Press TV: 75,000 US Veterans Face Homelessness!

Over 75,000 US Military Personnel face homelessness after they return from our wars abroad, according to data published by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the number of US veterans, homeless on any given night , as of June this year, is more than 75,700. "It's a critical time - we have veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who may be homeless in greater numbers than in the past, said Anne Oliva, Dirctor of the Department of Housing and Urban Development's homeless office. Deployed in military missions overseas, veterans have trouble finding employment in their home states. At the present time, the employment rate among young veterans is nearly 21 percent. "It's a national disgrace, and reflects the overall situation of the US economy, which is currently in a state of collapse," said Edward Spannaus, Legal Affairs Editor. "Young men and women join the army because that is the only job which is now available". In addition, the homeless people come from the poor layers of society, and from the poorest parts of our country. Layered above all of their fears, the detrimental psychological effects of war on combatants has resulted in 300,000 post-traumatic stress disorders. Bottom line: The US government has failed in its duty to ease the transition from veterans' military lives to jobs in the civilian environment.

Obama Lied to Us: Former CIA Agent Says Americans Did Not Kill Bin Laden!

Osama bin Laden died a natural death nearly 5 years before Obama tried to take credit for his death. This sensational statement was made by a Turkish politician, and a former US intelligence agent. In an interview with Russia's Channel One, he said that the Americans simply found and opened the tomb of the former leader of al-Qaeda. The Russian journalists of Channel One first met Osama in 2008. At the time,he was featured in the documentary "Plan Caucasus," talking about the attempts of "western intelligence" services in the 1990's to separate the Northern Caucasus, and in particular Chechnya from Russia. Chechen by nationality, Berkan Yashar is now a Turkish politician, but in those years he was one of the ideologists of Johar Dudayev. He asked for a meeting, promising to tell the truth about the death of Osama bin Laden, whom he met in the early 90-ies in Chechnya. "In September of 1992 I was in Chechnya, and that was when I first met Bin Laden. The meeting took place in a two-story house in the city of Grozny. On the top floor was the family of Gamsakhurdia, the Georgian president, who later had to leave that country. We met on the bottom floor, and Osama lived in the same building. Berkan said he did not know why Bin Laden visited that town, but at the time, he just wanted to talk. According to the former employee of Radio Liberty Berkan, Yashar had taken the codename Abubakar, a name given to him by the American CIA. Berkan Yashar emphasized that his group did not participate directly in terror bombings. The men around him protected bin Laden so that he could concentrate on his important mission of liberating his people from the Yoke of the Americans.

Paul Shemm: AP - Libya Bars Italy From Oil Sector

Libya on Thursday barred Italy, one of the country's largest investors, from its oil sector because of Rome's role in the NATO airstrikes on the country, a move that raised serious questions about investments by Italian oil giant ENI SpA in the OPEC member state. In Moscow, meanwhile, a Russian newspaper quoted the Kremlin's special envoy to Libya as saying that Moammar Gadhafi has threatened to blow up Tripoli, if the Libyan capital falls into rebel hands. Mikhail Margelov told the Izvestia newspaper that Libyan Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi al Mahmoudi recently told him, "If rebels seize the city, we will deluge it with missiles and blow it up." "I presume that the Gadhafi regime has a suicidal plan of this kind," Margelov told the newspaper. The Canadian general commanding NATO's mission in Libya said Gadhafi is telling his forces to destroy facilities, including fuel refineries, as they retreat. But the troops are not necessarily carrying out the order, Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard cautioned Thursday. "Let's be clear, just because Gadhafi has given a direction, it does not mean that "direction" is being undertaken by his own troops," he told reporters in a conference call from Naples, Italy. The civil war in Libya appears to have hit a stalemate, despite a protracted NATO bombing campaign against Gadhafi loyal forces under a UN mandate on protecting civilians. On Wednesday, NATO reported carrying out 50 strikes, including against missile launchers near Tripoli. Rebels control eastern Libya and pockets in the west, while Gadhafi is holding on to Tripoli and large stretches of Western Libya.

CBS NEWS: Group Urges Probe into Alleged Bush Era Torture

In a 107-page report issued Tuesday, titled "Getting Away with Torture: The Bush Administration and the Mistreatment of Detainees", Human Rights Watch said that such an investigation should examine the roles of the former president, Vice President Dick Chaney, Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld and CIA Director George Tenet. The group claims Mr. Bush had the ultimate power on detainee operations, and that he publicly approved the CIA's use of torture. Cheney was the "driving force" in establishing legal justifications for the detention policies, Rumsfeld approved the interrogation methods that involved torture, and Tenet sanctioned the CIA's use of water-boarding and other forms of torture. The group also said in the report that the Bush Administration endorsed interrogation practices by the CIA that would qualify as torture, created an illegal clandestine CIA detention program in which prisoners were detained in secret locations without informing their families, or allowing access to the International Red Cross, and that the detainees were illegally sent to other countries such as Egypt and Syria, where they would most likely be tortured. Human Rights Watch also said there are many classified documents on detention and interrogation policies, among them a presidential authorization of secret prisons that would bolster a case for a criminal investigation. It added that the government's disregard for human rights following September 11 has diminished the moral standing of the United States, set a negative example for other governments, and undermined US government efforts to reduce anti-American militancy around the world. The report also recommended to President Obama that he should authorize the attorney general to launch a criminal investigation into the detention practices and examine US officials' roles regarding torture. It also asked Congress to create a non-partisan commission to investigate detainee mistreatment, and that foreign governments should have the power to prosecute American officials who were allegedly involved in crimes against detainees.

Tom Engelhardt: Making Earth a Global Free Fire Zone

Is the Obama National Security Team a Pilotless Drone? George W, who? I mean the guy is SO over. He turned the big six-five the other day, and it was barely a footnote in the news. And Dick Cheney, tick-tick-tick. Soon his ticker will stop and no-one will bother to remember him when his time is finally up. Should we ask Condoleeza Rice? She-s already to her next memoir, and yet it's as if she's been wiped from history. The evil that man, or woman do lives after us, the good is often buried with their bones! As for Donald Rumsfeld, he published his memoir in February, and it briefly hit the bestseller list. But a few months later, where is he? Can anyone be surprised? They were wrong about Afghanistan. They were wrong about Iraq, but Almighty God will make certain that they will ultimately burn for their sins: For the radio-active babies in Fallujah, who were born to their angry parents without legs, arms, and other parts of their "normal" bodies! And they said that Adolf Hitler was bad!! My parents hated him, but when we had to get out of Breslau, now "Wroclaw", Poland. Well, Hitler was, but not nearly to the extent that Bushie tortured the wailing mothers and fathers of their progeny. If all-mighty GOD has a special place in HELL for those who do evil on earth, Bush and Cheney are the prime candidates on HIS list. Torturing innocents in Guantanamo will not abscond Obama from his dastardly deeds. They may have disappeared from our lives, but the post-9/11 world is a grim reminder of those who died in these towers. On the night of September 11, 2001, addressing the nation, President Bush first spoke of winning "the war on terrorism". Of course, he really, really meant the terrorism we would bring to the innocents who had nothing whatsoever to do with that atrocity. For those who are up to it, you may still find a U-tube that depicts the death of millions of German citizens in Dresden. Like our cowardly presidents said: "There will be no retreat, it must be victory or death." Before I served in Vietnam, my father pulled me into a part of our house where my mother would not be listening. Since he served with the German Forces in Italy, he told me that I must promise to bring the men under my command back safely. Of course, that's a tall order, but I agreed to it. When my team and I returned safely to my home, I saluted, and told my father that I had followed his orders!!

Weldon Berger: Millionaires Gather to Steal From the Old, the Sick, and the Poor!!

The rich are never, if possible, ashamed to steal from the poor. It has always been like that, and, as they say: "The beat goes on, the beat goes on!" Nobody in Congress will ever have to rely on Social Security to remain solvent, or on Medicare or Medicaid to stay alive. On rare occasions, the press might mention that even the most impoverished inhabitants of Congress , even if they never have to work, have no other income, and never get a dime from Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid remain solvent. The 2009 financial disclosure numbers show Joe Biden as one of the few people involved in the negotiations who wasn't worth something comfortably in the seven figure range during that year. The average net worth of the people who will be voting on the fate of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid was about $3.4 million in the House and an astonishing $13.6 million in the Senate, and that was only in 2009, when the stock market was struggling for most of the year and investment portfolios had taken massive hits, but Congress still had 237 millionaires, almost 45% of the 535 federal legislators. Of course, Biden isn't the only participant skating close to the financial edge. John Boehner and Barack Obama may each have been worth as little as $2 million in 2009 (or as much as $14 million, but they're worth it?)
So too might Eric "Robespierre" Cantor, who appears intent on inflicting his own version of the "Reign of Terror" on the least of us.

Chris Stephen: GOOD NEWS: Qadafi Forces Destroy Front Line of NATO

Forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi attacked the Libyan city of Misrata, breaching the opposition's front line to the west, and killing 11 rebel fighters, military officials in the rebel-held enclave said. The aim was to capture a strategic hill, the high ground near the city. There was no comment on the fighting from the Libyan government, except to say that "things are going well". "They advanced 300 meters over the front line," said the soldiers! Misrata, about 170 kilometers (100 miles) from the capital Tripoli, is the main rebel-held city in western Libya, and has been under siege for most of the uprising that began in February. The attack comes four days after rebel forces pushed west to within 3 kilometers of the nearby government-held town of Zlitan, where they are now dug in. Duew said that the rebels were angry, that there were no signs of any North Atlantic Treaty Organization assistance during the battle, which saw a heavy bombardment by government rockets and mortar shells. "Every day 10 die, 11 die," he said. "Where is NATO?": Counting their money, and throwing it away!

John Kozy: Our Disintegrating Economic "Recovery"?

Our country is "riddled" with idiots who believe that one day, a "president", the one who reads us fairy tales from his "invisible teleprompter" tries to tell us that "all is well". Who, pray tell, is going to "get back" what has been brutally taken from him, when the economy "recovers". That successful, inveterate liars consistently use a specific group of practices has been known for ages. They, for instance, give long winded answers to question, distract, and confuse the questioner, make assertions that can't be easily easily refuted, and keep from saying very much that is specific, making it difficult to confirm or refute details. One prevalent way Obama has of doing this, is to speak metaphorically. Those of you old enough, like me, who served in Vietnam as advisory team leader, and who drank at least a six-pack of beer before taking my jeep down a heavily mined road, so that the rest of my could return safely to their families. Those who served in that war with me, remember that whenever General Westmorland was asked how the war was going, he replied that "there was light at the end of the tunnel". Of course there was, since it is well known that a tunnel receives light from both of its opposite ends, but is usually dug to lay tracks for a fast-moving freight train. At the same moment when I was serving in Vietnam, we were mortared many, many times, and I kept my team safe and sound despite that fact. Likewise President Obama is addicted to vapid metaphors, which were presented to him by an assistant: "The US still has a "big hole to fill", "There are going to be bumps in the road", and "we're on the right track". The latter remark made me visualize a freight train running over Obama's prone body, for all the world to see, and believe there is still hope in this world, before we go on to the next. Words, words, words: What have these to do with "recovery". "My neighbor has recovered from pneumonia" usually means his previously impaired lungs are now working normally!" The word recover always has the connotation of "getting back", but who or what is going to get back when the economy "recovers". You see, the word 'recovery' is just another vapid metaphor, and it means nothing!

Franklin Lamb: France Says NATO Bombing Has Failed.

One of the jokes heard at this week's massive pro-government Friday post prayer rally at Green Square is about how each morning Libya's leader, following early morning Fajr prayers dons his formal uniform, complete with huge epaulets, and salutes the small NATO flag he tapes to his bathroom mirror as he moves from place to place dodging NATO drones and assassins. "Our leader does this", one young lady informed me first with a wide smile and then growing serious, "because the NATO bombing of Libyan civilians, which the US/NATO axis claims Qaddafi is doing, has caused his popularity to skyrocket among our proud and nationalist tribal people. I am one example of this. Yes, of course we can use some new blood and long overdue reform in our government. Which country cannot? But first we must defeat the NATO invaders, and then we can sort out our problems among our tribes, including the so-calked "NATO Rebels". Since the beginning of the NATO operation (3/31/11), the alliance has conducted nearly 15,000 sorties, including close to 6,000 bombing missions according to NATO's media office in Naples, Italy. The most recent attacks reported on 7/9/11 included 112 sorties and 48 bomb/missile attacks, and that is about average. The two most active Embassies in Libya these days are the Russians and the Chinese. On 2/25/11, according to the Bulgarian Embassy staff, which was falsely rumored to be currently handing US consular services, since the US has no representatives in Libya, are extremely busy these days. NATO, Diplomatic, and Congressional sources confirm that the Obama Administration erred badly in thinking that Libya's regime would collapse "in a few days, not weeks" as Obama assured the American public which has to pay $ 5 billion thru July 31 this year! Obama's miscalculation will most likely cost him the presidency, unless, like JFK, an assassin does the job. As one student at Tripoli's Al Fatah University commented, "What your American government has done in this region to destroy yourselves since 9/11 is amazing to Libyans. Now you are going to fight us? Why? You already had your oil at bargain prices. We stupidly put our sovereign funds into US banks, and we did not even bother Israel much! 70 years ago, we sacrificed nearly one third of our population to expel the Italians. Doesn't anyone in the United States study HISTORY??? We are armed and will use our weapons. Among the errors our leadership has made, one of the worst is that we believed the US agreements we made in 2004. The Iranians and North Koreans laugh at us for trusting you and giving up nuclear and biological weapons. Believe me, if Qadaffi leaves power, you will miss him, because the Libyan people will be tougher against your projects than he has been!

Frank Rich: Obama's Original Sin

After 9/11, Rudi Giuliani went on Saturday Night Live to give New Yorkers permission to laugh again, but Mayor Bloomberg never did tell us when we could resume conspicuous consumption after the crash of 2008. So, as we stumble through the second year of the official "recovery", its time return to high-end carousing. A case in point was the late-May celebration of the centennial re-dedication of the New York Public Library. Surely, no civic institution could be a better occasion for a blowout. However, it was impossible to banish memories of the financial meltdown: Some two weeks earlier, the mayor had restricted the free and open access he now extolled. His fiscal 2012 budget called for slashing $40 million from the library system, a cut that would have mandated four day weeks and the shutdown of a dozen branches. There was also the awkward matter of the gala's "corporate chair", Brian Moynihan, the CEO of Bank of America. In the pageantry preceding Bloomberg's remarks, the slightly flushed Moynihan, looking like a nervous ring bearer in a stately wedding ceremony was among those singled out by the announcer while marching down the reading room's long center aisle in a processional of library trustees, but it was impossible to banish toxic trace memories of the meltdown.

Justin Raimondo: Pakistan-Ominous Signs Of a Major New War!

Thanks to Obama, our United States is once again in deep dudu (i.e.SHIT)! Suddenly, Islamabad is on the verge of being classified as part of the Axis of Evil, with the head of the joint chiefs, Admiral Mullen, openly accusing the Pakistanis of "sanctioning" the killing of a journalist, and allying with a faction of the Taliban (they're everywhere, they're everywhere). Since when does a military man, the titular uniformed head of the US armed force, no less - speak out on such sensitive political matters? Why, when he has the full backing of the White House, which obviously has plans for the Pakistanis. The new accusations add fuel to the fire, started by the "discovery"(or NOT) of Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad lair, where supposedly he has been hiding for years, or has he? The word is that Osama, not to be confused with "Obama", had been in ill health, and had to depend on many blood transfusions to survive in his cave. The new accusations claim that Osama had been "hiding" in Pakistan for many years, but I digress! The ultimate prize for US imperialism in the Middle East - the jewel in the crown of the emerging American empire is Iran, long the chief target of the "War Party's" attention, yet our country either lacked the resources or the political support for such an attack. First, we went after Iraq and Afghanistan, and now we are finally ready to destroy Pakistan. (Azerbaijan, to the north, has replaced Kyrgyzstan as the main way station funneling supplies to American troops in the region.) The plan is to fully integrate Pakistan fully into the American orbit, and thus Iran will be surrounded on all sides! While keeping the heat on for a direct attack on Iran, the powerful pro-Israeli Lobby, (the Israeli sinking of our SS Liberty is only a memory, and only the our Intelligence Operations people still remember that tragedy), but the Israelis know how far they can go in America - for them, all is always forgiven!

Mike Whitney: Memo to Obama: Create more jobs or Resign!

ABYSMAL! That's the only way to describe Friday's job report! On top of that, the unemployment rate has been heading higher for the last three months. Now, it's at 9.2%, a full two years into the "alleged recovery". Where are the jobs, Mr. President, and that's what everyone wants to know. Sending Americans into lethal wars, to return with serious wounds, is NOT the right answer. War is hell: When I served as Advisory Team Leader in Vietnam, I always drank at least six beers before I traveled the dirt road towards the 25th Infantry base, so that I would not feel very much pain when I would be destroyed by an enemy mine. In order to save my team from that folly, I took most chances by myself, and most of the time, I was "lucky". However, on one return trip, I noticed the huge motor of a 5 ton truck that had been thrown one hundred feet into a paddy dike. But I digress: Friday's job report, as you know, was MORE than abysmal. As you know, on top of that, the unemployment rate has been heading higher for the last three months. So much for a recovery. The stock market has regained most of the ground it lost since it touched rock bottom in March 2009, but the "real" economy is still stuck in the mud.
Here's a clip from economist Tim Duy, who sums it up perfectly: "the labor force fell, the number of employed plummeted, and the number of unemployed climbed. Private non-farm payrolls gained a paltry 57k, and the drag from government cutbacks pulled the overall jobs gain to just 18k. Far short of the numbers needed to even hold unemployment steady." Get the picture? It's ALL BAD! And guess what? Those "18,000 new jobs" falls within the Labor Department's margin for error, so there could actually be "no new jobs". Are you still awake, Mr. President? Probably NOT!

Alexa Olesen:China Says US Spends Too Much Money on Military!

The United States is spending too much money on its military in light of its recent economic troubles, said China's top general. The chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army, Chen Bingde, told reporters he thought the US should cut back on defense spending for the sake of its taxpayers. He was speaking during a joint news conference in which he traded barbs with visiting US counterpart Admiral Mike Mullen. "I know the US is still recovering from the financial crisis," Chen said. "Under such circumstances, it is still spending a lot of money on its military and isn't that placing too much pressure on the taxpayers? If the US could reduce its military spending a bit and spend more on improving the livelihood of the American people, wouldn't that be a better scenario?" he said. The visit by Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is the first of its kind in four years. Mullen and Chen are trying to upgrade military to military ties after setbacks over the US arms sales to Taiwan, cyber-attacks traced to China and concern about Beijing's military plans. Chen made a similar trip to the US in May as part of efforts to improve often frosty relations between the militarys, especially as the economies of the countries become more codependent. The two sides announced future exchanges, according to a statement released through the official Xinhua News Agency, with the commander of one of China's seven military regions visiting the headquarters of the US Pacific Command in Hawaii later this year, followed by a return visit by the head of the Pacific Command.

Jack A. Smith: The True Cost Of America's Wars

During his speech on Afghanistan June 22, President Obama revealed that "Over the last decade, we have spent a trillion dollars on war". Of course, he knew this to be a deceptive under-statement, to satisfy the morons who voted for him. However, few Americans have closely followed Washington's 21st century "wars of choice", so a trillion probably "sounds right" to them, but that amount in ten years, when the annual cost of air conditioning alone for the US in Afghanistan and Iraq amounts to $20.2 billion a year, is way off base! It's difficult to conceive of one trillion, so here it is: Sixty seconds is one minute. One million seconds comprises about 11.5 days, and a billion seconds is 32 years, but a trillion seconds is 32,000 years. The latest objective estimate for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, made public June 29, is between $3.7 trillion and $4.4 trillion (140,000 years), according to the research project "Costs of War" by Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies. The university assembled a team of economists, legal experts, political scientists, anthropologists, and a physician (probably for those who had passed out during the gruesome experiment). As they found out, the medical costs are "huge"! While we know that just over 6,000 US soldiers have died in our many wars, it is startling that we do not know much about the levels of injury, nor do these figures include the thousands of deaths and injuries among civilian contractors. There are about as many contractors as troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2010, $400 billion of our tax money went toward paying off past war debts as far back as the Korean War of the early 1950's. Our country will be paying war debts indefinitely, because Washington is always borrowing to plan for, or start NEW wars!!

Greenspan-Guidotti: How Does America rank on the Greenspan-Guidotti Scale? It's a guaranteed default!

The only way out of our dilemma is to raise interest rates as the US dollar begins to fail, which already began in the summer of 2010. Those who want to make 2.15% on an investment must leave it invested for 10 years. On the other hand, US business can money at auction basically free from the central bank for .25%, invest it in T-bonds and make 1.9% free! When the world finds out about this ponzi scheme, the jig will be up. With the US government planning to spend an extra $7.7 trillion and a national deficit of more than twelve trillion dollars, it sounds as though the American public will be paying for this for the rest of their lives. Obama has a lot to deal with, with a $12 trillion debt that will increase by at least 10% in a single year. It is amazing that Bush managed to nearly double the US national debt during his time in office. With a GDP of only about $14 trillion, that debt load must be looking pretty scary for Americans. Actually, there will soon be a "run on the dollar". Porter Stanberry writes: It's one of those numbers that's so unbelievable, that you actually have to think about it for a while! Within the next 12 months, the US Treasury will have to refinance $2 trillion in short-term debt, not counting any additional deficit spending, which is estimated to be around $1.5 trillion. Put the two numbers together, then ask yourself, how in the world can the Treasury borrow $3.5 trillion in only one year? That's an amount equal to to nearly 30% of our entire GDP, and we're the world's "biggest" economy. Where will the money come from? How did we end up with so much short-term debt? Like most entities that have far too much debt, whether sub-prime borrowers, GM, Fannie, or GE -the US treasury has tried to minimize its interest burden by borrowing for short durations and then "rolling over" the loans when they come due. As they say on Wall Street: "A rolling debt collects no moss." Will Speaker Boehner cave on the Debt Ceiling, or will you help Ron Paul fight to prevent a Debt Ceiling Betrayal? Don't forget: "It's YOUR MONEY'. As long as Speaker Boehner refuses to take a clear stand in support of only passing a debt ceiling if a strict "Cut, Cap, and Balance" plan is also enacted,then he's just playing "Let's Make a Deal" with America's future! Please sign the petition to your representatives and senators DEMANDING that they reject any business as usual "deal", and join Ron Paul in signing the "Cut, Cap, and Balance" pledge IMMEDIATELY.

Medea Benjamin: By Torpedoing the Gaza Flottilla, Israel Sunk its Own Ship!

Instead of high-fiving each other for their success in thwarting the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, Israel should throw the propaganda hacks who catapulted the flotilla into headline news for weeks and left Israel smelling like rotten fish. Last year, when the Israeli military killed nine aboard the Turkish ship, the incident made waves around the world, but in previous years, the same international coalition had sent boats to Gaza five times, successfully reaching their destination with a symbolic shipment of humanitarian aid. No blood, no military interception, no story! That's why the advice of many of Israel's best buddies, including the lobby group AIPAC just ignored the flotilla. But now the idiotic Israeli government decided to announce with bravado that it was prepared to stop the flotilla with lethal force, including snipers and attack dogs. Smelling blood, the media frenzy began: Even before leaving home, passengers were besieged with press calls asking why they were willing to risk their lives for the plight of the people of Gaza. Worse yet, mainstream media began bombarding the passengers with requests to come along for the ride! With space for only ten media on their boat, they ended up with a complete media circus: CNN, CBS, Al Jazeera, AP, and "The Nation and Democracy Now." Other boats also began to scramble to accommodate "MORE PRESS"! Thanks to Israel, we were guaranteed that no matter what happened, THE WHOLE WORLD WOULD BE WATCHING!! The Israeli's next blunder was even more idiotic: It sent a letter to foreign journalists warning them that if they participated in the flotilla, they would be denied entry into Israel for ten years, and their equipment would be impounded! Israel's Foreign Press Association said: The Threat sends a chilling message to the international media and raises serious questions about Israel's commitment to FREEDOM OF THE PRESS!!

Bob Chapman: Mounting Public Debt, and the L ooting of Federal Pensions, Social Security and Medicare

Our US government debt will be in the vicinity of $1.5 trillion this year. Ever since May 16th, short term debt has been frozen at about $14.3 trillion! As one humorist appropriately said: A Trillion here, and a Trillion there, and pretty soon we're talking about big money. Up until May 16 this year, our fiscal debt was was $783.135 billion. That means if no August 2nd agreement is reached, $275 billion will be needed up to August 2nd, a total of about $700 billion will be needed by 9/30/11, at the end of the fiscal year. Those funds are to come from federal pensions, Social Security and Medicare. How will those funds be paid back? We do not know, but we would guess there could be legislation to commandeer private pensions, 401Ks and IRAs. On the other hand, an alternative is for the Fed to create $700 billion and buy the Treasury debt. That means they would have to create another additional $850 billion to keep the economy from slipping into a great dark pit. That means additional net funds that would have to be created out of thin air of close to $3 trillion. That means mega inflation 2 to 3 years down the line. In addition the US debt to GDP should be more than 100% by the end of the fiscal year 9/30/11. We guess the Fed can keep interest rates at near zero until borrowers finally get fed up with low returns and a loss in principal, as the dollar deteriorates. It was four years ago when rates were 5-1/4%. Rates in time will return to that level and cause economic and financial devastation. We can also assure you Treasury buyers are not driving rates down and bond prices up, the Fed can take full credit for that. Those who seek safety in low interest Treasuries are giving up purchasing power. In today's markets there is no such thing as safety!

Dave Gahary: The War President

Barack Obama, once hailed as an anti-war president, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between people. Now, based on his actions, we know him to be a contemptible fraud! At the time, his disgusting dog-and-pony show, complete with empty promises to bring our troops home, was an apparent outreach to the Muslim world and peace-loving US taxpayers, and a supposed attempt ti curb nuclear proliferation. Now that we actually know Obama to be a disgusting fraud, and his continued illegal aggression against sovereign nations, Bolivia's President Evo Morales stated that Obama's peace prize should be revoked. Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega and Cuba's Fidel Castro have made similar statements, as has Vladimir Zhirinovsky, head of Russia's Liberal Democratic Party. Nevertheless, a completely shameless Obama is continuing US hostilities against a sovereign nation past a deadline spelled out in the "War Powers Act of 1973", commonly referred to as War Powers Resolution. Since recent polls show strong opposition to American intervention of Libya, if Obama is not working for the American people, is Satan now his real employer? Revelations unveiled in The New York Times last week detail how the "president" rejected the views of top lawyers at the Pentagon and the Justice Department, and decided that he had the legal authority to continue American military participation in the air war in Libya without congressional authorization!

Eugene Robinson: Our Robotic Assassins

The skies over at least six countries are patrolled by robotic aircraft, operated by the US military or the CIA, that fire missiles to carry out targeted assassinations. I am convinced that this method of waging war is cost-effective, but not moral. There has been virtually no public debate about the expanding role of unmanned drone aircraft as killing machines, at least not domestically. In the places where drone attacks are taking place, there has been understandingly a great uproar, but even in the rest of the world, questions are being raised about the legal and ethical basis for these "antiseptic" missile strikes. According to the Washington Post, a US military drone fired missiles in Somalia last week in an attempt to kill two leaders of the Islamist group al-Shahab, which is apparently tied to al-Qaida. The men were apparently wounded in the attack, the newspaper reported, according to an unnamed senior military official. Somalia thus joins Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen and Libya as nations where remote-controlled drones are conducting lethal attacks. The strike was deemed justified by US officials, according to the Post, because al-Shabab had become "somewhat emboldened of late" and was "planning operations outside of Somalia" against the United States or its allies. The Obama administration has greatly increased the use of missile-firing drones, and it is easy to understand why. The unmanned aircraft can be flown above hostile territory, and used to locate, track and obliterate targets without putting US lives at risk. Since the drones are controlled electronically by human operators, they can be directed in ways that respond to changing conditions on the ground: If a fleeing target SUV turns right, the drone can turn right as well!

Tom Engelhardt: The Militarized Surrealism of Barack Obama

Its already gone, having barely outlasted its moment - just long enough for the media to suggest that no one thought it added up to much. Okay, it was a little more than the military wanted, something less than Joe Biden would have liked, not enough for the growing crew of anti-war congressional types, but way too much for John McCain, Lindsay Graham & Co: I'm talking about the 13 minutes of remarks on the way forward in Afghanistan, that Obama delivered in the East Room of the White House two Wednesday nights ago. Tell me you weren't holding your breath, wondering whether the 33,000 surge troops he ordered into Afghanistan as 2009 ended would be removed in a 12 month, 14 month, or 18 month span. Tell me you weren't gripped with anxiety about whether 3,000 5,000 10,000 or 15,000 American soldiers would come out this year, leaving either 95,000, 93,000, 88,000 or 83,000 behind! You weren't? Well, if so, you were in good company. Billed as the beginning of the end of the Afghan War, it should have been big, and it couldn't have been smaller. The patented Obama words were meant to soar, starting with the George W. Bush-style invocation of 9/11 and ending with the usual copious blessings upon this country and our military, but on the evidence, they couldn't have fallen flatter. I doubt that I was alone in thinking that it was like Ronald Reagan on an unimaginably bad day in an ad captioned "It's never going to be morning again in America." If you clicked Obama off that night, or let the event slide instantly into your mental trash can. I don't blame you. Still, the president's Afghan remarks shouldn't be sent down the memory hole quite so quickly! For one thing, while the mainstream media's pundits and talking heads are always raring to discuss his policy remarks, the words that frame them are generally ignored - and yet the discomfort of the moment can't be separated from them. So start with this: Whether by inclination, political calculation, or some mix of the two, our president has become a rhetorical idolator!

Franklin Lamb: NATO's War Against Libya's Civilians!

Since Obama wanted to bring "democracy" (meaning steal Libya's Oil, just as George W. Bush stole the oil from Iraq's people), there have been five recent instances of undisputed NATO bombings on Libyan civilians, but Obama claims that he is "protecting innocent civilians", Yeah, right. If you believe that, there is some land, though currently under water in the Gulf of Mexico. Though now completely contaminated by BP (British Petroleum), with the helpful assistance of President Obama, who probably received some kickbacks out of that deal! But I digress: On May 13, 2011, a peace delegation of Muslim religious leaders, having arrived in Breda to seek dialogue with fellow Sheiks from the east of Libya was bombed at 1 AM in their guest house by two MK 82 bombs. Eleven were killed instantly and 14 were seriously injured, but NATO claimed the building housed a "Command and Control Center." All witnesses and the hotel owner have vehemently denied this claim. This observer interviewed the leader of the delegation, Shiek Khalad Ali on three occasions, seeking details, but he is recovering from shrapnel wounds to his leg. NATO has finally offered the wounded families compensation. During the early morning of June 20, 2011, 8 missiles and bombs targeted the home of Khaled Al-Hamedi and his parents and family. Fifteen family members and friends were killed, including Khaled's pregnant wife, his sister and three of his children. NATO said it bombed the home because it was a military installation of some kind. Witnesses, neighbors, and independent observers deny that there was ever any military installation or troop presence on the property. In late June, 2011, on the main road west of Tripoli a public bus with 12 passengers was hit by a TOW missile, killing all passengers, but NATO claimed that public buses are being used to transport military personnel.
Foreign observers, including this one, unanimously aver that they have not seen military personnel in Tripoli, including tanks, APC's, or even military equipment.