Israel Stands Ready to Bomb Iran's Nuclear Sites

by Sheera Frenkel

The Israeli military is preparing itself to launch a massive aerial assault on Iran's nuclear facilities within days of being given the go-ahead by its new government.

Among the steps taken to ready Israeli forces for what would be a risky raid requiring pinpoint aerial strikes are the acquisition of three Airborne Warning and Control (AWAC) aircraft and regional missions to simulate the attack. Read more...

Black Men on Death Row, Evidence of Amerikkka's Racist (In)Justice System

Federal court rejects Troy Davis' appeal

The federal appeals court in Atlanta on Thursday rejected death-row inmate Troy Anthony Davis' bid for a new trial on claims he did not kill a Savannah police officer in 1989. In a 2-1 opinion, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Davis could not establish by clear and convincing evidence a jury would not have found him guilty.

Mumia Abu-Jamal Speaks from Death Row about His Case, Prison Reform and “Jailhouse Lawyers”

Last week, the Supreme Court denied his appeal to overturn his conviction for the 1981 killing of a white police officer following a controversial trial before a predominantly white jury. Abu-Jamal contends, as well as a number of [inaudible], that the case was marred with racial bias, including the deliberate exclusion of African Americans from the jury. The decision leaves in place a federal appeals court ruling upholding Abu-Jamal’s conviction. Prosecutors, meanwhile, are now trying to appeal a separate ruling for a new sentencing hearing because of flawed jury instructions. If re-sentenced, Abu-Jamal will face the death penalty or life in prison without parole.

Gov. Rick Perry: Texas Could Secede, Leave Union, more states could follow

"There's a lot of different scenarios," Perry said. "We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if
Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we're a pretty independent lot to boot."  Read more...

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Terror memos authorized harsh interrogation techniques

By Warren Richey

Obama releases four secret memos detailing detainee treatment under Bush. Human rights groups slam his promise not to prosecute intelligence officials.

The Obama administration will not prosecute US intelligence officials involved in harsh interrogations of terror suspects, the president pledged on Thursday.

The assurance came as the Justice Department released four secret memos used during the Bush presidency offering legal justification for interrogation techniques that human rights experts classify as torture, such as waterboarding.  Read more...

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Fed Chairman Says Minorites Need to Strengthen Their Financial Literacy

By Casey Gane-McCalla

During an expansive Q-and-A session with Morehouse students after his speech, Bernanke was asked about the household wealth gap between whites and blacks in America.

“It’s absolutely right the difference between minority and white wealth is very significant, and part of that is related to income levels where whites have a higher average income,” Bernanke said. “But even if you control for income level, you find minorities have gathered less wealth.” Read more...

Obama administration issues warning over rightwing extremists

Ewen MacAskill

Leaked homeland security memo says radicals may recruit Iraq and Afghanistan veterans

The Obama administration has issued a chilling warning to US police forces about the threat of a rise in violent rightwing extremist groups fuelled by recession, the return of disgruntled army veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, and hostility over the election of the first black president.

The internal report, which was not meant for publication, was drawn up by the department of homeland security, set up after the 9/11 attacks to co-ordinate internal security. Read more...

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India's 'Green Revolution' is heading for collapse.

by Daniel Zwerdling

When India's government launched the Green Revolution more than 40 years ago, it pressured farmers to grow only high-yield wheat, rice and cotton instead of their traditional mix of crops.

The new miracle seeds could produce far bigger yields than farmers had ever seen, but they came with a catch: The thirsty crops needed much more water than natural rainfall could provide, so farmers had to dig wells and irrigate with groundwater. Read more...

Home births 'as safe as hospital'

The largest study of its kind has found that for low-risk women, giving birth at home is as safe as doing so in hospital with a midwife.

Research from the Netherlands - which has a high rate of home births - found no difference in death rates of either mothers or babies in 530,000 births. Read more...

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America's Imperial Wars: We Need to See the Horrors

By Dave Lindorff

The project opened my eyes to something that had never occurred to me: my country's army was killing civilians. And it wasn't just killing them. It was killing them, and maiming them, in ways that were almost unimaginable in their horror: napalm, phosphorus, anti-personnel bombs that threw out spinning flechettes that ripped through the flesh like tiny buzz saws. I learned that scientists like what I at the time wanted to become were actually working on projects to make these weapons even more lethal, for example trying to make napalm more sticky so it would burn longer on exposed flesh. » Read full article

TRADE: ''EPAs Will Prevent African States From Achieving MDGs''

By Stanley Kwenda

The economic partnerships agreements (EPAs) will push African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries ''deeper'' into poverty and negatively affect the livelihoods of people living in ACP countries. These trade deals ''will prevent'' African countries from achieving the United Nations' millennium development goals (MDGs).

Several speakers at a two-day workshop on EPAs in Johannesburg, South Africa, were in agreement that the EPAs will do more harm than good to ACP countries. The workshop happened on Mar 6-7 and was arranged by the Economic Justice Network (EJN), the economic and social arm of the Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa (FOCCISSA). » Read full article

Cybersecurity Act would give president power to 'shut down' Internet

Greg Fulton

The bill's draft states that "the president may order a cybersecurity emergency and order the limitation or shutdown of Internet traffic" and would give the government ongoing access to "all relevant data concerning (critical infrastructure) networks without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule, or policy restricting such access." Authored by Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine, the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 seeks to create a Cybersecurity Czar to centralize power now held by the Pentagon, National Security Agency, Department of Commerce and the Department of Homeland Security. » Read full article

Analysis: Somalia Piracy Began in Response to Illegal Fishing and Toxic Dumping by Western Ships off Somali Coast

President Obama vowed an international crackdown to halt piracy off the coast of Somalia Monday soon after the freeing of US cargo ship captain Richard Phillips, who had been held hostage by Somali pirates since last Wednesday. While the pirates story has dominated the corporate media, there has been little to no discussion of the root causes driving piracy. We speak with consultant and analyst Mohamed Abshir Waldo. In January, he wrote a paper titled “The Two Piracies in Somalia: Why the World Ignores the Other?”

MOHAMED ABSHIR WALDO: Well, the two piracies are the original one, which was foreign fishing piracy by foreign trawlers and vessels, who at the same time were dumping industrial waste, toxic waste and, it also has been reported, nuclear waste. Most of the time, we feel it’s the same fishing vessels, foreign fishing vessels, that are doing both. That was the piracy that started all these problems.

» Read more...

Decline in blacks in prison for drug crimes reverses 25-year trend

By Alexandra Marks

Reduced crack use and criminal justice reforms may have contributed to the 20 percent drop.

For the first time in a quarter century, the number of African-Americans incarcerated for drug offenses in state prisons has declined more than 20 percent while the number of white imprisoned drug offenders has increased more than 40 percent.

The decline took place over a six year period from 1999 to 2005 and reflects fundamental changes in the so-called "war on drugs"... Read more...

Noam Chomsky on the Global Economic Crisis, Healthcare, US Foreign Policy and Resistance to American Empire

“As far as policy is concerned, unless [Obama] is under a lot of pressure from activist sectors, he’s not going to go beyond what he’s presented himself as in actual policy statements or cabinet choices and so on: a centrist Democrat [who’s] going to basically continue Bush’s polices, maybe in a more modulated way,” says Chomsky. Read more and watch program…

Obama Lifts Ban on Travel to Cuba, Money Transfers

By Kim Chipman and Hans Nichols

President Barack Obama is lifting all travel limits for Cuban-Americans to Cuba, part of a larger set of policy changes aimed at promoting freedom in the communist island nation.

Obama is also ending restrictions on how much money Cuban- Americans can send family members, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters today. U.S. telecommunications companies can now apply for licenses to operate in Cuba, easing the commercial embargo against the country, a move that an administration statement said may enable them to provide television and mobile-phone service in Cuba. Read more...

Obama Administration announces easing of Cuba restrictions

Microchip Monitors Patient Drug Regimen

Two major drug firms are pushing for new technology that would allow the development of digestible microchips that can inform doctors whether or not their patients have been taking their pills as instructed.

Supporters of the new ingestible event markers (IEMs) technology say it would offer help for patients who are elderly or those who take drugs for mental conditions on a regular basis. Read more...

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1st 100% SOLAR-POWERED CITY In Florida!

Real estate developer Kitson Partners today announced a landmark agreement with electric utility Florida Power & Light to build the world's largest solar photovoltaic power plant at Babcock Ranch, Florida - making it the world's first city powered by solar energy. With Congress debating energy policy and the economy shedding jobs at a record pace, the Kitson-FPL deal will start the city on a path to create 20,000 permanent jobs. Read more...

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