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The new robber barons: how taxpayers subsidize CEOs' multimillion salaries

Pratap Chatterjee
The Raw Story
Mon, 20 Aug 2012 15:02 UTC
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A new report finds many top executives are taking home more than their corporations pay in taxes - at our expense.

Lanai, a tiny resort island in Hawaii, has 18 miles of secluded beaches, no traffic lights and a population of just over 3,000. This summer, Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle, a California-based software company, bought 98% of the island for a sum reported to exceed $500m.

The Institute for Policy Studies, a Washington DC thinktank, says that a chunk of the money Ellison spent buying Lanai should have paid for elementary school teachers and clean energy jobs, instead of fulfilling the billionaire CEO's vacation fantasies. That's one conclusion of their new report, "The CEO Hands in Uncle Sam's Pocket: How Our Tax Dollars Subsidize Exorbitant Executive Pay", which points out that Oracle took advantage of a 1993 loophole in tax law to designate $76m of Ellison's income as "performance-related pay", which allowed him to avoid paying any taxes on the money.
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War Whore

Is Washington Deaf As Well as Criminal?


Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
Thu, 16 Aug 2012 11:51 UTC
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The morons who rule the American sheeple are not only dumb and blind, they are deaf as well. The ears of the American "superpower" only work when the Israeli prime minister, the crazed Netanyahu, speaks. Then Washington hears everything and rushes to comply.

Israel is a tiny insignificant state, created by the careless British and the stupid Americans. It has no power except what its American protector provides. Yet, despite Israel's insignificance, it rules Washington.

When a resolution introduced by the Israel Lobby is delivered to Congress, it passes unanimously. If Israel wants war, Israel gets its wish. When Israel commits war crimes against Palestinians and Lebanon and is damned by the hundred plus UN resolutions passed against Israel's criminal actions, the US bails Israel out of trouble with its veto.

The power that tiny Israel exercises over the "worlds's only superpower" is unique in history. Tens of millions of "Christians" bow down to this power, reinforcing it, moved by the exhortations of their "christian" ministers.
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MIB

It's official: British and US intelligence is directing al-Qaeda operations in Syria

Leon Watson
Daily Mail, UK
Sun, 19 Aug 2012 06:42 UTC
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MI6 and CIA al Qaeda operatives in Syria proudly display the weapons supplied to them by their paymasters.
British intelligence on Syrian troop movements is helping rebels in their fight against President Bashar al-Assad's regime, it was revealed today.

The disclosure by a Syrian opposition official is the first indication of British intelligence playing a covert role in the civil war.

The official told The Sunday Times the British authorities 'know about and approve 100 per cent' signals intelligence from their Cyprus bases being passed through Turkey to the rebel troops of the Free Syrian Army.

'British intelligence is observing things closely from Cyprus. It's very useful because they find out a great deal,' the official said.

'The British are giving the information to the Turks and the Americans and we are getting it from the Turks.'

According to the official, the most valuable intelligence so far has been about the movements of troops loyal to President Assad towards the stricken second city of Aleppo, which is partly controlled by rebels.

Comment: Notice the lip-service to international law at the end of this article, despite having already made it clear that this is exactly what they are doing.

State-Sponsored Terrorism - Western Journalists Embedded With 'al-Qaeda' in Syria

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Propaganda

Propaganda Alert! Death Toll Rises to 20 in Yemen's Suspected al-Qaida Attack on Intelligence Building


The Washington Post
Sat, 18 Aug 2012 01:00 UTC
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The death toll of an al-Qaida suspected attack on a Yemeni intelligence headquarters rose to 20 on Saturday, in the worst such attack in a year that highlights the challenges faced by the country's new leadership as it struggles to bring security and reconcile a military with split loyalties.

The attack, in the heart of the port city of Aden, underscored al-Qaida's ability to launch deadly strikes despite a two-month Yemeni military offensive backed by the U.S. that earlier this year dislodged militants who had taken over a string of southern towns near Aden.

In a coordinated attack, two groups of masked militants stormed the intelligence building from two sides, firing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, according to intelligence officials in the city and witnesses from the adjacent state TV and radio building.

While one group clashed with guards of the intelligence building's main gate, a second threw a bomb at a small mosque, killing soldiers who were resting and sleeping inside, officials said. The gunmen then sprayed their victims with bullets before detonating a car bomb in front of the intelligence building, collapsing its facade.

Comment: al-Qaida? More like al-CIA-duh. For more information on state-sponsored terrorism read:
State-Sponsored Terrorism - Western Journalists Embedded With 'al-Qaeda' in Syria
The British Empire - A Lesson In State Terrorism

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Info

New Zealand Signals Earlier Exit from Afghanistan

Nick Perry
Google
Mon, 20 Aug 2012 00:00 UTC
John Key

John Key
Wellington, New Zealand - New Zealand Prime Minister John Key announced Monday that the country will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan earlier in 2013 than planned. He said the move is not prompted by the deaths this month of five New Zealand soldiers, including three who were killed Sunday by a roadside bomb.

August's deaths account for half of all fatalities suffered by the small contingent of New Zealanders in the nine years they have been stationed in central Bamiyan province, which was comparatively stable until a recent upswing in violence.

Key said it was "highly likely" the remaining soldiers from the contingent of 145 would be withdrawn in April 2013. He said discussions for the earlier withdrawal began before the five deaths this month. Murray McCully, New Zealand's foreign affairs minister, had announced in May the troops would be withdrawn "in the latter part of 2013."

Key said he wants to bring home the troops as fast as practicable within a timetable that fits in with the coalition partners.

"We'll do it as fast as we can, and we'll do it in the way that protects our people as best we can," he said.

The U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan plan to end their decade-long combat mission and withdraw almost all troops by the end of 2014. The U.S. this year has been withdrawing a planned 23,000 troops, which would leave 68,000.

Key rejected calls to end New Zealand's role in Afghanistan immediately.
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Bomb

Eight Dead After Suicide Bombing in Russia's Caucasus


RT
Sun, 19 Aug 2012 22:38 UTC

Eight people were killed and fifteen wounded by a suicide bombing in the Russian Republic of Ingushetia, according to reports by the country's main law enforcement agency.

Both police and civilians were injured in the blast, according to the latest casualty figures.

The bombing targeted mourners at a funeral for a police officer killed in a shootout on Saturday.

The force of the explosive device was reportedly equivalent to ten kilograms of TNT, and was packed with shrapnel to increase the likelihood of casualties. Earlier reports suggested the force of the bomb was equivalent to three kilograms.

"According to preliminary results, it was a suicide bomber who blew himself up at the mourning ceremony," RIA Novosti quoted the secretary of the Region's Security Council as saying.

"A head of a man whom nobody was able to identify was found several meters from the site of the bombing," Interfax news agency reported, quoting a source in the Republic's police agency. "It may suggest the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber."
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Airplane

U.S. Drone Attacks Kill 10 "Militants" in Pakistan

Zarar Khan
The Salt Lake Tribune
Sun, 19 Aug 2012 00:00 UTC
drone
© MilitaryPhotos
Islamabad - American drones fired a flurry of missiles in a Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan Sunday, killing a total of 10 suspected militants, Pakistani officials said.

In the first strike, missiles fired from unmanned American spy planes hit two vehicles near the Afghan border, killing at least seven militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

The strike came in the Mana area of North Waziristan, the officials added.

The officials say the area is dominated by Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a commander whose forces often strike U.S. troops in Afghanistan, but they did not know whether his men were the targets of Sundays' strike. A U.S. drone strike Saturday also in North Waziristan killed five Gul Bahadur allies.

About 10 hours later on Sunday, two missiles destroyed a home also in the Mana area, killing three militants, the officials said.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

The drone program is hotly contested in Pakistan.

Comment: For more information about the use of drones please read:
Celebrating our "Warrior President"
Obama's Death Panels: Jeremy Scahill at the Drone Summit
Spy in the Sky: Is It Only a Matter of Time Before Drone Technology is Used in Civil Society?
Police State: "Robots R'US": Military-Style Drones on 63 Military Bases In The USA

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Bad Guys

US drone attacks leave 21 dead in NW Pakistan in 48 hours


Press TV
Sun, 19 Aug 2012 22:26 UTC
Children gather near a house destroyed
© Press TV
Children gather near a house destroyed in a US drone attack on civilians in northwest Pakistan (File photo)
US assassination drone strikes have left at least 21 people dead in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region near border with Afghanistan during the past 48 hours, Press TV reports.

Pakistani officials told Press TV that nine people were killed after a US drone fired four missiles at two vehicles in Mana area of Shawal district in North Waziristan on Sunday morning.

This is while on Saturday twelve people lost their lives when a US drone targeted a building in the same troubled region.
Washington claims its drone strikes target militants, although casualty figures clearly indicate that Pakistani civilians are the main victims of the assaults.
Despite Pakistani government's repeated calls on Washington to end the drone attacks, the US government continues its strikes on the tribal regions of the country.
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Chess

Iran Calls Israel's Existence an 'Insult,' as Prominent Rabbi Warns It's More Than Rhetoric


Fox News
Fri, 17 Aug 2012 00:00 UTC
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
© The Associated Press


Aug. 17, 2012: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks at the conclusion of an annual pro-Palestinian rally in Tehran.
Tehran, Iran - Israel's existence is an "insult to all humanity," Iran's president said Friday in one of his sharpest attacks yet against the Jewish state, as Israel openly debates whether to attack Iran over its nuclear program.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said confronting Israel is an effort to "protect the dignity of all human beings."

"The existence of the Zionist regime is an insult to all humanity," Ahmadinejad said. He was addressing worshippers at Tehran University after nationwide pro-Palestinian rallies, an annual event marking Quds (Jerusalem) Day on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan.

The comments are "reminiscent" of a letter written about the Jews and signed by Adolf Hitler in 1919, Rabbi Marvin Hier, Founder and Dean of the Simon Wisenthal Center, says.

"Even though Ahmadinejad is attacking the state of Israel, we know what he means," Rabbi Hier said.

Israel considers Iran an existential threat because of its nuclear and missile programs, support for radical anti-Israel groups on its borders and repeated references by Iranian leaders to Israel's destruction.

Ahmadinejad himself has repeatedly made such calls, as has Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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Bizarro Earth

Iran Commander 'Welcomes' Possible Israeli Strike


The Associated Press
Sat, 18 Aug 2012 07:15 UTC
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© The Associated Press/Vahid Salemi
Iranian demonstrators burn an Israeli and British flag during a an annual pro-Palestinian rally marking Quds (Jerusalem) Day, on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, at the Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) St. in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Aug. 17, 2012.
Tehran, Iran - A senior Iranian commander says a possible Israeli airstrike against his country's nuclear facilities is "welcome" because it would give Iran a reason to retaliate and "get rid of" the Jewish state "forever."

The remarks by Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Revolutionary Guard's air force, were reported Saturday by the official IRNA news agency.

Hajizadeh says in the event of an Israeli strike, Iran's response would be "swift, decisive and destructive." But he also claims Israeli threats of a strike are just part of a psychological war against Iran.

His comments are the latest in a war of words between the archenemies.

Israel considers Iran an existential threat because of its suspect nuclear program. Iran denies seeking atomic weapons, saying its uranium enrichment is for peaceful purposes only.
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