Link: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/11/the-waterboarding-authorization-the-torturers-used/

Beyond that, officials said it wasn't clear that any CIA interrogators were ever informed of the limits laid out in the Justice Department memo. A number of people could say honestly, correctly, 'I didn't know what was in it,' " said a former senior U.S. intelligence official familiar with the inner workings of the interrogation program.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/aug2009/pers-a11.shtml

An article in Sunday’s New York Times on the behind-the-scenes dealings between Henry Paulson, treasury secretary under President George W. Bush, and Goldman Sachs, the giant investment bank Paulson headed before joining the Bush administration, sheds a measure of light on the corrupt relationship between government officials and the banks which underlies the multi-trillion-dollar bailout of Wall Street.

Link: http://news.antiwar.com/2009/08/10/israeli-interior-minister-us-cant-stop-settlement-expansion/

Touring the sights of planned settlement expansions in the West Bank, Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai insisted that the US could not do anything to stop the new construction, and insisted that “there is no escape from our crucial security need to continue with this construction.” The Rebel: Israel ignores US, international concern again. The People's Voice: Tell-Tale Map: Palestinian Loss of Land 1946 to 2000.

Link: http://www.kawther.info/wpr/2009/08/10/death-of-political-prisoners-in-palestine

The Palestinian Authority and Hamas movements have trespassed all the limits with their continuous arrests and torture of political activists, and then killing many of them them in their jails. The attitude of these two movements is now similar to what the Israeli occupation has done and is still doing against the Palestinians in occupied Palestine. The Palestinian National Authority and Hamas have increased the incarceration of political activists, and committed hundreds of politicians, political activists and resistance members into their respective jails.

Link: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/11/ripa_iii_figures/

DICTATORSHIP: Two people have been successfully prosecuted for refusing to provide authorities with their encryption keys, resulting in landmark convictions that may have carried jail sentences of up to five years.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/08/11-9

The National Health Service has become the butt of increasingly outlandish political attacks in the US as Republicans and conservative campaigners rail against Britain's "socialist" system as part of a tussle to defeat Barack Obama's proposals for broader government involvement in healthcare.

Link: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/08/11/denial_of_care/index.html

Sorry, Sarah Palin -- rationing of care? Private companies are already doing it, with sometimes fatal results. The future of healthcare in America, according to Sarah Palin, might look something like this: A sick 17-year-old girl needs a liver transplant. Doctors find an available organ, and they're ready to operate, but the bureaucracy -- or as Palin would put it, the "death panel" -- steps in and says it won't pay for the surgery. Despite protests from the girl's family and her doctors, the heartless hacks hold their ground for a critical 10 days. Eventually, under massive public pressure, they relent -- but the patient dies before the operation can proceed.

Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE57A3PN20090811

Those trapped included people buried by a massive landslide in Hsiao Lin, a village of 1,000 in Kaohsiung county. Many were also trapped in a second village, Namahsia. Trapped means they could be dead or alive.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/aug2009/clim-a11.shtml

The "changing global climate" will pose profound strategic challenges to the United States in coming decades, raising the prospect of military intervention to deal with the effects of violent storms, drought, mass migration and pandemics, military and intelligence analysts say. CATO: The case for alarm regarding climate change is grossly overstated.

Link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/media/ALeqM5iZ5C9pqVX9y3AgOpjXxwMXoLB1xg?size=l

Well wishes from Special Olympians and their families have poured in for founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who remained in critical condition Sunday at Cape Cod Hospital. The younger sister of John F. Kennedy has been weakened in recent years by a series of strokes. She lives in Hyannis Port, near the family compound where her brother, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, has been staying as he undergoes treatment for brain cancer. The 88-year-old Shriver organized the first Special Olympics in 1968, inspired in part by the struggles of her mentally disabled sister, Rosemary. + Statement from Timothy P. Shriver. AP: Text of Obama Shriver statement. The Guardian: Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister of JFK, dies aged 88.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/andrewbrown/2009/aug/10/religion-george-bush

Just when you thought it couldn't get crazier, a well-sourced story claims Bush invaded Iraq because of Bible prophecies. Here's a story we should all be ashamed of missing: George W Bush attempted to sell the invasion of Iraq to Jacques Chirac using biblical prophecy.

Link: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=m56838&hd=&size=1&l=e

URUKNET: The recent decision of Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) President Ruchama Marton to sign a petition against the torture of prisoners by Israel has led the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) to sever ties with the organization, Haaretz reports. The petition was in reaction to the condoning of torture by Dr. Yoram Blachar, President of the IMA and the World Medical Association (WMA), and called for his removal as President. According to PHR, Marton signed the petition in a personal capacity, and the organization should therefore not be punished as a whole.

Link: http://original.antiwar.com/eli-clifton/2009/08/10/obama-seeks-to-block-release-of-abuse-photos/

The United States Supreme Court will hear the U.S. government’s appeal on a lower-court ruling requiring the release of photos showing the abuse of prisoners held in overseas facilities. The government is appealing a 2008 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit which ruled that the government must release the photos to comply with an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoGTCWsYr7o

A video posted of Alex Jones announcing the 'Obama JOKER $1000 Video Contest' has been pulled by You Tube after 'community guidelines' complaints alleged the video was 'racist.'

The video in question had no mention of race whatsoever-- instead, it is a case in point of Obama Brownshirts policing the Internet and turning in political dissenters on a trumped-up basis.

Even more disturbing is You Tube's "community standards" policy in action-- which apparently allows for vocal critics to shut down free speech (which does not otherwise violate You Tube's standards) under arbitrary and unsubstantiated claims of "racism" or etc.

Link: http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/65341

"Since 1945, the US dollar has been the world reserve currency. As its value depreciates, countries holding huge dollar reserves begin to worry. China in particular has expressed grave concerns since it holds nearly $2 trillion in US currency reserves, mostly in the form of US treasury bonds. According to some reports, it is drawing down its dollar reserves by purchasing gold and stocks of raw materials and energy."

Link: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1106530.html

Röver is quoted as saying the conspiracy can be traced back to a group of descendants of the Khazars, a nation from the Caucasus believed to have converted to Judaism 1,200 years ago. De Telegraaf quotes her as saying that these descendants are now "praying to another god; Lucifer, Satan, or however you want to call him" and "are called Rockefeller, Rothschild, Brezinski and Kissinger."

Link: http://www.legitgov.org/shulman_insurance_awards_lies_110809.html

"Since big government prohibits us from feeding Muslims to the lions, what better way to keep people's eyes off the ball with a fun contest?" --Ed Hanway, CEO of CIGNA Two heath insurance giants have announced the winners of their "Scare Health Care Reform to Death" contest. Starting in March, UnitedHealthcare and CIGNA Health Insurance joined forces to create a contest that would award prizes to American citizens who came up with the scariest talking points against health care reform, slogans that would most likely turn public opinion against any changes to the current system. Truth was not a requirement--in fact, it was discouraged for blocking the creative process.