CIA says it gets its money's worth from Pakistani spy agency

Reporting from Washington - The CIA has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to Pakistan's intelligence service since the Sept. 11 attacks, accounting for as much as one-third of the foreign spy agency's annual budget, current and former U.S. officials say.

The Inter-Services Intelligence agency also has collected tens of millions of dollars through a classified CIA program that pays for the capture or killing of wanted militants, a clandestine counterpart to the rewards publicly offered by the State Department, officials said.

The payments have triggered intense debate within the U.S. government, officials said, because of long-standing suspicions that the ISI continues to help Taliban extremists who undermine U.S. efforts in Afghanistan and provide sanctuary to Al Qaeda members in Pakistan.

But U.S. officials have continued the funding because the ISI's assistance is considered crucial: Almost every major terrorist plot this decade has originated in Pakistan's tribal belt, where ISI informant networks are a primary source of intelligence.

The White House National Security Council has "this debate every year," said a former high-ranking U.S. intelligence official involved in the discussions. Like others, the official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. Despite deep misgivings about the ISI, the official said, "there was no other game in town."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-cia-pakistan15-2009nov15,0,7760987,full.story

New climate treaty may have to wait

By Jan M. Olsen ASSOCIATED PRESS

COPENHAGEN | There's not enough time to strike a detailed and binding deal at next month's Copenhagen conference on climate change, but nations say it still can succeed if all 192 countries can agree on two sets of numbers.

Those numbers - how much money will be given to poor countries to adapt to global warming and how much industrial countries will reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next 10 years - are highly contentious, and there's no guarantee that even the scaled-back ambition for a political agreement can be reached.

Cabinet ministers and top negotiators from 40 key countries convened Monday for two days of closed-door meetings to prepare for the U.N. conference in the Danish capital, but were unlikely to try to set those specific numbers. That will remain for the summit next month.

But other crunch issues required discussion, officials said. Key among them was how financing - more than $100 billion a year within a decade - will be raised and delivered to countries in need. Also critical was how major emerging economies such as India and China can help fight climate change, and how their contributions can be embedded in an international accord.

Click to read more...

Bernanke: 'Head winds' hamper recovery

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the "head winds" of reduced bank lending and a weak job market will restrain the pace of the nation's recovery from the longest, deepest economic downturn in seven decades.

The unemployment rate, which reached 10.2 percent in October and is expected to climb higher, "will decline only slowly if economic growth remains moderate, as I expect," Mr. Bernanke said Monday in a speech at the Economic Club of New York.

Mr. Bernanke also said inflation will likely remain subdued for some time.

Given his expectations of moderate economic growth and low inflation, Mr. Bernanke repeated the Fed's projection that "exceptionally low levels" of short-term interest rates will remain in effect "for an extended period."

Mr. Bernanke delivered his outlook after the Commerce Department reported that retail sales, buttressed by a rebound at auto dealers, increased more than expected in October. But the 1.4 percent gain followed a big downward revision for September - from a decline of 1.5 percent to a drop of 2.3 percent.

Sales last month fell at many retail outlets, including furniture stores, electronics and appliance stores and building-material dealers. Economists say that consumer spending remains under pressure.

"Fundamentally, conditions remain poor for consumers, and spending will be limited," said Scott Hoyt of Moody's Economy.com. He noted that household wealth has declined substantially during this recession, and wage income is 5 percent below year-ago levels.

Click to read more...

Number of hungry Americans jumps

More than one in seven American households struggled to put enough food on the table in 2008, the highest rate since the Agriculture Department began tracking food security levels in 1995.

That's about 49 million people, or 14.6 percent of U.S. households. The numbers are a significant increase from 2007, when 11.1 percent of U.S. households suffered from what USDA classifies as "food insecurity" -- not having enough food for an active, healthy lifestyle.

Researchers blamed the increase in hunger on a lack of money and other resources.

President Obama called the USDA's findings "unsettling." He noted that other indicators of hunger have gone up, such as the number of food stamp applications and the use of food banks. And he said his administration is committed to reversing the trend.

"The first task is to restore job growth, which will help relieve the economic pressures that make it difficult for parents to put a square meal on the table each day," Mr. Obama said.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the numbers could be higher in 2009.

"This report suggests it's time for America to get very serious about food security and hunger," Mr. Vilsack told reporters during a conference call.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/17/number-of-hungry-americans-jumps/

Millions will have to repay part of tax credit

WASHINGTON — More than 15 million taxpayers may owe the government $250 or more because of how the IRS last spring set up President Barack Obama's tax break that was designed to help consumers spend the U.S. economy out of recession.

Individuals with more than one job and married couples in which both spouses work may have to repay the government $400, either through a smaller tax refund or a larger tax bill, according to a report released Monday by the Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration. Social Security recipients who also earn taxable wages may have to repay $250.

The tax credit, which is supposed to pay individuals up to $400 and couples up to $800, was Obama's signature tax break in the massive stimulus package enacted in February. The credit has increased weekly paychecks for 95 percent of working families, giving them cash to help boost consumer spending during the worst economic recession in decades.

Workers concerned about whether they are withholding enough taxes can use a calculator on the IRS Web site to find the appropriate amount that should be withheld.

Taxpayers can adjust their withholding by filing a new W-4 form with their employer. But with only a month and a half remaining in the 2009 tax year, it's getting late to make adjustments.

Click to read more ...

Terms of first rescue of AIG called 'unworkable' in audit; Billions spent needlessly, report says

The Federal Reserve's initial emergency plan last fall to save then-failing American International Group was so hastily put together and poorly structured that it resulted in billions of additional taxpayer dollars spent on the insurance giant, says a new report by a Treasury Department independent watchdog.

The plan - coordinated by then head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) Timothy F. Geithner, who now serves as Treasury secretary - allowed too much leverage to AIG counterparties while significantly handcuffing the Federal Reserve's negotiating power, according to an audit released Tuesday by Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

"The decision to acquire a controlling interest in one of the world's most complex and troubled corporations was done with almost no independent consideration of the terms of the transaction or the impact that those terms might have on the future of AIG," the audit said.

The audit said that although the Federal Reserve's initial $85 billion credit line to AIG helped the firm settle with many of its counterparties - companies or people engaged in business contracts with the insurance behemoth and owed money - "its terms were unworkable."

The Fed failed to persuade most parties engaged in credit-default swaps with AIG to agree to certain concessions, forcing the Fed to pay full-market value of the swaps, an amount far above the going rate at the time.

Click to read more ...

Warning! We're in the false-flag red zone for 911-2B

SOURCE: TRUTH JIHAD

As "9/11 conspiracy theorists" go I'm not much of an alarmist, but I do think that we are in the red zone right now for another potential 9/11 style false-flag event. Here's why.

Israel and its allegedly American cheerleaders are desperate to attack Iran ASAP, while Pentagon hawks are yearning to escalate the war in Afghanistan. In other words, the folks who brought us 9/11 and the 9/11 wars want a momentous escalation of those wars. And they want it NOW.

But the American people aren't on board. Polls show that the war on Afghanistan is more unpopular than ever. And the level of destruction unleashed by a Zio-American attack on Iran would make our current economic chaos look like the Golden Age.

To get people to accept this kind of massive escalation, another major false-flag event demonizing Muslims, and thereby legitimizing escalations against the Taliban and the Islamic Republic of Iran, may be in the works.

The Ft. Hood probable false-flag attack (see Jerry Mazza's article) seems to have been timed to coincide with the decision to try (the individual claimed to be) Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the 9/11 patsy-in-chief. All of this appears to have been orchestrated to evoke memories of 9/11 and reinforce the official story--a necessary preliminary to any 911-2B.  In other words, they may be softening us up for something big.

Click to read more...

Ukraine Dead Increase to 328 - Still No Sequences

The above numbers are in the latest update from the Ukraine Health Department and include 13 more deaths.  Although the number of deaths has decline slightly from the prior two days, the increase in cases and hospitalizations suggest the decline in deaths may be temporary.  The largest increase in cases was again in Kiev (5522 to 109,676) and two other eastern oblast (see map) had daily increases of more than 4000 cases (Dnipropetrovsk and Denetsk).  The steady rise in deaths continues to increase concerns over an H1N1 genetic change leading to an increase in lung disease such as those described earlier.

WHO came out with a situation update which provided little specific information beyond earlier reports that the H1N1 did not have large changes.  However, the new update did indicate that WHO regional centers in London and Atlanta were still investigating isolates, suggesting there have been sequences changes that are not fully characterized.

Recently released swine H1N1 from other locations have included receptor binding domain changes at position 225 (D225E, D225N, D225G) as well as 226 (Q226R) raising concerns that similar changes in Ukraine cold lead to the high frequency of fatal lung infections (Q226R has been seen previously in human H5N1 as well as H3 isolates from swine, ducks, and seals).  The new update did not address receptor binding domain changes or other SNPs that could have significant effects on the pathogenicity of the virus.

Therefore, the release of sequences and comments on receptor binding domain changes would be useful.

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/11170902/Ukraine_328.html

Ukraine flu death toll goes up - British labs test to ID flu as H1N1, Spanish flu, or something else

In the Ukraine, a strain of the flu has infected 1.4 million people. The death toll, according to the Ukraine Health Ministry, is at 315 people as of November 16, 2009. The World Bank Database gives the estimated population for the Ukraine as a little over 46 million. While the percentages do not appear high, the reported symptoms and contagion patterns of this flu are of concern to some doctors. The virus is being tested at the Medical Research Council laboratories, in Britain.

Symptoms of the Ukrainian flu

"We don't believe it's H1N1 swine flu. Neither do we know what kind of pneumonia it is," states Ukrainian emergency physician Myron Borysevych. The Daily Mail states that doctors are likening this strain of the flu to the Spanish flu, which included internal hemorrhage and edema in the lungs.

World Health Organization Comments about Ukrainian flu

Last week, the World Health Organization team working in the Ukraine stated that there would be a second wave of the epidemic. This prediction appears to be coming true. The Ukraine Health Ministry reports 16 new deaths in the past day alone.

Testing of the Ukraine flu virus is underway

Samples of the Ukraine flu virus were provided to a British lab, for testing to conclusively subtype the virus. Learning whether the virus is a mutated form of the H1N1 swine flu, or an entirely new type of flu virus, will help health officials and members of the public take necessary measures for protection from this deadly disease.

http://www.examiner.com/x-29228-LA-Health-Technology-Examiner~y2009m11d16-Ukraine-flu-death-toll-goes-up--British-labs-test-to-ID-flu-as-H1N1-Spanish-flu-or-something-else

US Is Doing No Good in Afghanistan

BY MALALAI JOYA

As an Afghan woman who was elected to Parliament, I am in the United States to ask President Barack Obama to immediately end the occupation of my country.

Eight years ago, women's rights were used as one of the excuses to start this war. But today, Afghanistan is still facing a women's rights catastrophe. Life for most Afghan women resembles a type of hell that is never reflected in the Western mainstream media.

In 2001, the U.S. helped return to power the worst misogynist criminals, such as the Northern Alliance warlords and druglords. These men ought to be considered a photocopy of the Taliban. The only difference is that the Northern Alliance warlords wear suits and ties and cover their faces with the mask of democracy while they occupy government positions. But they are responsible for much of the disaster today in Afghanistan, thanks to the U.S. support they enjoy.

The U.S. and its allies are getting ready to offer power to the medieval Taliban by creating an imaginary category called the "moderate Taliban" and inviting them to join the government. A man who was near the top of the list of most-wanted terrorists eight years ago, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, has been invited to join the government.

Over the past eight years the U.S. has helped turn my country into the drug capital of the world through its support of drug lords. Today, 93 percent of all opium in the world is produced in Afghanistan. Many members of Parliament and high ranking officials openly benefit from the drug trade. President Karzai's own brother is a well known drug trafficker.

Click to read more ...

Order Out of Chaos: CIA, Blackwater Responsible for Bombings, Assassinations in Pakistan

Source: INFOWARS

Newspapers in Pakistan have accused the United States of using Blackwater and other agencies to conduct bombings and targeted assassinations in the country, according to MEMRI translations. MEMRI is a neocon propaganda outfit with connections to Israeli intelligence.

“Evidence of the private U.S. security firm Blackwater’s involvement in the targeted killings of high-ranking Pakistani military officials has been found,” reports Haftroza Al-Qalam, a Pakistan weekly published in Urdu, one of the two official languages of Pakistan. “According to a report in the Urdu-language magazine Haftroza Al-Qalam, the recent killings of Pakistani military officials represent an old method used by Blackwater in Iraq and South American countries.”

Pakistan media and other sources have reported on a Blackwater presence in Pakistan since 2008. “The notorious US security firm Blackwater has reportedly established a presence in the restive tribal belt on the Afghan borders to help the FBI and CIA track down Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants allegedly hiding there and protect USAID projects,” Aamir Latif reported for IslamOnline.

USAID is a a documented CIA front. The fact USAID is essentially a CIA dummy corporation was largely confirmed when the CIA released its ‘Family Jewels’ documents in 2007.

Click to read more...

Biotech Lobbyists Write Healthcare Statements for Lawmakers

SOURCE: NY TIMES

In the official record of the historic House debate on overhauling health care, the speeches of many lawmakers echo with similarities. Often, that was no accident.

Statements by more than a dozen lawmakers were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by Washington lobbyists working for Genentech, one of the world’s largest biotechnology companies.

E-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that the lobbyists drafted one statement for Democrats and another for Republicans.

The lobbyists, employed by Genentech and by two Washington law firms, were remarkably successful in getting the statements printed in the Congressional Record under the names of different members of Congress.

Genentech, a subsidiary of the Swiss drug giant Roche, estimates that 42 House members picked up some of its talking points — 22 Republicans and 20 Democrats, an unusual bipartisan coup for lobbyists.

In an interview, Representative Bill Pascrell Jr., Democrat of New Jersey, said: “I regret that the language was the same. I did not know it was.” He said he got his statement from his staff and “did not know where they got the information from.”

Click to read more...

Connecting the Dots: Exposing RFID Documents and Plans For Surveilling

SOURCE: PREVENT DISEASE

Radio Frequency Implantable Device (RFID) use on humans can no longer be claimed as speculation or theory. There use is now well documented and integrated in several planned strategies for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Health Care Bills. These disturbing initiatives will see microchip implants embedded inside every American, and possibly inside every human within the next few years.

Richard Schmid has worked in radiological health for more than a decade. He has been researching RFID chips for most of his professional career and has worked extensively with RF devices in all levels of radiological medicine. He admits that his analysis of U.S. Health Care Bills and RFID documentation is alarming. "I don't think most people understand the magnitude of what is happening with the health care legislation being imposed on Americans," he stated.

Schmid says that RFID chips have already been implanted in thousands of people around the world, many without their knowledge. "Some of these devices are so small and scalable, that they are capable of being inserted in food, patches, medications, hypodermic needles and even inside vaccines." A recent report from PreventDisease.com detailed how populations are being primed for nano-microchips inside vaccines.

Click to read more...

Ukraine Dead Increase to 282 - Still No Sequences

Recombinomics.com
November 15, 2009
1,347,538 Influenza/ARI

73,373 Hospitalized

282 Dead

The above totals are from Saturday's report from the Ukraine Ministry of Health.  The increase of 17 fatalities over Friday's report is slightly lower than the daily average of 25 for the prior 4 days.  However, weekend reductions were seen earlier.

The newly reported cases again are widespread and include eastern regions of Ukraine, which had lower numbers and included the only regions which have not exceeded the epidemic threshold (see map).  The large number of cases was explained in part by delayed treatment and initial lack of access to stockpile Tamiflu.  However, the more recent fatalities in western Ukraine and the daily increases raise concerns that there are significant changes in the sequences, which have not been addressed.

Initial remarks from the WHO suggested more would be know on Nov 4, which is when initial sequencing should have been completed.  Although comments on Nov 4 indicted there were no large changes, the comments did not address single nucleotide changes, such as recently described receptor binding domain changes, including D225G, D225N, and D225E.

Click to read more ...

Poll: Global Warming Is Not Our Fault, NWO Global Tax Plan in Jeopardy

SOURCE: LONDON TIMES

Less than half the population believes that human activity is to blame for global warming, according to an exclusive poll for The Times.

The revelation that ministers have failed in their campaign to persuade the public that the greenhouse effect is a serious threat requiring urgent action will make uncomfortable reading for the Government as it prepares for next month’s climate change summit in Copenhagen.

Only 41 per cent accept as an established scientific fact that global warming is taking place and is largely man-made. Almost a third (32 per cent) believe that the link is not yet proved; 8 per cent say that it is environmentalist propaganda to blame man and 15 per cent say that the world is not warming.

Tory voters are more likely to doubt the scientific evidence that man is to blame. Only 38 per cent accept it, compared with 45 per cent of Labour supporters and 47 per cent of Liberal Democrat voters.

The high level of scepticism underlines the difficulty the Government will have in persuading the public to accept higher green taxes to help to meet Britain’s legally binding targets to cut carbon emissions by 34 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050.

Click to read more...

Bair Says Using TARP for Bank Capital Helped Fuel Public Outcry

Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said using the Troubled Asset Relief Program to pump capital into banks was “not a good idea” and helped erode confidence in the regulatory system.

“I just see all the problems it’s created now, the horrible public outcry,” Bair said on PBS’s “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” yesterday. “It’s had a terrible, terrible impact on public attitudes toward the financial systems, toward the regulatory community.”

The U.S. created TARP last year to remove souring assets such as subprime mortgages weighing down balance sheets and leading banks to stop lending, among steps Bair said were needed to contain the crisis. Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was forced to drop the strategy and use the $700 billion fund to inject capital into banks when the plan prompted lenders to hoard cash and failed to halt a slide in the stock market.

“We would have tried to dissuade Treasury from making these capital investments,” Bair said. “In retrospect, that was probably not a good thing. At the time it sounded like the right thing to do.”

TARP capital gave the U.S. stakes in the institutions, raising questions about additional steps if the firms needed further help, and put the government in the role of containing compensation at the firms getting taxpayer aid, Bair said.

Given the urgency at the time, no one should be held accountable “for not thinking all this through,” Bair said. “I think it was not a good idea.”

Click to read more...

Did Britain collude with US in abuse of Iraqis?

Claims that British soldiers recreated the torture conditions of Abu Ghraib to commit the sexual and physical abuse of Iraqi civilians are being investigated by the Ministry of Defence. 

The fresh allegations raise important questions about collusion between Britain and America over the ill-treatment of Iraqi prisoners during the insurgency. In one case, British soldiers are accused of piling bodies of Iraqi prisoners on top of each other and subjecting them to electric shocks, an echo of the abuse at the notorious US detention centre at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison.

One claimants says he as raped by two British soldiers, and others say they were stripped naked, abused and photographed. For the first time, British female soldiers are accused of aiding in the sexual and physical abuse of detainees.

The 33 new cases, which form part of a pre-action protocol letter served on the MoD last week, include allegations of other torture techniques widely employed by the Americans, including mock executions, dog attacks and exposure to pornography.

In one of the most disturbing cases, Nassir Ghulaim, a young Iraqi, says his torture was based on the photographs taken from Abu Ghraib. He says he was playing football with friends in April 2007 when he was approached by British soldiers in Jeeps. Their interpreter told two of the Iraqis the soldiers wanted them to go with them to a British base.

Click to read more...

With Few Strong Cases, Government Rushes Toward Plea Deals for Guantanamo Detainees

As the United States moves to prosecute Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four others [1] accused of being conspirators behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, federal and military prosecutors are racing each other to strike plea deals with at least a dozen additional Guantanamo detainees whose testimony could be used against some of the most notorious prisoners.

The plea bargaining exposes the difficulty the government faces in bringing prosecutable cases against these defendants and others still in Guantanamo. Most of the remaining detainees are considered too difficult to prosecute, mostly because the evidence against them is thin or based on statements obtained through coercion.

One defense attorney said federal prosecutors had so little on his client that they asked the detainee to suggest a charge he would be willing to plead guilty to.

The unusual, competitive nature of the government's efforts, which pit the Justice Department against the Pentagon, was described by both defense attorneys and senior government officials. The officials acknowledged that the flurry of offers underscores the weaknesses in the cases against many of the Guantanamo inmates whom the Obama administration had hoped to prosecute.

A former senior Justice Department official who was directly involved in the cases said the rivalry could be damaging. "You can't have someone being fought over by two different systems," the official said. "It is not illegal, but it's certainly corrupt."

Click to read more...

Obama Scandals List Passes 100

This is a quick word to let everyone know that my Obama’s Scandals List hit an early and ignominious milestone. In just 10 months in office the Obama Administration has racked up an alarming number of scandals. Today being an unusually heavy Friday news dump. My scandal count jumped from 99 to 102.

Like the Bush Administration before it, the Obama White House has fostered bad policy and unconstitutional acts across the board. This really should come as a surprise to no one since Obama has been continuing and extending so many policies and programs undertaken by Bush and Cheney. Still the range is impressive, foreign, domestic, legal, Constitutional, fiscal, economic, financial. Again no surprise with Bush and Clinton era retreads filling all the major policy slots.

Your mileage may vary (YMMV) but what comes across to me is a man whose policy and actions are completely at odds with his rhetoric. This has been said by many, including myself for a long time now. He invokes progressive language and images, even though he doesn’t have a shred of progressivism in him. There is no way to separate the resulting deceits from a deceptiveness and cynicism in Obama himself. I think many of us still see the boyish smile and think he really can’t mean to do what he and those around him are doing. My conclusion is, to paraphrase, "Yes, he can."

I have prepared a table of contents in addition to the entries for quick review. I have added a search function and also included a link to the archive of my old Bush scandals list.

Suggestions, corrections, and other feedback are welcome. Thanks.

Click to read more...

Rift in US war Cabinet as Obama throws out all options in debate over troop surge

Two leaked classified cables from the US Ambassador in Kabul voicing grave concern about sending more American troops to Afghanistan have exposed open conflict inside President Obama’s national security team over his war strategy.

The contents of the cables, passed to The Washington Post and The New York Times yesterday by three officials, also highlighted growing uncertainty inside the White House about how to prosecute the war, amid deep concerns over the corruption of Hamid Karzai’s Government.

The cables put the Ambassador, Karl Eikenberry — a retired general who in 2007 was the top military commander in Afghanistan — starkly at odds with the current ground commander, General Stanley McChrystal, who has requested an increase of at least 40,000 troops.

In the memos, General Eikenberry said that he had deep reservations about sending in more US troops because he was concerned by the unreliability and corrupt nature of Mr Karzai’s Government. It is a problem that has dogged Mr Obama’s deliberations and undermined the urgent demand by General McChrystal for more troops.

The cables appear to have been shown to the media in an orchestrated effort by some members of Mr Obama’s war Cabinet to increase pressure on Mr Karzai to revamp his corruption-riddled Government.

They lay bare, however, the deepening rifts within the White House. “I have been appalled by the amount of leaking that has been going on,” Robert Gates, the Defence Secretary, said.

Click to read more...