from: William Hughes

On April 7, 2009, a public hearing on the “True Costs and Benefits of US Military Aid to the Middle East, 1980-2010),” was held on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., in the Rayburn House Building, room 2168. One of the speakers was ex-Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD). He said that pressure groups, on Middle East issues, have “a hold on Congress.” He mentioned “AIPAC” as one of the groups. The event was sponsored by the “Council for the National Interest,” see: http://www.cnionline.org/ For information on the history of U.S. taxpayers’ giveaways to Zionist Israel, about $3 billion a year, check out the authoritative “Washington Report on the Middle East Affairs” magazine, at: wrmea.com For ex-Rep. Cilchrest’s bio, go to: wikipedia.org To view all of ex-Rep. Cilchrest’s remarks at this public hearing, please go to Google, at: video.google.com

from: William Hughes

On Monday evening, April 6, 2009, anti-electric rate hike activists staged a candlelight march and demonstration. It ended up at the residence in north Baltimore of Mayo Shattuck, CEO of Constellation Energy, the parent company of BGE. The activists are demanding the re-regulation and “roll back of gas and electric rates” in Maryland and a halt to any planned shut offs by BGE of electric utilities to about “84,000 households.” The protest action was cosponsored by the “Bailout the People Movement,” and the “Maryland Coalition for BGE Reregulation.” For background, see: ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nytinxOMJVA&feature=channel_page

VOICEOVER: Israel has pioneered a new type of all-seeing precision weapon: the armed drone. The capabilities of this hunter-killer, which can track a person walking along a street and strike with precision, are a military secret. To use these weapons against civilians is a war crime. But a Guardian investigation has uncovered evidence from the Israeli military themselves that proves just how clearly these weapons can see. So why did one of these drones kill an entire family having tea in their courtyard? Why did these hunter-killers target a group of women and girls walking down the street holding a white flag? Nearly 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the attack on Gaza. More than half were civilians. Four hundred and thirty-one of them were children. Six members of Munir's family were killed by an armed drone. They were having tea in their courtyard when they saw a drone in the sky above watching them. Then it fired. MUNIR (SUBTITLED TRANSLATION): The rocket landed here. It fell like a ball of fire from that direction. We came back outside. We found Mohammed lying here cut in half. Ahmad was in three pieces. Wahid was totally burnt; his eyes were gone. Wahid's father was pretty much dead. Nour had been decapitated. We couldn't see her head anywhere. Gaurdian Videos

from: William Hughes

On March 9, 2009, Ms. Cynthia Boersma, the Legislative Director of the ACLU in Maryland, discussed the status of legislation pending in the General Assembly to curb the widespread practice of “police spying” on peace and social justice activists in violation of their First Amendment Rights. The ACLU is supporting the “Freedom of Association and Assembly Protection Act of 2009.” It’s HB 182 and SB 256. Ms. Boersma expressed her concerns about the legislation being pushed by Governor Martin O’Malley. She said it is a “weaker” Bill than the one the ACLU is advocating. Ms. Boersma added that O’Malley’s Bill contains many “loopholes and exceptions for police conduct” that would authorize much of the spying that took place and that was “condemned” in the report prepared by former Attorney General of Maryland, Stephen H. Sachs. The interview with Ms. Boersma took place in Annapolis, MD. For some background on the police spying scandal in Maryland, go to:

http://www.aclu-md.org/Index%20content/NoSpying/Unanswered_Questions.pdf

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.spying10feb10,0,3768912.story

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/01/AR2008100102223.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/03/AR2009010301993.html

http://mlis.state.md.us/2009rs/billfile/HB0182.htm

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-police-spying0217,0,907231.story

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-mdspying,0,1252076.storygallery

Lobby group speaks against public health care at AHIP insurance forum: "We believe the health insurance industry is trying to buy their way onto the table with health care reform," says Carmen Balber of Consumer Watchdog at a protest against the American Health Insurance Plans' 2009 Policy Forum. "We see this in two big points," she goes on to explain, "one which is a mandate that would require individuals to purchase private health insurance... and secondly we know the insurance industry is trying to block any sort of public option for the American people. They don't want the competition, so we're here to call out the insurance industry for trying to buy Congress' position." http://therealnews.com

Pepe Escobar: And how the US is shifting the crisis into the rest of the world. The US Treasury will borrow no less than one trillion dollars from the developing world in 2009. It will need even more in 2010. Pepe Escobar argues the US is indeed in a privileged position: not only it unleashes a global financial crisis, it then sucks up money from all over the world, based on the fact that the US in fact remains the "manager" of choice of global capitalism. As if this was not hardship enough for the developing world, it now also has to cope with the resurgence of the discredited World Bank and IMF. A certain Tim Geithner has been through this before - during the Asian financial crisis in 1997/1998 - and then he got it all wrong. therealnews.com

Ahmad: US desperate in Afghanistan, needs deal with Russia - which makes China nervous. therealnews.com

Human rights investigators continue to look into allegations that Israeli soldiers may have committed crimes of war during their Gaza military campaign. As the first Focus on Gaza A Crime of War? looks at the story of an alleged war crime that occurred during the war in the small village of Khuzaa, half a kilometre from the Israeli border. Ayman Mohyeldin speaks with village residents who tell the story of a Gazan woman who was killed with a single shot to the head while waving a white flag as she led children to safety.

As well as the 1300 Palestinians who were killed in the war, thousands more suffered serious injuries. Many of them were left with extensive burns, with Israel accused of using highly inflammable white phosphorus in civilian areas. Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid reports from the burns unit in Gaza's Shifa hospital.