really in need of aide. Many children are removed by false allegations, but the CPS workers are negligent, and fail to truly investigate. As a matter of fact, once a child is removed from a home, parents are rarely honored of their rights for the truth to be exposed, as the judges merely rubber stamp the arrogant perjurious statements of allegations without any evidence or proof of their claims.
Many children would not have psycho-social issues in need of care if the government agency, Child Protection Services, was an agency of professionalism, with the ability to know the difference of truth vs fiction, objective vs subjective, and actually investigate allegations, rather than allowing their biased, cultural, opinion, from clouding the issues that are to be investigated. There is no room for the CPS' subjective personal biases, as every family is as individual as a snowflake. Not one family is exactly alike. CASA, if they even meet the child will only side with CPS, the push is to gain children for the profit of federal incentives and big bonuses, not the welfare of the children.
Therefore, helping children to become strong emotionally, mentally, and physically, with a positive self-esteem and self-worth, is not to remove them from their homes, unless there is a definite immediate threat for harm. Families may need assistance, financial support, medical availability, or education and direction to promote well-being as a family unit. However, CPS ignores their own policies and procedures, as they willingly with glee use routine tactics to remove the children from their home to force the parents additional stressors, of which is not the answer. I know what CPS does. I know their lies, willingness to commit perjury, falsification of court records, and their lack of fear to be held accountable or responsible for the harm caused by their lack of performing duties in the best interest of the children and families, rather than the best interest for the states to gain more federal bonus money or grants for the state.
Children in the US are stolen from safe homes, in order to make large profit for baby/child trafficking, in state, out of state, and internationally. Children are in danger all over the world, Human Trafficking and "Slave labor" is rampant, especially in the United States where more than 1.6 MILLION children are taken each year by our Government, yet American citizens are obstructed from knowing the truth. CPS Judges place illegal "Gag Orders" on parents and those who speak out are thrown in jail. Many in society have become desensitized to the horrific actions taken upon innocent, precious, children. My heart is full of sorrow to have been shown the truths regarding how our elected officials fail to act upon the issues and ignore the cries of so many. From abortions of human beings, to abuse, rape, and murder, of the defenseless children, we are living in a society that has become as barbaric and heathenism as ever known. I am outraged, that elected officials down play the issues of many that suffer.
With much prayer, I hope you can being an awakening to this nation to stop the trafficking of innocent children, enlighten the people of the hidden secrets of our government's mistreatment of our children, parents, and families, and empower many to seek God's help to stop our own nation's ruin. What can be done to stop the madness of our children being harmed and families being destroyed, by a government agency, Child Protection Service, which claims to “PROTECT CHILDREN” and “PRESERVE FAMILIES? Our government will not acknowledge, listen, or act, upon the tragic harm they cause. With black and white evidence of what harm and destruction they are causing, they are not concerned. The lives and voices of children go unheard.
To those who need the truth to explain why so many children die each year in the nation of The United States please research how many are foster children. Since 2002 over 30,000 children have died at the hands of the State/ yet autopsies for these children murdered are not mandated nor are the perpetrators prosecuted. Withholding this information misinforms the citizens who are entited to be aware of how many children die under the state care, (direct lack of care), for the children they are supposed to be “protecting’!! Department of Children, known as Child Protection Services, CPS for short, is a government agency for a child trafficking business, a BIG money business, NOT a “protection” agency.
Our children are being abused and killed at the hands of strangers and parents are loosing their entire hope for a piece of themselves to carry on in this world after they pass. Cultures and family heritages are being demolished by those that are to "protect". Until I was forced to witness how CPS truly functions within a secret circle of deception, I never knew the depths of sorrow that could be felt, after witnessing first hand, the crimes CPS has done to so many, and continues to do the same, today.
Crimes committed by Child Protection Services and their affiliates, judges who are comfortable being passive and willing to allow both parents and children to be victimized, is the utter and complete destruction of many lives. The truth is that the government agency, CPS, which is to protect children, fails to do so. The belief that the elected officials will respond to their own constituents when the constituents plead and cry many letters out, phone calls, and walk-ins to the offices, for the help to save a child's life, is only a belief, without any truth or action upon the elected officials to note otherwise. Child Protection Services is allowed to walk about as a god. They refuse to follow any law, act carelessly with the well-being and well-fare of the family unity, the parent’s character, and safety of the child. Child Protection Services have no one to answer to, they investigate themselves, their freedom to use falsification and deception in the judicial courts, is their greatest power, second, to the strongest force of using fear, forcing them into Government programs for profut, making parents sign papers and whatever other manipulation tactics they use. Parents are threatened that they will never see their children again if they refuse to sign the CPS paperwork. CASA and Guardian et Lit-em, and all other CPS affiliates will do the same. CPS is a breed of government that would make Hitler rise from his grave and smile.
Sadness, great sadness, is all that can be said, when one awakens to the facts that surround the numbers of children removed from their homes, alienation from their parents, and siblings scattered into different foster homes. Families are devastated by mere hearsay and biased subjective emotions of a social worker or case manager, and a judges’ disregard for the oath taken. The Constitution is disregarded.
The truth is that many parents, who love and care for their children, are defamed without the ability to protect themselves or their children from the perjury and falsification of court documents done by the state workers. Children who are abused by foster parents are afraid to speak up, for fear of not being listened to. The truth is that CPS, Juvenile judges, do not honor the taken oath, "For liberty and justice for all”, as hearsay, mere hearsay, is judged upon. No truth, no evidence, no facts, and no objective black and white clinical evidence, just hearsay.
The truth is that many children are in foster care due to the lack of the government agency, Child Protection Services, to assess, identify if an allegation has any validity, promote family relationships, intervene with careful planning to maintain family well-being, ability to evaluate all situations, and most importantly, CPS workers, fail to report factual truth. CPS workers function on hearsay, lies, deceptions, falsification of court records, and are willing to ignore the harm a child is in by the person CPS places the child into their care. CPS workers have no concern or fear to be held accountable or responsible for the accuracy of their actions. If anyone thinks this agency has oversight to protect the citizens, that person is very wrong.
This agency’s actions and functions are Criminality and extremely UN-Constitutional!! Not to mention, CPS is allowed to violate the Human Rights, as so does all government agencies, who ignore the crimes, perjury, and falsificaiton of court documents written by CPS. No one has 'Jurisdiction" of CPS. Never held accountable or responsible for their failures and deliberate actions to terrorized families.
PLEASE GET INVOLVED! HELP US STOP THE TRAFFICKING OF CHILDREN IN THE USA!
~Kathleen
Monday, May 25, 2009
FBI ‘lured dimwits’ into terror plot
The arrest of petty crooks over a plan to target Jews has put the use of sting operations under fire
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/ne...icle6350389.ece
5/25/2009
ON the steps of New York city hall on Friday, Michael Bloomberg, the mayor, praised the police officers and federal agents who helped disrupt an apparent terrorist plot to blow up a synagogue and shoot down military aircraft.
The mayor was flanked by more than 100 homeland security and counter-terrorist specialists, all of whom had a hand in an elaborate sting that netted four alleged Muslim extremists. Their plan, according to FBI agents, was to detonate a “fireball that would make the country gasp”.
The operation was acclaimed by New York officials for its success in averting what David Paterson, the state governor, described as “a heinous crime”.
Yet not every New Yorker was impressed by the latest in a long line of purported anti-terrorist triumphs that have supposedly averted tragedy in New York, Chicago, Toronto and several other North American cities since September 11, 2001.
“This whole operation was a foolish waste of time and money,” claimed Terence Kindlon, a defence lawyer who represented the last terror suspect to be tried in New York state. “It is almost as if the FBI cooked up the plot and found four idiots to install as defendants.”
Kindlon’s complaints were echoed by other legal experts who have repeatedly questioned the FBI’s reliance on undercover informants – known as confidential witnesses (CWs) – who lure gullible radicals into far-fetched plots that are then foiled by the agents monitoring them.
The last such plot purportedly involved an alleged attempt to blow up a fuel pipeline at John F Kennedy airport in New York in 2007; the defendants are awaiting trial in a case that depends heavily on evidence from an undercover CW.
“One question [about the synagogue case] that has to be answered is: did the informant go in and enlist people who were otherwise not considering trouble ?” said Kevin Luibrand, who represented a Muslim businessman caught up in another FBI sting three years ago. “Did the government induce someone to commit a crime?”
The other question that US security experts were debating was how much had been achieved by assigning more than 100 agents to a year-long investigation of three petty criminals and a mentally ill Haitian immigrant, none of whom had any connection with any known terrorist group. “They were all unsophisticated dimwits,” said Kindlon.
Prosecutors alleged that James Cromitie, a 44-year-old ex-convict who converted to Islam in prison, was the ringleader of a plot to bomb synagogues because, in his tape-recorded words, “I hate those f****** Jewish bastards”.
Cromitie, from Newburgh, 60 miles north of Manhattan, was said to have recruited three other Muslim converts – David Williams, 28, and Onta Williams (no relation), 32, both former Baptist American ex-convicts; and Laguerre Payen, 27, a Haitian former Catholic and paranoid schizophrenic.
This unlikely crew was said to have planned to use remotely detonated C4 explosives to bomb synagogues in the New York suburb of Riverdale; they then intended to drive north to a National Guard base near Newburgh to shoot down military aircraft with a Stinger missile supplied by a man they believed was working with Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based terrorist group.
That man is now understood to have been Shahed Hussain, a former New York state motel owner who became an FBI informant in 2002 to avoid deportation to Pakistan after being arrested on fraud charges. Hussain appears to have met Cromitie at a Newburgh mosque where the plot to bomb Jewish targets was hatched.
With Hussain’s help, the FBI was able to monitor every move made by Cromitie and the others. Hussain also provided the group with bogus C4 explosive and a fake Stinger missile and launcher supplied by the FBI. When the conspirators planted their dud bombs outside two Jewish targets on Wednesday night, the FBI was watching. The area was smothered with heavily armed Swat teams, the would-be bombers’ exit was blocked and agents hauled them away in handcuffs.
“Did they really need all those men in ninja suits with M16 rifles to arrest four idiots?” wondered Kindlon, a former marine sergeant whose main concern is that real terrorists may be plotting undisturbed while domestic US agencies focus on fantasists. “Somewhere, someone in Al-Qaeda must be laughing.”
Concern about the FBI’s tactics heightened after Salahuddin Mustafa Muhammad, imam at the Masjid al-Ikhlas mosque in Newburgh, revealed that when Hussain first came to the mosque and started talking about jihad (holy war) – apparently to identify radical elements for his FBI handlers – several members immediately concluded that he must be a government agent.
The FBI is known to have infiltrated mosques, and many anti-terrorist experts believe a mosque is the last place a serious Islamic terrorist would plot an attack. “Anyone with any smarts knew to stay away from [Hussain],” said Muhammad. Yet nobody will accuse Cromitie and his cohorts of being smart.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/ne...icle6350389.ece
5/25/2009
ON the steps of New York city hall on Friday, Michael Bloomberg, the mayor, praised the police officers and federal agents who helped disrupt an apparent terrorist plot to blow up a synagogue and shoot down military aircraft.
The mayor was flanked by more than 100 homeland security and counter-terrorist specialists, all of whom had a hand in an elaborate sting that netted four alleged Muslim extremists. Their plan, according to FBI agents, was to detonate a “fireball that would make the country gasp”.
The operation was acclaimed by New York officials for its success in averting what David Paterson, the state governor, described as “a heinous crime”.
Yet not every New Yorker was impressed by the latest in a long line of purported anti-terrorist triumphs that have supposedly averted tragedy in New York, Chicago, Toronto and several other North American cities since September 11, 2001.
“This whole operation was a foolish waste of time and money,” claimed Terence Kindlon, a defence lawyer who represented the last terror suspect to be tried in New York state. “It is almost as if the FBI cooked up the plot and found four idiots to install as defendants.”
Kindlon’s complaints were echoed by other legal experts who have repeatedly questioned the FBI’s reliance on undercover informants – known as confidential witnesses (CWs) – who lure gullible radicals into far-fetched plots that are then foiled by the agents monitoring them.
The last such plot purportedly involved an alleged attempt to blow up a fuel pipeline at John F Kennedy airport in New York in 2007; the defendants are awaiting trial in a case that depends heavily on evidence from an undercover CW.
“One question [about the synagogue case] that has to be answered is: did the informant go in and enlist people who were otherwise not considering trouble ?” said Kevin Luibrand, who represented a Muslim businessman caught up in another FBI sting three years ago. “Did the government induce someone to commit a crime?”
The other question that US security experts were debating was how much had been achieved by assigning more than 100 agents to a year-long investigation of three petty criminals and a mentally ill Haitian immigrant, none of whom had any connection with any known terrorist group. “They were all unsophisticated dimwits,” said Kindlon.
Prosecutors alleged that James Cromitie, a 44-year-old ex-convict who converted to Islam in prison, was the ringleader of a plot to bomb synagogues because, in his tape-recorded words, “I hate those f****** Jewish bastards”.
Cromitie, from Newburgh, 60 miles north of Manhattan, was said to have recruited three other Muslim converts – David Williams, 28, and Onta Williams (no relation), 32, both former Baptist American ex-convicts; and Laguerre Payen, 27, a Haitian former Catholic and paranoid schizophrenic.
This unlikely crew was said to have planned to use remotely detonated C4 explosives to bomb synagogues in the New York suburb of Riverdale; they then intended to drive north to a National Guard base near Newburgh to shoot down military aircraft with a Stinger missile supplied by a man they believed was working with Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based terrorist group.
That man is now understood to have been Shahed Hussain, a former New York state motel owner who became an FBI informant in 2002 to avoid deportation to Pakistan after being arrested on fraud charges. Hussain appears to have met Cromitie at a Newburgh mosque where the plot to bomb Jewish targets was hatched.
With Hussain’s help, the FBI was able to monitor every move made by Cromitie and the others. Hussain also provided the group with bogus C4 explosive and a fake Stinger missile and launcher supplied by the FBI. When the conspirators planted their dud bombs outside two Jewish targets on Wednesday night, the FBI was watching. The area was smothered with heavily armed Swat teams, the would-be bombers’ exit was blocked and agents hauled them away in handcuffs.
“Did they really need all those men in ninja suits with M16 rifles to arrest four idiots?” wondered Kindlon, a former marine sergeant whose main concern is that real terrorists may be plotting undisturbed while domestic US agencies focus on fantasists. “Somewhere, someone in Al-Qaeda must be laughing.”
Concern about the FBI’s tactics heightened after Salahuddin Mustafa Muhammad, imam at the Masjid al-Ikhlas mosque in Newburgh, revealed that when Hussain first came to the mosque and started talking about jihad (holy war) – apparently to identify radical elements for his FBI handlers – several members immediately concluded that he must be a government agent.
The FBI is known to have infiltrated mosques, and many anti-terrorist experts believe a mosque is the last place a serious Islamic terrorist would plot an attack. “Anyone with any smarts knew to stay away from [Hussain],” said Muhammad. Yet nobody will accuse Cromitie and his cohorts of being smart.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Court pick could face filibuster over 'feelings'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090524/ap_on_go_su_co/us_obama_supreme_court
By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer Philip Elliott, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 43 mins ago
WASHINGTON – The Senate's No. 2 Republican on Sunday refused to rule out a filibuster if President Barack Obama seeks a Supreme Court justice who decides cases based on "emotions or feelings or preconceived ideas."
Sen. Jon Kyl made clear he would use the procedural delay if Obama follows through on his pledge to nominate someone who takes into account human suffering and employs empathy from the bench. The Arizona Republican acknowledged that his party likely does not have enough votes to sustain a filibuster, but he said nonetheless he would try to delay or derail the nomination if Obama ventures outside what Kyl called the mainstream.
"We will distinguish between a liberal judge on one side and one who doesn't decide cases on the merits but, rather, on the basis of his or her preconceived ideas," Kyl said.
The White House is preparing to announce Obama's pick to replace Justice David Souter, who plans to retire back to his beloved New Hampshire when the court's term ends. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said Sunday that he has been told a choice is likely to be announced this week. Those involved with Obama's decision hint that it could come as early as Tuesday.
Obama, who has interviewed at least two candidates for the position, has offered hints into what he wants in a justice.
"You have to have not only the intellect to be able to effectively apply the law to cases before you," Obama said in an interview carried Saturday on C-SPAN television. "But you have to be able to stand in somebody else's shoes and see through their eyes and get a sense of how the law might work or not work in practical day-to-day living."
Obama also has said he wants someone who employs empathy, "understanding and identifying with people's hopes and struggles," when arriving at decisions that could influence the nation for decades.
That approach drew a rebuke Sunday from Kyl, who in January told the conservative Federalist Society that he reserved the right to filibuster.
"I went on to say a lot of things about what I meant by that, and I was distinguishing between a person who is just liberal — and undoubtedly this nominee will be liberal — and one who decides cases not based upon the law or the merits but, rather, upon his or her emotions, or feelings or preconceived ideas. That would be a circumstance in which I could not support the nominee," Kyl said.
Sen. Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat who helped negotiate a compromise to avoid filibusters aimed at President George W. Bush's judicial nominees, said the law alone should be the guide on whether nominees are seated. He also kept open the filibuster option.
"We don't want to have to read judges' minds. So I think that's the test — will they be an activist or not?" Nelson said. "I would hope that there wouldn't be any circumstances that would be so extreme with any of the president's nominees that the other side would feel the need to filibuster or that I might feel the need to filibuster in a case of extraordinary circumstances."
Under Senate rules, a single senator can mount a filibuster by objecting to consideration of a bill or nominee. It takes 60 votes to overcome a filibuster and move to a final vote. Democrats hold 59 votes in the 100-seat Senate with Sen. Arlen Specter's defection from the GOP and two Democratic-voting independents. One seat is open.
Obama's choice is expected to be confirmed, given the Democratic majority. But part of his political calculation is how smoothly the nominee will get through. At a time when his agenda is packed with big domestic items and he needs help from both parties, Obama may not want to spend political capital on a more contentious choice.
Six people are known to be under consideration by Obama: U.S. Appeals Court judges Diane Wood and Sonia Sotomayor, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno.
The president has been pushed by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and others to name a woman to the court. Only one of the nine justices — Ruth Bader Ginsburg — is a woman.
"Frankly, if it were reversed, I would be saying, appoint a man. You just need that point of view," Boxer said. "But, of course, it has got to do be the best possible person and we think there are so many great qualified women out there."
Kyl and Nelson appeared on "Fox News Sunday." Boxer appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" and Durbin on "NBC's "Meet the Press."
By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer Philip Elliott, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 43 mins ago
WASHINGTON – The Senate's No. 2 Republican on Sunday refused to rule out a filibuster if President Barack Obama seeks a Supreme Court justice who decides cases based on "emotions or feelings or preconceived ideas."
Sen. Jon Kyl made clear he would use the procedural delay if Obama follows through on his pledge to nominate someone who takes into account human suffering and employs empathy from the bench. The Arizona Republican acknowledged that his party likely does not have enough votes to sustain a filibuster, but he said nonetheless he would try to delay or derail the nomination if Obama ventures outside what Kyl called the mainstream.
"We will distinguish between a liberal judge on one side and one who doesn't decide cases on the merits but, rather, on the basis of his or her preconceived ideas," Kyl said.
The White House is preparing to announce Obama's pick to replace Justice David Souter, who plans to retire back to his beloved New Hampshire when the court's term ends. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said Sunday that he has been told a choice is likely to be announced this week. Those involved with Obama's decision hint that it could come as early as Tuesday.
Obama, who has interviewed at least two candidates for the position, has offered hints into what he wants in a justice.
"You have to have not only the intellect to be able to effectively apply the law to cases before you," Obama said in an interview carried Saturday on C-SPAN television. "But you have to be able to stand in somebody else's shoes and see through their eyes and get a sense of how the law might work or not work in practical day-to-day living."
Obama also has said he wants someone who employs empathy, "understanding and identifying with people's hopes and struggles," when arriving at decisions that could influence the nation for decades.
That approach drew a rebuke Sunday from Kyl, who in January told the conservative Federalist Society that he reserved the right to filibuster.
"I went on to say a lot of things about what I meant by that, and I was distinguishing between a person who is just liberal — and undoubtedly this nominee will be liberal — and one who decides cases not based upon the law or the merits but, rather, upon his or her emotions, or feelings or preconceived ideas. That would be a circumstance in which I could not support the nominee," Kyl said.
Sen. Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat who helped negotiate a compromise to avoid filibusters aimed at President George W. Bush's judicial nominees, said the law alone should be the guide on whether nominees are seated. He also kept open the filibuster option.
"We don't want to have to read judges' minds. So I think that's the test — will they be an activist or not?" Nelson said. "I would hope that there wouldn't be any circumstances that would be so extreme with any of the president's nominees that the other side would feel the need to filibuster or that I might feel the need to filibuster in a case of extraordinary circumstances."
Under Senate rules, a single senator can mount a filibuster by objecting to consideration of a bill or nominee. It takes 60 votes to overcome a filibuster and move to a final vote. Democrats hold 59 votes in the 100-seat Senate with Sen. Arlen Specter's defection from the GOP and two Democratic-voting independents. One seat is open.
Obama's choice is expected to be confirmed, given the Democratic majority. But part of his political calculation is how smoothly the nominee will get through. At a time when his agenda is packed with big domestic items and he needs help from both parties, Obama may not want to spend political capital on a more contentious choice.
Six people are known to be under consideration by Obama: U.S. Appeals Court judges Diane Wood and Sonia Sotomayor, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno.
The president has been pushed by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and others to name a woman to the court. Only one of the nine justices — Ruth Bader Ginsburg — is a woman.
"Frankly, if it were reversed, I would be saying, appoint a man. You just need that point of view," Boxer said. "But, of course, it has got to do be the best possible person and we think there are so many great qualified women out there."
Kyl and Nelson appeared on "Fox News Sunday." Boxer appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" and Durbin on "NBC's "Meet the Press."
Friday, May 22, 2009
George Bush should be waterboarded for charity says Senator
A Rhode Island Democratic politician has said he will donate $100 (£63) to charity for every second former President George W Bush withstands waterboarding.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ys-Senator.html
Last Updated: 10:07PM BST 21 May 2009
The state representative, Rod Driver, also included former Vice President Dick Cheney and ex-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in his offer. He sent letters to all three.
Mr Bush's administration allowed the interrogation technique, which simulates drowning, to be used on terror suspects. Mr Driver says that, if the former president is so confident it is not torture, he should try it for himself.
His offer was first reported on Thursday in The Westerly Sun.
A spokesman for Mr Bush did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Mr Cheney has defended waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods, saying they yielded important information.
The offer came as Mr Cheney accused Barack Obama of putting American lives at risk in a disdainful broadside just minutes after the president gave an impassioned defence of his anti-terror policies.
Americans were offered startlingly contrasting visions of how to deal with the threat of militant Islamists in rival addresses by the two men, who were speaking less than a mile from each other in Washington.
Mr Obama said: "Unfortunately, faced with an uncertain threat, our government made a series of hasty decisions.... our government made decisions based on fear rather than foresight... our government trimmed facts and evidence to fit ideological predispositions."
Mr Cheney responded that there had been no terrorist attack on the United States in the 2,689 days after the al-Qaeda strikes of 2001 because it had "followed through" and "stayed true to our word" by going on the offensive.
"For all the partisan anger that still lingers, our administration will stand up well in history, not despite our actions after 9/11, but because of them," he said
In what was billed in the US media as the "clash of the Titans", Mr Obama's speech was followed within minutes by Mr Cheney.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ys-Senator.html
Last Updated: 10:07PM BST 21 May 2009
The state representative, Rod Driver, also included former Vice President Dick Cheney and ex-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in his offer. He sent letters to all three.
Mr Bush's administration allowed the interrogation technique, which simulates drowning, to be used on terror suspects. Mr Driver says that, if the former president is so confident it is not torture, he should try it for himself.
His offer was first reported on Thursday in The Westerly Sun.
A spokesman for Mr Bush did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Mr Cheney has defended waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods, saying they yielded important information.
The offer came as Mr Cheney accused Barack Obama of putting American lives at risk in a disdainful broadside just minutes after the president gave an impassioned defence of his anti-terror policies.
Americans were offered startlingly contrasting visions of how to deal with the threat of militant Islamists in rival addresses by the two men, who were speaking less than a mile from each other in Washington.
Mr Obama said: "Unfortunately, faced with an uncertain threat, our government made a series of hasty decisions.... our government made decisions based on fear rather than foresight... our government trimmed facts and evidence to fit ideological predispositions."
Mr Cheney responded that there had been no terrorist attack on the United States in the 2,689 days after the al-Qaeda strikes of 2001 because it had "followed through" and "stayed true to our word" by going on the offensive.
"For all the partisan anger that still lingers, our administration will stand up well in history, not despite our actions after 9/11, but because of them," he said
In what was billed in the US media as the "clash of the Titans", Mr Obama's speech was followed within minutes by Mr Cheney.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Scouts Train to Fight Terrorists, and More
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/u...orers.html?_r=5
5/16/2009
IMPERIAL, Calif. — Ten minutes into arrant mayhem in this town near the Mexican border, and the gunman, a disgruntled Iraq war veteran, has already taken out two people, one slumped in his desk, the other covered in blood on the floor.
The responding officers — eight teenage boys and girls, the youngest 14 — face tripwire, a thin cloud of poisonous gas and loud shots — BAM! BAM! — fired from behind a flimsy wall. They move quickly, pellet guns drawn and masks affixed.
“United States Border Patrol! Put your hands up!” screams one in a voice cracking with adolescent determination as the suspect is subdued.
It is all quite a step up from the square knot.
The Explorers program, a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America that began 60 years ago, is training thousands of young people in skills used to confront terrorism, illegal immigration and escalating border violence — an intense ratcheting up of one of the group’s longtime missions to prepare youths for more traditional jobs as police officers and firefighters.
“This is about being a true-blooded American guy and girl,” said A. J. Lowenthal, a sheriff’s deputy here in Imperial County, whose life clock, he says, is set around the Explorers events he helps run. “It fits right in with the honor and bravery of the Boy Scouts.”
The training, which leaders say is not intended to be applied outside the simulated Explorer setting, can involve chasing down illegal border crossers as well as more dangerous situations that include facing down terrorists and taking out “active shooters,” like those who bring gunfire and death to college campuses. In a simulation here of a raid on a marijuana field, several Explorers were instructed on how to quiet an obstreperous lookout.
“Put him on his face and put a knee in his back,” a Border Patrol agent explained. “I guarantee that he’ll shut up.”
One participant, Felix Arce, 16, said he liked “the discipline of the program,” which was something he said his life was lacking. “I want to be a lawyer, and this teaches you about how crimes are committed,” he said.
Cathy Noriego, also 16, said she was attracted by the guns. The group uses compressed-air guns — known as airsoft guns, which fire tiny plastic pellets — in the training exercises, and sometimes they shoot real guns on a closed range.
“I like shooting them,” Cathy said. “I like the sound they make. It gets me excited.”
If there are critics of the content or purpose of the law enforcement training, they have not made themselves known to the Explorers’ national organization in Irving, Tex., or to the volunteers here on the ground, national officials and local leaders said. That said, the Explorers have faced problems over the years. There have been numerous cases over the last three decades in which police officers supervising Explorers have been charged, in civil and criminal cases, with sexually abusing them.
Several years ago, two University of Nebraska criminal justice professors published a study that found at least a dozen cases of sexual abuse involving police officers over the last decade. Adult Explorer leaders are now required to take an online training program on sexual misconduct.
Many law enforcement officials, particularly those who work for the rapidly growing Border Patrol, part of the Homeland Security Department, have helped shape the program’s focus and see it as preparing the Explorers as potential employees. The Explorer posts are attached to various agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and local police and fire departments, that sponsor them much the way churches sponsor Boy Scout troops.
“Our end goal is to create more agents,” said April McKee, a senior Border Patrol agent and mentor at the session here.
Membership in the Explorers has been overseen since 1998 by an affiliate of the Boy Scouts called Learning for Life, which offers 12 career-related programs, including those focused on aviation, medicine and the sciences.
But the more than 2,000 law enforcement posts across the country are the Explorers’ most popular, accounting for 35,000 of the group’s 145,000 members, said John Anthony, national director of Learning for Life. Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, many posts have taken on an emphasis of fighting terrorism and other less conventional threats.
“Before it was more about the basics,” said Johnny Longoria, a Border Patrol agent here. “But now our emphasis is on terrorism, illegal entry, drugs and human smuggling.”
The law enforcement posts are restricted to those ages 14 to 21 who have a C average, but there seems to be some wiggle room. “I will take them at 13 and a half,” Deputy Lowenthal said. “I would rather take a kid than possibly lose a kid.”
The law enforcement programs are highly decentralized, and each post is run in a way that reflects the culture of its sponsoring agency and region. Most have weekly meetings in which the children work on their law-enforcement techniques in preparing for competitions. Weekends are often spent on service projects.
Just as there are soccer moms, there are Explorers dads, who attend the competitions, man the hamburger grill and donate their land for the simulated marijuana field raids. In their training, the would-be law-enforcement officers do not mess around, as revealed at a recent competition on the state fairgrounds here, where a Ferris wheel sat next to the police cars set up for a felony investigation.
Their hearts pounding, Explorers moved down alleys where there were hidden paper targets of people pointing guns, and made split-second decisions about when to shoot. In rescuing hostages from a bus taken over by terrorists, a baby-faced young girl screamed, “Separate your feet!” as she moved to handcuff her suspect.
In a competition in Arizona that he did not oversee, Deputy Lowenthal said, one role-player wore traditional Arab dress. “If we’re looking at 9/11 and what a Middle Eastern terrorist would be like,” he said, “then maybe your role-player would look like that. I don’t know, would you call that politically incorrect?”
Authenticity seems to be the goal. Imperial County, in Southern California, is the poorest in the state, and the local economy revolves largely around the criminal justice system. In addition to the sheriff and local police departments, there are two state prisons and a large Border Patrol and immigration enforcement presence.
“My uncle was a sheriff’s deputy,” said Alexandra Sanchez, 17, who joined the Explorers when she was 13. Alexandra’s police uniform was baggy on her lithe frame, her airsoft gun slung carefully to the side. She wants to be a coroner.
“I like the idea of having law enforcement work with medicine,” she said. “This is a great program for me.”
And then she was off to another bus hijacking.
5/16/2009
IMPERIAL, Calif. — Ten minutes into arrant mayhem in this town near the Mexican border, and the gunman, a disgruntled Iraq war veteran, has already taken out two people, one slumped in his desk, the other covered in blood on the floor.
The responding officers — eight teenage boys and girls, the youngest 14 — face tripwire, a thin cloud of poisonous gas and loud shots — BAM! BAM! — fired from behind a flimsy wall. They move quickly, pellet guns drawn and masks affixed.
“United States Border Patrol! Put your hands up!” screams one in a voice cracking with adolescent determination as the suspect is subdued.
It is all quite a step up from the square knot.
The Explorers program, a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America that began 60 years ago, is training thousands of young people in skills used to confront terrorism, illegal immigration and escalating border violence — an intense ratcheting up of one of the group’s longtime missions to prepare youths for more traditional jobs as police officers and firefighters.
“This is about being a true-blooded American guy and girl,” said A. J. Lowenthal, a sheriff’s deputy here in Imperial County, whose life clock, he says, is set around the Explorers events he helps run. “It fits right in with the honor and bravery of the Boy Scouts.”
The training, which leaders say is not intended to be applied outside the simulated Explorer setting, can involve chasing down illegal border crossers as well as more dangerous situations that include facing down terrorists and taking out “active shooters,” like those who bring gunfire and death to college campuses. In a simulation here of a raid on a marijuana field, several Explorers were instructed on how to quiet an obstreperous lookout.
“Put him on his face and put a knee in his back,” a Border Patrol agent explained. “I guarantee that he’ll shut up.”
One participant, Felix Arce, 16, said he liked “the discipline of the program,” which was something he said his life was lacking. “I want to be a lawyer, and this teaches you about how crimes are committed,” he said.
Cathy Noriego, also 16, said she was attracted by the guns. The group uses compressed-air guns — known as airsoft guns, which fire tiny plastic pellets — in the training exercises, and sometimes they shoot real guns on a closed range.
“I like shooting them,” Cathy said. “I like the sound they make. It gets me excited.”
If there are critics of the content or purpose of the law enforcement training, they have not made themselves known to the Explorers’ national organization in Irving, Tex., or to the volunteers here on the ground, national officials and local leaders said. That said, the Explorers have faced problems over the years. There have been numerous cases over the last three decades in which police officers supervising Explorers have been charged, in civil and criminal cases, with sexually abusing them.
Several years ago, two University of Nebraska criminal justice professors published a study that found at least a dozen cases of sexual abuse involving police officers over the last decade. Adult Explorer leaders are now required to take an online training program on sexual misconduct.
Many law enforcement officials, particularly those who work for the rapidly growing Border Patrol, part of the Homeland Security Department, have helped shape the program’s focus and see it as preparing the Explorers as potential employees. The Explorer posts are attached to various agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and local police and fire departments, that sponsor them much the way churches sponsor Boy Scout troops.
“Our end goal is to create more agents,” said April McKee, a senior Border Patrol agent and mentor at the session here.
Membership in the Explorers has been overseen since 1998 by an affiliate of the Boy Scouts called Learning for Life, which offers 12 career-related programs, including those focused on aviation, medicine and the sciences.
But the more than 2,000 law enforcement posts across the country are the Explorers’ most popular, accounting for 35,000 of the group’s 145,000 members, said John Anthony, national director of Learning for Life. Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, many posts have taken on an emphasis of fighting terrorism and other less conventional threats.
“Before it was more about the basics,” said Johnny Longoria, a Border Patrol agent here. “But now our emphasis is on terrorism, illegal entry, drugs and human smuggling.”
The law enforcement posts are restricted to those ages 14 to 21 who have a C average, but there seems to be some wiggle room. “I will take them at 13 and a half,” Deputy Lowenthal said. “I would rather take a kid than possibly lose a kid.”
The law enforcement programs are highly decentralized, and each post is run in a way that reflects the culture of its sponsoring agency and region. Most have weekly meetings in which the children work on their law-enforcement techniques in preparing for competitions. Weekends are often spent on service projects.
Just as there are soccer moms, there are Explorers dads, who attend the competitions, man the hamburger grill and donate their land for the simulated marijuana field raids. In their training, the would-be law-enforcement officers do not mess around, as revealed at a recent competition on the state fairgrounds here, where a Ferris wheel sat next to the police cars set up for a felony investigation.
Their hearts pounding, Explorers moved down alleys where there were hidden paper targets of people pointing guns, and made split-second decisions about when to shoot. In rescuing hostages from a bus taken over by terrorists, a baby-faced young girl screamed, “Separate your feet!” as she moved to handcuff her suspect.
In a competition in Arizona that he did not oversee, Deputy Lowenthal said, one role-player wore traditional Arab dress. “If we’re looking at 9/11 and what a Middle Eastern terrorist would be like,” he said, “then maybe your role-player would look like that. I don’t know, would you call that politically incorrect?”
Authenticity seems to be the goal. Imperial County, in Southern California, is the poorest in the state, and the local economy revolves largely around the criminal justice system. In addition to the sheriff and local police departments, there are two state prisons and a large Border Patrol and immigration enforcement presence.
“My uncle was a sheriff’s deputy,” said Alexandra Sanchez, 17, who joined the Explorers when she was 13. Alexandra’s police uniform was baggy on her lithe frame, her airsoft gun slung carefully to the side. She wants to be a coroner.
“I like the idea of having law enforcement work with medicine,” she said. “This is a great program for me.”
And then she was off to another bus hijacking.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
White House hits back at Cheney on torture
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/05/11/white-house-hits-back-at-cheney-on-torture/
By Agence France-Presse
The White House Monday accused ex-vice president Dick Cheney of refighting the Republican Party’s 2008 election defeat, after his latest attack on President Barack Obama’s security policy.
Cheney maintained in a Sunday television interview that tough Bush administration interrogations of suspected Al-Qaeda militants had saved “perhaps hundreds of thousands” of US lives.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said however that Cheney was peddling ideas rejected by Americans in the November 2008 election which swept Obama to power.
“I think that — I think you’ve got a series of ideas and a series of thoughts that in many ways the last elections was about, and the last election rejected,” Gibbs told reporters.
“They’re essentially going forward by looking backward. If the vice president believes that’s a way of growing and expanding the Republican Party, then we’re happy to leave him to those devices.”
Gibbs also compared Cheney, who has made a series of stinging attacks on the Obama administration with his former boss, ex-president George W. Bush who has disappeared from the political scene since leaving office in January.
“I’ve been struck in watching the former president and the former vice president take markedly different views to their lives post their administration,” Gibbs said.
On Sunday, speaking to CBS “Face the Nation” Cheney said he had “no regrets” at backing interrogation techniques decried by critics as torture.
“I’m convinced, absolutely convinced, that we saved thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of lives,” Cheney said, arguing again that Al-Qaeda was bent on attacking a US city with a nuclear device.
At the annual dinner of the White House Correspondents’ Association on Saturday, President Barack Obama skewered Cheney’s views for comic effect.
“Dick Cheney was supposed to be here but he is very busy working on his memoirs, tentatively titled ‘How to Shoot Friends and Interrogate People,’” he quipped.
In one of his first acts as president, Obama reversed Bush’s approval of harsh interrogation methods such as “waterboarding,” or near drowning.
Recently released Justice Department memorandums detail the reasoning used by Bush administration lawyers to justify waterboarding and other techniques such as sleep deprivation, physical slaps and painful “stress positions.”
Cheney reaffirmed his belief that Obama had made the United States more vulnerable to attack, and condemned calls by Democratic lawmakers for the Bush legal officials to face prosecution.
By Agence France-Presse
The White House Monday accused ex-vice president Dick Cheney of refighting the Republican Party’s 2008 election defeat, after his latest attack on President Barack Obama’s security policy.
Cheney maintained in a Sunday television interview that tough Bush administration interrogations of suspected Al-Qaeda militants had saved “perhaps hundreds of thousands” of US lives.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said however that Cheney was peddling ideas rejected by Americans in the November 2008 election which swept Obama to power.
“I think that — I think you’ve got a series of ideas and a series of thoughts that in many ways the last elections was about, and the last election rejected,” Gibbs told reporters.
“They’re essentially going forward by looking backward. If the vice president believes that’s a way of growing and expanding the Republican Party, then we’re happy to leave him to those devices.”
Gibbs also compared Cheney, who has made a series of stinging attacks on the Obama administration with his former boss, ex-president George W. Bush who has disappeared from the political scene since leaving office in January.
“I’ve been struck in watching the former president and the former vice president take markedly different views to their lives post their administration,” Gibbs said.
On Sunday, speaking to CBS “Face the Nation” Cheney said he had “no regrets” at backing interrogation techniques decried by critics as torture.
“I’m convinced, absolutely convinced, that we saved thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of lives,” Cheney said, arguing again that Al-Qaeda was bent on attacking a US city with a nuclear device.
At the annual dinner of the White House Correspondents’ Association on Saturday, President Barack Obama skewered Cheney’s views for comic effect.
“Dick Cheney was supposed to be here but he is very busy working on his memoirs, tentatively titled ‘How to Shoot Friends and Interrogate People,’” he quipped.
In one of his first acts as president, Obama reversed Bush’s approval of harsh interrogation methods such as “waterboarding,” or near drowning.
Recently released Justice Department memorandums detail the reasoning used by Bush administration lawyers to justify waterboarding and other techniques such as sleep deprivation, physical slaps and painful “stress positions.”
Cheney reaffirmed his belief that Obama had made the United States more vulnerable to attack, and condemned calls by Democratic lawmakers for the Bush legal officials to face prosecution.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Afghanistan war costs to top Iraq by 2010
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/05...p-iraq-by-2010/
By Agence France-Presse
5/8/2009
The cost of fighting the war in Afghanistan will overtake that of the Iraq conflict for the first time in 2010, Pentagon budget documents showed Thursday. On top of the basic defense budget of 533.7 billion dollars, the White House is requesting a further 130 billion dollars for overseas missions, including 65 billion for Afghanistan and 61 billion for Iraq. “This request is where you’re going to first see the swing of not only dollars or resources, but combat capability, from the Iraqi theater into the Afghan theater,” Navy Vice Admiral Steve Stanley, director of force structure for the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters. Some 136,000 US troops are currently stationed in Iraq, but they are set to be progressively withdrawn by the end of 2011, in accordance with a security pact signed between Washington and Baghdad in late 2008. The withdrawal from Iraq will be accompanied by a buildup in Afghanistan, which President Barack Obama has made a priority of his administration, dispatching 21,000 extra troops to the region to combat an emboldened insurgency. US forces in Afghanistan are set to reach 68,000 by the end of this year. The United States has about 45,000 troops in Afghanistan, the bulk of a foreign deployment of roughly 70,000 soldiers tasked with hunting down armed Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants, as well as stabilizing the country. The funds are part of a total 663.7-billion-dollar Pentagon spending plan that aims “to try to reshape the military to have more capability to fight irregular and unconventional war while maintaining a balance of conventional capability, and modernize with those themes in mind,” budget documents said. The 130 billion dollars for “overseas contingency operations,” include a 1.5-billion-dollar “Commander’s Emergency Response Program” to fund urgent reconstruction and humanitarian aid needs on the ground. In 2009, funds for that program had been equally distributed between Iraq and Afghanistan, which each received 700 million dollars. But in 2010, the bulk of the funds — 1.2 billion dollars — will go to Afghanistan. The Defense Department is also requesting 700 million dollars to “accelerate the development of Pakistan’s counterinsurgency capabilities and operations in support of US efforts” in Afghanistan, according to budget documents. Obama, who has unveiled a regional approach to the war in Afghanistan, has pledged 1.5 billion dollars over five years in military and financial aid to Pakistan, which he has placed at the center of the fight against Al-Qaeda. The plan includes a focus on Al-Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan’s lawless western border region and boosting civilian efforts to build up both Afghanistan and Pakistan, notably in agriculture and education.
By Agence France-Presse
5/8/2009
The cost of fighting the war in Afghanistan will overtake that of the Iraq conflict for the first time in 2010, Pentagon budget documents showed Thursday. On top of the basic defense budget of 533.7 billion dollars, the White House is requesting a further 130 billion dollars for overseas missions, including 65 billion for Afghanistan and 61 billion for Iraq. “This request is where you’re going to first see the swing of not only dollars or resources, but combat capability, from the Iraqi theater into the Afghan theater,” Navy Vice Admiral Steve Stanley, director of force structure for the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters. Some 136,000 US troops are currently stationed in Iraq, but they are set to be progressively withdrawn by the end of 2011, in accordance with a security pact signed between Washington and Baghdad in late 2008. The withdrawal from Iraq will be accompanied by a buildup in Afghanistan, which President Barack Obama has made a priority of his administration, dispatching 21,000 extra troops to the region to combat an emboldened insurgency. US forces in Afghanistan are set to reach 68,000 by the end of this year. The United States has about 45,000 troops in Afghanistan, the bulk of a foreign deployment of roughly 70,000 soldiers tasked with hunting down armed Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants, as well as stabilizing the country. The funds are part of a total 663.7-billion-dollar Pentagon spending plan that aims “to try to reshape the military to have more capability to fight irregular and unconventional war while maintaining a balance of conventional capability, and modernize with those themes in mind,” budget documents said. The 130 billion dollars for “overseas contingency operations,” include a 1.5-billion-dollar “Commander’s Emergency Response Program” to fund urgent reconstruction and humanitarian aid needs on the ground. In 2009, funds for that program had been equally distributed between Iraq and Afghanistan, which each received 700 million dollars. But in 2010, the bulk of the funds — 1.2 billion dollars — will go to Afghanistan. The Defense Department is also requesting 700 million dollars to “accelerate the development of Pakistan’s counterinsurgency capabilities and operations in support of US efforts” in Afghanistan, according to budget documents. Obama, who has unveiled a regional approach to the war in Afghanistan, has pledged 1.5 billion dollars over five years in military and financial aid to Pakistan, which he has placed at the center of the fight against Al-Qaeda. The plan includes a focus on Al-Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan’s lawless western border region and boosting civilian efforts to build up both Afghanistan and Pakistan, notably in agriculture and education.
New jobless claims plunge, retail sales improve
New jobless claims plunge unexpectedly to 610,000, while retail sales improve in April
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/New-j...64532.html?.v=6
5/8/2009
WASHINGTON (AP) -- New applications for jobless benefits plunged to the lowest level in 14 weeks, a possible sign that the massive wave of layoffs has peaked. Still, the number of unemployed workers getting benefits climbed to a new record.
Retail results also improved as discounter Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other stores reported April sales figures that beat expectations. Analysts acknowledged the positive economic signals but cautioned that any recovery will be subdued as long as unemployment stays high.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number newly laid off workers applying for benefits dropped to 601,000 last week. That was far better than the rise to 635,000 claims that economists expected.
But the total number of people receiving jobless benefits climbed to 6.35 million, a 14th straight record.
The four-week moving average of initial jobless claims, which smooths out volatility, totaled 623,500 last week, a decrease of more than 30,000 from the high in early April. Goldman Sachs economists have said a decline of 30,000 to 40,000 in the four-week average is needed to signal a peak.
Meanwhile, retailers' business last month was helped by warmer weather, tax refunds, and a shift in the Easter holiday, helping Wal-Mart and many mall clothing chains post better-than-expected results.
But consumer sentiment and business in many areas remains weak, and analysts expect a drawn-out recovery as unemployment remains high and other economic woes persist. Warehouse store operator Costco Wholesale Corp. reported a deeper-than-expected same-store sales drop, hurt by the closing of its stores on Easter.
In a separate report, the government said that productivity, the key ingredient to rising living standards, grew at a 0.8 percent annual rate in the January-March quarter, slightly better than the 0.6 percent increase that economists had expected. Wage pressures, as measured by unit labor costs, increased at a 3.3 percent rate, down from a 5.7 percent spike in the fourth quarter.
While wage pressures outpacing productivity normally would raise alarm bells about inflation, the threat of any price spikes is seen as remote. Regulators and economists are not worried about inflation since many workers are more concerned about keeping their jobs in the recession than demanding higher wages.
On Wall Street, stocks ended the day lower as investors awaited the formal release of results from the government's "stress tests" of bank balance sheets after the closing bell. The Dow Jones industrial average lost more than 102 points to 8,409.85, and broader indices also slid.
Despite the big drop in new applications for jobless benefits last week, the claims remained at elevated levels. By comparison, weekly jobless claims totaled 372,00 a year ago.
But since peaking at 674,000 in late March, claims have been trending lower, raising hopes that the huge wave of layoffs that have rocked the country could be easing a bit.
Even if the recent declines signal that layoffs have peaked, economists do not expect them to return to pre-recession levels anytime soon. They expect the jobless rate will keep rising through the rest of this year even if their forecasts for an end to the recession in the second half of 2009 are accurate.
More job cuts were announced Thursday. Steelmaker Severstal International said it's idling plants in Wheeling, W.Va., and Warren, Ohio, resulting in 3,100 layoffs due to the continuing deterioration of the steel industry.
The government is scheduled to release unemployment data for April on Friday. Analysts expect the jobless rate will climb to 8.9 percent from the current 25-year high of 8.5 percent. Many analysts expect the jobless rate will hit 10 percent by the end of this year.
The rise in continuing claims to 6.35 million was registered for the week ending April 25, the latest data available. That was up from 6.30 million in the previous week and marked the highest tally on records dating to 1967.
The high level of continuing claims is a sign that many laid-off workers are having difficulty finding work.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve on Thursday said consumer borrowing dropped 5.2 percent in March, the biggest percentage decline since December 1990. In dollar terms, the $11.1 billion plunge was the largest on records dating to 1943, and more than three times what economists expected.
The Commerce Department last week said the personal savings rate edged up to 4.2 percent in March, marking the first time in a decade that the savings rate has been above 4 percent for three straight months.
More than 5 million jobs have vanished in the recession, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday predicted "further sizable job losses" in the coming months.
Among the states, Michigan saw the largest increase in claims with 9,998 more for the week ending April 25, which it attributed to more layoffs in the automobile industry, according to the Labor Department. The next largest increases were in Massachusetts, Kentucky, North Carolina and New York.
California saw the largest drop in claims with 10,833, which it said was due to fewer layoffs in the construction and service industries. The next biggest declines were in Georgia, South Carolina, Wisconsin and New Jersey.
More companies recently announced job cuts. General Motors Corp. laid out a restructuring plan that includes cutting 21,000 U.S. factory jobs by next year. Microsoft Corp. said it was starting thousands of the 5,000 job cuts it announced in earlier this year and left the door open to even more layoffs. Chip maker Atmel Corp. last week said it would lay off 300 people, or 5 percent of its work force.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/New-j...64532.html?.v=6
5/8/2009
WASHINGTON (AP) -- New applications for jobless benefits plunged to the lowest level in 14 weeks, a possible sign that the massive wave of layoffs has peaked. Still, the number of unemployed workers getting benefits climbed to a new record.
Retail results also improved as discounter Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other stores reported April sales figures that beat expectations. Analysts acknowledged the positive economic signals but cautioned that any recovery will be subdued as long as unemployment stays high.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number newly laid off workers applying for benefits dropped to 601,000 last week. That was far better than the rise to 635,000 claims that economists expected.
But the total number of people receiving jobless benefits climbed to 6.35 million, a 14th straight record.
The four-week moving average of initial jobless claims, which smooths out volatility, totaled 623,500 last week, a decrease of more than 30,000 from the high in early April. Goldman Sachs economists have said a decline of 30,000 to 40,000 in the four-week average is needed to signal a peak.
Meanwhile, retailers' business last month was helped by warmer weather, tax refunds, and a shift in the Easter holiday, helping Wal-Mart and many mall clothing chains post better-than-expected results.
But consumer sentiment and business in many areas remains weak, and analysts expect a drawn-out recovery as unemployment remains high and other economic woes persist. Warehouse store operator Costco Wholesale Corp. reported a deeper-than-expected same-store sales drop, hurt by the closing of its stores on Easter.
In a separate report, the government said that productivity, the key ingredient to rising living standards, grew at a 0.8 percent annual rate in the January-March quarter, slightly better than the 0.6 percent increase that economists had expected. Wage pressures, as measured by unit labor costs, increased at a 3.3 percent rate, down from a 5.7 percent spike in the fourth quarter.
While wage pressures outpacing productivity normally would raise alarm bells about inflation, the threat of any price spikes is seen as remote. Regulators and economists are not worried about inflation since many workers are more concerned about keeping their jobs in the recession than demanding higher wages.
On Wall Street, stocks ended the day lower as investors awaited the formal release of results from the government's "stress tests" of bank balance sheets after the closing bell. The Dow Jones industrial average lost more than 102 points to 8,409.85, and broader indices also slid.
Despite the big drop in new applications for jobless benefits last week, the claims remained at elevated levels. By comparison, weekly jobless claims totaled 372,00 a year ago.
But since peaking at 674,000 in late March, claims have been trending lower, raising hopes that the huge wave of layoffs that have rocked the country could be easing a bit.
Even if the recent declines signal that layoffs have peaked, economists do not expect them to return to pre-recession levels anytime soon. They expect the jobless rate will keep rising through the rest of this year even if their forecasts for an end to the recession in the second half of 2009 are accurate.
More job cuts were announced Thursday. Steelmaker Severstal International said it's idling plants in Wheeling, W.Va., and Warren, Ohio, resulting in 3,100 layoffs due to the continuing deterioration of the steel industry.
The government is scheduled to release unemployment data for April on Friday. Analysts expect the jobless rate will climb to 8.9 percent from the current 25-year high of 8.5 percent. Many analysts expect the jobless rate will hit 10 percent by the end of this year.
The rise in continuing claims to 6.35 million was registered for the week ending April 25, the latest data available. That was up from 6.30 million in the previous week and marked the highest tally on records dating to 1967.
The high level of continuing claims is a sign that many laid-off workers are having difficulty finding work.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve on Thursday said consumer borrowing dropped 5.2 percent in March, the biggest percentage decline since December 1990. In dollar terms, the $11.1 billion plunge was the largest on records dating to 1943, and more than three times what economists expected.
The Commerce Department last week said the personal savings rate edged up to 4.2 percent in March, marking the first time in a decade that the savings rate has been above 4 percent for three straight months.
More than 5 million jobs have vanished in the recession, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday predicted "further sizable job losses" in the coming months.
Among the states, Michigan saw the largest increase in claims with 9,998 more for the week ending April 25, which it attributed to more layoffs in the automobile industry, according to the Labor Department. The next largest increases were in Massachusetts, Kentucky, North Carolina and New York.
California saw the largest drop in claims with 10,833, which it said was due to fewer layoffs in the construction and service industries. The next biggest declines were in Georgia, South Carolina, Wisconsin and New Jersey.
More companies recently announced job cuts. General Motors Corp. laid out a restructuring plan that includes cutting 21,000 U.S. factory jobs by next year. Microsoft Corp. said it was starting thousands of the 5,000 job cuts it announced in earlier this year and left the door open to even more layoffs. Chip maker Atmel Corp. last week said it would lay off 300 people, or 5 percent of its work force.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
U.S. May Add Shots for Swine Flu to Fall Regimen
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...9050503378.html
By Kimberly Kindy and Ceci Connolly
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
The Obama administration is considering an unprecedented fall vaccination campaign that could entail giving Americans three flu shots -- one to combat annual seasonal influenza and two targeted at the new swine flu virus spreading across the globe.
If enacted, the multibillion-dollar effort would represent the first time that top federal health officials have asked Americans to get more than one flu vaccine in a year, raising serious challenges concerning production, distribution and the ability to track potentially severe side effects.
Another option, said Dale Morse, chairman of the advisory committee on immunization practices at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is adding to the seasonal flu shot an ingredient targeted at the new virus.
Experts in and out of the administration are evaluating a raft of complicated issues, including who ought to receive an inoculation against the swine flu and whether private vaccine makers can simultaneously manufacture the standard 180 million doses as well as up to 600 million rounds of a new vaccine.
"We are moving forward with making a vaccine," said Robin Robinson, a director with the Department of Health and Human Services who oversees pandemic response programs. Robinson said that although a formal decision about the swine flu vaccine has not been made, if the government goes ahead, it would probably produce two doses for all Americans. If the threat diminishes, he said, health officials could decide to produce doses for only a portion of the population.
Vaccine and pandemic experts are working with the administration to determine how to produce, test, track and educate the public about two different influenza vaccines in the same flu season.
"They have never tried this before, and there is going to be a great deal of confusion," said William Schaffner, chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
Memories of the nation's earlier experience with a swine flu vaccine present another challenge. In 1976, hundreds of Americans developed neurological disorders after they were vaccinated for a swine flu strain. The public was asked to receive one of two vaccines developed to combat the strain.
Health officials have asked manufacturers to ramp up production of the seasonal vaccine scheduled for rollout this fall to make way for the possible mass production of a swine flu vaccine.
A decision on whether to produce such a vaccine will have to be made soon, because it typically takes five months to produce a new vaccine and authorities would want it available for the next flu season.
Some medical experts said rolling out two vaccines would present additional challenges in terms of testing and tracking adverse reactions. Health officials and manufacturers will need to know what the negative reactions might be for each vaccine on its own and in combination with the other. Initial tests would be done on animals, and then clinical trials would be conducted with people to determine side effects before either vaccine is rolled out.
Harvey Fineberg, president of the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, said officials will have to weigh the risks of the time spent on testing.
"All this takes time, money and organization," said Fineberg, who led an investigation into the government's handling of the 1976 swine flu vaccinations.
The greater challenge will be tracking any adverse reactions as millions of Americans get multiple vaccinations in a matter of months this fall and winter.
"There will be adverse effects to any vaccine. That's just science," said Michael Hattwick, who ran the CDC's vaccine-tracking system during the last swine flu scare.
Hattwick said a "real-time" tracking system would need to be established to provide constant updates to the CDC about adverse reactions. That information, he said, should include lot numbers for the vaccines so health officials can trace each side effect to the manufacturer and the date of production. Routine flu vaccinations are not traced with such precision because reporting is voluntary and often delayed, Hattwick said.
Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he does not expect additional adverse reactions with two vaccinations. The traditional flu vaccine is designed to attack the three flu strains health officials believe to be the greatest threats in a regular season, he said.
"In a regular seasonal flu, you get three vaccines. Adding an additional one should not present a problem," Fauci said.
A record-keeping system would also need to be devised to track which doses patients have received, health experts said.
Without such a system, patients could lose track of which of the three shots they have received or could fail to get the second swine flu inoculation at the proper time.
"We will have to keep them straight and separate," Vanderbilt's Schaffner said. "This will be an enormous challenge, and we haven't figured out how to do it yet. That's one of the things we are trying to sort out."
By Kimberly Kindy and Ceci Connolly
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
The Obama administration is considering an unprecedented fall vaccination campaign that could entail giving Americans three flu shots -- one to combat annual seasonal influenza and two targeted at the new swine flu virus spreading across the globe.
If enacted, the multibillion-dollar effort would represent the first time that top federal health officials have asked Americans to get more than one flu vaccine in a year, raising serious challenges concerning production, distribution and the ability to track potentially severe side effects.
Another option, said Dale Morse, chairman of the advisory committee on immunization practices at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is adding to the seasonal flu shot an ingredient targeted at the new virus.
Experts in and out of the administration are evaluating a raft of complicated issues, including who ought to receive an inoculation against the swine flu and whether private vaccine makers can simultaneously manufacture the standard 180 million doses as well as up to 600 million rounds of a new vaccine.
"We are moving forward with making a vaccine," said Robin Robinson, a director with the Department of Health and Human Services who oversees pandemic response programs. Robinson said that although a formal decision about the swine flu vaccine has not been made, if the government goes ahead, it would probably produce two doses for all Americans. If the threat diminishes, he said, health officials could decide to produce doses for only a portion of the population.
Vaccine and pandemic experts are working with the administration to determine how to produce, test, track and educate the public about two different influenza vaccines in the same flu season.
"They have never tried this before, and there is going to be a great deal of confusion," said William Schaffner, chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
Memories of the nation's earlier experience with a swine flu vaccine present another challenge. In 1976, hundreds of Americans developed neurological disorders after they were vaccinated for a swine flu strain. The public was asked to receive one of two vaccines developed to combat the strain.
Health officials have asked manufacturers to ramp up production of the seasonal vaccine scheduled for rollout this fall to make way for the possible mass production of a swine flu vaccine.
A decision on whether to produce such a vaccine will have to be made soon, because it typically takes five months to produce a new vaccine and authorities would want it available for the next flu season.
Some medical experts said rolling out two vaccines would present additional challenges in terms of testing and tracking adverse reactions. Health officials and manufacturers will need to know what the negative reactions might be for each vaccine on its own and in combination with the other. Initial tests would be done on animals, and then clinical trials would be conducted with people to determine side effects before either vaccine is rolled out.
Harvey Fineberg, president of the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, said officials will have to weigh the risks of the time spent on testing.
"All this takes time, money and organization," said Fineberg, who led an investigation into the government's handling of the 1976 swine flu vaccinations.
The greater challenge will be tracking any adverse reactions as millions of Americans get multiple vaccinations in a matter of months this fall and winter.
"There will be adverse effects to any vaccine. That's just science," said Michael Hattwick, who ran the CDC's vaccine-tracking system during the last swine flu scare.
Hattwick said a "real-time" tracking system would need to be established to provide constant updates to the CDC about adverse reactions. That information, he said, should include lot numbers for the vaccines so health officials can trace each side effect to the manufacturer and the date of production. Routine flu vaccinations are not traced with such precision because reporting is voluntary and often delayed, Hattwick said.
Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he does not expect additional adverse reactions with two vaccinations. The traditional flu vaccine is designed to attack the three flu strains health officials believe to be the greatest threats in a regular season, he said.
"In a regular seasonal flu, you get three vaccines. Adding an additional one should not present a problem," Fauci said.
A record-keeping system would also need to be devised to track which doses patients have received, health experts said.
Without such a system, patients could lose track of which of the three shots they have received or could fail to get the second swine flu inoculation at the proper time.
"We will have to keep them straight and separate," Vanderbilt's Schaffner said. "This will be an enormous challenge, and we haven't figured out how to do it yet. That's one of the things we are trying to sort out."
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
YouTube’s Parent Google is a Corporate Member of the Council on Foreign Relations
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=1876796888779287106
As Paul Joseph Watson and Kurt Nimmo note today, Google is in bed with the CIA. In 2006, Robert David Steele, a 20-year Marine Corps infantry and intelligence officer and a former clandestine services case officer with the CIA, told Alex Jones as much. Steele went so far as to name Dr. Rick Steinheiser as the CIA’s liaison at Google.
But it is not simply the CIA. Google is high up on the elitist NWO pyramid, a fact pointed out by an Infowar’s reader and missed by the editors. As it turns out, Google is a corporate member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In late 2006, Google bought YouTube for US$1.65 billion in stock, so it is fair to say YouTube is also pushing the CFR’s one-world government agenda.
It also explains why YouTube is going after Alex Jones and why The Alex Jones Channel was scrubbed from the popular website.
“The CFR is the American Branch of a society which originated in England, and which believes that national boundaries should be obliterated, and a one-world rule established,” the late Carroll Quigley wrote in his book, “Tragedy & Hope.”
“The ultimate aim of the CFR is to create a one-world socialist system, and to make the U.S. an official part of it,” explained Dan Smoot, a former member of the FBI Headquarters staff in Washington, D.C.
“The CFR is the establishment,” writes Congressmen John R. Rarick. “Not only does it have influence and power in key decision-making positions at the highest levels of government to apply pressure from above, but it also finances and uses individuals and groups to bring pressure from below, to justify the high level decisions for converting the U.S. from a sovereign Constitution Republic into a servile member of a one-world dictatorship.”
CFR “members have run, or are running, NBC and CBS, ‘The New York Times’, ‘The Washington Post’, ‘The Des Moines Register’, and many other important newspapers. The leaders of ‘Time’, ‘Newsweek’, ‘Fortune’, ‘Business Week’, and numerous other publications are CFR members. The organization’s members also dominate the academic world, top corporations, the huge tax-exempt foundations, labor unions, the military, and just about every segment of American life,” write Jack Newell and Devvy Kidd.
The “pressure from above” mentioned by Rarick is being used to silence influential critics of the concept of a one-world dictatorship now in motion.
It is, however, too late for the control freaks and one-worlders to squash the opposition. Google’s YouTube may have swept The Alex Jones into the memory hole, but this will not prevent the message from reaching millions of people who now know the New World Order is determined to reduce the planet to a slave labor gulag run by the international bankers and their minions.
As Paul Joseph Watson and Kurt Nimmo note today, Google is in bed with the CIA. In 2006, Robert David Steele, a 20-year Marine Corps infantry and intelligence officer and a former clandestine services case officer with the CIA, told Alex Jones as much. Steele went so far as to name Dr. Rick Steinheiser as the CIA’s liaison at Google.
But it is not simply the CIA. Google is high up on the elitist NWO pyramid, a fact pointed out by an Infowar’s reader and missed by the editors. As it turns out, Google is a corporate member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In late 2006, Google bought YouTube for US$1.65 billion in stock, so it is fair to say YouTube is also pushing the CFR’s one-world government agenda.
It also explains why YouTube is going after Alex Jones and why The Alex Jones Channel was scrubbed from the popular website.
“The CFR is the American Branch of a society which originated in England, and which believes that national boundaries should be obliterated, and a one-world rule established,” the late Carroll Quigley wrote in his book, “Tragedy & Hope.”
“The ultimate aim of the CFR is to create a one-world socialist system, and to make the U.S. an official part of it,” explained Dan Smoot, a former member of the FBI Headquarters staff in Washington, D.C.
“The CFR is the establishment,” writes Congressmen John R. Rarick. “Not only does it have influence and power in key decision-making positions at the highest levels of government to apply pressure from above, but it also finances and uses individuals and groups to bring pressure from below, to justify the high level decisions for converting the U.S. from a sovereign Constitution Republic into a servile member of a one-world dictatorship.”
CFR “members have run, or are running, NBC and CBS, ‘The New York Times’, ‘The Washington Post’, ‘The Des Moines Register’, and many other important newspapers. The leaders of ‘Time’, ‘Newsweek’, ‘Fortune’, ‘Business Week’, and numerous other publications are CFR members. The organization’s members also dominate the academic world, top corporations, the huge tax-exempt foundations, labor unions, the military, and just about every segment of American life,” write Jack Newell and Devvy Kidd.
The “pressure from above” mentioned by Rarick is being used to silence influential critics of the concept of a one-world dictatorship now in motion.
It is, however, too late for the control freaks and one-worlders to squash the opposition. Google’s YouTube may have swept The Alex Jones into the memory hole, but this will not prevent the message from reaching millions of people who now know the New World Order is determined to reduce the planet to a slave labor gulag run by the international bankers and their minions.
'Obama Discrediting Himself and the US'
http://www.spiegel.de/international...,622682,00.html
5/4/5009
Many had hoped that US President Barack Obama would undo all the damage done by his predecessor. Now, it looks like he might continue the Bush-era practice of trying terror suspects in military tribunals. German commentators are disappointed.
When US President Barack Obama entered office in January and promptly pledged to shut down the US prison at Guantanamo and suspended all further military tribunals of the kind used by his predecessor George W. Bush, human rights groups across the country and the world were relieved. Finally, they thought, America would cease locking away terror suspects without recourse to the justice system.
Not surprisingly, though, closing down Guantanamo has proven much easier said than done. Even those prisoners deemed not to be dangerous are creating headaches for Washington as the search continues for countries willing to take them. Domestically, opposition is large to an Obama administration plan to release a group of Chinese Uighur prisoners into the US.
Many of the 241 prisoners, however, cannot simply be released -- and recent reports in the US media indicate that Obama may be grabbing for a Bush-era tool that he appeared to have jettisoned: military commissions. According to the New York Times this weekend, the Obama administration has begun leaning towards trying some of the remaining inmates in such controversial tribunals.
Obama has never categorically rejected the military commissions as a means of dealing with Guantanamo prisoners, some of whom are accused of having been involved in the planning of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in the US. During the campaign, though, he did say that "by any measure, our system of trying detainees has been an enormous failure."
Any return to using such military commissions would be a major disappointment to human rights groups who were hoping that Obama's election signalled a new era in America's handling of terror suspects. As German editorials show on Monday, frustration across the Atlantic is equally high.
In an editorial entitled "Obama's Great Mistake," the center-left daily Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:
"Obama's people certainly imagined things differently. But reality has caught up with them. What should they do with people who … are in fact horrifying criminals but whose confessions came as a result of brutal interrogations? No regular court would accept the testimony. Should suspected masterminds of the 9/11 attacks and other terrible attacks be set free? That can't be the solution either. Obama is thus considering holding on to the military commissions with a couple of extra rights for the suspects. Bush light, so to speak."
"Obama is thus discrediting both himself and the US. It would be better were he to gather the necessary political courage to initiate criminal proceedings before regular courts. Legally, it will be incredibly complicated and possibly untenable in some cases. But the country cannot get around the purification process. Otherwise, the poison from the Bush era could continue to infect America's image for years to come."
The left-leaning daily Die Tageszeitung writes:
"The US government has asked Germany to accept former Guantanamo prisoners. Exactly the same government is apparently planning to continue the military commissions to try those prisoners. One could hardly be more contradictory."
"It is the same tactic that President Barack Obama has already used when it came to the torturers from the CIA -- punish with one hand, stroke with the other. Whenever he takes a step forward, he stumbles backwards as well. That will likely be enough to disappoint all those Europeans who had expectations that Obama would be an almost messiah-like healer. It was expected that he would demolish all of the ugly monuments from the Bush era and then, together with Al Gore, plant a Garden of Eden over the top, through which he would drive fuel-efficient compacts from Chrysler."
"And now: the US president is pursuing a policy of trying to make everyone happy. He is trying to accommodate the left side of the political spectrum as well as those on the right. All of a sudden, Barack Obama is beginning to look eerily similar to Chancellor Angela Merkel. He is no longer floating above the political lowlands, the swamps of compromise. He is walking directly through them and getting dirty in the process."
The Financial Times Deutschland comes to Obama's defense on Monday:
"Barack Obama promised Americans and the rest of the world he would follow a governmental strategy akin to pushing the reset button. The small red button US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently presented in Moscow works as a symbol for Obama's domestic reform agenda just as well as it does for his vision of US foreign and security policy: Bush is gone, in the future everything will be completely different."
"But even the Obama government thinks it is too dangerous to bring all (Guantanamo) cases before civilian courts and to get rid of the military commissions set up by the Bush administration. Bush called them into existence after Sept. 11, 2001 in order to imprison so-called 'enemy combatants' outside of the US legal system in Guantanamo, interrogate them and sentence them before special courts."
"Such a policy cannot be made to disappear with a reset button. Were those cases currently being looked into by military commissions to be transferred to civilian courts, a number of procedural riddles would have to be solved -- because some of the most important suspects in Guantanamo were tortured, their testimony and confessions would likely be thrown out. Any civilian trials would also be overshadowed by secrecy concerns."
"The risk that such a civilian trial would be used by mass murderers as a soap box, or even that they would be released for purely formal or procedural reasons, would be large. It is for these reasons that Obama wants to hold on to -- reformed -- military commissions. That will likely disappoint all those who expected him to embark on a radical change of course. But it speaks for his understanding of reality."
5/4/5009
Many had hoped that US President Barack Obama would undo all the damage done by his predecessor. Now, it looks like he might continue the Bush-era practice of trying terror suspects in military tribunals. German commentators are disappointed.
When US President Barack Obama entered office in January and promptly pledged to shut down the US prison at Guantanamo and suspended all further military tribunals of the kind used by his predecessor George W. Bush, human rights groups across the country and the world were relieved. Finally, they thought, America would cease locking away terror suspects without recourse to the justice system.
Not surprisingly, though, closing down Guantanamo has proven much easier said than done. Even those prisoners deemed not to be dangerous are creating headaches for Washington as the search continues for countries willing to take them. Domestically, opposition is large to an Obama administration plan to release a group of Chinese Uighur prisoners into the US.
Many of the 241 prisoners, however, cannot simply be released -- and recent reports in the US media indicate that Obama may be grabbing for a Bush-era tool that he appeared to have jettisoned: military commissions. According to the New York Times this weekend, the Obama administration has begun leaning towards trying some of the remaining inmates in such controversial tribunals.
Obama has never categorically rejected the military commissions as a means of dealing with Guantanamo prisoners, some of whom are accused of having been involved in the planning of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in the US. During the campaign, though, he did say that "by any measure, our system of trying detainees has been an enormous failure."
Any return to using such military commissions would be a major disappointment to human rights groups who were hoping that Obama's election signalled a new era in America's handling of terror suspects. As German editorials show on Monday, frustration across the Atlantic is equally high.
In an editorial entitled "Obama's Great Mistake," the center-left daily Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:
"Obama's people certainly imagined things differently. But reality has caught up with them. What should they do with people who … are in fact horrifying criminals but whose confessions came as a result of brutal interrogations? No regular court would accept the testimony. Should suspected masterminds of the 9/11 attacks and other terrible attacks be set free? That can't be the solution either. Obama is thus considering holding on to the military commissions with a couple of extra rights for the suspects. Bush light, so to speak."
"Obama is thus discrediting both himself and the US. It would be better were he to gather the necessary political courage to initiate criminal proceedings before regular courts. Legally, it will be incredibly complicated and possibly untenable in some cases. But the country cannot get around the purification process. Otherwise, the poison from the Bush era could continue to infect America's image for years to come."
The left-leaning daily Die Tageszeitung writes:
"The US government has asked Germany to accept former Guantanamo prisoners. Exactly the same government is apparently planning to continue the military commissions to try those prisoners. One could hardly be more contradictory."
"It is the same tactic that President Barack Obama has already used when it came to the torturers from the CIA -- punish with one hand, stroke with the other. Whenever he takes a step forward, he stumbles backwards as well. That will likely be enough to disappoint all those Europeans who had expectations that Obama would be an almost messiah-like healer. It was expected that he would demolish all of the ugly monuments from the Bush era and then, together with Al Gore, plant a Garden of Eden over the top, through which he would drive fuel-efficient compacts from Chrysler."
"And now: the US president is pursuing a policy of trying to make everyone happy. He is trying to accommodate the left side of the political spectrum as well as those on the right. All of a sudden, Barack Obama is beginning to look eerily similar to Chancellor Angela Merkel. He is no longer floating above the political lowlands, the swamps of compromise. He is walking directly through them and getting dirty in the process."
The Financial Times Deutschland comes to Obama's defense on Monday:
"Barack Obama promised Americans and the rest of the world he would follow a governmental strategy akin to pushing the reset button. The small red button US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently presented in Moscow works as a symbol for Obama's domestic reform agenda just as well as it does for his vision of US foreign and security policy: Bush is gone, in the future everything will be completely different."
"But even the Obama government thinks it is too dangerous to bring all (Guantanamo) cases before civilian courts and to get rid of the military commissions set up by the Bush administration. Bush called them into existence after Sept. 11, 2001 in order to imprison so-called 'enemy combatants' outside of the US legal system in Guantanamo, interrogate them and sentence them before special courts."
"Such a policy cannot be made to disappear with a reset button. Were those cases currently being looked into by military commissions to be transferred to civilian courts, a number of procedural riddles would have to be solved -- because some of the most important suspects in Guantanamo were tortured, their testimony and confessions would likely be thrown out. Any civilian trials would also be overshadowed by secrecy concerns."
"The risk that such a civilian trial would be used by mass murderers as a soap box, or even that they would be released for purely formal or procedural reasons, would be large. It is for these reasons that Obama wants to hold on to -- reformed -- military commissions. That will likely disappoint all those who expected him to embark on a radical change of course. But it speaks for his understanding of reality."
You Tube has once again proven itself to be a corporate gatekeeper working to destroy free speech and the alternative media after it suspended the pop
http://www.infowars.com/you-tube-in-egregious-censorship-of-alex-jones-channel/
You Tube has once again proven itself to be a corporate gatekeeper working to destroy free speech and the alternative media after it suspended the popular ‘Alex Jones Channel’ - primarily because Alex Jones showed a print out of a news article during a live show.
The Alex Jones Channel, started by a fan but since embraced as the “official” Alex Jones micro-site on You Tube, has routinely featured in the website’s most popular ranking charts and has collectively attracted millions of views for videos painstakingly catalogued and uploaded over the past two years.
Those videos are now completely gone after You Tube bosses deleted the channel, primarily because the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette complained that Alex Jones had shown a computer print out of one of their articles about the Poplawski cop killer incident last month.
To claim that showing a print out of an article is a violation of copyright is of course completely insane - not a day goes by without TV news anchors showing newspaper stories on live television. Indeed, C-Span’s popular Washington Journal program almost entirely consists of the host showing clippings of newspaper stories every morning.
The real reason for the deletion in undoubtedly the fact that Alex Jones has been on the forefront of exposing stories that have later become major national scandals, such as the MIAC report. Our coverage of the swine flu hoax has again propelled us to the top of the video ranking charts and this no doubt had You Tube’s corporate owners Google running scared. As we have previously documented - Google has intimate ties with the CIA and the military-industrial complex.
To counter such egregious censorship, we are encouraging everyone to subscribe to and bookmark the new Infowarrior channel and alert people to the fact that this will be the new home for Alex Jones on You Tube (at least until they invent a reason to pull that one too).
YouTube is engaged in a hunting expedition against Alex Jones and other truth tellers. Truth is no longer acceptable on the site as it transforms itself into a pale reflection of Hulu, a site owned and operated by NBC Universal (GE) and Fox Entertainment Group (News Corp), that is to say a joint venture by a corporation owned by a death merchant (GE manufactures attack helicopters and jet engines) and a disinformation platform owned by a notorious neocon, Rupert Murdoch.
In the Hulu-ized universe, there is no room for truth or alternative media — all channels will contain the same schlock and mindless pablum already available on cable and broadcast television.
YouTube, the emerging Hulu-ized version, has no use for Alex Jones and has specifically targeted him because his videos invariably draw a large (in the millions) number of people. His message is not welcome in a commercial space dominated by Wall Street bankers and the “entertainment” transnational corporations they own, operate, and use to disseminate their opiated propaganda.
YouTube is owned by Google, the mega-internet corporation that has as its motto “Don’t be evil.” Of course, for Google evil is a relative matter, especially when it comes to the corporation’s removal or omission of information from its services, especially in the totalitarian gulag of China.
Google is infamous for its politically motivated removal of information. In February 2003, Google stopped showing the adverts of Oceana, a non-profit organization protesting a major cruise ship operation’s sewage treatment practices. In October 2007, Google banned advertisements from Maine U.S. Senator Susan Collins’ reelection campaign because she criticized the Soros operation MoveOn.org. In April 2008, Google refused to run ads for a UK Christian group opposed to abortion.
In addition to taking down Alex Jones videos, YouTube has blocked videos produced by Wael Abbas, an activist who posted videos of police brutality, and the American Life League which is critical of Planned Parenthood.
YouTube has its agenda… and it fits in snugly with the agenda of the New World Order.
You Tube users vented their anger at the deletion of The Alex Jones Channel today. Watch clips below
You Tube has once again proven itself to be a corporate gatekeeper working to destroy free speech and the alternative media after it suspended the popular ‘Alex Jones Channel’ - primarily because Alex Jones showed a print out of a news article during a live show.
The Alex Jones Channel, started by a fan but since embraced as the “official” Alex Jones micro-site on You Tube, has routinely featured in the website’s most popular ranking charts and has collectively attracted millions of views for videos painstakingly catalogued and uploaded over the past two years.
Those videos are now completely gone after You Tube bosses deleted the channel, primarily because the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette complained that Alex Jones had shown a computer print out of one of their articles about the Poplawski cop killer incident last month.
To claim that showing a print out of an article is a violation of copyright is of course completely insane - not a day goes by without TV news anchors showing newspaper stories on live television. Indeed, C-Span’s popular Washington Journal program almost entirely consists of the host showing clippings of newspaper stories every morning.
The real reason for the deletion in undoubtedly the fact that Alex Jones has been on the forefront of exposing stories that have later become major national scandals, such as the MIAC report. Our coverage of the swine flu hoax has again propelled us to the top of the video ranking charts and this no doubt had You Tube’s corporate owners Google running scared. As we have previously documented - Google has intimate ties with the CIA and the military-industrial complex.
To counter such egregious censorship, we are encouraging everyone to subscribe to and bookmark the new Infowarrior channel and alert people to the fact that this will be the new home for Alex Jones on You Tube (at least until they invent a reason to pull that one too).
YouTube is engaged in a hunting expedition against Alex Jones and other truth tellers. Truth is no longer acceptable on the site as it transforms itself into a pale reflection of Hulu, a site owned and operated by NBC Universal (GE) and Fox Entertainment Group (News Corp), that is to say a joint venture by a corporation owned by a death merchant (GE manufactures attack helicopters and jet engines) and a disinformation platform owned by a notorious neocon, Rupert Murdoch.
In the Hulu-ized universe, there is no room for truth or alternative media — all channels will contain the same schlock and mindless pablum already available on cable and broadcast television.
YouTube, the emerging Hulu-ized version, has no use for Alex Jones and has specifically targeted him because his videos invariably draw a large (in the millions) number of people. His message is not welcome in a commercial space dominated by Wall Street bankers and the “entertainment” transnational corporations they own, operate, and use to disseminate their opiated propaganda.
YouTube is owned by Google, the mega-internet corporation that has as its motto “Don’t be evil.” Of course, for Google evil is a relative matter, especially when it comes to the corporation’s removal or omission of information from its services, especially in the totalitarian gulag of China.
Google is infamous for its politically motivated removal of information. In February 2003, Google stopped showing the adverts of Oceana, a non-profit organization protesting a major cruise ship operation’s sewage treatment practices. In October 2007, Google banned advertisements from Maine U.S. Senator Susan Collins’ reelection campaign because she criticized the Soros operation MoveOn.org. In April 2008, Google refused to run ads for a UK Christian group opposed to abortion.
In addition to taking down Alex Jones videos, YouTube has blocked videos produced by Wael Abbas, an activist who posted videos of police brutality, and the American Life League which is critical of Planned Parenthood.
YouTube has its agenda… and it fits in snugly with the agenda of the New World Order.
You Tube users vented their anger at the deletion of The Alex Jones Channel today. Watch clips below
Poll finds for first time, majority in Calif. support legal marijuana
http://rawstory.com/08/blog/2009/05/05/poll-finds-for-first-time-majority-in-calif-support-legal-marijuana/
A recent Field Research Corporation poll of Californians found, for the first time ever, a majority in the state support legalizing marijuana and taxing it similarly to alcohol.
The poll (PDF link), an “independent and non-partisan survey,” centered mostly on tax issues. Results were culled from the answers of 901 registered California voters, with a margin of error of +/- 3.4 percent.
“Three in four support increasing two so-called “sin taxes” - the state tobacco tax and the state alcohol tax. Majorities also endorse several other forms of sin taxes that are not currently taxes, including a special tax on the sale of pornography, which an overwhelming 80% support, and legalizing marijuana and taxing its proceeds, supported by 56%,” the poll found.
California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, of San Francisco, introduced legislation in February which would legalize marijuana for recreational use and tax its sale.
“With the state in the midst of an historic economic crisis, the move towards regulating and taxing marijuana is simply common sense,” Ammiano said. “This legislation would generate much needed revenue for the state, restrict access to only those over 21, end the environmental damage to our public lands from illicit crops, and improve public safety by redirecting law enforcement efforts to more serious crimes.”
He called the plant the state’s “leading cash crop” and said the tax could easily generate $1.5 billion in tax revenue the first year, if not more. Ammiano added that advocacy agencies have credibly placed the annual value of marijuana sales in California at or above $14 billion.
At a recent Q&A, President Barack Obama mocked a question regarding marijuana legalization as a strategy to grow the U.S. economy. However, in 2004, Obama spoke favorably of decriminalization.
Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) introduced a bill in late March which aims to establish a presidential commission to study prison reforms and drug criminalization and make recommendations to Congress after 18 months.
Senator Webb’s bill is backed by Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) and has reportedly received “quiet encouragement from President Barack Obama.”
A recent Field Research Corporation poll of Californians found, for the first time ever, a majority in the state support legalizing marijuana and taxing it similarly to alcohol.
The poll (PDF link), an “independent and non-partisan survey,” centered mostly on tax issues. Results were culled from the answers of 901 registered California voters, with a margin of error of +/- 3.4 percent.
“Three in four support increasing two so-called “sin taxes” - the state tobacco tax and the state alcohol tax. Majorities also endorse several other forms of sin taxes that are not currently taxes, including a special tax on the sale of pornography, which an overwhelming 80% support, and legalizing marijuana and taxing its proceeds, supported by 56%,” the poll found.
California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, of San Francisco, introduced legislation in February which would legalize marijuana for recreational use and tax its sale.
“With the state in the midst of an historic economic crisis, the move towards regulating and taxing marijuana is simply common sense,” Ammiano said. “This legislation would generate much needed revenue for the state, restrict access to only those over 21, end the environmental damage to our public lands from illicit crops, and improve public safety by redirecting law enforcement efforts to more serious crimes.”
He called the plant the state’s “leading cash crop” and said the tax could easily generate $1.5 billion in tax revenue the first year, if not more. Ammiano added that advocacy agencies have credibly placed the annual value of marijuana sales in California at or above $14 billion.
At a recent Q&A, President Barack Obama mocked a question regarding marijuana legalization as a strategy to grow the U.S. economy. However, in 2004, Obama spoke favorably of decriminalization.
Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) introduced a bill in late March which aims to establish a presidential commission to study prison reforms and drug criminalization and make recommendations to Congress after 18 months.
Senator Webb’s bill is backed by Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) and has reportedly received “quiet encouragement from President Barack Obama.”
U.S. House Democrats push war bill to $94.2 billion
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbss...431118520090504
By Jeremy Pelofsky
WASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Democrats on Monday proposed $94.2 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars as well as for foreign aid and pandemic flu, almost 12 percent more than President Barack Obama had sought.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey unveiled the measure that boosts economic aid for Pakistan, adds $2.2 billion to buy C-17 cargo planes from Boeing Co. (BA.N) and offers $400 million more to help Mexico fight drug traffickers.
The Pentagon had pressed Congress to quickly approve Obama's $84.3 billion request to fund operations through Sept. 30 because the U.S. military could soon run out of money for military operations as well as run out of aid for Pakistan.
The bill does not include $80 million Obama requested to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and review the status of some 230 detainees held as terrorism suspects because "there is yet no concrete program for that," Obey told reporters.
Republicans harshly criticized closing the facility as well as Obama's request.
The bill's rising price tag could alienate lawmakers, including some Democrats, worried about enormous budget deficits from a $787 billion economic stimulus plan and $410 omnibus spending package Congress approved earlier this year.
Under Obey's bill, Pakistan would receive $1 billion in economic aid, including $500 million he added despite his concerns about Obama's policy in the region. It also offers $400 million for building the counterinsurgency capabilities of Pakistan's security forces.
Yet Obey questioned whether Pakistan and Afghanistan are focused enough on their problems and can deal with them. He said his legislation would require the administration to submit a detailed progress report early next year which would help Congress decide whether to continue funding.
"I'm very doubtful the policy can succeed but it is clear that there is a consensus in the Congress to try it and so if we're going to try it, I want it to have the greatest possible ability to succeed," Obey said.
SHIFTING RESOURCES
Obama has sought to shift resources as the war in Iraq winds down to concentrate on countering growing radicalism in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where both governments are struggling against militant elements.
Obey said the bill, to be considered by his committee on Thursday, would also accelerate $555 million for Israel, $360 million for Egypt and provide $250 million for Jordan.
The legislation meets Obama's request for $665 million in assistance for the West Bank and Gaza Strip, he said. Plus, it adds $904 million to buy Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT.N) C-130 transport planes from Obama's 2010 budget request.
Representative John Murtha, chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee, backed down from efforts to include money for even more C-17 planes and add a plan to divide a $35 billion contract for aerial refueling tankers between Boeing and a team including Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N) and Europe's EADS (EAD.PA).
Separately, the legislation includes $2 billion to address pandemic flu, $500 million more than requested. The request follows the outbreak of the H1N1 swine flu that has spread to at least 20 countries. (Additional reporting by Richard Cowan.) (Editing by Alan Elsner)
__________________
By Jeremy Pelofsky
WASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Democrats on Monday proposed $94.2 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars as well as for foreign aid and pandemic flu, almost 12 percent more than President Barack Obama had sought.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey unveiled the measure that boosts economic aid for Pakistan, adds $2.2 billion to buy C-17 cargo planes from Boeing Co. (BA.N) and offers $400 million more to help Mexico fight drug traffickers.
The Pentagon had pressed Congress to quickly approve Obama's $84.3 billion request to fund operations through Sept. 30 because the U.S. military could soon run out of money for military operations as well as run out of aid for Pakistan.
The bill does not include $80 million Obama requested to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and review the status of some 230 detainees held as terrorism suspects because "there is yet no concrete program for that," Obey told reporters.
Republicans harshly criticized closing the facility as well as Obama's request.
The bill's rising price tag could alienate lawmakers, including some Democrats, worried about enormous budget deficits from a $787 billion economic stimulus plan and $410 omnibus spending package Congress approved earlier this year.
Under Obey's bill, Pakistan would receive $1 billion in economic aid, including $500 million he added despite his concerns about Obama's policy in the region. It also offers $400 million for building the counterinsurgency capabilities of Pakistan's security forces.
Yet Obey questioned whether Pakistan and Afghanistan are focused enough on their problems and can deal with them. He said his legislation would require the administration to submit a detailed progress report early next year which would help Congress decide whether to continue funding.
"I'm very doubtful the policy can succeed but it is clear that there is a consensus in the Congress to try it and so if we're going to try it, I want it to have the greatest possible ability to succeed," Obey said.
SHIFTING RESOURCES
Obama has sought to shift resources as the war in Iraq winds down to concentrate on countering growing radicalism in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where both governments are struggling against militant elements.
Obey said the bill, to be considered by his committee on Thursday, would also accelerate $555 million for Israel, $360 million for Egypt and provide $250 million for Jordan.
The legislation meets Obama's request for $665 million in assistance for the West Bank and Gaza Strip, he said. Plus, it adds $904 million to buy Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT.N) C-130 transport planes from Obama's 2010 budget request.
Representative John Murtha, chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee, backed down from efforts to include money for even more C-17 planes and add a plan to divide a $35 billion contract for aerial refueling tankers between Boeing and a team including Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N) and Europe's EADS (EAD.PA).
Separately, the legislation includes $2 billion to address pandemic flu, $500 million more than requested. The request follows the outbreak of the H1N1 swine flu that has spread to at least 20 countries. (Additional reporting by Richard Cowan.) (Editing by Alan Elsner)
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