One in eight Americans needs emergency food assistance
Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/hung-f04.shtml
One in eight Americans does not have enough to eat and requires emergency food assistance. This staggering number is revealed in a report released on Tuesday by Feeding America (FA), a network consisting of thousands of food pantries, soup kitchens and similar agencies serving 37 million people in the US. The report, entitled Hunger in America 2010, paints a devastating portrait of the social misery faced by millions of American working people.
PermalinkBankers defiant at Davos World Economic Forum
Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/pers-f04.shtml
Two years on from the biggest financial crisis to strike world capitalism since the 1930s, leading international bankers made clear at last week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that they will resist any attempts to reign in their speculative practices.
Ignoring Torture Claims and Questionable Evidence, New York Jury Convicts Pakistani Scientist Aafia Siddiqui
Link: http://www.democracynow.org/2010/2/4/ignoring_torture_claims_and_questionable_evidence
A New York jury has convicted the US-educated Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui of attempted murder for shooting at US forces while jailed in Afghanistan in 2008. None of the Americans were injured, but Siddiqui was shot and wounded while in US custody. Human rights groups have long alleged that Siddiqui was forcibly disappeared by Pakistani authorities in 2003 and interrogated and tortured at the behest of the United States. In her testimony, Siddiqui claimed to have been held in a US secret prison. We speak to Siddiqui family spokesperson Tina Foster of the International Justice Network and Petra Bartosiewicz, an independent journalist who has been closely following Siddiqui’s case.
Haiti - Still Starving 23 Days Later
Link: http://www.uruknet.info/index.php?p=m62937&hd=&size=1&l=e
You can walk down many of the streets of Port au Prince and see absolutely no evidence that the world community has helped Haiti. Twenty three days after the earthquake jolted Haiti and killed over 200,000 people, as many as a million people have still not received any international food assistance.
On the Claimed 'War Exception' to the Constitution
Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/02/04-3
Last week, I wrote about a revelation buried in a Washington Post article by Dana Priest which described how the Obama administration has adopted the Bush policy of targeting selected American citizens for assassination if they are deemed (by the Executive Branch) to be Terrorists. As The Washington Times' Eli Lake reports, Adm. Dennis Blair was asked about this program at a Congressional hearing yesterday and he acknowledged its existence:
Bill Introduced Calls For Constitutional Amendment to Tackle Campaign Finance Ruling
Two lawmakers introduced a bill this week aimed at adding an amendment to the US Constitution, which would allow Congress and the states to regulate political expenditures by corporations.
What Getting Dumped by My Girlfriend Taught Me About Being Dumped by Obama
Link: http://www.truthout.org/what-getting-dumped-my-girlfriend-taught-me-about-being-dumped-obama56648
It was a cold February night when I got together with Irene to watch Obama's first budget address to Congress. Irene was a drop-dead gorgeous woman whose beauty was matched only by her intellect. I had met her at a party a few days earlier, and already I was crazy about her.
Judge seals video in racially-charged Taser ‘homicide’
Link: http://rawstory.com/2010/02/judge-seals-video-taser-homicide/
A potentially explosive video showing the death of a Louisiana man after being Tasered nine times in 14 minutes will be kept from the public for at least another five months, after a judge ordered the tape sealed. Former Winnfield police officer Scott Nugent has been charged with manslaughter and malfeasance over the death of Baron "Scooter" Pikes on January 17, 2008. Pikes was handcuffed during each of the Taserings. Winnfield police say Pikes was resisting arrest on an outstanding warrant. This man was brutally tortured to death by a sadistic monster wearing a police uniform who will not be punished for his actions. The police in America have a special license to kill without reason, given to them by a corrupt and murderous government.
Google, NSA ‘alliance’ has privacy advocate alarmed
Link: http://rawstory.com/2010/02/google-nsa-alliance-privacy-advocate-alarmed/
In the wake of Chinese-based cyber attacks against Google's corporate infrastructure, search giant Google turned to the U.S. National Security Agency to help it combat security threats, according to a a published report. It's a move that has privacy advocates itching for more information on the cooperation between the world's largest aggregator of data and the U.S. government's controversial spy agency.
It Is Now Mathematically Impossible To Pay Off The U.S. National Debt
A lot of people are very upset about the rapidly increasing U.S. national debt these days and they are demanding a solution. What they don't realize is that there simply is not a solution under the current U.S. financial system. It is now mathematically impossible for the U.S. government to pay off the U.S. national debt. You see, the truth is that the U.S. government now owes more dollars than actually exist. If the U.S. government went out today and took every single penny from every single American bank, business and taxpayer, they still would not be able to pay off the national debt. And if they did that, obviously American society would stop functioning because nobody would have any money to buy or sell anything.
Initial Jobless Claims Rise Unexpectedly; Stock Futures Down, Dollar Up
Speaking of the unemployed, the ranks of those claiming first-time benefits surprisingly rose again last week, to 480,000, the U.S. Department of Labor reported this morning, up from the revised 472,000 prior and ahead of expectations for a decline to 455,000.
Obama Warns U.S. Will Get Tough On Trade With China
Link: http://www.rferl.org/content/Obama_Warns_US_Will_Get_Tough_On_Trade_With_China/1948532.html
Obama says his administration is putting increased pressure on China to open up its domestic market further to reciprocal trade. Speaking at a Washington meeting with Democratic Party senators on February 3, Obama said that if the United States can increase its trade with Asia by even one percentage point, that will create thousands, maybe millions, of new U.S. jobs.
US to Israel: Ease Gaza blockade to counter Goldstone charges of war crimes
The United States has suggested to Israel that easing the Gaza blockade would help counter the fallout from the Goldstone report on alleged war crimes during Operation Cast Lead a year ago.
Google to enlist NSA to help it ward off cyberattacks
Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/03/AR2010020304057_pf.html
The world's largest Internet search company and the world's most powerful electronic surveillance organization are teaming up in the name of cybersecurity. Under an agreement that is still being finalized, the National Security Agency would help Google analyze a major corporate espionage attack that the firm said originated in China and targeted its computer networks, according to cybersecurity experts familiar with the matter.
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