By Robert Singer

Warning: Reading the following may be hazardous to your mental health. The material herein has caused readers to experience Cognitive Dissonance (CD). CD is the discomfort felt at the discrepancy between what you already know or believe, and new information or interpretation that contradicts a strongly held belief system – It’s that queasy feeling that rises in your gut and screams, I DON’T BELIEVE THAT! Because, if you accepted the new information, you would have to admit you been ”had,” or ”conned,” in this case into shopping for stuff to trash the planet.

The benefit of the new information is that the world around you will finally make sense. Hot, flat, and crowded Thomas L. Friedman will finally know what planet George W. Bush is on. Bush lost the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq, but is winning the war on the environment.

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By Andrew W. Griffin

OKLAHOMA CITY – The lead headline in today’s edition of The Oklahoman said it all : “State kids to get shot at swine flu vaccine.”

Yes, that swine flu. The one designated last month as a pandemic by the World Health Organization.

Anyway, reading the story, written by Oklahoman staff writer Vallery Brown, readers are told that up to 200 Oklahoma children between the ages of 3 and 8 will be encouraged to enroll in the swine flu (H1N1) vaccine trials.

These tests – which in effect use children as guinea pigs for this largely untested vaccine – will be conducted at IPS Research in Oklahoma City, the first Oklahoma company to be involved in the swine flu vaccine trials.

The medical director for IPS Research, Dr. Louise Thurman, said they will begin enrolling “patients” on August 17.

“From a science standpoint, it should work,” Thurman told The Oklahoman.

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Khaled Amayreh in Ramallah

Despite US demands to the contrary, Israel continues to expand Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank, especially in Arab East Jerusalem.

Last week, the Obama administration informed Israel that the demanded freeze on settlement building applied to East Jerusalem as well as to the rest of the West Bank. Israeli sources said the State Department had summoned Israeli Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren, informing him that plans for the construction of a vast housing complex in Arab East Jerusalem must be terminated.

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By Ramzy Baroud

Who killed Yasser Arafat? When the Palestinian leader was declared dead in a French hospital on Nov. 11, 2004, there was no way of knowing how questions related to his death should be phrased. Was he killed or did he die from old age? If he was killed, then who killed him and why? The “mysterious” nature of his symptoms gave birth to a theory that he was poisoned over a period of time, provided enough evidence that foul play was involved, even accusing some of those closest to him. Although the man’s story has been recorded in the ever-growing chronicle of the Palestinian struggle and Palestinians have somehow moved on, recent breaking news has blown his story wide open once again, breeding new controversy and stories of conspiracy.

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By JOHN A. MURPHY

“Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider!” - George Carlin

Back in the 70s preliminary, incomplete results on a substance called Laetrile were released indicating that this derivative from apricot pits inhibited the growth of cancerous tumors in mice. In short order, Americans went wild at the idea that a cure for cancer had been found. Although subsequent reports were released indicating that Laetrile showed no beneficial effects, groups of its proponents continued to preach the gospel of Laetrile. In fact, Laetrile not only has no effect as a cure for cancer, it is a highly toxic substance. Nevertheless a quick trip to your search engine will show you that there are plenty of companies willing to sell you the substance now marketed as Vitamin B-17!

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Allen L Roland

Mahatma Gandhi's famous seven blunders of the world, which he shared with his grandson Arun, on their final day together before Gandhi was assassinated, are actually nine with an addition by both Arun and myself. The ninth blunder will most certainly be realized if Single Pay Health Insurance is not passed by the Obama Administration:

Here is a list of the seven blunders of the world which Mahatma Gandhi gave to his grandson Arun Gandhi, written on a piece of paper, on their final day together, not too long before his assassination.

This list grew from Gandhi's search for the roots of violence. He called these acts of passive violence. Preventing these is the best way to prevent oneself or one's society from reaching a point of violence.

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By Gilad Atzmon

"I am what you call a matchmaker," Rosenbaum is quoted as saying at a July 13 meeting with the two undercover agents.

"I'm doing this a long time," the complaint says Rosenbaum told the two agents. He then added: "Let me explain to you one thing. It's illegal to buy or sell organs. … So you cannot buy it. What you do is, you're giving a compensation for the time."

As we learn from Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary Chris Huhne that “Britain is setting a shameful new record in anti-Semitic incidents this year,” we also happen to be informed by every press outlet about the massive New Jersey Corruption Sweep: A shocking tale of money-laundering and human organ trading led by a bunch of Rabbis.

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by John Hoefle

July 17—Four of the biggest banks in the U.S.A. declared huge profits for the second quarter, prompting a predictable chorus from the usual lame-brained cheerleaders about how the financial system has weathered the storm and returned to normalcy. "Put your party hats on, kids, because the money machine is back in business!" Oh yeah, and the tooth fairy is going to leave the winning lottery ticket under your pillow tonight.

The levels of delusion, duplicity, and stupidity among the government, financial, and media circles are incredible. Virtually nothing they are saying is true, because virtually nothing they believe is true. It would be hard to find a bigger pack of idiots anywhere on the planet.

No matter what they say, the banks are not earning profits. The system is dead, and so are they. No amount of accounting fiction and asset-puffery will change that.

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by Stephen Lendman

"Breaking the Silence is an organization of veteran Israeli soldiers that collects anonymous testimonies of soldiers who served in the Occupied Territories during the Second Intifada." They recount experiences that deeply affected them, including abusing Palestinians, looting, destroying property, and other practices "excused as military necessities, or explained as extreme and unique cases."

They believe otherwise in describing "the depth of corruption which is spreading in the Israeli military" to which Israeli society and most Western observers turn a blind eye. "Breaking the Silence" was established to force an uncomfortable reality into the open to "demand accountability regarding Israel's military actions in the Occupied Territories perpetrated by us in our name."

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by Eric Blair

In April 2003, the United States dropped four hugely powerful bombs on and around a compound in a residential district of Baghdad. Purpose: To kill Saddam Hussein and his two sons, said to be meeting there.

In fact, the only ones to die in the U.S. airstrike were just ordinary Iraqis. At the time, and since, these civilian deaths elicited little interest or concern compared to rampant speculation by Western opinion- and decision-makers (both in and outside the U.S.) as to whether or not the Iraqi dictator and two sons had actually been killed in the bombing raid.

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