Sunday, March 06, 2011
U.K. Seizes Ship Carrying $160M of Libyan Currency
A ship carrying about $160 million worth of Libyan currency has been impounded after turning back from a planned trip to Libya, a British government official said Friday.
The official said the ship — whose nationality and ownership she refused to identify — returned to Britain after its captain decided not to dock at Tripoli harbor because of the unrest there. The vessel returned to the port of Harwich in eastern England on Wednesday under escort by a Border Agency cutter, she said.financial casaulties."
A number of containers full of currency were moved from the ship to a secure location.
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The official said the ship — whose nationality and ownership she refused to identify — returned to Britain after its captain decided not to dock at Tripoli harbor because of the unrest there. The vessel returned to the port of Harwich in eastern England on Wednesday under escort by a Border Agency cutter, she said.financial casaulties."
A number of containers full of currency were moved from the ship to a secure location.
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Immigration and Drug Violence issues… Spawn Newest DHS Road Checkpoint Initiative in Texas
We have WON every time they have attempted this in Texas. The TX and US Supreme CT has ruled the practice of road checkpoints unconstitutional, but that hasn’t stopped the Locals and the Feds from trying over, and over, and over again. From DUI checkpoints, to immigration, to drug trafficking, and now “unlicensed” drivers… The well is deep and long. (Personally I have not had a license for 12 years, and have not had an accident in 25)
This “Hegelian” con job to convince the people that they need this kind of protection is so weak, that Texans have rejected it again and again…. Of course this hasn’t detoured the State and local police from setting up “Virtual Checkpoints”, meaning that they simply hide and lay in wait for anything “suspicious” (key word here is “anything”) and use any excuse to pounce on “law abiding” citizens; whom are all considered guilty until proven innocent. Proving One’s self “innocent” is very expensive BTW… (Unless you are the powerful beneficiary of the notorious arbitrary and selective, political nature of laws in general)'
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Elderly Gadfly Faces Prison for Handing Out Political Pamphlets
Julian P. Heicklen is a 78-year-old retired Pennsylvania State University chemistry professor with an unusual hobby: For years the ardent libertarian activist has regularly stood outside the federal courthouse at 500 Pearl Street to spread the word about jury nullification, a controversial concept that encourages jurors to disregard any law they disagree with. The government doesn't want you to know about it, and now federal prosecutors are making an example of Heicklen, who's been arrested many times for distributing his fliers about the issue.'
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TSA, DHS Plan Massive Rollout of Mobile Surveillance Vans With Long-Distance X-ray Capability, Eye Movement Tracking and More
Newly-released documents obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) reveal that the US Depart of Homeland Security has been working on plans to roll out a new wave of mobile surveillance technologies at train stations, stadiums and streets. These new technologies will track your eye movements, capture and record your facial dimensions for face-recognition processing, bathe you in X-rays to look under your clothes, and even image your naked body using whole-body infrared images that were banned from consumer video cameras because they allowed the camera owners to take "nude" videos of people at the beach.
Most importantly, many of these technologies are designed to be completely hidden, allowing the government to implement "covert inspection of moving subjects." You could be walking down a hallway at a sports stadium, in other words, never knowing that you're being bathed in X-rays from the Department of Homeland Security, whose operators are covertly looking under your clothes to see if you're carrying any weapons.
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Second National day of Rage in Iraq. Western Media: Deaf, Dumb and Blind
The second day of “National Rage” in Iraq produced again big demonstrations in all major cities in Iraq. The relevance of these protest movements cannot be underestimated. These protest are nationwide, not sectarian. The Iraqi youth, main instigators of this movement, are challenging the sectarian Iraqi Quisling government and counter American and Iranian plans for the country: no partitioning of Iraq, but electricity, jobs, clean water, free healthcare and education. No to corruption, no to summary executions and death squads. No to state-sponsored terror. These Iraqi demonstrators want a unified Iraq and want the money of their oil being used for public services. I’ve been following the events today with great admiration and hope, hope for change, hope that the Iraqi people can reverse - as one nation - the deadly spiral of ethnic cleansing, sectarianism, despair and the culture of death, imported by the US horsemen of the apocalypse.
Underneath are a reflection from an Iraqi activist: Asma Al Haidari and an account of our Spanish friends from SCOSI (Spanish Campaign against the Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq).
Once again the Western media are strikingly absent, probably following instructions from His Master’s Voice.'
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Britain Cherry-Picks Which War Criminals to Prosecute and Where to Impose No-fly Zones
After maintaining a deafening silence about Israel's atrocities against civilians, Britain suddenly wants a "day of reckoning" for war criminals – as long as they are Libyan.
While protestors' attempts to oust Gaddafi and his scum continued, the UK's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Peter Gooderham, called on the UN Human Rights Council Special Session on Libya to take whatever steps were necessary "to ensure that those responsible for the awful human rights violations that are currently occurring in Libya are held to account".'
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Libya: SAS Soldiers 'Held by Libyan Rebels'
Up to eight soldiers were captured as they escorted a junior British diplomat through rebel-held territory in the east of the country, the Sunday Times said.
Spokesmen for both the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office would neither confirm nor deny the report.
According to the newspaper, the SAS soldiers were taken by rebels to Benghazi, the largest city held by the opposition, where they were detained.
It is said the diplomat had intended to contact Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's opponents ahead of a visit by a senior colleague to establish diplomatic relations with the rebels.
But the SAS intervention is thought to have angered Libyan opposition figures.'
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Egyptians Marching to Gaza Border
Hundreds of Egyptians are marching to the country's border with the Gaza Strip to demand that it be opened. They are currently in Al Arish, about 50 kilometers from Rafah.
Press TV correspondent Roshan Muhammed Salih is also in Al Arish, where he spoke to several of the Egyptian activists, who told him they plan to hold a demonstration on the border on Sunday, with the aim of entering the besieged territory.
Egypt has imposed a blockade on Gaza since the democratically elected Hamas government took control of the territory in 2007. Gaza is also blockaded by Israel -- a situation that international agencies and non-governmental groups say has led to a humanitarian crisis.'
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Saudi Arabia and the Arab Revolutions
Some 132 Saudi intellectuals, scholars and professors at the kingdom's universities have written a letter to the Saudi king, urging change in the ruling system of the House of Saud's regime.
In the letter, which has been published on credible websites, Saudi elites have accused the regime of crackdown on people, restricting freedom, censorship and plundering the people's wealth.
They have asked the monarch to establish a type of constitutional monarchy through implementing political reforms.'
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Obama Agrees on Further Budget Cuts
US President Barack Obama has decided to make further budget cuts as long as Congress compromises on a budget deal that would end the threat of a government shutdown.
“The US can't do business two weeks at a time. It's not responsible, and it threatens the progress our economy has been making,” Wall Street Journal quoted Obama in his weekly radio and Internet address on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the 50-billion-dollar cut offered by the White House and Democrats falls short of the 62-billion-dollar one suggested by the Republicans.
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Bahraini Protesters Form Human Chain
Thousands of demonstrators form an enormous 'human chain' around the capital Manama as protests continue against the rule of the monarchy.
Protesters joined hands to encircle the capital as the nation enters its third week of protests, The Daily Express reported.
No police presence was reported during the peaceful demonstration. Organizers reported that some of the Sunnis, which constitute a minority in Bahrain, joined Saturday's event.'
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Earth to See Sixth Mass Extinction?
The Earth could be on the verge of the sixth mass extinction, which means many animal species might disappear within the next 300 years, a new study finds.
According to a study to be published in the journal Nature, human action is mostly to blame for the mass extinction, which researchers say will affect all organism on earth.
A mass extinction is referred to the loss of more than 75 percent of the Earth's species in a relatively short period of time.'
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Friday, March 04, 2011
Big Brother is DEFINITELY Watching You: Shocking Study Reveals UK Has One CCTV for Every 32 People
It’s an astonishing statistic that is sure to send a chills down the spines of freedom campaigners.
A huge study has revealed that in Big Brother Britain there is an incredible one CCTV camera for every 32 citizens.
The revelation that 1.85 million cameras are watching our every move confirms the shocking extent of surveillance in 21st century Britain.
Coming a day after it emerged tiny drones could be used to spy on Britons, the new CCTV study is sure to bolster fears that we are nearing a Big Brother state.'
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Adolf Hitler -- Agent of Zionism and Freemasonry
On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of the German Reich. When he assumed power, he was surrounded by four paramount advisers and their financial sponsors.
Behind him was Henry Ford; beside him Hjalmar Schacht and Rabbi Leo Baeck, and ahead of him, Franz von Papen. An interesting picture appears when one takes a closer look at these four advisers.'
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Agent: I Was Ordered to Let U.S. Guns Into Mexico
Federal agent John Dodson says what he was asked to do was beyond belief.
He was intentionally letting guns go to Mexico?
"Yes ma'am," Dodson told CBS News. "The agency was."
An Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms senior agent assigned to the Phoenix office in 2010, Dodson's job is to stop gun trafficking across the border. Instead, he says he was ordered to sit by and watch it happen.
Investigators call the tactic letting guns "walk." In this case, walking into the hands of criminals who would use them in Mexico and the United States.'
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More Blood for Oil? Libya and the UK
Amid the talk in Washington and London of military intervention in Libya, Tim Coles considers how the Anglo-American portrayal of Mu'ammar Gaddafi changed from bogeyman to friend when it became apparent that he would grant oil contracts to various Western companies.'
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IRS-The Biggest Lie and Scam in World History
Here it is in a nutshell. The IRS is a private, debt collection agency for the private banking system known as the Federal Reserve Bank. The IRS is not a government agency. I repeat, the IRS is not a government agency. Never has been, never will be.
The IRS is formerly the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) situated in and with authority only in the Philippine Islands (Trust Fund # 61), and moved into Puerto Rico (Trust Fund # 62). In the 1950’s, with the stroke of the pen, the BIR was transformed into the current notorious IRS and brought onto the 50 united States. This was done without any Congressional authority whatsoever. There is no Congressional authority for the IRS to exist and operate in the 50 states recorded anywhere in any law-books. Again, keep in mind, that the IRS is the “Private, debt collection agency for the private banking system known as the Federal Reserve Banks”.
Consider this fact. When an IRS agent wants to seize property from a Citizen in a County, they must first contact the Sheriff of the County and request assistance in the seizure. This is simply because the IRS agent has no authority to seize any property at all. So the IRS agent bamboozles the Sheriff into committing the crime for the IRS. When the Sheriff seizes property from a Citizen under the non-authority of the IRS agent, the Sheriff has committed a Second Degree Felony, Conversion of Property.'
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The IRS is formerly the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) situated in and with authority only in the Philippine Islands (Trust Fund # 61), and moved into Puerto Rico (Trust Fund # 62). In the 1950’s, with the stroke of the pen, the BIR was transformed into the current notorious IRS and brought onto the 50 united States. This was done without any Congressional authority whatsoever. There is no Congressional authority for the IRS to exist and operate in the 50 states recorded anywhere in any law-books. Again, keep in mind, that the IRS is the “Private, debt collection agency for the private banking system known as the Federal Reserve Banks”.
Consider this fact. When an IRS agent wants to seize property from a Citizen in a County, they must first contact the Sheriff of the County and request assistance in the seizure. This is simply because the IRS agent has no authority to seize any property at all. So the IRS agent bamboozles the Sheriff into committing the crime for the IRS. When the Sheriff seizes property from a Citizen under the non-authority of the IRS agent, the Sheriff has committed a Second Degree Felony, Conversion of Property.'
Read more...
Obama Declares State Governors Will Enforce Health Care Bill Whether They Like It or Not
At a recent meeting with US state governors in Washington, DC, President Obama made clear his intent to force the individual states to comply with his unconstitutional health care overhaul. Twenty-six states have already filed federal lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the bill -- and some judges have already declared it to be null and void -- prior to the announcement.
Clearly overstepping his constitutional bounds, Obama chided states for even questioning the bill, despite the fact that it will likely plunge every one of them into irreparable bankruptcy. He also declared a refusal to allow states to "weaken" the bill in any way, even though two federal judges have already ruled it to be unconstitutional.'
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The Hidden Tyranny: Children Diagnosed and Drugged for Profit
Not everyone has fallen for the grand hoax: 20 million kids worldwide diagnosed with mental disorders, necessitating psychiatric drugs for years or life. Some individuals are speaking out. Yet so many parents, kids and schools have fallen prey to one of the most insidious yet most profitable misinformation campaigns of modern society.
Kids who fidget, get distracted or bored easily, talk too much (or too little), defy rules, are not as obedient as some adults may like or have mood swings, are liable to be tagged with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Avoidant Personality Disorder or other such ills. In short, what used to be known as typical child and adolescent behavior has been redefined as mental illness.'
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'Liberation' : Beware the Ides of March. (Part One.)
2nd March, marked the twentieth anniversary the mass murder thousands of Iraqis by the US 24th Mechanised Infantry Division, two days after the ceasefire, a final murderous act in the forty two day carpet bombing of Iraq. It also began the continuation of the silent decimation of a nation and people through a United Nations flagged siege of historic severity. Denied were food, medications, medical and dialysis equipment, scanners and X-ray machines and all supplies needed to rebuild a country now reduced to "a pre-indistrial age.".
It also denotes planning of the illegal bombings for the following thirteen years, then the destruction of Iraq, starting on 20th March 2003; the murder of a legitimate government - and final destruction of civil society, previously denied even life support. Indeed, even oxygen cylinders were embargoed.
Millions of words have been written of the war crimes committed in Operation Desert Storm. The burying alive by US troops of young Iraqi conscripts in the desert, the Basra Road massacre, the deliberate destruction of t water purification plants, electricity, schools, hospitals, food stores, factories, farms and broadly fifty to seventy five percent percent of all livestock, from chickens to buffalo. Not enough, however has been written about the crime which makes even these, with the genocidal, possibly over three million dead, from 1991 to now, pale. The destruction of the gene pool in generation after generation, the mutilation of future generations until a time unknown.'
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Israel to Sue Bedouin Residents of Demolished Village for Demolition Costs
Israel’s State Attorney’s Office is currently preparing a legal petition for more than NIS 1 million against the residents of El Araqib, a Bedouin village in the Negev Desert under increasing attack.
The State’s Attorney’s Office is demanding that residents cover the costs incurred to evict them and demolish their village, which to date Israel has done 18 times.'
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American Murder in Pakistan
"The lies began at the very top, with the president’s own words." The President of the United States went before the American people – and the world – lied about a U.S. spy held for killing two Pakistanis, and blatantly misrepresented the laws governing diplomatic immunity. U.S. corporate media knew the "diplomat" was really a spy, but misled their readers. If respect starts with the truth, then the U.S. and its corporate media have no respect for the community of nations or its own citizens.'
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Israeli Bombs Spread Cancer in Gaza
The number of cancer patients has been climbing in Gaza due to the use of depleted uranium by the Israeli military during its onslaught on the impoverished enclave two years ago, medical sources say.
After the war, cancer cases have reportedly increased by about 30 percent in Gaza, Press TV correspondent reported on Thursday.
“We have seen a sharp increase in blood cancer and other types of the diseases. Many patients come from the areas that were attacked by Israeli fighter jets using banned chemical weapons,” Oncologist Mohammed Atteya said.'
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US Soldier Sentenced to Only 60 Days Hard Labour for Sport Killing
An American soldier charged with killing Afghan civilians and mutilating their corpses has been sentenced to 60 days hard labor.
A US military judge has found Specialist Corey Moore, 22, guilty of serious misconduct -- including mutilating the corpse of a dead Afghan civilian, AFP reported.
He was also found guilty of smoking hashish and assaulting another soldier, Adam Winfield, who blew the whistle on the activities of the so-called “kill team".'
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Marines Join Libyan Opposition
A marine training group says it is joining the opposition in Libya's eastern port city of Tobruk, located more than 1,200 kilometers east of Tripoli.
"We offer condolences to the families of our martyrs, the martyrs of our beloved Libya. We announce we are joining the February 17 youth revolution. God is the greatest! Long live free Libya," Reuters quoted Colonel Abdel Nasser Ibrahim Al Senousi as saying on Wednesday.
Gaddafi has lost control over large parts of Libya during the past two weeks, as opposition forces continue to approach the Libyan capital.'
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Ohio Senate Restricts Workers' Rights
Republican-controlled state Senate in the US State of Ohio has followed northern State of Wisconsin in passing a controversial legislation that restricts collective bargaining rights by public workers unions.
The Ohio bill was approved on Wednesday in a vote of 17 to 16, with six Republicans joining Democrats in opposing the measure.
"I've been saying for weeks that we have the votes to pass this bill. It reflects the diverse interests that our members have around the state of Ohio," CNN quoted Senate President Tom Niehaus as saying.'
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Friday Protests Set to Jolt Arab World
People in North African and Middle Eastern countries are set to join massive “Day of Rage” protest rallies planned Friday against their unpopular regimes.
Demonstrations are to take place in Tunisia and Egypt, where popular revolutions have already toppled the decades-long autocratic rule of their Western-backed dictators, setting off a whole host of anti-government protest movements in a number of other Arab countries.
Forces against Libya's ruler Muammar Gaddafi have also called for protest rallies in the capital Tripoli. The 42-year-long regime of the Libyan dictator has fiercely opposed the uprising that began February 15, reportedly killing thousands of the anti-government demonstrators so far.'
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Thursday, March 03, 2011
Roadblocks Set Up to Catch Drivers Smoking
Council wardens and Essex Police will carry out random inspections across the county to look for evidence of illicit cigarette use.
They will even hunt for cigarette butts in the ashtrays and smell the air inside the vehicles in order to clamp down on the outlawed practice.
Workers were banned from smoking in their company cars as part of the Health Act introduced in 2006.'
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Credit Card Borrower Tortured by Lender, Says Judge
The MBNA bank has been accused by a High Court judge of "torturing" a customer with repeated phone calls demanding he repay his credit card.
Keith Harrison had his debt of £20,270 written off by the judge, Nicholas Chambers QC, at Mold in North Wales.
The judge said MBNA had failed to give Mr Harrison the terms and conditions for the card, when he took it out.'
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Robert F. Kennedy's Assassin 'Was a Real-Life Manchurian Candidate'
In June 1968, Sirhan Sirhan shot Kennedy dead in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, moments after he had clinched victory in the California Democratic primary for that year's presidential election.
Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian, cried "I did it for my country" when arrested. He kept diaries detailing his hatred of Kennedy for promising military support for Israel, a year after the region's Six-Day War.
Yet Sirhan's lawyer claims he was programmed to shoot the politician while under hypnosis.'
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Revealed: The Spy Masters at the LSE with Links to the Gaddafi Regime
Click picture to enlarge
As well as Sir Mark Allen, former head of MI6’s Middle East desk, there are two ex-chairmen and one former member of the Joint Intelligence Committee – the top-secret Cabinet Office body which coordinates all national security assessment for ministers.
Gordon Barrass, visiting professor at the centre – known as LSE Ideas – was a member of the JIC in the last years of the Cold War and is a Soviet expert. Sir Colin Budd was chairman of the JIC in 1996-97. And between 2005 and 2007 Sir Richard Mottram was Cabinet Office permanent secretary for intelligence, security and resilience, and chairman of the JIC.'
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Cayenne Pepper Stops a Heart Attack Instantly
Got heart trouble? Having a heart attack? Try Cayenne pepper. It will stop a heart attack in its tracks. Cayenne pepper is a very powerful vasodilator . It works faster than aspirin and has no side effects. Sprinkle a capsule worth in your Green tea. Use a tea spoon in hot water and drink it down in case of chest pain and oncoming heart attack.'
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Drones Set to Invade National, State Parks
When I was a kid going to summer camp in New York’s Adirondack Mountains, I counted myself lucky if I saw a black bear once or twice in a season. But campers may soon be able to regularly see something bigger and badder when climbing the High Peaks: Reaper drones flown by the New York Air National Guard’s 174th Fighter Wing based in Syracuse, New York.
And drones aren’t just buzzing over the Adirondacks. The proposal to begin training missions there is part of a bigger push to build a drone infrastructure for flying missions throughout the United States. So new drone bases are being built. The FAA is setting aside airspace for drone flights. And you can even get an accredited college degree in roboplane repair or operations.'
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How the Rich Soaked the Rest of Us
Over the last half century, the richest Americans have shifted the burden of the federal individual income tax off themselves and onto everybody else. The three convenient and accurate Wikipedia graphs below show the details. The first graph compares the official tax rates paid by the top and bottom income earners. Note especially that from the end of the second world war into the early 1960s, the highest income earners paid a tax rate over 90% for many years. Today, the top earners pay a rate of only 35%. Note also how the gap between the rates paid by the richest and the poorest has narrowed. If we take into account the many loopholes the rich can and do use far more than the poor, the gap narrows even more.
One conclusion is clear and obvious: the richest Americans have dramatically lowered their income tax burden since 1945, both absolutely and relative to the tax burdens of the middle income groups and the poor.'
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Docs Reveal TSA Plan To Body-Scan Pedestrians, Train Passengers
Giving Transportation Security Administration agents a peek under your clothes may soon be a practice that goes well beyond airport checkpoints. Newly uncovered documents show that as early as 2006, the Department of Homeland Security has been planning pilot programs to deploy mobile scanning units that can be set up at public events and in train stations, along with mobile x-ray vans capable of scanning pedestrians on city streets.'
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Mossad Sex Ring?
Does Mossad run pedophile rings? Virginia Roberts worked for Jeffrey Epstein. She has stated that when she was aged 15 “She was ‘given’ to men ranging in age from their 40s to their 60s.'
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8000 IUs of Vitamin D Daily Necessary to Raise Blood Levels of 'Miracle' anti-Cancer Nutrient, Declares Groundbreaking New Research
The reign of censorship and suppression against vitamin D is now coming to an end. Even though the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and many institutions leading the cancer industry (including the ACS) have intentionally tried to downplay the ability of vitamin D to prevent cancer, a new study appearing in the journal Anticancer Research lays out the simple, powerful truth about vitamin D that we've been teaching at NaturalNews for years: A typical adults needs 4,000 - 8,000 IUs of vitamin D each day to prevent cancer, MS and type-1 diabetes, not the ridiculously low 400 - 800 IUs recommended by the U.S. government.'
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TSA Criminality Epidemic: 'Behavioral Detection' Officer Faces Charges Of Helping Drug Dealers Through Security
Yet another TSA officer has been arrested on suspicion of abusing her position and engaging in illegal activity, adding to a long history of cases indicating that TSA workers are prone to criminal behavior.
“Behavioral detection” officer Minnetta Walker was arrested Tuesday by federal agents at Buffalo Niagara International Airport on charges that she provided information to suspected drug traffickers and helped them get past security checkpoints with minimum scrutiny, reports The Buffalo News.
Investigators say that Walker helped traffickers move large amounts of cash through the airport, escorting them through security lines, directing them away from the naked body scanners and patdown security lines, and ensuring their luggage bypassed screening areas.'
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The World Cheers as the CIA Plunges Libya Into Chaos
How was Libya doing under the rule of Gadaffi? How bad did the people have it? Were they oppressed as we now commonly accept as fact? Let us look at the facts for a moment.
Before the chaos erupted, Libya had a lower incarceration rate than the Czech republic. It ranked 61st. Libya had the lowest infant mortality rate of all of Africa. Libya had the highest life expectancy of all of Africa. Less than 5% of the population was undernourished. In response to the rising food prices around the world, the government of Libya abolished ALL taxes on food.
People in Libya were rich. Libya had the highest gross domestic product (GDP) at purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita of all of Africa. The government took care to ensure that everyone in the country shared in the wealth. Libya had the highest Human Development Index of any country on the continent. The wealth was distributed equally. In Libya, a lower percentage of people lived below the poverty line than in the Netherlands.
How does Libya get so rich? The answer is oil. The country has a lot of oil, and does not allow foreign corporations to steal the resources while the population starves, unlike countries like Nigeria, a country that is basically run by Shell.'
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Before the chaos erupted, Libya had a lower incarceration rate than the Czech republic. It ranked 61st. Libya had the lowest infant mortality rate of all of Africa. Libya had the highest life expectancy of all of Africa. Less than 5% of the population was undernourished. In response to the rising food prices around the world, the government of Libya abolished ALL taxes on food.
People in Libya were rich. Libya had the highest gross domestic product (GDP) at purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita of all of Africa. The government took care to ensure that everyone in the country shared in the wealth. Libya had the highest Human Development Index of any country on the continent. The wealth was distributed equally. In Libya, a lower percentage of people lived below the poverty line than in the Netherlands.
How does Libya get so rich? The answer is oil. The country has a lot of oil, and does not allow foreign corporations to steal the resources while the population starves, unlike countries like Nigeria, a country that is basically run by Shell.'
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US Students Face Jail Time for Disrupting Israeli Official's Speech
Eleven University of California students face criminal charges and possible jail terms for protesting and disrupting a speech by an Israeli official as the Orange County district attorney's office engages in what one of the students' attorneys calls "selective and discriminatory prosecution"
In a University of California at Irvine auditorium on 8 February 2010, ten student activists nonviolently confronted Michael Oren, Israeli Ambassador to the United States, with prepared statements of protest. They stood up and challenged Oren's defense of Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip in winter 2008-09 -- during which more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed -- and the state's ongoing human rights violations.
"Propagating murder is not an expression of free speech," shouted one student before he was escorted out of the room. "You, sir, are an accomplice to genocide," another stood up and stated before he, too, was led away by police.'
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Washington’s Cynical Campaign to Keep Aristide in South Africa
With unbounded hypocrisy, the United States shrieks "democracy!" at the world while denying Haitians every political right of citizenship in their own land. Having deposed and kidnapped the popularly elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in 2004, the U.S. now pretends not to be the main party standing in the way of his return from South African exile. But, "if South Africa gave its blessing to an Aristide flight to Haiti, the U.S. would then be forced to abandon the charade and give Aristide a yes or a no, in its own voice".'
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Israel Provides Henchmen for Gaddafi
Israeli arms distribution company Global CST has reportedly, under the authorization of Tel Aviv, provided Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi with African mercenaries to clamp down on anti-government protesters.
Egyptian sources have revealed that the Israeli company has so far provided Gaddafi's regime with 50,000 African mercenaries to attack the civilian anti-government protesters in Libya.
The arms company was previously convicted in an African country over illegal deals, News-Israel website reported.'
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Palestinians Slam 'Holocaust Lessons'
Palestinians have strongly condemned a UN plan to teach the "Holocaust subject” as part of its human rights curriculum to Palestinian students in UN-run schools in Gaza.
Hamas said on Wednesday that it would do everything in its power to prevent children from being taught about the Holocaust in schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), a Press TV correspondent reported from Gaza.'
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Oman Uses Tanks to Disperse Protesters
Army deployed armored vehicles and tanks at the Earth Square on Tuesday, where protesters had used trucks to cut off the port, Oman's second largest, from nearby aluminum and petrochemical factories, the army said in a report.
The report said that the army forces succeeded in driving away the protesters and the operation ended peacefully.
Omani protesters are demanding political reforms, jobs and salary increases as well as trial of ministers accused of corruption in the Persian Gulf sultanate which lies on the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a busy oil-shipping route.'
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'US Protest Likened to Egypt Uprising'
Professor of Middle East History Heidi Morrison says the heavily-censored protests in Madison against the new legislation resemble the recent uprising in Egypt, Middle East Online reported on Monday.
Protests against a bill, which takes away union members' bargaining power against state and local governments over wages and benefits, have entered their third week as protesters have vowed to occupy the state capital until their demands are met.
The protest is an effort against Republican Governor Scott Walker's latest measures to reduce employee pay and undermine unions in the state.'
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Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Aussies Ready to Roll Out Deep Penetrating Radiation Scanners at Airports
The next generation of body scanners to be rolled out in airports will literally be able to see inside the human body, as security personnel gear up to trial machines that use deep penetrating radiation, the same kind hospitals use to examine internal organs and bones.
Australian airports are set to begin using the devices should legislation before Federal Parliament be passed, enabling customs officers to use technology previously only operated by doctors in controlled conditions.
The justification for the technology is to crack down on suspected drug smugglers who swallow illegal substances to evade airport security. However, the notion of placing the technology along airport security lines paves the way for its general use, particularly in light of the recent security theatre explosion we have seen in airports over the last eighteen months.'
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In Less Than 90 days, You Will be 'REQUIRED" by Federal Law to Carry a 'National ID' Card
Even though no one on Capitol Hill is talking about it, unless it is stopped, the provisions of The Real ID Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-13, 119 Stat 392), through the Department of Homeland Security, will require the federalization of State-issued driver's licenses by May 11, 2011.
This is the type of card the Nazi's and the communists in the Soviet Union made people carry.
The new cards, disguised as a uniform drivers' license, will be biometric. Each card will store up to a gigabyte of personal data about the card holder AND will contain a GPS tracking chip---so that means the government will know where you are at all times.
No one is talking about this... and certainly, this is something the Obama administration would like to keep quiet.'
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Police Defy Order to Clear Protesters from Wisconsin Capital
On Monday afternoon, the Capitol Police in Madison, Wisconsin refused to enforce an order to clear the Capitol building of hundreds of peaceful protesters who have been occupying the site to protest Governor Scott Walker’s plan to eliminate the collective bargaining rights of public employees.
Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! interviews State Rep. Kelda Helen Roys (D), who spent Sunday night in the Capitol building with other protesters. Roys describes what happened at four o’clock on Monday afternoon when the government gave the order to clear the protesters from the building:
And after several hours of the same sorts of scenes that we’ve been seeing all week—singing, chanting, drumming, speechifying—the Capitol police captain, Chief Tubbs, made an announcement, and he said that the protesters that had remained in the building, they were being orderly and responsible and peaceful and there was no reason to eject them from the Capitol.'
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Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! interviews State Rep. Kelda Helen Roys (D), who spent Sunday night in the Capitol building with other protesters. Roys describes what happened at four o’clock on Monday afternoon when the government gave the order to clear the protesters from the building:
And after several hours of the same sorts of scenes that we’ve been seeing all week—singing, chanting, drumming, speechifying—the Capitol police captain, Chief Tubbs, made an announcement, and he said that the protesters that had remained in the building, they were being orderly and responsible and peaceful and there was no reason to eject them from the Capitol.'
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Libya No-Fly Zone Would Require Bombing Raids: US
Enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya would first require bombing the north African nation's air defense systems, top US commander General James Mattis warned Tuesday.
A no-fly zone would require removing "the air defense capability first," Mattis, the head of Central Command, told a Senate hearing.
"It would be a military operation," the general said.'
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Pentagon Tries to Blame Financial Crisis on Foreign Financial Terrorists
The Pentagon is paying contractors to claim that it was foreign financial terrorists - instead of fraud by American financial executives - which caused the 2008 financial crisis.
While a Pentagon contractor said, “This is the equivalent of box cutters on an airplane,” Paul Backen - a Yale University professor who has studied economic warfare - said he saw “no convincing evidence that ‘outside forces’ colluded to bring about the 2008 crisis.”
Indeed, the claim that terrorism caused the financial crisis is about as believable as Gaddafi trying to blame the Libyan protests on Osama Bin Laden, or al-Maliki blaming Al Qaeda for the Iraqi protests.
But it's not an isolated incident. In fact, the government is trying in many ways to convince us that financial fraud is isolated, not systemic, and - most of all - not important to rein in.'
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Airstrikes in Libya Did Not Take Place - Russian Military
As bad as Gaddafi is, it seems the U.S., by pushing out talking memos of false intel to the controlled AIPAC/Gates U.S. media, is trying to demonize Gaddafi along the same lines as the false incubator baby PR scam imposed on Saddam to foment hatred and justification for a U.S. led invasion of Iraq.
MI6 'Drew Up Plan to Crush Hamas'
In an effort to restore peace during the Second Palestinian Intifada against Israel, MI6 drew up a strategy in 2004 to help Yasser Arafat's security forces neutralise "rejectionists" opposed to a Middle East peace deal.
Two strategy papers recommended "the detention of key middle-ranking officers" from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Al Aqsa Brigades, groups that had mounted a campaign of suicide bombings and rocket attacks against Israel.
"We could also explore the temporary internment of leading Hamas and PIJ figures, making sure they are well treated," the author of one of the documents writes.'
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Congressman Wu's Bizarre Behavior Due to Psychiatric Drugs?
In a tale that many mainstream media outlets are attempting to use as a political smear campaign, the story of US Rep. David Wu's severe negative reaction to a common psychiatric drug speaks more about the dangers of pharmaceutical drugs than it does partisan politics. According to reports, Wu was hospitalized in 2008 for severe reactions to an unnamed psychiatric drug which caused him to display erratic and strange behavior, including the sending of personal photos of himself in a tiger costume to his staffers.
Though Wu denies that the photo incident -- which took place two years after his hospitalization in 2008 -- is directly connected to the psychiatric drug, such behavior suggests at least a possible connection. Other odd behavioral events include excessive bouts of severe anger, demonstrations of impatience for no apparent reason, and even episodes where Wu disappeared and nobody was able to find him.'
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Defense Dept. Commissions 'Cheetah' Robot and Terminator-like Droid; Hhummingbird Drone Also in Works
'A Massachusetts engineering firm known for creating futuristic military robots has received multimillion dollar contracts to develop two more battlefield bots for the Department of Defense.
Boston Dynamics, which in 2008 unveiled a four-legged robot called BigDog, has been tapped by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the research and development arm of the DOD, to create a human-like robot and an agile, robotic Cheetah that developers said will eventually be able to run 70 mph.'
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Massive Austerity Budgets are Destroying America
The race to the bottom has picked up its pace. As state and federal governments face budget deficits, they are cutting critical programs with austerity budgets that will weaken education, health care, essential services and the economy.
Wisconsin is ground zero for the race to the bottom. I will be heading to Wisconsin the end of the week to get a better understanding of the situation and to gauge the anger – has government finally hit the breaking point so people will stand up against the class war being perpetrated against them? I have no doubt that if the people were organized and demanded change, we could see the end of the corporate political duopoly that allows big business interests to dominate government and puts profits ahead of people’s needs. Maybe Wisconsin is the sign that the tipping point is here? I certainly hope so because the richest country on earth does not need to be in a race to the bottom. We are in this race down because of choices the government is making for their wealthy campaign contributors.'
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Wisconsin is ground zero for the race to the bottom. I will be heading to Wisconsin the end of the week to get a better understanding of the situation and to gauge the anger – has government finally hit the breaking point so people will stand up against the class war being perpetrated against them? I have no doubt that if the people were organized and demanded change, we could see the end of the corporate political duopoly that allows big business interests to dominate government and puts profits ahead of people’s needs. Maybe Wisconsin is the sign that the tipping point is here? I certainly hope so because the richest country on earth does not need to be in a race to the bottom. We are in this race down because of choices the government is making for their wealthy campaign contributors.'
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Israel Issues Eviction Orders to 600 Palestinian Bedouins in Jerusalem Area
Hathem Abdel Qader, responsible for Jerusalem in the Fatah movement, warned yesterday of an Israeli plan to deport some 600 Palestinian Bedouin residents of the Wadi Abu Hindi area, located between the settlements of Maale Adumim and Keder, south-east of Jerusalem.
Abdel Qader noted that the Israeli military issued evacuation orders to tens of Bedouin families in Wadi Abu Hindi. According to the orders, the families must leave the area by the end of March.'
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Abdel Qader noted that the Israeli military issued evacuation orders to tens of Bedouin families in Wadi Abu Hindi. According to the orders, the families must leave the area by the end of March.'
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U.S. Stays Mum as Iraqi Security Forces Kill, Detain and Abuse Protesters
As the Mideast protests and government crackdowns continue, one country to watch closely is Iraq, with whom the U.S. has a long-term partnership and where clashes between protesters and government forces recently turned violent. Even as Iraqi security forces detained and abused hundreds of intellectuals and journalists, the U.S. government—in keeping with a pattern of silence on Iraq's abuses—has withheld criticism of its strategic ally.'
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'West Puts Libya Oil Above Democracy'
Former Arab League Ambassador to the UN Clovis Maksoud says the West's delay in condemning the recent repressions by the Libyan regime is partly due to its concerns over oil supplies from the country.
The West showed “reluctance” to denounce the repressions by Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi's regime “partly because of the oil factor … [and] that was one factor to inhibit many of those who are importing oil from Libya,” Maksoud said in an interview with Press TV.
This is while beleaguered Gaddafi “is presenting his people with two options … either he is allowed to govern them or he kills them,” he deplored.
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Libyan Infantry Commander Joins People
The commander of the Libyan army's infantry forces has joined the revolution against Muammar Gaddafi's regime, and the international community is stepping up pressure on the North African country to stop the violence.
Al Jazeera Arabic reported the commander's defection late on Tuesday.
This development comes as more government and military officials are defecting from the Gaddafi camp because of the government's harsh crackdown on protesters.
Earlier, one of the Libyan ruler's sons, Seif al-Arab Gaddafi, joined forces with protesters in the eastern city of Benghazi. He was sent there by his father to crack down on protesters in the city.'
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