Clinton, Obama Renew Focus on Diplomacy

By MARTHA RADDATZ and KIRIT RADIA

Top Diplomat Promises 'New Era for America,' Says 'No Time to Lose'

On her first day as top diplomat, Clinton promised a "new era for America."

"I will do all that I can, working with you, to make it abundantly clear that robust diplomacy and effective development are the best long-term tools for securing America's defense," she said. Read more...

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Appointing Emissaries, Obama and Clinton Stress Diplomacy

Signaling his determination to use diplomacy to address the world’s toughest conflicts, President Obama went to the State Department on Thursday to install high-level emissaries to handle the Arab-Israeli issue and Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Mr. Obama struck an empathetic tone toward Palestinians in Gaza, who he said were suffering greatly... Read more...

Obama, Clinton At State Dept.

Obama Signs Order to Close Guantanamo

by Ben Feller

President Barack Obama began overhauling U.S. treatment of terror suspects Thursday, signing orders to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, review military trials of suspects and ban the harshest interrogation methods.

With three executive orders and a presidential directive signed in the Oval Office, Obama started reshaping how the United States prosecutes and questions al-Qaida, Taliban or other foreign fighters who pose a threat to Americans. Read more...

In America, Big Time Financial Crime Pays Well

by Glen Ford

What does it say that the conditions of arch-criminal Bernard Madoff's so-called "house arrest" are better than than the real lives of hundreds of millions of honest and hardworking Americans?  It says that crime does pay, especially financial crime on a grand scale.  Read more...

Black Men, suicide and the Black community

By Deric Muhammad

According to the American Association of Suicidology Black men ages 15-24 increased 83 percent in the 1980s and early 1990s. It is still the third leading cause of death among Black males who are seven times more likely to commit suicide than Black females. Black females account for nearly all higher education gains in Black America including 60 percent of college enrollment and 80 percent of honor roll students. The Black man in America is the most unemployed and incarcerated of all races. This state of disrepair leads to great depression. Read more...

Is Suicide on the Rise in the Black Community - Donna Barnes

Rush Limbaugh wants President Obama to fail

Proof once again that white supremacy is a mental disease and Rush Limbaugh suffers from it. Rush continues to repeat that he hopes President Barack Obama's policies fail.

Would that be classified as being an Un-American? If a Black radio host said that about former President Bush he would have been labeled and enemy combatant and lost his job.

While other shock jocks and neo-conservatives, like Michael Savage, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter and the likes, have not gone that far, it is safe to say, they too are not happy to be serving under the leadership of a Black President.

Obama enters the White House with an approval ratings equal to those achieved, momentarily, by George W. Bush in the wake of 9/11. The nation as a whole is upbeat and optimistic about it future again.

Whether the white supremest like it or not, Barack Obama is the President of the United States of America. As such, every American should pray for his success because the alternative is to dreadful to imagine.

White supremacy is truly a mental disorder.

"My hope, and please understand me when I say this. I disagree fervently with the people on our side of the aisle who have caved and who say, 'Well, I hope he succeeds. We've got to give him a chance.' Why? They didn't give Bush a chance in 2000. Before he was inaugurated, the search-and-destroy mission had begun. I'm not talking about search-and-destroy, but I've been listening to Barack Obama for a year-and-a-half. I know what his politics are. I know what his plans are, as he has stated them. I don't want them to succeed."

"I hope Obama fails. Somebody's gotta say it."
Rush Limbaugh

NSA spied on journalists, other Americans 24/7

By Doug Thompson

Russell Tice, a former analyst for the uber-secret National Security Agency, says former President George W. Bush's warrantless wiretapping program including spying on millions of Americans, including journalists, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Read more...

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On the Money Trail: Lobbyists Are People Too, Reid Says

By BRIAN ROSS. JUSTIN ROOD, and AVNI PATEL

Obama Pledged to Ban Lobbyists, but Senate Leader Says They're "Part of Washington"

In his historic speech Tuesday morning, President Barack Obama said the era of "protecting narrow interests" is over - an echo of his campaign promise that lobbyists and special interests
would lose their clout in his White House. But lobbyists still have defenders in Washington D.C., including one of Obama's most powerful allies, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada). Read more...


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Obama Freezes Salaries of Some White House Aides

President Barack Obama's first public act in office Wednesday was to institute new limits on lobbyists in his White House and to freeze the salaries of high-paid aides, in a nod to the country's economic turmoil. Announcing the moves while attending a ceremony in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to swear in his staff, Obama said the steps "represent a clean break from business as usual." The pay freeze, first reported by The Associated Press, would hold salaries at their current levels for the roughly 100 White House employees who make over $100,000 a year. "Families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington," said the new president, taking office amid startlingly bad economic times that many fear will grow worse. Read more...

Political leaders moving continent towards a United States of Africa

By Saeed Shabazz

Analysts are also saying that more African nations are moving towards stability and peace; the African Union has asserted itself as a regional diplomatic and peacekeeping force; and there are signs of a growing middle class throughout the continent. Mobile phones and the internet are also revolutionizing how Africans communicate throughout the continent.

Akbar Muhammad, journalist, author and director of the African Middle East Literary Association calls this the era of a new “African Renaissance.” “There is a new leadership emerging, coming out from behind the shadows of the old,” Mr. Muhammad told The Final Call. Read more...

Noam Chomsky Defends Hamas, Linkens Israel To Nazi Germany

By Elijah Jordan Turner

Chomsky's solution to the decades-long conflict requires the United States to join the rest of the international community in condemning Israel for its actions against civilians. Indeed, he stated that although Hamas rocket attacks have been criminal, the Israeli use of force in the ongoing conflict has not been justified because there are alternative options. "Israel has a straightforward route to defending itself: end criminal actions in the occupied territories", he said. Among other things, Chomsky hopes Israel will end the blockade on Gaza and accept offers by Arab neighbors to establish a Palestinian state on borders close to the Green Line. Concluding, he said a Israeli military victory in Gaza would leave Israel with an image as a "blood-stained monster." "Supporters of Israel are in reality supporters of its moral degeneration," he said. Read more...

US Government complicit in Palestinian Genocide. High-tech oppression & murder

The Federal Reserve Abolition Act - Let's read this one more time

By Stephen Lendman

"Since the creation of the Federal Reserve, middle and working-class Americans have been victimized by a boom-and-bust monetary policy. In addition, most Americans have suffered a steadily eroding purchasing power because of the Federal Reserve's inflationary policies. This represents a real, if hidden, tax imposed on the American people...." "It is time for the Congress to put the interests of the American people ahead of the special interests. Abolishing the Federal Reserve will allow Congress to reassert its constitutional authority over monetary policy." "Abolishing the Federal Reserve and returning to a constitutional system (as mandated) will enable America to return to the type of monetary system envisioned by our nation's founders: one where the value of money is consistent because it is tied to a commodity such as gold....I urge my colleagues (to co-sponsor) my legislation to abolish the Federal Reserve." - Ron Paul

December 28, 2008 "Baltimore Chronicle" -- On June 15, 2007, Ron Paul introduced HR 2755: Federal Reserve Abolition Act. There were no co-sponsors, no further action was taken, and the legislation was
referred to the House Committee on Financial Services and effectively pigeonholed and ignored. Read more...

Zeitgeist - The Movie: Federal Reserve (Part 1 of 5)

Jewish editor sacked for publishing article

Judith Stone

In Hertzl's 'The Jewish State' the father of Zionism said: "We must investigate and take possession of the new Jewish country by means of every modern expedient." I guess I agree with Ehud Barak ( 3 June 1998) when he said, "If I were a Palestinian, I'd also join a terror group." I'd go a step further perhaps. Rather than throwing little stones in desperation, I'd hurdle a boulder. Hopefully, somewhere deep inside, every Jew of conscience knows that this was no war; that this was not God's restitution of the holy land to its rightful owners. We know that a human atrocity was and continues to be perpetuated against an innocent people who couldn't come u p with the arms and money to defend themselves against the western powers bent upon their demise as a people. Read more...

Anti-Semitic Jews or Voices of Truth - Is Israel Setup for Destruction 5

Deadliest weapon so far... the plague

By ALEX WEST

At least 40 al-Qaeda fanatics died horribly after being struck down with the disease that devastated Europe in the Middle Ages

The killer bug, also known as the plague, swept through insurgents training at a forest camp in Algeria, North Africa. It came to light when security forces found a body by a roadside.

The victim was a terrorist in AQLIM (al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb), the largest and most powerful al-Qaeda group outside the Middle East.

It trains Muslim fighters to kill British and US troops.

Now al-Qaeda chiefs fear the plague has been passed to other terror cells — or Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. Read more....

What Lies Ahead for Obama -- And the Rest of the World

By David Corn

With over a million exhilarated Americans filling the space between the civic shrines of the Capitol and the Washington Monument on the National Mall, President Barack Obama, in the first American inaugural address delivered by a black man, acknowledged the enthusiasm and hope he and his victory have inspired, but his speech was not overly celebratory. Instead, he attempted to guide the nation into what promises, due to circumstances heretofore beyond his control, to be a somber time and a trying presidency. Read more...

Facebook and Twitter Are Reshaping Journalism As We Know It

By Rory O'Connor

Rory O'Connor: With slumping public approval, journalism is facing a crisis of trust. We're looking at how people can find and share credible news and information in hopes of regaining this trust. Do you think Facebook plays a role in this process at all? If so, how?

Randi Zuckerberg: The concept of "the trusted referral" is integral to the success of content sharing on Facebook. We've found that it is tremendously more powerful to get a piece of content -- an article, a news clip, a video, etc -- from a friend, and it makes you much more likely to watch, read, and engage with the content. Read more...

MLK: Why I Cannot Be Silent

By Martin Luther King, Jr.

As we face possible military escalation in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere, King's speech against the Vietnam war is more relevant than ever.  Read more...

1968 - Martin Luther King's Prophetic Last speech - Remember