New British government unveils political reforms
The new British government plans to replace the House of Lords with an elected second chamber of Parliament, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said Wednesday.

U.S. Says Only Reason for Talks with Iran Is Enrichment Halt
The agreement on draft Security Council resolution sanctions against Iran has grabbed the headlines on the Barack Obama administration's response to Iran's nuclear swap proposal brokered by Turkey and Brazil.

Thai troops hunt militants as Bangkok smoulders
Thai troops Thursday hunted for militant protesters who left parts of Bangkok in flames as the authorities extended a night curfew in the capital despite tentative signs of a return to normality.

'Depressed' Mafia Boss Released From Jail
An Italian mafia boss, convicted of murdering a 13-year-old boy and dissolving him in acid, has been released from prison after complaining of feeling depressed.

Greek strikers march on parliament against cuts
Thousands of striking Greeks marched peacefully to parliament on Thursday in a protest against government austerity measures that was much smaller than a huge rally that led to rioting on May 5.

N.Korean torpedo sank S.Korea warship: investigators
South Korea accused North Korea Thursday of torpedoing a warship near their disputed border, sending regional tensions rising as the North responded with threats of war.

Horrific Account Of Last Night's Bangkok Violence From A Journalist Who Was Shot
This morning we learned that the Independent's Andrew Buncombe was one of the foreign journalists injured during last night's Bangkok violence.

Damaged Poppy Crop To Benefit Taliban (Audio)

Chavez wants US to ID money laundering suspects
Venezuela will ask U.S. authorities to hand over information about brokers suspected of laundering money through the South American nation's parallel currency market, President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday.

Anarchist group claims responsibility for Ottawa bank firebombing
An anarchist group claimed responsibility for firebombing an Ottawa bank Tuesday and vowed to bring its cause to the G8 and G20 summits.

Russia Warns US, EU Against Unilateral Sanctions On Iran
Russia has warned the U.S. and European Union against imposing unilateral sanctions on Iran which go beyond those planned by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), reports said on Wednesday.

Iran sanctions face opposition
THE United States and its Western allies won crucial support from Russia and China for new sanctions against Iran over its suspect nuclear program, but they now face a tough campaign to get backing from the rest of the UN Security Council.

Plenty of swine flu vaccines, not one volunteer to take them
On Day One of the swine flu vaccination drive for healthcare professionals, the BMC found the vaccine had no takers.

Bangkok burns after Thai protest leaders arrested
Downtown Bangkok became a raging battleground Wednesday as the army stormed a barricaded protest camp and toppled the Red Shirt leadership, enraging demonstrators who fired grenades and set fires that cloaked the skyline in a black haze.

Baghdad to enclose city with 15ft wall to keep suicide bombers out
Baghdad is to resort to one of the oldest forms of defence by building a massive wall around the capital to keep out insurgents, The Times has learnt.

'World should focus on Israel's nukes'
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the dispute over Iran's nuclear program has been resolved and the international community should focus on Israel now.

Thai stock exchange on fire, blackouts hit Bangkok
The Thai stock exchange was on fire and parts of Bangkok were hit by power blackouts on Wednesday as violence continued, even though anti-government protest leaders surrendered and troops said they were in control.

Taliban attack biggest NATO base in Afghanistan
Taliban gunmen armed with rockets and grenades attacked the largest Nato base in Afghanistan at dawn today, sparking hours of clashes that killed 11 militants and wounded nine soldiers.

Curfew imposed to curb Bangkok rioting
Rioting and fires swept Bangkok on Wednesday after troops stormed a protest encampment, forcing protest leaders to surrender but sparking clashes that killed at least four people and triggered unrest in northern Thailand.

More evidence N.Korea behind ship sinking: reports
Experts investigating the sinking of a South Korean warship have found a torpedo fragment with a serial number written in North Korean style, news reports said Wednesday.

Rigi: US, Israel paid for assassination
Captured Jundallah leader Abdolmalek Rigi has said that while in Morocco, suspected Israeli or US agents had given him a list of people to assassinate in Tehran.

Kaczynski Plane Crash Inquiry: Passengers in cockpit before catastrophe
Details have been given of the investigation into last month's fatal plane crash, which killed the Polish president and high-ranking officials. In total 96 people died when their jet came down as it tried to land in Smolensk in Western Russia. Polish and Russian Investigators have revealed non-crew members were in the cockpit of Presidential Tu-154 and that 'non-crew voices' heard on recording.

Thai Protest Crushed: Video of bloody crackdown on Red Shirts in Bangkok (Video)
In the Thai capital Bangkok, anti-government protesters have surrendered after an armed assault on their fortified encampment. Troops say the situations under control after 7 key 'Red Shirt' leaders gave themselves up to prevent further bloodshed. It comes after two protesters and an Italian news photographer were killed when the camp was stormed. 42 people have died and more than 300 injured in clashes during the last week. Demonstrators had been calling for resignation of the Primer and fresh elections.

Iran hits back as US snubs Brazil-Turkey nuclear deal
Iran voiced exasperation Wednesday at US-led international rejection of a hard-won nuclear fuel deal, saying major powers would be "discrediting" themselves if they pressed for fresh UN sanctions.

Study: US missile defense plans based on ‘technical myths’
Scientists fear 'flawed and dangerous' plan will result in 'foreign policy disaster'

Bill for Afghan War Could Run into the Trillions
The U.S. Senate is moving forward with a 59-billion-dollar spending bill, of which 33.5 billion dollars would be allocated for the war in Afghanistan.

Grim Milestone: 1,000 Americans Dead
On Tuesday, the toll of American dead in Afghanistan passed 1,000, after a suicide bomb in Kabul killed at least five United States service members.

Calderon blasts Arizona immigration law, seeks assault weapons ban
Mexican President Felipe Calderon addressed two of America's most contentious political issues during a speech to the U.S. Congress Thursday, asking for a return of the assault weapons ban and blasting Arizona's controversial new immigration law as a "terrible" endorsement of racial profiling.

The Republican Party’s biggest enemy: itself
Political history and the mood of the electorate would seem to indicate Democrats are on their way to significant losses this fall. But they may have some help mitigating the damage from an unwitting ally — the Republicans.

Obama clamors for federal fix to immigration woes
Confronting soaring frustration over illegal immigration, President Barack Obama on Wednesday condemned Arizona's crackdown and pushed instead for a federal fix the nation could embrace. He said that will never happen without Republican support, pleading: "I need some help."

49% of California voters back legalizing pot, poll finds
Californians likely to vote in November are evenly split over whether to legalize marijuana, with only a small percentage of the electorate still undecided about the controversial issue, according to a poll conducted last week by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.

Secret Service Investigates After Wisconsin Bartender Burns Obama in Effigy
People in West Allis were shouting and laughing as a bar tender torched the statue for the crowd. Flames tore through the statue with what looks like duct tape wrapped around it’s neck.

S.C. considering Arizona-style immigration law
A state Senate subcommittee meets this morning to discuss a bill that would empower local police to check the immigration status of anyone they stop or detain.

Attorney: Local Men Didn't Fund Failed Terrorism Plot
The attorney for two local men arrested in connection with the failed bombing in New York City's Times Square said the men were not involved directly or inadvertently with the incident.

Tea party fliers blocked at polls
Candidates with roots in the tea party movement - including congressional candidate Gloria Carlineo - were on the losing end of battles over sample voter ballots.

BP Oil Spill: Oil Hits Louisiana Wetlands, Causes Spike in Seafood Prices
Following a boat tour of Pass a Loutre, La., today, Jindal reported seeing thick oil in the sensitive marshlands.

Senate Fails to Move Financial Bill to Final Vote
The U.S. Senate today rejected a vote to move toward final action on a bill aimed at strengthening regulation of Wall Street after the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Senators load financial overhaul with irrelevancies
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., wants the government to finish building the 700-mile fence between the U.S. and Mexico. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., wants to end the health insurance industry's antitrust protection. West Virginia's two senators want help with mine and oil rig safety.

Obama may personally greet each graduate: Kalamazoo Central seniors to fill out paperwork for Secret Service (Papers Please)
Seniors are being asked to provide their birthdates, Social Security numbers and citizen status to the Secret Service so background checks could be performed. Such a check is required for anyone who gets within an arm’s length of the president, students were told at their senior breakfast Friday.

Congressmen urge Obama to take personal interest in Israel
Some 37 Jewish members of the Democratic caucuses meet with US president, urge him to increase his personal involvement in the administration's Israel-related policies

U.S. Coast Guard Threatens CBS Reporters With Arrest For Filming BP Oil Spill
Kelly Cobiella reports that a CBS News team was threatened with arrest by Coast Guard officials in the Gulf of Mexico who said they were acting under the authority of British Petroleum.

LA's boycott resolution sparks a threat over power the city receives from Arizona
An Arizona utility commissioner said he's willing to pull the plug on Los Angeles if the city goes through with a boycott of his state.

Immigrant crossings into Arizona on the rise
The migrants walk for days through miles of mesquite scrub, running low on food and sometimes water, paying armed drug thug "guides" and dodging U.S. law enforcement officers along the way. And still they keep coming.

Costa Mesa declares itself 'Rule of Law' city
Costa Mesa has declared itself a "Rule of Law" city in a swipe at such illegal immigrant sanctuary cities as San Francisco.

Obama Punishing Scientists Who Discovered Oil Gusher Plumes
A prominent oceanographer, who was among the first to say official estimates understated the volume of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, charged Tuesday that a federal agency is punishing scientists whose findings disagree with government figures.

Texas ready for textbook showdown
Is Texas on the verge of rewriting history, or just correcting it?

US bans more Gulf fishing as oil fears grow for Florida
The United States closed off a large chunk of the Gulf of Mexico to fishing Tuesday as fears a giant oil slick could be swept to Florida's beaches and coral reefs overshadowed progress in stemming the spill.

Rand Paul: 'We Have Come To Take Our Government Back'
"I have a message from the Tea Party that is loud and clear and doesn't mince words: We've come to take our government back," Paul said, after claiming a stunning victory in the Kentucky primary election.

Rand Paul’s win could be bad news for Republicans
The biggest loser from Rand Paul’s win in the Kentucky Republican Senate primary is Mitch McConnell.

'Artificial life' breakthrough announced by scientists
Scientists in the US have succeeded in developing the first synthetic living cell.

New drug reverses even 'untreatable' cancers
Reovirus, which lives in human respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts without causing any symptoms, can help magnify the effects of radiotherapy in treating even the most advanced cancers, laboratory tests have shown.

Virtual reality mind control experiments go mainstream
Ultra-creepy mind-control experiments now go mainstream. The video of this experiment looks like a scene from the Manchurian Candidate. I

Booz Allen Hamilton Received $400 Million in Cyberwar Contracts in the Past Six Weeks
Coincidences sure are funny things. Booz Allen Hamilton — the defense contractor that’s become synonymous with the idea that the U.S. is getting its ass kicked in an ongoing cyberwar — has racked up more than $400 million worth of deals in the past six weeks to help the Defense Department fight that digital conflict. Strange how that worked out, huh?

Warning over 'superbug' strains of TB
A TB time bomb could explode on the world without major efforts to curb drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis, experts warned today.

Anybots Robot Will Go to the Office for You
Robots have replaced humans on assembly lines, battlefields, space missions and rescue operations. Now how about doing something useful, like sitting through endless meetings for you?

Hack attacks mounted on car control systems
The computer systems used to control modern cars are very vulnerable to attack, say experts.

Global Cooling? Four Gorillas Killed by Extreme Cold Weather in Rwanda, New Times Reports
Four gorillas found dead in Rwanda’s Karisimbi area probably died of extreme cold, the New Times reported, citing Rica Rwigamba, head of tourism at the Rwanda Development Board.

BPA plastics chemical damages intestines, study shows
The widespread toxin bisphenol-A (BPA) damages the intestines and may lead to a painful condition known as leaky gut syndrome, according to a study conducted by researchers from the National Institute of Agronomic Research researchers in Toulouse, France, and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy Sciences.

Is it creepy that Amazon is tracking most-highlighted Kindle passages?
Tracking bestselling books tells us about the reading habits, or at least buying habits, of the American public. But is there anything we can learn from tracking what information people consider important in those books?

Extraterrestrial Global Warming
Researching for a paper that Martin Hertzberg, Hans Schreuder and I are writing, I chanced upon a chart that might intrigue or amuse you. After temperature sensors were planted on the moon, you see, they reported an upward trend year after year. Too much CO2 up there?

Genetically modified crops failing worldwide
The Green Revolution -- a misleading name applied by PR firms to the onset of globalized, chemical-intensive, industrial agriculture that is anything but friendly to the environment -- is coming unraveled around the world, bringing devastation to farmers from the plains of China to the plains of America.

MIT-led team designs airplanes that would use 70 percent less fuel than current models.
In what could set the stage for a fundamental shift in commercial aviation, an MIT-led team has designed a green airplane that is estimated to use 70 percent less fuel than current planes while also reducing noise and emission of nitrogen oxides (NOx).

Pan-European Bank Run Is Now On: Capital Flight From UK To Switzerland, As GBPCHF Intervention Strikes Next
A quick look at the trading pattern of the GBPCHF shows that it is now UK depositors who are panicking and shifting their money to unnamed (not so much anymore) Zurich bank vaults.

MARKETS CRUSHED: Here’s What You Need To Know
Once again, fears emanating out of Europe (and China) swamped US markets, which got hammered for the 5th time in 6 days. Ominously, after some modest mid-day nibbling, stocks closed very near the lows of the day.

Hedge Funds Bet Europe’s $1 Trillion Bailout Won’t Solve Crisis
Kyle Bass, who made $500 million in 2007 on the U.S. subprime collapse, is betting Europe’s debt crisis won’t be solved by the $1 trillion loan package the International Monetary Fund and European Union agreed on last week.

College Grads Flood U.S. Labor Market With Diminished Prospects
Ten months after graduating from Ohio State University with a civil-engineering degree and three internships, Matt Grant finally has a job -- as a banquet waiter at a Clarion Inn near Akron, Ohio.

Ten U.S. cities in free fall
Miami boasts a popular South Beach club scene, Art Deco architecture, and perhaps the best Cuban food in the country. But residents don't have much else to celebrate.

Bear Raid In Gold Results in an Historic One Day Liquidation: Höllenmädchen Merkel und die Straßenschreier
"Open interest plunged 21,256 lots, 66.11 tonnes or 3.53%, one of the largest changes in history..."

Taiwan Outpaces China as Growth Accelerates to 30-Year High
Taiwan’s economy grew at the fastest pace in more than 30 years last quarter on surging sales of computer chips and display panels to China, as it heals ideological wounds with its neighbor in favor of trade ties.

State Pension Funds Headed for Crisis of National Proportion
According to new research from the Kellogg School of Management, taxpayers, public workers and state and federal officials alike have cause for serious concern about an issue that often falls under the radar but poses serious risk to the future health of the national economy: state pension liabilities.

German Finance Minister: Markets Out of Control
“I’m convinced the markets are really out of control. That is why we need really effective regulation, in the sense of creating a properly functioning market mechanism.”

U.S. Stocks Decline as Jobless Claims Increase, Euro Retreats
The New York Stock Exchange and NYSE Amex cash platforms invoked Rule 48 today, which is designed to smooth the opening of stocks when futures and overseas markets suggest high levels of price volatility. The regulation is used “only in those situations where the potential for extremely high market-wide volatility would likely impair floor-wide operations at the exchange,” NYSE Euronext said in an e-mail today.

More Americans Unexpectedly File Claims for Jobless Benefits
More Americans unexpectedly filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, showing firings remain elevated even as employment climbs.

‘Major Crash’ Likely If Stocks Break May 7 Lows, Russell Says
Investors should sell U.S. stocks because the market is at risk of a “major crash,” Richard Russell, editor of the Dow Theory Letters newsletter, said in a note to subscribers today.

Blair Murdered Glass-Steagall, Charges French Society of Financial Analysts
Nicolas J. Firzli, the chair of the Paris-based Canadian European Economic Council (CEEC) and former officer of Axa Investment Managers, wrote a long article in defense of Glass-Steagall called "Financial orthodoxy and Banking Regulation: The Lessons of the Glass-Steagall Act," Published in the first quarter issue of Analyse Financiere, the magazine of the French Society of Financial Analysts (SFAF).

Mortgage Applications Plummet To 13-Year Low As Tax Cuts Expire
The MBA reports: Mortgage Purchase Applications Plummet While Refinance Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey

Financial Reforms 'Cosmetic,' Won't Stop More Crises: Roubini
Current efforts to reform financial regulation are “cosmetic” and won’t prevent another crisis, economist Nouriel Roubini told an audience on Tuesday at the London School of Economics.

Goldman Sachs Hands Clients Losses in ‘Top Trades’
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. racked up trading profits for itself every day last quarter. Clients who followed the firm’s investment advice fared far worse.

Swaps Soar on Germany’s ‘Act of Desperation’: Credit Markets
Credit-default swaps soared as German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s curb on using the contracts to speculate on European sovereign debt sparked concern among investors about increasing government regulation.

Market Talk: Greek Finance Minister Says Separation From EU May Be Considered, Greek Gov’t Categorically Denies
Market talk for now. With the ECB holding the bulk of Greek debt now courtesy of shadow monetization of Greek debt held by French, German and Italian banks, and the imminent default of Greece the second it leaves the eurozone, this should be a massively EUR negative development, as forexlive points out. Which is why we are rather confused by the straight up kneejerk reaction in the EURUSD.

Germany’s Merkel Says Euro Is in Danger
German Chancellor Angela Markel, spooking investors on Wednesday by saying the euro was in danger, urged speedy action to stop market “extortion” and said the EU needed a process for “orderly” insolvency of members

The Global Economy Is Now Out Of Control
Yes this is it! We have crossed the Rubicon and events in the world economy are now likely to unfold in a totally uncontrollable fashion.

Consumer prices up 2.2% for the year
A key index of prices paid by consumers ticked lower in April but is still higher from a year earlier, the government said Wednesday.

Who murdered UK weapons inspector Dr David Kelly? - Dr Kelly’s intervention in the Iraq war adventure
British Member of Parliament Norman Baker says that Dr David Kelly was murdered. All the indications are that he is right and if so, this is a murder of enormous ethical and political significance.

Bernanke’s Blackhawk Helicopter and the Global Currency-Trade War: DEFCON 2
By David Knox Barker
Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, Ben Bernanke, is now famous for declaring his willingness to use a helicopter to dispense dollars to stop U.S. deflation. In the spirit of shock and awe, he promised the indiscriminate firing of dollars into the U.S. and global economy, without concern for friendly fire casualties. Granted, indiscriminate firing of dollars near innocent savers and trading partners is not friendly fire, but stick with this analogy, it gets better.

Debt Default ‘Deferral’ of Greece a Dangerous Precedent – Got Gold?
By Arnold Bock
If the implications of the recent Greek tragedy were not so serious it would have been seen more as a Greek comedy (of fiscal errors).

How Bush's DOJ Killed a Criminal Probe Into BP That Threatened to Net Top Officials
By Jason Leopold
Mention the name of the corporation BP to Scott West and two words immediately come to mind: Beyond Prosecution.

Europe’s Great Cover Up!
By Bill Fisher
European public policy makers are using the idea of an enforced dress code as a piece of social engineering, trying to hasten the assimilation of Muslims into the general population.

The Fed Audit Goes the Way of the Tea Party
By Tom Mullen
The Federal Reserve System is an instrument of theft.

US/Israel Challenged on Iran
By Ray McGovern
The times may be a-changin' -- at least a bit -- with the United States and Israel no longer able to dictate to the rest of the world how crises in the Middle East must be handled, though the new reality has been slow to dawn on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her neocon friends in Congress and the U.S. media.

Obama's Slippery Slope. Ginning-Up the "Terror" Threat, Shredding the Constitution
By Tom Burghardt
Even before the smoke cleared in Times Square, congressional Democrats and Republicans were calling for a new round of repressive measures to “keep us safe.”

Euro Collapse Looms? Engdahl on Naked Short Selling Ban
Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel says the Euro currency is at risk and that Europe faces its greatest challenge since the EU was formed. It comes as stock markets in Europe and Asia tumbled on the surprise news that Berlin was banning types of ’short selling’ where investors profit by betting that shares will drop in value.

George W. Bush’s Inaction On 9/11 (Video)
A short production of news clips detailing George W. Bush’s 9/11 inaction, including his post-attack foot dragging on establishing an independent investigation into the worst attack ever on United States soil. Bush was clearly negligent in his duty on 9/11, not only as President, but also as our Commander in Chief. His inaction alone is reason enough to re-open the 9/11 investigation.

NeoCon’s using the Tea Party to gain re-election
They are not looking for reform, they liked the status quo. They are only concern with having power and once they are back in the Bush years part two will begin.
(To a large degree, neocons hijacked the Tea Party and the Republican Party through the Wall Street financed buyout of radio stations around the country after neocons Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey helped pass the Telecommunications Act of 1996. That's how the neocons came to dominate the airwaves.)

Germany Bans Naked CDS Against Euro-Zone Government Bonds: Tentative First Steps in Europe’s Self-Defense Against Zombie Bankers and Hedge Fund Hyenas
By Webster G. Tarpley
Germany and Europe have now made some promising initial steps in the direction of their necessary self-defense against the depredations of those zombie banks and hedge fund hyenas who have been organizing a massive speculative attack on Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Italy with a view to destabilizing the euro and perpetuating the world hegemony of the troubled US dollar.

Breakup Of U.S. Is Inevitable
By Chuck Baldwin
People all over America are discussing freedom’s future. In short, they are worried. In fact, many are actually talking about State secession.

Creeping Terror: The New American Way of War
By Chris Floyd
Check it out, baby: they're piling an extra $33.5 billion of prime war pork on top of the mountain of Terror War funding already laid out for this year! And you need a whole lot of blood to wash down that meat – and a whole lot of new enemies to make sure the feast never ends.

Dodd's Bank Bill: New Nationalization Powers for Fed, FDIC, and Treasury Secretary
By John Berlau
There are many bad things contained in Chris Dodd's "Restoring American Financial Stability Act," the financial regulatory "reform" bill that after filibustering for three days -- with the assistance of Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson -- Republicans agreed to let come to the floor for amendment and debate.

11 Signs That The U.S. Government Has Become An Overgrown Monstrosity That Almost Every American Is Dependent Upon For Economic Survival
Today, the number of Americans who are able to financially survive without any reliance on the U.S. government whatsoever is declining at a staggering rate.

Our Only Standard For Politicians Is They Be Above Room Temperature (Video)
Jack Cafferty comments on lies made by Richard Blumenthal about serving in Vietnam.

From Safe Republic to Unsafe Empire
By Bruce Fein
It is the best of times for the American Empire. The United States bestrides the planet as an unrivalled colossus.

Tarpley: Iran nuclear swap deal a defeat for US policy of isolation
Iran’s deal to ship its’ uranium to Turkey, while insisting on continuing to enrich nuclear fuel, is getting a mixed response globally.

Only morons, cheats and liars still believe in Man-Made Global Warming
Well of course I would write a headline like that having just spent the last three days in Chicago at the Heartland Institute’s 4th International Conference on Climate Change.

Author Daniel Estulin to Shed Light on Bilderbergs with Historic Presentation at European Parliament
International best-selling author Daniel Estulin will make an unprecedented speech before the European Parliament on June 1st, 2010 at its headquarters in Brussels.

Civil Disobedience
Part 1 – Why Current Strategies Are Not Working
By GJ Merits
By choosing to ignore both nullification and other forms of civil disobedience, so-called center-right and conservative activists do so at our peril and to the detriment of the Republic.

Getting After the Devil: Obama and Civil Liberties
By John W. Whitehead
There is a looming oligarchy and it is up to the people to organize a grassroots movement and push back."

Can 1% Stop The Global Criminal Syndicate?
By Gordon Duff
Stealing a term from Jeff Gates, the systematic manipulation and control of nation after nation by sinister interests that are very real, interests hidden behind mythology, be it fictions of religion, stories of imaginary national struggles against non-existent evil or the rallying cry of “us against them” patriotism or, as has become popular of late, incessant fear mongering and hate, all begins through the destruction of human reason.

The Declining Value Of Work
One of the great joys that men in free societies have long enjoyed is the ability to earn an honest wage for an honest day of work.

Big Bank Takeover: How Too-Big-to-Fail's Army of Lobbyists Has Captured Washington
By Kevin Conner
Throughout the financial reform debate, the finance industry has waged an unprecedented assault on the democratic process, spending an estimated $1.4 million per day to influence Congress and hiring 70 members of Congress and 940 former federal employees to lobby on their behalf.

The Coming Sedition Act?
By Robert Ringer
The gangster government now in control in our nation’s capitol is a grim and repugnant reminder that freedom, at best, is ephemeral. At worst, it’s a myth. In fact, true freedom – like true capitalism – has never existed anywhere on this planet. Rest assured that those with an insatiable lust for power will never allow either to occur.

Should suspected terrorists be barred from buyin
By Steve Chapman
Note to the federal government: You are entitled to deny firearms to anyone engaged in efforts to commit acts of terrorism—just as soon as you can prove it.

Changing the Guard at Ten Downing Street
By Eric S. Margolis
The days of seeing Anglo-US relations through the rose-tinted glasses of emotions and patriotic propaganda are past.

Ron Paul on CNBC Squawk Box: Currency Woes (Video)
Ron Paul discusses the Euro, Greek debt, Goldman Sachs, financial reform, ear marks, gold price, the Fed.

This is Where We Take Our Stand (Trailer)
U.S. veterans speak out.

Financial Fraud. How It Works. The Truth behind the Madoff Investment Scandal
By Sherwood Ross
The mass media is not telling the entire truth about the Bernie Madoff scandal and that is contributing to the suffering of the victims of the largest investment scandal in history. Massachusetts School of Law Dean Lawrence Velvel ought to know; he’s one of them.

Top Italian policemen get up to five years for violent attack on G8 protesters
Some of Italy's most senior police officers have been given jail sentences of up to five years for what the prosecution called a "terrible" attack on demonstrators at the 2001 G8 meeting in Genoa and an attempted cover-up.

Travellers to be searched for porn
Australian customs officers have been given new powers to search incoming travellers' laptops and mobile phones for pornography, a spokeswoman for the Australian sex industry says.

Activists seize control of politics
For any politician with the usual instincts for self-protection, the lessons of Tuesday’s primaries could not be more clear: This could happen to you.

Google debates face recognition technology
Google executives are wrestling over whether to launch controversial facial recognition technology after a barrage of criticism over its privacy policies.

Smoke a Joint, Get Arrested for Drugged Driving a Week Later
he Obama administration's new drug control strategy urges states to adopt "per se" laws for driving under the influence of drugs (DUID).

CIA domestic ops go far beyond Shahzad probe
People upset about the CIA’s involvement in domestic interrogations might be surprised to learn that the spy agency’s most explosive growth in recent years has been right here in the USA -- not in the back alleys of Karachi or in the mountains of Afghanistan.

Holder Gambles With Terrorism Suspects' Miranda Rights
Lost against the predictable hubbub about the predictable Kagan nomination, Attorney General Eric Holder announced last week that he will ask Congress to cut back on a decades-old constitutional protection for criminal suspects. He wants Congress to legislate an emergency “public safety” exception to the Miranda warnings that are given by police to suspects upon arrest to inform them of their constitutional rights.

TSA's Program to Spot Terrorists a $200M Sham?
There's a hidden layer of airport security most people don't know about. It's called "behavior detection," and involves specially trained Transportation Security Administration employees whose primary mission is to spot terrorists.

New high-value detainee interrogation teams made operational
United States has made operational a new special investigation team which has begun interrogating high value terror targets within the country and abroad, as part of new moves to head off violent strikes on its soil.

UC Berkeley Asking Incoming Students For DNA
UC Berkeley is adding something a little different this year in its welcome package -- cotton swabs for a DNA sample.