Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq “1,284,105"
www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America’sWar On Iraq 4,209
icasualties.org/oif/
The War And Occupation Of Iraq Costs
$577,894,984,081
See the cost in your community
nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182
A Historic Moment
The Election of the Greatest Con-Man in Recent History
By James Petras
The entire political spectrum ranging from the ‘libertarian’ left, through the progressive editors of the Nation to the entire far right neo-con/Zionist war party and free market Berkeley/Chicago/Harvard academics, with a single voice, hailed the election of Barack Obama as a ‘historic moment’, a ‘turning point in American history and other such histrionics.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21415.htm
Card Check
“You Have Nothing To Lose But Your Chains”
By Mike Whitney
Forget about the fake differences between the two political parties. There aren’t any. The only hope for deep structural change is to strengthen the unions and give workers a place at the policy table. That’s the only peaceful way to dismantle this parasitic financial regime and bring about a more equitable distribution of wealth.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21416.htm
The Curse of Global Capitalism
By Jon Ronnquist
Any parasite which draws more from its host than the host can sustain, will eventually kill it, and so we have what we have today. In this case the host is the working man, upon whom the burden of debt has been allowed to grow beyond his ability to manage, thus forcing a collapse at the very base of the pyramid.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21414.htm
Blame the Takers, Not the Makers
By Mumia Abu-Jamal
When multiple media outlets put out the same story line, these companies, seemingly separate, establish a media narrative that quickly congeals into an apparent popular opinion — even when such views actually reflect a narrow slice of elite opinion.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21412.htm
Victory to the UEW Plant Takeover in Chicago!
By Mark Vorpahl
On December 5, in Chicago, the owners of Republic Windows and Doors were set to close their doors after declaring financial ruin and abruptly laid off its 260 mostly Latino workers. Rather than passively accepting this kick in the teeth, the United Electrical Workers Union (UE) members decided to fight back, using a tactic not seen in this country since the 1930's. They occupied the factory and have continued to do so in shifts since Friday.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21418.htm
Sponsor an Executive
One Minute Video – Humor
The money you give won’t just save a life, it’ll save a lifestyle .
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21417.htm
The Deluder In Chief
By The International Herald Tribune
It was skin crawling to hear him tell Gibson that the thing he will really miss when he leaves office is no longer going to see the families of slain soldiers, because they make him feel better about the war.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21409.htm
Afghanistan
The Silent Winter of Escalation
By Norman Solomon
Bedrock faith in the Pentagon’s massive capacity for inflicting violence is implicit in the nostrums from anointed foreign-policy experts. The echo chamber is echoing: the Afghanistan war is worth the cost that others will pay.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21420.htm
Glory At Hand
The Psychology Of The Taliban
By Adeel Malik
Defeat and humiliation might be inevitable and not what the West wants in Afghanistan. But it is what the West deserves!
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21419.htm
Time For Behavior Adjustment – Ours
By Daniel M Pourkesali
President-elect Barack Obama must give up all attempts at gaining any leverage over Iran through sanctions because no “combination of incentives and disincentives” or any meaningful negotiation to resolve differences can even begin until all illegal sanctions already imposed are removed and Iran’s nuclear dossier is returned to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21413.htm
How Gaza Offends Us All
By Huda Jawad
Faria al-Bobali’s 10-month-old daughter is suffering from malnutrition due to an Israeli blockade on Gaza. Her mother depends on UNRWA, the United Nations relief agency that distributes food to at least half of Gaza’s 1.5 million residents.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21411.htm
Former ISI Chief: Mumbai And 9/11 Both “Inside Jobs”
Video And Transcript
An exclusive interview with General Hamid Gul, the former head of the ISI.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21410.htm
Report warns of Taliban ‘noose’ around Afghan capital:
Taliban insurgents have established a permanent presence in almost three-quarters of the territory of Afghanistan and are “closing a noose” around the capital Kabul, according to a report published today.
tinyurl.com/5nlhqr
Taliban chief says more fighting to come:
Omar, said the increase in troops means that battles would “flare up” everywhere. “The current armed clashes, which now number into tens, will spiral up to hundred of armed clashes. Your current casualties of hundreds will jack up to thousand casualties of dead and injured,” said the statement
www.thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=ts&nid=3483
Taliban torch 50 more NATO trucks:
Taliban militants set on fire 50 more NATO trucks in their second attack during 24 hours in Peshawar, police said on Monday. “It was almost the same type of attack as some 200 armed militants torched to ashes 50 more NATO supply trucks” police official Anwar Zeb told The Frontier Post.
www.thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=ts&nid=3481
Commander sees ‘tough fight’ in Afghan war:
The top commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan said Sunday that 2009 will be a “tough fight” in Afghanistan and the United States will need nearly twice as many troops for up to four years to stabilize the country.
www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-12-07-afghantroops_N.htm
‘Mumbai attacks “mastermind” arrested’:
Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operation chief, was arrested during a secret crackdown on the LeT members and its sister organization Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=77839§ionid=351020401
Arrests made in Mumbai terror attack, but one may be Indian undercover officer:
Senior police officers in Indian Kashmir, which has been at the heart of tensions between India and Pakistan, demanded the release of the officer, Mukhtar Ahmed, saying he was one of their own and had been involved in infiltrating Kashmiri militant groups.
tinyurl.com/5zyyge
Presstitute Report Demonizing Pakistan:
Pakistan’s Spies Aided Group Tied to Mumbai Siege:
– Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based militant group suspected of conducting the Mumbai attacks, has quietly gained strength in recent years with the help of Pakistan’s main spy service, assistance that has allowed the group to train and raise money while other militants have been under siege, American intelligence and counterterrorism officials say. – American officials say there is no hard evidence to link the spy service, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, to the Mumbai attacks.
tinyurl.com/6lcwuz
In case you missed it:
India uncovers Hindu terror group that carried out bombings blamed on Islamists:
India is in something of a state of shock after learning from official sources that its first Hindu terror cell may have carried out a series of deadly bombings that were initially blamed on militant Muslims. The revelation is forcing the country to consider some difficult questions.
tinyurl.com/5ndenp
World must stop Islamist regime in Pakistan: Netanyahu:
The international community must prevent the rise of a radical Islamist regime in Pakistan that would possess nuclear weapons, Israel’s opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.
tinyurl.com/67dkct
Israel’s Netanyahu upbeat on Iran plans:
“President-elect Obama spoke to me about his view that Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons is unacceptable,” Netanyahu told Reuters in a brief interview.
tvnz.co.nz/view/page/2367673
Zbigniew Brzezinski: Israel’s push for Iran strike may hurt U.S. ties:
Brzezinski told Haaretz: “One [piece of] advice that I would give the Israeli government is not to engage in this campaign for an American attack on Iran, because I don’t think America is going to attack Iran, and if it did, and the consequences would be disastrous.”
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1044635.html
Blackwater guards surrender over massacre:
Guards from the private security firm Blackwater accused over the massacre of civilians in Baghdad last year surrendered to the authorities today to face trial.
tinyurl.com/5fp93u
US: Blackwater used grenades on unarmed Iraqis:
Blackwater Worldwide security guards opened machine gun fire on innocent, surrendering Iraqis and launched a grenade into a girls’ school during a gruesome Baghdad shooting last year, prosecutors said Monday in announcing manslaughter charges against five guards.
wokv.com/common/ap/2008/12/08/D94UMLB01.html
Iraq’s oil-rich Basra province in autonomy move:
Iraq’s independent electoral commission announced plans on Sunday to collect signatures in support of a referendum to transform the oil-rich province of Basra into an autonomous region.
tinyurl.com/6los35
Human rights report: West Bank situation ‘reminiscent of apartheid regime in South Africa’:
In its annual report, the Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) pointed to “extremely worrisome trends at the center of which are violations of the most elementary human rights.”
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1044309.html
Rights group: In West, Israel 2nd only to U.S. in inequality:
ACRI reported that in most of Israel’s mixed towns, including Ramle, Lod, Acre, Haifa and Jaffa, Arab citizens suffer from discrimination. The infrastructure in the Arab neighborhoods is neglected, public buildings and parks are lacking, there is a poor education system and health and welfare services are insufficient.
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1044667.html
30 Killed In Occupied Somalia:
Separate clashes have erupted in Somalia especially in the capital city of Mogadishu, the central regions – Gedo, Baidoa, and Juba regions. At least 30 people have been killed and more others injured in the fighting among Islamists, clan militia, and Ethiopian troops.
www.africanews.com/site/list_messages/22017
US making Somalia worse:
A U.S. human rights group said Monday that failed policies by the United States and other foreign governments are exacerbating the crisis in Somalia as the country endures a deadly Islamic insurgency and rampant piracy.
www.caycompass.com/cgi-bin/CFPnews.cgi?ID=1035895
Sudan’s Leaders Brace for U.S. Shift:
In the Sudanese capital of Khartoum these days, political elites are bracing for what they expect will be a major shift in U.S. policy toward a government the United States has blamed for orchestrating a violent campaign against civilians in the western Darfur region.
tinyurl.com/5nmvv7
Is this a sick joke?
Report Gives Obama Advice on Handling Genocide Threats:
One guidepost for such efforts may come in a report being released today by a task force led by former secretary of state Madeleine K. Albright, an adviser to Obama and Clinton, and former defense secretary William S. Cohen.
tinyurl.com/5q2cmk
In case you missed it:
John Pilger on why we ignored Iraq in the 1990s:
Even before the 2003 war, we were attacking Iraqi civilians with our inhumane economic sanctions. Yet where were the media protesting against this injustice?
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6986.htm
In case you missed it:
Paying The Price: Killing The Children Of Iraq
A documentary film by John Pilger
Sanctions enforced by the UN on Iraq since the Gulf War have killed more people than the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945, including over half a million children – many of whom weren’t even born when the Gulf War began.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15385.htm
9/11 suspects ask to ‘plead guilty’:
“We all five have reached an agreement to request from the commission an immediate hearing session in order to announce our confessions,” said a note said to be from the five read out by the judge, Army Colonel Steven Henley, at a hearing on Monday.
tinyurl.com/6d4thz
U.S. sanctioned executions in 1950 South Korean killings:
Declassified records show U.S. officers were present at one killing field and that at least one U.S. officer sanctioned another mass political execution if prisoners otherwise would be freed by the North Koreans. Uncounted hundreds were subsequently killed, witnesses reported.
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081206/ap_
on_re_as/as_korea_mass_executions
Spying on pacifists, environmentalists and nuns:
Among those labeled as terrorists: two Catholic nuns, a former Democratic congressional candidate, a lifelong pacifist and a registered lobbyist. One suspect’s file warned that she was “involved in puppet making and allows anarchists to utilize her property for meetings.”
tinyurl.com/5mymne
Panel to Call for Review of Wiretapping of Scholar:
A Congressional oversight panel plans to ask the National Security Agency to start an investigation into new evidence that the agency illegally wiretapped a Muslim scholar in Northern Virginia
www.nytimes.com/2008/12/08/washington/08nsa.html?_r=1
Ill. Governor suspends all state business with Bank of America:
In a stinging note of support for the laid off workers that have taken up residency in Chicago’s Republic Windows & Doors factory, the Governor of Illinois has suspended business with Bank of America until it reissues credit to the shuttered company.
rawstory.com/news/2008/Ill._Governor
_suspends_business_with_Bank_1208.html
Dow, 3M slashing jobs amid slowdown:
Dow Chemical Co. said Monday it will slash 5,000 full-time jobs – about 11 percent of its total work force – close 20 plants and sell several businesses to control costs amid the economic recession.
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28109967/
Mayors Get in Line for U.S. Funds:
Big-city mayors will arrive on Capitol Hill Monday to lobby for more federal spending to be funneled to urban areas that they say drive the country’s economic engine.
online.wsj.com/article/SB1228695905
80386751.html?mod=rss_US_News
California Eyes IOUs for Second Time Since Depression:
California, the world’s eighth-largest economy, may pay vendors with IOUs for only the second time since the Great Depression, State Finance Director Mike Genest said.
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=
20601087&sid=a2TUhalNFDds&refer=home
In lean times, SoCal residents trade guns for eats: –
A program to exchange guns for gifts has brought in a record number of weapons this year as residents hit hard by the economy look under the bed and in closets to find items to trade for groceries.
www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008
-12-07-gifts-for-guns_N.htm?csp=34