Link: http://www.usacarry.com/forums/2nd-amendment-politics/11505-think-government-corrupt-you-may-face-10-years-jail.html

Subversives who think government is corrupt and should be controlled by the people face 10 years in prison and a $25,000 dollar fine if they fail to register with authorities in South Carolina, in another chilling example of how free speech and dissent is being criminalized in America.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/02/07-2

JERUSALEM - Human Rights Watch said on Sunday that Israel has failed to properly investigate alleged crimes committed during last winter's devastating Gaza war as demanded by the United Nations."Israel claims it is conducting credible and impartial investigations, but it has so far failed to make that case," said Joe Stork, HRW's New York-based group's deputy director for the Middle East.

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118089&sectionid=3510203

Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin
Former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has sharply criticized US President Barack Obama over his national security policies.

Speaking at a national convention of the "Tea Party" movement Saturday night, Palin slammed the first African American president of the US for his handling of the so-called war on terror.

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118082&sectionid=351020104

US Senators Joe Lieberman (L) and John Kerry (R)
Leading US senators Joseph Lieberman and John Kerry inveigh against a top EU official for supporting further diplomatic talks with Iran over its nuclear program.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, the two US officials criticized the European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashto who threw her lot with more dialogue over Iran's nuclear program

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2010/feb/05/us-economy-obama-jobless

At the end of a rough couple of weeks, some good news for the Obama administration: falling unemployment

It might not sound like much, but a surprise dip in the US unemployment rate is the best piece of news the White House and Democrats have had for a long time. With official figures showing the headline rate of unemployment falling below the 10% mark to 9.7%, the economy is no longer just supplying bad headlines.

Amidst all the talk about tea parties and a Republican resurgence, the economy and the jobs market remain the most pressing issues in the minds of voters, even more than terrorism, healthcare or even the government budget deficit. Until the economy turns around, the political fate of both Obama and the Democrats remains dangerously uncertain.

Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7017922.ece

THE scientist at the centre of the “climategate” email scandal has revealed that he was so traumatised by the global backlash against him that he contemplated suicide.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/07/mexico-drug-war

Just before the execution unit began slaughtering 16 teenagers at a party in Ciudad Juárez on the US-Mexico border last Sunday night, one of the killers apparently suggested that girls and children be allowed to leave before the killing began. No, said another, "Denles parejo… ya valieron todos" – give it to them all the same.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/mark-f06.shtml

Stock markets in Europe and Asia fell sharply Friday in the second day of a near-panic selloff fueled by fears that the debt crisis facing weaker European economies will throw the world economy into a “double-dip” recession.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/pers-f06.shtml

As US and British troops prepare to attack the town of Marjah in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province, military commanders and the media are openly comparing the operation to the siege of Fallujah, one of the bloodiest war crimes of the Iraq war.

Link: http://www.uruknet.info/index.php?p=m63015&hd=&size=1&l=e

United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon threw a lifeline to Israel yesterday, stating that there was not yet enough evidence to say whether Israel or the Palestinians are complying with UN demands to investigate allegations of war crimes during the 22-day Israeli assault on Gaza.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/02/06-2

Anthem Blue Cross customers got a shock this week when the health insurer informed thousands of individual policyholders that their premium rates will jump as much as 39 percent on March 1. "There aren't any other parts of our society where people have no regard for inflation rate and increase their prices this much. I can't imagine anything in the world that's going up 39 percent," said Josh Libresco, 54, of San Rafael, as he grappled with the news that his family premium will go from $858 per month to $1,192 - and that's with a $5,000 deductible.

Link: http://www.truthout.org/the-us-military-a-mindset-barbarism56706

On December 27, in the eastern Kunar region of Afghanistan, ten Afghans, eight of whom were schoolchildren, were dragged from their beds and shot by US forces during a nighttime raid. Afghan government investigators said the eight students were aged from 11 to 17 years. This incident is but one example of countless atrocities US military personnel have carried out in the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. In Iraq, US military personnel torturing detainees in Abu Ghraib, Iraqi civilians suffering the violence  meted out by US forces, or US forces detaining schoolchildren in Baghdad, the list of atrocities is seemingly endless.

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24607.htm

At a town hall meeting in Tampa, Florida on 28 January, President Obama explained what in his view had to happen if there is to be a two-state solution which would see Israel and the Palestinians living side by side in peace and security. He said, “Both sides are going to have to make concessions”.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/numm-f06.shtml

Anger among workers at the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) plant in Fremont, California, toward the United Auto Workers (UAW) exploded at a January 24 meeting discussing the imminent closure of the facility. Nearly 5,000 workers will lose their jobs when the plant, formerly a joint venture of General Motors and Toyota, closes on March 31. Four hundred or so workers were present at the meeting

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/jobs-f06.shtml

The official US unemployment rate fell to 9.7 percent in January, despite 20,000 jobs lost, according to monthly figures for December released Friday by the Labor Department. The number of jobs, which the labor department called “essentially unchanged,” was affected by a number of contingent events, including the hiring of 9,000 temporary workers by the federal government to help with the 2010 census and the “inventory bounce” that took place in December.

Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1248956/Snowmageddon-brings-chaos-U-S-East-Coast-Washington-DC-braces-worst-blizzard-90-years.html

Nearly 2ft of snow fell on Washington today with President Barack Obama dubbing the whiteout ‘Snowmageddon’. And as the blizzard hit the US capital forecasters warned tonight that some of it could be heading to the UK this week.
Flights were cancelled and roads blocked. But Mr Obama managed to venture out of the White House to make his comment at a Democratic Party meeting.

Link: http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/gaza-strip/4056-gaza-imminent-to-complete-power-outage

The Energy and Natural Resources Authority in Gaza warned that a severe shortage of fuel will force it to shut down electricity by Sunday. Kanan Abaid, head of the authority, said on Saturday that only enough fuel is available for one more day, warning of a crisis if the station stopped working.

Link: http://mantiqaltayr.wordpress.com/2010/02/06/if-its-729-you-must-decline/

1. Israeli Vice-President for American Affairs (IVPAA), Barrack Hussein Obama (BO) is in such a bind that even Daniel “Dracula” Pipes (DDP), one of our favorite loons here at Mantiq al-Tayr, has offered him advice. I guess the IVPAA just isn’t getting enough advice from Zionist Jews and Israeli – Firsters like Rahm Israel Emmanuel, David Axelrod and Dennis Ross and . . . . . (insert long list), so in service to his country, Israel, Count Daniel came to his rescue.

Link: http://www.rense.com/general89/obmme.htm

Foreign policy and war issues have taken a back seat to the Democratic administration's push to cram a health care reform bill down our throats. But the world won't wait any longer as it reacts to US provocations on several fronts. The Iran crisis is ripening towards a military confrontation after Obama's diplomacy charade collapsed in failure.

Link: http://www.arguewitheveryone.com/general-political-discussion/102437-tea-party-sarah-neocon.html

Sarah Palin delivered a speech prior to her keynote at the Republican Tea Party fest in Nashville scheduled for this weekend. In addition to touching on government spending and the bankster bailout, Palin said the underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab should have been grilled before he was read his Miranda rights.

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/02/201026123227719101.html

The US defense secretary, has dismissed Iranian assertions that it is close to reaching a deal that would see some of its uranium sent abroad for enrichment. Robert Gates said during a meeting in Ankara, Turkey's capital, that he saw no evidence that Tehran had changed its position in its nuclear dispute with the US and its allies and suggested it was time to move forward with sanctions.

Link: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02052010/profile3.html

While many in Congress, the press and the public have given up on the idea of even a limited public option in health care reform, Flowers and her group, Physicians for a National Health Program, are standing firm for a single-payer plan. Specifically, they want to extend the Medicare program, which they see as a functioning single-player plan, to the nation as a whole. Flowers has testified before Congress and penned Op-Eds and she has been arrested three times in her attempts to get Congress and the White House to pay attention to single-payer.

Link: http://rawstory.com/2010/02/california-senators-single-payer-bill-raked-insurance-cash/

Senators opposing bill raked in twice as much insurance cash as backers. With national health reform in peril, California has taken matters into its own hands. Its Democratic-led Senate last Thursday approved the creation of a single-payer insurance system. Authored by Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), the bill passed in a largely party-line vote of 22-14.

Link: http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20100205/157780962.html

U.S. plans to place elements of its global missile shield in Romania pose a real threat to Russia's national security, a Russian military analyst said on Friday. Romanian President Traian Basescu said on Thursday his country was ready to host U.S. medium-range interceptor missiles to counter a potential ballistic missile attack, but stressed that they would not be directed at Russia.

Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50235

Over the past two decades, Ricardo Dominguez has made a career for himself tweaking the sensibilities of government officials and developing software tools meant to disrupt the status quo. Presently, he leads a team at the University of California at San Diego that is designing a mobile application to assist migrants attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.

Link: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/02/us-says-200-troops-on-the-ground-in-pakistan/#ixzz0eiIDcl0v

The U.S. military has 200 troops on the ground in Pakistan. That’s about the double the previously-disclosed number of forces there. It’s a whole lot more than the “no American troops in Pakistan” promised by special envoy Richard Holbrooke. And let’s not even get into the number of U.S. intelligence operatives and security contractors on Pakistani soil.

Link: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/05/jobs-are-up-i-mean-down-whatever/

A confusing employment report this morning: employment down, but unemployment also down. Nor is this a story about workers dropping out of the labor force; the report shows an increase in the employment-population ratio, the percentage of adults who are working. What?

Link: http://wire.antiwar.com/2010/02/05/bus-hospital-bombed-in-pakistan/

Suspected Sunni militants bombed a bus carrying Shiite worshippers and two hours later attacked a hospital treating the victims, killing 25 people and wounded 100 on Friday in a strike on Pakistan's largest city.

Link: http://news.antiwar.com/2010/02/05/report-eight-us-troops-died-for-worthless-afghan-base/

An executive summary was released today regarding the October Taliban attack on Combat Outpost Keating, a Nuristan Province base. The attack was driven back, but not before eight Americans were killed.

Link: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1960415,00.html?xid=rss-topstories

By killing three U.S. soldiers in a bomb attack in a remote corner of northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, Feb. 3, the Taliban scored a political jackpot. With anti-American sentiment cresting in Pakistani public opinion, the presence of the three American trainers in a convoy passing through Koto village when it was struck by a roadside bomb has set off a flurry of questions and even wild conspiracy theories about the U.S. presence in the country.