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9/11 Conspiracy Film Producer Arrested on Drug Charges


Fox News
Mon, 31 Jan 2011 00:00 UTC
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© unk
Oneonta, New York - A producer of a documentary alleging conspiracy theories behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has been arrested on drug charges in upstate New York.

Oneonta police tell the Daily Star of Oneonta that 27-year-old Korey Rowe and a 19-year-old Bronx man were arrested after selling packets of heroin to an undercover officer.

Rowe was arraigned last Friday on a felony count of criminal sale of a controlled substance.

Authorities say the Oneonta resident was released from Otsego County Jail after posting $10,000 cash bail.

It couldn't be determined if he had a lawyer. Rowe's phone number was unlisted.

An Army veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, Rowe was a producer of Loose Change, a 2006 film that challenged the official explanation of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
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Radar

China's censorship of the Egypt protests isn't fooling everyone

Peter Foster
Associated Press
Tue, 01 Feb 2011 07:30 UTC
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© Associated Press
China's educated classes know their news is filtered
Media censorship is part of life in China and - though it may go against the Western belief that everyone is yearning for equal freedoms - many in China do, to a certain degree, acquiesce in the necessary evil of a system that has delivered untold prosperity.

It is not just that ordinary Chinese censor themselves (which they do, conscious of where the red lines are) but more than that, they also often actively support the government's view that some censorship is necessary to maintain stability.

It is possible to justify the need for censoring reports of kindergarten knife attacks (to avoid copycats) or even reports on Charter 08 and the Tiananmen Square killings which touch on the touchiest subject of all - one party rule. However, coverage of an international news event, such as the protests currently unfolding in Egypt, fits into a slightly different category.
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People

Hamas closes Gaza's southern border


Guardian UK
Tue, 01 Feb 2011 07:12 UTC
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© Mohammed Saber/European Press Association
Rafah, Gaza's southern border with Egypt has been closed by Hamas.
Rafah border closure expected to last for several days as Israel warns of increase in weapons smuggling during unrest in Egypt

Hamas officials today closed Gaza's southern border as Israel warned that the turmoil in Egypt could result in increased smuggling of weapons into the volatile territory.

The closure of the Rafah border crossing was expected to last for several days at least, said Ghazi Hamad, the Hamas official in charge of the Gaza side of the terminal.

A Hamas delegation which was due to travel through Egypt to Syria to discuss the fate of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit postponed its trip.

Israel army radio said the military were preparing for an increase in arms smuggling to Gaza.
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Cow Skull

Egyptian opposition leader ElBaradei calls for Mubarak to leave


CNN
Sun, 30 Jan 2011 02:19 UTC
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© unknown
Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei addressed crowds of protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square Sunday, an appearance that signaled a defiant gesture against the current government and military curfew.

Wading through demonstrators shouting, "we want honor for Egypt," ElBaradei, who is positioning himself as President Hosni Mubarak's leading opposition figure, eventually made it to a podium after being carried by supporters, and he joined them in singing Egypt's national anthem.

"I came today to participate ... in the lives of Egyptians," he told cheering protesters. "Today I look into the eyes of each one of you and everyone is different. Today you are an Egyptian demanding your rights and freedom, and what we started can never be pushed back. As we said, we have one main demand: the end of the regime and to start a new phase."
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Breaking: Al Jazeera Reports Mubarak's planning exile to Tel Aviv - The Writing on the Wall


Veterans Today
Sat, 29 Jan 2011 02:02 UTC
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© Agence France-Presse
Protesters have returned to the streets of the Egyptian capital, Cairo, for the sixth consecutive day across the country staged in defiance of a curfew
Update: Al Jazeera reports Mubarak's planning exile to Tel Aviv. According to sources in the Egyptian Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel is making preparations to welcome Hosni Mubarak into exile after Saudi Arabia rejected overtures. Al Jazeera also reports Israeli diplomats have fled Egypt amid the unrest. CNN reports widespread rumors that Mubarak's wife and other family members have already fled Egypt.

Arab Executives Predict Regime Change in Egypt, as U.S. State Dept says reshuffling of government won't do. Demonstrations across the U.S. rally in solidarity with protesters. See also Robert Fisk's latest dispatch: Death throes of a dictatorship.

The U.S. State Dept's statement, "We strongly believe that the Egyptian Government needs to engage immediately with the Egyptian people in implementing needed economic, political, and social reforms" appears the give-away on Saturday of Mubarak's fragile hold on power.
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Heart - Black

Canada: 100 Healthy Sled Dogs Killed Due to Slow Business

James Keller
The Canadian Press
Mon, 31 Jan 2011 07:36 UTC
sled dogs
© The Canadian Press / Darryl Dyck
Sled dogs rest after returning from a tour run byOutdoor Adventures Whistler in the Soo Valley north of Whistler, B.C., on Monday January 31, 2011. The RCMP and the B.C. SPCA are investigating the slaughter of about 100 sled dogs in Whistler in an incident the SPCA called an absolute massacre.
An official of the SPCA in British Columbia says word of a slaughter of sled dogs in Whistler warrants a criminal investigation.

Marcie Moriarty, general manager of the group's cruelty investigations, says the description of the April 2010 incident is an "absolutely criminal code offence," although there is no indication a police investigation is underway.

Documents obtained by CKNW radio reveal about 100 healthy sled dogs were killed in a mass slaughter in Whistler last April 21 and 23.

According to the WorkSafe B.C. documents, an employee of Outdoor Adventures Whistler has been compensated for post-traumatic stress disorder after being ordered to shoot the animals.
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Bomb

Roger Stockham Arrested With Explosives Outside Major U.S. Mosque

Jeff Karoub
Huffington Post
Sun, 30 Jan 2011 20:09 UTC
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© Unknown
Islamic Center of America
A 63-year-old Southern California man who was traveling with explosives in his vehicle with the intention of blowing up one of the nation's largest mosques where mourners had gathered for a funeral was arrested in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan authorities said Sunday.

Dearborn police said Roger Stockham was arraigned Wednesday on one count of making a false report or threat of terrorism and one count of possessing explosives with an unlawful intent. Stockham had a large but undisclosed quantity of class-C fireworks including M-80s, which are outlawed in Michigan, Chief Ronald Haddad said.

"I was comfortable with the fact that we had taken him off the street - he isn't going anywhere," Haddad told The Associated Press Sunday afternoon. "I think the society he wanted to impact is safe."

Haddad said Stockham was arrested Monday evening without incident in the parking lot of Islamic Center of America, while a large group was gathered inside. He said police received a 911 call from a resident.
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People

Protests Spread To Saudi Arabia

Tyler Durden
zero hedge
Sat, 29 Jan 2011 13:19 UTC
While the biggest threat to the Middle East region is the possibility that the population of Saudi Arabia may try to imitate what has been happening in the area, thereby bringing total chaos to the established regional geopolitical and more importantly, energy, structure, the first protests in the Saudi Arabia city of Jeddah are already in the books. The clip below shows the peaceful demonstrations that have taken place recently, which as Fedupmontrealer explains are "taking place in front of the Municipality in protest of the severe lack of infrastructure, and corruption, that led the city to be inundated this week causing billions of dollars of damages for the second time in two years." That this is even occurring in a state where the average wealth is orders of magnitude greater than in Egypt is remarkable. On the other hand, we expect more news such as those from yeserday that Kuwait is paying its citizens $3,500 plus free food for a year to keep calm.

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2 + 2 = 4

US: New York City Mayor Warns of Mass Teacher Layoffs

Michael Howard Saul
Wall Street Journal
Sat, 29 Jan 2011 00:20 UTC
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© Word Press
New York City could lose $1 billion in education aid from the state, forcing the nation's largest school system to cut more than 21,000 teachers, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday.

As Gov. Andrew Cuomo prepares to unveil his first budget proposal since taking office on New Year's Day, Mr. Bloomberg and his new schools chancellor, Cathie Black, are bracing for what could be devastating cuts to city schools.

On his weekly radio show Friday, Mr. Bloomberg stressed that he has yet to receive word of a definitive budget proposal from the governor. "Scuttlebutt is that the education budget will be cut statewide, and New York City's share of that would be a billion-dollar cut," he said.

If the governor proposes a $1 billion cut and the Legislature approves it, the mayor estimated the city would be forced to cut 15,000 teachers, most of which would be accomplished through layoffs. That's on top of plans, outlined by the mayor in November, to cut 6,166 teachers in the fiscal year beginning July 1.
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Arrow Down

American Eulogy


The Burning Platform
Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:10 UTC
The Founding Fathers described the kind of country they were shaping on July 4, 1776 with the most well known sentence in the English language:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. - Declaration of Independence
In 1776, America was an idea born of noble intentions. An idea that every citizen had the opportunity to succeed, prosper and achieve based upon their hard work and abilities. The government did not provide advantages or a safety net for its citizens. People were free to succeed or fail based upon their own merits. America had a frontier spirit because it was still a frontier. Individual effort, intellect and willingness to sweat allowed you to move up the socio-economic ladder. The government provided a National Defense, and very little else. In 1794, the country had a population of 4.4 million and a GDP of $310 million. Government spending totaled $7.1 million, or 2.3% of GDP, and was split between Defense and interest on the Revolutionary War debt. Today, Federal Government spending totals $3.7 trillion, or 25% of GDP.
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James Truslow Adams in his 1931 Epic of America described the America that once existed in reality, but only exists as a phantom today:
"The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, also too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position."

"The American Dream that has lured tens of millions of all nations to our shores in the past century has not been a dream of material plenty, though that has doubtlessly counted heavily. It has been a dream of being able to grow to fullest development as a man and woman, unhampered by the barriers which had slowly been erected in the older civilizations, unrepressed by social orders which had developed for the benefit of classes rather than for the simple human being of any and every class." - James Truslow Adams - Epic of America
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