Politics

Israeli Supreme Court Declares Jew for Jesus 'Kosher'

A Jew for Jesus who demanded kashrut supervision from the Chief Rabbinate won a Supreme Court decision on Monday likely to spark another confrontation between the nation's highest legal arbiter and the Orthodox rabbinical establishment.
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UK Is Violent Crime Capital of Europe

Analysis of figures from the European Commission showed a 77 per cent increase in murders, robberies, assaults and sexual offences in the UK since Labour came to power. The total number of violent offences recorded compared to population is higher than any other country in Europe, as well as America, Canada, Australia and South Africa. Opposition leaders said the disclosures were a "damning indictment" of the Government's failure to tackle deep-rooted social problems.
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Climate Vote Threatens Some Democrats' Careers

ALTON, Va. -- Rep. Thomas Perriello relishes an energy fight with Republicans — even here in the rural Southside. The freshman lawmaker understands the potential consequences that he and other vulnerable Democrats face for backing a sweeping climate-change bill, and rather than ducking the issue, he’s embracing what may have been the toughest vote of his young political career.
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Great Deals At The Washington Post

By K. Daniel Glover
The big media news inside the Beltway today was the brouhaha over The Washington Post planning, and then canceling, dinner parties that promised deep-pockets lobbyists access to Obama administration insiders, members of Congress and even the Post's own editorial staff. Bloggers across the political spectrum condemned the idea; the Post's ombudsman called the story a "public relations disaster"; the paper's executive editor said he never would have let his staff participate; publisher Katharine Weymouth reaffirmed her commitment to "our journalism and our integrity"; and the Obama administration had to answer questions about whether it had been invited to the "salons" and agreed to attend.
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The Launching of U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM). Offensive Operations in Cyberspace

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates signed a memorandum on June 23 that announced the launch of U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM). A scheme by securocrats in the works for several years, the order specifies that the new office will be a "subordinate unified command" under U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM). According to the memorandum, CYBERCOM "will reach initial operating capability (IOC) not later than October 2009 and full operating capability (FOC) not later than October 2010."
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News for Sale

Richard Cummings / LewRockwell.com
The fliers, circulated by the paper's parent company, offering an "intimate and exclusive Washington Post Salon, an off-the-record dinner and discussion at the home of CEO and Publisher Katharine Weymouth." The fliers, which said participants would be charged $25,000 to sponsor a single salon and $250,000 to underwrite an annual series of 11 sessions, were reported this morning by Politico.
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What Was The Washington Post Thinking?

Fred Barbash / Politico
Howard Kurtz has posted his updated piece on the Washington Post fiasco. Many new details. Kaiser Permanente on the verge of forking over $25,000.00. Discussions involving editor-in-chief ongoing for some time. Rep. Jim Cooper (Arena contributor) accepted invite but now backing out as it's "radioactive." Nancy DeParle invited but apparently has not accepted--at least not yet. Ceci Connolly--the Post's terrific health reporter-- was told she would be invited to a dinner at Weymouth's home but didn't really know what it was about.
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Washington Post Scraps Plans for 'Salons' After Uproar

The Washington Post's publisher abruptly canceled a series of policy dinners Thursday that were to have been underwritten by lobbyists or corporations willing to pay thousands of dollars to be in the same room as journalists and lawmakers, saying the marketing department had misrepresented the newspaper's intent. Lawmakers who had been invited said they were not told the events would make money for the newspaper. But the Post had separately sent fliers seeking sponsors who would pay $25,000 for a single "salon" or $250,000 for 11 events.
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Related:
Post Co. Cancels Corporate Dinners
Washington Post Publisher Katharine Weymouth yesterday canceled plans for a series of policy dinners at her home after learning that marketing fliers offered corporate underwriters access to Post journalists, Obama administration officials and members of Congress in exchange for payments as high as $250,000.

Stewart Blasts Former CIA Analyst for Rooting for bin Laden Attack

Perhaps it’s a form of Stockholm Syndrome. The same person who spent nearly a decade fruitlessly leading the CIA unit charged with finding Osama bin Laden now seems to be rooting for him. Former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer told Fox News’ Glenn Beck Tuesday night, “The only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States.”
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FBI: Saddam Hussein Was More Afraid of Iran Than U.S.

By Thomas R. Eddlem / The New American
Saddam Hussein faked holding weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in fear of militant Shiite Iran, recently declassified conversations between FBI agent George L. Piro and former the Iraqi dictator confirmed. The documents, some 25 declassified interviews and informal conversations posted on the George Washington University website on July 1, also reveal that Hussein repeatedly denied a relationship with al-Qaeda that had been publicly alleged by the Bush administration.
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FBI: Saddam Feared Iran More Than U.S. Attack

After his capture, Saddam Hussein told the FBI that he falsely allowed the world to believe Iraq had weapons of mass destruction because he feared revealing his weakness to Iran, who he considered a bigger threat than the US, according to FBI interview notes made public. Saddam also dismissed Osama bin Laden as a "zealot," said he had never personally met the al-Qaeda leader and that the Iraqi government didn't cooperate with the terrorist group against the US, according to the notes made public by the National Security Archive, a non-governmental research institute.
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Related:
FBI Notes: Saddam Feared Iran More Than U.S. Attack
The farm where Saddam Hussein hid from U.S. forces before he was captured in December 2003 was familiar ground for the Iraqi dictator: It was the same place, he told an FBI agent, where he sought refuge 44 years earlier after taking part in a failed attempt to kill Iraq's president. Saddam also told the U.S. official that he had used telephones only twice in the last 14 years, and moved his locations daily. With troops closing in on him, Saddam returned to the farm outside Tikrit where he hid in 1959 after joining in a failed bid to assassinate Iraqi president Abd Al-Karim Qassem.

A U.S./U.N. Plot Against Anti-Communist Honduras

By Cliff Kincaid
The people of Honduras are pleading for media fairness and understanding of how they saved their democratic system of government from an international conspiracy based in Venezuela and Cuba. In desperate messages to the outside world, Hondurans want America to know they do not want former President Manuel “Mel” Zelaya returned to power through the intervention of the United States and the United Nations.
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Pirates of the Mediterranean

By Paul Craig Roberts
On June 30, the government of Israel committed an act of piracy when the Israeli Navy in international waters illegally boarded the "Spirit of Humanity," kidnapped its 21-person crew from 11 countries, including former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and Nobel Laureate Mairead MaGuire, and confiscated the cargo of medical supplies, olive trees, reconstruction materials, and children’s toys that were on the way to the Mediterranean coast of Gaza. The "Spirit of Humanity," along with the kidnapped 21 persons is being towed to Israel as I write.
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The Scramble for Iraq's 'Sweet Oil'

By Nicole Johnston
With proven oil reserves of around 112 billion barrels and up to another 150 billion barrels of probable reserves, Iraq is the greatest untapped prize for international oil companies. To put that in context, if Iraq does turn out to have around 300 billion barrels of oil, it will rival the world's biggest producer Saudi Arabia - which has around 160 billion barrels of proven reserves.
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Franken Gives Democrats Filibuster-Proof Vote

It's not funny, but former Saturday Night Live comedian Al Franken is officially the new senator from Minnesota. Franken was recently declared the winner in the long-contested Senate race by a mere 312 votes over incumbent liberal Republican Norman Coleman. Franken will become the 60th Democrat in the United States Senate, which will give congressional Democrats a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
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Thousands of Marines Deploy in Southern Afghanistan

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan -- U.S. Marines began fanning out across the southern Helmand River valley Thursday, traveling by foot and armored convoys under the scorching summer sun in an effort to wrest control of the area from Taliban insurgents. Marine commanders reported only modest resistance from insurgent fighters as troops poured out of helicopters in the early morning and began conducting patrols. Some units encountered light small-arms fire, and one Marine company was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades after it discovered a cache of homemade explosives in a housing compound.
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Obama to Provide Police, Staff to UN Army

UNITED NATIONS -- THE United States is prepared to provide more military observers, police and civilian staff to beef up the UN's far-flung peacekeeping operations, the US ambassador said on Monday. The United Nations has nearly 115,000 troops, police and civilians deployed in 16 peacekeeping missions from Africa and the Mideast to Cyprus, Kosovo, Western Sahara and Haiti, but it has had trouble finding soldiers, helicopters and other key assets for several important operations.
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Israelis Commit Acts of Piracy

On June 30, the government of Israel committed an act of piracy when the Israeli Navy in international waters illegally boarded the “Spirit of Humanity,” kidnapped its 21-person crew from 11 countries, including former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and Nobel Laureate Mairead MaGuire, and confiscated the cargo of medical supplies, olive trees, reconstruction materials, and children’s toys that were on the way to the Mediterranean coast of Gaza. The “Spirit of Humanity,” along with the kidnapped 21 persons is being towed to Israel as I write.
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Obama Sides With Marxists Over Honduras

By Cliff Kincaid / NewsWithViews.com
The so-called “military coup” in Honduras was a successful effort by Honduran patriots to preserve their constitutional system of government from an international alliance of communists and socialists backed by Iran. Not surprisingly, America’s Marxist President has come down on the anti-American side. If all of this is news to you, consider yourself a victim of the “state-run media,” as Rush Limbaugh calls it. We are being bombarded with liberal media propaganda that a “military coup” took place in Honduras, and that the U.S. should therefore oppose it.
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Leftists Call for Rebellion in Honduras

By Warren Mass
The world's leftists — ranging from internationalists, to Marxists, to confirmed communist Fidel Castro — ostracized the new Honduran government of Roberto Micheletti installed by the nation's congress on June 28. The world's government leaders unanimously stood by deposed President Manuel Zelaya, who was removed by military forces carrying out orders from the nation's supreme court and exiled to Costa Rica. Zelaya had called a rogue referendum to initiate changing the nation's constitution to allow him to succeed himself as president — a move that was in defiance of the courts and congress.
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US Gen. Won't Say How Many GIs in Iraq Cities

On Sunday he declared all troops were out of Iraq’s cities, but today top US commander in Iraq General Raymond Odierno conceded that “a small number” of US troops are still there, and “will remain in cities to train, advise, coordinate with Iraqi security forces, as well as enable them to move forward.” When pressed to give a number, Gen. Odierno declined, declaring “I just don’t want to do it,” and insisting that the exact number would change from day to day depending on “how much coordination is required.”
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Court Won't Hear Sept. 11 Claims vs. Saudi Arabia

The Supreme Court has refused to allow victims of the Sept. 11 attacks to pursue lawsuits against Saudi Arabia and four of its princes over charitable donations that were allegedly funneled to al-Qaida. The court, in an order Monday, is leaving in place the ruling of a federal appeals court that the country and the princes are protected by sovereign immunity, which generally means that foreign countries can't be sued in American courts. The Obama administration had angered some victims and families by urging the justices to pass up the case.
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U.S. supplied Afghan insurgents for `Al Qaeda' in Iraq

By Wayne Madsen / Online Journal
The Wayne Madsen Report has learned from an intelligence source who served in 2007 at the Tallil Air Base in Iraq, also known as Camp Adder by the U.S. Army and Ali Air Base by the U.S. Air Force, that United States intelligence services imported Afghan mercenaries into Iraq in order to attack Iraqi civilians and military personnel, as well as coalition forces, including U.S. service personnel. The Afghans were recruited from Taliban ranks and were paid for their services in Iraq.
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$2.775 Billion in US Aid Supports Israeli Nuclear Weapons Program

By Grant F. Smith / Online Journal
President Barak Obama’s fiscal year 2010 budget request for $2.775 billion in military aid to Israel is proceeding smoothly through the Congress. On June 17, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs held a “mark-up” session on the budget. The subcommittee came under pressure from an antiwar group that sought to suspend or condition foreign aid over Israel’s use of US weapons which left 3000 Palestinians dead during the Bush administration. The subcommittee held its session in a tiny Capitol room denying activists and members of the press access. The budget quickly passed and is now before the full House Appropriations Committee.
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Gaza 'War Crimes' Hearing Under Way

A public hearing organised by a UN team investigating alleged war crimes by Israel and Hamas during the Gaza war is under way. As part of its investigations into the December 2008-January 2009 Gaza conflict, the UN fact-finding mission will listen to testimony from victims of the conflict for two days in Gaza City and hold a second round of public hearings on July 6 and July 7 in Geneva.
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U.S. General: Time Right To Withdraw from Iraqi Cities

WASHINGTON -- The top U.S. commander in Iraq said on Sunday the time is right for American forces to pull out of Iraqi cities and expressed confidence in the ability of Iraq's security forces to take more control. U.S. troops already were out of the Iraq's cities before Tuesday's deadline after slowly withdrawing over the last eight months and "overall stability in Iraq remains good," General Ray Odierno said on "FOX News Sunday."
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Lawmaker Charged Again For Lying

A Georgia congressman who already served jail time for perjury has again been indicted for lying to authorities and making illegal campaign contributions in a key Atlanta City Council race. Pat Swindall, who represented Georgia’s 4th District in the U.S. House during the 1980s, has been charged in state court with one count of conspiracy to commit a crime and four counts of false statements. The charges are related to an illegal campaign contribution scheme involving a 2005 Atlanta City Council race.
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South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's Affair Turns Political

In the should-he-stay-or-should-he-go drama now playing out in South Carolina over Gov. Mark Sanford, there is one group of people that is fervently, if quietly, hoping that he will stay. Their motivation is not loyalty to their adulterous governor. It is dismay over what would happen if Sanford bows to pressure and steps down: Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer would step up. That would give Bauer – like Sanford, a Republican – an advantage in what was already shaping up as a brutally competitive GOP primary to replace the term-limited incumbent in 2010.
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For Sale On Ebay: Obama's 'Kenyan Birth Certificate'

Seller claims Mombasa document 'certified copy'
With dozens of lawsuits filed over access to Barack Obama's certified long-form birth certificate, many more lawyers working on his behalf to keep it secret and the validity of the U.S. Constitution hanging in the balance, guess where a "certified copy" of the original Mombasa "document" has been found? On eBay. Item No. 160344374585, at least as of today, is described as "a certified copy of President Barack Obama's Kenyan Birth Certificate."
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USAID Soliciting Applications for $20 Million In Grants To Destablize Iran

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is moving forward with plans to fund groups that support Iranian dissidents, records and interviews show, continuing a program that became controversial when it was expanded by President Bush. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which reports to the secretary of state, has for the last year been soliciting applications for $20 million in grants to "promote democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in Iran," according to documents on the agency's website. The final deadline for grant applications is June 30.
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U.N. to Emerge as Global IRS

By Cliff Kincaid / Accuracy in Media
While our media sleep, the United Nations is proceeding, with President Obama's acquiescence, to implement a global plan to create a new international socialist order financed by global taxes on the American people. The Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development that begins on Wednesday will consider adoption of a document calling for "new voluntary and innovative sources of financing initiatives to provide additional stable sources of development finance..." This is U.N.-speak for global taxes. They are anything but "voluntary" for the people forced to pay them.
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U.S. and Russia Differ on a Treaty for Cyberspace

The United States and Russia are locked in a fundamental dispute over how to counter the growing threat of cyberwar attacks that could wreak havoc on computer systems and the Internet. Both nations agree that cyberspace is an emerging battleground. The two sides are expected to address the subject when President Obama visits Russia next week and at the General Assembly of the United Nations in November, according to a senior State Department official. But there the agreement ends.
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European Union's Lisbon Treaty Fuels Flames Of Dissent Across Continent

The much-anticipated judgment will mean that only three out of the EU's 27 member states will still have to complete formal ratification of the treaty - Poland, the Czech Republic and Ireland. The former two countries merely need their presidents' signatures on the legislation to finalise the process. Ireland, where voters rejected the Treaty last year, will stage a new referendum in October - with the government increasingly confident of a "Yes" vote this time round after the EU assured Ireland of its independence over taxation, security, defence, abortion, and workers' rights.
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North Korea Threatens to Shoot Down Japanese Spy Planes

North Korea threatened today to shoot down any Japanese planes that intrude into its airspace, accusing Tokyo of spying near one of its missile launch sites. The North has designated a no-sail zone off its eastern coast from June 25 to July 10 for military drills, raising concerns that it might test-fire short- or mid-range missiles in the coming days, in violation of a UN resolution. North Korea's air force said Japan's E-767 surveillance aircraft conducted aerial espionage near the Musudan-ri missile site on its northeast coast on Wednesday and Thursday.
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Rep. Conyers' Wife Guilty Of Bribery

The city councilwoman wife of the House Judiciary Committee chairman has pleaded guilty to bribery and could go to jail for up to five years. Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers, wife of the famed Michigan Democrat (John Conyers) who chairs the House committee that oversees the U.S. Attorney’s office and the FBI, has finally admitted she took bribes from a developer to change her vote on a major city contract.
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Study: At Least Two Thirds of UK Teens Going to Hell

London Telegraph:
Teenagers even say family, friends, money, music and even reality television are more important than religion. It also emerged six out of ten 10 children (59 per cent) believe that religion "has a negative influence on the world". The survey also shows that half of teenagers have never prayed and 16 per cent have never been to church. The study of 1,000 teenagers aged 13 to 18 was carried out by Penguin to mark this week's publication of controversial novel 'Killing God' by Kevin Brooks.
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Fear of Massacre Grips Christian Village in Egypt

Fears of an impending massacre has gripped the Christian Copts in the village of Ezbet Boshra, El Fashn, which was scene to Muslim mob attacks on Copts on Sunday (AINA 6-22-2009). Egyptian State Security has placed only Coptic villagers under curfew since the Muslim assaults on Sunday. According to correspondent Mary Bassit of Copts United, The terrified villagers fear that being confined to their homes, while Muslims are free, might encourage Muslim fanatics to massacre them, especially with the bias of the security forces.
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Government Targets Taochuan Christian Church Shaanxi

SHAANXI -- Around midnight on June 14, three house church leaders of the Taochuan Village Christian Church were arrested and given 10 days of detention for engaging in “illegal religious activities.” Authorities have arrested the Christians as the latest in a series of actions to shut down their house church, and confiscate the church building. The authorities have targeted the church because the Christians have been advocating for justice for peasants in their village. The three arrested leaders are: Sister Liu, Sister Xu and Brother Huang Sumin.
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U.N. Protocol Used to Regulate Homeschoolers

A British plan to allow local authorities "the right of access to the home" and "the right to speak with each child alone" in order to evaluate homeschooling families and make certain they do what the government wants is a warning about what could happen in the United States, according to the world's largest homeschool advocacy organization. "On June 11, 2009, a report on home education in England by Graham Badman, a former Managing Director of Children, Families and Education in the County of Kent, was accepted in full by the British Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families," according to today's report from the Home School Legal Defense Association.
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Climate Cops in Scotland to Fine 'Wasteful' Homeowners & Businesses

Climate cops in Scotland have been handed new powers to fine “wasteful” homeowners and businesses who use too much energy or too many plastic bags under new legislation that represents the first wave of invasive tyranny under the pretext of fighting the manufactured threat of global warming. Energy police will have free reign to impose penalties on householders and companies who do not comply with “energy efficiency” demands following home inspections. This is the template for similar measures set to be imposed in the U.S. should Democrats manage to force through their own climate legislation this week.
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