Link: http://atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/KC21Dj03.html

The public in the United States is following the wrong story with its cries of anguish over AIG bonuses, rather than being concerned with how AIG got into the mess in the first place. The far bigger story being ignored is the US Federal Reserve effectively telling foreigners, such as the Chinese, that the US does not need their money; it will print its own. - Julian Delasantellis (Mar 20,'09)

Link: http://www.infowars.com/forget-aig-bonuses-the-next-bailout-is-here/

Democrats from Andrew Cuomo to Barney Frank to Barack Obama are demanding that the 418 AIG employees who received bonuses give them back. Sure, it’s outrageous that the very people who drove AIG off the cliff, along with a whole lot of other financial firms, walked away with million-dollar bonuses paid with taxpayer bailout money. But as the Wall Street Journal opinion page points out, "Taxpayers have already put up $173 billion, or more than a thousand times the amount of those bonuses, to fund the government’s AIG ‘rescue.’"

Link: http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=480281

Israeli soldiers who took part in the Gaza War in December and January say part of their mission was to kill Palestinian civilians and destroy their property. The rules of engagement were permissive as far as killing civilians, and to intentionally destroy the property of Palestinian civilians, was concerned, according to statements by infantry soldiers and combat pilots who were engaged in the Gaza offensive.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/mar2009/pers-m20.shtml

Today marks six years since Washington launched its "shock and awe" campaign against Iraq, raining bombs and missiles on Baghdad. Despite the massive opposition of the American people to this war and the change from the Bush to the Obama administration, the US war in Iraq continues, with no end in sight. This anniversary is both tragic and infamous. It marks the beginning of a war of aggression based upon lies. Launched in the name of "liberating" the Iraqi people, it has inflicted a catastrophe of world historic proportions upon their country and constitutes the greatest crime against humanity of the 21st century. Facts-not-Fairies: Rice: ‘No One Was Arguing That Saddam Hussein Somehow Had Something To Do With 9/11′. MSNBC / Rachel Maddow: Iraq War Anniversary (Video).

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=89124&sectionid=351020202

The political debacle prompted by the confession of Israeli military personnel about their conduct in Gaza has forced the launch of a probe. With Israeli armed forces having themselves confessed to the wanton killing of civilians as well as immoral behavior in the Gaza Strip and the issue spilling into politics, the Israeli military has been forced to take action. Military Advocate General Brig. Gen. Avichai Mendelblit on Thursday ordered the Military Police Investigation unit to launch a probe into the testimony of Israeli veterans of the three-week war. The People's Voice: Gaza deaths dog Israeli military. TimesOnline: ISRAELI SOLDIERS ADMIT TO DELIBERATE KILLING OF GAZA CIVILIANS. Al Jazeera: Gaza offensive possible 'war crime'. The Independent: Israel's dirty secrets in Gaza. -Dirty secrets? There was nothing secret about this to the Palestinians at the time. It all happened in the open for everyone to see. The petty retail murders, the wholesale mass murders & everything. They knew exactly what was being done to them! A lot of bloggers knew about it too and wrote about it. But because mainstream media are so wilfully stupid & uninformed, it now appears to MSM to have been done in secret. This will not get them off the hook, though. -We're not just talking about the usual slanted Western perspective here, mind you. We're pointing our finger at a very criminal willingness to look the other way, and worse still, at a complicity in the Zionist war crimes. Remember the "Secret" Bombing of Cambodia? Nothing secret about it at all. Same thing. -On another note, one is reminded of an old Doonesbury strip, from the 1970s, "wherein the Vietnamese character Phred takes a post-war vacation to Cambodia. Talking to the curator of a demolished museum, he asks if it had been destroyed during the "Secret Bombings." The man replies: Secret bombings? Boy, there wasn't anything secret about them! Everyone here knew! I did, and my wife, she knew, too! She was with me, and I remarked on them! I said "Look, Martha, here come the bombs. His wife turns to Phred and says: It's true, he did."

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FG8cm6Y50U

Dennis Kucinich is looking into where the TARP funds have been going and its not pretty. I still cant get enough of this and AIG? Kidding me right. Where is the riot in New York over this? No wait, there was a riot over at ...

Link: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-03-19/george-w-bush-lands-7-million-book-deal/

George W. Bush’s book deal, news of which broke yesterday, is valued at about $7 million, according to a person familiar with the matter. The sum is less than half what Bill Clinton was paid for his memoir, My Life, and less than the $8 million Hillary Clinton received. TimesOnline Typepad: Ex-President Bush strikes again.

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/03/20093205308488720.html

The US president has issued a videotaped appeal to Iran offering a "new beginning" in US-Iranian relations. In the message timed for an Iranian holiday celebration, Barack Obama said: "My administration is now committed to diplomacy that addresses the full range of issues before us, and to pursuing constructive ties." The White House distributed the videotape and posted it on its website to coincide with Iranian observance of the Nowruz festival, celebrating the arrival of spring. This duplicitous & insincere "offer" has nothing to do with a "new beginning". Obama is a puppet and his Israeli masters are planning a NUCLEAR WAR on Iran. Because of this, they need to preemptively shift the blame for this horrendous war onto the independent country of Iran to make the victim seem to be the guilty party. But this IS after all a beginning. -A beginning of an epoch-making war and the hasbara campaign to twist perceptions so as to justify it.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/mar2009/usfe-m20.shtml

The US Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday announced that it will massively expand its moves to pump liquidity into near-frozen credit markets, including a highly unusual plan to purchase up to $300 billion in longer-term Treasury securities over the next six months.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/mar2009/fran-m20.shtml

A lesson for American sheeple: Several million workers and youth took to the streets in 213 cities and towns throughout France yesterday in opposition to rising poverty, rapidly growing unemployment and government austerity policies involving cuts in the social services. Opinion polls have put approval ratings for the day of action at between 72 and 78 percent of the French population. The action took place amidst the worst world economic crisis and recession since the 1930s, which is hitting the French economy and employment ever more heavily.

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=89164&sectionid=351020606

Czechs are still opposed to US plans to build a missile defense radar base on the country's soil, according to a new opinion poll. The poll was released on Thursday, less than three weeks before US President, Barack Obama's planned visit to Prague. The survey by the state-funded CVVM polling institute was conducted in early February. It indicated that 70 percent of the 1,113 Czechs questioned opposed the base, while 25 percent backed it. Five per cent were undecided.

Link: http://republicbroadcasting.org/?p=763

The House passed a bill yesterday which includes disturbing language indicating young people will be forced to undertake mandatory national service programs as fears about President Barack Obama’s promised “civilian national security force” intensify. The Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act, known as the GIVE Act, was passed yesterday by a 321-105 margin and now goes to the Senate.

Link: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/19/world/main4875489.shtml

Two American "journalists" and their guide were detained by North Korean soldiers while on a reporting trip near the country's border with China, according to the State Department and their employer, Current TV. U.S. State Department spokesman Fred Lash confirmed to CBS News Thursday that two Americans had been detained near the China-North Korea border two days earlier.

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/03/20093199222854317.html

Reports have surfaced in the Israeli media suggesting that Israeli forces killed Palestinian civilians under what may have been lax rules of engagement during the Gaza offensive. Quoting those who fought, the Haaretz newspaper reported on Thursday that soldiers had also ransacked and destroyed civilian property. The soldiers' testimony, made at a course at Oranim Academic College in Tivon, runs counter to the Israeli army's claims that troops observed a high level of moral behaviour during the operation. The testimonies include a description by an infantry squad leader in which he relates an incident where an Israeli sharpshooter shot a Palestinian mother and her two children, Haaretz reported. HaAretz: IDF in Gaza: Killing civilians, vandalism, and lax rules of engagement: "And the atmosphere in general, from what I understood from most of my men who I talked to ... I don't know how to describe it .... The lives of Palestinians, let's say, is something very, very less important than the lives of our soldiers. So as far as they are concerned they can justify it that way." Ynet News: Soldiers say IDF immoral in Gaza. Middle East Online: Israel's War Crimes: Israel's airstrikes on Gaza are severe and massive violations of international law - and nations that have supported Israel's siege of Gaza are complicit in the crimes, says Richard Falk.

Link: http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/2008/19-03-2009.htm

[A Palestinian woman and child hold a picture of relatives held in Israeli jails during a protest calling for the release of prisoners at the International Red Cross in Gaza City.] Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks against Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and Continue to Impose a Total Siege on the Gaza Strip. ►19 Palestinian civilians, including nine children, and an American human rights defender were injured by IOF gunfire in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. ►IOF warplanes bombarded targets in the Gaza Strip. ►Intensive air strikes on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, forced civilians to evacuate their homes in the area. ►IOF conducted 39 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. ►IOF arrested 36 Palestinian civilians, including six children. ►IOF have continued to impose a total siege on the OPT and have isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world. ►IOF troops positioned at military checkpoints in the West Bank arrested three Palestinian civilians, including two children. ►IOF have continued measures aimed at creating a demographic Jewish majority in east Jerusalem. ►IOF demolished five houses rendering 49 Palestinian civilians homeless. ►IOF ordered three families in the old city of Jerusalem to evacuate their houses so they can be demolished. ►IOF have continued settlement activities in the West Bank and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property. ►Israeli settlers added six mobile homes to two settlement outposts in Hebron. ►IOF have continued to establish a new road for settlers in the southern West Bank. ►Israeli settlers held a human rights defender and a journalist in Hebron.

Link: http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/03/in-ny-synagogue-settler-leader-calls-for-assassination-of-abbas-and-taxdeductible-contributions-to-s.html

"Just as Churchill understood that in order to bring peace to Europe, "he had to destroy the Nazi beast," Matar explained, "today we must destroy all the terrorist organizations. We must kill all the terrorist leaders, starting with Mahmoud Abbas and all others..." Moon-of-Alabama: Uzi Arad: "We want to relieve ourselves of the burden of the Palestinian populations - not territories."

Link: http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22238.htm

The Canadian government has knowingly allowed the violation of both Canadian domestic law and international human-rights law by failing to stop former U.S. president George W. Bush from crossing the border for a paid speaking engagement with a private Calgary audience.

Link: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0903/S00330.htm

As commander-in-chief of the military, former President George W. Bush was responsible for U.S. attacks on hospitals in Iraq and Afghanistan, the mistreatment of their personnel and patients, and the denial of medical supplies to them and to the general populations of those nations, an authority on war crimes says. One of the most egregious of the Bush war crimes, the force-feeding of prisoners, is being continued by the Obama administration even though it is in violation of medical ethics and the first Protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 1977, the authority notes.

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=89020&sectionid=3510203

The AIG boss has admitted mistakes made at the insurer and called on the recipients of lavish bonuses to return half of the money. "Mistakes were made at AIG on a scale few could have ever imagined possible," Edward Liddy told a Congressional hearing on Wednesday. On Tuesday, eleven executives who received lavish bonuses of at least USD 1 million from AIG quit their jobs due to intense public outrage, which has undermined President Barack Obama's efforts to bring the US economy out of recession. TruthDig: Those Hit Hardest Get No Bailout. Creative-I / Global Research: The Real AIG Conspiracy.

Link: http://therearenosunglasses.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/afghanistan-will-remain-a-graveyard-for-foreigners/

A former government minister from the Taliban regime that ruled Afghanistan says the United States can throw as many soldiers into the country as it wants, they will just meet the same fate as all previous “foreign invaders.” A day after President Obama announced a massive increase in the U.S. troop presence — an additional 17,000 pairs of boots on the ground, coming soon — the former minister told CBS News he couldn’t understand, “why the U.S. relies on figures and the number of troops in a country such as Afghanistan, where the number of foreign invaders has never made any difference, and the winners have always been the freedom fighters.” WSWS: Growing hostility in US to Afghanistan war. InfoWars: U.S. seen weighing expanded covert war in Pakistan.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/mar2009/aigg-m19.shtml

In a statement to the press as he left the White House Wednesday, and at a town hall meeting in Southern California later the same day, President Barack Obama defended his policy of bailing out Wall Street financial interests, including those directly responsible for precipitating the current economic crisis. Millions of working people face the prospect of unemployment, foreclosure, poverty and homelessness. For them there will be no bailout, and no million-dollar bonuses like those paid out to 73 executives at the bankrupt financial conglomerate AIG, with the consent of the Obama administration and Congress.

Link: http://xymphora.blogspot.com/2009/03/corrupt-canwest-dance-continues.html

The Aspers, owners of the evil and failing CanWest, always supported the Liberals, both editorially and financially. When the Liberals were stingy with government money to fund the Jewish holocaust museum in Winnipeg - an Asper family project, misleadingly labeled a human rights museum in order to bilk taxpayers for more money - they switched allegiance to the Conservatives, who poured on lots of government money, and received lots of Asper support.

Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1163121/Pictured-The-spectacular-eruption-underwater-volcano-South-Pacific.html

Spewing clouds of smoke, ash and steam thousands of feet into the sky, these dramatic images show the raw power of an undersea volcano erupting. The spectacular columns blasted out of the South Pacific yesterday six miles off the coast of Tonga's main island Tongatapu. 'It's a very significant eruption, on quite a large scale,' said Keleti Mafi, head of the country's geological service. But authorities said today that the eruption does not pose any danger to islanders at this stage, and there have been no reports of fish or other animals being affected. No warnings have been issued to the coastal villages close to the volcano, which is one of 36 undersea volcanoes clustered in that area. The situation is being helped by trade winds which continue to blow gas and steam away from the island. Those living nearby said the columns of steam and ash first appeared on Monday morning, after a series of sharp earthquakes were felt in the capital, Nuku'alofa. TimesOnline: Underwater volcano sends huge columns of ash into Pacific sky (Video).

Link: http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_4478.shtml

Special Report about investigative journalist Wayne Madsen's arrest while covering a story last night. -Last night, while meeting the source in O’Connell’s Irish pub in Alexandria, Alexandria police, who apparently had plainclothes police inside the St. Patrick’s Day-jam packed establishment, arrested my source for no apparent reason while I and the source’s wife looked on in shock. When I asked one of the men who forced the source to the ground outside why they were placing him under arrest, he shouted to me to “back off.” I asked the man if he was a police officer. His response was, “No, I’m a fireman.”

Link: http://www.mindfreedom.org/shield/ray/ray-video

This five-minute video by IndyMedia of Minnesota shows Ray Sandford, his mom, and a mental health advocate speak out against Ray's ongoing, involuntary, outpatient electroshock (also known as electroconvulsive therapy or ECT). He is involuntarily escorted 15 miles north to Mercy Hospital, where he receives another round of forced, court-ordered electroshocks to the brain. Though Sandford, 54, is not charged with any crime, he has received over 40 such rounds of shocks on an outpatient basis so far--even after his original mental problems have long since subsided and he has repeatedly asked for the shocks to stop.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7948001.stm

BRITAIN: Mr Hodgson has served 27 years of a life term after being wrongly jailed for strangling Teresa De Simone in Southampton. Now aged 57, he has spent more than half of his life in custody. His conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal after DNA tests on evidence from the 1979 murder scene showed Mr Hodgson did not carry out the crime. Throughout his jail term Mr Hodgson always protested his innocence, meaning he was never considered for parole.

Link: http://www.moonofalabama.org/2009/03/killer-commandos-in-afghanistan.html

"The commander of a secretive branch of America’s Special Operations forces last month ordered a halt to most commando missions in Afghanistan, reflecting a growing concern that civilian deaths caused by American firepower are jeopardizing broader goals there. The halt, which lasted about two weeks, came after a series of nighttime raids by Special Operations troops in recent months killed women and children, and after months of mounting outrage in Afghanistan about civilians killed in air and ground strikes. Military officials said the halt was ordered in part to allow American commanders time to impose new safeguards intended to reduce the risk of civilian deaths." -If so, the new safeguards do not work. These troops are again out to kill:

Link: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8085945499556832271

The CIA is not an intelligence agency. It's a covert action outfit, a terror organization. The worst the world has ever seen. Empire Burlesque: Rotted From the Head: High Crimes and Continuity in the American Imperium.

Link: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/blackwater-still-works-us-iraq/story.aspx?guid={8C076A77-37D4-4E13-9BAA-44D48274A2DA}&dist=msr_3

The U.S. State Department re-signed the security firm formerly known as Blackwater despite Iraq saying it didn't want the company there, records show. The State Department said $22.2 million deal signed with Blackwater, since renamed Xe, in February was a contract modification concerning aviation work, The Washington Times first reported. The contract expires in September, months after its contract for work in Baghdad was to have run out. One observer said the deal raises questions about why the United States would want to pay a contractor for work in Iraq if the government won't approve its operating license. The private security firm has been heavily criticized, particularly for a 2007 incident that left 14 Iraqi civilians dead and six former guards facing manslaughter charges.

Link: http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2009/03/13/30-billion-for-israels-military/

U.S. President Barack Obama will not cut the billions of dollars in military aid promised to Israel, a senior U.S. administration official said Wednesday. The $30 billion in aid promised to Israel over the next decade will not be harmed by the world financial crisis, the official told Israel Radio. He spoke on condition of anonymity.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY3b_ns4CLU&eurl=http://factsnotfairies.blogspot.com/

A guy gives me a "lesson" about September 11, the Jewish Conspiracy, USS Liberty, the assasination of Yitzhak Rabin, etc. Bui's website: http://www.buinhuhung.com/

Link: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Natural-Health/Meat-Poultry-Health-Risk.aspx

Current methods of raising livestock are encouraging the development of new antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, including salmonella. You may be familiar with many of the problems associated with concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs. These “factory farm” operations are often criticized for the smell and water pollution caused by all that concentrated manure; the unnatural, grain-heavy diets the animals consume; and the stressful, unhealthy conditions in which the animals live. You may not be aware, however, of the threat such facilities hold for you and your family’s health — even if you never buy any of the meat produced in this manner.

Link: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/090317/as_china_exxon_mobil_chemical.html

The project will involve an initial investment of $70 million and the center will be opened in 2010, said the company, part of Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's biggest publicly traded oil company. Exxon Mobil has pledged to step up spending on capital and exploration projects by 11 percent in 2009, even as many smaller rivals scale back operations.

Link: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/insurance/2009-03-17-aig-bonuses-draw-ire-of-treasury-and-congress_N.htm

As new details emerged about $165 million in bonuses paid by insurance giant AIG, lawmakers and administration officials sought ways to recoup the money either by imposing stiff new taxes on the extra pay or requiring the company to return it in exchange for future taxpayer aid. The Independent: The $165m bonus question threatening Obama's rescue deal.

Link: http://www.russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-03-18/Editor_at_top_U.S_newspaper_resigns_over_censorship.html

A New York newspaper veteran claims that censorship at one of the world's biggest journals forced her to quit her dream job after 30 years. Now, Jerelle Kraus hopes to turn the cartoons rejected by the New York Times into a money-spinner.

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=88959&sectionid=351020202

Israeli prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu has tapped a former spy feared by the United States as his national security advisor. Sources close to Netanyahu have confirmed that Uzi Arad will be Israel's next national security adviser, The Washington Times reported Tuesday. The former Mossad chief has been denied entry into the United States during the past two years based on the grounds that he is a security risk.

Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=88914&sectionid=351020104

A prominent US think tank has advised Israel to use ballistic missiles against Iran's nuclear sites after deciding on a pre-emptive strike. As Israelis continue to express willingness to militarily take out Iran's nuclear infrastructure, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has conducted a study on Israeli options for such military plans. PressTV: Israeli army ordered to devise Iran war.

Link: http://kennysideshow.blogspot.com/2009/03/traitor-steve-rosen-is-piece-of-work.html

The derailment of Charles W. Freeman's appointment to chair of the National Intelligence Council must have set off a round of partying among the AIPAC crowd and other Jewish American dual citizens who demand adherence of the administration and Congress to their policies. Chief among those pushing for Freeman's head was none other than indicted spy for Israel, Steve Rosen.

Link: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10562192

It's one thing for a church in a big city like Dallas or Atlanta to tackle the ticklish topic of sex. It blends in with the urban scene. It's another thing when a small-town congregation in Alabama puts up billboards with the phrase: "Great sex: God's way" on rural highways to promote a sermon series.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzqw7oBZT8k&eurl=http://www.closedzone.com/

Gisha - Legal Center for Freedom of Movement calls on the State of Israel to fully open Gaza's crossings and to allow the real victims of the closure - 1.5 million human beings - the freedom of movement necessary to realize their dreams and aspirations. PCHR: Weekly Report: On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.