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1/31/07
"While Bush administration officials are hardly eager for a public rehash of the 9/11 intelligence failures, the issue is an especially sensitive one at CIA headquarters."
"The raid, which began after nightfall at about 6 p.m. local time, was carried out by nine to 12 militants wearing new U.S. military fatigues and traveling in black GMC Suburban vehicles — the type used by U.S. government convoys. U.S. officials said the imposters had American weapons and spoke English."
"Of particular concern are Africa's role in the "global war on terror," or, in Pentagon parlance, "the long war," the growing importance of the region's natural resources, especially oil and gas, to the world economy, and increased competition with China, among other countries, for those resources."
1/30/07
1/28/07 - 1/29/07
1/25/07 - 1/27/07
"The new order, issued last Thursday, gives the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) enhanced tools to oversee and interfere with federal regulations on everything from warning labels on medicines to safety standards for construction worksites.
...OIRA can now scrutinize all "significant" guidance materials – defined according to criteria such as having the ability to "adversely affect" the economy in a 'material way."
"...public money earmarked to help lift Tanzania's children out of poverty was instead laundered into the coffers of BAE and Barclays, with Tony Blair acting as bagman."
"The White House is also counting on a 'new Africa'. The establishment of 'Africom,' as the Pentagon and state department are already calling it, is being driven by two main strategic concerns: first, the growing demand for African oil and gas (Africa is expected to be supplying 25% of US hydrocarbon imports by 2015) and the vulnerability of those supplies, concentrated as they are in some of Africa’s most unstable states; and second, the perceived danger of Islamic radicals."
"...If only the world’s glaciers were melting as slowly as the evolution of President Bush’s understanding of climate change! ..."
1/24/07
"In addition to Mr. Maxwell, three other auditors in the royalty program have filed their own lawsuits as whistle-blowers against more than a dozen other oil companies. Like Mr. Maxwell, those auditors have said the Interior Department blocked them from pursuing what they viewed as valid cases of underpayments."
1/23/07
1/19/07 - 1/20/07
1/16/07 - 1/18/07
"The Pentagon's rules for upcoming detainee trials would allow terrorism suspects to be convicted and perhaps executed using hearsay evidence and some coerced testimony."
"Detective Constable Philip Marshall, who was equipped with a digital camera and a 600mm lens, took pictures as the group apparently did exercises.
...Constable Marshall said that it had been his job to record the activities of the group through notes and pictures, not to identify them."
(Constable Marshall "did not explain why police were watching them." Why not?)
"The U.S. military spends so much money hiring contractors that it must pay other agencies to help move the cash out the door, the acting Pentagon inspector general told senators Jan. 17.
In the process, procurement laws are routinely violated, “price reasonableness,” competitive awards and contractor oversight are abandoned, and millions of dollars are wasted, IG Thomas Gimble told the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on readiness."
"The Pentagon has hidden at least $1.4 billion in other agencies' accounts instead of returning unspent money to the U.S. Treasury, the Defense Department's internal watchdog told Congress Wednesday."
"It also has no patent, meaning it could be manufactured for a fraction of the cost of newly developed drugs.
...The next step is to run clinical trials of DCA in people with cancer. These may have to be funded by charities, universities and governments: pharmaceutical companies are unlikely to pay because they can’t make money on unpatented medicines. The pay-off is that if DCA does work, it will be easy to manufacture and dirt cheap."
1/13/07 - 1/15/07
"If U.S. involvement continues on the current scale, the funding for the Iraq war — combined with the conflict in Afghanistan and other foreign fronts in the war on terrorism — is projected to surpass this country's Vietnam spending next year."
1/10/07 - 1/12/07
1/8/07 - 1/9/07
"The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) projects that distilleries will require only 60 million tons of corn from the 2008 harvest. But here at the Earth Policy Institute (EPI), we estimate that distilleries will need 139 million tons—more than twice as much. If the EPI estimate is at all close to the mark, the emerging competition between cars and people for grain will likely drive world grain prices to levels never seen before. The key questions are: How high will grain prices rise? When will the crunch come? And what will be the worldwide effect of rising food prices?"
1/6/07 - 1/7/07
"Mohamed as 'triple agent' makes more sense when one considers whether Mohamed's role with the CIA was at odds with the basic missions of the U.S. military and the FBI."
1/4/07 - 1/5/07
Energy/Food Security
"...anecdotal evidence is accumulating that many parts of Africa, Central America, and Asia are starting to shut down. For these peoples, the oil age, such as it was, is already over."
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1/2/07 - 1/03/07
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The Private Arm of the Law
--The Washington Post (The expanding privatization of police and public security is a trend worth watching this year.)
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1/1/07
"The group has burrowed deep inside the Pentagon...by its own count some 40 generals...
If the United States falls into a period of instability caused by another catastrophic terrorist attack, an economic meltdown or a series of environmental disasters, these paramilitary forces, protected and assisted by fellow ideologues in the police and military, could swiftly abolish what is left of our eroding democracy."
(Additional reading and viewing material.)
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