Press TV: Republicans Rebuff Obama Tax Hikes

Good News! Top Republican lawmakers have rejected the US President Barack Obama's appeal for tax hikes on rich and wealthy people. House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor say the worst thing Washington can do to destroy our economy is to raise taxes on the people we need. "The worst thing Washington can do for our economy is to raise taxes on the people we need to start hiring again," Cantor said. In a USA Today opinion page, they also called for cuts to government-backed health and retirement programs. This comes as a newly created Congressional committee faces a late-November deadline for recommending one and a half trillion dollars in deficit cuts over ten years. In a final deal reached by legislators to avoid default this month, President Obama signed legislation that did not include tax increases, but the "embattled" president, whose job approval have slumped, has said that he will renew his push for such measures.
In related stories: US Congress disapproval is now at a record high, and job approval for congress is at a record low. Also, S&P move is a Tea Party downgrade. In addition, the US debt crisis threatens the global economy, meaning the US may lose its AA+rating, while the US debt raise is not a "final" solution.

Tom Burghardt: As America's Economy Collapses, "New Normal" Police State is Shaped.

Forget your rights! As corporate overlords position themselves to seize what little remains of the tattered "social net", the Obama administration is moving at break-neck speed to expand police state programs first designed by the Bush government. After all, with world share prices gyrating wildly, employment and wages in a death spiral, and retirement funds and publicly-owned assets swallowed whole by speculators and rentier scum, the state 'better' dust off contingency plans lest the Greek, Spanish or British "contagion" spread beyond the fabled shores of "old Europe" and infect God-fearin' folk here in the homeland. Fear NOT: They have the lyrically titled "Civil Disturbances: Emergency Employment of Army and Other Resources, otherwise known as Army Regulation 500-50, spells out the "responsibilities, policy, and guidance for the Department of the Army in planning and operations involving the use of Army resources in the control of actual or anticipated civil disturbances." With British politicians demanding a clampdown on social media in the wake of London riots, and with the Bay Area Rapid Transit agency having done so last week in San Francisco, switching off underground cell phone service to help squelch a protest against police violence, authoritarian control tactics , aping those deployed in Egypt and Tunisia, are becoming the norm in so-called "Western democracies." Meanwhile up on Capitol Hill, Congress did their part to defend us from that pesky "Bill of Rights", that is, before 81 of them, nearly a fifth of "our" elected representatives, checked out for AIPAC-funded junkets to Israel.

Peter Symonds: NATO's Pupet Regime In Libya Falls Apart!

The sacking of the entire Benghazi-based Libyan opposition cabinet this week has exposed the anti-democratic, faction-riven character of the regime that the US and its European allies are seeking to impose on Libya. The self-proclaimed Transitional National Council is now facing a military stalemate in efforts to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi due to its lack of popular support, is being consumed by violent internal conflicts. TNC President Abdul Mustafa Jalil ordered the dismissal of the TNC's so-called prime minister, was kept on to form the next cabinet. In a further sign of disarray, Jalil insisted that members of various autonomous militias operating broadly under the TNC's banner, had to integrate into its armed forces as individuals rather than units. Jalil was acting under demands for justice from Younis's family members and the powerful Obeidi tribe, and was under pressure from the February 17 Coalition, a secular grouping of Libyan judges and lawyers, critical of the growing influence of Islamists within the TNC. As it announced the sackings, a TNC spokesman declared that the cabinet was responsible for "improper administrative procedures" that led to Younis's death. No official explanation has been given for the arrest and killing of Younis, which has been the subject of bitter recriminations. He was Gaddafi's interior minister before defecting to the Benghazi opposition, along with the Special Forces troops under his command. Those close to Younis have accused an Islamist militia of killing him, to avenge the general's savage repression of an Islamist uprising in the mid-1990's, and to block his efforts to bring TNC military units under his unified command.

Miles Amoore: A Taliban fighter tells how he avenged the death of Bin Laden

A Taliban fighter has given the first account of how his unit fired two rocket-propelled grenades that brought down a Chinook helicopter, killing 38 elite American and Afghan troops in the deadliest attack of NATO's 10 year campaign. The special forces, some from the unit that killed Osama Bin Laden, had flown into a remote valley to kill a group of Taliban commanders who were sheltering in the Sayedabad district of Wardak province, according to the fighter. The dead, identified last week by a special forensic team at Dover air force base in Delaware, included 17 Navy Seals, some from Team 6, the unit that killed Bin Laden, five other navy special forces, three air force special forces, and five crew. Seven Afghan commandos and an interpreter were also on board. The helicopter was shot down as it came in to land close to where two Taliban had taken up sentry positions in the Tangi Valley, the fighter, whose nom de guerre is Haqiar, said. His account largely tallies with NATO's version of events. Haqiar, 24, who claims to be the only surviving member of the team that shot down down the helicopter, said fighters were already on high alert because they had seen many US drones patrolling during the day. They observed Iftar, the Islamic custom of breaking the fast during the holy month of Ramadan, and as soon as they had finished their meal, Haqiar and his comrade, Gulam Hazrat, took up guard duties in a ditch beside a terraced field overlooking the valley. At about 11pm, a radio message from Haqiar's commander, Mullah Mohibullah, told them American forces had just killed six Taliban fighters further down the valley in the village of Qarya-e-Amir. "We knew something bid was going to happen," he said. An hour later, Haqiar and Hazrat heard a helicopter approaching and saw it silhouetted against the moon. The Chinook was coming in to land about 100 yards from their position, escorted by two attack helicopters. The pilot appeared to be heading for a site between two mosques in the valley below their position, Haqiar said. "The Americans knew that the mosques and the surrounding fields and gardens had lots of Taliban commanders sleeping there," said Haqiar. As the Chinook reached eye-level, he wanted to ask his commander for permission to fire, because he knew the shot would give away his position, but Hazrat launched the rocket-propelled grenade before Haqiar could reach his radio. "He fired and it landed inside the chopper and exploded. I fired one and hit the nose of the bird. The chopper lost balance and fell to the ground on its side and rolled. There was a huge explosion, and we could see into the back of the Chinook, and we saw the inside was on fire," said Haqiar. NATO later said the helicopter took fire from several insurgent positions as it made its approach. The flames spread throughout the helicopter and quickly ignited the ammunition on board, sending sparks shooting into the night sky. "We could hear the bullets exploding till the next day, as the flames lit up the valley. Suddenly night was transformed into daylight."

Agence France-Press: 18 More Killed in Pakistan

If you check out the U-Tube song "Big Muddy", you will understand what the hell we are doing in Pakistan and Afghanistan. HINT: It begins by getting deeper and deeper into the Big Muddy, but the big fool - "Obama", who took the Nobel Peace Prize under false pretenses, and ratcheted all of our existing wars up about a thousand notches - said to move on!! Now for the sad news: Bomb, gun and rocket attacks killed 18 Pakistanis in flashpoints bordering Afghanistan on Sunday, as the country "celebrated Independence Day", officials said. Fourteen civilians were killed and 16 wounded, when a bomb ripped through a roadside restaurant in the town of Dera Allah Yar, part of the restive southwestern province of Balochistan, police said. After most of those trapped under debris from a collapsed roof were recovered, district police chief Javed Gharshin said that 14 people had been killed and 16 others wounded: WAY TO GO OBAMA. During the Vietnam War, Choruses of unsatisfied citizens besieged the White House, chanting: "Hey, hey, LBJ. How many kids did you kill today?" On the other hand, LBJ was a very gentle man, and YOU are apparently NOT in HIS LEAGUE!!

Rob Crilly: As many as 168 Children Killed in Pakistan Drone Strikes

As many as 168 children have been killed in drone strikes in Pakistan during the past seven years, as the CIA has intensified its secret program against militants along the Afghan border. In a new analysis of open-source documents, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that 2,292 people had been killed by US missiles, including as many as 775 civilians. The strikes, which began under President George W Bush, but have since accelerated during the presidency of Barack Obama (FYI, he is the president who picked up the Nobel Peace Prize, and was apparently not ashamed to accelerate the wars under his immediate control). Because of him, families in Afghanistan now live in fear whenever they need to venture outside their homes: If one of our drones is anywhere near the horizon, they have to cower in their huts, like a wounded deer seeking refuge in a dense forest. In just a single attack on a madrassah in 2006, up to 69 children lost their lives. Chris Woods, who led the research, said the detailed database of deaths would send shock- waves through Pakistan, where political and military leaders repeatedly denounce the strikes in public, while privately allowing the US to continue. "This is a military campaign run by a secret service, which raised problems of accountability, transparency, and you have a situation where neither the Pakistanis nor Americans are clear about any agreements in place, and where the reporting is difficult." "All of this means that when things go wrong, there is simply no redress for the families of those who have been 'mistakenly' killed". The research, culled from more than 2,000 news reports, leaked documents and witness statements, show how the drones gradually moved from a rarely used tool, beginning with a single strike in 2004, to a front-line weapon of war.

Good News: Tribal Discord of "Rebels" Tearing NATO Apart!

Saddled with infighting, and undermined by the ruthless and undisciplined behavior of its fighters, the 6 month old rebel uprising against Moammar Gadhafi is now sliding from a struggle to overthrow an autocrat like Obama into a into a murkier contest between factions and tribes. The increase in discord and factionalism is undermining the effort to overthrow Gadhafi, and it comes immediately after recognition of the vicious rebel government by the Western powers, including the US, potentially giving the "rebels" access to billions of dollars in in frozen US and Libyan assets, and the chance to purchase more modern weaponry. The infighting could, and probably WILL erode support for the rebels among members of the NATO alliance, which faces a September deadline for renewing its air campaign, amid growing unease about the war's cost and direction. That air support has been a factor in every significant rebel victory and massacre! While the rebels have sought to maintain a clean image (yeah, right!!) and allegedly portraying themselves as fighting to establish a secular democracy (don't believe it, they are just bullshitting our gullible world), several recent acts of revenge - (they are called massacres in most of civilized society), have cast their ranks in a less favorable light. They have raised the possibility that any rebel victory over Gadhafi could disintegrate into the sort of tribal tensions that have plagued Libya for many years. In recent weeks, rebel fighters in Libya's western mountains and along the coastal city of Misrata have lashed out (read massacred) at civilians, because their tribes supported Gadhafi, looting mountain villages and emptying a civilian neighborhood. (that's after their massacres of innocent women and children) In the rebels' so-called provisional capital, Benghazi, renegade fighters assassinated their top military commander, General Abdel Fatah Younes. In response, the chief of Younes' powerful tribe threatened to retaliate against those responsible, setting off a crisis in the rebels' governing council, whose members were dismissed en masse last week. As one of my army friends once said: "If you go bed with fleas, you will certainly get bitten".