Florida is the stingiest state in the country when it comes to providing jobless benefits for the unemployed, two workers' rights groups argued in a complaint lodged with the U.S. Labor Department.

In a letter sent to U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis this month, the National Employment Law Project and Florida Legal Services asked for an investigation into changes to the unemployment compensation system made by Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott's administration.

The nonprofit, workers' rights groups said that revised procedures and bureaucratic hurdles implemented by the Scott administration made it more difficult for Floridians to access unemployment benefits. The changes appear aimed at discouraging people from filing for benefits, the groups said.

The complaint said only 15 percent of eligible unemployed Floridians are receiving jobless benefits. That compares to a national average of 27 percent.

"U.S. Labor Department records reveal that the percentage of jobless workers in Florida who actually receive state unemployment insurance is lower than anywhere else in the country," the groups said in a statement.

Beirut - A Syrian artillery barrage killed more than 90 people, including dozens of children, in the worst violence since the start of a U.N. peace plan to staunch the flow of blood from Syria's uprising, activists said on Saturday.

The bloodied bodies of children, some with their skulls split open, were shown in footage posted to YouTube purporting to show the victims of the shelling in the central town of Houla on Friday. The sound of wailing filled the room.

The reports of the carnage, which could not be confirmed independently, underlined how far Syria is from any negotiated path out of the 14-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius condemned the violence as a "massacre", and said he wanted to arrange a meeting in Paris of the Friends of Syria, a group that brings together Western and Arab countries keen to remove Assad.

Syrian state television aired some of the footage disseminated by activists, calling the bodies victims of a massacre committed by "terrorist" gangs.

It also showed video of bodies with what looked like gunshot wounds to the head, sprawled on bloodstained mattresses.

A British-based opposition group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said residents of Houla were fleeing in fear of more shelling.

It said one person was killed in the northern town of Saraqeb when security forces opened fire on a protest against the killing. Activists distributed footage appearing to show similar protests in Aleppo, the largest city in the north.

Is the government unleashing the same methods of entrapment against OWS that it has used against left movements and Muslim-Americans?

With the high-profile arrest of activists on terrorism charges in Cleveland on May Day and in Chicago during the NATO summit there, evidence is mounting that the FBI is unleashing the same methods of entrapment against the Occupy Wall Street movement that it has used against left movements and Muslim-Americans for the last decade.

In Cleveland the FBI announced on May 1 that "five self-proclaimed anarchists conspired to develop multiple terror plots designed to negatively impact the greater Cleveland metropolitan area." The FBI claimed the five were nabbed as they attempted to blow up a bridge the night before using "inoperable" explosives supplied to them by an undercover FBI employee.

Then on May 19, the day before thousands marched peacefully in Chicago to protest NATO-led wars, the Illinois State Attorney hit three men with charges of terrorism for allegedly plotting to use "destructive devices" against targets ranging from Chicago police stations to the home of Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Defense attorneys for the Chicago activists claim their clients, like the Cleveland activists, were provided with supplies for making Molotov cocktails by undercover agents in an operation that included the participation of the FBI and Secret Service. This was followed up on May 20 by the arrest of two other men on terrorism charges in Chicago for statements they made, which critics say amount to thought crimes. The Chicago cases are also reportedly the first time the state of Illinois is charging individuals under its post-September 11 terrorism law.

To hear FBI officials describe it, "Law enforcement took swift, collaborative action...to eliminate the risk of violence and protect the public." To many observers, however, the government itself is the overarching threat, systematically repressing peaceful dissent.

Deputies scuffle during a session in the chamber of the Ukrainian parliament in Kiev May 24, 2012

The Ukrainian Parliament resembled a pub when a rowdy brawl broke out between opposition and pro-presidential deputies. What sparked the tussle was a moot bill that sought to grant the Russian language official status in parts of the country.

­The scuffle erupted after opposition deputies, bearing Orthodox icons and banners, took to the stand to argue against the proposed legislation, saying it was important to preserve Ukrainian unity. The ruling Party of Regions then put the bill to vote, and deputies started discussing the legislation.

But words soon turned into actions, as lawmakers started literally nudging and grappling with each other. One deputy was toppled over the stand and turned upside down. Another legislator, Mykola Petruk of the opposition Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, was hospitalized after apparently receiving a blow to his head.

A small number of pro-opposition protesters also gathered outside the Parliament to deride the proposed legislation by waving flags, blowing horns and banging drums.

A new Amnesty International report paints a gruesome picture of summary executions, torture and ill-treatment in North Korea as Kim Jong Un succeeded his late father, Kim Jong Il, as the country's ruler last December.

The country used firing squads or staged traffic accidents to execute 30 officials involved in talks to unite North and South Korea, according to the 2012 Amnesty International report released Thursday. It also notes that the country had been questioned about another 37 reported executions between 2007 and 2010 for "financial crimes."

As the ruling authority shifted to Kim Jong Un, the country's State Security agency detained another 200 North Korean officials, some of whom are now feared executed or in prison camps, the report notes.

Credible reports estimated that up to 200,000 prisoners were held in horrific conditions in six sprawling political prison camps, including the notorious Yodok facility. Thousands were imprisoned in at least 180 other detention facilities. Most were imprisoned without trial or following grossly unfair trials and on the basis of forced confessions.

Men, women and children, who were kept in the prison camps, were tortured and forced to work in dangerous conditions, according to the report. Many of the prisoners die or get sick while in custody due to the horrendous conditions, beatings, lack of medical care and unhealthy living conditions.

Milan - Italian automaker Fiat SpA, which controls Chrysler, said Friday that it and subsidiaries will immediately halt sales to Iran, following similar moves by other carmakers under pressure to cut ties to Tehran over its disputed nuclear program.

The international community has been toughening sanctions on the Islamic Republic - including on its main cash cow, oil - because of fears that it plans to build nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful.

The auto industry has been under pressure from the anti-nuclear lobby group United Against Nuclear Iran to cut off business dealings with Iran. UANI says that the global auto industry is the second-largest source of foreign currency for the Iranian government, after oil, and also a source of foreign technology.

The decision by Fiat to halt sales "is a step in the right direction, and it shows the effectiveness of public pressure against these companies," UANI spokesman Nathan Carleton said from New York.

Fiat and heavy-truck maker Fiat Industrial SpA said in separate statements that they "support international efforts for a diplomatic solution" regarding Iran. Both companies said their sales to Iran were "totally immaterial" in terms of numbers, and concerned only commercial and civilian products. Most of the vehicles sold were Iveco-branded buses and trucks, and no vehicles were produced in Iran, according to Fiat.

Without any mainstream media coverage at all, the House of Representatives passed the United States - Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act of 2012 (USIESC).

The USIESC, written by Eric Cantor, claims there is a need to provide Israel with unlimited military and financial aid as a result of the disturbances caused by the Arab Spring.

Israel will have an essentially unlimited amount of funds allocated to them through the Federal Reserve Bank. The country will also enjoy an "expanded role of NATO" that consists of an "enhanced presence at NATO headquarters and exercises".

The USIESC pledges the US government's "commitment" to assist Israel in remaining a Jewish State; as well as protection from the UN if the UN Security Council resolves to hold Israel accountable to international laws.

The US government's counter-terrorism unit will also aid Israel by any means.

This USIESC asserts that "supported by the American people" the US government will "repeatedly affirm the special bond between the United States and Israel" and that the two countries have "shared values and shared interests."

Profits at big U.S. companies broke records last year, and so did pay for CEOs.

The head of a typical public company made $9.6 million in 2011, according to an analysis by The Associated Press using data from Equilar, an executive pay research firm.

That was up more than 6 percent from the previous year, and is the second year in a row of increases. The figure is also the highest since the AP began tracking executive compensation in 2006.

Companies trimmed cash bonuses but handed out more in stock awards. For shareholder activists who have long decried CEO pay as exorbitant, that was a victory of sorts.

That's because the stock awards are being tied more often to company performance. In those instances, CEOs can't cash in the shares right away: They have to meet goals first, like boosting profit to a certain level.

The idea is to motivate CEOs to make sure a company does well and to tie their fortunes to the company's for the long term. For too long, activists say, CEOs have been richly rewarded no matter how a company has fared - "pay for pulse," as some critics call it.

The manufacturing of consent is endemic within modern societies. Throughout history, the need to "persuade and influence" has always been manipulated by those people in power as a means to maintain authority and legitimacy. In more recent years, the overall manipulation of the mass public mind has become less about making speeches and more about becoming a pervasive presence within the lives of each individual.

Edward Bernays has often been called "the father of public relations," as it was his teachings and research that spurred the postwar years of propaganda. Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud, utilized psychological and psychoanalytical ideas to construct an informational system - propaganda - capable of manipulating public opinion. Bernays, apparently, considered that such a manipulative apparatus was necessary because society, in his regard, was composed of too many irrational elements - the people - which could be dangerous to the efficient mechanisms of power (or so-called "democracy"). Bernays wrote that, "The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society."¹ Bearing in mind that Bernays was working in the early 1920s, we can expect the mechanisms of propaganda - mass manipulation - to have progressed to a very advanced degree since then. Within the context of our modern mass societies, propaganda has morphed into a mechanism for not only engineering public opinion, but also for consolidating social control.

Modern programs of social influence could not exist without the mass media. Today it exists as a combination of expertise and knowledge from technology, sociology, social behaviorism, psychology, communications and other scientific techniques. Almost every nation needs a controlled mainstream media if it is to regulate and influence its citizenry. By way of the mainstream media, a controlling authority is able to exert psychological influence upon people's perception of reality. This capacity works hand in hand with the more physical components, such as enforcing the legal system and national security laws (surveillance and monitoring). State control, acting as a "psychological machine," instigates specific psychological manipulations in order to achieve desired goals within its national borders (and often beyond). Examples of these psychological manipulations include the deliberate use of specific cultural symbols and embedded signifiers that catalyze conditioned reflexes in the populace. These triggers have included the words "red" and "communist" during the United States' 1950s McCarthyism, and "Muslim terrorist" during the currently constructed war on terror. Targeted reactions can thus be achieved, making the populace open to further manipulation in this state. This is a process of psychic re-formation that works repeatedly to soften up the people through continued and extensive exposure to particular stimuli. These are the symbols, artificial and human-made, that we live by in order to allow for the construction of a compliant society.

Yesterday I wrote a piece on the real lords of Afghan poppies and heroin operations. I am thankful to all your supportive feedback. Of course not all feedbacks were positive, and I truly understand and accept that. Many of the critics came from mainstream media and establishment's loyal believers and followers. They found my article complicated and not rational. In various ways and using many different words-some not very pleasant, they were asking if I was accusing the United Nations, NATO, the US Government, and mainstream media outlets such as the New York Times and Newsweek Magazine of selling lies?! All that made me recall a famous quote from a ruthless despot. Actually, I ended up using that quote in my nightly news roundup:

"All propaganda must be popular and its intellectual level must be adjusted to the most limited intelligence among those it is addressed to. Consequently, the greater the mass it is intended to reach, the lower its purely intellectual level will have to be." - Adolf Hitler

I realized I had ignored that very important advice in trying to convey the important myths, inconsistencies, and facts on the global Afghan heroin business since 9/11. If the establishment media uses the Fuhrer's tactic to sell lies and myth, why don't we use that same tactic to put out facts and the truth? I did not adjust my article for those with the most limited intelligence who have been following our government and its mainstream media and their daily propaganda. I sincerely apologize for that. To show my sincerity I have gone back and produced an adjusted version of that article.

Here is my Afghan Heroin piece recapped and adjusted for the loyal establishment and mainstream followers to accommodate their comprehension capabilities (Our irate critical thinking minority may skip this piece all together-way too simple for you;-):