When shit that hits the fan hits home: the random acts of Police in Louisville, Kentucky - UPDATED 10/31/2009

Good morning friends,

Please pardon the crudeness of my language, but at the moment crude language is about all that seems to fit my mood. About 3 hours ago I had the pleasure of standing on my front stoop watching 2 policeman point guns at my friend as he and another friend arrived at my home in the Clifton neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky. From what I can tell so far they were being pulled over for a traffic violation. But, to keep matters clear I will describe only what I saw and nothing that I'm guessing at. Here is my experience:

I was sitting in the rear room of my long, shotgun-style house when I heard yelling outside. At first I thought nothing of it--I thought it was probably just some latenight partiers making their way home from a local bar. As the yelling continued and intensified, I became concerned and walked to the front door to see what was the matter. When I opened the door I saw two police officers with guns drawn and aimed standing to the left and to the right of my front sidewalk that goes from my front door out toward the street. I also saw the car they were driving parked in one of the parking spaces on the street. Both guns were pointed at one of my two arriving friends; he was standing with his back facing me (and the police officers; I was behind them all) near the vehicle with his hands up. At a distance I heard the voice of my other arriving friend talking to other officers at another car (that was the last I heard of that friend). The police were shouting orders at my (other) friend at whom the gun was drawn. Whatever they were saying was pretty much unintelligible to me from my vantage point, but from what I could hear it did include a nice drizzle of cursing. My friend (with 2 guns that I could see still pointed at him) walked in reverse towards one of the officers, who I could by then make out was saying something along the lines of, "walk towards my voice" (or "Just walk towards my fucking voice!"--probably closer). After cop #1 got handcuffs on my friend, cop #2 finally stopped aiming his gun. By around this time I had calmed a little and took count of the police cars present and counted 7 (seven). After my friend was searched, the police proceeded to interrogate him for approximately 30 minutes as he stood in front of one of their vehicles, of course handcuffed all the while. There were 4-6 cops surrounding him at all times. (Still couldn't see what was going on with my other friend; tree blocking my view.) Finally, they put him in the back of one of their cars and drove away. I presume my other friend was taken away in another one of the cars.

Okay, done with the quick recollecting... I'll probably recount some more details (like the fun conversation I had with the cops) a little late, but I wanted to get the critical points down quickly and with clarity while the event is still fresh in my head. The final points I'd like to mention now are...

• AT NO POINT DID I SEE MY FRIEND WHO HAD THE GUNS TARGETED ON HIM MAKE ANY VIOLENT MOVES.
• AT NO POINT DID I SEE HIM DO ANYTHING OTHER THAN COOPERATE WITH THE POLICE OFFICERS.
• YET GUNS WERE DRAWN AND AIMED AT A LIVING HUMAN BEING--APPARENTLY OVER A TRAFFIC VIOLATION.

Fucked up, eh?
Good times in Louisville.
Thanks for listening.
To sleep now until the judge makes his decision at 7 am about pretrial shit.

Best wishes to every free being on this Earth... Goodnight.

UPDATE: Saturday, 31 October 2009 - Both friends released Thursday late afternoon after spending about 36 hours in jail. All charges (they managed to rack it up to four!!!! separate charges) on my friend who had the guns targeted on him were, in fact, traffic-related.

NEWS and PROPAGANDA

Inconsistencies Arise in CFO Suicide Story
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Initially, a law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity told the Associated Press that Kellermann hanged himself.’
Other news agencies ran with this account, but then Sabrina Rock, a Fairfax County police spokesman, confirmed to the AP that Kellermann was dead, but she could not confirm that he committed suicide despite WUSA reporting that Fairfax police told them it was suicide.
Stranger yet, police spokesman Lucy Caldwell told All Headline News editor Linda Young via telephone on April 22 that “other people were present at the home at the time of Kellermann’s death, and that there was a gun and a gunshot wound.”

http://americanfreepress.net/html/cfo_suicide_story_176.html
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Dem Rep Harman Did Urge Times Not To Publish Wiretapping Expose!
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Dem Rep Jane Harman did in fact urge The New York Times not to publish its big expose of Bush-era warrantless wiretapping, apparently before the 2004 election, potentially changing the election’s outcome and the course of history, according to a statement from the paper.

Congresswoman Harman spoke to Washington Bureau Chief Phil Taubman in late October or early November, 2004, apparently at the request of General Hayden. She urged that The Times not publish the story. She did not speak to me, and I don’t remember her being a significant factor in my decision. In 2005, when we were getting ready to publish, Phil met with a group of congressional leaders familiar with the eavesdropping program, including Ms. Harman. They all argued that The Times should not publish. The Times published the story a few days later.

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/dem-rep-harman-did-urge-times-not-to-publish-wiretapping-expose/

And today, Harman wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder expressing outrage that she had been wiretapped.
"This abuse of power is outrageous and I call on your Department to release all transcripts and other investigative material involving me in an unredacted form," Harman wrote. "It is my intention to make this material available to the public."

Jane Harman's Wiretapped Conversations
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2009/04/jane_harmans_mysterious_conver.html

THE INFORMATION UNDERGROUND INTERVIEWS CYNTHIA MCKINNEY, BLOWS THE LID OFF OF THE ISRAEL LOBBY
http://whatreallyhappened.com/
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GI Special 7E3: "Taliban In Every Village" [ 3 May 2009 ]
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“The people who are fighting with the Taliban are the brothers, uncles and relatives of those killed by the Americans. They have joined the Taliban and are fighting because they want to avenge their brothers, fathers or cousins.

“There are now Taliban in every village; many of them have rejoined the movement after the savage attacks carried out by Americans.”

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m53915&hd=&size=1&l=e
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A Dossier on Civilian Victims of United States' Aerial Bombing of Afghanistan
http://cursor.org/stories/civilian_deaths.htm

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Handful of Taliban can’t harm Pakistan: Malik
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LONDON: Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said a handful of Taliban cannot pose danger to the existence of Pakistan and the perception regarding occupation of Islamabad by them is unfounded and baseless.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=21902

"A MESSAGE FROM THE MINISTRY OF HOMELAND SECURITY" NPR's 'History Scrub' of U.S. Fault in Afghanistan [editorial]

Article: "NPR's 'History Scrub' of U.S. Fault in Afghanistan"
Source: Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting / fair.org
Excerpt(s): "A rather major problem with nearly all of NPR's reporting" has been identified by NPR Check blogger Mytwords (2/18/09) and named the "history scrub." The definition: "If the essential background history to a story reflects poorly on the actions of the U.S. government--that history will be deleted, scrubbed, sanitized--sent down the memory hole." The key example given is a February 17 All Things Considered in which host Michelle Norris "blandly explains that thousands more U.S. troops are headed off to Afghanistan and doesn't even chuckle in noting that the United States Institute of Peace [tee-hee] released some new policy recommendations for Afghanistan"...
Link to Full Story: http://www.fair.org/blog/2009/02/19/nprs-history-scrub-of-us-fault-in-afghanistan/

THEY CAN RUN, BUT THEY CAN'T HIDE! WE KNOW! The Mercenaries Previously Known as Blackwater [news story & book referral]

Article: "The Mercenaries Previously Known as Blackwater"
Source: PRwatch.org (orig. source The Washington Post)
Excerpt(s): First it was Blackwater USA. Then it was Blackwater Worldwide. Now, it's "Xe" (pronounced "Zee"). The private military company has repeatedly tried to re-brand, after numerous controversies from the killing of civilians in Nisoor Square in Baghdad; to its no-bid contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan and New Orleans, post-Katrina; to its hiring troops with ties to repressive regimes, like that of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. The company says its latest name change is meant to reflect a new focus. Blackwater / Xe spokesperson Anne Tyrrell said, "We've taken the company to a place where it is no longer accurately described as Blackwater." Its subsidiaries also have new names: Blackwater Airships is now Guardian Flight Systems, Blackwater Target Systems is GSD Manufacturing, and Blackwater Lodge and Training Center is the U.S. Training Center. The company has also shed its famous (or infamous) bear-paw and crosshairs logo. The new head of Blackwater / Xe, Gary Jackson, told employees, "Xe will be a one-stop shopping source for world class services in the fields of security, stability, aviation, training and logistics," reports the Wall Street Journal.
Links to Full Story: http://www.prwatch.org/node/8214 and http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/13/AR2009021303149.html
Click on image of bookcover above right to read more [link to Amazon.com preview] about the origins and recent practices of Blackwater in Jeremy's Scahill's well-researched book (highly recommended--though he still takes it a bit easy on them...).

Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater & imperialistic aristocrat
(Image by The Washington Post / click on image for original source)

U.S. EMPIRE FLEXES MILITARY MIGHT MORE AS ECONOMIC SITUATION DEGRADES Russia & U.S. remain (intentionally) ambiguous in alliance-making [news story]

Article: "Russia says U.S. may go beyond European missile plans"
Source: Russian News & Information Agency
Excerpt(s): MOSCOW, February 19 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow is not ruling out that Washington may go further than its missile defense plans for Central Europe, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday. "We have not yet received a clear answer, a denial at least, to our question whether the U.S. plans to deploy a fourth and fifth missile defense site," Lavrov said upon his return from Bahrain.
Link to Full Story: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090219/120227905.html
Picture from Russian News & Information Agency (RIA Novosti)

ANOTHER MONEY SWINDLER TRIES TO HIDE FROM WORLD'S REPROACH "Sir" Allen Stanford nowhere to be found after stealing $8b+ [news story & video]

Article: "Stanford charges spark run on banks"
Source: Guardian.co.uk
Excerpt(s): The criminal investigation into the business empire of the cricket tycoon Sir Allen Stanford sowed panic in the Caribbean and Latin America yesterday as governments and investors scrambled to uncover the extent of the alleged $8bn fraud. The prime minister of Antigua warned of "catastrophe" for the nation, depositors rushed to withdraw funds in bank branches around the region, and authorities in Colombia, Panama, Peru and Venezuela began their own investigations into the Texas billionaire's financial dealings... On Tuesday the US securities and exchange commission accused Stanford of fraudulently selling $8bn (£5.6bn) in high-yield certificates of deposit. It sought to freeze assets and appoint a receiver. But the tycoon himself was nowhere to be found and US marshals were reportedly unable to serve him with court orders. Sources at the SEC confirmed they were searching for the billionaire, who has not been seen in public since news of alleged fraud broke. Stanford International Bank has 30,000 clients in 131 countries, as well as advisers in 30 US offices. Antigua, a sleepy island with a population of 70,000, forming half of a Caribbean nation with Barbuda, risks being the worst hit. It was here that Stanford set up his headquarters in a 30,000 sq ft Georgian-style hilltop building...
Link to Full Story (and video): http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/feb/18/allen-stanford-banks-caribbean

WORLD ECONOMIC CASCADE-FAILURE CONTINUES... More Venezuelans and Mexicans added to list of pan-American fraud victims [news story & video]

Article: "Latin Americans fret as Stanford crisis spreads"
Source: Reuters
Excerpt(s): CARACAS, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Well-off Mexican pensioners joined middle-class Venezuelans in a frantic quest on Wednesday to track down their savings as the fraud scandal enveloping U.S. broker Stanford Group Co spread to Latin America. Crowds flocked to Stanford offices in Caracas and Mexico City and telephone lines buzzed as harried Stanford staff fielded calls round-the-clock about frozen accounts. Regulatory authorities moved on the bank's assets in Ecuador and Panama and its Colombian brokerage unit halted stock trading. "I heard the news and came straight down," said Caracas resident Josefina Moreno, who said her son had about $10,000 invested. "We've had money here for 2 years, and I want it back." The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accused billionaire Allen Stanford, a high profile cricket promoter, and two Stanford executives of fraudulently selling $8 billion in high-yield certificates of deposit in a scheme that stretched around the world from Texas and Antigua. Venezuelan investors alone could have more than $2 billion invested in the scheme.
Link to Full Story: http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1845098120090218
Picture of "Sir" Allen Stanford from Guardian.co.uk

Related (brief) video from Reuters:

MARTIALLING LAW FRENCH-STYLE France sends police to quell Guadeloupe riots [news story]

Article: "France sends police to quell Guadeloupe riots"
Source: Agence France-Presse
Excerpt(s): POINTE-A-PITRE, Guadeloupe (AFP) - - France dispatched hundreds of police reinforcements to its Caribbean island of Guadeloupe on Wednesday as a month-long strike over the rising cost of living descended into deadly riots. Union representative Jacques Bino, aged in his 50s, was shot dead overnight when he drove up to a roadblock manned by armed youths in Pointe-a-Pitre, the island's main city. It was not immediately clear who shot him, but he was the first victim of the escalating violence on Guadeloupe, normally a tourist-friendly island but crippled since January 20 by a general strike. "There were no police nearby," said local prosecutor Jean-Michel Pretre... The conflict has exposed race and class divisions on the island, where the local white elite wields power over the black majority. The economy is largely in the hands of the "Bekes," the local name for whites who are mostly descendants of colonial landlords and sugar plantation slave owners of the 17th and 18th centuries. A Socialist opposition leader, Malikh Boutih, said it was "shocking" to watch a police force "almost 100 percent white, confront a black population" and drew a parallel with the 2005 suburban riots in France. "There are no concrete buildings, there are palm trees, but it's the same dead-end, the same 'no future' for young people, with joblessness and a feeling of isolation," Boutih said. Unions launched a strike on the neighbouring French island of Martinique on February 5 also to press for higher salaries and measures to bring down the prices of basic goods.
Link to Full Story: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090219/twl-france-guadeloupe-martinique-strike-6b0205e.html
Picture from Agence France-Presse, originally captioned: A map of Guadeloupe. France mobilised police reinforcements Wednesday after an activist was killed in Guadeloupe as the month-long strike on the French Caribbean island descended into rioting.

The Oracle with Max Keiser - 06 February 2009 - 4 parts [video]

THE U.S.-ISRAELI ALLIANCE Unusually Large U.S. Weapons Shipment to Israel: Are the US and Israel Planning a Broader Middle East War? [editorial]

Article: "Unusually Large U.S. Weapons Shipment to Israel: Are the US and Israel Planning a Broader Middle East War?"
Source: GlobalResearch.ca / Michel Chossudovsky
Excerpt(s): A very large delivery of US weaponry to Israel consisting of 3,000 tons of "ammunition" is scheduled to sail to Israel. The size and nature of the shipments are described as "unusual": "Shipping 3,000-odd tons of ammunition in one go is a lot," one broker said, on condition of anonymity. "This (kind of request) is pretty rare and we haven't seen much of it quoted in the market over the years," he added. "Shipping brokers in London who have specialized in moving arms for the British and U.S. military in the past said such ship charters to Israel were rare. (Reuters, Jan 10, 2009) The Pentagon has entrusted a Greek merchant shipping company to deliver the weapons to Israel: "The U.S. is seeking to hire a merchant ship to deliver hundreds of tons of arms to Israel from Greece later this month, tender documents seen by Reuters show. The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC) said the ship was to carry 325 standard 20-foot containers of what is listed as "ammunition" on two separate journeys from the Greek port of Astakos to the Israeli port of Ashdod in mid-to-late January. A "hazardous material" designation on the manifest mentions explosive substances and detonators, but no other details were given.(Ibid) It is worth noting that a similar unusually large shipment of US ordinance to Israel was scheduled in early December: "Tender documents indicate that the German ship hired by the US in early December also carried a massive cargo of weapons that weighed over 2.6 million kg [2600 tons] and filled up to 989 standard 20-foot containers to Ashdod from North Carolina." (Press TV, 10 Jan 2009) Are These Large Shipments of Ordinance Connected to the Invasion of Gaza?... (in depth research and editorial, highly recommended)
Link to Full Story: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11743
Picture from Global Research, originally captioned: GBU-28

RELATED YOUTUBE VIDEO: GBU-28 "Bunker Buster" Laser-Guided Bomb (~1 min.):


YouTube description: The Guided Bomb Unit 28 (GBU-28) is a 5,000 pound / 2268 kg. laser-guided "bunker busting" bomb nicknamed "deep throat" produced originally by the Texas Instruments division Defense Systems and Electronics Group (division since sold to Raytheon). It was specifically developed for US Military use in Operation Desert Storm to penetrate hardened Iraqi command centres located deep under ground. However, only two of these weapons were dropped in Desert Storm, both by F-111Fs. The initial batch of GBU-28s were built from modified 8 inch/203 mm. artillery barrels (principally from deactivated M110 howitzers), but later warheads were purpose-built. They weigh 4,700 pounds/2132 kg. and contain 630 pounds / 286 kg. of high explosive. The operator illuminates a target with a laser designator and then the munition guides to a spot of laser energy reflected from the target. The bomb underwent critical testing in Nevada at the Tonopah Test Range, a major test facility for United States Department of Energy funded weapon programs. It proved capable of penetrating over 30 metres (100 ft) of earth or 6 metres (20 ft) of solid concrete. The GBU-28 is unique in that the total development time from conception to the first drop test took only 12 weeks, and the weapon went into active service after only one test drop. The first foreign sale of the GBU-28 was the acquisition of 100 units by Israel, authorized in April 2005. Delivery of the weapons was accelerated at the request of Israel in July 2006. According to Israeli Military sources, Iran or Syria are possible targets for the weapons.

NEW WORLD ORDER INVENTIONS--SERIOUSLY, THINK WHAT YOUR BANK KNOWS ABOUT YOU: Wiretaps Combined w/ Credit Card Records of U.S. Citizens [news story]

Article: "NSA Whistleblower: Wiretaps Were Combined with Credit Card Records of U.S. Citizens"
Source: Blog.Wired.com/27bstroke6/
Excerpt(s): NSA whistleblower Russell Tice was back on Keith Olbermann's MSNBC program Thursday evening to expand on his Wednesday revelations that the National Security Agency spied on individual U.S. journalists, entire U.S. news agencies as well as "tens of thousands" of other Americans. Tice said on Wednesday that the NSA had vacuumed in all domestic communications of Americans, including, faxes, phone calls and network traffic. Today Tice said that the spy agency also combined information from phone wiretaps with data that was mined from credit card and other financial records. He said information of tens of thousands of U.S. citizens is now in digital databases warehoused at the NSA. "This [information] could sit there for ten years and then potentially it marries up with something else and ten years from now they get put on a no-fly list and they, of course, won't have a clue why," Tice said. In most cases, the person would have no discernible link to terrorist organizations that would justify the initial data mining or their inclusion in the database...
Link to Full Story: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/01/nsa-whistlebl-1.html

NEW WORLD ORDER INVENTIONS--OBAMA'S FAKE "CHANGE"! HE'S ON "U.S. CORP."'s SIDE! Obama Admin.: Wiretapping Legal Challenge Must Die [news story]

Article: "Obama Administration: Wiretapping Legal Challenge Must Die"
Source: Blog.Wired.com/27bstroke6/
Excerpt(s): SAN FRANCISCO -- The Obama administration urged a federal judge on Friday to stay enforcement of a ruling favoring the plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging President George W. Bush's warrantless eavesdropping program. Justice Department special counsel Anthony Coppolino told U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker during a 60-minute hearing here that the appellate courts should review his Jan. 5 decision allowing classified evidence into the case, a position the Obama administration took in court documents the day before. Without the classified evidence, Coppolino said, the government wins the case by default, and two American lawyers who claimed they were unlawfully spied upon can't pursue their lawsuit.
Link to Full Story: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/01/obama-administr.html
Picture from Blog.Wired.com/27bstroke6/.

NEW WORLD ORDER INVENTIONS--SERIOUSLY, THINK ABOUT WHAT SHIPPING PEOPLE MEANS: Mystery Prison Buses in Arizona Desert [news story]

Article: Mystery Prison Buses in the Desert
Source: GlobalResearch.ca
Excerpt(s): "On a recent visit to Tucson, Arizona, where I was invited to give a presentation on monetary reform, I was disturbed by a story of strange goings on in the desert. A little over a year ago, it seems, a new industrial facility sprang up on the edge of town. It was in a remote industrial zone and appeared to be a bus depot. The new enterprise was surrounded by an imposing security fence and bore no outward signs identifying its services. However, it soon became apparent that the compound was in the business of outfitting a fleet of prison buses. Thirty or so secondhand city buses were being reconfigured with prison bars in the windows and a coat of fresh paint bearing the “Wackenhut G4S” logo on the side..."
Link to Full Story: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=BRO20090122&articleId=11951

NEW WORLD ORDER INVENTIONS--SERIOUSLY, THINK ABOUT WHAT YOUR CELL PHONE CAN DO: NSA Targeted Journalists, Snooped All U.S. Communications [news story]

Article: "Whistleblower: NSA Targeted Journalists, Snooped on All U.S. Communications"
Source: Blog.Wired.com/27bstroke6/
Excerpt(s): Just one day after George W. Bush left office, an NSA whistleblower has revealed that the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program targeted U.S. journalists, and vacuumed in all domestic communications of Americans, including, faxes, phone calls and network traffic. Russell Tice, a former NSA analyst, spoke on Wednesday to MSNBC host Keith Olbermann. Tice has acknowledged in the past being one of the anonymous sources that spoke with The New York Times for its 2005 story on the government's warrantless wiretapping program. After that story was published, President Bush said in a statement that only people in the United States who were talking with terrorists overseas would have been targeted for surveillance. But Tice says, in truth, the spying involved a dragnet of all communications, confirming what critics have long assumed. "The National Security Agency had access to all Americans' communications," he said. "Faxes, phone calls and their computer communications. ... They monitored all communications."
Link to Full Story: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/01/nsa-whistleblow.html

NEW WORLD ORDER INVENTIONS--SERIOUSLY, THINK ABOUT WHAT YOUR TV CAN DO: Digital TV & Mandatory RFID Microchipping [news story]

Article: "Digital TV & Mandatory RFID Microchipping"
Source: Educate-Yourself.org
Excerpt(s): If you do not believe the threat of involuntary microchipping is real, please take a moment to read over the following disquieting developments. Taken together, they reveal a focused effort to promote human microchipping. The time to nip this trend in the bud is now...
Link to Full Story: http://educate-yourself.org/cn/ottdigitaltvandmicrochips20jan09.shtml

AMERICA! WATCH ICELAND... THIS IS WHAT ECONOMIC *COLLAPSE* LOOKS LIKE Prime Minister Steps Down amid Violent Protests [news story]

Article: "Prime Minister Steps Down amid Violent Protests"
Source: Spiegel.de
Excerpt(s): Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde on Friday called early elections following violent protests on the streets of Reykjavik. Meanwhile, Europe's top politicians are on edge following clashes in Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary and Greece.
Link to Full Story: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,603244,00.html
Picture from Spiegel.de, originally captioned: There has been a wave of anti-government protests across Europe in recent weeks as the impact of the financial crisis begins to be felt. Here, a demonstrator bangs a pot in Reykjavik.

AMERICA! WATCH ICELAND... THIS IS WHAT ECONOMIC *COLLAPSE* LOOKS LIKE Icelandic gov't becomes 1st to be brought down by credit crunch [news story]

Article: "Icelandic government becomes first to be brought down by the credit crunch"
Source: DailyMail.co.uk
Excerpt(s): The government of Iceland today became the first to be effectively brought down by the credit crunch. After several nights of rioting over the financial crisis, Prime Minister Geir Haarde, surrendered to increasing pressure and called a general election for May. A poll would not normally be held until 2011. Haarde also revealed that he had been diagnosed with a malignant tumour of the oesophagus and would not seek re-election. 'I have decided not to seek re-election as leader of the Independence Party at its upcoming national congress,' he told a news conference. The global financial crisis hit Iceland, which has a population 320,000, in October, triggering a collapse in its currency and financial system under the weight of billions of dollars of foreign debts incurred by its banks. The economy is set to shrink 10 percent this year and unemployment is surging.
Link to Full Story: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1126682/Icelandic-government-brought-credit-crunch.html
Picture from Reuters, originally captioned: Quit: Iceland's Prime Minister Geir Haarde called a general election for May. He also revealed he has cancer and will not be standing for re-election.

EVEN "GREEN" COMPANIES WANT MONOPOLY Whole Foods, Lanny Davis, and the Attack on the FTC [news story]

Article: "Whole Foods, Lanny Davis, and the Attack on the FTC"
Source: CorporateCrimeReporter.com
Excerpt(s): Whole Foods CEO John Mackey telling his board of directors: "By buying them we will ... avoid nasty price wars in Portland (both Oregon and Maine), Boulder, Nashville, and several other cities which will harm our gross margins and profitability. OATS may not be able to defeat us but they can still hurt us. Furthermore, we eliminate forever the possibility of Kroger, Super Value, or Safeway using their brand equity to launch a competing national natural/organic food chain to rival us .... [Wild Oats] is the only existing company that has the brand and number of stores to be a meaningful springboard for another player to get into this space. Eliminating them means eliminating that threat forever, or almost forever."
Link to Full Story: http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/wholefoods012109.htm

CONTINUING REVOLUTIONARY MOVES IN S. AMERICA Bolivia: After Rallies for New Constitution, Morales Nationalizes Oil Company [news story]

Article: "Bolivia: After Rallies for New Constitution, Morales Nationalizes Oil Company"
Source: MRZine.MonthlyReview.org
Excerpt(s): On Thursday, January 22, the last day of campaigning for the new constitution before the document is set to a vote on Sunday, January 25th, representatives from Bolivia's diverse social movements convened in downtown La Paz. The rally, located in the Plaza Murillo, marked the end of over two years of meetings, conflicts and mobilizations to, as President Evo Morales often says in speeches, "constitutionalize" much-needed changes. The following day, Morales nationalized the Chaco oil company. All of the previous weeks' marches for the constitution seemed to gather in the plaza, culminating in fireworks, cheers, and music. At a central stage, acts alternated between speeches of representatives of the various social movements present and musical performances by groups from around the country, including Afro-Bolivian dances and political hip-hop from La Paz. Members of the Bartolina Sisa women's organization spoke, along with miners, neighborhood council members, retirees, students, and campesino and indigenous leaders. The presence of such diverse groups underscored the importance of Bolivian social movements' participation in the process of change carried out in collaboration with the government. As Sacha Llorenti, the Vice Minister of the Coordination of Bolivian Social Movements told TeleSUR, "The structural transformations that the country is going through cannot be understood without recognizing [the role of] the social movements, the popular organizations of this country."
Link to Full Story: http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/dangl240109.html

OBAMA'S GUANTANAMO ORDER LEGALLY MEANINGLESS / DETAINEES MAY STILL BE HELD INDEFINITELY, TORTURED Obama's orders on Guantanamo and torture [video]

Obama orders on Guantanamo and torture (~10.5 min.):


Note from HBAF: Now, Ratner may overall have a positive sixth sense about Obama's recent Guantanamo "shut down" order, but as we here at HBAF see it, and as the legal language shows, Obama's "shut down" orders are meaningless. There is not legal language changing the fact that people are and will be held indefinitely... this is not even coming close to the CONSTITUTIONALLY REQUIRED re-institution of habeus corpus (put to rest during the Bush regime). This guy is definitely being suckered by (or is trying to suckers us into) Obama's progressive-seeming, but completely hollow, manner. Please note in particular that at ~6 minutes into this video the question of accountability is asked, and Ratner cites "hope," and "good reporting," as some means of holding the executors of these laws accountable, then says that the question has been put to rest, without showing in any way how these executive orders have any checks and balances. He has far too much too good to say about Obama's hollow changes for someone who calls himself a constitutionalist. Don't be deceived by the smile (or the suave language)! Obama is no different than the other schmucks that have been running this country for 100 years.

Description from TheRealNews: Michael Ratner (President, Center for Constitutional Rights) comments on Obama's executive orders, loopholes, and the prosecution of Bush/Cheney. 24 January 2009. TheRealNews.com