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.

oregon's silver falls bank closed

from press tv: Silver Falls Bank has been closed by regulators to become the 14th US bank to fail this year amid the worsening US housing crisis. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said Silver Falls Bank, which was opened in May 2000, had $131.4 million in assets and $116.3 million in deposits as of Feb. 9. The bank was the second one in Oregon to close since Pinnacle Bank failed last week. Citizens Bank of Corvallis in Oregon is acquiring all of the failed bank's assets. It is also taking over its three branches and buying about $13 million in assets, including cash, cash equivalents, securities, overdraft loans and deposit-secured loans. The FDIC said the Silver Falls Bank failure is estimated to cost the agency's deposit insurance fund about $50 million. In 2008, 25 US banks were seized by regulators, up from only 3 in 2007 and more than the total number of banks closed in the previous five years. Plunging home prices and mounting layoffs have taken their toll on financial institutions as the world's largest economy has entered its second year of recession. Seattle-based lender Washington Mutual became the biggest bank to fail in US history when it was closed in Sep. 2008 due to soured mortgages and liquidity problems. Of the roughly 8,500 federally insured banks and thrifts, the FDIC had 171 on its confidential list of troubled institutions at the end of the third quarter.

alan keyes: stop obama or US will 'cease to exist'

from raw replay: Former presidential candidate Alan Keyes talked to KHAS’ Curt Casper after speaking to a fundraiser in Hastings, Nebraska. Keyes was highly critical of President Obama... "Obama is a radical communist and I think it is becoming clear. That is what I told people in Illinois and now everybody realizes it is coming true," said Keyes who ran unsuccessfully against Obama for the Senate in 2004. "He is going to destroy this country and we are either going to stop him or the United States of America is going to cease to exist," said Keyes...

Keyes also claimed that Obama had no standing to be president. Keyes said Obama was actually born in Kenya and so did not meet the Constitutional presidency requirements of being a natural-born U.S. citizen. He said Obama was a "usurper occupying the office without constitutional warrant... He has refused to provide proof that he is in fact a natural-born citizen," Keyes said. "I'm not even sure he is president of the United States." When the reporter interviewing him apparently cracked a smile at this, Keyes angrily responded with "that is not a laughing matter. We're going to find ourselves in the midst of chaos, confusion and civil war." Keyes is one of several people who have filed lawsuits challenging Obama's citizenship... KHAS has more details here. This video is from KHAS, broadcast Feb. 19, 2009.

obama beats jesus as america's hero
from suntimes: Americans named President Obama as their No. 1 hero, followed by Jesus Christ and Martin Luther King, in a new Harris poll. Others in the top 10, in descending order, were Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Abraham Lincoln, John McCain, John F. Kennedy, Chesley Sullenberger and Mother Teresa. People were asked whom they admired enough to call their heroes. Those surveyed were not shown a list of people to choose from. The Harris Poll was conducted online among a sample of 2,634 U.S. adults by Harris Interactive.

obama's 'seven days in may' moment
from robert parry: Only one month into his presidency, Barack Obama is finding himself confronting not only George W. Bush’s left-behind crises but an array of influential enemies in the military, financial circles, the political world and the media – determined to thwart Obama’s agenda for “change.” ... It is not entirely inconceivable that Obama’s powerful enemies could coalesce into a kind of “Seven Days in May” moment, the novel and movie about an incipient coup aimed at a President who was perceived as going too far against the country’s political-military power structure. Far more likely, however, Obama’s fate could parallel Jimmy Carter’s, a President whose reelection bid in 1980 was opposed by a phalanx of powerful enemies at home and abroad, including disgruntled CIA officers, angry Cold Warriors, and young neoconservatives allied with Israel’s right-wing Likud leaders furious over Carter’s Middle East peace initiatives. Carter little understood the breadth, depth and clout of the opposition he faced – and the full story of how his presidency was sabotaged has never been told. [For the most detailed account, see Robert Parry’s Secrecy & Privilege.]


update: jfk, fdr & 'seven days in may'
from lisa pease: Robert Parry recently wrote of how President Obama's early actions might bring him a "Seven Days in May moment," referring to a fictitious coup attempt from a film of the same name, in which a popular military figure nearly took over the government. In Parry's piece, he compared Obama's situation to that of President Jimmy Carter. I was reminded, however, of President John Kennedy's comments regarding his own brush with the "Seven Days in May" scenario, and the dangers Obama too will face. I was also reminded of the coup that almost came about during President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's first term. The film "Seven Days in May" began as a novel by Fletcher Knebel, inspired to a great degree by Knebel's conversations with Gen. Curtis LeMay, President Kennedy's contentious Air Force Chief of Staff who was furious at Kennedy for not sending in full military support during the Bay of Pigs incident.

obama administration continues US military global dominance
from project censored: The Barack Obama administration is continuing the neo-conservative agenda of US military domination of the world — albeit with perhaps a kinder-gentler face. While overt torture is now forbidden for the CIA and Pentagon, and symbolic gestures like the closing of the Guantanamo prison are in evidence, a unilateral military dominance policy, expanding military budget, and wars of occupation and aggression will likely continue unabated. The military expansionists from within the Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Clinton, G. W. Bush administrations put into place solid support for increased military spending. Clinton’s model of supporting the US military industrial complex held steady defense spending and increased foreign weapons sales from 16% of global orders to over 63% by the end of his administration.

cfr/rockefeller deputy attends white house bank meeting
from kurt nimmo: “The incoming chairman of Citigroup, Richard Parsons, showed up at the White House Monday, fueling talk that the federal government might take a massive ownership stake in the troubled banking behemoth,” reports Politico. “Parsons’ appointment was to see Valerie Jarrett, one of President Barack Obama’s closest West Wing confidants.” According to the corporate media, the government plans to grab 40 percent ownership in Citigroup, a move that is widely explained as “nationalization” of the banks. “Nationalizing ailing banks means the government would tell bank execs to take a hike, and then oversee taxpayer dollars as they course through the banking sector’s veins,” writes Thomas Kelley for Yahoo News. “When all is well, perhaps after selling assets and operations to new private investors, the government then steps back and lets a newly regulated bank sector float on its way.” In fact, “nationalization” has nothing to do with telling the banksters to “take a hike” and it certainly has nothing to do with regulation. Bank nationalization is a code word for a banker scheme to “socialize” the insolvency of selected banks, i.e., this insolvency will be transferred to the tax payers. (See Nationalization: Code Word for Banker Takeover.)

lawmaker warns of 'forced servitude' under obama
from paul joseph watson: New Hampshire state representative Dan Itse, who is one of many lawmakers leading the charge to assert state sovereignty against federal encroachment, has warned that the Obama administration seeks to institute “involuntary servitude”. Appearing on Fox News to discuss the states’ rights movement, Itse told hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade, “This is about drawing a line in the sand and saying we’ve tolerated usurpations for so long but we’re not going to tolerate you violating the constitution, we’re going to hold you accountable.” Asked if his warning about involuntary servitude under Obama meant young people being forced to attend community service, Itse responded, “Exactly, I mean, if you are required to do a job against your will with a pay scale not set by you or not agreed to by you, that’s involuntary servitude.”

obama's inaugural speech predicts 'extraterrestrial event' on scale of iraq war says expert

outside the box #190 (w/ jay weidner)

here is the latest episode of "outside the box," hosted by alex ansary.
it was originally broadcast by portland community media on february 19, 2009.

from alex ansary: Alex interviews author and visionary Jay Weidner (sacredmysteries.com) about the mysteries surrounding 2012. Some of the topics discussed include the galactic alignment, the magnetic field, the sun, the cross of Hendaye, and the Mayan calendar.

plus you can always get the latest episodes of "outside the box" on the oracle broadcasting network...

newspurge

9/11 updates
cousin of alleged 9/11 hijacker exposed as israeli spy*
unlikely place for a hit piece:
marie claire's desperately seeking approval from 9/11 truther*
cnn: new nuclear plants to protect against jet strikes*
scientology blames psychiatry for pearl harbor & 9/11*
nov7 groundbreaking set for flight 93 memorial*
william rodriguez vindicated by newly released 9/11 commission notes*
house passes $70m for 9/11 health care*

police state int'l
mississippi passes law protecting gun owners during martial law*
drug busts target san diego military housing*
army suicides in january outnumbered combat deaths*
scientology project raises questions & ire in wyoming*
new rcmp policy says tasers can kill, restricts use*
hey kids, wanna play security checkpoint*
army to work with 10 new york area schools*
audio: source reveals fema/dhs preparing for mass graves & martial law near chicago*
blackwater hides behind new, inscrutable & opaque name: xe*
ex-spy chief says uk turned into police state*
govt accused of exploiting terrorism fear*
bad news from america’s top spy*
federal agency aided maryland spying*
symposium planned to discuss implementation of nationwide mileage-based taxing system*
new navy-funded report warns of war robots going 'terminator'*
student arrested for texting*
boy scouts 'partner' with homeland stupidity*
pubs must install cctv or risk losing licenses*
wikileaks forced to leak its own secret info*
wikileaks has docs, needs cash*
video: ron paul says congress has lost control to outside interests*
warning against adverse health effects from the operation of digital broadcast television*
bill proposes isp's keep logs for police*
US northern command, fearmonger?*
texans unknowingly donate children’s blood to research*
saic awarded $115m to support tactical biometrics systems*
US army to buy $6m worth of riot equipment*
tennessee sovereignty resolution*
democrats introduce public national service bills*

envirohealth
splenda study shows shocking info about potential harmful effects*
video: parents in oregon town refuse to immunize kids*
more parents refusing vaccines for kids*
climate study: bleak outlook for pacific northwest*
video: oregon rep asks peanut execs to eat their own products*
monsanto is putting normal seeds out of reach*
doomsday seed vault's stores are growing*
iraq vets blame kbr for illnesses*
former astronaut speaks out on global warming*
video: false miracles, signs & wonders in russia: bluebeam/haarp?*
video: ground-breaking cancer researcher found murdered*

media/memes
'baader meinhof': action hit, oscar hopeful*
documentary sheds light on ‘elgin 17'*
robert parry: US media & democracy in crisis*
global elite consider tv network to 'tell us who we are'*

history/mystery
queen escaped australian train assassination plot, says cop*
the very 1st cia assassination*
nazis developed thalidomide & tested it on concentration camp prisoners*
the many layers of leonard peltier's case*
alfred p sloan, nazi collaborator*

geopolitiks
un moves to charge israel with war crimes*
towards fascist rule in israel*
kyrgyz prez: money behind manas closing*
latvia's government collapses*
drone war escalates; 30 more dead in pakistan*
destabilizing pakistan, america plays with fire*
feinstein: US launches drone war on pakistan, from pakistan*
pakistan partners with US on killer drone strikes*
google earth shows US drones at pakistani base?*
ahmadinejad calls for new world order*
video: ucla professor thinks he’s found osama*
ucla professor explains why he thinks he's found osama*
religion under a 'false flag'*
audio: norway returns to pillage-based economy*

media monarchy episode112

from 9/11 coverups to economic stimulus, our silence cannot be bought on the one-hundred & twelfth episode of media monarchy w/ urban guerrillas, citizen journalists & falling debris, beverly eckert & another 9/11 tragedy, american gangsters & the afghanisurge + hoarding scotch, jailing judges, shady deals, the greatest depression, lusitania truth & geronimo vs skull & bones + futuristic music from primal scream and tons more...

download/stream/im/skype/subscribe/shirts
pra/revere/myspace/twitter/itunes/archive

media monarchy is originally broadcast live on the portland radio authority & revere radio network every friday at 10am pacific/1pm eastern...

plus, you can always get podcasts of previous episodes thanks to itunes, radio4all.net & archive.org

media monarchy episode111b

sorry doesn't help us on the b-side of episode111 from media monarchy featuring the digital diversion, ground zero spacerace & 4ever facespace + subs, guns, cams & cops, internet2, alex ansary & ron paul asking: what if the american people learned the truth? + sorry music from morrissey and tons more...

download/stream/im/skype/subscribe/shirts

pra/revere/myspace/twitter/itunes/archive

lusitania truth: another war provocation exposed!

from archaeology.org: The nearly century-old debate about whether the passenger liner Lusitania was transporting British war munitions when torpedoed by a German U-boat is over. Physical evidence of just such a cargo has been recovered from the wreck, which rests 12 miles off the Irish coast in 300 feet of murky, turbulent water.

Lusitania was sunk off County Cork on May 7, 1915. The attack killed 1,198 people, including 128 Americans, and helped push the United States into World War I. Ever since the ship went down, there have been suspicions that Lusitania was carrying live munitions. Under the rules of war, that would have made the liner a legitimate target, as the Germans maintained at the time.

The British government has always been evasive about the presence of munitions on Lusitania. Two cargo manifests were submitted; the second, filed after the ship sailed, indicated there were light munitions on board. Some believe the ship was carrying much more, however, and that the British Navy attempted to destroy the wreck in the 1950s to conceal its military cargo.

obamessiah updates: bilderberger, brzezinski & billions

maybe there’s still hope… students question obama

obama picks bilderberger sebelius for health secretary
from infowars: Obama has picked a Bilderberger to be his choice for health secretary — Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius. Obama initially picked former Senate Democrat leader Tom Daschle for the position, but Daschle “withdrew because of personal tax issues,” in other words he didn’t bother to pay any taxes because minions of the elite are not required to do so, except for public relations reasons. Recall Sebelius, described as “a moderate Democrat,” was considered a leading candidate to be Obama’s vice presidential running mate last summer, but the elite picked CFR member Joe Biden instead. In June, 2008, Sebelius attended the 2008 Bilderberg meeting in Chantilly, Virginia, a fact not reported by the corporate media in her home state. She was included on the Official 2008 Bilderberg Participant List.

obama, not bush, now seeking delay of rove deposition

brzezinski's fear: class warfare & destruction of the new world order
from kurt nimmo: Making an appearance on the Morning Joe television show, the Rockefeller globalist Zbigniew Brzezinski said it is high time the rich who have made billions since the days of the Clinton administration help out the poor and struggling masses. Said Brzezinski: "Where is the monied class today? Why aren’t they doing something: the people who made billions, millions. I’m sort of thinking of Paulson, of Rubin. Why don’t they get together, and why don’t they organize a National Solidarity Fund in which they call on all of those who made these extraordinary amounts of money to kick some back in to [a] National Solidarity Fund?"

Brzezinski almost looked grandfatherly as he said this (see video). He almost came off as a good-natured humanitarian… almost. It all sounded good, if implausible — that is until Brzezinski reached the end of his carefully crafted diatribe: "And if we don’t get some sort of voluntary National Solidarity Fund, at some point there’ll be such political pressure that Congress will start getting in the act, there’s going to be growing conflict between the classes and if people are unemployed and really hurting, hell, there could be even riots."

In other words, Brzezinski is afraid that if some filthy lucre is not dispensed among the unwashed, they will rise up and burn down the banks, sack the corporations, and destroy the globalist edifice so painfully erected over the last fifty or so years — and maybe even go so far as to string up Brzezinski and his fellow globalists from trees and overpasses, the sort of dirty and regrettable business that invariably occurs in the process of violent revolutions in response to decades of provocation.

napolitano orders review of homeland security (and their terror drills)

rahm’s ethics & tax problem
from nypost: News broke last week that Rahm Emanuel, now White House chief of staff, lived rent-free for years in the home of Rep. Rosa De Lauro (D-Conn.) - and failed to disclose the gift, as congressional ethics rules mandate. But this is only the tip of Emanuel's previously undislosed ethics problems. One issue is the work Emanuel tossed the way of De Lauro's husband. But the bigger one goes back to Emanuel's days on the board of now-bankrupt mortgage giant Freddie Mac. Emanuel is a multimillionaire, but lived for the last five years for free in the tony Capitol Hill townhouse owned by De Lauro and her husband, Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg... Now Rahm Emanuel is in the White House helping President Obama dig out of the mess that Freddie Mac helped start. The president's chief of staff isn't subject to Senate confirmation, but his ethics still matter. Is this the change that we can depend on?

obama & the media dilemma

dr ezekiel emanuel, rahm's brother, tapped for health care policy advisor spot
from chicago sun-times: While the Obama White House is searching for a replacement for health czar Tom Daschle, policy work on health care reform--a priority for the administration--Is ongoing with one key advisor especially well connected. The brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel, a noted bioethicist, is advising the Obama administration on health care reform. Dr. Emanuel is the Chair of the Department of Bioethics at The Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health and a breast oncologist.

panetta confirmed as cia director

obama prescreens reporters at press conference
from wsj: About half-way through President Obama's press conference Monday night, he had an unscripted question of his own. "All, Chuck Todd," the President said, referring to NBC's White House correspondent. "Where's Chuck?" He had the same strange question about Fox News's Major Garrett: "Where's Major?" The problem wasn't the lighting in the East Room. The President was running down a list of reporters preselected to ask questions. The White House had decided in advance who would be allowed to question the President and who was left out. Presidents are free to conduct press conferences however they like, but the decision to preselect questioners is an odd one, especially for a White House famously pledged to openness. We doubt that President Bush, who was notorious for being parsimonious with follow-ups, would have gotten away with prescreening his interlocutors. Mr. Obama can more than handle his own, so our guess is that this is an attempt to discipline reporters who aren't White House favorites. Few accounts of Monday night's event even mentioned the curious fact that the White House had picked its speakers in advance. We hope that omission wasn't out of fear of being left off the list the next time.

michelle flashing devil sign on cover of vogue?*
'liberal fascism' by jonah goldberg*
more democrats call for censoring talk radio*
in spy case, obama's justice department holds on state secrets privilege*
obama's dod appointees: the $3.4 trillion dollar question*
obama’s 'stimulus' plan is about debt owed to bankers, not govt socialism*
dhs gets infotech money in stimulus*
obama signs phony stimulus bill (in denver, no less)*
obama signs $787 billion stimulus package*

geronimo's kin still suing skull & bones over remains

from ap: Geronimo's descendants have sued Skull and Bones — the secret society at Yale University linked to presidents and other powerful figures — claiming that its members stole the remains of the legendary Apache leader decades ago and have kept them ever since. The federal lawsuit filed in Washington on Tuesday — the 100th anniversary of Geronimo's death — also names the university and the federal government.

Geronimo's great-grandson Harlyn Geronimo said his family believes Skull and Bones members took some of the remains in 1918 from a burial plot in Fort Sill, Okla., to keep in its New Haven clubhouse, a crypt. The alleged graverobbing is a longstanding legend that gained some validity in recent years with the discovery of a letter from a club member that described the theft. "I believe strongly from my heart that his spirit was never released," Harlyn Geronimo said.

Both Presidents Bush, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and many others in powerful government and industry positions are members of the society, which is not affiliated with the university. After years of famously fighting the U.S. and Mexican armies, Geronimo and 35 warriors surrendered to Gen. Nelson A. Miles near the Arizona-New Mexico border in 1886. Geronimo was eventually sent to Fort Sill and died at the Army outpost of pneumonia in 1909.

According to lore, members of Skull and Bones — including former President George W. Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush — dug up his grave when a group of Army volunteers from Yale were stationed at the fort during World War I, taking his skull and some of his bones. Harlyn Geronimo, 61, wants those remains and any held by the federal government turned over to the family so they can be reburied near the Indian leader's birthplace in southern New Mexico's Gila Wilderness.

Their lawsuit also names President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Army Secretary Pete Geren as defendants. "I want them to understand we mean business," said Harlyn Geronimo, who lives in New Mexico. "We're very serious. We're tired of waiting and we're coming after them."

Neither members of Skull and Bones, who closely guard their secrecy, nor the Russell Trust Association, the organization's business arm for tax purposes, could not be reached for comment.

flashbacks: skeleton in the bush family cupboard &
did bush's grandfather steal geronimo's skull?

chicagocopwatch.org goes national after capturing bus incident

spencer thayer, a brother-in-arms in the infowar, has gained national attention for his video showing police misconduct on a chicago transit bus. this is on-the-scene citizen journalism from chicago cop watch that should be commended...

from raw replay: Chicago’s Independent Police Review Authority is investigating a confrontation between a police officer and bus passenger after video of the incident was posted on the internet, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune.

it looks like 2009 is going to be a very 'sorry' year

here's something fluffy to let you off the hook for a minute...
from fresno bee: I know it's a little early to call, but I'm thinking 2009 is going to be the year of "I screwed up."

We'll start right at the top. Our president uttered those words a little more than a week ago when some of his Cabinet appointments took an embarrassing turn. And while President Obama got a lot of fun and furor poked at him by the conservative talk-radio gabbers, I found something earnest and transparent in standing up and saying, "Yeah, my bad."

And this week? Alex Rodriguez - baseball's biggest name and the guy who was supposed to cleanly bring the game out of the steroid era - got busted for being on The Juice. What does the ever-sly A-Rod do? Owns up. Apologizes. True, true, he only admitted it once he was caught, a PR ploy for sure. But he's willing to wear the "I screwed up" tag when Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens aren't.

Which brings us to Michael Phelps, who went from Olympic hero to High Times with one picture of him hitting a bong with some college kids. Are you surprised? I'm not. Come on, he's listens to Lil Wayne a lot. And did you see Katie Couric's interview with Lil Wayne? Wow. But back to Phelps: He also played the "I screwed up" card. "I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment."

Exhibit Four: Christian Bale. (Can I just stop here and emphasize how it has been a fun couple of drama-filled weeks). Bale let loose a tirade on the set of his upcoming film, "Terminator Salvation," dropping something like 37 F-bombs at a lighting guy. Bale, being Batman and all, had to step up and act noble. "I acted like a punk," he said on Los Angeles radio station KROQ (FM 106.7). "I regret that. ... I make no excuses."

This reminds me of "The Karate Kid," when young Daniel LaRusso apologizes to girlfriend Elisabeth Shue with the simple, "I'm a jerk." It worked. And next thing you know, he's kickin' Cobra Kai butt at the karate tournament. Are you listening, Chris Brown? Are you listening, lady who gave birth to octuplets?

We Americans are, for the most part, good people. We forgive. Yes, we will absorb every bit of celebrity scandal TMZ will throw at us and every bit of regular-life gone awry that "The Today Show" airs - but at the end of the day, we'll be OK with "I screwed up." (Note: This does NOT apply to you, Casey Anthony).

But come on, Nadya Suleman, all we want you to say is, "Yeah, having this many kids probably wasn't the best idea considering my financial situation. I may have screwed up." Then we'll let you go off and negotiate a reality show, "Nadya Plus 14" or whatever.

And Chris Brown, teen heartthrob turned alleged girlfriend beater, a mea culpa wouldn't hurt your image, either. Note to readers: If you have a problem with anything I've said here, e-mail me. My response will be: "I screwed up."

more troops to guard afghan heroin that props up banks

the use of terms like 'theater' & 'enablers' should really tell you what's going on here... this is all about the drugs.
from time: Afghanistan became President Obama's war on Tuesday [feb17], when he ordered two more U.S. combat brigades into the fight. He will send 17,000 combat troops to join the 36,000-strong U.S. force already in the theater. The fact that the units now ordered to Afghanistan had originally been slated for Iraq underscores the new Administration's shift in priorities. The reinforcements include about 8,000 Marines from Camp Lejeune, N.C., who should be in Afghanistan by late spring, and a 4,000-strong Army brigade from Fort Lewis, Wash., which should arrive in the summer. Those units will be joined by about 5,000 more Army "enablers" to provide logistical support.

obama: 'afghanistan is still winnable'
from raw replay: President Obama talked with CBC’s chief correspondent, Peter Mansbridge, about the war in Afghanistan.

the invisible hand of the market: british troops have seized £50 million of afghan opium

two-thirds of afghan police are hooked on drugs
from bbc: Sixty per cent of the Afghan police in the country's southern province of Helmand use drugs, it is claimed. The estimate, made by a UK official working in the province, was contained in emails obtained by the BBC. International forces are fighting a fierce counter-insurgency campaign against Taleban militants and other insurgents in Helmand. But British officials are clearly worried about the reliability of the Afghan police. "We are very concerned by the levels of drug abuse among the police," the British Foreign Office said in a statement.

the dea has 106 planes, so why did it charter private jet for chief?

how much of our debt comes from drug money?
from business insider: Allen Stanford forfeited $3 million in drug money back in 1999, and it's a sure thing that within his multi-billion empire he had many more drug dollars under his care. This is true not just of Stanford, but of the whole Caribbean offshore banking complex, as drug dealers are obviously interested in the regulation-light, few-questions-asked private banking system. Offshore banks, meanwhile, have grown rapidly as major purchasers of US treasuries over the years. As you can see in the chart below, they really spiked in the 04-05 range, right as Japanese holdings leveled off. According this table, Caribbean banks are now the fourth biggest holders of treasuries, having surpassed Brazil and all the oil states combined in just the last year. So again, how much drug money goes into financing our debt? And if you doubt the premise of our question, here's famed rapper KRS-One making basically the same point...

did u go digital last nite? u should open yr converter box

hundreds of tv stations went digital overnight
from afp: More than 600 US television stations will transmit digitally only on Wednesday after cutting off their analog broadcast signal overnight as part of a nationwide switch. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said a total of 421 television stations planned to end their analog broadcasts at midnight Tuesday (0500 GMT Wednesday), joining 220 stations that have already made the switch. US President Barack Obama signed a bill last week delaying the nationwide shift to digital television until June, but some stations were given the green light by the FCC to make the shift on the original February 17 date. The FCC said 641 stations - or 36 percent of the nearly 1,800 full-power television stations in the United States - will have ended analog broadcasts by Wednesday. Major TV networks, such as ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, are not among those planning to cut off their analog broadcasts overnight. February 17 was the date set by the George W. Bush administration for an end to analog broadcasts by television stations, but Congress voted to extend the date until June 12. The government has been providing Americans who rely on over-the-air signals with a 40-dollar coupon to defray the cost of buying a digital converter box. But the coupon program has run out of funds and, according to research firm Nielsen Co., more than 6.5 million American households are not prepared for the switch. Many of the unprepared are low-income households, minorities, seniors or disabled, according to Nielsen. The switch to digital television will free up wireless airwaves for public safety agencies and other advanced mobile services.

camera & mic in magnavox digital conversion box
from mechanism studios: I have a friend who is kind of a conspiracy theorist. He was trying to convince me that many of the digital TV converter boxes that our coming out have microphones and cameras built into them. Knowing a bit about electronics I bought one of these devices & opened it up, fully intending on proving him wrong. To my surprise, he was right. This device has both a miniature camera lens and what looks like a microphone.

ground zero lounge: from change 2 strange & blood cement

here are the latest episodes from clyde lewis & ground zero lounge

from change 2 strange [feb2]
from clyde lewis: President Obama has been meeting with NASA. The mainstream press says it's about the space race. However, the attorney general and Secretary of State Clinton have been called in, too. What on earth is happening?

part1

part2


blood cement: the hard baptism of
abraham, obama & osama [feb9]

Recorded every Monday evening in front of a live audience at Dante's Inferno in Portland Oregon, the Ground Zero Lounge features Clyde Lewis in this audience participation discussion of current events as they relate to the paranormal.

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.