February 9- 15th, 2008
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 @ 9AM EST ( 2PM GMT)

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Water Torture Questioned & Defended on Capital Hill

We are torturers.

The CIA's secret interrogation program has made extensive use of outside contractors, whose role included the waterboarding of terrorist suspects

Many of the contractors involved aren't large corporate entities but rather individuals who are often former agency or military officers. However, large corporations also are involved, current and former officials said. Their identities couldn't be learned.

But the Justice Dept. 'Cannot' Probe Waterboarding, the US Attorney General Mukasey Says, details.

At the same time a White House spokesman said Wednesday that the widely condemned interrogation technique known as waterboarding is legal, details.

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Economic Stimulus Bill Passed

 

 

House_for_Sale

 

 

Recession

 

 

The Senate backs economic stimulus plan, details

The stimulus bill now gets sent to Bush, details

Wall St. tumbles as economic stimulus gets OK, details.

Jobless rates up. Retail sales down.

Bank loans tighten: Mortgages harder to get. Rates higher.

Pending Home Sales Plummet 24.2%

Delinquencies rates rise for credit cards.

Car sales fall.

White House urges people to use rebate checks to buy new things to help stimulate the economy, rather than pay off old debt, which wouldn't stimulate sales.

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1st Guantánamo Trials to Begin

Guantanamo_Detainees

First trials at 'Gitmo'. Six Guantánamo Detainees Are Said to Face Trial Over 9/11.

The charges are to be filed in the military commission system which has a troubled history and has been criticized as a system designed to win convictions but that does not provide the legal protections of American civilian courts.

War-crimes charges against the men would almost certainly place the prosecutors in a battle over the treatment of inmates because at least two detainees tied to the 2001 terror attacks were subject to aggressive interrogation techniques that critics say amounted to torture.

This Week's Top Election Stories & Events
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Obama_DelegateCount

 

Note: This delegate count is immediately updated after every new primary election. The delegate count here is the REAL delegate count gained from people in the states voting. As noted in article links (above) the Democrats have so-called 'Super delegates,' who could distort the people's vote.

That delegate count looks like this (chart below), which shows Obama has the victory in delegates from people voting, although losing if these so-called Super delegates are counted. Plus the disputed status of delegates from Michigan and Florida may also give Hillary Clinton another unfair advantage, punishing Obama for 'playing by the rules.'

DelegateCount_Twisted080209

For Comprehensive Summary of Candidates' Position on Major Political Issues, click here.

Next week primary elections will be held in Maryland, Virginia and D.C.
(aka: The Potomac Primary)
 On March 4th major contests will be held in 'delegate rich,' Ohio and Texas
 (aka: Super Tuesday, Jr.)

Food & Fuel embargo of Gaza Continues.
Israeli Air Strikes Launched. Talk of Invasion

Israel cuts back more Gaza electricity, (prompting warning from U.S.).

US warnings have meant nothing to Israel even if such diplomatic warnings are are sincere and not just US public relations efforts, perhaps hoping by such declarations of alleged concern to distance themselves from the apartheid, collective punishment and slow strangling and starvation of over a million people in from of our eyes and in front of the eyes of the world.

Israel says renewed rocket attacks from Gaza dash peace prospects, details. First public talks from Jerusalem of need to take over Gaza strip. Israel launches more air strikes into Gaza, details.

Talk in the Jerusalem Post of large-scale Israeli Army invasion of the Gaza Strip, details.

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Iraq Lies Documented

Iraq_Funeral

False pretenses for Iraq war researched and listed

The study points to at least 532 times where officials said that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to get them or had links to al Qaeda."
This “was part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses
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NATO - Germany Not Sending Enough Troops, says USA

GermanTroops

Germany Defends Refusal to Enter Taliban Stronghold

Leaders in Berlin, who face strong sentiment in the German public against the war in Afghanistan, have focused on the value of their reconstruction efforts in the north.

The US has called the Germans "quitters."

"What we want is more troops without restricted deployment, and more troops that are willing to engage in combat," said USA Secretary of War, Gates

 

US Demands More German Troops at Taliban Front
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NATO Disagrees With US Plans.

No smiles at the NATO conference this weekend.
US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates called upon all NATO members to do more and, above all, to send more combat troops.

But NATO appears unwilling to join in America's war efforts/ Germany has refused to send combat troops to the violent Afghani south, as have Spain, Turkey and Italy.

The so-called "coalitions" in both Afghanistan and Iraq appear to be faltering.

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This Weeks 'Comic Surprise'
'Why Stop Now? Let's Bomb Iran
Our multi-media Activist archives & ideas can be found here.
This Week's Editorial > How's YOUR Economy Doing?  
 

 
 
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