FRIDAY: 1 US SOLDIER, 44 IRAQIS KILLED; 128 IRAQIS WOUNDED

Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr clarified recent comments about "open war" and urged his followers to observe the ceasefire. At least 44 Iraqis were killed and another 128 were wounded across Iraq. An IED killed an American soldier south of Baghdad. Also, a delegation of lawmakers wanting to assess the security situation in Basra were denied access.

BREAKTHEMATRIX

Our goal at BreakTheMatrix is to build a social networking organization and movement that will bring freedom loving people together on the Internet, and then take our message of optimism, hope, freedom and prosperity "off-Internet" through radio and television content broadcasts across America.

US-CONTRACTED SHIP FIRES ON IRANIAN BOAT

US military personnel aboard a cargo ship traveling into the Persian Gulf fired nearly a dozen warning shots at Iranian speed-boats Thursday, according to several breaking news reports.

Reports of the incident prompted a nearly immediate spike in oil prices, which jumped $3 per barrel.

DR. PAUL TO BE ON CNN, FOX RADIO, BLOOMBERG TV MONDAY APRIL 28TH

As you may know, Dr. Paul will be in New York City for an advance book signing of “The Revolution: A Manifesto” on April 28th.

While in New York, he will have a live TV interview on “CNN American Morning” with John Roberts at 8:24 - 8:30 AM ET. Then he will have a live radio interview on “Brian and the Judge” with Judge Andrew Napolitano at 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM ET. Finally, he will have a TV interview on “Night Talk” with Mike Schneider on Bloomberg Television. “Night Talk” starts at 10:00 PM ET.

HILLARY’S RADICAL SKELETONS

The former feminist liberationist, who channeled dead spirits, belittled those who “stayed home and baked cookies and had teas,” and labored to sue handgun manufacturers for daring to make the Second Amendment possible morphed herself into a gun-toting, whiskey-swilling church lady.

DEPOSITIONS TO BEGIN IN PAUL VS. CLINTON

Even though Hillary will be delayed, there will be numerous witnesses who have important things to say. They include defendants Bill Clinton and Jim Levin, Chelsea Clinton, Al Gore, Gov. Ed Rendell, Gray Davis, Howard Wolfson, Kelly Craighead, Andrew Grossman, Patti Solis Doyle, Larry King, Streisand, Cher, Diana Ross, John Travolta, Brad Pitt, Stan Lee, Haim Saban, and many others. Even before her testimony, the voters will learn about her obstruction of justice and the false FEC reporting.

BUSH LIES ABOUT 911: A PRIMER

BUSH LIES ABOUT 911

As FBI Director Robert Mueller had said, there is no evidence to connect the 'said' 19 'hijackers' with the events of 911. That's 'no' as in 'none', 'nada' and 'zip'! Those who assert must prove. Bush asserted a theory in which the 19 hijackers crashed US buildings an all died. Show me the bodies! Show me a valid and verifiable autopsy report.

JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN SAYS U.S. PREPARING MILITARY OPTIONS AGAINST IRAN

The nation's top military officer said today that the Pentagon is planning for "potential military courses of action" against Iran, criticizing what he called the Tehran government's "increasingly lethal and malign influence" in Iraq.

OBAMA’S ISLAMIC TERRORIST FUNDRAISER

The chairman of an Islamic “charity” shut down by the U.S. government for funding Middle Eastern terrorists has dedicated himself to raising money for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

SECRET SERVICE CATCHES MEXICAN DIPLOMAT RED-HANDED

A Mexican diplomat traveling with President Felipe Calderon’s delegation was caught by the U.S. Secret Service stealing several mobile telephones from White House aides during this week’s North American Summit in New Orleans.

FOOD CRISIS STARTS ECLIPSING CLIMATE CHANGE WORRIES

One factor being blamed for the price hikes is the use of government subsidies to promote the use of corn for ethanol production. An estimated 30% of America’s corn crop now goes to fuel, not food.

HEY JOHN MCCAIN, GOD CALLED. HE WANTS HIS REPUTATION BACK

John McCain’s pastor ends his sermons with an altar call, beckoning any stirred souls to the front of his 3,500-seat “worship center” to publicly dedicate their lives to Jesus Christ. In McCain’s 15 years of attending Dan Yeary’s North Phoenix Baptist Church, the pastor says, the Arizona senator has never made that walk.

THE WORLD FOOD CRISIS

The only surprising thing about the global food crisis to Jim Goodman is the notion that anyone finds it surprising. "So," says the Wisconsin dairy farmer, "they finally figured out, after all these years of pushing globalization and genetically modified [GM] seeds, that instead of feeding the world we've created a food system that leaves more people hungry. If they'd listened to farmers instead of corporations, they would've known this was going to happen."

SYRIAN NUKES: THE PHANTOM MENACE

Are the wonderful mainstream media, who gave us Saddam's mythical Weapons of Mass Destruction, lying to us again? The answer is yes.

STATE MEDIA: IRAN DENIES CONFRONTATION WITH U.S. SHIP IN GULF

"If UK or U.S. vessels had fired at Iranian boats, based on previous experiences, they would have faced the harshest reaction by Iranian forces," the official was quoted as saying.

NEW OKLAHOMA LAW: WOMEN SEEKING ABORTIONS MUST HAVE ULTRASOUNDS

Anti-choicers in Oklahoma have pushed through a bill that requires doctors to perform invasive ultrasounds, even if the patients say no.

THE PENTAGON STRANGLES OUR ECONOMY: WHY THE U.S. HAS GONE BROKE

going into 2008, the United States finds itself in the anomalous position of being unable to pay for its own elevated living standards or its wasteful, overly large military establishment. Its government no longer even attempts to reduce the ruinous expenses of maintaining huge standing armies, replacing the equipment that seven years of wars have destroyed or worn out, or preparing for a war in outer space against unknown adversaries.

WE PAID WHAT FOR THAT VIRTUAL BORDER FENCE?

The government scraps an expensive prototype of its highly touted "virtual fence" -- a multimillion-dollar waste of taxpayer money.

THE SICK AND CRAZY SCIENCE TOBACCO COMPANIES PURSUE TO GET YOU HOOKED

Injecting nitric oxide into the penises of sedated cats is just one of the newly discovered bizarre studies conducted by the tobacco industry.

PENTAGON PROPAGANDA: SO MUCH WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT

The Bush Administration has spent millions on deceptive PR to sell the war, as recently documented in the New York Times. Where's the fallout?

MASSACHUSETTS POLICE GET BLACK UNIFORMS TO INSTILL SENSE OF 'FEAR'

The city's new police commissioner, William Fitchet, says members of the department's Street Crime Unit will again don black, military-style uniforms as part of his strategy to deal with youth violence.

NEO-CONS URGE VIOLENCE AGAINST FRAMED ACTIVIST

As predicted, Neo-Cons across the country enthusiastically lapped up the complete smear story put out by the New York Post in which it was alleged activist Gary Talis beat up a wheelchair-bound girl, and resolved to hire hit men to hunt down and commit violence against Talis despite the fact that he was the victim of the assault.

CHENEY CAMP 'BEHIND SYRIAN REACTOR CLAIM'

US Government allegations that North Korea helped Syria build a nuclear reactor have been greeted with scepticism because of their timing.

ONE IN 58 BRITISH CHILDREN IS AUTISTIC, NEW FIGURES REVEAL

The leader of the Cambridge University study, autism expert Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, said the higher figure was not linked to use of the controversial MMR jab.

However, two members of his team are understood to privately believe that the triple vaccination may be to blame for the rise.

STUDENT GETS $628 TICKET FOR SITTING ON PARK LEDGE

Brendan Colin Jones, 25, was sitting on a park ledge on de Maisonneuve Blvd. just east of Berri St. At one point, he swung around southward and his feet were on grass behind the ledge.

The Victoria native's ticket cited his offending behaviour as "using urban equipment for uses other than those intended."

BBC ANCHOR WHO REPORTED ON WTC7 COLLAPSE EARLY AGREES THERE MAY BE A 'CONSPIRACY'

Hayton failed to recollect even being in the studio on the day of 9/11-- at first-- but then recalls the situation when it is described in detail, including the actions of Jane Standley, who reported the collapse some 26 minutes in advance with WTC Building 7 still visible in the background.

"A lot of eyebrows were raised," We Are Change reporters point out in summary, because many saw it as a clear controlled demolition, including a number of engineers.

Hayton responded, pointing out that he was not aware of the situation with WTC 7. "This sounds so significant-- I'm just amazed I didn't know about this... This is completely news to me."

NANCY PELOSI'S DAY JOB

By Cindy Sheehan

I arrived home from Oakland where I had just been doing my day/night job and I turned on my TV in time to see the end of the Larry King interview with my Congressional opponent, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca). I sat on my couch, switched on the TV, and there she was. I watched for a few seconds while she blamed George Bush for taking the billions of dollars that she gives him every six months (like clockwork) to continue the explicitly illegal and infinitely immoral occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

TODAY SHOW: MCCAIN FLIP FLOPS ON THE ECONOMY WITH IMPUNITY

When confronted with the hard-hitting DNC ad highlighting his utterly delusional view on the strength of the US economy, McCain, with a few insignificant caveats, simply changes his position from “we’re better off” to “no, we’re not better off.”

STOP OUTSOURCING SECURITY ACT

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:

(1) The United States is increasingly relying on private security contractors to perform mission critical and emergency essential functions that historically have been performed by United States military or government personnel.

(2) The number of private security contractors in Iraq is reported to be at least 48,000 and Department of State funding for private security and law enforcement contractors is estimated to have increased from $1,000,000,000 to $4,000,000,000.

(3) The Congressional Research Service reports that about one-quarter of private security contractors are third-party nationals.

(4) On October 18, 2007, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that the work of many contractors in Iraq was `at cross-purposes to our larger mission in Iraq', and that `right now those missions are in conflict ...'.

(5) A December 2006 report by the Government Accountability Office found multiple deficiencies in the Army's oversight of contractors in Iraq, including `limited visibility over contractors', a lack of `adequate contractor oversight personnel', and `little or no training on the use of contractors'.

(6) The Congress does not have access to security contracts, the number of private security contractors working in Iraq, Afghanistan and other combat zones, the number of contractors who have died or any disciplinary actions taken against them.

(7) The relationship between the governments of the United States and Iraq has been negatively impacted by violent incidents involving private military contractors and Iraqi citizens, including a December 24, 2006, shooting of the guard of the Iraqi Vice President and a September 16, 2007, shooting by Blackwater employees that killed 17 Iraqi citizens and wounded 24.

(8) The Government of Iraq has demanded that the United States Government sever all contracts in Iraq with Blackwater and expel the company from Iraq within six months, highlighting the danger in relying on private security contractors for mission critical functions.

(9) The use of private security contractors for mission critical functions undermines the mission, jeopardizes the safety of American troops conducting military operations in Iraq and other combat zones, and should be phased out.

FEMA: NATIONAL LEVEL EXERCISE BEGINS IN MAY

The purpose of NLE 2-08 is to exercise national capabilities to prepare and respond to multiple incidents including both natural disasters and terrorist incidents. The exercise was designed to include scenario elements addressing hurricane preparedness and response, national continuity capabilities, and Defense Support to Civil Authorities coordination in response to weapons of mass destruction terrorist attacks. The exercise venues involve a Category 4 hurricane impacting the Mid Atlantic Coast and the National Capitol Region and multiple terrorist attacks in Washington State.

$700 MILLION . . . BUT NO VACANCY

The $700 million U.S. "embassy" in Baghdad is already a boondoggle. There aren't enough "fortified living quarters for hundreds of diplomats and other workers, who must remain temporarily in trailers without special rooftop protection against mortars and rockets." Staffers have been sleeping on cots in Saddam Hussein's former palace, which appropriately serves as the current embassy, instead of in their trailers. Then again, since we've been told over and over again that the surge is working, what's the fuss? These people ought to be able to sleep under the stars without the slightest bit of fear.

RON PAUL ON LEWROCKWELL.COM

From The Revolution: A Manifesto:

We are engaged in a great battle of ideas, and the choices before us could not be clearer. I urge those who agree with this important message to educate themselves in the scholarship of liberty...Learn from the Mises Institute and Mises.org, the most heavily trafficked economics Web site in the world. Visit LewRockwell.com, an outstanding and crucially important Web site I visit every day.

PRIVATE CITIZEN ISSUES PARKING TICKET TO COP

Eric Bryant says he was sitting at a restaurant in the trendy Northwest part of town when Officer Chad Stensgaard parked his patrol car next to a “No Parking” sign and walked inside to wait for his food.

LIMBAUGH’S “OPERATION CHAOS” HARKS BACK TO AN EARLIER INTEL OPERATION

Rush Limbaugh’s handlers are having themselves a little joke with Operation Chaos. Limbaugh has launched his version of Operation Chaos to mess with the Democrats in true Karl Rove fashion. There is of course an older version of Operation Chaos. It was devised by the CIA.

THE PRESIDENT'S EXECUTIONER

He is the man who was, more often than nearly any other, behind the White House decisions to violate the international laws of war. He was the one who told the White House how to get away with committing war crimes.

BLOCKADE HALTS FOOD AID TO GAZA

The Gaza Strip has fallen eerily silent as day-to-day life grinds to a halt in the face of an Israeli fuel blockade that has forced the UN to halt its food shipments into the territory.

PAYING CASH? THAT'LL COST EXTRA

Rhonda Payne went to an AT&T Wireless store in Calhoun, Ga., recently to pay her phone bill in cash. She'd been hit by ID theft and was forced to close her checking account, so she was worried she wouldn’t be able to mail a check on time. But when she arrived at the store, she was in for a surprise.

Paying in person, she was told, costs extra -- $2 extra.