Link: http://williamblum.org/aer/read/114

I once wrote about Chilean president Salvador Allende: Washington knows no heresy in the Third World but genuine independence. In the case of Salvador Allende independence came clothed in an especially provocative costume – a Marxist constitutionally elected who continued to honor the constitution. This would not do. It shook the very foundation stones upon which the anti-communist tower is built:

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/03/10/292776/united-states-of-murder-cancer-on-world/

When the most powerful empire on earth insists on resolving disputes through murder, rather than reasoned dialogue, that empire has become a cancer on the world... The US government, and its bankster owners, have been overthrowing and/or murdering the best leaders in Latin America, and the world, for decades. Iran's Mossadegh, Guatemala's Arbenz, the Dominican Republic's Trujillo and Bosch, Ecuador's Velasco and Roldos, Zaire's Lumumba, Indonesia's Sukarno, Cambodia's Sahounek, Chile's Allende, and Panama's Torrijos are just a few examples. The same killers, and the institutional forces they represent, murder the best American leaders too. John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Senator Paul Wellstone are notable victims.

Link: http://www.redressonline.com/2013/03/israel-65-years-of-war-crimes/

Deir Yassin massacre, The green light for Zionism’s ethnic cleansing of Palestine. I find myself wondering how many of our present-day leaders, President Barack Obama in particular, are aware of what happened in Palestine that became Israel on 10 March 65 years ago today.

Link: http://www.redressonline.com/2013/03/the-great-ethiopian-land-giveaway/

Ancestral land which for generations has served as home and source of livelihood for hundreds of thousands of indigenous people in Ethiopia is being leased out to foreign corporations on 99-year renewable contracts at nominal sums.

Link: http://rt.com/usa/google-reveals-fbi-requests-904/

Google has revealed receiving up to 999 national security letters a year asking for the private user data of thousands of people. The company said the FBI is authorized to make such requests without warrants or disclosure to users.

Link: http://en.ria.ru/russia/20130306/179849093/Chavez-Death-Could-Be-US-Plot--Russian-Communist-Leader.html

“How did it happen that six leaders of Latin American countries which had criticized US policies and tried to create an influential alliance in order to be independent and sovereign states, fell ill simultaneously with the same disease?” Zyuganov said in comments carried by Russian state television.

Link: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-06/eric-holder-some-banks-are-so-large-it-difficult-us-prosecute-them

While it is widely assumed that the too-big-to-fail banks in the US (and elsewhere) are beyond the criminal justice system - based on simple empirical fact - when the Attorney General of the United States openly admits to the fact that he is "concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them," since, "it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy," one has to stare open-mouthed at the state of our union. It appears, just as the proletariat assumed, that too-big-to-fail banks are indeed too-big-to-jail.

Link: http://www.politico.com/politico44/2013/03/holder-obama-could-order-lethal-force-in-us-158548.html

President Barack Obama could order the use of deadly force against an American inside the United States, Attorney General Eric Holder said in a letter to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) released Tuesday.

Link: http://www.timesofisrael.com/sanction-on-iran-arent-working-top-us-general-says/

Sanctions are not preventing Iran’s nuclear progress, the US Army commander in the Middle East told Congress on Tuesday, adding that he had prepared a military option. A simple “No, sir” was General James Mattis’s response when asked whether “the current diplomatic and economic efforts to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear capability” were working.

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/bradley-manning-nobel-peace-prize-nomination-2013/5325138

February 1st 2013 the entire parliamentary group of The Movement in the Icelandic Parliament, the Pirates of the EU; representatives from the Swedish Pirate Party, the former Secretary of State in Tunisia for Sport & Youth nominated Private Bradley Manning for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Link: http://sustainablepulse.com/2013/03/04/new-charges-against-monsantos-roundup/

The authors of the report quote especially a study published at the end of 2010, in Chemical Research in Toxicology, according to which the direct exposure of embryos from amphibians (Xenopus laevis), at low concentrations of glyphosate-containing herbicides, leads to malformations. Furthermore, this piece of research, conducted by the team of embryologist Andres Carrasco, at the University of Buenos Aires, identifies the biological mechanism responsible for this process. When exposed to the weedkiller, Xenopus laevis’ embryos synthesize more tretinoin, which is known to have a teratogenic effect on vertebrates.

Link: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/03/17461.html

“What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could not understand it, it could not be released because of national security. And their sense of identification with Hitler, their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it.

Link: http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/03/obama-dhs-purchases-2700-light-armored-tanks-to-go-with-their-1-6-billion-bullet-stockpile/

This is getting a little creepy. According to one estimate, since last year the Department of Homeland Security has stockpiled more than 1.6 billion bullets, mainly .40 caliber and 9mm. The Department of Homeland Security (through the U.S. Army Forces Command) recently retrofitted 2,717 of these ‘Mine Resistant Protected’ vehicles for service on the streets of the United States.

Link: http://rt.com/op-edge/the-us-is-the-don-corleone-of-international-politics-730/

South America – Venezuela in particular – has been the target of a coordinated campaign by the US government and private industry over the past few years. But those of us who have been paying attention know this is nothing new.

Link: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/plastic-packaging-containing-chemical-bpa-harming-brain-and-nerve-cell-growth-in-babies-8510638.html

A chemical widely used in plastic packaging and food containers may be toxic to the central nervous system by interfering with a key gene involved in the development of nerve cells, a study suggests. Scientists have found that bisphenol A (BPA), which is used in a variety of consumer products ranging from fizzy-drink cans to food mixers, affects the function of a gene called Kcc2 which is involved in the growth of neurons, or nerve cells, in the brain and spinal cord.

Link: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/02/26/ge-salmon-health-threats.aspx

Fish — and salmon in particular — has always been an ideal source for the animal-based omega-3 fats EPA and DHA, but as levels of pollution have increased, fish in general have become less viable as a primary source of healthful fats.

Link: http://www.countercurrents.org/todhunter260213.htm

When former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was asked whether half a million dead Iraqi children who perished under US sanctions was a price worth paying to try to remove Saddam Hussein, she replied that it was (1). Ask David Cameron or Nicolas Sarkozy whether the destruction of Libya and all the lives lost was also a price worth paying (for cheap oil and for smoothing a path into Africa for AFRICOM – although they would never admit to this, preferring to hide behind the notion of ‘humanitarianism’), they would no doubt also reply in the affirmative. To this day, Tony Blair still stands by his illegal and baseless decision to stand shoulder to shoulder with George W Bush and his neo-con cronies and bring hundreds of thousands of deaths to Iraq.

Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/26/us-usa-court-surveillance-idUSBRE91P0JS20130226

U.S.-based journalists, lawyers and human rights groups cannot challenge a federal law that allows surveillance of some international communications, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday in a case touching on government efforts to fight terrorism.

Link: http://world.einnews.com/article/138716262/4jxf7riwWRQEUdbd?afid=777&utm_source=MailingList&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Breaking+News%3A+world306-monday

The Afghan government says armed individuals who may be U.S. special forces carried out acts of torture and murder, allegations that spurred it to demand that members of the elite American military units leave a key province west of Kabul. The U.S. military says it is investigating.

Link: http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/50-signs-that-the-u-s-health-care-system-is-a-gigantic-money-making-scam-that-is-about-to-collapse

The U.S. health care system is a giant money making scam that is designed to drain as much money as possible out of all of us before we die. In the United States today, the health care industry is completely dominated by government bureaucrats, health insurance companies and pharmaceutical corporations.

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/02/24/290597/amia-chief-linked-to-any-new-attack/

The Argentinean president has accused head of a pro-Israeli lobby in the country of being aware of a planned terrorist attack against Buenos Aires over its agreement with Tehran on the AMIA probe. President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner hinted on Saturday that the head of the AMIA Jewish center, Guillermo Borger, is in contact with a foreign espionage agency that knows of a new terror attack planned against Argentina.

Link: http://endthelie.com/2013/02/22/obama-admin-wont-say-if-they-claim-authority-to-assassinate-us-citizens-on-us-soil-without-charges/#axzz2Ln5fOMeN

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the Obama administration’s assassination program is the fact that they simply refuse to address if they claim the authority to kill Americans on US soil without charge or trial. While they clearly claim the authority to kill Americans abroad without requiring any clear evidence based on secret meetings and a classified legal justification, they dodge any and all questions around assassinations on US soil.

Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/02/democracy-tastes-bitter-as-poverty-bites/

On a recent Friday, coppersmith Alaa Moussa parked himself in the same spot where two years earlier he had stood defiantly with a handwritten banner addressed to then president Hosni Mubarak. His petition that cold February morning in 2011 had listed the key demands of Egypt’s 18-day uprising: “bread, freedom, dignity”.

Link: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/02/economic-leaders-pay-lip-service-to-decreasing-inequality-while-pushing-policies-which-increase-it.html

Preface: All capitalist systems have some inequality. We don’t want to prevent all inequality just economy-wrecking levels: Lawrence Katz, a Harvard economist, adds that some inequality is necessary to create incentives in a capitalist economy but that “too much inequality can harm the efficient operation of the economy.”

Link: http://www.activistpost.com/2013/02/west-pours-arms-into-syria-as-al-qaeda.html

Repeat a lie often enough, and hopefully people will begin to believe it. That is what a concerted effort by Western media houses hopes to achieve as they claim the recent flow of heavy weapons from Western nations and their Arab-Israeli partners is boosting "moderate rebels" and "tilting" the balance of Syria's conflict against the Syrian government.

Link: http://wsws.org/en/articles/2013/02/23/nige-f23.html

President Barack Obama on Friday officially notified the US Congress that he had deployed “approximately” 100 US troops to the western African nation of Niger.

Link: http://wsws.org/en/articles/2013/02/23/syri-f23.html

Yesterday US officials blocked a Russian-sponsored resolution at the United Nations Security Council condemning Thursday’s multiple terror bombings in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Link: http://naturalsociety.com/study-most-plastics-leach-hormone-like-chemicals/

When the industry found consumers getting hip to BPA and its hormone disrupting qualities, they started looking at alternatives. While that was nice and all, the alternatives aren’t much better. In fact, some research found that most plastics, even those that are BPA-free, still leach hormone-mimicking chemicals when exposed to normal conditions. While the research took place a couple years ago, it reminds us to think twice when using and purchasing plastics.

Link: http://naturalsociety.com/sunshine-key-to-eyesight-preservation/

While concerned parents have often yelled at their kids in concern for sitting too close to the television for decades, they should have been telling the children to shut off the television altogether—and spend some time outdoors. It turns out that getting outside isn’t only good for exercise and boosting your mood, but it could prevent myopia or nearsightedness. In other words, sunshine may be the key to eyesight preservation.

Link: http://rt.com/news/Iran-new-nuclear-plants-338/

Iran has decided on 16 locations to build new nuclear power plants in a drive to boost the country’s electricity output over the next 15 years. Tehran also announced the discovery of substantial uranium deposits to fuel the country’s nuclear program.

Link: http://wsws.org/en/articles/2013/02/22/dron-f22.html

The administration has worked out a cynical strategy to keep the documents secret while assuring Senate confirmation of its nominee to head the CIA, John Brennan.

Link: http://wsws.org/en/articles/2013/02/22/pers-f22.html

These financial manipulations are the means by which the ruling class redistributes wealth from the bottom to the top of society.

Link: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/02/59-of-the-tuna-americans-eat-is-not-tuna/273410/

84% of fish samples labeled "white tuna" were actually escolar, a fish that can cause prolonged, uncontrollable, oily anal leakage.

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article34068.htm

Something funny happened in the Eastern District of North Carolina today. Out of the blue in an extremely significant case, and without particular notice to interested observers, much less the public, the criminal case against former Blackwater executives for weapons trafficking, and a myriad of other weapons violations, ended. Poof! Gone with an undeserved and inexplicable sweetheart misdemeanor plea.

Link: http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/192438211.html?refer=y

A moral injury tortures the conscience; symptoms include deep shame, guilt and rage. It's not a medical problem, and it's unclear how to treat it, says retired Col. Elspeth Ritchie, former psychiatry consultant to the Army surgeon general.

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/us-troops-niger-set-drone-011915164--politics.html

President Barack Obama said Friday that about 100 American troops have been deployed to the African nation of Niger. Two U.S. defense officials said the troops would be setting up a base for unarmed drones to conduct surveillance.

Link: https://alethonews.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/us-dairy-industry-wants-to-put-aspartame-in-milk/

Dairy industry groups have asked the Food and Drug Administration to be able to put artificial sweeteners in milk, and not change the label, claiming that it is so consumers can “more easily identify its overall nutritional value”. Food and Drug Administration is asking for data related to those sweeteners. The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) filed a petition in 2009 requesting that the FDA amend its standard of identity for milk. The petition asked the agency to allow the use of “any safe and suitable” sweetener for milk and asked to amend the standards of identity for 17 other milk and cream products. Those products include sweetened condensed milk, whipping cream, yogurt and eggnog, which the groups say should be allowed to have “safe and suitable” sweeteners.

Link: http://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty-free-speech-national-security/drone-nightmare-scenario-now-has-physical

First, it’s the culmination of the trend towards ever-more-pervasive surveillance cameras in American life. We’ve been objecting to that trend for years, and many of our public spaces are now under 24/7 video surveillance—often by cameras owned and operated by the police. But even in our most pessimistic moments, I don’t think we thought that every street, empty lot, garden, and field would be subject to video monitoring

Link: http://wsws.org/en/articles/2013/02/21/hack-f21.html

The Obama administration is utilizing unsubstantiated charges of Chinese government cyber-attacks to escalate its threats against China. The past two days have seen allegations of hacking into US corporate and government web sites, hyped by the US media without any examination of their validity, employed to disorient the American public and justify an expansion of the Obama administration’s drive to isolate China and prepare for an eventual military attack.

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/02/21/290146/eutelsat-tool-in-the-hands-of-israel/

“When we look at who is attacking Press TV, Hispan TV and other Iranian channels, when you try to find out exactly who is behind this, you realize that it is Israel which is behind this attack on Iranian media,” Hamid Reza Emadi said in an interview with Press TV on Wednesday.