U.S. May Permit 9/11 Guilty Pleas in Capital Cases:

The provision could permit military prosecutors to avoid airing the details of brutal interrogation techniques. It could also allow the five detainees who have been charged with the Sept. 11 attacks to achieve their stated goal of pleading guilty to gain what they have called martyrdom.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/06/us/politics/06gitmo.html?_r=3&hp

Anyone not outraged here? This is the final nail in the coffin for 9/11 truth and maybe the torture scandal too.

More: Tomdispatch: Confronting the CIA’s Mind Maze

A visual look to where your tax dollar go

Wonderful map. Data are from 2004, but proportions between "defense" and the rest are still pretty much the same. Give a look (clik to enlarge):

Dumb, smart, & smarter money

Just in from Bill Bonner, 08 Jun, 2009. Excerpt:

"...The smart money is probably betting that this deflationary correction has further to go... probably much further to go.

But against this natural, normal and probably inevitable market trend are the hopes and fantasies of an entire generation. The baby boomers have staked their futures on continuing EZ credit. So have their leaders. And so now, the feds and the voters are of one mind. Both want to stop the market correction AT ALL COSTS– especially if they can lay the bill onto the next generation.

Now, here’s where it gets interesting. Because the dumb money is probably betting that the feds can make this work. That’s what all this talk of “green shoots” is about. A huge part of the public believes that the ‘worst is over’... and that the feds’ policies are working. They’re buying stocks in the belief that this is a recession just like any recession of the post-war period. Ben Bernanke says it will be over by Christmas; they believe him.

Meanwhile, there are some very smart people who think the feds’ efforts not only won’t work, but will create an even bigger disaster. Those people are buying gold... and commodities.

David Einhorn, the hedge fund manager who foresaw Lehman Bros. going broke, is now buying gold. John Paulson, who made billions by being right about the credit crisis, is also buying gold. The Chinese are buying gold. So many smart people are buying gold coins that they have become hard to get.

What’s our view? Who’s right? The dumb money; the smart money; or the very smart money?

They may be all right... but at different times. This rally could last a while longer. Then, prices will probably resume their downward path... and then, eventually, inflation fears will send gold soaring.

We continue to answer the question – “will we have inflation or deflation” – in the positive. ‘Yes,’ we say... ‘both of them.’

The markets must fully express themselves – which means they need to bounce... and then take the stuffing out of asset prices. Today’s asset prices represent yesterday’s economic calculations. The value of a house, for example, depends the economic conditions of the bubble period… 2002-2007... and on the whole swell of the great post-war credit expansion. That house price is now adjusting to the post-bubble era when people have lower living standards and less expectation of a rising housing market. That adjustment will take many years and eventually leave house prices probably 20% to 30% below where they are today.

But the feds must fully express themselves too. They’re bound and determined to cause inflation. They believe the country’s financial future depends on it. It may take them a long time to get the upper hand in their war against capitalism... but eventually, they will do it. And eventually, the very smart money will be proven right – when the dollar collapses... and gold goes up.

That could be far in the future, however." Read all here

Eurointelligence Daily Briefing - 8 June 2009

Participation down, Socialists down and out, Barroso in, and the far right on the march

* Europe has voted: particaption down to 43%, the worst ever;
* The Socialists get trounced: SPD at 21%, Labour at 15%, French Socialists at 17%;
* Centre-right wins majority, and Barroso gets another 5-year term;
* The fascists and populists post large gains in several countries, including the UK, where UKIP has beaten Labour into third position, and where the fascist BNP gained two votes;
* Berlusconi achieves a spectacularly good result, despite the scandals;
* In Sweden, the pirate party, software piracy that is, gains 7%;
* Paul Krugman says Al Gore would have been Gordon Brown if he had won;
* Barry Eichengreen and Kevin O'Rourke update their comparisons of the Great Depression and today, which yields some pretty depressing results;
* Wolfgang Munchau says Germany and Japan are facing the perfect storm;
* Kyoji Fukao and Tangjun Yuan explain why Japan was so badly hit;
* Robert Shiller says US housing recession is not over soon.

119 Million Americans Want a Public Health Option -- Why Aren't Politicians Listening?

By Robert Parry, Consortium News. Posted June 8, 2009

Rarely has an issue more dramatically highlighted the question of whether our government represents the people's interests or an industry's. Read all here

More: WSWS - Obama chooses private profit over healthcare needs

And more: Americans Are Only "One Illness Away From Financial Ruin"
A recent study found that bankruptcies are really not due to people living it up in Hawaii and buying a Mercedes Benz. Rather, according to the study, 60% of people that go bankrupt are brought down by medical bills.