World-News

Our Future Blog
by Robert Borosage

08/05/10

Where are the prosecutions of bank officers for defrauding investors or the government?… What we want is self-enforcement. That can come from a strong sense of personal ethics…, [o]r it can come from a strong sense of fear — a sense that if you violate the law, you just might end up in jail. And that requires prosecutions and jail sentences. Fines don’t do it. The SEC just fined a Citibank employee $100,000 for helping to defraud investors by not foreclosing a staggering $50 billion in toxic subprime mortgages that were in Citi’s basement. That same official got a yearly paycheck of over $12 million. The fine was a rounding error on his bonus. That’s a joke...

http://tinyurl.com/2axhqe5


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

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Banks Siding Against the Customer in Fraud Cases

By Naomi Wolf

I was stunned by what seemed from the emails to be a systemic practice. Why would a bank want to perpetuate bank fraud rather than fight it?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/post_722_b_691188.html


From Information Clearing House



http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=bank+crisis
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=bank+fraud
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=bonus
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=mortgage
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+Borosage
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Naomi+Wolf

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/08/05-4



http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Kucinich
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=extrajudicial+killing
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=assassin

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/4/environmental_activist_jerry_cope_on_the

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'Just Not True': White House Accused of Spinning Report
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/08/06-3

Crabs Provide Evidence Oil Tainting Gulf Food Web
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/08/09-1

New Outrages Keep Gushing From BP
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/08/11-3

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Gulf oil spill: White House accused of spinning report

Scientists say it is 'just not true' that the vast majority of oil from the BP spill has gone.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/05/oil-spill-white-house-accused-spin



BP Fires 10,000 Cleanup Workers

New BP CEO Bob Dudley wasn't kidding when he announced last week that it was time for the company to scale back oil-spill cleanup operations. In fact, by the time he'd said that, the responder force had been drawn down by about 25 percent.

http://motherjones.com/rights-stuff/2010/08/bp-cuts-more-10000-oil-spill-cleanup-workers



BP Scores Stimulus Cash

How the oil spill bad guys are collecting millions in taxpayer bucks to build a new power plant in California.

http://bit.ly/9Ze54f


From Information Clearing House

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Vampire Blues: Suckin' Blood From the Earth

Chris Genovali, Truthout: "When Neil Young recorded the anti-Big Oil "Vampire Blues" for his brilliant album On the Beach in the mid-1970s, who could have known that the song would end up even more relevant a quarter century later? Speculation abounds on fan sites that Neil, who is currently on tour, believes the time is right to perform 'Vampire Blues' once again, particularly given the ongoing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico."

http://www.truth-out.org/vampire-blues-suckin-blood-from-earth61848



Out of Sight, Out of Mind (Even When It's Not Out of Sight)

Dahr Jamail and Erika Blumenfeld, Dahr Jamail's Dispatches: "Since BP announced that CEO Tony Hayward would receive a multi-million dollar golden parachute and be replaced by Bob Dudley, we have witnessed an incredibly broad, and powerful, propaganda campaign. A campaign that peaked this week with the US government, clearly acting in BP's best interests, itself announcing, via outlets willing to allow themselves to be used to transfer the propaganda, like the New York Times, this message: 'The government is expected to announce on Wednesday that three-quarters of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon leak has already evaporated, dispersed, been captured or otherwise eliminated - and that much of the rest is so diluted that it does not seem to pose much additional risk of harm.'"

http://www.truth-out.org/out-sight-out-mind-even-when-its-not-out-sight62137



Gulf Coast Fishermen Challenge US Government

Dahr Jamail, Truthout: "Commercial fishing communities in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida have united to demand that local, state and federal agencies force BP to discontinue the use of toxic dispersants and conduct better testing before reopening fishing waters."

http://www.truth-out.org/gulf-coast-fishermen-challenge-us-government-over-dispersants62183



http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=oil+spill
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Big+Oil
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=British+Petroleum
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=taxpayer
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Suzanne+Goldenberg
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Dahr+Jamail
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Erika+Blumenfeld
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Chris+Genovali
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=John+Flesher
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Jim+Hightower

With it's harsh drug laws, minimum sentencing guidelines and repeated imprisonment of non-violent offenders, the country has literally thrown the shackles on millions of individuals. In fact, the great superpower has more than 2 million of it's citizens imprisoned at this very moment.

http://welcometoafreeworld.blogspot.com/2010/08/flawed-system-us-boasts-highest-prison.html



America's Solitary Confinement Nightmare

Of course we torture, Ridgeway says. Right here in America. In our own prisons. An estimated 80,000 Americans are in solitary confinement.

http://corporatecrimereporter.com/ridgeway080510.htm


From Information Clearing House

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In America, the rule of law is dead

Freedom's Phoenix
by Stephen Lendman

08/06/10

Designating US citizens terrorists, providing no criminal proof of guilt or evidence of an imminent threat, and denying them legal representation is lawless and egregious by any standard. Yet, post-9/11, ‘the US government has (targeted and) detained thousands of men as terrorists, only for courts or the government itself later to discover that the evidence (or charge) was wrong or unreliable and released them.’ No one should be denied due process and judicial fairness...

http://tinyurl.com/28mglcp


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=incarcerat
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=imprison
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=solitary+confinement
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=torture
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=James+Ridgeway
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Stephen+Lendman

Fannie and Freddie's Foreclosure Barons

By Andy Kroll

How the federal housing agencies and bailed-out banks are helping shady lawyers make millions by pushing families out of their homes.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26083.htm



Food Stamp Use Hit Record 40.8m in May

By Bloomberg News

The number of Americans who are receiving food stamps rose to a record 40.8 million in May as the jobless rate hovered near a 27-year high, the government reported yesterday.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26087.htm



Do the Rich Need the Rest of America?

By Robert Frank

Do you think the rest of America matters anymore to the rich?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26089.htm



Hanging A Hammock Between Death And The Abyss

A Götterdämmerung Of Kitsch

By Phil Rockstroh

Does one get the feeling that the more powerless we feel, collectively, about the rising levels of economic exploitation exacted upon us and the accelerating rate of ecocide committed on the planet by corporate oligarchs, the more celebrity "news" and other tropes of empty distraction and denial will froth forth from the idiot imaginings of the pop culture douche-scape?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26094.htm



Senate Cuts Food Stamp Funds; Leaves Oil and Gas Subsidies Intact

About half of food stamp users are children and the elderly; about one-quarter are working-age women and 14 percent are working-age men. Most have jobs, but about 90 percent fall below the poverty line.

http://food.change.org/blog/view/senate_cuts_food_stamp_funds_leaves_oil_and_gas_subsidies_intact



Fannie Mae Seeks $1.5 Billion From U.S. Treasury After 12th Straight Loss

Including today's request, Fannie Mae has drawn $86.1 billion in aid. The growing tally has helped spur the Obama administration to solicit proposals to fix the companies, and prompted some lawmakers to demand their closure.

http://bit.ly/c0Z0bj


From Information Clearing House

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Job Loss Sends Employment Ratio Downward

Dean Baker, Truthout: "For the second consecutive month, the economy created virtually no jobs, net of temporary Census jobs. The Labor Department reported that the economy lost 131,000 jobs in July, 12,000 less than the 143,000 drop in the number of temporary Census workers. The June numbers were revised down by 100,000 to show a gain of only 4,000 non-Census jobs."

http://www.truth-out.org/job-loss-sends-employment-ratio-downward62113



The Peace Vision

Peter G. Cohen, Truthout: "We are losing the war. Not just the war in Afghanistan, but the war against war itself - the Peace War.... The whole peace movement needs to be far more active, more vocal, and reach out to the unemployed, to all who are being cut back, threatened and limited by this huge military boondoggle. We must work far more diligently to form coalitions that enhance our clout and theirs."

http://www.truth-out.org/the-peace-vision61988

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Bailing Out Teachers
http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl2/bailing-out-teachers.html

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The Raid on Food Stamps
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/08/12-3



http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Treasury
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=oligarch
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Fannie+Mae
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Freddie+Mac
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=bailout
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=foreclosure
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=job+loss
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=unemploy
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=food+stamp
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Andy+Kroll
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Phil+Rockstroh
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Dean+Baker
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Peter+G.+Cohen
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Vernuccio

The Lunatic's Manual

By Bob Herbert

The way to fight a war is to mobilize the country - not just the combat troops - behind an integrated wartime effort. To do that, leaders have to persuade the public that the war is worth fighting, and worth paying for.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26091.htm



The Next War

By Robert Koehler

"I'm going to be killing people. I'm actually joining the Marines and will be doing this in real life."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26093.htm



So Please Tell Me Again: What's The War About?

By William Blum

When facts are inconvenient, when international law, human rights and history get in the way, when war crimes can't easily be justified or explained away, when logic doesn't help much, the current crop of American political leaders turns to what is now the old reliable: 9/11.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26085.htm

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What to do about the wars

Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland

08/04/10

As President Obama pooh-poohed as old news the many WikiLeaks documents showing the sad state of the conflict in Afghanistan, the chief executive also began an entire month of crowing about keeping his campaign promise to ‘bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end.’ But in both wars, the president’s strategies are flawed and need to be replaced with new ones...

http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2837



The unaffordability of endless war

Reason
by Steve Chapman

08/05/10

It’s a shame to let accountants spoil the charming romance of war, but sometimes they insist. Recently the Congressional Research Service reported that our military undertakings in Iraq and Afghanistan have marked an important milestone. Together, they have cost more than a trillion dollars. That doesn’t sound like much in the age of TARP, ObamaCare, and LeBron James, but it is. Adjusted for inflation, we have spent more on Iraq and Afghanistan than on any war in our history except World War II. They have cost more in real dollars than the Korean and Vietnam wars combined...

http://reason.com/archives/2010/08/05/the-unaffordability-of-endless


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://sharenews.twoday.net/topics/Iraq+-+Irak+/
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Vietnam
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=9/11
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=combat+troops
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=war+crimes
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=WikiLeaks
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=TARP
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Bob+Herbert
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+C.+Koehler
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=William+Blum
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Ivan+Eland
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Steve+Chapman

In den USA gibt es wenig Hoffnung auf ein Konjunkturwunder.
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/33/33077/1.html

Bacevich: Creating an "Iraq/Afghanistan Syndrome"

Robert Naiman, Truthout: "Campaigning for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2008, Senator Barack Obama said, 'I don't want to just end the war, but I want to end the mindset that got us into war in the first place.' But as Andrew Bacevich notes in his new book, 'Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War,' as President, Barack Obama has done the opposite: he has promoted and acted on behalf of the mindset that leads to war."

http://www.truth-out.org/bacevich-vietnam-vs-munich-and-creating-iraqafghanistan-syndrome62036



http://sharenews.twoday.net/topics/Afghanistan/
http://sharenews.twoday.net/topics/Iraq+-+Irak+/
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Andrew+Bacevich
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+Naiman

Dahr Jamail, Truthout: "While the devastating ecological impacts of BP's oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico are obvious, the less visible but also long-lasting psychological, community and personal impacts could be worse, according to social scientists, psychologists and psychiatrists."

http://www.truth-out.org/gulf-residents-likely-face-decades-psychological-impact-from-bps-oil-disaster62029



Scientists Cast Doubt on Claims BP Spill's No Threat to Gulf

Erika Bolstad, Renee Schoof and Margaret Talev, McClatchy Newspapers: "Many scientists say they're skeptical of a widely publicized government report Wednesday that concludes much of the oil that gushed from BP's leaking well is gone and poses little threat to the Gulf of Mexico."

http://www.truth-out.org/scientists-cast-doubt-claims-bp-spills-no-threat-gulf62045



http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=oil+spill
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=British+Petroleum
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Dahr+Jamail
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Erika+Bolstad
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Renee+Schoof
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Margaret+Talev

http://www.lewrockwell.com/engelhardt/engelhardt401.html

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US demands Wikileaks give back documents... or else
http://www.ufppc.org/us-a-world-news-mainmenu-35/9861/

UFPPC statement on Time's riposte to Wikileaks
http://www.ufppc.org/ufppc-statements-mainmenu-29/9860/

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Pentagon bars staff from visiting WikiLeaks site

Asked if the Pentagon is making the site off-limits, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told The Times that all four services "have put out such messages."

http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/05/pentagon-bars-staff-from-visiting-wikileaks-site/


From Information Clearing House

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'Insurance': WikiLeaks Posts Huge Encrypted File to Web
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/08/05-2



http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://sharenews.twoday.net/topics/Iraq+-+Irak+/
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Bradley+Manning
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Wikileaks
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Pentagon
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=civilian+deaths
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=com/engelhardt
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Raphael+G.+Satter