connecticut man kills 8 co-workers & self at beer distributor

murder/suicide: "how could someone do this?"
from ap: A high-ranking union official says a man who fatally shot eight co-workers and himself at a beer distributorship in Connecticut had been caught on videotape stealing beer. Union officials say Omar Thornton had worked as a driver for a couple of years and had been called in for a disciplinary hearing Tuesday and asked to resign. He instead opened fire at a warehouse in Manchester. The mother of Thornton's girlfriend says he had complained of racial harassment and that his bosses had not responded. But a union official tells The Associated Press that Thornton had "made no complaint of racism to us or to any federal or state agency." Teamsters Local 1035 official Christopher Roos says Thornton was "a disgruntled employee who shot a bunch of people."

murder/mayhem updates:
journalist christopher story dies suspiciously*
school buses crash in missouri, killing at least 2 & injuring 50*

10/8 newspurge

drugwar:
indicted ex-dea boss turns himself in to federal court on charges of obstruction, conspiracy & destruction of records relating to the allen stanford fraud investigation*

food world order:
lance armstrong to pimp for michelob ultra*

murder/mayhem:
ucla student in critical condition after her throat is slashed in science lab*

oregon oddities:
oregon building emergency radio network*

econocrash: liquor, gold & a new world order

US economic decline forges new world order*
US unemployment rate reaches 9.8%*
fdic seizes 3 banks, taking tally for year to 98*
economics of undocumented immigrants: myth & reality*
1000s line up in detroit for stimulus money*
liquor, restaurants & computers up; most other retail classes down*
US govt gold manipulation document declassified: download pdf here*
video: 'when you own gold you're fighting every central bank in the world'*


video update1: max keiser says the dollar is finished


video update2: gerald celente says the dollar is finished


video: peter schiff says gold to hit $5k/ounce*
whodunit? sneak attack on US dollar*

9/11 updates: lawsuits, licenses & liquor

...the more things change...
obama administration shuts down 9/11 families lawsuit
from steve watson: The Obama administration has effectively ended the efforts of families of victims of the September 11th attacks to bring lawsuits against members of the Saudi Royal family for financial links to the conspiracy. The Supreme Court today ruled that it will not allow any lawsuits to go ahead, just a few weeks after the government filed a court brief asking that the case be quashed. The court, in an order Monday, is leaving in place the ruling of a federal appeals court that the country and the princes are protected by sovereign immunity, which generally means that foreign countries can’t be sued in American courts, reports the Associated Press. In late May, the Justice Department had sided in court with the Saudi monarchy in seeking to halt further legal action to hold it liable for the attacks. The move came less than a week before Obama was scheduled to meet Saudi King Abdullah as part of his “rebuilding” trip to the Middle East. More than 6000 family members denounced the move as an “apparent effort to appease a sometime ally” in a public statement. The lawsuits claimed that Saudi Arabia and four of its princes actively aided in financing the plot through front groups posing as charities. Last week, the New York Times ran a report highlighting how documents uncovered by lawyers for the 9/11 families “provide new evidence of extensive financial support for Al Qaeda and other extremist groups by members of the Saudi royal family.”

known terrorists were allowed to keep aviation licenses
from raw story: Those who were shocked to discover, after 9/11, how easy it is for persons linked to terrorism to acquire pilots' licenses may be surprised to discover that, nearly eight years after that fateful day, at least six people known to have - or suspected of - terrorist links were able to keep their aviation licenses. Among them, says a story in the New York Times, was a Libyan national convicted for his role in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The Times story, released late Thursday and largely overlooked by the rest of the media, says the Transportation Security Administration and Federal Aviation Administration didn't remove the individuals' aviation licenses until after the Times had inquired about the issue. Evidently, the TSA and FAA didn't know that these people were licensed pilots until a small New York state-based company called Safe Banking Systems uncovered the names while testing out a software application designed to search for suspected terrorists among bank records.

wtc hard hats get hammered
from nypost: Hard-drinking hard hats at the World Trade Center site have turned their lunch hour into happy hour, pounding beers and shots of hard liquor before returning to work, a Post investigation found. Dozens of workers belly up to the bar at gin mills on Murray Street - two blocks from the sacred soil of Ground Zero and America's most scrutinized construction project - shortly before noon every day. One group of three workers threw back eight drinks each in less than an hour before returning to the job.


related video: nyc construction workers still drinking on job


naval 'national center for energetics' records of pre-9/11 nano-energetic materials development, nonexistent or destroyed*
were nuclear reactors the cause of the wtc destruction?*
new book claims bin laden spent 2 weeks in america*

former head of cia bin laden unit wants him to nuke us!
from washington's blog: Everyone is appropriately outraged that the former head of the CIA unit which hunted Bin Laden for almost a decade - Michael Scheuer - told Glenn Beck:

The only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States

But people aren't putting this in context. In fact, many Neocons have also stated a desperate yearning for another attack on America (and see this). But there is another story here as well.

Remember:

• The CIA commander in charge of the capture of Bin Laden during the invasion of Afghanistan said that the U.S. let Bin Laden escape from Afghanistan

• A retired Colonel and Fox News military analyst said:

  "We know, with a 70 percent level of certainty — which is huge in the world of intelligence — that in August of 2007, bin Laden was in a convoy headed south from Tora Bora. We had his butt, on camera, on satellite. We were listening to his conversations. We had the world’s best hunters/killers — Seal Team 6 — nearby. We had the world class Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) coordinating with the CIA and other agencies. We had unmanned drones overhead with missiles on their wings; we had the best Air Force on the planet, begging to drop one on the terrorist. We had him in our sights; we had done it ... Unbelievably, and in my opinion, criminally, we did not kill Usama bin Laden."

• French soldiers insist that they easily could have captured or killed Bin Laden, but that the American commanders stopped them

In other words - as demonstrated above - the U.S. did not really try to capture Bin Laden.

And remember that the Congressional Joint Inquiry into 9/11 discovered that an FBI informant had hosted and rented a room to two hijackers in 2000 and that, when the Inquiry sought to interview the informant, the FBI refused outright, and then hid him in an unknown location, and that a high-level FBI official stated these blocking maneuvers were undertaken under orders from the White House (confirmed here by the Co-Chair of the Joint Inquiry and former Head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Bob Graham; and see this Newsweek article).

And that a key Al Qaeda trainer actually worked with the Green Berets and the CIA and was an FBI informant.

And that the CIA may have helped most of the 9/11 hijackers get their visas to the U.S.

And that CIA agents allegedly met with Bin Laden two months before 9/11, when he was already supposedly wanted for the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, and when it was obvious to the intelligence services that he was supposedly planning 9/11.

Given that the government shielded top Al Qaeda members, and give that one of the top guys responsible for capturing Bin Laden now wishes OBL would attack America using weapons of mass destruction, the question must be asked whether people within the U.S. government wanted Bin Laden to attack the U.S. prior to 9/11.

This is an especially interesting question since a delay of a couple of minutes would have allowed the 9/11 attacks to succeed.

spring 2004: zelikow gets memo urging criminal referral of false statements by pentagon, faa; no action taken for months'*

warwhores: alcohol, ambitions & future combat systems

alcohol abuse by soldiers soars since '03*
neo-nazis are in the army now*
video: corps of engineers used internet to attack katrina critics*
it’s official: fcs cancelled*
pilot in utah f16 crash dies*
stars & stripes embed booted by army*
US army corps of engineers awards $10m contract to saic*
US lawmakers pass $550b pentagon budget, ignore veto threat*
prince william hints at combat ambitions*

congress 'drinks a lot of alcohol' but won't legalize pot

ron paul & stephen baldwin debate marijuana legalization
from raw story: Members of Congress like to guzzle the booze, but when it comes to the questions of drugs and states' rights, don't ask them for a friendly ear. That's the overriding message carried by Texas Republican Congressman Ron Paul on a Friday night appearance with Stephen Baldwin on CNN's Larry King Live.

'socialize' it? oregon may grow, tax & sell medical pot
from raw story: In most states, the issue of medical marijuana is not on any legislative docket. In Oregon however, a state which already allows medical marijuana, socializing the weed is being pitched as a bipartisan cause célèbre. Maybe socializing is the wrong word. "House Bill 3274 would direct the state to establish and operate a marijuana production facility," reported Oregon's KGW-TV. "The state would control potency and pharmacy distribution." Okay, so maybe it isn't. If the legislation, which is currently in committee review, becomes law, the state would take control of Oregon's booming cannabis industry, bringing growing and sales under the public domain... "Rep. Ron Maurer, R-Grants Pass, and Rep. Chris Harker, D-Beaverton, are also sponsors of the bill," the paper reported. "Now that's what we call bipartisanship." "Radical? For sure," said Oregon Live's Janie Har. "Even California, a state where dope dispensaries run rampant, doesn't have government workers growing pot." "Private growers have been accused of illegally selling pot to non-cardholders, and other grow sites have been targeted by burglars and robbers," reported Oregon station KATU.

flashback: oregon initiative would allow pot sales in liquor stores

real time w/ ron paul: america's war on drugs must end

from raw story: Congressman Ron Paul is the most conservative, grandfatherly man to ever be admired by America's marijuana enthusiasts. On Friday night's episode of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, he reminded those who may have been suffering an impaired short-term memory at that late hour why, exactly, they should like him. Speaking live from Clute, Texas, the libertarian-leaning Republican did what few other members of Congress will and openly called for the United States' War on Drugs to be abolished... "I don't like pot," said the congressman. "But I hate the drug war, so I would repeal all of prohibition... It makes no sense whatsoever," he insisted. "Amen, stoner," joked Maher. This video is from HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, broadcast Feb. 20, 2009.

california lawmaker introduces bill to legalize marijuana
from ap: A state legislator is reviving the debate about legalizing marijuana as a way of raising money for cash-strapped state and local governments. Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a San Francisco Democrat, introduced a bill Monday that if approved by the California Legislature would put pot on the same legal footing as alcohol. Adults over the age of 21 would be allowed to buy it, and driving under the influence of marijuana would be prohibited. Under Ammiano's proposal, which has been endorsed by some law enforcement officials, pot would be taxed at a rate of $50 per ounce and bring an estimated $1 billion into state coffers. In 1996, California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana.

econocrash: hoarding, seizing, drinking & cashless

this is all starting to sound like a bad country song...
economist says hoard gold & scotch

outrage brewing in oregon over proposed 1900% beer tax
from kgw: Five Oregon state lawmakers want to impose a hefty tax on beer and have introduced a bill that brewers say would cripple them. Four Portland legislators joined a Springfield senator to introduce Oregon House Bill 2461 [32kb PDF], which would impose a $49.61 tax on each barrel of beer produced by Oregon brewers. The tax would raise revenue for the state at a time when budgets are running in the red. Specifically, the bill says it would fund prevention, treatment and recovery programs for those addicted to alcohol and other substances.

liberty media deal staves off sirius bankruptcy

kansas suspends income tax refunds
from wichita eagle: Income tax refunds and state employee paychecks could be late after Republican leaders and the Democratic governor clashed Monday over how to solve a cash-flow problem. Payments to Medicaid providers and schools also could be delayed. "We are out of cash, in essence," state budget director Duane Goossen said.

this is what's coming, america: depression & revolution

bbc shills for a cashless society
from bbc: Consumers in the UK should expect a revolution in the way they pay for things in the near future, according to payments association Apacs. The cheque, which is 350 years old on 16 February, is said to be in irreversible decline as innovation points towards a cashless society. Banks will increasingly battle for a consumer to use one card exclusively. But as consumers prepare to pay and access accounts using their mobiles, retailers are worried costs will rise.

banks in florida, illinois, nebraska & oregon seized

US intelligence chief sees economic peril as major threat
from dpa: The top US intelligence official warned Thursday that the global economic crisis has evolved into a major threat to US interests in the world. Dennis Blair, director of national intelligence, told a Senate committee that the economic crisis threatens to destabilize governments in less developed countries friendly to the United States and could curtail NATO support for the conflict in Afghanistan. "The primary near-term security concern of the United States is the global economic crisis and its geopolitical implications," the new intelligence chief said. "The crisis has been ongoing for over a year, and economists are divided over whether and when we could hit bottom."

militarizing police depts with your bailout money

pennsylvania judges accused of jailing kids for cash
from ap: For years, the juvenile court system in Wilkes-Barre operated like a conveyor belt: Youngsters were brought before judges without a lawyer, given hearings that lasted only a minute or two, and then sent off to juvenile prison for months for minor offenses. The explanation, prosecutors say, was corruption on the bench. In one of the most shocking cases of courtroom graft on record, two Pennsylvania judges have been charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers.

highest unemployment in 30yrs

video: we're moving close to ‘a savior-based economy'

economic rescue plan: more debt, devaluation & govt

video: rep says $550b disappeared in 'electronic run on the banks'


even elderly are facing eviction

homeowner group protests 'predator' ceos outside their mansions
from raw story: If these activists are as dedicated as they are desperate, expect this to become a trend. Monday, a group of 350 to 400 at-risk homeowners, organized by the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, staged a series of protests outside the mansions of wealthy bankers in a moneyed Connecticut neighborhood. "Called the 'Predators Tour' these actions were the start of NACA's 'accountability campaign,' an aggressive, confrontational protest aimed at several top executives of companies that refuse to allow NACA to renegotiate the terms of loans on behalf of members, according to NACA CEO Bruce Marks," reported the Stamford Times. "Sporting bright yellow shirts that read, 'Stop Loan Sharks,' protesters demanded more accountability from the CEOs of the financial institutions responsible for the millions of unaffordable mortgages in the state and across America," reported NBC New York in an article titled, "Grab Your Torch and Pitchfork."

new world order for the economy

'there are more shady deals going on behind closed doors'

peter schiff: this is just the beginning

update: dow ends at lowest close in more than 6yrs
from ap: An important psychological barrier gave way on Wall Street Thursday [feb19] as the Dow Jones industrials fell to their lowest level in more than six years. The Dow broke through a bottom reached in November, pulled down by a steep drop in key financial shares. It was the lowest close for the Dow since Oct. 9, 2002, when the last bear market bottomed out.

police state int'l: scanners, chips, checkpoints & promis

your isp is watching you

google offers to track you by your cell phone
from cbsnews: Google is releasing free software Wednesday that enables people to keep track of each other using their cell phones. CNET got a sneak peek at it, and CNET-TV Senior Editor and Early Show contributor Natali Del Conte explained how it works on the show Tuesday. She says "Latitude" uses GPS systems and what's called cell tower triangulation to do the job. The software seeks the closest three cell towers and, with GPS, combines the data to show where someone is. It is designed to work on any phone with Internet capabilities, except the iPhone. "Latitude" is being marketed as a tool that could help parents keep tabs on their children's locations, but it can be used for anyone to find anyone else, assuming permission is given... CNET points out that, "To protect privacy, Google specifically requires people to sign up for the service. People can share their precise location, the city they're in, or nothing at all." "What we found in testing," Lee added to CNET, "is that the most common scenario is a symmetrical arrangement, where both people are sharing with each other."

when you watch these ads, they watch you

humans 'will be implanted with microchips'
from ninemsn: All Australians could be implanted with microchips for tracking and identification within the next two or three generations, a prominent academic says. Michael G Michael from the University of Wollongong's School of Information Systems and Technology, has coined the term "uberveillance" to describe the emerging trend of all-encompassing surveillance. "Uberveillance is not on the outside looking down, but on the inside looking out through a microchip that is embedded in our bodies," Dr Michael told ninemsn. Microchips are commonly implanted into animals to reveal identification details when scanned and similar devices have been used with Alzheimers patients. US company VeriChip is already using implantable microchips, which store a 16-digit unique identification number, on humans for medical purposes... He also predicted that microchip implants and their infrastructure could eliminate the need for e-passports, e-tags, and secure ID cards. "Microchipping I think will eventually become compulsory in the context of identification within the frame of national security," he said. Although uberveillance was only in its early phases, Dr Michael's wife, Katina Michael - a senior lecturer from UOW's School of Information Systems and Technology - said the ability to track and identify any individual was already possible. "Anyone with a mobile phone can be tracked to 15m now," she said, pointing out that most mobile phone handsets now contained GPS receivers and radio frequency identification (RFID) readers. "The worst scenario is the absolute loss of human rights," she said. Wisconsin, North Dakota and four other states in the US have already outlawed the use of enforced microchipping. "Australia hasn't got specific regulations addressing these applications," she said. "We need to address the potential for misuse by amending privacy laws to ensure personal data protection."

can your name make you a criminal?

45,000 red light camera citations for a town of 38,500
from dallas morning news: A Duncanville City Council member wants to re-evaluate how the city issues citations to red-light runners and make it easier for suspected violators to request a jury trial. Paul Ford questions the nearly 45,000 citations issued in 2008 at four intersections monitored by cameras. Compared with Duncanville's population of 38,500, he said, the number of citations seems excessive... According to Ford, the city will take in more than $3 million from citations issued in 2008. "These tickets are not safety-related," Ford said. "They're revenue-related. Period."

california checkpoint lasts for days

utah senator wants scanners & database in restaurants
from salt lake tribune: A proposal to scan the driver licenses of bar patrons and keep it on file in a state law enforcement database is a good start, says Senate President Michael Waddoups, but he wants to see the program go further. Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, says he wants to see the database idea start with private clubs, but extend to restaurants that serve diners beer and liquor. That would greatly expand the scope of the data collection and create a new requirement for restaurants, which are not required to have people sign up as members in order to serve beer and liquor. There are fewer than 400 clubs and taverns and nearly 1,100 restaurants licensed to serve alcohol.

and finally, checkout the amazing 3-part article from existentialist cowboy: 'main core, promis & the shadow government' (part2 & 3)

ghost of new year's past: oregon governor declares martial law

in doing some recent research about oregon, i discovered something amazing: on new year's eve in 1913, governor oswald west declared martial law in oregon in order to stop the sale of alcohol...

oswald west, prohibition advocate
from wikipedia: [Oswald] West was a fervent prohibitionist. He believed so strongly in the idea that he once declared martial law on New Year's Eve 1913 in order to shut down liquor-selling establishments in the town of Copperfield, Oregon. He then dispatched National Guard troops, chaperoned by his own personal secretary Fern Hobbs on January 2, 1914 to enforce the order and shut down the saloons. The move made headlines across the country. When his "invasion" of the small town in Baker County failed to garner local support he sought, (but failed) to void the town's incorporation citing that it was "in the hands of a lawless element." He also once declared that he wanted to "shoot a bartender." ... Bend Mayor George Palmer Putnam criticized West in a New York Times interview shortly after the Copperfield affair. Putnam asserted that the Governor's theatrical methods, and his inordinate attention to the affairs of local communities, detracted from the governance and national image of the state as a whole.

just a scary, little footnote from the past to remind us of what may come again in the not-too-distant future...

obamessiah: tests, challenges, cfr cabinet, monsanto & more

dc's metro system can't handle incoming obamazoids
from washington post: Even if only half of the projected 2 million to 4 million people show up for next month's presidential inauguration, the Washington region's roadways and transit systems will be too pressed to handle the crush, planners say. Officials are working out details of their transportation plan for the event, but the capacity of the area's transit and road infrastructure, combined with strict security, means residents and potential visitors need to have realistic expectations about how quickly they will be able to move around... People who live near the Arlington Cemetery Metro station, for example, and are planning to take the subway to the swearing-in ceremony might want to think about walking, because trains will be packed. On foot, the three-mile trek from the station to the Reflecting Pool at the Capitol should take about an hour.

inaugural 'last call' moved up
from washington post: D.C. bars and nightclubs will be allowed to serve alcohol until 4 a.m., not 5 a.m., during inauguration week after the D.C. Council voted last night to modestly scale back the emergency legislation it approved two weeks ago. Under the revised rules, nightlife establishments will still be allowed to remain open for food service round-the-clock from Jan. 17 to 21. However, they will have to pay a registration fee for each evening they intend to stay open past the normal hours of 2 a.m. on weekdays and 3 a.m. on weekends. Nightclubs will be required to pay $250 a night, and bars and restaurants will have to pay $100. The council initially extended the bar hours at the suggestion of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington, whose members want to capitalize on the expected crowds for President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration. But the move drew criticism from community leaders, religious organizations and Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Robert F. Bennett (R-Utah), who wrote a letter of protest to Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and Vincent C. Gray (D), the council chairman.

US military mobilizes troops for inauguration
(editor's note: A sign of things to come? In years past the Secret Service and local law enforcement were responsible for protecting the president during the inauguration, now that duty has apparently shifted to the military and Northcom. It would seem Northcom is not enough, however - General Gene Renuart says an “integrated air defense system” including Canadians will “be up and robust and available.” Since when have Canadians been tasked with protecting the president during his swearing in? Canada and the U.S. signed an agreement that paved the way for the militaries from either nation to send troops across each other’s borders during an emergency. I guess we are to consider the inauguration of Obama an emergency?)

from afp: The US military plans to mobilize thousands of troops to protect Washington against potential terrorist attack during the inauguration of president-elect Barack Obama, a senior US military commander said Wednesday. They will fly combat air patrols and man air defenses, organize large scale medical support, and help local law enforcement provide security in the capital, said General Gene Renuart, head of the US Northern Command. "(It's) not because we see a specific threat, but because for an event this visible, this important and this historic, we ought to be prepared to respond if something does happen," he told reporters. Renuart said some 7,500 active duty troops and 4,000 national guard troops will take part in the operations in support of the inauguration of the 44th US president on January 20.

rnc video smears obama with blagojevich scandal

fbi informant: blagojevich was mob-connected bookie
from raw replay: The local ABC affiliate in Chicago has learned that a Chicago attorney told the FBI that Rod Blagojevich was a bookie that made regular payments to the Chicago mob during the 1980’s. Robert Cooley says that he told the FBI about wrongdoing by Blagojevich years ago. “When I was working with government wearing wire, I reported, I observed Rod, the present governor, who was running a gambling operation out in the western suburbs. He was paying street tax to the mob out there,” said Cooley. A spokesman for Blagojevich said he could not comment on Cooley’s allegations. ABC 7 has more details here. This video is from WLS-TV/DT Chicago, broadcast Dec. 17, 2008.

indicted governor finds jesus
from brasscheck tv: The Governor of Illinois recently got caught red handed trying to sell Barrack Obama's' recently vacated Senate seat. This whole "indicted politician finds Jesus" thing began back during Watergate. The crook who perfected this scam, Charles Colson, has made a profession of bringing Jesus to the powerful who are newly indicted.

obama named time magazine's person of the year
(founded by skull & bones)

greens worry obama will drop their cause
from washington times: Environmentalists fear their top priority - a national climate-change policy - will be sidetracked in Congress by concerns over the slumping economy. President-elect Barack Obama has said the policy is a "matter of urgency" and furthered his commitment on Monday by naming the top members of his energy and environment team. He said the team would lead his drive toward renewable energy and away from oil and would coordinate the often interlocked domains of energy and climate policy. Yet the green lobby, filled with optimism after the election of a Democratic president and Congress, now sees the expanding meltdown of the economy as a major obstacle.

'new rules' for obama’s civilian national security force
from world net daily: New rules published in the Federal Register would allow certain civilians to call American soldiers into action inside the U.S. to prevent environmental damage or respond to "special events" and "other domestic activities." The alarming warning is contained in proposed rules published last week for the Department of Defense's "Defense Support of Civil Authorities" plan.

cheney praises obama’s national security team
from abc: “I must say, I think it’s a pretty good team,” Cheney said. “I’m not close to Barack Obama, obviously, nor do I identify with him politically. He’s a liberal. I’m a conservative... But I think the idea of keeping Gates at Defense is excellent. I think Jim Jones will be very, very effective as the national security adviser.”

bush preps crisis briefings to aid obama
from nytimes: The White House has prepared more than a dozen contingency plans to help guide President-elect Barack Obama if an international crisis erupts in the opening days of his administration, part of an elaborate operation devised to smooth the first transition of power since Sept. 11, 2001.

The memorandums envision a variety of volatile possibilities, like a North Korean nuclear explosion, a cyberattack on American computer systems, a terrorist strike on United States facilities overseas or a fresh outbreak of instability in the Middle East, according to people briefed on them. Each then outlines options for Mr. Obama to consider.

The contingency planning goes beyond what other administrations have done, with President Bush and Mr. Obama vowing to work in tandem to ensure a more efficient transition in a time of war and terrorist threat. The commission that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks, noting problems during the handover from President Bill Clinton to Mr. Bush, called for a better process “since a catastrophic attack could occur with little or no notice,” as its report put it.

“This is very unusual,” said Roger Cressey, a former Clinton White House counterterrorism official who was held over under Mr. Bush. “We certainly did not do that. When the transition happened from Clinton to Bush, remember it was a totally different world. You had some documents given that gave them a flavor of where things were at. But now you’ve got two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a hot war against Al Qaeda.”

mindless challenges over obama's birthplace

scotus won't review obama's eligibility to serve
from ap: The Supreme Court has turned down another challenge to Barack Obama's eligibility to serve as president because of his citizenship. The appeal by Cort Wrotnowski of Greenwich, Conn., was denied Monday without comment. Wrotnowski argued that Obama was a British subject at birth and therefore cannot meet the requirement for becoming president... At least two other appeals over Obama's citizenship remain at the court. Philip J. Berg of Lafayette Hill, Pa., argues that Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii as Obama says and Hawaii officials have confirmed. Federal courts in Pennsylvania have dismissed Berg's lawsuit. Federal courts in Ohio and Washington state have rejected similar lawsuits. Allegations raised on the Internet say the birth certificate, showing that Obama was born in Hawaii on Aug. 4, 1961, is a fake.

dems determined to reimpose fairness doctrine
from kurt nimmo: It seems the Democrats are determined to reimpose the Fairness Doctrine. Earlier this week, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said she would work on bringing back the federal regulation. “I’ll work on bringing it back. I still believe in it,” Eshoo told the Daily Post in Palo Alto. Eshoo said she would recommend the doctrine be applied not only to radio and TV broadcasts, but also to cable and satellite services. “It should and will affect everyone,” she promised. “The so-called ‘Fairness Doctrine’ would restrict free speech on the public airwaves, stifling dissent at a time when an open national dialogue about our country’s future is essential,” House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio) said in response. “The American people do not believe the federal government should be in the business of dictating or restricting the content of political speech. I’m troubled by Rep. Eshoo’s comments, and my hope is that President-elect Obama will speak out against efforts by members of his party to use their majority power to limit free speech and dissent.”

jello biafra's open letter to obama

obama picks monsanto creature, tom vilsack, for agriculture sec
from latimes: Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who aggressively campaigned for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton before his state's caucuses in January, will be named Agriculture secretary by President-elect Barack Obama, three Democratic officials confirmed Tuesday. The formal announcement was expected this morning at a news conference in Chicago.

obama names more cfr & goldman ghouls to top economic posts
from nytimes: Pledging to create “a 21st century regulatory framework” to protect against future financial crises, President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday nominated three veteran financial regulators to top economic positions in his administration. “We will crack down on this culture of greed and scheming that has led us to this day of reckoning,” Mr. Obama said in announcing the appointments at a news conference in Chicago. “We have been asleep at the switch.” Later in the day, transition aides said that Mr. Obama had settled on a labor secretary and trade representative and was likely to make those announcements on Friday at his final news conference before heading to Hawaii for a vacation. In the morning news conference, Mr. Obama named Mary L. Schapiro, 53, to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. The agency has come under sharp criticism for its failure to detect signs that major Wall Street banks were in trouble before the financial crisis, and more recently, for gaps in its oversight of the New York financier Bernard Madoff, who the authorities say has confessed to running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. The Madoff scandal, Mr. Obama said, “reminds us yet again how badly reform is needed when it comes to regulations that govern our markets.” ... Mr. Obama also announced the selection of two former Clinton administration economic officials, Gary Gensler and Daniel K. Tarullo, to leading economic posts.

video: msnbc’s mika brzezinski mugged outside dc hotel

russia to test obama's mettle
from asd: The incoming US administration is to be given an assessment of its decisiveness by Moscow over missile issues, says arms negotiator. "The Russians intend to test the mettle of the new administration and the new president," said US Acting Undersecretary of State John Rood on Wednesday, AFP reported. The official made the remarks commenting on the recent Russian stance on the US plans for installation of a European-based missile defense apparatus. "In some ways their position is less flexible than it was before and, I think that therefore leads to me the conclusion that they would like to determine the posture of the new administration," he added.

2 unrelated & unsurprising stories: paedophiles & pot

buckingham butler 'ran paedophile sex ring while working for the royal family'
from daily mail: A former Buckingham Palace butler has been unmasked as a sexual predator who ran a paedophile ring while serving the Royal Family. Bachelor Paul Kidd, 55, groomed at least one of his teenage victims for sex by taking him for tea with the Queen Mother at Clarence House, it has emerged. To the public, he had been the urbane gent who waited on the Royals for nine years - first the Queen at the Palace and then her mother. He often publicly gushed about his blue blood employers talking of the Queen as 'courteous and genuinely caring.'

cannabis less harmful than drinking, smoking
from afp: Cannabis is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco, according to a report by a research charity Thursday, which called for a "serious rethink" of drug policy. The Beckley Foundation, a charity which numbers senior experts and other academics among its advisors, said banning cannabis has no impact on supply and turns users into criminals. "Although cannabis can have a negative impact on health, including mental health, in terms of relative harms it is considerably less harmful than alcohol or tobacco," says the report by the Foundation's Global Cannabis Commission. The government is pressing for cannabis to be re-classified in law as a Class B drug compared with its current, less serious, Class C classification.

budweiser goes foreign; mom & apple pie next

belgians buy budweiser brewer
from ap: Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser and Bud Light, has agreed to a takeover by a giant Belgian brewer, a union that creates a global beer leader and brings to an end one of the most iconic names in American business.

The board of directors of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. on Sunday accepted a sweetened $52 billion takeover offer from Belgian brewer InBev SA, according to a joint press release.

The deal, which is subject to shareholders' and regulators' approval, would create the world's largest brewer and create the fourth-largest consumer product company worldwide.

"This combination will create a stronger, more competitive global company with an unrivaled worldwide brand portfolio and distribution network, with great potential for growth all over the world," Carlos Brito, CEO of InBev, said in the statement.