Government Is Trying to Make Bailouts for the Giant Banks Permanent

In my opinion, Geithner’s proposal is “TARP on steroids.” Section 1204 of the proposal [the proposal being the "Resolution Authority for Large, Interconnected Financial Companies Act of 2009"] allows the executive branch to use taxpayer money to make loans to, or invest in, the largest financial institutions to avoid a systemic risk to the economy.Geithner’s proposal reminds me of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the $700 billion Wall Street bailout adopted last year, but the TARP was limited to two years, and to a maximum of $700 billion.

Section 1204 is unlimited in dollar amount and is a permanent grant of power to the executive branch. TARP contained some limits on executive compensation and an array of special oversight authorities. Section 1204 contains absolutely no limits on executive compensation and no special oversight.' Read more...

SAHID BAHAJI IS A CIA ASSET?

From aangirfan:
Said Bahaji was born to a Moroccan father and German mother in 1974. The family was secular rather than Islamic.Said Bahaji had a girlfriend, a German Catholic student.In 1996 Said Bahaji was recruited to the German army. (Said Bahaji -Debunk 9/11 Myths)
He may also have been recruited to the intelligence services?

In 1998 Bahaji and Mohamed Atta began sharing an apartment in Hamburg.The apartment was reportedly under surveillance by German intelligence.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was in Hamburg in 1999, and came to the apartment.Although there had been a $2 million reward for Mohammed since 1998, the US apparently failed to tell Germany what it knew about him. (Said Bahaji )

In October 2009, Pakistan's army said it had found Said Bahaji's passport in South Waziristan, in Pakistan. (9/11 Terror Suspect's Passport 'In Pakistan')The passport was reportedly among material found by troops in the conflict zone.The BBC's Orla Guerin says there is no way of knowing if this passport is a genuine document. (9/11 passport 'found in Pakistan' )Pakistan's army is carrying out a major offensive in the area 'against the Taliban and al-Qaeda militants'."

If the document is authentic, this will be the first time a direct link can be established between the Taliban in South Waziristan and a suspect in the 9/11 attacks." (9/11 passport 'found in Pakistan' )
The USA needs an excuse to break up Pakistan?~~

aangirfan: ATTA, HILLIARD, BUSH ...
aangirfan: LOCKERBIE AND THE FINANCING OF 9 11
WAS MOHAMED ATTA "CLOSE ASSOCIATE" IN FLORIDA A CIA PILOT?

More Than 40% of President Obama’s Top-Level Fundraisers Given Posts in His Administration

Via: USA Today: More than 40% of President Obama’s top-level fundraisers have secured posts in his administration, from key executive branch jobs to diplomatic postings in countries such as France, Spain and the Bahamas, a USA TODAY analysis finds. Twenty of the 47 fundraisers that Obama’s campaign identified as collecting more than $500,000 have been named to [...]
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Fossils From Animals And Plants Are Not Necessary For Crude Oil And Natural Gas, Swedish Researchers Find

Centuries of wars and imperialism for nuthin:

ScienceDaily.com Researchers at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm have managed to prove that fossils from animals and plants are not necessary for crude oil and natural gas to be generated. The findings are revolutionary since this means, on the one hand, that it will be much easier to find these sources of energy and, on the other hand, that they can be found all over the globe.

Pakistani Journalist Dares to Ask Hillary Clinton If Drone Attacks Are a Form of Terrorism

How DARE they!
During an interview with Clinton broadcast live in Pakistan with several prominent female TV anchors, before a predominantly female audience of several hundred, one member of the audience said the Predator attacks amount to ''executions without trial'' for those killed.
Another asked Clinton how she would define terrorism.''Is it the killing of people in drone attacks?'' she asked. That woman then asked if Clinton considers drone attacks and bombings like the one that killed more than 100 civilians in the city of Peshawar earlier this week to both be acts of terrorism.''No, I do not,'' Clinton replied.

Of course, you gotta love the message (bombing) sent by al-CIA-duh that coincided with Clinton's visit. One would think that real jihadist enemies of America would have targeted Clinton's entourage instead of Pakistani Muslims. The symbolism is clear though: when the US visits, terrorism visits too.

More: Are Drone Attacks Terrorism? Hillary Clinton: No

Israel's European Lobby

By Maidhc Ó Cathail

According to the definition given by the European Union's Fundamental Rights Agency, it seems that you're an anti-semite if you agree with Mearsheimer and Walt that pressure from Israel and the Lobby played a "critical" role in the decision to invade Iraq, or if you suspect that the likes of Podhoretz and Ottolenghi may be more loyal to Israel than they are to their respective countries... Read all

Homeless Students and Families Living In Storage Facilities

So much for the recovery. Smells like third-worldization:

Maria Maior's son is a football-playing, skateboard-riding, Xbox-loving kid whose home reveals all the trappings of domesticity: a cushy sofa, big-screen TV, a framed poster of Brian Urlacher -- one of the 12-year-old's favorite football players. On most evenings, two big dogs curl up on the carpeting.

The scene could be lifted from any suburban subdivision -- except that it's located not in a den, but in a storage unit.

The boy moved into the 10-foot-by-25-foot bunker about two months ago with his mom and her fiance, after a long run of bad luck and the loss of both of their jobs. His mother didn't not want his name used for this article. "As long as I have my parents, I'm fine with this," Maior's son said of the accommodations. "It's really not that bad."School district officials said the boy is one of a record number of area students living in motels, campgrounds, shelters, cars and, yes, storage facilities. Read all here

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More: New jobless claims climb more than expected :

The unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent in September from 9.7 percent, the department said earlier this month, as employers cut 263,000 jobs. The recession has eliminated a net total of 7.2 million jobs.

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New home sales take surprise tumble:

Sales of new homes dropped unexpectedly last month as the effects of a temporary tax credit for first-time owners started to wane.
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Consumer confidence slips unexpectedly:

Americans' confidence about the U.S. economy fell unexpectedly in October as job prospects remained bleak, a private research group said Tuesday, fueling speculation that an already gloomy holiday shopping forecast could worsen.

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No hope of change: Obama signs bills for record Pentagon, Homeland Security spending

President Obama signed legislation Wednesday authorizing $680 billion for the Pentagon, the largest military budget ever. On Thursday, he signed a bill giving another $44 billion to the Department of Homeland Security, to strengthen state repression within the US.

U.S. Dependence On Afghan Warlords

By Gareth Porter

U.S. and NATO counterinsurgency forces depend on Afghan warlords for security, according to a recently published report and investigations by Australian and Canadian journalists. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23840.htm


More: Taliban Take Over Afghan Province

By Syed Saleem Shahzad

The United States has withdrawn its troops from its four key bases in Nuristan, on the border with Pakistan, leaving the northeastern province as a safe haven for the Taliban-led insurgency to orchestrate its regional battles.

And more: US has no plans to quit AFPAK operations: White House:

"The president began the meetings on the assessment with saying we were not leaving Afghanistan.


Pakistan Lashes Back at Clinton:

Pakistani officials reacted angrily Thursday night to U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's remarks earlier in the day in which she said, she found it "hard to believe" that no one in Pakistan's government, including the country's "military security establishment," knew where al Qaeda leaders were hiding.
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Taliban denies Peshawar blast role:

The Taliban and al-Qaeda have distanced themselves from Wednesday's deadly market blast in Peshawar that claimed 105 lives, saying "their main targets are the security forces, and not innocent civilians".
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Taliban Chief Blames Blackwater for Peshawar Blast:

Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud has claimed that the controversial American security firm Blackwater was behind the deadly bomb attack on a market in Peshawar that killed over 100 people.


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U.N. cutting staff in Afghanistan:

Non-essential U.N. staff across Afghanistan have been ordered to pack their bags and be ready for evacuation after a deadly attack on a U.N. guesthouse, a senior U.N. official said Thursday.

Inflation by stealth

by John Browne - Asia Times

"The very fact that prices for most goods in the United States are holding steady when the economy is in its present black hole indicates that inflation, far from being absent, is all too present, lurking in the shadows like a ninja. Once it strikes, price rises will be fast and deadly." (10/29/09)

Depraved indifference

Empire Burlesque - by Chris Floyd (10/28/09)

"I have often admired Jane Mayer's reportage. She has helped expose several elements of 'the dark side' of America's worldwide Terror War.

Her latest article in the New Yorker outlines the CIA's use of 'Predator' drones to kill people by remote control in Pakistan. As the magazine notes, the Obama Administration is relying on these covert drone killers more and more, as it escalates America's military attacks in Pakistan -- ostensibly a sovereign nation allied to the United States.

Mayer's article relates a chilling story of suburban killers -- many of them stateside, firing their missiles from comfortable cubicles before heading home for dinner with the family -- operating in a secret program outside all traditional lines of legality and accountability. (Even the extremely low levels of legality and accountability that weakly adhere to the business of wholesale slaughter and destruction known as war.) For example, part of the program has been 'outsourced' to private companies, who are killing people -- including hundreds of innocent civilians -- for profit, with American tax money." Read all

Karzai as Diem

Karzai as Diem - AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo

"The parallels between our stinging defeat in Vietnam and our coming defeat in Afghanistan get eerier by the moment. Just as Matthew Hoh, a top-ranking US official and Marine officer in Zabul province resigns in protest over the war -- writing that it 'reminds me horribly of our involvement with South Vietnam; an unpopular and corrupt government we backed at the expense of our Nation's own internal peace' -- it looks like Karzai is getting the Diem treatment from his American patrons.
Or, rather, Diem-lite -- since they (probably) have no intention of offing him, but just want to get rid of him as quickly and painlessly as possible. And the way to do that is to 'out' him as a CIA asset -- which they have done, courtesy of the New York Times." (10/30/09)