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The Plague Of Wall Street Banking
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers
The economic news this week highlights what happens when governments are unable to confront the root cause of the financial collapse – the risky speculation and securities fraud of the big banks. What happens? They blame the people, cut their benefits, tax their savings and demand they work harder for less money.
In the United States there have been no criminal prosecutions for securities fraud in the big banks. Just as the Justice Department has made it clear that the big banks are too big to jail because doing so jeopardizes the stability of the banking system; financial fraud investigator Bill Black points out that the SEC cannot institute fines that are too big for the same reason. “The art is to make the number sound large to fool the rubes, but to insure that the fine poses only a modest inconvenience to our ‘most reputable’ fraudulent banks.” So, the SEC trumpets “more than 150 firms and individuals, with sanctions totaling $2.7 billion.” Black points out that this number sounds big, but it isn’t compared to the losses caused by the fraud epidemic in the US which are well in excess of $15 trillion. A trillion is a thousand billion. Are we, ‘the rubes’ or do we know that our government is in cahoots with big finance?
Sayyeda Zeinab: the 7th Century Heroine of Karbala
FRANKLIN LAMB
Sayyeda Zeinab Shrine
Damascus.
It is well known in this region that powerful foreign and domestic forces in nearly every country, but particularly Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, are increasingly acting, for purely political purposes, to ignite a bloody internecine conflict within Islam. Indeed, the 3/17/13 attacks targeting four Sunni sheiks in Beirut that led to immediate road blockings in Beirut, Sidon and the Bekaa Valley is a reminder of the vulnerability of Lebanon’s own delicate sectarian balance to potential chaos.
Public Banking: What Better Time Than Now
by Stephen Lendman
Money power in private hands games the system. It does so destructively. Controlling money, credit and debt for private enrichment assures speculation, booms, busts, inflation, deflation, instability, crisis, recessions and depressions.
The Cypriot crisis alone begs the question. Money power in public hands could have avoided what's now happening. Ordinary Cypriots face horrific hard times. So do most people in Euroland countries and America.
Israeli Murder by Neglect
by Stephen Lendman
Israel operates one of the world's most unconscionable gulags. Thousands of Palestinian political prisoners fill it.
Fundamental human rights are denied. Torture, ill-treatment and medical neglect are commonplace.
In February, Arafat Jaradat was lawlessly arrested. On arrival in detention he was healthy. He had no history of health problems.
Tariq Aziz: Victim of US Imperialism
by Stephen Lendman
He's ill, isolated and fading. His life hangs in the balance. Washington likely wants him dead. He blames America, Israel and Britain. They bear responsibility for destroying Iraq. More on him below.
Medical neglect killed Slobodan Milosevic. In March 2006, he was found dead in his cell. He had heart and other health problems. He was denied proper treatment. It could have saved him. He might have lived many more years.
Days before his death, he wrote Russia's Foreign Ministry. He said the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia) wanted him dead. So did Washington and key NATO partners. They want Aziz gone and forgotten. He's dying from neglect.
In summer 2010, he gave his first interview. He'd been in prison nearly seven and a half years. He committed no crime, he said. He's victimized by US imperialism.
Guantanamo Hunger Strike Spreads
by Stephen Lendman
Detainees have few ways to resist. Refusing food challenges injustice. It's now past two months.
Media scoundrels at first ignored it. Now they say little. Capitol Hill's quiet. Pentagon officials downplay it. Russia Today reports it daily. More on that below.
Around 130 detainees refuse food. They're surviving only on water. Some are being force-fed. Doing so constitutes torture.
Playing the Venezuelan Anti-Semitism Card
by Stephen Lendman
Throughout his tenure, Washington officials vilified Chavez unjustifiably. So did media scoundrels.
He was America top hemispheric enemy. Donald Rumsfeld once likened him to Hitler. Pat Robertson called for his assassination. Anti-semitism accusations surfaced often.
His December 2005 Christmas Eve address was held against him. He said nothing offensive. His comments were maliciously taken the wrong way. He said:
"The world is for all of us, then, but it so happens that a minority, the descendants of the same ones that crucified Christ, the descendants of the same ones that kicked Bolivar out of here and also crucified him in their own way over there in Santa Marta, in Colombia."
Expanding Draconian Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Powers
by Stephen Lendman
A previous article discussed CFAA. It explained the following:
It's an anti-hacking law. It's a computer trespass law. It criminalizes accessing computer systems "without authorization."
"(E)xceeds authorized access" terminology was left undefined.
In 1984, it was enacted. It was amended numerous times. It's primarily a criminal law. It covers seven types of offenses.
Scandal Hits Cyprus
by Stephen Lendman
Grand theft is official Cypriot policy. Bank account haircuts are authorized. Those above 100,000 euros are targeted.
Depositors may lose much more than initially thought. Minimally it's around 40% of their money. It may be double that amount or more. Potentially it's everything.
Monsanto Protection Act
by Stephen Lendman
Agribusiness giant Monsanto's the world's leading GMO seed producer. They're hazardous to human health. They should be banned. They proliferate.
GMO foods and ingredients are toxic. They're unsafe to eat. Independent studies prove it. Monsanto and other agribusiness giants want all animal and vegetable life forms patented. They want worldwide food control.
Obama's a partner in crime. He promised GMO labeling. He's done nothing to mandate it. It gets worse.
His food czar is former Monsanto executive Michael Taylor. He serves as FDA Deputy Commissioner for Foods. He believes unsafe ones are fit to eat.
On March 26, Obama signed the Monsanto Protection Act. It's the Farmer Assurance Provision rider in HR 933: Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013.
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