Top Senate Democrat: bankers “own” the U.S. Congress

by Glen Greenwald, Salon Sen. Dick Durbin, on a local Chicago radio station this week, blurted out an obvious truth about Congress that, despite being blindingly obvious, is rarely spoken:  “And the banks — hard to believe in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created — are still [...]

For $1.5 Billion, they are “acting AS IF it is a pandemic” to “Implement Social Distancing”

by Scott Creighton **UPDATE** I GOT IT!  AH HA!  Dr. Schuchat at the hearing just said it. “We will be, on a community by community basis, considering whether or not to cancel large gatherings or suggesting IMPLEMENTING SOCIAL DISTANCING…”  social distancing at a time when people are gathering and protesting the banker bailouts and the [...]

What the Hell is Happening in Mexico?

by Scott Creighton The recent “flu” outbreak in Mexico has sparked some rather curious responses from the Mexican government, namely the shutting down of non-emergency government offices till at  least May 5th (another odd coincidence as that the bank stress tests are due to be released on May 4th 2009 and by all accounts those [...]

LAMAR Outdoor Advertising Bows to Pressure and is Taking Down Pro-Palestinian Billboards

An Albuquerque-based billboard company pulled ten billboards today that had featured a political message. The contract between a local grassroots group, the Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel, and Lamar Outdoor Advertising was supposed to be for eight weeks; the billboards were taken down after only three weeks. Want to help? Contact: Lori Rudolph [...]

The Specter Diversion

by Chris Floyd, CounterPunch So the Democrats have yet another supporter of aggressive war, oligarchy, authoritarianism and torture in their Senate ranks. Wow, that will certainly shake up the political landscape in Washington! It looks like the promised New Jerusalem of hope and change has well and truly arrived at last. The chattering classes are [...]

Flying Pigs, Tamiflu and Factory Farms

by William Engdahl, Global Research “… the entire Swine Flu scare might have originated from the PR spin doctors of the world’s largest industrial pig factory farm operation, Smithfield Foods. The Vera Cruz-based newspaper La Marcha blames Smithfield’s Granjos Carroll for the outbreak, highlighting inadequate treatment of massive quantities of animal waste from hog production.“

Only 7 swine flu deaths, not 152, says WHO

from the SMH A member of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has dismissed claims that more than 150 people have died from swine flu, saying it has officially recorded only seven deaths around the world. Vivienne Allan, from WHO’s patient safety program, said the body had confirmed that worldwide there had been just seven deaths [...]

Obama’s First 100 Days: The Madmen Did Well

by John Pilger, AntiWar The American soap Madmen offers a rare glimpse of the power of corporate advertising. The promotion of smoking half a century ago by the “smart” people of Madison Avenue, who knew the truth, led to countless deaths. Advertising and its twin, public relations, became a way of deceiving on a scale [...]

Face of the “New Democrats” – Arlen Specter Gives The DINOs Absolute Control. God Help Us All…

by Scott Creighton Normally, after 8 years of CheneyCo, I would be pleased to see the dems in control for at least a couple years.  But I’m not brain dead, nor am I blinded by or easily distracted by, cheap partisan theatrics that feel like they’ve been written by a lazy and unusually dull high-school [...]

Gore “can’t remember” if he worked with Ken Lay on the Carbon Tax Credits Plan in 1997?

In a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing yesterday, Al Gore gave a rather remarkable answer to a legitimate question posed by one of the committee members about whether or not he and Ken Lay started laying the ground work for this “Carbon tax Credits scheme” in meetings they held in 2007. EDIT: 1997 “Well, [...]

The Pandemic That Wasn’t: Killing Two Birds with One Bug

by Scott Creighton What a coincidence! Once again a national emergency occurs just in the nick of time for several pending issues to get in under the wire. Namely; 1. close to a billion dollars funneled into the “pandemic preparedness” for-profit industry and; 2. the senate confirmation of yet another DLC (read as “republicanistic NAFTA [...]

Nicaragua – A Nations Right To Survive

John Pilger’s 1983 film about the small nation of Nicaragua and its right to survive investigates the corruption in Central America. In 1979, the Sandinistas won a popular revolution in Nicaragua, putting an end to decades of the corrupt US-backed Somoza dictatorship. They based their reformist ideology on that of the English Co-operative Movement, but [...]

Low Flying 747 Buzzes Lower Manhattan, It was The President’s “Other” Plane. WTF?

by Scott Creighton Gear up the lie machines. Turns out the President’s “other” plane (AirForce 1 “B”(?)) was buzzing the financial district in lower Manhattan today, for some fucked up reason. Even had two fighter escort jets buzzing along side it. They got so close to buildings, people came running out by the thousands, trying [...]

Telegraph UK Tries to Undermine the Positive News Coming Out of the Ahmadinejad Interview

by Scott Creighton I guess the rule is, if there is good news about President Ahmadinejad out of Iran to report, you have to make up at least two horrible lies about him to go with it in the report. If you have a 6 paragraph article, you dedicate the first paragraph to smearing him [...]

Canadian Auto Workers union imposes draconian concessions on Chrysler workers

by Keith Jones, WSWS The Canadian Auto Workers union—acting in concert with the bosses of Chrysler and Fiat, the Obama administration, and the Canadian and Ontario governments—has reopened the three-year concessions contract the union negotiated with Chrysler Canada in Spring 2008 and forced through sweeping news cuts in benefits and paid time-off, work-rule changes, and [...]