Link: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/01/at-least-10-states-have-introduced-gold-coins-as-currency-bills.php

Legislators in at least ten states have introduced bills in the past few years to allow state commerce to be conducted with gold and silver. As we reported, Georgia state Rep. Bobby Franklin (R) recently reintroduced legislation to force his state to conduct all monetary transactions with U.S. gold or silver coins -- including the payment of taxes.

Link: http://wewontfly.com/tsa-busts-montel-williams-for-marijuana-pipe

AP reports that the TSA busted Montel Williams for carrying a pipe commonly used to smoke marijuana (see below). They’ll copy credit cards, rummage through your stuff and tell your husband you’re taking his money, interrogate you about $5K in cash you have on you, and now they’re pretending to be the DEA?! The TSA is like the new secret police. They’ll go through your stuff without any legal right and get you in trouble for the most harmless and ordinary of items. Had enough yet?

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/01/05-9

For the third time in the last 20 years, establishment voices, with high-profile slots in traditional media, are trying to convince the public to accept cuts to Social Security by endlessly claiming such cuts are necessary without giving coherent evidence to justify the claim. America spends more than the entire world combined on the military and war and has tens of trillions of dollars to give to the corrupt banks but not enough for Social Security?

Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40929461/ns/business-us_business/

A government watchdog says the Internal Revenue Service is tormenting struggling taxpayers in the midst of a slumping economy by increasing the number of liens the agency has filed against people who owe back taxes. The IRS filed nearly 1.1 million liens in the budget year that ended in September, a 14 percent jump over the previous year. Liens punish taxpayers and often hurt their ability to pay back taxes, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson said Wednesday in her annual report to Congress.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/01/05-5

First, it was birds falling from the sky, then thousands of dead fish washing up on shore. Now, more than 40,000 Velvet swimming crabs have wound up dead on England beaches. The possible reason? Hypothermia. The Thanet shoreline is littered with the crabs, along with dead starfish, lobsters, sponges and anemones.

Link: http://www.truth-out.org/why-is-jeff-sessions-blocking-a-child-sex-trafficking-bill66608

In the waning days of the lame duck session, the Senate had the opportunity to pass the Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act. Aimed at creating “a comprehensive, victim-centered approach to addressing the sex trafficking of minors,” the bill is “the first of its kind to deal with young trafficking victims domestically” by providing $12 million in off-set funding for state and local law enforcement to shelter, rehabilitate, prevent, and protect child victims of the sex trade. Corrupt perverts of a feather flock together...

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2010/12/20101230105158700342.html

Gulf Coast residents and BP cleanup workers have linked the source of certain illnesses to chemicals present in BP's oil and the toxic dispersants used to sink it - illnesses that appear to be both spreading and worsening. Dr. Rodney Soto, a medical doctor in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, has been testing and treating patients with high levels of oil-related chemicals in their blood stream. These are commonly referred to as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC's). Anthropogenic VOC's from BP's oil disaster are toxic and have negative chronic health effects. But Obama says come on down and take a swim, the water's fine.

Link: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/investigation/child-porn-probe-leads-fbi-headquarters

Target claims inquiry is just a “misunderstanding”. The government’s pursuit of suspects trafficking in child pornography recently led federal agents to a familiar address--the FBI’s Washington, D.C. headquarters, where a bureau official is the subject of an ongoing criminal probe, The Smoking Gun has learned. The investigation by the Department of Justice’s inspector general is focusing on FBI employee Joseph Bonsuk’s receipt of nearly 80 illicit images that were e-mailed to him by an Illinois sex offender whose rap sheet includes felony

Link: http://socialistworker.org/2011/01/05/justice-for-victims-of-the-police

Grant died in the early morning of January 1, 2009, after he was shot in the back by BART cop Johannes Mehserle. The incident was caught on several cell phone videos that showed that Grant was face down on the ground, with his hands behind his back, and was unarmed when he was shot. Since Grant's death, a deeply committed movement has pressed for justice--with mixed results. Following a public outcry, Mehserle was arrested and charged with murder. After the trial was moved to Los Angeles County, Mehserle became the first California officer convicted of a wrongful on-duty shooting. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, and sentenced to two years with credit for time served.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/03/wikileaks-us-eu-gm-crops

US embassy cable recommends drawing up list of countries for 'retaliation' over opposition to genetic modification. Genetically modified corn in a test tube The US embassy in Paris wanted to penalise the EU after France moved to ban a Monsanto GM corn variety. Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex Features The US embassy in Paris advised Washington to start a military-style trade war against any European Union country which opposed genetically modified (GM) crops, newly released WikiLeaks cables show. In response to moves by France to ban a Monsanto GM corn variety in late 2007, the ambassador, Craig Stapleton, a friend and business partner of former US president George Bush, asked Washington to penalise the EU and particularly countries which did not support the use of GM crops.

Link: http://www.opinion-maker.org/2011/01/obamas-reign-of-terror-in-afghanistan/

2010 was the bloodiest year of the now nine-year conflict in Afghanistan and the tribal border regions of Pakistan. Under the command of General David Petraeus, a massively expanded US and NATO force is waging a campaign of extermination against various ethnic Pashtun and Taliban-linked insurgent movements that have not accepted the foreign invasion of their country.