Economy On The Ropes By Mike Whitney

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By Mike Whitney
May 1, 2009 “Information Clearing House”

The economy continued to shrink in the first quarter of 2009 at an annual pace of 6.1 percent, making it the worst recession in more than 50 years. Gross Domestic Product slipped into negative territory from January to March for back-to-back quarters of negative 6 percent growth. The news of falling GDP was preceded on Tuesday by a dismal housing report which showed that housing prices have continued their historic downward plunge with only modest improvement. Since their peak in July 2006, housing prices have dropped 31 percent, falling 18.6 percent in the last year alone. The rate of decline has decelerated slightly but–on their present trajectory–prices are on target to tumble 45 to 50 percent from their 2006 highs. Another 20 percent loss in home equity means another $4 trillion loss for US homeowners.

Dictatorial Powers Unchallenged As US “Enemy Combatant” Pleads Guilty by Andy Worthington

by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
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www.andyworthington.co.uk
1 May 2009

For five years and eight months, the Bush administration held Qatari national and legal US resident Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri without charge or trial as an “enemy combatant” in the Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, South Carolina. Arrested by the FBI in December 2001, and subsequently charged with crimes including credit card fraud and identity theft, al-Marri, who had arrived in the US with his family on September 10, 2001, to study at Peoria University in Illinois, was subsequently pulled out of the criminal justice system and held as an “enemy combatant,” when further investigation of his computer and other possessions indicated that he had been sent to the US to establish an al-Qaeda “sleeper cell.”

In the last months of his confinement, before the Obama administration swiftly reviewed his case and moved him into the federal court system, al-Marri had been allowed a modicum of personal freedom — such as watching TV and making calls to his family — although he was still held in isolation in a cell block in which all the other cells were unoccupied.

The Lethargy Virus by Ralph Nader

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by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
May 1, 2009

The Swine Flu (or H1N1 virus) is in the air. The public health authorities are acting “in excess of caution” to curb its spread from Mexico into this country. Already, however, this virus and the publicity around it is providing another occasion to question our nation’s priorities.

Let’s put it this way—the gravest terrorists in the world today are viruses and bacterium and their astonishing ability to mutate, hitchhike and devastate human beings. Yet despite small outbreaks—such as the SARS virus from China—we collectively seem to be waiting until the “big pandemic” before we come to our senses and redefine national security and national defense.

It is not that we are unaware of the massive toll that tuberculosis, malaria, AIDS and many other infectious diseases exact year after year. Just those three diseases take over 5 million lives a year. It is not that we fail to realize how international trade, tourism and other travels—together with environmental disruptions—accelerate the spread and range of these silent forms of violence.

Mosaic News – 4/30/09: World News From The Middle East

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Peace and Love: Time to Recycle the Flower Power Era By Roland Michel Tremblay

By Roland Michel Tremblay
Featured Writer
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The Marginal
1 May, 2009

The Peace and Love era of the 60’s and early 70’s, with its flower power gimmick, was such a ridiculous idea, I would not have been caught dead being associated with it. It was not my generation you see, so instead I hated anything related to it, including The Beatles and Donovan. I think back now and I wonder, perhaps we need to recycle that era. Let me explain… perhaps because there is only hate left in this world right now?

Say It Ain’t So, Howard Zinn! by Richard C. Cook

by Richard C. Cook
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
May 1, 2009

Howard Zinn, 86-year old folk hero, activist, professor, historian, and author of one of the great books of American popular literature, A People’s History of the United States, is telling people that searching for the truth about what really happened on 9/11 “is a diversion.”

Political Lies and Media Disinformation regarding the Swine Flu Pandemic by Michel Chossudovsky

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by Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, May 1, 2009

What is the flu? Influenza (the flu) is a serious contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses. Millions of people in the United States get the flu each year. Most people are sick for about a week. Some people (especially young children, pregnant women, older people, and people with chronic health problems) can get very sick and may die from the flu. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

The World Health Organization (WHO) raised its pandemic alert level to Phase 5 on a 6 point scale.

The WHO’s Phase 5 alert means “there is sustained human-to-human spread in at least two countries and that global outbreak of the disease is imminent… It also signals an increased effort to produce a vaccine… Human cases have been confirmed in Mexico, the United States, Canada, Britain, Israel, New Zealand and Spain.” (emphasis added)

Government moves to dismiss AIPAC case

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JTA
May 1, 2009

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Prosecutors asked a judge to drop charges against two ex-AIPAC staffers accused of passing along classified information.

In a statement Friday, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia said restrictions on the government’s case imposed by Judge T.S. Ellis III made conviction unlikely.

“Given the diminished likelihood the government will prevail at trial under the additional intent requirements imposed by the court and the inevitable disclosure of classified information that would occur at any trial in this matter, we have asked the court to dismiss the indictment,” Peter Carr said.

[…]

via Government moves to dismiss AIPAC case | JTA – Jewish & Israel News

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AIPAC, NSA Spying and the Corruption of Congress by Tom Burghardt

Scott Horton Interviews Jeff Stein on Jane Harman-AIPAC story

Countdown: Jeff Stein on Jane Harman-AIPAC story

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

Anti-torture rally hits Washington

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RussiaToday

More than 100 anti-torture activists marched to the White House on Thursday to protest against US detention policy. They also voiced anger against what they consider to be the governments refusal to punish those responsible for torture.