Contributing Editor Catherine Austin Fitts, who was a Managing Director at Dillon Read before becoming Assistant Secretary of Housing under George Bush and who holds an MBA from Wharton makes things very simple. She points out that the four largest states for the importation of drugs are New York, Florida, Texas and California. She then points out that the top four money laundering states in the U.S. (good for between 100 and 260 billion per year) are New York, Florida, Texas and California. No surprise there. Then she rips the breath from your lungs by pointing out that 80 per cent of all Presidential campaign funds come from - New York, Florida, Texas and California.

The first cases of cholera have been reported in Burma: witnesses in the Irrawady Delta, the south-eastern part which has been reduced to an enormous swamp following the passage of Cyclone Nargis, have reported the first victims in the divisions of Bogalay and Laputta, two of the worst-affected areas. "The feared cholera epidemic has started", said a local doctor. Days without drinking water, the survivors of the passing of the cyclone are drinking water from the rivers and lagoons, in which the bodies and dead animals are floating, regardless of the risks of disease. And while international aid still arrives in the dribs and drabs allowed by the obstacles imposed by the military authorities, survivors have no access to medicine to tackle epidemics of cholera, of dengue fever, of chronic diarhorrea and malaria. Disease, thirst and hunger are now the menaces facing the one and a half million homeless (UN figures) left behind by the passing of Cyclone Nargis. The Guardian: Time is running out in Burma. Times Colonist: Toll from cyclone could pass 100,000. IHT: Constitutional referendum still the priority for Myanmar leaders.

"We're outraged by the slowness of the response of the government of Burma (Myanmar) to welcome and accept assistance," U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Zalmay Khalilzad, told reporters. "It's clear that the government's ability to deal with the situation, which is catastrophic, is limited." In Myanmar, desperate survivors cried out for aid nearly a week after 100,000 people were feared killed by Cyclone Nargis. The United States is awaiting approval to start military aid flights. The U.N. food agency and Red Cross/Red Crescent said they had finally started flying in emergency relief supplies after foot-dragging by the military junta. Boing-Boing: Katrina: Authorities bar Red Cross from NOLA; Blackwater gets carte blanche.

As the evil state of Israel is celebrating sixty years of ethnic cleansing and atrocities against the native Palestinians, many people around the world, especially young generations, will not be fully aware of the manner in which Israel came into existence. Similarly, the younger Zionist generations who don’t stop calling their Palestinian victims “terrorists” should have a clearer idea about Israel’s manifestly criminal past which Zionist school textbooks shamelessly glamorize and glorify. Desert Peace: ISRAEL CELEBRATING EVIL.

Ahmadinejad said that Israel was a "rotten and stinking corpse"... How expressive and accurate of him. How could he have read my thoughts... and I am sure that I'm not alone!! lol... I wonder why Israeli media is omitting the use of the word "rotten" although Ahmadinejad clearly used it :-) I also really wonder if Israel is getting any "congratulations" from any Arab leaders... Nothing would astonish me today. After all, they did offer whatever Palestinian territory the Israelis helped themselves to those passed few years, on a golden plate! They did zilch to stop the Israelis using all their convenient classical excuses..

Gunmen from the Shia militant group Hezbollah have seized most of western Beirut, driving out supporters of the Western-backed government. The gunmen, who also back Hezbollah's Shia opposition allies, have forced the closure of pro-government media. The fighting was sparked by a government move on Monday to shut down Hezbollah's telecoms network. At least 11 people, mainly civilians, have been killed and dozens injured in the city in three days of clashes. The UN Security Council has urged the rival parties to stop fighting amid fears of civil war breaking out. WSWS: Lebanon on brink of civil war.

Israel's recent release of the preliminary findings of the Winograd Commission, an independent government-appointed initiative led by former judge Eliyahu Winograd that was convened to investigate Israel's failures in its summer 2006 war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, may spell the political demise of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (Haaretz, May 1). In contrast, Hezbollah was quick to use the findings of the report to bolster its claims of victory over the vastly superior Israeli military and to criticize the Lebanese government's handling of the conflict. Hezbollah also harnessed the opportunity to enhance its Lebanese and Arab nationalist credentials and claims to represent a force for legitimate resistance in the face of growing pressure from Israel and Sunni-led regimes closely aligned with the United States. Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, among others, label the group as a destabilizing force and an instrument of Iranian Shiite militancy.

A huge and ravenous sinkhole that threatened to swallow this little East Texas oil town gobbled more crumbling earth Thursday but spared, at least for now, homes, the high school and the main road, Farm to Market 770. The little East Texas oil town of Daisetta was threatened. “It’s unreal — the earth just wallered up,” said Lynn Wells, the mayor and fire chief, who monitored emergency efforts, speeding back and forth on his red Harley-Davidson. Since the rim of an underground salt dome collapsed and the ground cracked and gave way abruptly Wednesday morning, the hole — already one of the largest on record, geologists here said — has grown to about 600 feet by 525 feet and 150 feet deep, said Cpl. Hugh Bishop of the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office. Two trucks have already tumbled into the saltwater muck, along with two grain tanks, utility poles and pine trees. A work shed of the DeLoach Oil and Gas Well Vacuum Service adjacent to the pit hung precariously over the rim, likely to topple in next. Seattle PI: Huge Texas sinkhole's appetite decreasing, officials say.

Ehud Olmert's political opponents demanded his resignation Friday, saying new allegations that the Israeli prime minister illegally accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from a U.S. citizen render him unfit for the country's top job. Olmert said in a nationally television speech Thursday that he never took illegal campaign contributions but if indicted, he would resign.

The House Veterans Committee on Tuesday revisited the issue of military suicides in light of a pending lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs by veterans’ rights groups. Following the court-ordered release of internal emails regarding staggering veteran suicide rates, Department of Veterans Affairs officials were accused of “criminal negligence.”

Key war on terror architect Douglas Feith has now confirmed Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and Wesley Clark in admitting that the so-called War on Terror is a hoax. In fact, starting right after 9/11 -- at the latest -- the goal has always been to create "regime change" and instability in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Somalia and Lebanon so as to protect Israel. And the goal was never really to destroy Al Qaeda.

Ron Paul is asked about the 10th Amendment, DEA raids on medical marijuana clinics, Alcohol Prohibition and how it compares to the "War on Drugs," and whether the "Just Say No" program is a good idea.