The Federal Reserve is one of the most powerful and secretive institutions in Washington, long considered beyond the reach of lawmakers. But now, as details emerge of how the Fed secretly doled out more than a trillion dollars during the financial crisis, a rare bipartisan movement in Congress demands that the Fed be held accountable

from: William Hughes On July 11, 2009, advocates for a Single Payer Healthcare system hit the streets looking to pick up support, via signed Petitions, for their cause. The canvassing area covered “Rodgers Forge,” which is an historic community, in Baltimore County, just south of Towson.
For background, check out related video, at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4s4fNSbyhg&feature=channel_page

from: William Hughes

On Saturday morning, July 11, 2009, advocates for a Single Payer Healthcare system hit the streets of northeast Baltimore looking to pick up support, via signed Petitions, for their cause. The canvassing area covered “Rodgers Forge,” which is an historic community located just north of the city line, and south of Towson. See, http://www.rodgersforge.org/history.html It’s part of the 3rd Congressional District of Maryland. That seat is currently held by Rep. John Sarbanes, a Democrat. At the moment, he isn’t committed to the Single Payer cause. The Single Payer advocates, however, are hoping to change his mind with their Petition drive. For background on Single Payer, see: http://www.healthcare-now.org and http://singlepayeraction.org and http://md.pnhp.org and http://www.prosperityagenda.us/ In the House of Representatives, Single Payer advocates are pushing HR 676; and in the U.S. Senate--S 703. Correction: On the tape, the name of one of the parties interviewed should read Roderick Ryon.

from: William Hughes

On Thursday, June 25, 2009, a spirited rally was held in John Marshall Park, in Washington, D.C. Its purpose: To demand that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder appoint a “Special Prosecutor for Torture,” who will hold accountable to the supremacy of the Law, certain members of the Bush-Cheney Gang, including ex-President George W. Bush, Jr. and his Vice-President, Dick Cheney. They are suspected of authorizing torture on numerous detainees, in violation of the Geneva Convention, International Law, the Nuremberg Principles and the U.S. Constitution.
Featured in this video is Constitutional Rights attorney, cofounder of the Partnership for Civil Justice and spokesperson for IndictBushNow.org, Mara Verheyden-Hilliard. She is also the co-chair of the National Lawyers Guild. Ms. Verheyden-Hilliard was introduced at the rally by David Swanson, who moderated the event. He is an essayist, author and also the cofounder of afterdowningstreet.org web site. For background on the event, see: http://indictbushnow.org and http://justiceonline.org and http://tortureaccountability.webs.com/ and http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/ For a brief overview of the Law concerning the subject matter of Torture, go to: http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/us_law/detainees/prohibits_torture.htm

From Sameh Brill

Graphic video content

This most recent episode revolves around three major points :
1- Amnesty International official report on Gaza, (released July 2009) regarding the 22-day Israeli assault reveals that Israel committed war crimes and carried out reckless attacks and acts of wanton destruction in its Gaza offensive. Hundreds of Palestinian civilians were killed using high-precision weapons, while others were shot at close range, the report concluded that Israel committed frank war crimes in Gaza.

2- Biased Corporate Media in America, and how media in the united states are neither objective nor completely honest in their portrayal of important issues, as they convey the news with lack of neutrality.

3- On Tuesday June 30 afternoon Israeli Naval Forces attacked and boarded the Free Gaza Movement boat, the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, 23 miles off the coast of Gaza, abducting 21 human rights workers from 11 countries. Which is an outrageous violation of international law, The Boat held humanitarian and reconstruction supplies to be given to the people of Gaza whom 80% of Gazans depends on UN aid since the Israeli blockade on the Gaza strip which is currently still on. This incidence was not the first, months earlier IDF navy boats rammed DIGNITY boat which on a humanitarian mission to Gaza.

William Engdahl on his book Full Spectrum Dominance: Totalitarian Democracy in the New World Order

F William Engdahl is an economist and author and the writer of the best selling book "A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order." Mr Engdhahl has written on issues of energy, politics and economics for more than 30 years, beginning with the first oil shock in the early 1970s. Mr. Engdahl contributes regularly to a number of publications including Asia Times Online, Asia, Inc, Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Foresight magazine; Freitag and ZeitFragen newspapers in Germany and Switzerland respectively. He is based in Germany. therealnews.com

Link: http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=74&jumival=45

"It's too broken..."

from: William Hughes

On July 2, 2009, a protest action was called by "Justice First," a national grassroots organization, to object to Potomac Electric Power Company’s (PEPCO) proposed $51.7 Million rate increase. If passed, it will mean a 6.1 percent hike per month for each of the residential customers it serves. Justice First has been fighting for a moratorium on electric cutoffs and for a rollback on rates in the Washington, D.C. area. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU2sz_Z6MBU&feature=channel_page Eugene Puryear, an activist with Justice First, shared his views with me about the protest action, which was held in Washington, D.C., in front of the D.C. Public Service Commission. Thousands of local residents are "vulnerable to having their power shut off. In 2008, PEPCO issued 426,202 shutoff notices. Currently, 1 in 4 D.C. residents are at risk of shutoff," according to a Justice First's press release. For more background on the issue of utility cutoffs and the millions of dollars in profits taken in by utility giants, like PEPCO, go to http://www.pephost.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=9051 Next store, in Maryland, “84,000 households” are at risk of electricity shut off by BGE, according to the Baltimore Sun. See:http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bal-energy0305,0,2813711.story Meanwhile, the CEO of BGE’s parent company, Constellation Energy, one Mayo Shattuck, is looking to snatch “a $87 million payout” at rate payers’ expense. Check out a protest action in Baltimore, MD. at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy7fCBGVCLs&feature=channel_page

from: William Hughes

A press conference was held, on Monday, June 29, 2009, in the Murrow Room of the National Press Club, in Washington, D.C. It featured Kevin Zeese, Executive Director of VotersforPeace.US; Bruce Fein, former Associate Deputy Attorney General under President Ronald Reagan; and Shahid Buttar, Director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee. The trio presented “formal Complaints” against alleged “torture architects” CIA’s Acting General Counsel, John Rizzo and DMI lawyer, Jonathan Fredman, according to the organizers’ press release. They demanded that the accused lawyers, who are both still working for the federal government, be fired and disbarred. Mr. Fein also ripped into President Barack Obama for his indifference to torture. He said: “We have an instance where the President of the United States--Harvard Law Review--Chicago Constitutional Law professor--he knows what the rules of law means--shuts his eyes to open confessions--we authorized torture, for which [under the Law], there is no exception.”
See for the particulars and background on this evolving matter: http://www.velvetrevolution.us/torture_lawyers/index.php and
http://www.counterpunch.org/zeese06112009.html

from: William HughesMara Verheyden-Hilliard is an activist, Constitutional Rights attorney, and the cofounder of the Partnership for Civil Justice. She is also the co-chair of the National Lawyers Guild. Ms. Verheyden-Hilliard was one of the speakers at an event entitled, “Viva Palestina: A Lifeline from the U.S. to Gaza.” It was held on the campus of American U., in Washington, D.C., on Sunday evening, June 28, 2009. It was a fundraiser “for a special U.S. convoy, which will travel from New York City to Egypt before making its way across the Rafah border into Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid,” according to the organizers’ press release. In her remarks, Ms. Verheyden-Hilliard took exception to President Barack Obama’s assertion, at Cairo, that the “U.S. is not a self-interested Empire.” She said the evidence proves otherwise; and, that the White House could “immediately” demand that Tel Aviv government “end the siege of Gaza.” She also described some of the history of Palestine going back to 1948. Ms. Verheyden-Hilliard underscored how the current Far Right Israeli government treats the people of Gaza “as terrorists,” and smears individuals who dare to speak up for human rights in Gaza, by regularly subjecting them to “threats, lies and demonization.” She praised the humanitarian convoys to Gaza, all the volunteers involved in that laudable effort, and the leadership on this seminal issue of justice and human decency as exemplified by the actions of the British MP, the Hon. George Galloway. Mahdi Bray, Executive Director of the Muslim American Society, served as the moderator of the affair. For more info on this fundraiser, its sponsors and the critically important convoy to Gaza, go to: http://www.vivapalestina-us.org/ For background on the current humanitarian crisis in Israeli-Occupied Gaza, please see:
http://www.pchrgaza.org/ and
http://www.phrmg.org/ and
http://www.wrmea.com/ and
http://justiceandaccountability.org/ and http://www.endtheoccupation.org/ and
http://www.amnesty.org/en/gaza-crisis and
http://www.hrw.org/en/features/israel and
http://www.wrmea.com/archives/May-June_2009/0905057c.html