Clipmarks | sahara's clips

Ron Paul, Perpetual War, "You Paid Too Much!"

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:04:21 GMT

clipped by: sahara

Ron Paul : Obama Preparing for Perpetual War!

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Blackwater’s Erik Prince to step down, reveals CIA role

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:28:14 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: Later, news reports emerged alleging that Blackwater, which recently renamed itself Xe Services, was involved in the program which sought to assassinate high-value terrorist targets.

Prince "confesses to feeling betrayed," Vanity Fair reports.
Prince told Ciralsky that he was engaged in work for the CIA "up until two months ago—when Prince says the Obama administration pulled the plug." That would seem to confirm recent news reports that the Obama administration was using Blackwater for assassinations in Pakistan.

Prince also told Ciralsky he plans to step down as chairman and CEO of Blackwater -- a move Ciralsky reports has started a "power struggle" within the company over who will succeed its founder.

“I’m through,” Prince told Vanity Fair. “I’m going to teach high school. ... History and economics. I may even coach wrestling. Hey, Indiana Jones taught school, too.”

Clip Source: rawstory.com

Blackwater's Erik Prince was recruited as a CIA agent in the years after the 9/11 attacks, says an exclusive report at Vanity Fair that also reveals the billionaire ex-Navy SEAL plans to step down from Blackwater to teach high school.

"Prince wasn’t merely a contractor; he was, insiders say, a full-blown asset

Prince also told Vanity Fair he believes that people inside the US government sold him out when news of Blackwater's involvement in the CIA's secret assassination program went public. Last summer, CIA director Leon Panetta informed congressional intelligence committees that the CIA had kept secret an on-and-off assassination program that many people believe was run during the Bush administration by Vice President Dick Cheney.

"Publicly, he has served as Blackwater’s CEO and chairman. Privately, and secretly, he has been doing the CIA’s bidding

Clip Source: www.vanityfair.com

in his Virginia office. His company took in more than $1 billion from government contracts during the George W. Bush era.

The Iron Triangle

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:56:38 GMT

clipped by: sahara

Clip Source: video.google.com

The Iron Triangle - The Carlyle Group Exposed

The Bush family, the Saudi Royal family, Osama Bin Laden's family and Donald Rumsfeld's inner circle - these are just some of the high profile figures who have played a direct role in the rise of one of the most powerful and influential and secretive firms in Washington. The company is called The Carlyle Group. And in the wake of the events of September 11th and the invasion of Iraq, its power and influence have become significantly stronger. The company operates within the so-called iron-triangle of industry, government and the military. Its list of former and current advisers and associates includes a vast array of some of the most powerful men in America and indeed around the world. This program exposes the history of the Carlyle Group, from it's inception as a private equity firm to it's precent status as one of the largest defence contractors in the world.

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Tags: money, war

Saudi Billionaire Boasts of Manipulating Fox News

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:19:19 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: The investment makes Al-Waleed the largest individual shareholder outside of the Murdoch family.

This is not the first time that Al-waleed has made controversial statements. His $10 million contribution to a 9/11 fund was rejected when he blamed the terror attacks on U.S. Middle East policy. Fifteen of the 19 terrorist hijackers on 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia.

Clip Source: sentinelradio.wordpress.com

Al-waleed bin Talal is a major shareholder in News Corporation, the corporate parent of Fox News in the United States, Sky News in Europe, and many printed periodicals

The prince said he was particularly attracted to News Corp. because “it is the only truly global media organization, with interests in nearly every country in the world.”

A News Corp. spokesman said Murdoch called Prince Al-Waleed “and thanked him for this new strategic alliance.” The investment makes Al-Waleed the largest individual shareholder outside of the Murdoch family.

Saudi Billionaire Boasts of Manipulating Fox News Coverage

The Saudi billionaire, Al-waleed bin Talal, is a friend of News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch and controls an influential number of voting shares in the company

The report raises the specter of Arab money influencing News Corporation and other U.S. media companies

Al-waleed personally called Rupert Murdoch to complain

The Saudi said, “After a short while, there was a change” in the coverage

Taliban vow to fight US troop surge

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:06:19 GMT

clipped by: sahara

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

The Taliban say they will step up their fight in Afghanistan, after pledges by the US and its allies to send large reinforcements to the country.

A Taliban commander told the BBC that if more US troops came, more would die.

US President Barack Obama, announcing a long-awaited strategy on Tuesday, said another 30,000 American troops would be deployed quickly in Afghanistan.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates told the US Congress that curbing the Taliban was essential for regional security.

Speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Mr Gates stressed that the US goal in Afghanistan and Pakistan was to defeat the al-Qaeda network - and to do that, the Taliban must be pushed back.

'More casualties'

The Taliban expressed defiance in the face of Mr Obama's commitment to send additional forces.

A Taliban commander,

told the BBC there could be no peace talks until all foreign troops had left Afghanistan.

Gen McChrystal also backed Mr Obama's estimate that enough progress would have been made by 2011

Obama's Afghanistan

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:01:42 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: From 31,000 when he took office...

Clip Source: msnbcmedia1.msn.com

Windows 7 Users Beware "black screen of death"

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:51:32 GMT

clipped by: sahara

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Microsoft has confirmed that it is investigating a problem described as the "black screen of death", which affects its latest operating system.

The error means that users of Windows 7 see a totally black screen after logging on to the system.

The firm said it was looking into reports that suggest its latest security update, issued on 10 November, was the cause the problem.

Reports suggest the flaw also affects Vista, XP and other systems.

Software firm Prevx, which has issued a fix for the problem, says "millions" of people may be affected.

"Users have resorted to reloading Windows as a last ditch effort to fix the problem," the firm's David Kennerley wrote in a blog post.

"We hope we can help a good many of you avoid the need to reload."

Unknown problem

The firm said its fix did not work in all cases.

The "black screen of death" moniker is a play on the "blue screen of death", which appears when Microsoft operating systems crash.

The GOP's Fatally Bad Judgement

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:26:46 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: As if choosing Bush TWICE was not bad enough, especially after 9/11 and his close ties to the terrorist's family (google Arbusto Energy, if you are clueless), wars, huge deficits, and overall incompetence, now they are looking to Huckabee!? Will they never learn?

Clip Source: www.rasmussenreports.com

GOP 2012: Huckabee 29% Romney 24% Palin 18%

Twenty-nine percent (29%) of Republican voters nationwide say former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is their pick to represent the GOP in the 2012 Presidential campaign.

The numbers for Huckabee and Romney look even stronger when GOP voters were asked which candidate they would least like to see get the nomination. Pawlenty came on top in that category with 28%. Palin was second at 21% while 20% named Gingrich. Romney and Huckabee were in the single digits with 9% and 8% respectively.

Clip Source: www.salon.com

Mike Huckabee's fatally bad judgment

Brutality by another Huck-pardoned criminal suggests the 2012 GOP hopeful listened more to pastors than prosecutors

On Sunday morning, Clemmons is alleged to have walked into a coffee shop in Parkland, Wash., a town south of Seattle, and shot the officers without provocation or warning. Reportedly hit in the torso by return fire from one of the cops who later died, he escaped and reportedly remains at large.

Clip Source: www.salon.com

"The Middle East will be far more dangerous if Dubai fails"

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:46:07 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: Dubai was meant to be a Middle-Eastern Shangri-La, a glittering monument to Arab enterprise and western capitalism. But as hard times arrive in the city state that rose from the desert sands, an uglier story is emerging.

"It was an adult Disneyland, where Sheikh Mohammed is the mouse," she says. "Life was fantastic. You had these amazing big apartments, you had a whole army of your own staff, you pay no taxes at all.

It seemed like everyone was a CEO. We were partying the whole time."

I ask a Filipino girl if she likes it here. "It's OK," she says cautiously. Really? I say. I can't stand it. She sighs with relief and says: "This is the most terrible place! I hate it! I was here for months before I realised – everything in Dubai is fake. Everything you see. The trees are fake, the workers' contracts are fake, the islands are fake, the smiles are fake – even the water is fake!" But she is trapped. She got into debt... "Dubai is like an oasis. It is an illusion, not real."

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

"When I see Western journalists criticise us – don't you realise you're shooting yourself in the foot? The Middle East will be far more dangerous if Dubai fails. Our export isn't oil, it's hope. Poor Egyptians or Libyans or Iranians grow up saying – I want to go to Dubai. We're very important to the region. We are showing how to be a modern Muslim country. We don't have any fundamentalists here. Europeans shouldn't gloat at our demise. You should be very worried.... Do you know what will happen if this model fails? Dubai will go down the Iranian path, the Islamist path."

Sultan sits back. My arguments have clearly disturbed him; he says in a softer, conciliatory tone, almost pleading: "Listen. My mother used to go to the well and get a bucket of water every morning. On her wedding day, she was given an orange as a gift because she had never eaten one. Two of my brothers died when they were babies because the healthcare system hadn't developed yet. Don't judge us."

"Don't judge us."

America’s #1 Export

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:15:27 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: This satisfies White House strategists, who seek a way out of a growing political impasse, and also the economic gurus at Obama’s ear, who believe government spending can create new jobs and kick-start the economy.

These economic geniuses are the latter-day followers of John Maynard Keynes, an economist who believed we could end unemployment and fight our way out of economic malaise by having the government hire workers to dig ditches and then fill them back up again. They didn’t necessarily have to produce anything of value, as long as they went through the motions. All government has to do is "prime the pump," and this will set in motion a process ending in full employment. You can build hospitals or pyramids, it doesn’t matter; military spending will do. In this scenario, we are back to when James Baker was asked to justify the first Gulf war, and he replied, "Jobs, jobs, jobs."

What better (economic) stimulus than a foreign policy of perpetual war?

Clip Source: www.ufppc.org

America’s number-one export -- representing, by far, our single largest capital investment -- is our overseas military presence. What Chalmers Johnson referred to as our "empire of bases" is the framework of an international economic system in which the division of labor is roughly as follows: while Asia is the factory of the world, South America the farmland, and Europe increasingly a theme park/museum, the U.S. role is that of world gendarme

What do you mean we don’t make anything? What about wars? We make plenty of those: Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Pakistan and perhaps Iran -- the Globo-Cop business is booming.

As Republicans resist the extensive new social programs advanced by the Obama administration, including healthcare as yet another entitlement, and popular awareness of the national debt reaches new heights of anxiety, there is one way out: more spending on the military

Here is a measure the thoroughly neoconized Republicans can support wholeheartedly

Eid al-Adha and the Hajj, 2009 (the Big Picture)

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:54:59 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: Photos are really best at source...

Clip Source: www.boston.com

Eid al-Adha and the Hajj, 2009

The illuminated Grand Mosque is seen from the top of Noor Mountain where the Hiraa cave is located, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) #

Muslim pilgrims circle the Kaaba inside the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca after morning prayers, before the start of this year's hajj pilgrimage November 24, 2009. (REUTERS/Caren Firouz) #

An Indian pilgrim lies in the cardiac care unit at the Nour hospital in the holy city of Mecca on November 24, 2009. The Saudi Kingdom provides free medical care to pilgrims who become ill during their pilgrimage. (REUTERS/Caren Firouz) #

A Kashmiri sells delicacies ahead of the Eid al-Adha festival, in Srinagar, India, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) #

A Muslim man looks at the raising of the dome on the metallic roof structure of the Strasbourg Grand Mosque in Strasbourg, France on November 27, 2009. (FREDERICK FLORIN/AFP/Getty Images) #

Gaza

, China

Saudi

National Geographic's International Photography Contest 2009

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:47:27 GMT

clipped by: sahara

Clip Source: www.boston.com

National Geographic's International Photography Contest attracts thousands of entries from photographers of all skill levels around the world every year. While this year's entry deadline has passed, there is still time to view and vote for your favorites in the Viewer's Choice competition. National Geographic was kind enough to let me choose a few of their entries from 2009 for display here on The Big Picture. Collected below are 25 images from the three categories of People, Places and Nature. Captions were written by the individual photographers.

Afghanistan, November, 2009

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:44:41 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: More info on photos at source.

Clip Source: www.boston.com

Afghanistan, November, 2009

President Barack Obama recently announced that he was determined to "finish the job" in Afghanistan, and aides signaled to allies that he would send as many as 25,000 to 30,000 additional American troops there.

Cpl. Casey Liffrig leaps for cover while Lt. Thomas Goodman gets down as Taliban fighters ambush U.S. soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division during a patrol in the Pech Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar province on November 3rd, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

Khadija, 40, sits in her cave early in the morning in Bamiyan on November 10, 2009. The cave dwellers here are all Hazara, who are religiously and ethnically distinct and survivors of intense persecution by the Taliban.

The town was home to two nearly 2,000-year-old Buddha statues before they were destroyed by the Taliban, months before their regime was toppled in a US-led invasion in late 2001

An Afghan brick worker

fuel truck

Bibi

age 15

Spy agencies foil Obama plan for transparency

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:32:32 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: But now Obama finds himself in the awkward position of extending the secrecy, despite his repeated pledges of greater transparency, because his administration has been unable to prod spy agencies into conformance.

Some of the agencies have thrown up roadblocks to disclosure, engaged in turf battles over how documents should be evaluated, and have reviewed only a fraction of the material to determine whether releasing them would jeopardize national security.

In the face of these complications, the White House has given the agencies a commitment that they will get an extension beyond Dec. 31 of an undetermined length - possibly years, said the administration officials, who spoke on the condition they not be identified discussing internal deliberations. It will be the third such extension: Clinton granted one in 2000 and Bush granted one in 2003.
The documents, dating from World War II to the early 1980s, cover the gamut of foreign relations, intelligence activities, and military..

Clip Source: www.boston.com

Release of secret reports delayed

Spy agencies foil Obama plan for transparency

President Obama will maintain a lid of secrecy on millions of pages of military and intelligence documents that were scheduled to be declassified by the end of the year, according to administration officials

The missed deadline spells trouble for the White House’s promises to introduce an era of government openness, say advocates, who believe that releasing historical information enforces a key check on government behavior. They cite as an example the abuses by the Central Intelligence Agency during the Cold War, including domestic spying and assassinations of foreign officials, that were publicly outlined in a set of agency documents known as the “family jewels.’’

The documents in question - all more than 25 years old - were scheduled to be declassified on Dec. 31 under an order originally signed by President Bill Clinton and amended by President George W. Bush

Go Elf Yourself

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:23:47 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: http://elfyourself.com/

Clip Source: www.techcrunch.com

They’re Baaack! ElfYourself 2009 Is Now Live

It’s that time of year again. OfficeMax and JibJab have just launched the latest edition of ElfYourself, the massively popular website that features dancing elves you can customize to feature the faces of you and your friends. The site, which serves as a promotion for OfficeMax, has turned into an Internet phenomenon, drawing many millions of visitors a year.

Users can make their videos and share them across the web for free. They can also pay to have their elves printed on gift cards or greeting cards, or to download a version they can store locally.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

Elf Yourself elves take over Union Square in New York with a dancing flash mob. Their message: Elf Yourself! http://elfyourself.com/

Elf Yourself Dancing Flash Mob Invades NYC

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Clip Source: www.youtube.com

Elf Yourself

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