Link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iVRaRYcWFCQgMxBfNtbcfT98Zr4QD9951D002

A person familiar with the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity because the probe is ongoing, wouldn't detail what the potential charges would be or say whether the 10 people include Madoff's family or former employees. So far, only Madoff and an accountant accused of failing to make basic auditing checks have been criminally charged in the multibillion-dollar hoax.

Link: http://www.greenpartywatch.org/2009/06/30/31-democrats-in-congress-vote-for-secret-interrogations/

As the Green Party moves toward the 2010 congressional elections, we should expect most progressives to react with the standard Democratic line of dismissal: “I like what ____ and the Green Party stand for, but they’re just not a credible part of this election.” Of course, credibility in an election is determined by the voters, and if more progressive voters could be convinced to vote for what they actually believe in, rather than what they’ve been duped to believe they must accept in the name of pragmatism, the Green Party and its congressional candidates would be quite credible in many congressional races.

Link: http://www.prisonplanet.com/the-truth-behind-the-iraq-sovereignty-propaganda.html

The corporate media is getting all giddy and affording blanket coverage to the story of Iraqis who are “regaining their sovereignty” as U.S. troops are pulled out from Iraqi cities. This is of course lurid and baseless propaganda - hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops will remain in Iraq stationed at the dozens of military bases that have been built across the country.

Link: http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Videos.php/2009/07/01/the-obama-deception

Just in case you missed it! He is loud, brash and he is the self proclaimed Tyrannosaurus rex in the infowar. Alex Jones’s new documentary about the new Messiah who was voted in on “Change” but who more so than even his predecessor promotes and supports the Global banking elite in their quest for a one world order in which they will have total control shows you the Obama and the disastrous bailouts with unlimited funds handed over to the banking elite criminals in all its unsettling detail. Please spread this video around as much as you can. The People's Voice: A Historic Moment: The Election of the Greatest Con-Man in Recent History.

Link: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25711353-5005961,00.html

The New York Times worked with Wikipedia to keep news of the kidnapping of one of its reporters in Afghanistan off the online user-edited encyclopedia. New York Times reporter David Rohde, who was kidnapped by the Taliban in November, escaped from his captors along with his translator this month. A number of news organisations, including Agence France-Presse, at the request of the New York Times, agreed not to report the kidnapping out of "concerns for their safety".

Link: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/24306.html

There is dismay over what would happen if Gov. Mark Sanford steps down: Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer would step up.

Link: http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/06/29/2009-06-29_an_inside_look_at_the_luxury_apartment_ponzi_schemer_bernie_madoff_will_never_se.html

Here's an exclusive look at the luxurious apartment Ruth Madoff is being forced to vacate. While husband Bernie Madoff traded in the Upper East Side digs for a lower Manhattan jail cell back in March, a judge effectively evicted Ruth Madoff from the $7 million apartment as part of a $170 billion forfeiture order handed down last week.

Link: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,1877351,00.html

Blameworthy: The good intentions, bad managers and greed behind the meltdown. Full list HERE.

Link: http://freegaza.org/en/home/hope-fleet-news/967-urgent-alert-israeli-navy-surrounding-spirit-and-threatening-to-open-fire

At 1:40 am, the Israeli Navy surrounded the SPIRIT while in international waters off the coast of Israel as it is on its way to the Gaza Strip. We got a call from the boat saying that they were being threatened, told to turn back or they would be fired on. Free Gaza: ISRAEL ATTACKS JUSTICE BOAT; KIDNAPS HUMAN RIGHTS WORKERS; CONFISCATES MEDICINE, TOYS AND OLIVE TREES: "This is an outrageous violation of international law against us. Our boat was not in Israeli waters, and we were on a human rights mission to the Gaza Strip," said Cynthia McKinney, a former U.S. Congresswoman and presidential candidate. "President Obama just told Israel to let in humanitarian and reconstruction supplies, and that's exactly what we tried to do. We're asking the international community to demand our release so we can resume our journey."

Link: http://original.antiwar.com/smith-grant/2009/06/28/subsidies-for-israel-sanctions-for-iran/

President Barack Obama’s fiscal year 2010 budget request for $2.775 billion in military aid to Israel is proceeding smoothly through the Congress. On June 17 the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs held a “markup” session on the budget. The subcommittee came under pressure from an antiwar group that sought to suspend or condition foreign aid over Israel’s use of U.S. weapons that left 3,000 Palestinians dead during the Bush administration. The subcommittee held its session in a tiny Capitol room, denying activists and members of the press access to determine whether there was any discussion on aid to Israel. The budget quickly passed and is now before the full House Appropriations committee.

Link: http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/06/29/top-cia-lawyers-legal-complaints/

A grassroots coalition will file complaints today with the Washington, D.C. bar against two Central Intelligence Agency lawyers for their involvement in authorizing the use of controversial interrogation techniques against detainees in US custody. Velvet Revolution, a coalition of over 150 grassroots groups, will register complaints against CIA lawyers Jonathan M. Fredman and John A. Rizzo. Fredman, who is currently counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, served as the Associate General counsel for the CIA from 2001-2004. Uruknet: CIA Crucified Captive In Abu Ghraib Prison.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jun2009/zela-j30.shtml

While publicly opposing the military coup that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Sunday, the Obama administration on Monday indicated that it will not cut off aid to the Central American country or demand Zelaya’s reinstatement. Following a White House meeting with Washington’s closest Latin American ally, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, President Obama reiterated the position that the ouster of Zelaya was illegal. However, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters at a State Department briefing that the US government was refraining from formally declaring the removal of Zelaya a “coup.” Earlier on Monday, Clinton was asked whether the stated US goal of “restoring democratic order in Honduras” included returning Zelaya to the presidency. “We haven’t laid out any demands that we’re insisting on,” Clinton replied. CNN: OAS lifts 47-year-old suspension of Cuba. Aangirfan: CIA TOPPLES HONDURAN PRESIDENT TO PROTECT DRUGS TRADE? Rebel Report: Live report from Tegucigalpa, Honduras (Video). + A Few Thoughts on the Coup in Honduras. Democracy Now: The Honduran military is effectively a subsidiary of the United States government. Honduras, as a whole, if any Latin American country is fully owned by the United States, its Honduras.

Link: http://www.independent.org:80/newsroom/article.asp?id=2531

Barack Obama’s reaction to the mass protests and violence in Iran shows he is following through on his pledge to be more like George H.W. Bush rather than his son, George W. Bush. Obama has admired the father’s realism and has criticized the idealistic neo-conservatism of the son. But is realism a better foreign policy for the United States?

Link: http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_4853.shtml

On June 17, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs held a “mark-up” session on the budget. The subcommittee came under pressure from an antiwar group that sought to suspend or condition foreign aid over Israel’s use of US weapons which left 3000 Palestinians dead during the Bush administration. The subcommittee held its session in a tiny Capitol room denying activists and members of the press access. The budget quickly passed and is now before the full House Appropriations Committee. Israel enjoys “unusually wide infinite latitude in spending the [military assistance] funds,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

Link: http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1096322.html

A West Bank checkpoint managed by a private security company is not allowing Palestinians to pass through with large water bottles and some food items, Haaretz has learned. HaAretz: Red Cross: Israel trapping 1.5m Gazans in despair. ICRC: Gaza: 1.5 million people trapped in despair.

Link: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=m55547&hd=&size=1&l=e

"A forensic examiner found that he (the prisoner) had essentially been crucified; he died from asphyxiation after having been hung by his arms, in a hood, and suffering broken ribs," the magazine's Jane Mayer writes in the magazine's June 22nd issue. "Military pathologists classified the case a homicide." The date of the murder was not given.

Link: http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/06/27/mohammed-el-gharani-guantanamos-youngest-prisoner-speaks-to-al-jazeera/

Speaking for the first time since his release from Guantánamo after seven years’ imprisonment without charge or trial, following a successful habeas corpus appeal in January, Mohammed El-Gharani, now a free man in Chad, told Mohamed Vall of al-Jazeera, in an exclusive interview, how he felt about being imprisoned from the age of 14 to the age of 21.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jun2009/inde-j29.shtml

The Obama administration is drafting an executive order that would give the US president the power to arrest without charge, and imprison indefinitely without trial, foreign nationals it accuses of being terrorists, according to several senior government officials who spoke with the Washington Post and a reporter for non-profit news source ProPublica on condition of anonymity. The order, should it be released, would likely reuse arguments made by the previous administration of George W. Bush that the laws of war allow the executive branch to disregard the established judicial system and domestic laws and rights, such as those guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.

Link: http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/4554

The text message that beeped on my cell phone this morning read "Alert, Zelaya has been kidnapped, coup d'etat underway in Honduras, spread the word." It's a rude awakening for a Sunday morning, especially for the millions of Hondurans that were preparing to exercise their sacred right to vote today for the first time on a consultative referendum concerning the future convening of a constitutional assembly to reform the constitution. Aangirfan: CIA TOPPLES HONDURAN PRESIDENT TO PROTECT DRUGS TRADE? Rebel Report: Live report from Tegucigalpa, Honduras (Video). + A Few Thoughts on the Coup in Honduras.

Link: http://www.russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-06-16/Billionaire_Madoff_tied_to_intelligence_agencies.html?fullstory

Wayne Madsen Report spoke to a former close aide to Madoff who related how he handled a number of transactions personally for Madoff. The source said that Madoff was running a special type of "pump and dump" scheme. The source said Madoff would "pump money out of the system and dump it out to another place." When asked what that "other place" was, the source replied, "Israel."

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jun/29/bernard-madoff-fraud-court

The 71-year-old fraudster faces up to 150 years in prison over $65bn Ponzi fraud. Bernard Madoff will face some of his victims today before being sentenced to up to 150 years in prison for his $65bn (£39.5bn) fraud. The convicted fraudster will learn his fate at a hearing in New York scheduled to start at 10am local time (3pm BST). Assistant US attorney, Marc Litt, said the "scope, duration and nature" of Madoff's activities mean the disgraced 71-year-old should receive the maximum sentence of 150 years, or failing that an effective life sentence.

Link: http://trifter.com/asia-pacific/pakistan/kashmir-where-nature-sits-in-the-lap-of-lord/

“If there is to be heaven on earth, it is here” said the poignant Mughal king Akbar commenting on the picturesque landscape of Kashmir. Kashmir evokes awe-inspiring response from an incessant flurry of tourists. The place is covered with such natural splendor that it may take many lives to soak it entirely. With the mighty Himalayas looming over it and the hills of Karakoram and Nanda Devi adding to the effect, the place looks seeped in beauty. River Lidder, Jhelum and Chenab augment the impact of beauty.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/28/honduras-zelaya-coup-chavez

The army in Honduras has ousted and exiled its leftist president, Manuel Zelaya, , in Central America's first military coup since the cold war, after he upset the army by trying to seek another term in office.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/28/inquiry-gaza-palestine-israel-war

The UN has held an unprecedented public hearing in Gaza to broadcast live witness accounts from Palestinians who described seeing their relatives killed and injured during Israel's January war.

Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47400

A group of at least 100 soldiers surrounded the residence of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya early Sunday morning, hauled him out of bed, took him to an air force base and put him on a plane for Costa Rica. VenezuelAnalysis: Obama's First Coup d'Etat.

Link: http://www.legitgov.org/ross_cia_crucified_suspect_280609.html

The Central Intelligence Agency crucified a prisoner in Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, according to a report published in The New Yorker magazine. “A forensic examiner found that he (the prisoner) had essentially been crucified; he died from asphyxiation after having been hung by his arms, in a hood, and suffering broken ribs,” the magazine’s Jane Mayer writes in the magazine’s June 22nd issue. “Military pathologists classified the case a homicide.” The date of the murder was not given. “No criminal charges have ever been brought against any C.I.A. officer involved in the torture program, despite the fact that at least three prisoners interrogated by agency personnel died as a result of mistreatment,” Mayer notes.

Link: http://www.infowars.com/innoculations-the-true-weapons-of-mass-destruction/

One basic truth can be used as a foundation for a mountain of lies, and if we dig down deep enough in the mountain of lies, and bring out that truth, to set it on top of the mountain of lies; the entire mountain of lies will crumble under the weight of that one truth. And there is nothing more devastating to a structure of lies than the revelation of the truth upon which the structure of lies was built...

Link: http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/06/selling-iran-ahmadinejad-privatization-and-a-bus-diver-who-said-no/

A creeping assumption lies just beneath the surface of arguments concerning the disputed election in Iran. Incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is cast as an anti-US populist crusader resisting the materialistic advances of the West. His opponent, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, as his foil — a Western-backed liberal intent on implementing free-market policies.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2009/jun2009/cris-j27.shtml

By Tuesday, many US state governments must pass budgets for the coming fiscal year. The state capitals are now the scene of bitter feuding among governors and legislators over how the deficits will be met. But there is unanimity that the working class must foot the bill. Forty-six states confront significant deficits, and their collective shortfall for 2010 stands at more than $130 billion. This comes after a $104 billion deficit in 2009, for a two-year total of $234 billion in red ink—$91 billion more than President Barack Obama’s stimulus package allocated to all municipalities and the 50 states for the next two years.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/06/27

The Obama administration, fearing a battle with Congress that could stall plans to close Guantanamo, is drafting an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate suspected terrorists indefinitely, according to three senior government officials with knowledge of White House deliberations.

Link: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/27/preventive_detention/index.html

When Obama first unveiled his "preventive detention" policy, many defenders praised him (and claimed he was different than Bush) because of his vow that -- as he put it -- "my Administration will work with Congress to develop an appropriate legal regime." But now, relying exclusively on three Obama officials speaking behind a veil of anonymity, Peter Finn and Dafner Linza of The Washington Post and ProPublica report that the White House is "crafting language for an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely."

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jun/28/violent-protests-soldiers-parade-republican

Violent protests that disrupted a parade in Glasgow to acknowledge the courage of the country's troops were last night condemned as "sickening" by Scottish secretary Jim Murphy. What an awake and enlightened people the Scottish are to be disgusted by the glorification of war. What a little nationalist Scottish secretary Jim Murphy is. If he loves war and the glorification of the military he should be in Iraq breathing depleted uranium dust killing women and children.

Link: http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn06262009.html

The problem with the Hate Crimes Prevention Act is that it creates a thought crime and also categories of crime victims for disparate treatment. Goodbye to equality under the law. How will a prosecutor prove that a lesbian was murdered because of her sexual orientation rather than because she refused to give the mugger her purse?

Link: http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22925.htm

An investigation by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has revealed that former detainees at the U.S. Bagram airbase in Afghanistan were beaten, deprived of sleep, and threatened with dogs. The BBC’s conclusions are based on interviews with 27 former detainees who were held at Bagram between 2002 and 2006. None of these men were ever charged with a crime. Hundreds of detainees are still being held in U.S. custody at the Afghan prison without charge or trial.

Link: http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/63863

In addition to the efforts to prevent and reduce statelessness, states should also establish an identification and protection mechanism for stateless persons. Stateless persons are victims of a serious human rights violation: they are deprived of the protective link between a state and its citizens. Yet statelessness is a forgotten issue in Europe, as in the rest of the world.

Link: http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/06/worker-rights-no-balls-no-gains/

In looking back on growing up, I always remember 1957 and 1958 as “the two good years.” They were the only years my working class redneck family ever caught a real break in their working lives, and that break came because of organized labor. After working as a farm hand, driving a hicktown taxi part time, and a dozen catch-as-catch-can jobs, my father found himself owning a used semi-truck and hauling produce for a Teamster unionized trucking company called Blue Goose.

Link: http://216.221.102.26/blogger/post/Thought-Crime-Bills-Threaten-Talk-Radio.aspx

HR 1966 has cleared the House and now faces the Senate as S.909, the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act (officially, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act). The bill is expected to sail through the Senate as it did in the House. It will provide federal assistance to the states, local jurisdictions, and Indian tribes to prosecute hate crimes, and for “other purposes.” It creates special protective status based on race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability.

Link: http://slashdot.org/story/09/06/27/0344230/The-Internet-Helps-Iran-Silence-Activists

Using a system installed last year, built in part by Nokia and Siemens, the government routes all digital traffic in the country through a single choke point, using the capabilities of deep packet inspection to monitor every e-mail, tweet, blog post, and possibly even every phone call placed in Iran. The government is also using crowdsourcing by posting pictures of protesters and asking citizens for help in identifying the activists.

Link: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/06/26/iran-night-raids-terrorize-civilians

Iran's paramilitary Basij are carrying out brutal nighttime raids, destroying property in private homes andbeating civilians in an attempt to stop nightly protest chants, Human RightsWatch said today. Human Rights Watch also said the Iranian authorities areconfiscating satellite dishes from private homes to prevent citizens fromseeing foreign news.

Link: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/obama-issues-signing-statement-on-106b-war-bill-2009-06-26.html

President George W. Bush was heavily criticized for his use of signing statements, declaring he'd ignore some elements of legislation by invoking presidential prerogative. The Obama administration announced in the statement it would disregard provisions of the legislation that, among other things, would pressure the World Bank to strengthen labor and environmental standards and require the Treasury department to report to Congress on the activities of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).