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Supreme Court upholds anti-terror law
The First Amendment does not protect humanitarian groups or others who advise foreign terrorist organizations, even if the support is aimed at legal activities or peaceful settlement of disputes, the Supreme Court ruled Monday. In a case that weighed free speech against national security, the court voted 6 to 3 to uphold a federal law banning "material support" to foreign terrorist organizations. That ban holds, the court said, even when the offerings are not money or weapons but things such as "expert advice or assistance" or "training" intended to instruct in international law or appeals to the United Nations.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Sunday that Iran's government is becoming a military dictatorship, with religious leaders being sidelined and, as a result, new sanctions could pressure Tehran into curbing its illegal nuclear program. “What we’ve seen is a change in the nature of the regime in Tehran over the past 18 months or so,” Mr. Gates said on “Fox News Sunday.” “You have a much narrower-based government in Tehran now,” he said.
Military in Iran seen as taking control
By David Swanson There are lots of ways to change Congress that falsely appear easy, that would alter the rules and patterns of behavior if only Congress were already fixed and willing to make the changes, or if we owned the television networks, or if people could suddenly hear what they're paid good money never to hear. But I've got a way to change Congress that is actually easy. Congress lacks leadership. There is a progressive caucus, but it has never fought for anything.
An Easy Way to Dramatically Change Congress | WarIsACrime.org
U.S. Tax Dollars Fueling Afghan Insurgency - CBS Evening News -
Billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars are fuelling corruption in Afghanistan and funding the insurgency, according to a six-month investigation by the House subcommittee on National Security and Foreign affairs. The committee's chairman, Rep. John F. Tierney, D-Mass., told CBS News : "the business is war and the war is business and you've got 'Warlord Inc.' going on over there."
"Is this what we fought the Nazis for?": Beck's staunch defense
Glenn Beck has repeatedly rushed to the defense of corporations and corporate executives that have been widely criticized for recklessness, corporate greed, and alleged violations of federal laws. Beck has specifically defended BP, AIG executives, and Toyota. After oil spill, Beck defends BP against the government, asks, "Is that what we fought the Nazis for?" BP has been accused of taking "shortcuts" and making "reckless decisions" that led to the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. In a June 18 Associated Press article, Jim Hackett, the CEO of Anadarko Petroleum Corp., which owns a quarter of Deepwater Horizon oil well, blamed the blowout on "BP's reckless decisions and actions."
Afghanistan's Mining Minister Waheedullah Shahrani addresses a press conference The breathtaking news of the latest estimate of the latent mineral wealth of Afghanistan , already partly understood but now confirmed by two systematic aerial surveys conducted in 2006 and 2007, has already been downplayed as a possible force-multiplier of the country's existing miseries . Huge deposits of iron, copper, cobalt, gold, and lithium (a key ingredient in the manufacture of laptop batteries) could not only intensify the determination of the Taliban and their allies to retake the country and enrich themselves into the bargain; it could also give an incentive to the country's other enemies: its warlords and its parasitic oligarchs and those among its neighbors who are less choosy about what kind of government the nation ends up having.
Why are we so focused on the problems Afghanistan's vast mineral
Booms collect oil from the Gulf spill Shortly after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, the federal government estimated that the Macondo well was spilling approximately 5,000 barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico, based on aerial photographs. (One barrel contains 42 gallons .) Since then, the estimates have floated steadily upward. BP now says that the worst-case scenario would be 100,000 barrels a day , if the blowout preventer were removed. These numbers raise several questions, not least of which is ...
How do you count the barrels of spilled BP oil in the Gulf? - By
by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy All but forgotten now, Enron --it's rise and calamitous fall --dominated front pages and sucked up airtime until knocked out of contention by 911. As I was reminded, it was the ghost of Gordon Gekko, brilliantly portrayed by Michael Douglas in 'Wall Street', who both presaged and haunted the fail of Enron and all those who served it or were temporarily enriched by its corporate shams and schemes. As was the case in the 'Roaring Twenties', fortunes were lost in a heart beat, economic empires collapsed in the blink of an eye. Enron was one of them.
Right Wing Scams: 'Why Don't You Start Calling Me Gordon?'
The political gods have been good to Democrats lately. Republicans nominated several absolute loons to run for Congress; they painted themselves as protectors and apologists of BP ; and in the course of punishing the unemployed, they seriously upset both doctors and governors . These are weapons that liberal lions like LBJ would have swung to great advantage. LBJ knew how to get Republican votes, but he was unencumbered by any urge to validate Republican talking points. Now, not so much.
Andrew Reinbach: Assisted Suicide in November for the GOP
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