Link: http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/01/17/gordon-duff-mlk-a-dream-forgotten-awaiting-rebirth/

"I have a dream..." The death of “Greatness” in America... I read today’s newspapers, demands for an attack on Iran. Iran has no nuclear program yet there is no voice in America to stand up to the liars. Dr. King is dead. He would have been heard.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/news/149562/85-year-old-woman_arrested_for_bank_protest_--_6_revolts_the_tea_party-obsessed_corporate_media_overlooked_/

Some of the most undercovered stories of 2010 were actions taken by ordinary people standing up for a more just and equitable society. "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." -Martin Luther King Jr. Some of the most undercovered stories of 2010 were actions taken by ordinary people standing up for a more just and equitable society. People are taking to the streets on a regular basis across the country, but unlike the corporate-sponsored Tea Party -- whose spokespeople can't answer basic questions about the deficit they claim to be so worried about -- those who believe in health care, affordable housing, economic justice, education, a living wage, and a better life for all rarely, if ever, get the attention they deserve. Instead, the media, even the alternative media, spent the better part of last year obsessing over the Tea Party and manufactured personalities like Sarah Palin, while ignoring people like 85-year-old Julia Botello.

Link: http://www.scottishleftreview.org/li/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=364&Itemid=1

It was recently reported that doctors had advised women in Fallujah not to give birth. There are many medical reasons for infertility which might shatter the dreams of a young woman. It is not difficult to imagine how heartbreaking it must be for a woman who is advised that she can never bear children. But for the young women of an entire city – tens of thousands of them – to be advised not to give birth, how can one imagine such collective pain? But perhaps it does not matter – one life is a tragedy, a million a statistic? Certainly this episode attracted limited press attention. Media Lens highlighted an interesting contrast with the attention directed at the lady who chucked a cat into a bin – one cat confined for a few hours was a tragedy.

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27278.htm

The end of the age of dictators in the Arab world? Certainly they are shaking in their boots across the Middle East, the well-heeled sheiks and emirs, and the kings, including one very old one in Saudi Arabia and a young one in Jordan, and presidents – another very old one in Egypt and a young one in Syria – because Tunisia wasn't meant to happen. Food price riots in Algeria, too, and demonstrations against price increases in Amman. Not to mention scores more dead in Tunisia, whose own despot sought refuge in Riyadh – exactly the same city to which a man called Idi Amin once fled.

Link: http://www.counterpunch.org/andrew01182011.html

Once upon a time, as the FY 1964 defense appropriations bill was making its way through congress, there came a somber moment when it looked as if the U.S. Navy might actually receive a lesser increase in its appropriation than its hated Air Force rival. Then, just when all seemed dark, a Soviet November class nuclear attack submarine surfaced a few miles off San Francisco Bay. Instantly, the situation on the battlefield was reversed, as press and congress urged emergency budgetary measures to ward off the looming threat of the Red Navy. Queried at a Pentagon press conference as to the convenient coincidence of the sub’s appearance, the chief navy flack simply smiled and said “I don’t know; we just got lucky I guess.”

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2011/jan2011/pers-j17.shtml

After decades of triumphant reaction and suppression of the class struggle, the eruption of mass protests in Tunisia and the end to 23 years of repressive rule by President Ben Ali signal the emergence of a new era of revolutionary upheavals.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/01/17-5

It’s been a rough year for Martin Luther King, Jr., and for his legacy.Bridget Johnson at Martin Luther King Day Parade on January 18, 2010 in Denver, Colorado. Photo: Getty Images/Matt McClain. First, as has become an annual ritual, politicians went to church or some other civic gathering for last year’s King Day celebration, even as they continued to support public policies that he found abhorrent. Whether continuing to prosecute a seemingly endless and most definitely murderous war, or by supporting cuts to vital social programs, there is no shortage of hypocrisy when it comes to proclaiming fealty to King’s vision in words, while besmirching it in deeds, all at once.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/01/17

As the sun set on Bourguiba Avenue in central Tunis, the lull of a distant call to prayer was drowned out by the relentless crackle of machine-gun fire as soldiers darted for cover from tree to tree along the deserted boulevard. Up above, on top of the interior ministry whose basements had housed the regime's torture rooms, snipers were firing down into the street.

Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703551604576085803801776090.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEADNewsCollection

BEIJING—Chinese President Hu Jintao emphasized the need for cooperation with the U.S. in areas from new energy to space ahead of his visit to Washington this week, but he called the present U.S. dollar-dominated currency system a "product of the past" and highlighted moves to turn the yuan into a global currency.

Link: http://uruknet.com/?p=m74022&hd=&size=1&l=e

Major Israeli banks, credit institutions, and communication companies are among the advertisers in an extreme right wing weekly magazine that called for building concentration camps.

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/16/AR2011011604005.html

The United States just passed a dubious milestone: Government debt surged to an all-time high, passing $14 trillion - $45,300 for every person in the country. That means Congress soon will have to lift the legal debt ceiling to give the almost maxed-out government an even higher credit limit or dramatically cut spending to stay under the current cap. Either way, a fight is ahead on Capitol Hill, inflamed by the passions of tea party activists and deficit hawks.

Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8264918/US-trying-to-stop-UN-resolution-against-West-Bank-settlements.html

Washington is desperately trying to head off a United Nations resolution condemning Jewish settlements in Jerusalem and the disputed West Bank territories that is presenting Barack Obama with one of the most acute dilemmas of his presidency. Senior Palestinian officials said on Monday they were undeterred by American appeals to abandon the resolution, which has been circulated among the 15 members of the UN Security Council and could be discussed as early as Wednesday at a meeting on the Middle East.

Link: http://www.truth-out.org/coleen-rowley-reversing-erosion-civil-liberties66944

As many Americans embraced the illusion of “perfect security” – even at the cost of their freedoms – government agencies stepped in with ambitious “counterterrorism” programs that soon were targeting innocent citizens, a problem that former FBI officer Coleen Rowley says must now be addressed: