The Housing Bust Takes Center-stage By Mike Whitney

Dandelion Salad

By Mike Whitney
Information Clearing House
April 21, 2009

The Fed’s $12.8 trillion of monetary stimulus has triggered a six week-long surge in the stock market. Think of it as Bernanke’s Bear Market Rally, a torrent of capital gushing from every leaky valve and rusty pipe in the financial system. The Fed’s so-called “lending facilities” are a joke; stocks rocket into the stratosphere while the broader economy is stretched out corpse-like on a cold marble slab. Is this an economic recovery or just more of Bernanke’s “no down” zero-percent “no doc” faux prosperity?

Bernanke has provided generous “100 cents on the dollar” loans for Triple A mortgage-backed collateral that is now worth 30 cents on the dollar. The Fed stands to lose trillions of dollars on these loans because the assets will never regain their original value. Eventually the taxpayer will have to pony up the difference in higher taxes, fewer public services and a weaker dollar.

Naturally, some of Bernanke’s liquidity has made its way into the stock market where the prospects for maximizing profit are still the best. The Fed’s creditors didn’t borrowed the money just to stick it in a dusty vault in their offices. They’ve put it where they think it will do them some good. At the same time, the relentless systemwide contraction continues apace and hasn’t been eased by Bernanke’s low interest rates or lending programs. All of the economic indicators point to a deepening recession that will last for two years or more. Here’s a clip from a recent statement from the IMF:

Rule of Law Vetoed by President Obama by Joel S. Hirschhorn

by Joel S. Hirschhorn
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.foavc.org
April 21, 2009

There are no headlines or pontificating pundits, but the real news that has become crystal clear to any but the most delusional and distracted Americans is that President Obama has no commitment to applying the rule of law where it counts. Certainly, not applying it to the large number of rich and powerful people that have violated our Constitution and plunged the nation into economic disaster.

Again and again we hear the flimsy argument from Obama and his top advisors that he wants to look forward and not backward. This is tortured logic when it comes to delivering justice in a nation supposedly cherishing the rule of law.

Ahmadinejad Holds Up a Mirror to Western Powers, Inviting Scorn by Jeremy R. Hammond

By Jeremy R. Hammond
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Foreign Policy Journal
April 21, 2009

Western leaders have reacted with anger and scorn to remarks by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the United Nations conference on racism on Monday, which were interrupted by protestors dressed as clowns and by delegates storming out in protest of his harsh criticism of Israel.

The U.N. Durban Review Conference is being held in Geneva, Switzerland, to review the implementation of the Durban Declaration of Programme of Action from the World Conference Against Racism held in Durban, South Africa, in 2001. That conference was boycotted by the United States and other Western nations to protest the summit being used as a platform to criticize Israel. A draft text of the Declaration equated Zionism with racism, although this language was removed from the final text voted on at the conference by attending delegates.

The Americans are revolting! by Walter Brasch

by Walter Brasch
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.walterbrasch.com
April 21, 2009

All across the country—from Boston to Atlanta to San Antonio—thousands of Americans, inspired by Fox News and radio conservative talk show hosts, took to the streets to protest.

They protested a fascist government that has restricted their freedom of speech and freedom of religion, protected by the First Amendment. They protested thousands of instances where the government infringed upon their rights of privacy, protected by the Fourth Amendment. They called out the government for violations of the rights of due process, protected by the fifth and sixth amendments. They protested the use of about $1 trillion to fight an unnecessary war in Iraq. They protested the apparently unregulated policies of the banks, money lenders, and Wall Street financiers who brought this nation into the current recession that has led to an 8.5 percent unemployment rate and several hundred thousand to lose their homes to foreclosure actions. They protested the fact that about 46 million Americans don’t have health insurance, that as many as five million Americans are homeless, about a fourth of them veterans. They protested the use of torture, of the destruction of the environment, of the awarding of no-bid sweetheart deals worth hundreds of million dollars to companies that do business with the President and Vice-President.

Actually, they didn’t do any of that. Not now and certainly not during the Bush–Cheney years.

Psychologists Helped Develop the CIA’s Torture Techniques

Dandelion Salad
Democracy Now!
4.21.09

The Story of Mitchell Jessen & Associates: How a Team of Psychologists in Spokane, WA, Helped Develop the CIA’s Torture Techniques

We broadcast from Spokane, Washington, less than three miles from the headquarters of a secretive CIA contractor that played a key role in developing the Bush administration’s interrogation methods. The firm, Mitchell Jessen & Associates, is named after the two military psychologists who founded the company, James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen. Beginning in 2002, the CIA hired the psychologists to train interrogators in brutal techniques, including waterboarding, sleep deprivation and pain. We speak with three journalists who have closely followed the story. [includes rush transcript]

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Mark Benjamin, National correspondent for Salon.com.

Katherine Eban, Investigative reporter and writer for several national publications. Her July 2007 article for Vanity Fair, “Rorschach and Awe.”

Karen Dorn Steele, a local investigative reporter who covered Mitchell and Jessen for The Spokesman-Review. She won a George Polk Award for a 1994 newspaper series on squandered money in the $50 billion Hanford Nuclear Reservation cleanup, the nation’s most polluted nuclear weapons production site.

via Democracy Now! | The Story of Mitchell Jessen & Associates: How a Team of Psychologists in Spokane, WA, Helped Develop the CIA’s Torture Techniques.

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Ten Terrible Truths About The CIA Torture Memos, Part 1 by Andy Worthington

Senior Bush figures could be prosecuted for torture, says Obama + Prosecution possible for those who OK’d torture

Torture on Dandelion Salad

Gitmo

Michel Chossudovsky: Taxpayers, Where Is Your Money Going?

Dandelion Salad

GlobalResearchTV
April 20, 2009

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More IMF Economic Medicine Is Not the Solution by Michel Chossudovsky

“America’s Fiscal Collapse – Obama’s Budget Will Impoverish America” Radio Interview with Michel Chossudovsky

America’s Fiscal Collapse by Michel Chossudovsky

The Economy Sucks and or Collapse 2

Mosaic News – 4/20/09: World News From The Middle East

Dandelion Salad

Warning

This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.

linktv

Mosaic needs your help! Donate here: http://linktv.org/contribute

“Ahmadinejad’s Israel comments draw outrage,” Al Jazeera TV, Qatar
“Israeli ambassador to Switzerland recalled,” IBA TV, Israel
“Ahmadinejad: an entire nation homeless under the pretext of Jewish suffering,” Al Arabiya TV, UAE
“Report Says Hamas Killed Foes in Gaza,” Al Jazeera English, Qatar
“Settlers Eye Al Aqsa Mosque,” Palestine TV, Ramallah
“Egypt-Hezbollah Tensions Growing,” Abu Dhabi TV, UAE
“Arming the Iraqi Forces,” Alsumaria TV, Iraq
“Red crescent in Iraq,” Baghdad TV, Iraq
“Cleopatra’s tomb may have been found,” Dubai TV, UAE
Produced for Link TV by Jamal Dajani.

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Ahmadinejad: What befell freedom of speech? + Speech at Durban II conference (highlights)

Israeli Prime Minister: We will not allow Holocaust deniers to carry out another Jewish Holocaust

Iran’s President Did Not Say “Israel must be wiped off the map” By Arash Norouzi (2007)

Where’s Rev. Wright When You Need Him? by Chris Hedges

Obama boycotts anti-racism conference  + More Countries Join Boycott

School Strip-Search Case Before Supreme Court (updated)

Dandelion Salad

Updated: June 25, 2009

acluvideos

The Supreme Court heard the Savana Redding case today. When Savana was 13 years old, she was strip-searched for allegedly possessing prescription-strength ibuprofen. School officials violated Savana’s rights and called into question basic constitutional protections for all students in schools across America.

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U.S. Supreme Court Hears Arguments Today On Unconstitutional Strip Search Of 13-Year-Old Student For Alleged Ibuprofen Possession

American Civil Liberties Union

(4/21/2009)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court today heard oral arguments over whether school officials violated the constitutional rights of a 13-year-old Arizona girl when they strip searched her based on a classmate’s uncorroborated accusation that she previously possessed ibuprofen. The American Civil Liberties Union represents April Redding, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, whose daughter, Savana Redding, was strip searched by Safford Middle School officials six years ago.

‘Superweed’ explosion threatens Monsanto heartlands + Morocco diversifies its energy sources

Dandelion Salad

By Clea CAULCUTT
19 April 2009
France 24

The gospel of high-tech genetically modified (GM) crops is not sounding quite so sweet in the land of the converted. A new pest, the evil pigweed, is hitting headlines and chomping its way across Sun Belt states, threatening to transform cotton and soybean plots into weed battlefields.

In late 2004, “superweeds” that resisted Monsanto’s iconic “Roundup” herbicide, popped up in GM crops in the county of Macon, Georgia. Monsanto, the US multinational biotech corporation, is the world’s leading producer of Roundup, as well as genetically engineered seeds. Company figures show that nine out of 10 US farmers produce Roundup Ready seeds for their soybean crops.

[...]

via France 24 | ‘Superweed’ explosion threatens Monsanto heartlands | France 24.

h/t: CLG

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Morocco diversifies its energy sources

france24english
February 04, 2009

ENVIRONMENT: Morocco is beginning to diversify its energy sources. How and why certain pesticides have just been banned from the European Union?

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FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

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Monsanto Uprooted: Germany Bans Cultivation of GM Corn

Vandana Shiva: The Future of Food and Seed

Senior Bush figures could be prosecuted for torture, says Obama + Prosecution possible for those who OK’d torture

Dandelion Salad

by Ewan MacAskill and Robert Booth

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 21 April 2009 11.30 BST

President says use of waterboarding showed US had ‘lost moral bearings’ as Dick Cheney says CIA memos showed torture delivered ‘good’ intelligence

Former US vice-president Dick Cheney has asked the CIA to declassify memos detailing ‘success’ of torture. Photograph: Kevin Wolf/AP

Senior members of the Bush administration who approved the use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation measures could face prosecution, President Obama disclosed today .

He said the use of torture reflected America “losing our moral bearings”.

He said his attorney general, Eric Holder, was conducting an investigation and the decision rested with him. Obama last week ruled out prosecution of CIA agents who carried out the interrogation of suspected al-Qaida members at Guantánamo and secret prisons around the world.

[...]

via Senior Bush figures could be prosecuted for torture, says Obama | World news | guardian.co.uk.

h/t: CLG

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Obama: Prosecution possible for those who OK’d torture

By Steven Thomma and Marisa Taylor | McClatchy Newspapers | April 21, 2009

WASHINGTON — Hours after he said that he’d never prosecute CIA officers for harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists, President Barack Obama opened the door Tuesday to prosecuting the Bush administration officials who OK’d the techniques.

Obama said it was up to Attorney General Eric Holder to decide whether Bush administration officials should be charged with war crimes or other offenses for approving techniques such as waterboarding.

“I do worry that this gets so politicized that it hampers our ability to function effectively,” the president said when he was asked about a possible independent investigation.

[...]

via Obama: Prosecution possible for those who OK’d torture | McClatchy.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

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Ten Terrible Truths About The CIA Torture Memos, Part 1 by Andy Worthington

Spanish judge keeps Guantanamo probe alive + Waterboarded 183 Times + More revelations from Bush torture memos

Fault Lines: Richard Armitage on torture

Torture on Dandelion Salad

Barack Obama on Dandelion Salad

The Gig Is Up: Money, the Federal Reserve and You.

Dandelion Salad

1:23:40 – Jan 20, 2009
Nu Leaf Productions

Populist lawyer, Gary Fielder, presents “The Gig Is Up: Money, the Federal Reserve and You. Live from Wolfe Hall at The University of Colorado School of Law, on December 4, 2008, Mr. Fielder, a criminal and constitutional lawyer from Denver, Colorado, presents a power point and video presentation on the creation of money with an historical analysis of our current banking system. With quotes from Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abe Lincoln, Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich and many others, Fielder makes his case to abolish the Federal Reserve and return to a sound and honest money system. Fractional Reserve Banking. Currency. Amero. World Government. International Banking. http://www.gigisup.net Produced by Jack Creamer, Side 3 Studios, Denver, Colorado. Video edits by Jonathan Ellinoff. Technical Assistant, Rye Miller. This video is for educational purposes only. Admission was not charged, nor will any effort be made to profit from its production or sale. The DVD is free.

more about “The Gig Is Up: Money, the Federal Res…“, posted with vodpod

h/t: Nikki

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Exclusive: Derivatives for Dummies by The Other Katherine Harris

“Liquidate the Banks; Fire the Executives!” The Warren Report By Mike Whitney

Modern Money Mechanics Federal Reserve

Money As Debt (video) + “In Debt We Have Trusted,” For over 300 years By Jim Kirwan

Federal Reserve on Dandelion Salad

The Economy Sucks and or Collapse 2

European Airs: Unity of the Left by Gaither Stewart

by Gaither Stewart
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
21 April 2009

Chimera Or Reality?

(Rome-Paris) Four parties and movements of the quarrelsome and divided Italian Left have allied for the European parliamentary elections next June. That is good news. Communist Refoundation, Party of Italian Communists, Socialism 2000, and United Consumers have agreed to unify their meagre forces in order to surpass the 4% electoral barrier so that Communists, with their red flag with the hammer and sickle emblem, can again sit in the Assembly of the European Union.

For many years now such unity on the Italian Left has been painfully absent, its former voters, bewildered and confused, wandering from center-left to right, in an electoral diaspora. Running separately in national elections in 2006, the two parties using the name Communist garnered a total of 10% of the vote. In comparison to today’s numbers those were the good old days. For during the breakdown of Left unity, proletarians in the Rome periphery even voted for the neo-fascist National Alliance and workers in north Italy cast their votes for the rightwing Northern League. Communists now hope to win back their traditional Left vote that once—though today almost a political relic—counted one-third of the nation’s electorate.

Chomsky: Iran is too independent and disobedient by Kourosh Ziabari

Dandelion Salad

by Kourosh Ziabari
Foreign Policy Journal
April 20, 2009

Noam Chomsky needs no introductory note. He is inarguably the most significant sociopolitical analyst and lecturer of the contemporary era and “ranks with Marx, Shakespeare, and the Bible as one of the ten most quoted sources in the humanities, and is the only writer among them still alive” as said by the Guardian.

On Chomsky’s “Hegemony or Survival”, the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, speaking at the United Nations, “I would like to invite you, very respectfully, to those who have not read this book, to read it.”

Answering to a 2006 interview question by the New Statesman’s correspondent Andrew Stephen on what would he had done if he were the U.S. president, Chomsky proposed: ” I would set up a War Crimes Tribunal for my own crimes, because if I take on that position [I would need] to deal with the institutional structure and the culture, the intellectual culture. The culture has to be cured.”

In this interview I talked to Prof. Chomsky about Iran, nuclear issue, Washington-Tehran relations and the global impact of Zionist lobbies. An excerpt of this conversation was first published by the Iran’s leading English language daily Tehran Times.

Q: Prof. Chomsky; You have reiterated several times that the majority of world countries, including the members of Non-Alignment Movement, support the nuclear dossier of Iran, yet the American neo-cons are still trumpeting their hawkish mottos. Why?

A: Not only the non-aligned movement, but also the large majority of Americans believe that Iran has the right to develop nuclear energy. But almost no one in the U.S. is aware of this. That includes those who are polled, and probably think they are the only ones who hold these beliefs. Nothing is ever published about it. What appears in the media, constantly, is that the “international community” demands that Iran stop uranium enrichment. Almost nowhere is it brought out that the term “international community” is used conventionally to refer to Washington and whoever happens to go along with it, not just on this issue, but quite generally.

[...]

via Iran is too independent and disobedient: Chomsky | Foreign Policy Journal.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

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Iran Israel US Nukes

Iraq on Dandelion Salad

Noam Chomsky on Dandelion Salad

Dozens arrested after Duke protest

Dandelion Salad

By Bruce Henderson
CharlotteObserver.com
Monday, Apr. 20, 2009

Police arrested more than 40 protesters today at Duke Energy’s Charlotte headquarters following a rally and march against Duke’s coal policies.

About 300 people gathered in Marshall Park this morning to decry the expansion of Duke’s Cliffside coal-fired power plant in Rutherford County, its use of coal mined by flattening Appalachian mountains and its contributions to global warming.

[...]

via Dozens arrested after Duke protest | CharlotteObserver.com.

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Protesters Arrested at Duke Energy

Countdown: Jeff Stein on Jane Harman-AIPAC story

Dandelion Salad

firedoglake

Countdown-CQPolitics’ Jeff Stein – broke Jane Harman-AIPAC story 04_20_09
visit: http://firedoglake.com

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Sources: Wiretap Recorded Rep. Harman Promising to Intervene for AIPAC By Jeff Stein

NSA Spies On Americans Outside The Law