9/11 CONSPIRACY BLUES

LEAVE RUSSIA ALONE BY RON PAUL

Before the US House of Representatives, April 1, 2008: Statement on H Con Res 154 Expressing concern over Russian involvement in Alexander Litvinenko's murder

Mr. Speaker: I rise in strong opposition to this ill-conceived resolution. The US House of Representatives has no business speculating on guilt or innocence in a crime that may have been committed thousands of miles outside US territory. It is arrogant, to say the least, that we presume to pass judgment on crimes committed overseas about which we have seen no evidence.

The resolution purports to express concern over the apparent murder in London of a shadowy former Russian intelligence agent, Alexander Litvinenko, but let us not kid ourselves. The real purpose is to attack the Russian government by suggesting that Russia is involved in the murder. There is little evidence of this beyond the feverish accusations of interested parties. In fact, we may ultimately discover that Litvinenko's death by radiation poisoning was the result of his involvement in an international nuclear smuggling operation, as some investigative reporters have claimed. The point is that we do not know. The House of Representatives has no business inserting itself in disputes about which we lack information and jurisdiction.

At a time when we should be seeking good relations and expanded trade with Russia, what is the benefit in passing such provocative resolutions? There is none.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to enter into the Congressional Record a very thought-provoking article by Edward Jay Epstein published recently in the New York Sun, which convincingly calls into question many of the assumptions and accusations made in this legislation. I would encourage my colleagues to read this article and carefully consider the wisdom of what we are doing.

RON PAUL: DISBAND NATO

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this resolution calling for the further expansion of NATO to the borders of Russia. NATO is an organization whose purpose ended with the end of its Warsaw Pact adversary. When NATO struggled to define its future after the Cold War, it settled on attacking a sovereign state, Yugoslavia, which had neither invaded nor threatened any NATO member state.

This current round of NATO expansion is a political reward to governments in Georgia and Ukraine that came to power as a result of US-supported revolutions, the so-called Orange Revolution and Rose Revolution. The governments that arose from these street protests were eager to please their US sponsor and the US, in turn, turned a blind eye to the numerous political and human rights abuses that took place under the new regimes. Thus the US policy of “exporting democracy” has only succeeding in exporting more misery to the countries it has targeted.

NATO expansion only benefits the US military industrial complex, which stands to profit from expanded arms sales to new NATO members. The “modernization” of former Soviet militaries in Ukraine and Georgia will mean tens of millions in sales to US and European military contractors. The US taxpayer will be left holding the bill, as the US government will subsidize most of the transactions. Providing US military guarantees to Ukraine and Georgia can only further strain our military. This NATO expansion may well involve the US military in conflicts as unrelated to our national interest as the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia. The idea that American troops might be forced to fight and die to prevent a small section of Georgia from seceding is absurd and disturbing.

Mr. Speaker, NATO should be disbanded, not expanded.

RON PAUL ON THE GLEN BECK 4-1-08

RON PAUL INTERVIEW: INCOME TAX, FED RESERVE, DEBT

Discussion includes:

Fair Tax / Elimination of the IRS
Federal Reserve / Money Supply
Social Security & Medicare > 60 Trillion in Unfunded liabilities
Government spending
New Book: Revolution: A Manifesto
Discussion of other candidates.
Third Party?
End Iraq war immediately.

ON MONEY, INFLATION AND GOVERNMENT

by Ron Paul | March 31, 2008

These past few weeks have provided an unfortunate opportunity to discuss inflation. The dollar index has reached new all-time lows. The total money supply, M3, as calculated by private sources, is growing at a disturbing 17% rate. The Fed is pumping dollars into the economy at an alarming rate. Just recently the Fed announced new loan auctions totaling $100 billion. That is new money created from thin air. If these money auctions, combined with the bailout of Bear Stearns, continue to be the trend, we are in for some economic stormy weather. The explanation lies in understanding the basics of money, and why it is dangerous to give government and big banks control over it.

First, money is not wealth, in and of itself. You cannot create more wealth simply by creating more money. Wall Street bankers cry out for more liquidity, but what is really needed is more value behind the dollar. But the value, unfortunately, isn't there.

You see, the Fed creates new money and uses it to purchase securities from banks. Flush with funds, these banks seek to put this money to use. During the Fed's expansionary period, much of this money went to home loans. Through a combination of federal government inducements to lend to risky borrowers, and the Fed's supply of easy money, the housing bubble took shape. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were encouraged to purchase and securitize mortgages, while investors, buoyed by implicit government backing, rushed to provide funding. Money that could have been invested in more productive, less risky sectors of the economy was thereby malinvested in subprime mortgage loans.

The implicit guarantee from the Fed is quickly becoming explicit, as those institutions deemed "too big to fail" are bailed out at taxpayer expense. Wall Street made a killing during the housing bubble, reaping record profits. Now that the bubble has burst, these same firms are trying to dump their losses on the taxpayers. This approach requires more money creation, and therefore debasement of all dollars in circulation.

The Federal Reserve, a quasi-government entity, should not be creating money or determining interest rates, as this causes malinvestment and excessive debt to accumulate. Centrally planned, government manipulated economies always fail eventually. The collapse of communism and the failure of socialism should have made this apparent. Even the most educated, well-intentioned central planners cannot plan the market better than the market itself. Those that understand economics best, understand this reality.

In free markets, both success and failure are options. If government interventions prevent businesses, like Bear Stearns, from failing, then it is not truly a free market. As painful as it might be for Wall Street, banks, even big ones, must be allowed to fail.

The end game for this policy of monetary inflation is that the money in your bank account loses purchasing power. So, by keeping failing banks afloat, the Fed punishes those who have lived frugally and saved. The power to create money is a power that should never be granted to government. As we can plainly see today, the Fed has abused this power, and taxpayers are paying the price.

YOU COULDN’T MAKE IT UP (UNLESS YOU’RE HILLARY, THAT IS)

Presumably she thought the sniper fire story would impress the audience of soldiers. So her campaign team should book her in to speak to other professions to see what she comes out with. If she addresses lumberjacks she'll start, "Hey, that's a tough job you folks do. And I should know because I once spent two days dangling from a cedar tree. Then my chainsaw slipped and sawed me down the middle, but luckily my right half put my left half in a nearby freezer that kept it fresh until the doctor arrived to sew me back together. But hey, let's turn to the economy."

HILLARY FIRED FOR LIES, UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR FROM CONGRESSIONAL JOB: FORMER BOSS

The now-retired general counsel and chief of staff of the House Judiciary Committee, who supervised Hillary when she worked on the Watergate investigation, says Hillary’s history of lies and unethical behavior goes back farther – and goes much deeper – than anyone realizes.

DAVE VONKLEIST WHY YOU CAN'T TRUST THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA

FEDERAL RESERVE IS A PRIVATE FINANCIAL INSTITUTION

Below are excerpts from a court case proving the Federal Reserve system's status. As you will see, the court ruled that the Federal Reserve Banks are "independent, privately owned and locally controlled corporations", and there is not sufficient "federal government control over 'detailed physical performance' and 'day to day operation'" of the Federal Reserve Bank for it to be considered a federal agency

see America: Freedom to Fascism

QUARTER OF AMERICANS NOW THINK IRAN IS THE BIGGEST ENEMY

A quarter of Americans believe that Iran now poses the biggest threat to the United States, confirming that a sustained neocon propaganda campaign to demonize Iran and its leaders for their own strategic benefit is having a significant impact.

Ignorance is a scary thing -- ZDN

ANOTHER AMERICAN WAR CRIME IN THE MAKING

The US Congress, the US media, the American people, and the United Nations, are looking the other way as Cheney prepares his attack on Iran.

COUNTDOWN: BUSH GETS BOOED AT NATIONALS OPENER

Keith reports on Bush's rather unpleasant welcome he got at the ball park throwing out the first pitch, and apparently he was spared having to throw to someone embroiled in the steroids controversy as well.

TED OLSON'S REPORT OF PHONE CALLS FROM BARBARA OLSON ON 9/11: THREE OFFICIAL DENIALS

Olson began this process of undermining by means of self-contradictions. He first told CNN, as we have seen, that his wife had “called him twice on a cell phone.” But he contradicted this claim on September 14, telling Hannity and Colmes that she had reached him by calling the Department of Justice collect. Therefore, she must have been using the “airplane phone,” he surmised, because “she somehow didn’t have access to her credit cards.”4 However, this version of Olson’s story, besides contradicting his first version, was even self-contradictory, because a credit card is needed to activate a passenger-seat phone.

Later that same day, moreover, Olson told Larry King Live that the second call from his wife suddenly went dead because “the signals from cell phones coming from airplanes don’t work that well.”5 After that return to his first version, he finally settled on the second version, saying that his wife had called collect and hence must have used “the phone in the passengers’ seats” because she did not have her purse.6

By finally settling on this story, Olson avoided a technological pitfall. Given the cell phone system employed in 2001, high-altitude cell phone calls from airliners were impossible, or at least virtually so (Olson’s statement that “the signals from cell phones coming from airplanes don’t work that well” was a considerable understatement). The technology to enable cell phone calls from high-altitude airline flights was not created until 2004.7

However, Olson’s second story, besides being self-contradictory, was contradicted by American Airlines.

ISRAEL CONDUCTS WAR GAMES DIRECTED AGAINST IRAN AND SYRIA

TEL AVIV — Israel plans to conduct its largest exercise ever to set contingencies for massive missile attacks by Iran and Syria. The government has been preparing for a five-day exercise in April that would simulate conventional and nonconventional missile strikes from Iran, Lebanon and Syria. Officials said the exercise would test emergency response as well as evacuation of cities struck by enemy missiles.

MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: "THIS IS NO VICTORY"

The long awaited ruling by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in the Mumia Abu-Jamal case released on March 27, 2008 again displays the dismaying pattern of US courts ignoring precedent to deny relief to this death row journalist whose plight generates international support.

US MEMO SUPPORTING TORTURE MADE PUBLIC

The US Justice Department releases a declassified memorandum revealing use of harsh interrogation methods for suspected terrorists held abroad.

BUSH: US CAN'T LOSE AFGHANISTAN

"If we do not defeat the terrorists in Afghanistan, we will face them on our soil," he claimed.

boooooooooooo! -- ZDN

NO MORE TURKISH TROOPS FOR AFGHANISTAN

Turkey says it has no plans to send troops to Afghanistan despite a US call for NATO allies to beef up their military presence there.

ISRAEL: SHHH! IRAN MAY BE LISTENING

The Zionist regime claims that Tehran has launched hi-tech eavesdropping stations in Syria to hamper Israeli military communications.

Let's hope so -- ZDN

VENDORS SAY CLINTON IS A DEADBEAT

Although Hillary Clinton has millions in the bank, she has for months stiffed hundreds of small vendors who are owed tens of thousands of dollars for work on her presidential campaign.

MCCAIN'S FOREIGN POLICY VISION: STYLE OVER SUBSTANCE

Ultimately – and perhaps most importantly – McCain would continue the Bush administration's quixotic Iraq policy: "Success in Iraq … is the establishment of peaceful, stable, prosperous, democratic states that pose no threat to neighbors." Even if it takes 100 years.

TUESDAY: 1 US SOLDIER, 40 IRAQIS KILLED; 25 IRAQIS WOUNDED

Despite what appeared to international eyes as a massive political loss for Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister called his failed Basra security operation a success. Also, U.K. Defense Minister Des Brown warned that the drawdown of British troops might be delayed, even as U.S. Democrats were at a loss on how to end the American involvement.. Overall, 40 Iraqis were killed and 25 more were wounded as violence returned to background levels. One American soldier died Saturday in Germany of wounds received during a March 23rd IED attack in Baghdad. Also, casualty figures for March were the highest in months for Iraq.

JOHN MCCAIN AND MILITARY RETENTION KILLERS

Why is John McCain, the Republican senator and former POW who requests we “shed a tear” for all that is lost in war, not supporting a plan to improve college assistance to former GI’s? Never mind the pity party, most Iraq and Afghanistan vets want to get a life.

HOW MCCAIN STAYS POPULAR DESPITE SUPPORTING DISASTROUS WARS

A majority of voters reject John McCain's positions on the two most important issues of the campaign, the economy and the war. Only 27 percent of Americans say they are Republicans. Yet McCain continues to run a statistical dead-heat with both contenders for the Democratic nomination. In some polls he shows a slim but consistent lead. Who can make sense out of it?

INSIDE GUANTÁNAMO WITH DETAINEE 061

The reason for their visit was sensitive. The Pentagon was still arguing that those held at Guantánamo were "the worst of the worst" and "the most dangerous, best-trained, vicious killers on the face of the Earth," but behind closed doors CIA officials were coming to the conclusion that a number of detainees had no links to terrorism, and were working on a list of prisoners to be set free.

HOWARD ZINN: THE END OF EMPIRE?

What the Classroom Didn't Teach Me About the American Empire

By Howard Zinn

ATTACKS ON U.S. FORCES SOARED AT END OF MARCH

BAGHDAD, April 1 -- Attacks against U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces soared across Baghdad in the last week of March to the highest levels since the deployment of additional U.S. troops here reached full strength last June, according to U.S. military data and analysis.

IRAQ VIOLENCE HALTS BRITISH DRAWDOWN

LONDON, April 1 -- Britain has postponed plans to sharply reduce its troop presence in Iraq because of recent fighting between Iraqi government troops and Shiite militias in Baghdad and Basra, Defense Secretary Des Browne announced Tuesday.

ECONOMIC SLUMP UNDERLINES CONCERNS ABOUT MCCAIN ADVISERS

One of them helped deregulate the financial services industries in the 1990s, and now sits in the corporate suites of Swiss banking giant UBS, which yesterday announced $19 billion in investment losses tied to the crumbling U.S. real estate market.

HEAVY TROOP DEPLOYMENTS ARE CALLED MAJOR RISK

Senior Army and Marine Corps leaders said yesterday that the increase of more than 30,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has put unsustainable levels of stress on U.S. ground forces and has put their readiness to fight other conflicts at the lowest level in years.

SENATOR ARLEN SPECTER AGREES ABLE DANGER COVER-UP AND CONFIRMS ANTHRAX NOT WORK OF AL QAEDA

Questions posed by members of Philly 9/11 Truth to Senator Arlen Specter about the pre-9/11 military intelligence program Able Danger and the post-9/11 anthrax attacks were responded to with a fair degree of candidacy.

HILLARY CLINTON'S NAFTA STORY EXPOSED

Hillary Clinton says she opposed NAFTA from the beginning. That's not what the record says.

OBAMA: I DON'T CARRY A COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS CARD OR KNOW ANY 'SPECIAL HANDSHAKE'

Worries about One World Order and a North American Union have been "ginned up by the blogs and the Internet," Sen. Barack Obama told a Lancaster, Pennsylvania audience in a stump speech as he continued his tour through the battleground state.

The Illinois senator also defended the recently re-authorized Patriot Act.

The lying, coke sniffing, political whore sticks his foot in his mouth... again. -- ZDN

The NAFTA Superhighway

A North American United Nations?

also see this

A good intorduction to the Council on Foreign Relations and it's purpose is the film 'America: Freedom To Fascism': -- ZDN

And what does Obama say on his web page on the CFR website... -- ZDN

Obama says the United States needs to renew its global leadership position through skillful diplomacy, a revitalized military, and by confronting nuclear proliferation, which he calls “the most urgent threat to the security of America and the world.”

Also see: ZDN Exclusive -- I Smell A Rat: the Obama - Sinclair Sex and Drug Scandal

U.S. FOREST SERVICE FIELDING FLEET OF DRONES

“The use of spy technology in the domestic U.S. should not be undertaken lightly,” Ruch added. “Before the Forest Service deploys eyes in the sky, the agency should write some basic rules to prevent abuse.”

GAO BLASTS WEAPONS BUDGET

Government auditors issued a scathing review yesterday of dozens of the Pentagon's biggest weapons systems, saying ships, aircraft and satellites are billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.

IRAQ VETERAN TO SPEAK LIVE AND TAKE YOUR QUESTIONS TONIGHT 8-9 PM ET

Former Marine Corps Sergeant Adam Kokesh served in a Civil Affairs Group in Iraq’s Western Anbar Province from February to September 2004. Since his return from Iraq, Kokesh has become a leading activist with Iraq Veterans Against the War. He was arrested for disrupting General Patreaus’ testimony before Congress last September. He will discuss what he did and saw in Iraq and why he is working to end the occupation. Listen live and call in with your questions tonight 8-9 pm ET: http://thepeoplespeakradio.net

MARINE RECRUITERS LEAVING BERKELEY: TRUTH OR HOAX?

Berkeley, California, Members of the women's peace group CODEPINK released a press release on March 31st stating that Sasha Shamszad, landlord for the Marine Recruiting Center at 64 Shattuck Square, had reached an amicable agreement with the Marines to redeploy from Berkeley, and that the Marines would be packing up by the end of April. While this stunt from the group known for bringing humor, joy, and costumed antics into the anti-war movement proved to be an April Fool's Day joke, the activists aren't kidding around when it comes to getting Marine recruiters out of Berkeley.

BUSH’S LAW: ERIC LICHTBLAU ON EXPOSING THE NSA’S WARRANTLESS WIRETAPPING PROGRAM AND HOW THE WHITE HOUSE PRESSURED THE NEW YORK TIMES TO KILL THE STORY

In a national broadcast exclusive, we speak with New York Times reporter Eric Lichtblau about his new book, Bush’s Law: The Remaking of American Justice. Lichtblau won the Pulitzer Prize for exposing the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program in December 2005. He reveals the inside story of the New York Times’s decision to delay publication of the story for more than a year after intense lobbying from the White House.

CENTERS TAP INTO PERSONAL DATABASES

Intelligence centers run by states across the country have access to personal information about millions of Americans, including unlisted cellphone numbers, insurance claims, driver's license photographs and credit reports, according to a document obtained by The Washington Post.

A SUBMARINE TO FIGHT AL-QAIDA’S NAVY

This is not about the waste of taxpayer dollars—already pushing a trillion—in funding the Iraq war, which, while reprehensible enough, pales in comparison to the big-ticket military systems purchased in the wake of 9/11. In the horror of that moment, the floodgates were lifted and the peace dividend promised with the end of the Cold War was washed away by a doubling of spending on ultra-complex military equipment originally designed to defeat a Soviet enemy that no longer exists, equipment that has no plausible connection with fighting stateless terrorists. Example: the $81-billion submarine pushed by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, presumably to fight al-Qaida’s navy.

MCCAIN’S PROMPTER PROBLEM

MCCAIN ADMITS “HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS” IRAQI DEATHS

During the last two minutes or so of his interview with David Letterman Tuesday night, John McCain got asked some tough questions, including one about the grotesque number of Iraqis killed or displaced because of his Bush’s War.

Letterman: 4,000 American men and women soldiers dead since we went into Iraq. Another 30,000 wounded. Untold Iraqis dead. We rarely hear that number. What would that number be? A quarter of a million? Half a million?

McCain: It’s hard to make these estimates, but it’s in the hundreds of thousands, obviously.

DELIVERY OF 32,000 COSIGNATURES TO FEC COMPLAINT AGAINST MCCAIN

MCCAIN IN THE DARK OVER MALIKI’S ACTIONS: YET ANOTHER FOREIGN POLICY ‘GAFFE’

THE REAL-LIFE MATRIX

At the beginning of Nick Turse's The Complex, we meet "Rick," an educated, antiwar, Daily Show-watching resident of the New York City suburbs. Rick wakes up to a Sony alarm clock, brushes his teeth with Crest toothpaste, and showers with Herbal Essences shampoo before catching a segment about Iraq on NBC's Today Show. If you asked him, Rick would tell you that his life has no connection to the military. But so far, everything Rick has touched has been produced by a company that does business with the Pentagon. The rest of his day will be no different.

MIDDLE SCHOOL KIDS THREATENED WITH TERRORIST WATCH LIST

A sherriff's deputy in Georgia warned middle school kids last week that they could end up on the government's terrorist watch list for life if they were caught making bomb threats against their school.

The deputy in Oglethorpe County was speaking to an assembly of 10- to 15-year-olds after eight of their fellow students were charged with making terrorist threats for leaving threatening notes in their school hallways.

A FALL WORSE THAN THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Excess liquidity brought about by the process of globalization is causing the present crisis in the US, writes Subhas Roy

AMERICA'S SILENT KILLING FIELDS

America's silent killers are deadly, and do not discriminate. They target babies, the elderly, teenagers, young adults, middle-age housewives, and businessmen alike. They poison livestock, pets, and wildlife, and the people behind them deny complicity in the carnage. Who or what are these silent, deadly killers? They are the beautiful, green, uniform, and seemingly beneficial, killing fields of genetically modified (GMO) crops. The people behind them are the U.S. government, the Rockefellers, Monsanto, Dow, DuPont, and Syngenta.

TURKISH POLICE BRUTALIZE KURDS, BREAKS CHILD’S ARM

CHENEY OPPOSED CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION

183 countries pledged never to "develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile or retain chemical weapons, or transfer, directly or indirectly, chemical weapons to anyone" under the Chemical Weapons Convention, put into effect in 1997.

But in a letter dated April 8, 1997, then Halliburton-CEO Cheney told Sen. Jesse Helms, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, that it would be a mistake for America to join the Convention.

PUB THINK MTV HOLOCAUST HOUSE

THE FRAUD NAMED HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON

Hillary Clinton is a fraud, a liar, a cheat and a disgrace to the Senate, her party and the United States of America.

There's no other way to put it. The woman who would be President inflated her resume, lied outright about being "under fire" in an attempt to bolster her national security credentials, plotted to overturn the will of pledged delegates at the Democratic National Convention in August and lobbied to change the rules after she signed a pledge to honor her party's decision on voting in Michigan and Florida.

BUSH'S LEGACY LEADS TO IRAN: WILL CLINTON OR OBAMA MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE? WILL YOU?

So why, for the first time in 14 years, are defense contractors throwing their money behind the Democrats? Since 2000, for example, they've given roughly 63% of their election contributions to Republicans, but in the 2008 election cycle, a full 52% of defense industry funding has gone to the Dems.

Maybe it's because Clinton and Obama can also be expected to keep defense contractors happy. Both speak of peace but have repeatedly voted to fund war. Both have plans for limited troop withdrawal once in office but neither has strongly argued against keeping tens of thousands of US troops in Iraq for years to come. Neither has fought to stop construction of the gigantic US embassy in Baghdad or to scale back the heavily-fortified Green Zone.

Perhaps more importantly, both Clinton and Obama have said that all options (code language for nuclear weapons) must be on the table for dealing with Iran.

TOP TEN POINTS ABOUT STRATCOM

1. Within months of the terrorist attack of 9/11, StratCom began undergoing a drastic makeover at the hands of the Bush/Cheney Administration. From its previously ‘unthinkable’ mission of nuclear holocaust, StratCom was tasked with offensively waging the White House’s “War on Terror”.

THE BANKRUPTING OF AMERICA

Today the endless war in Iraq is being waged at a price of $12.5 billion per month. When you add in the long-term bills as a result of the war, such as disability payments for veterans, it looks more like $25 billion per month. The total economic cost for the Iraq war through 2008 is estimated at $1.3 trillion. This war is not creating jobs for the American people. It is, however, creating tidy little profits for businesses like Halliburton, Blackwater USA (our own freelance mercenary army), and KBR (formerly Kellogg Brown & Root).

WHERE ARE THE IRAQIS IN THE IRAQ WAR?

Five years after the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, mainstream media is once more making the topic an object of intense scrutiny. The costs and implications of the war are endlessly covered from all possible angles, with one notable exception -- the cost to the Iraqi people themselves.

REGIME CHANGE: AN AMERICAN ADDICTION

It didn’t start with the U.S.’s Neocon-inspired invasion of Iraq in March, 2003. Whether knowingly or not, the morally bankrupt Bush-Cheney Gang was following an imperial script which is over 110 years old. During that period, the U.S. has “overthrown fourteen governments that displeased it for various ideological, political and economic reasons,” writes Stephen Kinzer, in his riveting book, “Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq.”

IRAQ WAR PROTEST ARREST UPDATE: 270 AMERICANS TAKEN INTO CUSTODY DURING MARCH 19TH WEEK OF PROTESTS

Hackwell said police were bumping into the crowd with motorbikes, pushing protesters into traffic lanes on Valencia and Mission streets. “They wanted to flex their muscle and send a big strong message that they were in charge,” he said.

PROFESSIONAL PERSPECTIVES: FLUORIDE IN TAP WATER

Part of a new series of "Professional Perspectives" on Fluoride. In this short video, Dr. Bill Osmunson — a general and cosmetic dentist — explains why he is now concerned about fluoride and water fluoridation

HILLARY CLINTON'S NEW VIDEO GAME: 3AM CALL OF DUTY

THE HUMAN COST OF WAL-MART'S GREAT PRICES

As it turns out, Wal-Mart is trying to get money back from an employee.

Her name is Deborah Shank. Eight years ago, the Missouri woman was badly injured in a car accident when a tractor trailer hit her minivan. She was rendered permanently brain-damaged and now lives in an institution.

Wal-Mart's health plan, to its credit, picked up the tab. It came to more than $400,000.

But the world's largest company lost patience when the patient sued the driver who hit her. She was awarded $700,000 in damages.

So Wal-Mart then sued the accident victim, saying Shank should pay back $470,000. That was a bit more than Wal-Mart spent, but the company felt it only fair that Shank pay interest.

It was also more than Shank had. After fees and medical expenses, only $417,000 of the award remained.

OBAMA FEIGNS IGNORANCE OF CFR, NAU

Is it possible Barack and Michelle are like ships passing in the night? Is it possible Michelle does not talk to her husband about the Council on Foreign Relations? Michelle Obama is on the board of directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, founded in 1922 as the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations. And yet here is Obama in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, telling people he is clueless about the elite organization. “I don’t know if I’m an official member. I’ve spoken there before. It basically is a forum where people talk about foreign policy. There is no official membership. I don’t have a card, or you know a special handshake or anything like that,” Raw Story reports.

ALEX JONES IS A LIAR

MARCH 20, 2008: WASHINGTON POST PROMOTES MYTH THAT INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES HAVE FAILED TO PENETRATE AL-QAEDA

The Washington Post publishes a front page story promoting the myth that al-Qaeda has never been effectively penetrated by intelligence agencies. The article by Craig Whitlock is titled After a Decade at War With West, Al-Qaeda Still Impervious to Spies.

MID-SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 12, 2001: US RELUCTANT TO ACT AGAINST AL-QAEDA CHARITY FRONT ASSOCIATED WITH PAKISTANI PRESIDENT MUSHARRAF

As the US is preparing its first post-9/11 list of supporters of al-Qaeda in order to freeze assets, the Rabita Trust is slated to be included on the list. The Rabita Trust was founded in 1988 by Dr. Abdullah Omar Naseef, the secretary-general of the Muslim World League (MWL) in the 1980s. It is considered a popular Islamic charity in Pakistan and is linked to the MWL, which is closely tied to the Saudi government.

JANUARY 1992-SUMMER 1993: TEXAS ARREST COULD HELP INVESTIGATORS LINK WTC BOMBERS TO BIN LADEN

In January 1992, Wadih El-Hage is briefly arrested and detained by police in Arlington, Texas, for a traffic violation. Police records show the driver of the car is Marwan Salama. From late 1992 until about a month before the World Trade Center bombing in February 1993 (see February 26, 1993), more than two dozen calls were placed from phones used by the bombers to an Arlington number used by Salama. Salama is never charged with any crime and continues to live in the US at least through late 1998.