Monday, April 27, 2009

IT'S UPSETTING TO KNOW THAT COMMON DECENCY & SENSE DON'T GO HAND IN HAND WITH MORALITY. YES, THAT'S RIGHT, TORTURE IS AN ACCEPTABLE PRACTICE NOW...!

Copyright (C) 2009 by F. Scott Sinclair. All Rights Reserved. This is a view from one of the highest places in Thailand. The Wats (Buddhist Temples) are surrounded by hills and valleys, and as you can see: lots of trees--a perfect jungle. Capturing the early morning mist and fog in the air, ran chills up my spine. Absolutely chilling to the bone. One should take a jacket with them when venturing into the mountainous areas of Northern Thailand. Just click on the picture if you like to enlarge the photo.
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QUOTE:

Reclaiming America’s Soul

By Paul Krugman

Never before have our leaders so utterly betrayed
everything our nation stands for. "This government
does not torture people," declared former President
Bush, but it did, and all the world knows it. Continue

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Of Tea Parties and Teleprompters

by David Michael Green

What we're seeing, is a political movement that is
utterly bankrupt, literally and figuratively, and is
desperately searching for any sort of remotely
plausible line of attack, but only managing to
make itself look absurd in the process, at least
outside of Appalachia. Continue

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Where's My Change?

By Ralph Nader

The corporate chieftains have easy access to the
White House and the new President, whether these
bosses come on missions demanding power or missions
of beggary for bailouts. When will he meet with the
leading heads of consumer protection groups with
millions of dues-paying members who could give him
the base to hold accountable and regulate the
democracy-denying, economy-wrecking corporate
supremacists? Continue

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This Is A Must Listen

The Financial Barbarians at the Gate

Guns & Butter Interviews financial economist and
historian, Dr. Michael Hudson.The history of banking
and the criminalization of the banking system; tax
policy; real estate asset inflation; US imperialism
via the monetary system; - similarities with the
Roman Republic; what measures labor should take.
Continue

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No Light In The Tunnel A Housing Crash Update

By Mike Whitney

Why is the press misleading the public about housing?
The housing market is crashing. There are no "green
shoots" or "glimmers of hope"; the market is worn to
a stump, it's kaput. Continue

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The Cancerous Rot at the Center of the Empire

By Jacob G. Hornberger

My question is: Why limit torture to suspected terrorists?
Why not expand it to suspected murderers, drug
dealers, robbers, and kidnappers? After all, can’t
those types of people commit just as heinous an
act as terrorists? Continue

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Why Does America Have a Drug War?

By Jacob G. Hornberger

Given that most people agree that the drug war
has failed to achieve its supposed purpose after
decades of warfare, an important question arises:
Why is the drug war still being waged, especially
when we consider all the collateral damage that
this federal program has produced? Hasn’t the
time arrived for Americans to demand an immediate
end to the war on drugs? Continue

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Jane Harman: Angry, Partisan, Civil Liberties Extremist

By Glenn Greenwald

Rep. Jane Harman -- once the most vigorous
Democratic cheerleader of Bush's NSA warrantless
eavesdropping program -- is rip-roarin' angry today.
Apparently, her private conversations were
eavesdropped on by the U.S. Government! This is
a grave outrage that, as she told Andrea Mitchell
just moments ago, demands a probing investigation:
Continue

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Torture Used to Link Saddam With 9/11

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Olbermann: Congress Debates Fresh Investigation of Interrogations

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CIRCLE OF BLAME

BY TED RALL

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Obama Has Missed His Moment

By Chris Hedges

Barack Obama has squandered his presidency. He
had a fleeting moment to challenge the casino
capitalism and financial recklessness of our economic
and political elite. He could have orchestrated a
state socialism that would have provided a safety
net for tens of millions of Americans faced with
dislocation and misery. Continue

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From Bunker Hill to Baghdad

Pinter's Dispatch to Obama

By Mike Whitney

"The crimes of the United States have been
systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but
very few people have actually talked about
them. You have to hand it to America. It has
exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power
worldwide while masquerading as a force for
universal good. It's a brilliant, even witty, highly
successful act of hypnosis...It's a scintillating
stratagem." Continue

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American Exceptionalism

Torture Whitewash from The Dark Side

By Pepe Escobar

Without accepting full responsibility for torture -
and illegal, pre-emptive wars - and without
accountability, there can be no catharsis in
America. Obama is enough of a smart operator
to know that if his "going forward" is perceived
like "look the other way", this whole thing will
come back to haunt and even destroy his presidency.
And if it walks and talks like a whitewash, that's
because it must be ... a whitewash. Continue

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Nicaragua - A Nations Right To Survive

Video - A Documentary Film

By John Pilger

John Pilger's 1983 film about the small nation of
Nicaragua and its right to survive investigates
the corruption in Central America. Pilger describes
the achievements of the Sandinistas and their
"threat of a good example". Continue

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QUOTE:

Late Night Political Jokes - Late Night Jokes Updated Daily

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QUOTE:

PHOTOGRAPHY BY NOVELIST F. SCOTT SINCLAIR

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QUOTE:

A CONVENIENT (I HOPE) TABLE OF CONTENTS OF F. SCOTT SINCLAIR'S NOVELS

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QUOTE:

And last, but not least: George Carlin videos. Check them out...!

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Wednesday, April 22, 2009

A REMARKABLE VOICE...! THAT IT IS: YES, THAT'S THE VOICE OF SUSAN BOYLE--A "REAL LIFE, JOY" TO HEAR.

QUOTE:

Susan Boyle - Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009...

38,596,832 views

BritainsSoTalented

I Dreamed a Dream: Video -

47 Year old Susan Boyle wows the judges with her
performance in the auditions for Britains Got
Talent, singing I dreamed a dream from Les Miserables.

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Senior Bush Figures Could be Prosecuted for Torture, says Obama

By Ewan MacAskill and Robert Booth

He said his attorney general, Eric Holder, was conducting
an investigation and the decision rested with him. Continue

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Publish and Be Damned, Mr Cheney

By Philippe Sands

The acts you authorised constitute torture, with all
the consequences of criminality that follows. Bring
on that honest debate, I say. Put your money where
your mouth is. Call for all the evidence – all of it – to
be put before the US Congress or an independent
investigation. Continue

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The Housing Bust Takes Center-stage

By Mike Whitney

The housing market is going under and it's going
to drag a good part of the broader economy along
with it. Stocks, too. Continue

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Stock Market Bulls Have Got it Wrong, Warns Nouriel Roubini

'Dr Doom' predicts further shocks in the market

By Nick Clark

Nouriel Roubini, the so-called "arch bear" economist
who predicted the current financial crisis in 2006, added
further gloom yesterday after he wrote off recent rises
in global stock markets as no more than a dead cat
bounce. Continue

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Big Bank Profits are Bogus!

Massive public deception!

By Martin D. Weiss, Ph.D.

First, I’ll give you the big-picture facts. Then, I’ll
show you how big U.S. banks are painting lipstick
on some of the fattest pigs ever raised. Continue

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When We Are Led to Believe a Lie

Gregg Shotwell

We are led to believe a lie when leaders degrade
labour in honor of false profits. Continue

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The Pulitzer-Winning Investigation That Dare Not Be Uttered on TV

By Glenn Greenwald

The New York Times' David Barstow won a richly
deserved Pulitzer Prize yesterday for two articles that,
despite being featured as major news stories on the
front page of The Paper of Record, were completely
suppressed by virtually every network and cable news
how, which to this day have never informed their viewers
about what Bartow uncovered. Continue

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Will Obama Wash Bush's Dirty Laundry?"

President Obama, You Are Wrong"

By Keith Olbermann:

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann's "Special Comment"
Takes on President Obama's decision not to prosecute
CIA Interrogators for torture. Continue

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Behind the US Banks’ Profit Reports

By Barry Grey

The banks are continuing, with the blessings of
the Obama administration, the same predatory
policies that generated massive fortunes on Wall
Street and eventually plunged the US and world
economy into the deepest crisis since the Great
Depression. Continue

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‘America Lives in a Fascist State’ – Trend Forecaster

By Russia Today

The merger of corporate and government powers
in modern America is plain and simple fascism,
believes Gerald Celente, the founder of the Trends
Research Institute and publisher of Trends Journal.
Continue

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Bailout Indignation

How about a test of your injustice barometer?

By Ralph Nader

You might think that the reckless, avaricious, giant
corporations, having shrunk the economy, cost
millions of jobs and then demanded that taxpayers
be dunned for years into the future for multi-trillion
dollar bailouts, would show contrition, regret, or
self-restraint of their power over Washington. Continue

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The Tower of Basel

Secretive Plans for the Issuing of a Global Currency

By Ellen Brown

Do we really want the Bank for International Settlements
(BIS) issuing our global currency? Continue

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The West’s Hysterical Reaction to North Korea

By Scott Ritter

While both North Korea and Iran have come under
strong international criticism and sanctions for their
respective nuclear and missile activities, it should be
noted that neither nation has acted in a manner
which violates international law. Continue

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Hopebroken and Hopesick:

A Lexicon of Disappointment

By Naomi Klein

All is not well in Obamafanland. It's not clear exactly
what accounts for the change of mood. Maybe it
was the rancid smell emanating from Treasury's
latest bank bailout. Or the news that the president's
chief economic adviser, Larry Summers, earned
millions from the very Wall Street banks and hedge
funds he is protecting from reregulation now. Or
perhaps it began earlier, with Obama's silence
during Israel's Gaza attack. Continue

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Home of the Barricaded, Land of the ‘Fraid

By David Michael Green

There are few statistics as stunning as the following
simple, single number: The United States spends
two times more on its military than all the other
countries of the world, combined. Yes, that's right.
All 200 or so of them. Combined. Continue

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"Water Boarding Is Torture"

Richard Armitage: 'Maybe I Should Have Quit'

2 Minute Video

Richard Armitage, the former US Deputy Secretary
of State, tells Avi Lewis on Al Jazeera's Fault Lines
why he should have resigned from the Bush
administration over its lack of respect for the
Geneva conventions. Continue

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The Year of Cockeyed Optimism

"The foundations of our economy are strong"

By Mike Whitney

Consumer spending is down, housing is in a shambles,
and industrial output dropped at an annual rate of
20 percent, the largest quarterly decrease since
VE Day. The systemwide contraction continues
unabated with with no sign of letting up. Continue

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The Crisis That Could Bring Down Obama

By Ruth Conniff

The President, understandably, points to signs
of hope and encourages Americans to be optimistic
about the economy. But when do we move from
healthy confidence to a confidence game? Continue

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US Has Won a Huge Victory

US Aircraft and Elite Navy SEALs Defeat Three Somalis in a Lifeboat

By Glen FordWhat a weekend for American foreign policy!
The United States Navy, backed up by warships from 20
other nations, knocked off three Somali guys crouching with
rifles in a lifeboat tied by a rope to a U.S. destroyer. To
hear the U.S. corporate media tell it, the Americans had
won a huge victory over the forces of evil. Continue

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Can Spain Really Prosecute George W. Bush Aides Over Torture?

By Johanna Neuman

Spain argues that it has jurisdiction in the case because
five Spanish prisoners at Guantanamo Bay allege
they were tortured. And human rights organizations
in the United States agree. Continue

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94 Years of Serfdom

By Paul Craig Roberts

The only free Americans today are those who can
work off the books or who can live on public welfare.
Continue

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Is America the New Russia?

By Martin Wolf

Is the US Russia? The question seems provocative,
if not outrageous. Yet the person asking it is
Simon Johnson, former chief economist at the
International Monetary Fund and a professor at
the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. Continue

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America’s 20% Unemployment Rate

By Carlton Meyer

The Department of Labor’s website shows an
unemployment rate of 16% for Feb. 2009. It
explains why these unemployed Americans
are not included in their official unemployment
rate: Continue

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US News Media Fails America, Again

By Robert Parry

Watching Glenn Beck of Fox News rant about
“progressive fascism” – and muse about armed
insurrection – or listening to mainstream pundits
prattle on about Barack Obama as the “most
polarizing President ever,” it is hard to escape
the conclusion that today’s U.S. news media
represents a danger to the Republic. Continue

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"Liquidate the Banks; Fire the Executives!"

By Mike Whitney

While Congress approved a mere $700 billion
in emergency funding for the TARP, Geithner
and Bernanke deftly sidestepped the public
opposition to more bailouts and shoveled another
$3.3 trillion through the back door via loans and
leverage for crappy mortgage paper that will
never regain its value. Continue

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Revive Lincoln’s Monetary Policy

By Ellen Brown

The bankers had Lincoln's government over a
barrel, just as Wall Street has Congress in
its vice-like grip today. Continue

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Keith Olbermann's Scathing Criticism of Obama's Secrecy/Immunity Claims

By Glenn Greenwald

The fact that Keith Olbermann, of all people, spent the
first ten minutes of his show attacking Obama for
replicating (and, in this instance, actually surpassing)
some of the worst Bush/Cheney abuses of executive
power and secrecy claims reflects just how extreme is
the conduct of the Obama DOJ here. Continue

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No End In Sight

By Mike Whitney

China, Russia, Venezuela and Iran have already
called for a change in the world's reserve currency.
It won't happen overnight, but the momentum
is steadily growing. Continue

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Bernanke's Financial Rescue Plan:

The Glide-path to Destitution

By Mike Whitney

The United States defaulted on its debt in 1933
when Roosevelt took office and pulled the country
off the gold standard, thus, shrugging off the claims
of foreign investors who were assured the US
would honor its obligations in gold. The dollar
plummeted. Bernanke's muddled strategy has
the nation walking down that same path once
again. Continue

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Should We Kill the Fed?

By Patrick J. Buchanan

"The Fed was the greatest single contributor
to the crisis that unfolds before us," Woods writes
of today, and "more dollars were created between
2000 and 2007 than in the rest of the republic's
history." Continue

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How Freedom Was Lost

By Paul Craig Roberts

Americans no longer know what freedom is.
Historically, the definition of a free person is
one who owns his own labor. Serfs and slaves
were not free, because they do not own all of
their own labor. An income tax is inconsistent
with the historical definition of freedom. Today
in America government has a claim on every
person’s labor, just as feudal lords, the government
of that time, had claims on the labor of serfs and
nineteenth century plantation owners had on slaves.
Continue

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QUOTE:

Late Night Political Jokes - Late Night Jokes Updated Daily

*******************************************************
QUOTE:

PHOTOGRAPHY BY NOVELIST F. SCOTT SINCLAIR

********************************************************
QUOTE:

A CONVENIENT (I HOPE) TABLE OF CONTENTS OF
F. SCOTT SINCLAIR'S NOVELS

*********************************************************
QUOTE:

And last, but not least: George Carlin videos. Check them out...!

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