Sunday, October 3, 2010

**JP** Pakistan receives US$ 1630.35 million aid commitments for flood victims

Dear Friends
 
Pakistan has received aid commitments of US $ 1630.35 million from various countries and donor organizations for the flood-affected people till Oct 1, a senior official of the Ministry of Economic Affairs Division (EAD) told . He said the reponse of the international community and donors was very positive.According to the details, US $ 520.44 million are grants, $ 10 million soft loans and in kind commitments 746.44 million.


Countries and organizations with the highest commitments are:
Saudi Arabia  US $ 105.29 million, Saudi Fund for Development US $ 20.00 million, Saudi public fund relief US $ 242 million, US/USAID $ 359.81 million, UKDFID US & 115.0 million, Australia US $ 67.50 million, Canada $ 33 million, Denmark US $ 33.0 million, Canada US $ 33.0 million, EU US $ 87.50 million, UAE private sector $ 19.60  million, UAE $ 6.80, China US $ 50.72 million, Germany US $ 31.25 million, Netherlands US $ 54.0 million, Turkey US $ 26.61 million , Turkey private public Funding US $ 40.0 million, Sweden $ 23.01 million,Norway $ 19.0 million, India $ 25 million, Iran $ 101.20 million  and the United Nations $ 29 million.
 
Regards
Shoaib Habib Memon
Cell.0314 2090252

**JP** Letter to EDitor - Lawyers Conduct

 

Dear Join Pakistan
 
LETTER TO EDITOR
October 3rd, 2010
 
Lawyers Conduct
 
In a TV talk show an office bearer of Karachi Bar Association when questioned point blankly if the licences of the Lahore lawyers who had not only stormed the LHC but also manhandled media persons and beaten up police officials would be cancelled, tried in a typical court room evasive style to parry the question by saying that if a  petition in this regard were made to the Lahore District Bar Association, it would certainly take note of the ‘misconduct’ of the concerned lawyers.
 
I think the Bar Associations at all levels in the country should confine themselves only to the ‘professional’ conduct or misconduct of their members as given in the Code of Professional Conduct of Lawyers and not try to hear their cases for indulging in any criminal activity in clear violation of the Pakistan Penal Code. Would a Bar Association hold proceedings to  cancel or not to cancel a lawyer’s licence even if he commits a culpable homicide?
 
The alleged lawlessness of the Lahore Lawyers clearly falls under the purview of a criminal act - involving law and order of the land - and should, therefore, be proceeded against them by the law enforcing agencies only.
 
Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
30, Westridge-1
Rawalpindi 46000
Tel: (051) 546 3344

Please click on the below link to download attachment
Attachment : Lawyers Conduct 03-10-10.doc

Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
30 Westridge 1
Rawalpindi 46000
Pakistan
Tel: (051) 546 3344
E.mail: jafri@rifiela.com

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Men who lack adult supervision









Men who lack adult supervision.
 

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S. 510: 12 Reasons Why the Food Safety Bill From Hell Could Be Very Dangerous for the U.S. Economy


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Suppose you held a rally and only the trash showed up.


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**JP** God protect the visitors in indian games

God help the visitors who are attending the games in india...each day a new news of some disaster appearing on the screens from the venue, here is the latest one...do not know what more is coming...

INDIAN OFFICIAL AT DELHI GAMES GETS DENGUE FEVER

Last Updated: Sunday, October 3, 2010 | 12:12 PM ET

An Indian worker sprays pesticide to kill mosquitoes outside the Commonwealth Games village, where water collected because of heavy rain in Delhi on Sept. 8.An Indian worker sprays pesticide to kill mosquitoes outside the Commonwealth Games village, where water collected because of heavy rain in Delhi on Sept. 8. (Manpreet Romana/AFP/Getty Images)

An official with India's lawn bowls squad has contracted dengue fever, the first person affiliated with the Commonwealth Games in Delhi to contract the mosquito-borne disease.

Dr. Rajiv Saigol of the GB Pant hospital in New Delhi confirmed hours before the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony Sunday that team official Ruptu Gogoi had the virus but said his condition was stable.

Gogoi was staying in the athletes village when he was taken to hospital on Saturday.

"He is eating well," Saigol told The Associated. "He is sleeping well. He is talking well. He has some fever, which is quite natural because he has had the problem for four to five days. I am not 100 per cent sure, but maybe he is discharged by tomorrow evening."

It was not immediately clear if Gogoi contracted the disease at the village or before moving in.

About 3,500 cases of dengue fever have been reported in New Delhi this year, and seven of the afflicted have died, the Press Trust of India reported.



Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/commonwealthgames/story/2010/10/03/spc-commonwealth-dengue.html#ixzz11JXbO3ED

Fwd: What the Leftovers are spinning (some real howlers here) -- Reports from the One Nation Rally in DC



The Leftovers at OpEdNews have at least 2 funny articles below

1) On their little March this weekend and how it was their leaders attempt to "manage" their disappointment and anger at their own regime and leaders

2) On how the enthusiam gap is caused by the fact that conservatives are more spiritually connected, though according to them connected to dark occult forces


Bold and Daring: The Way Progressive News Should Be

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OpEdNews.com was well represented at the One Nation rally at the Lincoln Memorial, which various people estimated to have anywhere from tens of thousands to 175,000 in attendance.

I was so busy setting up press passes I forget to get one for myself, though the media desk people were very accomodating, when I realized my error.
OEN folks who were at the event included managing editor Cheryl Biren, Senior editor Josh Mitteldorf, Editor Kevin Gosztola, and writers Danny Schechter, Marta Steele and Tim Gatto.

Here are a few pics

M
Kevin Gosztola in the press area.

Below, Marta Steele and Danny Schechter. I'll be writing up my take, with some more pics, later today.
Short version-- The organizers did an extraordinary job, creating a day that produced a new kind of liberal/progressive event that should bring out the young and people who usually don't go to protests.
Why? They did an amazing job of putting on a show. It was not just a long series of political lectures. Instead, it included singing, dancing, poetry... and why shouldn't we get that.






 

Latest Headlines


By Kevin Gosztola
Progressive "One Nation" Event a Bit Disappointing, We Didn't March

This rally provided group therapy for community organizers and Obama supporters looking for a way to reaffirm their dedication to hope and change. It was not only a chance to unify around the need for jobs, education, environmental protections and clean energy, immigrant rights, college affordability, etc. but also a chance to reclaim history...

By Stephen Lendman
Obama's Hard Line Neo-Con Agenda
Fast eroding civil liberties in America

By Marta Steele
We Have a Dream--"One Nation Working Together"

An emotional, highly illustrated take on today's rally at Lincoln Memorial, "One Nation Working Together."

By Josh Mitteldorf
10-2-10 : Report on the Rally

Hundreds of thousands rallied in Washington today. It was a start.

By Tom Eley
Victim of FBI Raid Speaks Out

Those raided by the FBI are clearly under attack for constitutionally protected political speech. The raids and grand jury hearings, at which those subpoenaed do not have the right to counsel, represent a frontal attack on democratic rights and a major step in the direction of police-state forms of rule.

By Sylvia Clute
Punitive Justice Distilled: the Stanford Prison Experiment
Our prison industrial complex is plagued with problems so complex it is difficult to figure out where they begin. The Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by a group of social scientists in the early 1970s helps unravel the mystery

By Michael Moore
Five Ways the Democrats Can Avoid a Catastrophe and Pull Off the Mother of All Upsets

The election is one month from tomorrow and, yes, it looks hopeless. November 2nd -- the day the Dems are expected to crash and burn.

Frank Rich: The Very Useful Idiocy of Christine O'Donnell
ALL it took was some 30,000 Republican primary voters in a tiny state to turn Christine O'Donnell into the brightest all-American media meteor since Balloon Boy. For embattled liberals, not to mention the axis of Comedy Central, "Saturday Night Live" and Bill Maher, she's been pure comic gold for weeks: a bottomless trove of baldfaced lies, radical views and sheer wackiness.

By Meryl Ann Butler
Set The Raygun to "Stun": Dennis Larkins' Startling Art

Dennis Larkins' staggering output of artwork ranges from "lowbrow" pop surrealism paintings to stage design for rock concerts to his legendary series of Grateful Dead posters.

By Karl Grossman
Revenge of the Jellyfish
There's been an explosion of jellyfish in waters around the world--with global warming a prime cause.

By Bill Hare
Fox News and the Dumbing Down of America
Fox News has programmed a tragic audience of zombies.

By Chris Floyd
The Altars of Fear: Wrong Turns on a Long, Dark Road

While the Europeans protest for jobs and dignity, Americans pour out into the streets in angry demonstrations against the very idea of helping the poor and the economically devastated, or putting the slightest restraint on the rapacious super-rich.

More Information Sought on Cell Phone Industry Influence on FCC
The striking similarity between industry claims & the new language on the FCC's website raises serious concerns about the independence of the regulatory agency.FCC should immediately disclose its interactions with industry representatives.The commission should also address the growing concernsâ€"based on scientific studiesâ€"about cell phone radiation levels& conduct a transparent and thorough review of the scientific data.

By Sherwin Steffin
A Way Forward
Living in a world largely controlled by psychopathic leaders, I suggest a possible way for activists to approach a solution to the problems caused by them.

CIA Escalates Campaign in Pakistan

The U.S. military is secretly diverting aerial drones and weaponry from the Afghan battlefront to significantly expand the CIA's campaign against militants in their Pakistani havens. The CIA doesn't acknowledge the program, and the shift of Pentagon resources has been kept under wraps.

By Gregory Paul
Those Damn Republican Landmines
The modern Republican tactic of damaging the government to better their chances of running the country trips up the Democrats, but poses long term dangers for the right.

By John Little
Ecuador - Another Right Wing Coup in Progress
The coup d'etat in Ecuador is just another sign of the right-wing's total disregard for the rule of national and international law.

By Andrew Schmookler
The "Enthusiasm Gap" Reflects a Spiritual Reality
"Enthusiasm" means, at its root, "possessed by a god." Today's "conservatives" are plugged into a spiritual power. It is the power of darkness, or evil, but it is a spiritual power nonetheless. Today's liberal leadership, by contrast, has lost contact with the spiritual level. They therefore cannot "in-spire" their followers. We are compelled therefore to find our enthusiasm in the repudiation of evil.

By Stephen Lendman
Failed Washington-Sponsored Ecuadorean Coup Attempt
Another Obama administration coup attempt, this one unsuccessful so far.

By Mark Nease
Americanism (Consumerism) versus Communism
A short study in American's political and economic vocabulary and how it relates to their inability to construct an equitable, compassionate society.

By Dave Lefcourt
Iraq Set to Name al-Maliki to 2nd Term as P.M. with Support from Radical Shiite al Sadr
Seven months after the election, Iraq to name Nuri al-Maliki to a 2nd term as P.M. The stalemate was broken when followers of Moktada al Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric, decided to support al-Maliki. The news of Sadr's support sent shivers of alarm thru official Washington. But we broke Iraq and now lament its latest political outcome. Real political reconciliation remains uncertain if not impossible in Iraq;that is our legacy

By David Weiner
The Shape of Things to Come
Phillip Bobbit's Terrorism and Consent has some disturbing implications.

By Linn Washington
Insider Analysis: Predictions of Democatic Defeat Premature
Third highest-ranking Democrat in the U.S. Congress dismisses news media/pollster predictions of Republican snatching control of Capitol Hill in the November elections.

 

Latest Articles


The Obama Administration: September 16-30, 2010

This article is the 41st in a continuing series chronicling the unfolding history of the Obama Administration. The writer's opinions are not offered, leaving the readers to arrive at their own conclusions

The Israeli threat to global security
Before Stuxnet loomed over the horizon, serious warnings were being issued about the United States' vulnerability to a crippling cyber attack, yet thus far none of those raising the alarm have pointed to the ways in which Israel's cyber warfare capabilities may now indirectly or directly threaten the United States and its interests.

Bucking Up For Barry
The president was right when he said that his administration was the "most successful in a generation in moving progressive agendas forward." Of course, he didn't mention that the presidents of the last generation were Reagan, Daddy Bush, Clinton and Baby Bush.

US War Crimes in Fallujah
Horrific war crimes in Fallujah and throughout Iraq

Bucking Up For Barry
The Obama Administration said this week that progressives need to "buck up". I agree. Otherwise, things could really get bad.

Voting News: D.C. halts test of internet voting pilot. Shelby Co TN election trial starts Monday
DC Board of Elections & Ethics suspended the public examination of internet voting pilot...NY Sen Elections Committee held hearing on the recent primary. Lawrence Norden with Brennan Ctr for Justice makes recommendations...Judge won't dismiss lawsuit against Shelby County TN Election Commission - "You might want to start preparing for yet another election, Shelby County."..India police to question 3rd person over EVMs...

Sophistry and the Right
As deceitful as any Sophist the right never hesitates to employ any subterfuge, exaggeration, anecdotal license or bold faced lie to achieve its ends

Disturbing STD Experiments on Guatemalans by U.S. Uncovered

An article written by Susan M. Reverby, a professor of women's studies at Wellesley College, has uncovered details on a study conducted between 1946 and 1948 in Guatemala, which involved experiments on Guatemalans. Essentially, the Public Health Service (PHS) inoculated people with syphilis.

Baltic States: Pentagon's Training Grounds For Afghan and Future Wars
Baltic States: Pentagon's Training Grounds For Afghan and Future Wars

Why the US Doesn't Talk to Iran
US foreign policy decisions, especially in the Middle East, seem to be driven not so much by broad national interests as they are by narrow (but powerful) special interests, represented largely by the military-security-AIPAC forces, which tend to perceive international peace and stability as detrimental to their nefarious interests.

The Real American Terrorist
A look back at suicide amongst LGBT youth and who is really to blame.

Kerik Appeal Documents Injustice By Judge at Sentencing

Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik argued this week that a federal appeals court should vacate his four-year prison sentence because of serious errors and bias by his trial judge. The three major arguments in Kerik's brief filed Sept. 28 attacked U.S. District Judge Stephen C. Robinson, who put Kerik in solitary confinement pre-trial for until he agreed to plead guilty to corruption charges last November.

The Greatest Story Never Told, Part II: If Eddie Long Is David, Who The Hell's Goliath?

Will the case against "Bishop" Eddie Long take forever? Let's hope not. The public wants every salacious detail. Both Long and his accusers, however, have given over vagaries, not details. And Long has not defined just who "Goliath" is. Added to this saga will also be the sideshow of the lawyers, both Titans of the courtroom. So if there is any more action, tighten your seat belts, folks!

The Devil You Say
Let us imagine for a moment that the beliefs of the Religious Right are not wrong in terms of what is going to happen, but how? What if their focus on who the Antichrist is should be directed at someone they trust, like, Glen Beck for example, rather than Barrack Obama? What if the Devil, feeling he could not be stopped, left a note in a half mad blogger's e-mail, bragging about his plan? The following is the result.

Join The Humanitarian Coalition for Peace and Freedom
The message we promote is in the best interest of humanity as a whole body, regardless of religious beliefs, because what is needed in the world is not more theocratic versions of religions as we know them. What is needed is secular government that respects all true religions (and reformed religions) that promote unity, harmony, and peace.

What We're Looking For
These are the two competing philosophies of American governance, one side believes in government investing in long term projects to grow the economy and to improve the health, safety and lives of it's people. The other side believes in tax cuts they believe the government shouldn't invest in anything. They believe cutting taxes creates a vibrant economy,

If It Costs 0, It Is Worth ...

Now we have been for more than 18 month under the regime of the 0% target discount rate. We have injected trillions of money that never were translated in long-term investments. We must draw the conclusions now and those are straightforward. If the risk free rate is 0% it means that there is no individual or social value of incremental investments. It means simply that we have too much of them.

 

Best News Links from the Web


Security in top gear as Delhi braces for Games extravaganza

DATELINE NEW DELHI: Their weapons drawn out, thousands of security personnel were on high alert in and around the Commonwealth Games Village and other venues as the Indian capital prepared for a gala opening on Sunday evening of the 12-day event that has drawn nearly 7,000 athletes and officials from around the world.

Obama uses Weekly Address to lobby for Israeli firm BrightSource
In his Weekly Address today President Obama had glowing words for a company called BrightSource and how a subsidized loan program established by his administration is helping BrightSource to create US jobs. In light of the fact that BrightSource is effectively based in Israel -- and that's where all the R&D happens -- the president's claim to be supporting 'American innovation' is at best disingenuous.

Blackwater wins new deal in Afghanistan
Private US security firm Xe Services LLC, formerly known as Backwater, has won another lucrative contract with the administration of President Barack Obama despite its involvement in a trail of legal problems. The deals come despite a campaign promise by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to keep Blackwater away from federal contracts.

In House and Senate, Midterm Election Still in Play
Republicans carry substantial advantages as they move into the final month of the fall campaign, but the resilience of vulnerable Democrats is complicating Republican efforts to lock down enough seats to capture the House and take control of the unsettled electoral battleground.

DC rally shows support for struggling Democrats
Tapping into anger as the tea party movement has done, a coalition of progressive and civil rights groups marched Saturday on the Lincoln Memorial and pledged to support Democrats struggling to keep power on Capitol Hill.

Bob Herbert: The Campaign Disconnect
Election Day is approaching, but neither party cares to focus on the nightmare facing millions of Americans who have been laid low by unemployment, home foreclosures, personal bankruptcies, and jobs that offer only part-time work, lousy pay and absolutely no benefits.

"Obama's Wars": The Real Story Bob Woodward Won't Tell
it's no surprise that when it comes to Woodward's latest work, the myth-making machine is on auto pilot. The public, of course, will end up as confused and manipulated as ever. And so things will continue, same as they ever were. Endless war, no substantive reforms. Unless we wake up to our own victimhood.

Dana Milbank: Tea Party may snuff out a chance to shrink government
It appears that the Tea Partyers and their allies would summarily reject anything that might be labeled a tax increase -- even eliminating tax giveaways and loopholes. The Tea Party may be the obstacle blocking the way toward a shrunken government and a reduced debt.

Congress Gives NASA New Orders That Bypass the Moon
NASA, best known as the agency that put the first man on the moon, is about to end its moon program for the foreseeable future. NASA will turn to private companies to launch astronauts into space, while it starts work on a larger rocket for travel to more distant destinations -- an asteroid, perhaps, and eventually Mars.

Joseph Sobran, Writer Whom Buckley Mentored, Dies at 64
Joseph Sobran, a hard-hitting conservative writer and moralist whose outspoken antipathy to Israel and what he saw as the undue influence of a Jewish lobby on American foreign policy led to his removal as a senior editor of National Review in 1993, died on Thursday in Fairfax, Va. He was 64.

World's Rivers in 'Crisis State,' Report Finds
The world's rivers, the single largest renewable water resource for humans and a crucible of aquatic biodiversity, are in a crisis of ominous proportions, according to a new global analysis.

GOP Operatives Say their "Speaker Education Project" is Nonpartisan
In a political climate when GOP House of Representatives candidates all over the country are doing their utmost to link Democrats with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, it seems odd for a group called the "Speaker Education Project," an offshoot of the conservative "American for Limited Government," to claim it's nonpartisan.

With Another $1 Million Donation, Murdoch Expands His Political Sphere
By JIM RUTENBERG Published: October 1, 2010 Democrats charged that the Republican Party has become "a division" of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

Rick Sanchez Fired From CNN
Late this afternoon, CNN announced that it had fired anchor Rick Sanchez following controversial comments he made about Jews, the media and Comedy Central host Jon Stewart. "Rick Sanchez is no longer with the company. We thank Rick for his years of service and we wish him well," a statement from CNN read.

New study: groups demonstrate distinctive "collective intelligence' when facing difficult tasks
When it comes to intelligence, the whole can indeed be greater than the sum of its parts. A new study co-authored by MIT researchers documents the existence of collective intelligence among groups of people who cooperate well, showing that such intelligence extends beyond the cognitive abilities of the groups' individual members, and that the tendency to cooperate effectively is linked to the number of women in a group.

CRUDE OIL Found In Oysters at N.C. Restaurant: TOXIC GULF FOOD ALERT

CRUDE OIL Found In Oysters in Carolinas And Obama Told Us To Eat This? CORNELIUS, NC (WBTV) -- "A video out of a seafood restaurant sparks the need for rational thinking, like a scene out of an oil changing shop." A man says he found oil inside his oysters while eating at a restaurant located north of Charlotte this weekend.

CNN anchor fired after Jon Stewart rant
CNN has fired anchor Rick Sanchez following a radio rant Thursday night where he called Jon Stewart a "bigot," blamed CNN brass for discrimination against him and insinuated that the media industry is controlled by Jews.

Censored Gulf News: Voice from Inside Ochsner Hospital - National Human Rights | Examiner.com with Video

Bad news. Many of the most vocal fighters against BP, and all of then strong advocates for the Gulf and its inhabitants, have been hospitalized recently due to Gulf toxicity-related illnesses. This includes Kindra Arnesen, Joannie Hughes, and Vicky Perrin of the Cosatal Heritage Society of Louisiana, as well as reporter Gregg Hall and the film staff of Project Gulf Impact. Pray for their full recovery.

VIDEO: Even Zbigniew Brzezinski says AIPAC is bad for USA and Israel stole Palestinian land
While Israeli settlers relax in their swimming pools, below are Palestinians with no running water and their olive groves have been cut. The land where settlements are being built was literally stolen from the Palestinians, Brzezinski says.

Third Bill Maher Clip of Christine O'Donnell: Further Dabblings

Christine O'Donnell's further religious dabblings.

'Obama asks for 2-month building moratorium'
the letter offers a string of assurances to Israel in return for a two-month moratorium extension. More specifically, US officials indicate that the document makes commitments on issues ranging from current peace and security matters to future weapons deliveries in the event that peace-related security arrangements are reached."

Admiral Mike Mullen: Cost of military health care is 'not sustainable'
Adm. Mike Mullen ticked off the rocketing rise in the Pentagon's health spending: about $19 billion in 2000-2001, over $50 billion now, an estimated $64 billion in four or five years. One of his answers to the challenge is higher co-payments that apply to military retirees and their families (active-duty personnel don't pay health fees). The co-pays haven't been raised since 1995.

If An Agent Knocks (the Booklet)
The Center for Constitutional Rights created If an Agent Knocks to provide advice to activists likely to be targeted by FBI agents or other federal investigators. Since its original release in 1989, If an Agent Knocks has been widely circulated in progressive activist communities across the country.

Zeus Botnet Thriving Despite Arrests in the U.S., U.K.
IDG News Service - The Zeus botnet remains a robust network that is difficult to destroy despite an international sting operation that saw dozens arrested this week for allegedly stealing money from online bank accounts. Zeus is an advanced piece of malicious software that can intercept online banking details and initiate money transfers.

U.S. admits it infected Guatemalans with syphilis in 1940s
US scientists infected hundreds of Guatemalans with syphilis in experiments conducted from 1946 to 1948 in "appalling violations" of medical ethics. They sent prostitutes infected with syphilis into a Guatemalan prison, mental health hospital and army barracks to test possible cures.

 


 

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The Terrorism Fraud


The Terrorism Fraud
by Philip Giraldi, September 23, 2010

"Terrorism" has become the most abused word in the English language.  The fear of terrorism has driven explosive growth in the United States government, has led to two wars in the past ten years with possibly several more waiting in the wings, and has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.  Terrorism is a tactic, not an enemy.  It consists of attacking a largely civilian population to demoralize it and reduce its willingness to resist either an aggressor or an occupying power.  It has been used extensively in the twentieth century and so far into the twenty-first century because it is a force equalizer.  It enables a resistance movement or a group seeking a change in government to attack a much larger and more powerful opponent.  Because it has that ability to engage asymmetrically, one can expect that terror tactics will continue to be with us for the foreseeable future.

Fear of terrorism has been exploited by those who seek a hegemonistic role for the United States.  To be sure, 9/11 was a horrific event and subsequent terror attacks in London, Madrid, Moscow, and Bombay were reminders that there will always be individuals and groups prepared to sacrifice their own lives to kill at random for a cause.  But the horror of a terror attack should be placed in context and should not be allowed to justify actions on the part of government that are even more damaging in the long term.  In the United States, that is precisely what has happened.  Terrorism has been the justification for the two Patriot Acts and the Military Commissions Act that have gutted key parts of the Bill of Rights; the creation of an all-powerful unitary executive in the person of the US president; the exploitation of state-secrets privilege to cover-up government wrongdoing; and the evolution of a security state in which individual rights to privacy are constantly assailed by a government intent on collecting more and more information on each citizen.

Beyond that, terrorism was used to justify war with Iraq over completely bogus claims that Saddam Hussein had met with the 9/11 plotters.  It is now being used to define Washington's relationship with other countries.  Some nations, like Sudan, have been branded state supporters of terrorism even though they do not in fact do so.  Others are also indicted for their alleged relationship to terrorism to make a case for war.  Iran is currently in the crosshairs, which is particularly ironic as it has itself been the victim of terrorist groups that are evidently supported by the United States, Israel, and Pakistan.  Protection against terrorism has been used over the past ten years to justify every government abuse in a number of countries, not to mention the explosive growth of the budget busting defense and security industries worldwide.

As the America of Barack Obama continues to engage in and even expand the "long war" against much of the rest of the world that was launched by his predecessor, it is perhaps valuable to use the government's own analysis to examine just how serious the terrorism problem really is.  There have been numerous reports from military and intelligence sources in the war fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan while the State Department's annual Country Reports on Terrorism 2009 came out on August 10th.  The latter examines country-by country the terrorism problem.  It makes no effort to count terrorists and provides little analysis of their motives, but it is interesting in terms of its assessment of the lethality and reach of the various groups that it identifies and discusses.  The truth is that not many of what the US government refers to as terrorist groups actually threaten the United States by any stretch of the imagination.  Most groups employing terrorism limit their activities to attacking the government in their own countries or to resisting occupying powers, without any real international reach or the intention to threaten anyone outside their local orbit.  The groups that have an international agenda and pretensions, and therefore might theoretically be able to threaten the United States, are a handful of so-called Salafists, to include al-Qaeda in Pakistan, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and al-Shabaab in Somalia.  Salafists believe that their mission is to cleanse the entire Muslim world and recreate the universal Caliphate, meaning that their battlefield includes both Islamic countries and those foreign allies that support the corrupt regimes that they would like to overthrow.

The featured terrorist group that is regularly cited to create a case for military action or intervention is the al-Qaeda faction that is nominally headed by Osama bin Laden (who may be dead) and is located primarily in Pakistan.  The US military and CIA in Afghanistan have made a major effort to collect information on the group and its activities.  The military command and intelligence community estimate that there are 50 to 100 al-Qaeda possibly located in Afghanistan plus "several hundred" more in neighboring Pakistan.  That's all.  And the threat they represent is tying down 100,000 American soldiers at a cost of $7 billion per month.  If that makes sense to anyone, please help me with justifying the math.

The other Salafist groups are equally unlikely candidates for doing significant harm to the last great superpower, at least judging from the State Department report.  It states that al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) carried out four possible terrorist attacks directed against foreigners in 2009, "On December 25, Nigerian citizen Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to blow himself up while on a flight into Detroit. Abdulmutallab admitted to having been trained by AQAP in Yemen. There were three other terrorist attacks against foreign interests: On March 15, four South Korean tourists were killed in a suicide bomb attack in the city of Shibam in Hadramaut province.  On March 18, a motorcade carrying South Korean government officials was attacked by a suicide bomber on the road to Sana'a International Airport.  In June, nine foreigners were kidnapped in Sa'ada, resulting in three confirmed deaths. The remaining six were still missing at year's end."  That's it for a terrorist group that allegedly threatens the United States, and it should be noted that the reported kidnappings might have been carried out by local tribesmen seeking ransoms, not by the terrorist group.  Also, the underwear bomber appears to have been sent on his mission after an airstrike killed two al-Qaeda supporters in Yemen, bringing to mind yet again the Ron Paul maxim that "they are over here because we are over there."

In North Africa, the report reveals that the once feared al-Qaeda affiliate did not operate at all outside of the Maghreb region where it has had a presence in one form or another for eighteen years.  During the year 2009 it killed twenty-seven people.  Not to disparage the deaths in any way, that number has recently been exceeded a number of times in a single day in Iraq, including 31 dying in bombings last Sunday, where the United States recently announced another "mission accomplished."

In the Horn of Africa, the State Department describes al-Shabaab as "a disparate group of armed militias, many of whom do not adhere to the ideology of the group's leaders." State goes on to concede that the group is linked to al-Qaeda only by "mutually supportive rhetoric." In spite of some alarming recent media coverage in the US, al-Shabaab has its own problems in dealing with its local enemies and has not targeted the United States at all.  Some US government officials and media talking heads have expressed concerns that Somali Americans who travel back to their country of birth to join al-Shabaab might return to the US to commit terrorist acts, but the actual threat is very much a "what if," not an established fact.

That's pretty much the international terrorism story, at least insofar as it actually relates to the United States.  A few hundred malcontents and zealots, most of whom are on the run from the local authorities or hiding in caves, are more than a nuisance but they do not rise to the level of a serious threat.  Few of them can even fantasize about blowing themselves up on the New York City subway system, assuming they could get a visa and make the trip, put together a working bomb from fertilizer, and find the Lexington Avenue line.  The reader must decide if the terrorism "threat" justifies spending a trillion dollars a year while waging an unending war on multiple foreign battlefronts. And then there are all the American soldiers and local inhabitants who have to die in the process of making the homeland "safe" while the homeland itself becomes increasingly a draconian national security state.  A return to sanity might be suggested as well as a bringing home of US forces from their 761 overseas bases to begin to reverse the enormous overreaction to a threat that, in reality, is not much of a threat at all.

http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2010/09/22/the-terrorism-fraud/

Obama's Full Month Approval Rating Falls to New Low


Subject: Obama's Full Month Approval Rating Falls to New Low

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When tracking President Obama's job approval on a daily basis, people sometimes get so caught up in the day-to-day fluctuations that they miss the bigger picture. To look at the longer-term trends, Rasmussen Reports compiles the numbers on a full-month basis, and the results can be seen in the graphics below.




 

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Election 2010: Arkansas Governor

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