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Archived News
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Saturday January 17th, 2009
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And Then They Came For Me
posted 01/17/2009, 2:18 AM (The Sunday Leader)
[Category: Commentary]
 Lasantha Wickramatunga, a Sri Lankan newspaper editor, left a secret editorial to be published in the event he was assassinated. He was assassinated, this is the editorial.
Pictured: A Sri Lankan journalist lights candles opposite a portrait of slain newspaper editor Lasantha Wickramatunga. Lasantha was shot and killed last week by unidentified gunmen. (M. A. Pushpa Kumara / EPA)
No other profession calls on its practitioners to lay down their lives for their art save the armed forces and, in Sri Lanka, journalism. In the course of the past few years, the independent media have increasingly come under attack. Electronic and print-media institutions have been burnt, bombed, sealed and coerced. Countless journalists have been harassed, threatened and killed. It has been my honour to belong to all those categories and now especially the last.
I have been in the business of journalism a good long time. Indeed, 2009 will be The Sunday Leader's 15th year. Many things have changed in Sri Lanka during that time, and it does not need me to tell you that the greater part of that change has been for the worse. We find ourselves in the midst of a civil war ruthlessly prosecuted by protagonists whose bloodlust knows no bounds. Terror, whether perpetrated by terrorists or the state, has become the order of the day. Indeed, murder has become the primary tool whereby the state seeks to control the organs of liberty. Today it is the journalists, tomorrow it will be the judges. For neither group have the risks ever been higher or the stakes lower.
Why then do we do it? I often wonder that. After all, I too am a husband, and the father of three wonderful children. I too have responsibilities and obligations that transcend my profession, be it the law or journalism. Is it worth the risk? Many people tell me it is not. Friends tell me to revert to the bar, and goodness knows it offers a better and safer liveliho... (more) |
The price of media freedom is death
posted 01/17/2009, 2:53 AM (The Sunday Leader)
[Category: Commentary]
 Everyone's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way. Stop participating in it. - Chomsky
Pictured: Lasantha — paid the supreme price fighting for the right for people to know the truth
The year 2009 was doomed from the beginning. The shadows of 2008 in which the media practitioners of this country suffered immense hardships under the jackboots of the present day administration and its military apparatus cast its ugly dark shadow on t... (more)More: Goodbye Lasantha
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Television: The Hidden Picture
posted 01/17/2009, 2:17 AM (Rixon Stewart)
[Category: Big Brother/Orwellian]
 The old line about British television being the best in the world is a debateable one. What is beyond dispute though is the fact that Britons are a nation of TV addicts and with the advent of cable and satellite TV that trend is likely to continue. Whether or not that is a good thing is another matter entirely. For its influence could literally be described as deadening, as a growing amount of scientific evidence would seem to indicate. But don’t expect to hear that from the mainstream media, pa... (more) |
Judge Orders Release of Guantanamo's Forgotten Child
posted 01/17/2009, 2:17 AM (AlterNet)
[Category: Commentary]
Just two weeks ago, in a habeas corpus case in a Washington D.C. court, Judge Richard Leon turned the clock back to January 11, 2002 (the day Guantanamo opened) by ruling that the U.S. government could continue holding two prisoners at Guantanamo -- the Yemeni Muaz al-Alawi and the Tunisian Hisham Sliti -- because the authorities had demonstrated, to his satisfaction, that they met the criteria for being regarded as "enemy combatants."
According to the definition of an "enemy comb... (more)"The world's most dangerous terrorists." |
CIA Instructions to Media Assets
posted 01/17/2009, 2:18 AM (Real History Archives)
[Category: History]
This document caused quite a stir when it was discovered in 1977. Dated 4/1/67, and marked "DESTROY WHEN NO LONGER NEEDED", this document is a stunning testimony to how concerned the CIA was over investigations into the Kennedy assassination. Emphasis has been added to facilitate scanning.
CIA Document #1035-960, marked "PSYCH" for presumably Psychological Warfare Operations, in the division "CS", the Clandestine Services, sometimes known as the "dirty tric... (more) |
Doctors cleared of injecting children with 'mad cow disease'
posted 01/17/2009, 2:08 AM (The Telegraph)
[Category: Brave New World]
The health officials were facing charges of aggravated deception, manslaughter and causing unintentional injury by administering the hormones to almost 1,700 children suffering from stunted growth in the 1980s.
They were accused of ignoring safety rules by extracting pituitary glands from the brains of corpses many of whom died of cancer, or infectious or brain diseases – making them potentially infected with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or CJD.
Hundreds of those stil... (more) |
Japan: City governments raiding remains of dead for precious metals
posted 01/17/2009, 2:08 AM (The Telegraph)
[Category: Tyranny/Police State]
The city of Nagoya alone has reportedly collected 12 kg of gold, silver, platinum and palladium in 2007 from teeth and bones, worth more than Y10 million (£77,000).
The practice has been uncovered by the Asahi newspaper, which claims relatives of the dead are unaware of their loved ones' remains are being "mined" for reuseable materials.
"What happens to the bodies after cremation varies from place to place, but in general it is left up to the individual crematorium... (more) |
Britain 'must set population limit to safeguard national security' say experts
posted 01/17/2009, 2:07 AM (The Daily Mail)
[Category: Brave New World]
Britain must set a maximum population level if it is to avoid destroying the environment and putting national security at risk, say experts.
The Optimum Population Trust has written to ministers calling for a policy of 'zero net migration' - matching numbers allowed into Britain each year to numbers leaving.
The UK's population is projected to increase from 60 to 70million over the next 20 years, and to 85million by 2081.
The trust, a panel of aca... (more) |
Fears mount as Bank of England set to abolish 165-year old law requiring weekly balance sheet
posted 01/17/2009, 2:08 AM (The Telegraph)
[Category: Economy]
 The Government is set to throw out the 165-year old law that obliges the Bank to publish a weekly account of its balance sheet – a move that will allow it theoretically to embark covertly on so-called quantitative easing. The Banking Bill, which is currently passing through Parliament, abolishes a key section of the law laid down by Robert Peel's Government in 1844 which originally granted the Bank the sole right to print UK money.
The ostensible reason for the reform, which means... (more) |
US military may be “forced to intervene” if Mexico collapses into civil war
posted 01/17/2009, 2:07 AM (The Telegraph)
[Category: Tyranny/Police State]
A report on the "Joint Operating Environment", compiled by the army's high command, places Mexico alongside Pakistan as a possible failed state of the future. America, which shares a 2,000 mile border with Mexico, would be the obvious destination for massive refugee flows if its neighbour descended into civil war.
President Felipe Calderon has deployed Mexico's army in a new offensive against organised crime. This battle against four major drug cartels, along with a myriad of loca... (more) |
No need for condoms -- GE corn can do the job
posted 01/17/2009, 2:07 AM (GreenPeace)
[Category: Brave New World]
India — New research from Austria shows that a commercial strain of Monsanto-made GE corn causes mice to have fewer and weaker babies. What is this doing to human fertility?
Regulators around the world said Monsanto’s GE corn was as safe as non-GE strains.
It has been approved in many countries and regions including the US, the EU, Argentina, Japan, Philippines and South Africa.
China approved the GE corn for animal feed back in 2005.
U... (more) |
The IDF has no mercy for the children in Gaza nursery schools
posted 01/17/2009, 2:05 AM (Haaretz)
[Category: Commentary]
The fighting in Gaza is "war deluxe." Compared with previous wars, it is child's play - pilots bombing unimpeded as if on practice runs, tank and artillery soldiers shelling houses and civilians from their armored vehicles, combat engineering troops destroying entire streets in their ominous protected vehicles without facing serious opposition. A large, broad army is fighting against a helpless population and a weak, ragged organization that has fled the conflict zones and is barely putting up a... (more) |
Killed by Israel, Eaten by Dogs
posted 01/17/2009, 2:05 AM (Islam Online)
[Category: Tyranny/Police State]
GAZA CITY - "Oh, God! I have never seen such a terrible scene," cried Kayed Abu Aukal.
The emergency doctor could not believe himself seeing the remains of what was days back Shahd, a full-fleshed 4-year-old Palestinian girl.
She died when an Israeli shell was fired at the backyard of her home in the Jabalya refugee camp northern Gaza strip, where she was playing.
When her parents attempted to rush to the rescue of their kid, who fell to the ground am... (more) |
Video shows evidence of phosphorus bombs in Gaza
posted 01/17/2009, 2:05 AM (The Guardian)
[Category: Tyranny/Police State]
Contact with the shell remnants causes severe burns, sometimes burning the skin to the bone, consistent with descriptions by Ahmed Almi, an Egyptian doctor at the al-Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.
Almi said the entire body of one victim was burned within an hour. It was the first time he had seen the effects of what he called a "chemical weapon".
The Israeli military has denied using white phosphorus during the assault on Gaza, but aid agencies say they have no dou... (more) |
Gaza Witness Reports
posted 01/17/2009, 2:05 AM (FreeGaza.org)
[Category: Tyranny/Police State]
They parade in fear, their eyes looking upwards, surrendering to the sky showering terror and death upon them, fearing the earth that keeps shaking under every step they take, opening craters where there were houses, schools, universities, markets, hospitals, and burying their lives within them forever. I've seen caravans of desperate Palestinians evacuate Jabalia, Beit Hanoun and all the refugee camps in Gaza, crowding the United Nations' schools like earthquake survivors, like victims of a tsu... (more) |
Israelis 'shot at fleeing Gazans'
posted 01/17/2009, 2:05 AM (BBC News)
[Category: Tyranny/Police State]
 Claims have been received by the BBC and an Israeli human rights group that Israeli troops have fired on Gaza residents trying to escape the conflict area. Israel has strongly denied the allegations.
BBC journalists in Gaza and Israel have compiled detailed accounts of the claims.
Some Palestinian civilians in Gaza say Israeli forces shot at them as they tried to leave their homes - in some cases bearing white flags.
One testimony heard by the BBC and... (more) |
Israelis shell hospitals and UN HQ
posted 01/17/2009, 2:05 AM (Al Jazeera)
[Category: Tyranny/Police State]
 Three hospitals and a UN compound have been bombed by Israel as troops continue to advance into the densely-populated Gaza City.
Around 500 people were sheltering in the Al-Quds hospital in the city's southwestern Tal Al-Hawa district when it was bombed by Israeli jets and set ablaze on Thursday morning.
Hospital officials said the fire was sparked by a "phosphorus shell".
"We have been able to control the fire in the hospital but not in the administr... (more) |
Obama Nation Upholds US Terror
posted 01/17/2009, 2:01 AM (Mickey Z.)
[Category: Commentary]
Let’s start with two facts:
1. The United States of America is a rogue state built on and maintained by terror
2. Barack Obama will do absolutely nothing to change or challenge the realities behind fact #1
In the name of providing context, let’s look back to the “good war” (a phrase in which—as Studs Terkel said—the noun and adjective don’t match) for an example of time-honored US terror tactics: In World ... (more) |
Let's be honest about Abe, shall we?
posted 01/17/2009, 2:01 AM (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
[Category: Commentary]
When Barack Obama takes the oath of office Jan. 20, he will place his left hand on Abraham Lincoln's Bible.
Much has been made of the Lincoln connection, with the first black man assuming the presidency in the 200th anniversary of Honest Abe's birthday. The historic alignment has occasioned renewed spasms of idolatrous odes to "The Great Emancipator."
But before we're all swept away in a paroxysm of national ecstasy, a few inconvenient truths must be noted about "Ho... (more) |
NYPD Seeks an Air Monitor Crackdown for New Yorkers
posted 01/17/2009, 2:00 AM (Village Voice)
[Category: Tyranny/Police State]
Damn you, Osama bin Laden! Here's another rotten thing you've done to us: After 9/11, untold thousands of New Yorkers bought machines that detect traces of biological, chemical, and radiological weapons. But a lot of these machines didn't work right, and when they registered false alarms, the police had to spend millions of dollars chasing bad leads and throwing the public into a state of raw panic.
OK, none of that has actually happened. But Richard Falkenrath, the NYPD's deputy... (more) |
Parents Consider Legal Action After Autistic Girl, 8, Arrested at School
posted 01/17/2009, 2:00 AM (ABC News)
[Category: Tyranny/Police State]
The mother of an 8-year-old autistic girl who was arrested after a scuffle with her teachers said it was horrifying to watch her daughter be led away in handcuffs from her northern Idaho elementary school.
Police in Bonner County, Idaho, charged the girl, Evelyn Towry, with battery after the arrest Friday at Kootenai Elementary School.
Even though prosecutors dismissed the case Tuesday, the family is considering legal action against the school. They say their daught... (more) |
Colombia: Secret Documents Show US Aware of Army Killings in 1990s
posted 01/17/2009, 1:59 AM (IPS News)
[Category: Cover-Up/Deceptions]
BOGOTA, Jan 12 (IPS) - Declassified U.S. documents show that the CIA and former U.S. ambassadors were fully aware, as far back as 1990, that the military in Colombia -- the third largest recipient of U.S. aid after Israel and Egypt -- were committing extrajudicial killings as part of "death squad tactics."
They also knew that senior Colombian officers encouraged a "body count" mentality to demonstrate progress in the fight against left-wing guerrillas. In an undetermined number ... (more) |
Family of Iraqi shoe thrower says he remains in isolation
posted 01/17/2009, 1:59 AM (International Herald Tribune)
[Category: Tyranny/Police State]
BAGHDAD: More than a month has passed since an Iraqi television reporter threw his shoes at President George W. Bush during a news conference held to highlight what Bush called a successful U.S. military effort to pacify Iraq.
The journalist, Muntader al-Zaidi, 29, who was immediately arrested, has been allowed only two visitors - and none since Dec. 21, according to those close to him. His family and his lawyer say they do not know where he is being held and are gravely concerned... (more) |
Oakland to fire 11 cops in search warrant case
posted 01/17/2009, 1:59 AM (San Francisco Chronicle)
[Category: Tyranny/Police State]
OAKLAND -- Oakland intends to fire 11 police officers for allegedly lying to obtain search warrants in drug cases, officials said Thursday.
The two sergeants and nine officers face dismissal in a scandal that has thrown into jeopardy the prosecutions of dozens of suspects. At least 12 have already had their cases dismissed because warrants that police used to obtain evidence were obtained on the basis of lies by officers, according to attorneys involved in the cases.
... (more) |
Foreclosure Filings Up 81 Percent in 2008
posted 01/17/2009, 1:56 AM (Associated Press)
[Category: Economy]
WASHINGTON (Jan. 15) - More than 2.3 million American homeowners faced foreclosure proceedings last year, an 81 percent increase from 2007, with the worst yet to come as consumers grapple with layoffs, shrinking investment portfolios and falling home prices.
Nationwide, more than 860,000 properties were actually repossessed by lenders, more than double the 2007 level, according to RealtyTrac, a foreclosure listing firm based in Irvine, Calif., which compiled the figures.
... (more) |
Sarkozy, Merkel, Blair call for new capitalism
posted 01/17/2009, 1:54 AM (Associated Press)
[Category: Economy]
PARIS (AP) -- The leaders of France and Germany appeared to put disagreements over economic policy behind them Thursday, calling on the U.S. to join global efforts to address the financial crisis.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, leading a two-day conference with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on the future of capitalism, said the crisis has shown that no country can go it alone on economic policy.
"In the 21st century, there it is no longer a single nat... (more) |
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The Century of the Self: The Untold History of Controlling the Masses Through the Manipulation of Unconscious Desires
Operation Gladio: "One of the most secret programs that ever existed"
man 12 times in the backAndrew McLemore Published: Friday January 9, 2009
Two videos showing a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer fatally shooting an unarmed, cooperating 22-year-old man have surfaced, thanks to a vigilant teen and an anonymous cameraman.
A family have expressed their fury after the death of their disabled 91-year-old mother who 'was forced to take out a second mortgage to foot an unnecessary £16,000 council bill' .
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