Thursday, May 16, 2013

Will You Be At The International March Against Monsanto?

Heather Callaghan
Activist Post
May 16, 2013

Nick Bernabe, Emilie Rensick, and Tami Monroe Canal's organizational and social media directing gifts have been pivotal in garnering support for one of the largest worldwide peaceful protests to date. Initiative from hundreds of activist organizers online, activist media writers and tens of thousands are sharing the message. Any other divergent opinions are being put aside by those joining the march to raise awareness of biotech corporatocracy - literally from the ground up.

While the activist-dubbed Monsanto Protection Act rider slipped into law, so launched the March Against Monsanto. The protest is on May 25th 11am PST and simultaneously spans 6 continents, 36 countries, 48 United States plus the District of Columbia, and at least 250 cities.

Bernabe packs a lot of info in the following clip, discussing the blurring lines of Monsanto with the government and why Monsanto continues to increase profits (22% increase in April) thanks to "corporate welfare."



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Analysis: Syria peace talks look doomed in advance


Reuters
May 14, 2013
 
(Reuters) - If anyone saw last week's U.S.-Russian agreement to convene a peace conference on Syria as a potential breakthrough, Western leaders have been going out of their way to disabuse them.

International envoy Lakhdar Brahimi hailed the plan as the "first hopeful news" on Syria in a long time and deferred his own plans to resign after nine months of futile mediation.

He called the proposal "only a first step". But even its sponsors are dampening expectations that a civil war estimated to have killed well over 70,000 can be doused soon, and pitfalls they cite in public are only a few of those lying in wait.

"I'm not promising that it's going to be successful," U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday. Obstacles, he said, include Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah, both of which support President Bashar al-Assad, as well as the al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front on the rebel side.

Obama did not mention chronic disunity in the ranks of the Western-backed opposition or its almost complete lack of control over the now mostly Islamist insurgent forces on the ground.

Once "the furies have been unleashed ... it's very hard to put things back together", he said.

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Netanyahu visits Putin in bid to sway Russia on Syria

AFP
May 15, 2013

MOSCOW (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to warn Moscow against sending arms to Syria as alarm grows over the spiralling death toll in the conflict.

In concluding remarks following talks at the Russian strongman's Black Sea residence in Sochi, the two leaders gave little away about their closed-door meeting.

But Putin's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Israel had raised the issue and that Russia defended the arms deliveries.

"The issue was raised. The Russian Federation presented its arguments, which are well known," Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Peskov as saying.

Russia's position "was heard," Peskov added, without providing further details except to say that the meeting went "well".

Israel wants Russia to halt supplies of the formidable S-300 missiles that would severely complicate any future air attacks against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Netanyahu himself did not mention the sensitive weapons issue in public but Putin warned against any destabilising moves in the Middle East, days after Israeli forces launched air strikes against regime targets in Syria.

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Support S. 897, Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s Bill for 0.75% Student Loan Rates Paid for by the Federal Reserve

Webster G. Tarpley Ph.D.
The Webster Tarpley Program – UnboundRadio.com
May 14, 2013

ACCESS THE PROGRAM HERE

International Day Of Protest Against Monsanto & GMO Foods MAY 25, 2013

Chris Hedges: Spying on AP is a "Terrifying" Step in State Assault on Press Freedom

Iran Fears Partnership on Syria between US, Russia

Al-Monitor
May 13, 2013

The Israeli strike on Damascus has revealed the Syrian regime’s inability to prevent a major external military intervention in Syria. The raid showed that Syria’s Russian-made air-defense system cannot protect Syria from an attack by warplanes coming from outside Syrian territory. Therefore, the Russian air-defense system will be useless if NATO decides to conduct a strategic air strike on Syria. The Russian military and political cover that Syria enjoys may not be able to prevent the US and NATO from attacking Syria if they choose to bypass the UN Security Council, where Russia has veto power.



All these indications suggest that Moscow’s protection for the Syrian regime may be only political. It should be noted that the latest Lavrov-Kerry understanding was conditioned on President Bashar al-Assad’s commitment to apply the full terms of the Geneva Accord. But that accord has vague portions, such as those about Assad’s fate, and those vague portions are now being negotiated between Moscow and Washington.

So the recent US-Russian partnership on resolving the Syrian crisis may harm the unity between Russia and Iran on which Assad relies to stay in power.

According to informed sources, differences between Russia and Iran on the shape of a final Syrian settlement have recently emerged. Moscow believes that a Syrian settlement should involve a transitional phase without Assad stepping down. Tehran holds that the solution should be a package deal between the United States and Iran over all the region’s issues, from the nuclear file to Bahrain, Syria and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

13 detained in Turkey over deadly bombings near Syrian border

Xinhua
May 14, 2013


ANKARA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- A total of 13 suspects have been detained over the recent bombings in the Turkish town of Reyhanli near the border with Syria, Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler said Tuesday.

Hatay Governor Mehmet Celalettin Lekesiz also confirmed that by Tuesday, 13 suspects have been arrested in connection with the car bombings in his province, adding that the investigations are almost completed.

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Erdogan rejects joint investigation with Syria into Turkey bombing

YNET News
May 14, 2013


Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected the suggestion for a joint investigation with Damascus into the Turkey-Syria border attack where 51 people were killed.

Erdogan, speaking at a press conference before leaving for the United States, justified his decision by saying that "the current government in Damascus is illegal and isn't recognized by its people." (AFP)

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GMO OMG - Official Documentary Trailer

GMO Film

Today in the United States, by the simple acts of feeding ourselves, we are unwittingly participating in the largest experiment ever conducted on human beings. Each of us unknowingly consumes genetically engineered food on a daily basis. The risks and effects to our health and the environment are largely unknown. Yet more and more studies are being conducted around the world, which only provide even more reason for concern.
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Rep. Cohen Tears Into AG Holder On Marijuana

Syria demands foreign fighters leave or get killed


Xinhua
May 13, 2013
 
Syrian Prime Minister Wael al- Halqi said Monday that the armed rebels in Syria have two options "return to where they came from, or to be killed."

The minister's remarks came during a session of the ministerial committee tasked with implementing the political program outlined by President Bashar al-Assad recently.

According to the state-run SANA news agency, al-Halqi stressed that the Syrian people are determined to combat terrorism and restore security and stability to Syria.

He added that two options remain for the "mercenary terrorist groups" either to "return to where they came from, or be killed by the Syrian armed forces," indicating that the "government's doors are wide open to whoever wants to return to the right path."

The Syrian government has repeatedly said that thousands of foreign fighters affiliated with Jihadi groups are fighting in Syria alongside rebels.

Haitham al-Maleh, a leading opposition figure in exile, said recently that a total of 12,000 foreign fighters have joined the rebels in Syria.

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D.C. Moves to Force Gun Owners to Buy Prohibitive Liability Insurance

Kurt Nimmo
Prison Planet.com
May 16, 2013

In a frontal assault against the Bill of Rights, the District of Columbia is moving to force firearms owners to purchase prohibitively expensive liability insurance.

California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania have also proposed forcing gun owners to buy liability insurance.

D.C. Moves to Force Gun Owners to Buy Prohibitive Liability Insurance blurishgun
Photo: Timothy Tsui.
Democrat City Council member Mary Cheh proposed the law. It requires residents purchase at least $250,000 in insurance coverage before city government would consider applications to register a firearm.
If passed, the law will be the first in the country and serve as a precedent for Democrats and gun-grabbers working to dismantle the Second Amendment.

No such insurance policy currently exists, according to the Washington Times. “We oppose proposals that would mandate gun liability insurance as property-casualty insurance does not and cannot cover intentional criminal behavior,” said Willem O. Rijksen, vice president of public affairs for the American Insurance Association.

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Syrian troops retake strategic town


Syrian troops have taken full control of a town near a highway linking the capital Damascus with the Jordanian border, a new advance in its campaign to drive rebels from the country's south, an activist group said today. 


Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said government forces retook all of Khirbet Ghazaleh yesterday, after days of heavy fighting. He said rebel fighters withdrew.

Syrian state TV had reported late last week that troops had secured the highway between Damascus and the southern town of Daraa, near the Jordanian border. Mr Abdul-Rahman said the highway only reopened yesterday, after troops took full control of the area.

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Google ‘Knows When You’re Home’

Google Now: Next phase of technology giant’s takeover of your entire life

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
May 16, 2013

Google Knows When Youre Home 160513bb
 Google makes Big Brother look like an amateur.

Google has devised yet another ingenious way of convincing people to hand over their real-time location data, by offering location specific “reminders” as part of its Google Now feature.

During the company’s Google I/O conference for developers in San Francisco yesterday, it was announced that Google Now, the voice-recognizing search product, will soon be available on desktop computers and will network seamlessly with mobile devices.

Google Now enables users to perform Internet searches by speaking to their computers, but it also allows Google to provide both time and location specific reminders that function via GPS technology.

“For example, you can, from your desktop at work, tell Google Now: “Remind me to take out the garbage when I get home,” and when it senses through your smartphone that you are back at home, Google Now will send you a reminder,” reports Business Insider.

The program will also access your calendar to give you warnings about heavy traffic before you set off on your journey.

Another Google Now feature will provide recommendations on activities to do based on your current location and previous habits. A new Google tool called Activity Recognition will also know if you’re “walking, driving, or biking.”

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The EyeOpener Report- House of Death: Anatomy of a Cover-up

Sibel Edmonds
BoilingFrogsPost
May 14, 2013

The scale of what had taken place in the name of an ill-conceived “sting” operation is difficult to comprehend. Not only had the ICE informant participated in the torture and murder of more than a dozen people with the full knowledge of his government handlers; not only had this operation led to the needless endangerment of a DEA agent in Juarez and possibly that of other agents; not only had the ICE agents in charge of the case broken international rules and protocol by failing to report these murders to the DEA in Mexico City; not only had ICE then lied to Mexican federal authorities that their informant had merely “witnessed” a murder in Chihuahua, but ICE even refused to hand their informant over to Mexican authorities in the wake of the DEA evacuation to allow them probably cause to search the house in question and arrest corrupt police officials in Juarez who were colluding with the drug gang.

BFP Video
In this fourth episode of our EyeOpener Report on whistleblowers James Corbett presents the anatomy of a cover up in the House of Death scandal, and discusses the case of the special agent in charge of the DEA’s El Paso field office at the time, a 26-year DEA veteran named Sandalio Gonzalez, and the almost total silence on the case and its true implications from the mainstream media.
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House of Death: Anatomy of a Cover-up

Benghazi Emails Directly Contradict White House Claims

STEPHEN F. HAYES
Weekly Standard
May 16, 2013

The White House on Wednesday released 94 pages of emails between top administration and intelligence officials who helped shape the talking points about the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, that the CIA would provide to policymakers in both the legislative and executive branches.

The documents, first reported by THE WEEKLY STANDARD in articles here and here, directly contradict claims by White House press secretary Jay Carney and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the revisions of those talking points were driven by the intelligence community and show heavy input from top Obama administration officials, particularly those at the State Department.

The emails provide further detail about the rewriting of the talking points during a 24-hour period from midday September 14 to midday September 15. As THE WEEKLY STANDARD previously reported, a briefing from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence shows that the big changes came in three waves – internally at the CIA, after email feedback from top administration officials, and during or after a meeting of high-ranking intelligence and national security officials the following morning.

Full article here

Four local IRS workers allegedly connected to scandal

Ben Swann
Fox 19
May 16, 2013

<FOX19.com-Cincinnati News, Weather br />

FOX19 has exclusively learned that as many as four people may be the first Cincinnati Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees to face disciplinary action, and possibly even criminal charges, for allegedly targeting Tea Party and Liberty groups applying for non-profit status.

On Wednesday, the IRS announced that it had pinpointed two employees at the agency’s Cincinnati office for being ‘primarily’ responsible.

In addition, acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller resigned his position, revealed by President Obama on Wednesday.

“Secretary Lew took the first step by requesting and accepting the resignation of the acting commissioner of the IRS, because given the controversy surrounding this audit, it’s important to institute new leadership that can help restore confidence going forward,” said President Obama in a statement on Wednesday evening.

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Congressman: Justice Dept. Wiretapped the House of Representative’s Cloak Room

DANIEL HALPER
Weekly Standard
May 16, 2013

California congressman Devin Nunes made the claim yesterday that the Justice Department wiretapped telephones in the House of Representative’s Cloak Room, an exclusive part of the Capitol where members are able to privately interact with one another. Nunes made the claim on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show.


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WH Benghazi Documents Show CIA, State Both Wanted Terror References Removed from Talking Points

Patrick Goodenough
CNS News
May 16, 2013

After days of media leaks and back-and-forth wrangling about administration officials’ deliberations on talking points about the Benghazi attack, the White House late Wednesday released documents showing that both CIA and State Department officials pressed for the removal of all references to al-Qaeda and previous terror activity in Libya.

Among the 100 pages released is a draft of talking points being prepared for Congress and then public release about the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, with extensive pen alterations by CIA deputy director Michael Morell.

Dated Sept. 14 but not time-stamped, the document shows that Morell wanted to strike sentences including an entire portion reading:

“The Agency has produced numerous pieces on the threat of extremists linked to al-Qaeda in Benghazi and eastern Libya. Since April, there have been at least five other attacks against foreign interests in Benghazi by unidentified assailants, including the June attack against the British Ambassador’s convoy. We cannot rule out that individuals had previously surveilled the U.S. facilities, also contributing to the efficacy of the attacks.”

Morell did not, however, make amendments to the part of the draft that linked the Benghazi attack to a demonstration at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo hours earlier (by Muslims purportedly enraged by an online video clip denigrating Mohammed.)

Full article here

Large Corporations Seek U.S.–European ‘Free Trade Agreement’ to Further Global Dominance

Andrew Gavin Marshall
May 14, 2013

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is the latest plan of conglomerates to strengthen their grip over the planet.
A corporate world order is emerging, and like any parasite, it is slowly killing off its host. Unfortunately, the “host” happens to be the planet, and all life upon and within it. So, while the extinction of the species will be the end result of passively accepting a corporate-driven world, on the other hand, it’s very profitable for those corporations and their shareholders.
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is the latest corporate-driven agenda in what is commonly called a “free trade agreement,” but which really amounts to  ‘cosmopolitical corporate consolidation’: large corporations dictating and directing the policies of states – both nationally and internationally – into constructing structures which facilitate regional and global consolidation of financial, economic, and political power into the hands of relatively few large corporations.

Such agreements have little to do with actual ‘trade,’ and everything to do with expanding the rights and powers of large corporations. Corporations have become powerful economic and political entities – competing in size and wealth with the world’s largest national economies – and thus have taken on a distinctly ‘cosmopolitical’ nature. Acting through industry associations, lobby groups, think tanks and foundations, cosmopolitical corporations are engineering large projects aimed at transnational economic and political consolidation of power… into their hands. With the construction of “a European-American free-trade zone” as “an ambitious project,” we are witnessing the advancement of a new and unprecedented global project of transatlantic corporate colonization.

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Bill Maher shredded by Glenn Greenwald on US intervention in Muslim countries

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Syrian Rebel Eats Soldier's Heart: Paid For By The U.S. Taxpayer

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
May 15, 2013
image source

In a shocking video that has recently emerged out of Syria, Syrian “rebel” leader Abu Sakkar is seen cutting out the heart of a Syrian soldier and then biting it for the camera to see. Shortly before biting the man’s heart, Sakkar states to the camera “I swear to God we will eat your hearts and your livers.”

The video can be seen here and it comes fresh on the heels of a pledge by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to provide $123 million in aid to the Syrian death squads and £40 million by the UK, all in the midst of a worldwide economic depression and the imposition of brutal austerity measures in both countries.

However, while the footage is clearly shocking, it is only shocking in its savagery as an act in and of itself, not in the fact that Syrian “rebels” (aka death squads) are engaging in such brutal acts. Let us not forget that the death squads have been responsible for unspeakable atrocities against innocent people ever since the destabilization effort began.

Last October, the death squads, in typical terrorist fashion, conducted at least four suicide bombings in Aleppo that killed around 40 innocent civilians.

Receiving more attention in the media, however, at least until the death squads were found to be responsible, was the infamous Houla Massacre of 2011 where approximately 90 people were killed.

Numerous other atrocities have also been documented with videos showing the death squads machine gunning captives, beheading prisoners (see here and here), and forcing young children to behead them. I, myself, have written an article dealing with reports regarding the death squad’s hanging of a young child after murdering his family in front of him. One can also view the videos of the death squad members beating and humiliating the famous elderly “Yellow Man” in Aleppo.

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Nationalize the Federal Reserve

United Front Against Austerity
AgainstAusterity.org

Alexander Hamilton, the architect of America’s First National Bank, proved that a national debt, if not excessive, is a great advantage to a modern nation. A sustained economic recovery requires a source of credit which can be neither zombie banks nor the federal budget.

Federal lending, not Federal spending

Paul Krugman and other Keynesians propose an economic recovery financed exclusively through the federal budget. Our objection to this method has nothing to do with the reactionary Republican demagogy about deficits and debt, but with a recognition of the difference between the operating debts represented by the annual Federal budget, and the long-term capital debts used historically to finance economic growth and development.

If applied today, Keynesian methods would result in excessive burden on the federal budget, thus creating a vulnerability to speculative attack on the Greek model. The Keynesians also do not understand that it is impossible to defeat a depression without a recovery in the capital goods industry. The consumer-led recovery was implicit in the Obama stimulus of 2009, which had positive effects, but which has failed to produce a sustained broad-based recovery

The policy of federal lending, as distinct from federal spending, can be used to break the current political impasse. The cost of capital can be radically lowered, and a competitive advantage of the United States in world markets can be secured. The overriding goal is the creation of 30+ million new jobs in production, with high capital investment, high energy intensity, high value added, and high technology.

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Amid Economic Collapse, South Carolina Approves Another $1M for Police State

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
May 14, 2013

A little over a week ago, on May 7, 2013 and in the midst of a worldwide economic depression, Columbia, South Carolina City Council members met to discuss the funding of a million dollar project even as the State government continued its regularly scheduled hysteria over budgets, spending, and deficits.
Anthony Freda Art

So what was the project so vital to the people of Columbia to be pushed through by a 4-2 vote of the council during the midst of such trying economic times? Was it regarding the road systems? Was it the dismal state of Columbia schools? Was it tax relief for residents? Was it economic development? Water? Power? Sewage? Waste disposal?

Actually, it was the purchase and installation of 800 new surveillance cameras all across the city of Columbia that prompted the Council to spend $1.22 million, much of which is scheduled to come from an “emergency reserve fund” that is actually part of next year’s budget. As The State reports, “That previous $1 million fund will be reduced to $250,000. A capital projects fund that was to be $1.7 million next year will be down by $200,000.”

Once again, Columbia City Council members have come to the decision that maintaining and expanding the police state should always be paramount to any concerns facing elected officials at any time. In other words - Surveillance at all costs! Survival is secondary.

Even as the city’s meal taxes will be used to fund the camera installation to the tune of $100,000, budget cuts will also take place regarding the amount of money spent to house inmates in the Richland County Jail. This simply means that, if you are arrested (which will likely happen in the New United Police States of America) for one of the innumerable mundane and victimless activities that can result in temporary (or indefinite) imprisonment, the conditions in which you are held are likely to be even more abominable than they currently are.
 

5 Reasons that Both Mainstream Media – and Gatekeeper “Alternative” Websites – Are Pro-War

Washington’s Blog
May 14, 2013

There are five reasons that the mainstream media and the largest alternative media websites are both pro-war.

1. Self-Censorship by Journalists

Initially, there is tremendous self-censorship by journalists.

A survey by the Pew Research Center and the Columbia Journalism Review in 2000 found:
Self-censorship is commonplace in the news media today …. About one-quarter of the local and national journalists say they have purposely avoided newsworthy stories, while nearly as many acknowledge they have softened the tone of stories to benefit the interests of their news organizations. Fully four-in-ten (41%) admit they have engaged in either or both of these practices.
Similarly, a 2003 survey reveals that 35% of reporters and news executives themselves admitted that journalists avoid newsworthy stories if “the story would be embarrassing or damaging to the financial interests of a news organization’s owners or parent company.”

Several months after 9/11, Dan Rather told the BBC that American reporters were practicing “a form of self-censorship”:
There was a time in South Africa that people would put flaming tires around peoples’ necks if they dissented. And in some ways the fear is that you will be necklaced here, you will have a flaming tire of lack of patriotism put around your neck. Now it is that fear that keeps journalists from asking the toughest of the tough questions…. And again, I am humbled to say, I do not except myself from this criticism.
What we are talking about here – whether one wants to recognise it or not, or call it by its proper name or not – is a form of self-censorship.

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Putin again warns Netanyahu hands off Syria

DEBKAfile
May 15, 2013

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spent three hours with Russian President Vladimir Putin at his residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Tuesday, May, 14. He came for a last-ditch attempt to head off the supply of advanced Russian anti-air S-300 missile systems to Syria. Instead, the Russian leader turned the conversation around to focus implicitly on Israel’s air strikes against Damascus on May 3 and May 5.

After their conversation he issued a warning: ”In this crucial period it is especially important to avoid any moves that can shake the situation.”

This was clearly a hands-off caution to Israel not to repeat its attacks on Damascus. And, furthermore, after “shaking the situation” in Syria by its air attacks, Israel was in no position to demand that Russia avoid selling Syria advanced weapons.

The prime minister, for his part, warned that the entire Middle East was in a dangerous state of volatility.
He was accompanied by Israeli Military Intelligence Chief Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi. Opposite him sat Mikhail Fradkov, SVR Director.

Kochavi laid before the Russian leader the information Israel had gathered on the state of Syria’s chemical weapons with relevance to their transfer to the Lebanese Hizballah.

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New cables ‘expose’ US govt lobbies worldwide for Monsanto, other GMO corps

RT
May 15, 2013

After US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks showed that the State Department was lobbying worldwide for Monsanto and other similar corporations, a new report based on the cables shows Washington’s shilling for the biotech industry in distinct detail.

The August 2011 WikiLeaks revelations showed that American diplomats had requested funding to send lobbyists for the biotech industry to hold talks with politicians and agricultural officials in “target countries” in areas like Africa and Latin America, where genetically-modified crops were not yet a mainstay, as well as some European countries that have resisted the controversial agricultural practice.

After a concerted effort to “closely examine five years of State Department diplomatic cables from 2005 to 2009 to provide the first comprehensive analysis of the strategy, tactics and U.S. foreign policy objectives to foist pro-agricultural biotechnology policies worldwide,” nonprofit consumer protection group Food & Water Watch published on Tuesday a report showing in plain detail the depth of the partnership between the federal government and a number of controversial biotech companies that have slowly but surely pushed their GMO products on a number of new countries in recent years.

At center stage in the report is Monsanto, the St. Louis, Missouri-based makers of genetically-modified crops and genetically-engineered seeds that has continuously generated criticism as of late over its practices both on the growing field and in a court of law. Monsanto is among the most valuable corporations in the US, yet has relentlessly sued small-time farmers across the world over alleged patent violations, often forcing independent agriculturists to go out of business. Legislation signed into law last month provided litigation immunity to GMO companies including Monsanto, and on Monday the Supreme Court sided with the corporation when ruling on a landmark patent infringement case.

The US Department of State is selling seeds instead of democracy,” Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter told reporters. “This report provides a chilling snapshot of how a handful of giant biotechnology companies are unduly influencing US foreign policy and undermining our diplomatic efforts to promote security, international development and transparency worldwide. This report is a call to action for Americans because public policy should not be for sale to the highest bidder.”

Food & Water Watch published their findings this week after combing through the roughly 260,000 State Department cables that the whistleblower website first began publishing in 2010, but notes that their statistics specifically come from memos not classified as ‘secret’ or higher.

For the most part, wrote the nonprofit, “The State Department strategy sought to foist pro-biotech policies on foreign governments” using a four-prong approach: promote biotech business interests; lobby foreign governments to weaken biotech rules; protect US biotech exports and press developing world to adopt biotech crops.

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Petrol price ‘rigged for a decade’

Rowena Mason and Emily Gosden
London Telegraph
May 15, 2013

MPs and energy experts have raised fears motorists have been “taken for a very expensive ride”, after officials searched the offices of BP and Shell for evidence of price-rigging.

The companies are suspected of distorting the oil price since 2002, meaning drivers have potentially been ripped off for more than 10 years.

Over that time, petrol prices have risen dramatically by more than 80 per cent to around 135p per litre.
European investigators, who raided the London offices of BP and Shell, said the alleged price-rigging could have had a “huge impact” on the cost of oil, including the price of fuel for consumers.

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Shock Video: California Police Break Into Home, Taze Victims

Blogger Harassed by Police For Visiting Site of Bilderberg 2013

Lions And Tigers And Terrorists, Oh My!

Brandon Smith
Alt Market
May 15, 2013

The debate over what actions actually constitute “terrorism,” I believe, will become one of the defining ideological battles of our era. Terrorism is not a word often used by common people to describe aberrant behaviors or dastardly deeds; however, it is used by governments around the world to label and marginalize political enemies. That is to say, it is the government that normally decides who is a “terrorist” and who is a mere “criminal,” the assertion being that one is clearly far worse than the other.

The terrorist label elicits emotional firestorms and fearful brain-quakes in the minds of the masses. It causes the ignorant and unaware to abandon principles they would normally apply to any other malicious enterprise. They begin to reason that a criminal should be afforded justice, while a terrorist should be afforded only vengeance, even though the act of branding a person a “terrorist” is often completely arbitrary. This vengeance is usually pursued by any means. Thus, the terrorist moniker becomes a rationalization for every vicious and inhuman policy of the establishment, as well as for the citizenry.

Dishonorable and foolish people claim the existence of terrorism essentially gives license for the rest of us to become criminal, willfully trampling on individuals’ rights to privacy, property, free speech, due process, civic participation, etc. Mass criminality against the individual in the name of social safety is the glue that holds together all tyrannical systems, triggering a catastrophic cycle of moral relativism that eventually bleeds a culture dry.

Historically, the expanded use of the terrorist label by governments tends to coincide with the rising tides of despotism. A government that quietly seeks to dominate the people will inevitably begin to treat the people as if they are the enemy. Those citizens who present the greatest philosophical or physical threat to the centralization of power are usually the first to suffer. I do not think it is unfair to say that any system of authority that suddenly claims to see terrorists under every rock and behind every tree is probably about to rain full-on fascism down upon the population.

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is the legal extension of this process, with a vaporous gray language that allows the government to interpret it in any manner it deems useful, which conveniently allows it to interpret a wide range of “offenses” as acts of war against the state.

The Department of Homeland Security’s “If You See Something Say Something” campaign is the social extension of the process, by which it creates the framework for a paranoid self-censored surveillance culture.
The fusion center network is the enforcement extension designed to surround local and State police with an atmosphere of indoctrination and federalized dogma, teaching common cops to profile according to a template that is so ambiguous that literally any activity could be considered suspicious or terroristic.

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Mainstream Media Tactic: Label All Opposing Views As ‘Conspiracy Theories’

Anthony Gucciardi
StoryLeak.com
May 15, 2013

What does the mainstream media do when they don’t want to discuss a real issue that diverts away the topic from political theater? Simply deem it a wild ‘conspiracy theory’ and pretend it doesn’t exist.

It’s a tried and true method. It has worked for a long line of question-dodging politicians, with both Bush and Obama each speaking out against ‘conspiracy theories’ and those who warn against corruption and tyranny in government. As I detailed last week, in fact, Obama recently spoke to the graduating class of Ohio State University and repeated such warnings. He told the class to ignore and reject those warning of government tyranny, and went on to praise the new United States government system he called ‘brave’ and ‘unique’.

And anyone who decides to attack this ‘brave and unique’ government, or anyone who even questions reports by the government? They must be conspiracy nuts. I joined John B. Wells of Coast to Coast AM a couple weeks ago to discuss how this media tactic works and how I decided to turn to reality over media theater:



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News Anchor Targeted by IRS After Obama Interview

DYLAN BYERS
Politico
May 14, 2013

Larry Connors, a veteran local news anchor at KMOV Channel 4 in St. Louis, says that the Internal Revenue Service has been targeting him since an April 2012 interview he conducted with President Obama — a fact that he dismissed as coincidence until the recent reportsabout the IRS targeting conservative groups.

“Shortly after I did my April 2012 interview with President Obama, my wife, friends and some viewers suggested that I might need to watch out for the IRS. I don’t accept ‘conspiracy theories’, but I do know that almost immediately after the interview, the IRS started hammering me,” Connors wrote on his Facebook page late Monday night.

Connors did not specify how the IRS has been “hammering” him. He did not immediately respond to a request for clarification (see Update below).

According to his account, his questions for Obama touched on the economy and spending but were not exceptional in nature (video here). But following “allegations that the IRS focused on various groups and/or individuals questioning or criticizing government spending, taxes, debt or how the government is run,” Connors now believes there may be a possible connection.

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Tuesday, May 14, 2013

It’s Time for a Manufacturing Revolution

Truthout.org
May 13, 2013

On April 14, 1789, George Washington was walking through the fields of Mount Vernon, his Virginia home, when Charles Thomson, the secretary of the Continental Congress, rode up on horseback, to deliver Washington a letter, telling him that he had been elected president of the United States by the newly created United States Senate.

While this was great news for Washington, it presented two problems for him.

The first was that he had to say goodbye to his ailing mother before setting off for the presidential inauguration in New York City. His mother died before Washington was able to return from the inauguration.

The second problem Washington faced was trying to find a suit of clothes he could wear for the swearing-in ceremony that were made in America.

When Washington became president in 1789, the majority of America's industrial and personal products were manufactured in England. One of the ways that England kept the American colonies under their thumb was by outlawing American manufacturing of most high-quality goods, including fine clothing.

Instead, in the years prior to the American Revolution, the British East India Company, the world's largest transnational corporation, controlled the production and transportation of a variety of goods, including fine clothing.

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State Department Conducts Secret Visit with Death Squad Leader in Syria

Chaos promoter Robert Ford's "secret" meeting with death squad leader points to eliminating Assad and increasing atrocities.

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
May 14, 2013

image source
As the Syrian army continues to gain the upper hand against the NATO-backed death squads made up of mercenaries, fanatics, and al-Qaeda terrorists, it appears that the Western powers responsible for the creation of the armed and violent rebellion have kicked into high gear as the advance of their proxy army has been stalled.

Even though the barbarism of death squad participants seems to have recently hit a fever pitch, while Israeli air strikes on sovereign Syrian soil are targeting military and civilian targets alike, and newfound erroneous claims by Western nations of the use of chemical weapons by the Assad government, the Syrian army has managed to continue its mop up of the inappropriately named “rebels.”

Yet the Western agitators have not given up. This much is made clear by the recent “secret” visit by former U.S. Ambassador to Syria and notorious destabilization agent Robert Ford made to the current death squad leader, Gen. Salim Idriss.

This visit took place Wednesday, May 9, 2013 and was likely initiated via the Bab al-Salama crossing on the Turkey/Syria border. According to Deborah Thomas of NPR, “Ford met with the head of the Aleppo military council, Abdul Jabbar Okaidi, who thanked him for the shipment of nonlethal aid. Seven trucks transported some 65,000 MREs, or meals ready to eat, the U.S. military's battlefield rations.”

Although no mention is made of the actual lethal aid that has been provided to the death squads by the generosity of the American taxpayer via Gulf State feudal monarchies such as Saudi Arabia, Thomas points out that the MREs were part of “an additional $10 million aid package” dedicated to the death squads by the U.S. government. Secretary of State John Kerry announced in April that the United States would be donating $123 million to the Syrian death squads, despite facing a worldwide economic depression, drastic levels of unemployment at home, and a manufactured crisis such as the “sequester” and a host of other domestic crises.
 

Warren Bill to Cut Student Loan Rates to 0.75% at Federal Reserve Expense is Where Common Sense Becomes Revolutionary – Tarpley on KDKA Pittsburgh

Webster G. Tarpley, Ph.D.
KDKAKDKA-1020AM, Pittsburgh with Chris Moore
May 12, 2013

ACCESS THE PROGRAM HERE

Immigrants? We sent out search parties to get them to come… and made it hard for Britons to get work, says Mandelson

TIM SHIPMAN
UK Daily Mail
May 14, 2013

Labour sent out ‘search parties’ for immigrants to get them to come to the UK, Lord Mandelson has admitted.

In a stunning confirmation that the Blair and Brown governments deliberately engineered mass immigration, the former Cabinet Minister and spin doctor said New Labour sought out foreign workers.

He also conceded that the influx of arrivals meant the party’s traditional supporters are now unable to find work.

By contrast, Labour leader Ed Miliband has said his party got it wrong on immigration but has refused to admit it was too high under Labour.

Between 1997 and 2010, net migration to Britain totalled more than 2.2million, more than twice the population of Birmingham.

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Merkel faces scrutiny over Communist past

Peter Ehrlich
Financial Times
May 14, 2013

Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, is facing fresh scrutiny over her political activities in the former East Germany, with a book alleging she took part in the Communist regime’s propaganda activities.

Ms Merkel is the first chancellor to come from the German Democratic Republic. As a physicist in the 1980s she was a member of the communist youth organisation “Freie Deutsche Jugend” at the Academy of Sciences in Eastern Berlin and was in charge of “agitation and propaganda”, the journalists Ralf Georg Reuth and Günther Lachmann claim in their book, The First Life of Angela M.

“She was responsible for brainwashing in the favour of Marxism”, Günther Krause, a former minister and ally from the chancellor’s Christian Democrats, says in the book.

Ms Merkel, who remains by far the most popular politician in Germany, has reacted calmly to the claims.
“I never concealed anything”, she said at a Berlin cinema on Sunday night where she was introducing her favourite film The Legend of Paul and Paula, a GDR production from 1973 that was also a hit in West Germany.

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Police Steal $160,000 From Man During Traffic Stop

Sales-driven panic? New SARS-like virus spreading worldwide, boosting media coffers

RT
May 14, 2013

Saudi Arabia has confirmed four more cases of the new deadly coronavirus, contributing to global fears over the disease’s spread. Panic of this type has been boosting media ratings and has kept the drugs market bubbling over the last decade.

Four more confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus (nCoV) see the total number of infected in Saudi Arabia reach 28 since the disease was first identified in 2012. Ten more people have been reported to have nCoV in other parts of the world – Jordan, Germany, Britain and France.

One of the freshly-confirmed sick Saudis had already been treated and released from hospital, while three others are still receiving medical assistance, according to the Saudi Press Agency, cited by Reuters.

This surge in the number of detected nCoV cases could result from the fact that overwhelming numbers of Saudis, even those with slightest fever symptoms, have rushed to hospitals for fears of the new virus, which has been deadliest in Saudi Arabia, claiming 15 lives. The disease’s global death toll is 18.

I did not send my son to school because of the fear of the spread of the virus,” said one Saudi woman interviewed by AFP.

The news of the four new Saudi nCoV cases, comes a day after the second case of coronavirus was detected in France, where the disease transmitted between hospital roommates. The one initially suffering from the coronavirus was infected while on a Middle East tour.

The WHO is ringing alarm bells, labeling the new coronavirus as “major challenge for all of the countries which have been affected as well as the rest of the world.

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Syria Civil War: ‘Cannibal’ Commander Abu Sakkar Ate Soldier’s Heart

UMBERTO BACCHI
International Business Times
May 14, 2013

Human Rights Watch has confirmed that a man shown in a video cutting the heart out of a soldier’s body and biting it was a Syrian rebel commander.

In the footage posted online by a pro-Syrian regime group, a man wearing military gear is seen knife in hand slicing parts of a dead soldier’s torso before turning to the camera and putting the heart in his mouth.

“I swear we will eat from your hearts and livers, you dogs of Bashar,” the man says referring to supporters of President Bashar al-Assad. “Allahu akbar (God is great),” comes an offscreen reply.

According to Peter Bouckaert of the New York-based human rights watchdog, the man is Abu Sakkar, a founder of the rebel Farouq Brigade.

WARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC CONTENT


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No olive branches in Korea: North fires hawkish general, US sends warships

RT
May 13, 2013

North Korea has replaced its hawkish armed forces minister with a younger general. The move comes as the US and South Korea launch new naval war games, which Pyongyang decried as “blackmail” and a “provocation.”

General Kim Kyok-sik – who reportedly ordered the 2010 shelling of a South Korean island – was appointed to his post last November. In a Monday report, state news agency KCNA announced that the relatively unknown General Jang Jong-nam is the new minister of the People’s Armed Forces. The general was previously the top military commander of a province of North Korea.

Pyongyang did not comment on the reshuffle, but some Korea experts believe it may be part of the North’s latest move to cool inflamed tensions in the region. Earlier, Pyongyang withdrew two Musudan medium-range ballistic missiles it had deployed in the east of the country.

While Pyongyang is apparently offering concessions, the US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Nimitz anchored off the South Korean port of Busan on Saturday. The ship is scheduled to take part in search and rescue operations and sea maneuvers from Monday to Tuesday off the country’s eastern coast, the South Korean Defense Ministry announced.

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Syria warns entry into Golan Heights after Israeli airstrike

Xinhua
May 13, 2013

The Syrian government has warned Israel that it would enter the occupied Golan Heights “whenever it wants because it’s a Syrian land,” a warning that came a week after the latest Israeli airstrike against military positions in the capital Damascus.

The comments were made by Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi on Sunday during which he said that the recent Israeli airstrike against Syria had violated the pertaining international accords. Therefore, he added, Syria has the right to behave in the Golan ” because it’s a Syrian property.”

“Golan is a Syrian Arab land and will remain so even if the Israeli army is stationing there. We have the right to enter it and go out of it whenever we want and in the way we like,” he said.

Last week, Israel carried out airstrikes against Syrian military positions in the Damascus’ suburb of Jamraya and the Qassioun Mountain. The government’s response was mild and threatened retaliation through rendering arms to the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group and allowing Syria-based Palestinian factions to wage attacks against Israel in the Golan Heights, which was taken over by Israel during 1967 war.

On Saturday, The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine- General Command (PFLP-GC) welcomed Damascus’ recent hint that it would open the Golan front for the Palestinian groups to launch attacks against Israel, according to a statement faxed to Xinhua.

The PFLP-GC stressed that it is ready to launch military operations against the “Zionist enemy,” adding that giving an access to the Golan front required a popular pressure to open all other Arab fronts, especially the Jordanian front.

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The White House Says It Had No Idea The DOJ Seized The AP’s Phone Records

Grace Wyler
Business Insider
May 14, 2013

The White House claims to have had no idea that the Department of Justice seized the Associated Press’ phone records in what the news organization’s top executives called a “massive and unprecedented intrusion.”

“Other than press reports, we have no knowledge of any attempt by the Justice Department to seek phone records of the AP,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters in New York Monday night.

“We are not involved in decisions made in connection with criminal investigations, as those matters are handled independently by the Justice Department. Any questions about an ongoing criminal investigation should be directed to the Department of Justice.”

Carney’s comments came just hours after the AP broke the news that the DOJ had seized two months of phone records from its reporters and editors in April and May of 2012. According to the AP, the DOJ has refused to say why it is investigating the news organization, but the news company believes that it has to do with a May 7 story about a foiled terrorist plot in Yemen.

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10 Scenes From The Economic Collapse That Is Sweeping Across The Planet

Michael Snyder
Economic Collapse
May 14, 2013

When is the economic collapse going to happen?  Just open up your eyes and take a look around the globe.  The next wave of the economic collapse may not have reached Wall Street yet, but it is already deeply affecting billions of lives all over the planet.  Much of Europe has already descended into a deep economic depression, very disturbing economic data is coming out of the second and third largest economies on the globe (China and Japan), and in most of the world economic inequality is growing even though 80 percent of the global population already lives on less than $10 a day.  Just because the Dow has been setting brand new all-time records lately does not mean that everything is okay.  Remember, a bubble is always the biggest right before it bursts.  The next major wave of the economic collapse is already sweeping across Europe and Asia and it is going to devastate the United States as well.  I hope that you are ready.

The following are 10 scenes from the economic collapse that is sweeping across the planet…

#1 27 Percent Unemployment/60 Percent Youth Unemployment In Greece

The economic depression in Europe just continues to get worse with each passing month.  According to the Daily Mail, the unemployment rate in Greece has nearly tripled since 2009…
Greek youth unemployment rose above 60 per cent for the first time in February, reflecting the pain caused by the country’s crippling recession after years of austerity under its international bailout.
Greece’s jobless rate has almost tripled since the country’s debt crisis emerged in 2009 and was more than twice the euro zone’s average unemployment reading of 12.1 percent in March.
While the overall unemployment rate rose to 27 per cent, according to statistics service data released on Thursday, joblessness among those aged between 15 and 24 jumped to 64.2 percent in February from 59.3 percent in January.
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CNN Calls for Real-time Police State Surveillance

Kurt Nimmo
Prison Planet.com
May 13, 2013

The establishment media is calling for the implementation of Big Brother technology following the Boston bombing last month.

In order to prevent terrorist attacks, CNN argues, there must be real-time surveillance cameras planted everywhere. Panopticon technology is required if we are to expect government to protect us from terrorists and other miscreants, the corporate media network says.

In April, CNN dismissed privacy and civil liberty concerns and argued that “facial-recognition software and other technologies are making security-camera images more valuable to law enforcement. Now, software can automatically mine surveillance footage for information, such as a specific person’s face, and create a giant searchable database.”

CNN says video surveillance is “less intrusive” and “much more pleasant” than pat-downs and other in-your-face Gestapo tactics. “When combined with competent law enforcement, surveillance cameras are more effective, less intrusive, less psychologically draining, and much more pleasant than these alternatives,” writes Heather Kelly.

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Hungry? Lacking protein? Eat an insect, UN says

RT
May 13, 2013

The UN has been working on ways to end world hunger for decades, but their newest idea does not involve economics, politics, or even food: The organization is now advising people to eat more insects.

Insect farming is “one of the many ways to address food and feed security,” the agency said in a 200-page report released at a news conference at the UN’s Rome headquarters. The report said that insects are “extremely efficient” in converting feed into edible meat for humans. It added that insects are“particularly important as a food supplement for undernourished children.”

University biologists agree, claiming that certain types of beetles, ants, crickets, and grasshoppers offer nearly as much protein per gram as lean red meat or broiled fish. Crickets need 12 times less feed than cattle to produce the same amount of protein.

Insects can also be rich in copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, selenium and zinc. They are also a source of fiber.

The UN said that insects provide a while slew of benefits outside of nutrition. The report claims that eating insects is also better for the environment – according to the agency, most insects are likely to produce fewer environmentally harmful greenhouse gases than other livestock.

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Monday, May 13, 2013

Give Yourself a Real Graduation Present: Cut the Interest on Your Student Loans to 0.75%

Webster G. Tarpley Ph.D.
TARPLEY.net
May 11, 2013

To the Seniors of the Class of 2013

Make Sure Your Commencement Ceremony Helps to Pass Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Bank on Students Bill!

As every college student knows, the crushing burden of student loan debt poses the single greatest obstacle to anyone seeking a good education. An undergraduate degree frequently means $30,000-$50,000 and up in debt. An advanced degree starts at twice that, and medical and law degrees can saddle the student with six figures of loans. For the nation as a whole, student loan debt is a social crisis set to exceed $1 trillion. Interest rates vary, but they are always far too high for young people starting out in life, or for anyone else. And things are scheduled to get worse, with the interest rate on one key type of student loan set to double from 3.4% to 6.8% on July 1. A whole generation of young people is being forced to put their lives on hold, prevented by high interest debt from continuing their schooling, from renting or buying a home, from getting married and having children. This is simply intolerable.

At the same time, Wall Street banks can borrow from the Federal Reserve Discount Window for a mere 0.75%. That’s right — just three quarters of 1%. Why should students be crushed when the bankers who caused the present economic crisis with their wild and irresponsible derivatives speculation get a sweetheart deal?

Fortunately, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has now offered a bill which would force the Federal Reserve to fund federal Stafford loans through the US Department of Education at an annual interest rate of just 0.75% — the discount rate the Fed offers banks. Do the arithmetic and you can easily figure out how much interest this bill will save you every year. But this bill faces an uphill battle to become law, since it is likely to be opposed by Wall Street lobbyists, the congressional leadership of both parties, and by the Obama White House. The only hope for the Warren bill lies in a massive outpouring of support, starting with the graduation ceremonies of the class of 2013. That means a big part of your economic destiny is now in your hands.

Graduation ceremonies are often marked by boring platitudes from overpaid and cynical celebrities. But now you can use your graduation day as a springboard to cutting your monthly loan payment.

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IRS targeted groups that criticized the government, IG report says

Juliet Eilperin
The Washington Post
May 13, 2013

At various points over the past two years, Internal Revenue Service officials targeted nonprofit groups that criticized the government and sought to educate Americans about the U.S. Constitution, according to documents in an audit conducted by the agency’s inspector general.

The documents, obtained by The Washington Post  from a congressional aide with knowledge of the findings, show that on June 29, 2011, IRS staffers held a briefing with senior agency official Lois G. Lerner in which they described giving special attention to instances where “statements in the case file criticize how the country is being run.” Lerner, who  oversees tax-exempt groups for the agency, raised objections and the agency revised its criteria a week later.

But six months later, the IRS applied a new political test to groups that applied for tax-exempt status as “social welfare” groups, the document says. On Jan. 15, 2012 the agency decided to target “political action type organizations involved in limiting/expanding Government, educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, social economic reform movement.,” according to the appendix in the IG report, which was requested by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and has yet to be released.
The new revelations are likely to intensify criticism of the IRS, which has been under fire since agency officials acknowledged they had deliberately targeted groups with “tea party” or “patriot” in their name for heightened scrutiny.

Full story here.

Insanity: US Approves Bee Death Pesticide as EU Bans It Read more: http://naturalsociety.com/us-approves-bee-deathpesticide-as-eu-bans/#ixzz2TBCHd7d0 Follow us: @naturalsociety on Twitter | NaturalSociety on Facebook

Anthony Gucciardi
Natural Society
May 13, 2013

Corporate politics is business as usual inside the United States, as I am once again shocked to report the EPA has sided with industry lobbyists over public health in approving a highly dangerous pesticide that the European Union recently decided to ban over fears of environmental devastation. Not only have neonicotinoid pesticides been linked repeatedly to mass bee deaths, also known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), but the continued use of such pesticides threatens other aspects of nature (and humans) as well.

What’s even more amazing is that the decision not only comes after the EU publicly discussed the major dangers surrounding the use of the pesticides, but after the USDA released a report surrounding the continued honeybee deaths and the related effects — a report in which they detailed pesticides to be a contributing factor. Just the impact on the honeybees alone, and we now know that these pesticides are killing aquatic life and subsequently the birds that feed upon them, amounts to a potential $200 billion in global damages per year. We’re talking about the devastation of over 100 crops, from apples to avocados and plums.

And there’s countless scientists and a large number of environmental science groups speaking out on this. The EPA has no lack of information the subject. And sure, there are other contributing factors to bee deaths, there’s no question about that. We have an environment right now being hit with Monsanto’s Roundup even in residential areas, we have chemical rain, we have insane amounts of EMF — but it’s pretty clear that neonicotinoid pesticides are at least a major contributing factor. And beyond that, they have no place in the food supply to begin with.

The Pesticide Action Network (PAN) details the EU ban that came right before the EPA acceptance of the death-linked  pesticide:

Shut Them Down! – Payday Loan Companies Are Making Billions Preying On The Misery Of The Poor

Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse
May 13, 2013

Would you take out a loan that has an annual percentage rate of 391 percent?  Yes, I know that sounds absolutely crazy, but millions of Americans do it every single year.  The typical payday loan requires borrowers to pay about 15 dollars for every $100 that they borrow for two weeks.  That comes out to a yearly rate of about 391 percent.  And the payday loan companies know exactly who to target.  They have set up thousands of shops in the poorest communities all over the nation over the last several decades.  Each year, approximately 12 million Americans take out payday loans and they pay approximately 7.4 billion dollars in interest and fees on those loans.  Sadly, once you get hooked on payday loans they are very hard to stop.  In fact, one study found that only 13 percent of payday borrowers get two loans or less per year. 

All other borrowers take out more loans than that.  In fact, more than a third of all payday borrowers take out between 11 and 19 loans during the course of a single year.  And as was mentioned earlier, the interest rates on these loans are beyond exorbitant.  Payday loans are estimated to be about  20 times more expensive than bank loans, with annual interest rates that are sometimes as high as 500 percent.  The payday loan companies circle the poor like vultures, because they know that the poor are the only ones desperate enough to agree to such terms.  This is why we need to shut them down.  The payday loan companies are making billions preying on the misery of the poor and it needs to be stopped.

And it just isn't small, disreputable banks that are involved in these practices.  The truth is that some of the largest banks in America are now making payday loans...
Some, including U.S. Bank, Fifth Third Bank and Wells Fargo, offer payday loans under names such as Ready Advance, Fast Loan and Early Access, according to the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). They can carry interest rates averaging between 225 and 300 percent, CRL said.
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Bill Maher shredded by Glenn Greenwald on US intervention in Muslim countries

Mini Bilderberg? Bill Gates, Bloomberg, and World’s Richest Meeting on Gated SC Island Read more: http://www.storyleak.com/mini-bilderberg-bill-gates-jeb-bush-sc-island/#ixzz2TB413On8

Anthony Gucciardi
StoryLeak.com
May 12, 2013
 
Has the Bilderberg meeting become too mainstream for some of the world’s richest elite? From Warren Buffet and Monsanto-linked Bill Gates to Oprah and Jeb Bush, the local media has begun reporting on a closed doors meeting between billionaires and politicians at the gated beach island of Kiawah, South Carolina.
mini-bilderberg-sanctuary-hotelThe Bilderberg group, which consists of a larger group of the world’s top leaders and billionaires, is reportedly set to take place near Watford this year in the United Kingdom. Called ‘The Masters of the Univserse’ by an Asia Times article, and deemed to be a meeting of 130 top military, business, and political figures by WikiLeaks, the Bilderberg group and its attendees have been getting much more press than usual these past years thanks to activists who have been protesting the meetings.
Even Russia Today went and covered the Bilderberg group protests and the meeting itself, reporting that the group could be deciding major events to come in their yearly meetings. From which candidates to run for the next political election, to military action — any number of major decisions are likely being made during the Bilderberg group meetings that are conducted entirely in secret. In fact, heavily armed security ensures that no one even gets close enough to take a peek.
But what’s going on with the latest confab between power and money over on Kiawah Island?

Mini Bilderberg Meeting Called?

As of right now, it seems like this closed doors event is sort of a mini Bilderberg group meeting of sorts. One local CBS affiliate, one of the only news sources to be covering this since it’s a local issue, says that around 20 highly expensive jets were lined up at the Charleston International Airport on Johns Island, and that Bill Gates and others were at the Sanctuary Hotel on Kiawah Island. The attendee list, according to the CBS report, includes Jeb Bush, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Bill and Melinda Gates, Dan Gilbert (owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers), Warren Buffet, Oprah, and others.

Al Qaeda's Nusra Front Now Dominant Partner in "Free Syrian Army"

Thursday, May 9, 2013

In Historic Breakthrough, Mass. Sen. Elizabeth Warren Offers Bill to Force the Federal Reserve to Finance Student Loans at 0.75% with No Cost to Taxpayers; Measure Embodies Principles Needed for US Economic Recovery from Current Depression

Webster G. Tarpley
 
Washington DC, May 8, 2013 — I urge a major all points mobilization in support of Sen Elizabeth Warren’s Bank on Students bill mandating that the Federal Reserve provide 0.75% cheap federal credit for federal student loans (Stafford loans) via the US Department of Education. This is so far as we know the first bill which proposes to force the Fed to provide cheap credit to something other than banks and financial institutions. The substantial benefits in interest savings to American students groaning under $1 trillion of high-interest student debt are obvious.

It is vital to point out that Warren’s bill will not cost the US Treasury or US taxpayers one penny to generate these formidable benefits. It represents federal lending, not federal spending. It simply mandates the use of credit creating power which the Fed has always had, but has insisted using for the benefit of financial institutions only. The bill would relieve pressure on the federal budget by freeing up general revenue for other uses. It is a step toward the restoration not of Keynes, but of Hamilton’s vastly superior American System of Political Economy.

This bill also represents the first pilot project for how to get out of the current world economic depression – by forcing the central bank to act like a national bank, using federal credit creation to serve not just zombie banks, but also the real economy.

Clearly Wall Street forces will attempt to suppress Warren’s proposal. All persons and organizations of good will need to do everything possible to publicize this bill on internet, social media, and TV/radio talk shows and GET IT PASSED AND SIGNED BY OBAMA this spring. Take the news of this bill to campuses and urge students to demonstrate their strong support before the end of the academic year. We suggest urgent amendments to extend this debt relief to additional categories of student loans so as to afford them protection from the scheduled doubling of the interest rate from 3.4% to 6.8% on July 1.

Sen. Warren Introduces the Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act

Boston Bombing Suspects' Foundation Connections - Another Strand in the Web of Global Terror

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
May 7, 2013

image source
With recent news regarding the Boston Bombing suspects and their alleged ties to Chechen terrorism and, hence, al-Qaeda, a sub-debate has emerged among those individuals who remain glued to mainstream media outlets such as FOX News or CNN. This unfortunate red herring revolves around the question of whether or not Chechen terrorists are, in fact, linked to al-Qaeda.

Yet, the links between Chechen terrorists and their al-Qaeda counterparts are relatively well documented, even as far as the mainstream media accounts are capable of producing. Thus, the question for the general public should not revolve around potential links between the two terrorist factions, but around the more important issue of who al-Qaeda actually is.

After all, if al-Qaeda functions as an umbrella organization for Islamic fundamentalist terrorists the world over, it is important to seek the true head of the overarching network, not merely the outlying tentacles that manifest themselves in various different locations across the globe. For that reason, it is first important to point out that Chechen “rebels,” much like their “rebel” cousins in Syria, are, in fact, receiving training, weapons, and financial support via the very networks that so vociferously claim to oppose them – the United States and British governments.

Indeed, in order to see the direct connection between the U.S. government and Chechen terrorism, one need only look toward the leader of the “Chechen rebels,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Chechen Republic - Ichkeria, Ilyas Akhmadov, who resides internationally by bouncing back and forth between the United States and Britain all on the tab of the U.S. State Department since as far back as 2004.

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In Support of Reverend Edward Pinkney of Benton Harbor, Michigan, Leading the Fight Against Gov. Snyder’s Creeping Fascism