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Canada in Haiti, Part I (video)http://www.dominionpaper.ca/haiticonference

Demonstrators condemn US relief and reconstruction plans at Montreal conference.Outside the conference, community organizations and members of the Haitian diaspora in Canada questioned the US military role in the relief efforts. The demonstrators expressed skepticism that the international powers who have coordinated humanitarian efforts will respect Haitian sovereignty and interests during reconstruction.

Venezuelans Wary of Destabilization Acts http://insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2010/january/28/latam-10012801.htm

Venezuelan youth, students, and workers keep watch of destabilizing actions encouraged by the opposition in the last days, and are ready to hold peaceful mobilizations to reject them."We are on the alert because the streets are ours, of the revolutionaries, and not of traditional parties that use students as cannon fodder for their political ambitions," said the youth director of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, Carlos Sierra.

In statements to Prensa Latina, Sierra accused politicians of the so called Fourth Republic (1959-1999) and some collage sectors of being behind the violent events that left two people dead, several policemen hurt and material damages. We denounce them for using students and adolescents to make destabilization actions, just like they did on the 2002 coup against President Hugo Chavez, he warned.

According to the leader, opposition radical sectors want death and violence, because they know they have no chances to defeat Chavez in the elections. They want to cause destabilization to end with the Bolivarian Revolution, because they cannot do it with the vote. That is why young people, women, and workers are ready to defend the socialist project, he added.Meanwhile, the opposition announced new anti-government protests, using the interruption of the RCTV private channel as pretext.

Controversial political party ADN banned http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/7892-controversial-political-party-adn-banned.html

Colombia's National Electoral Council on Thursday suspended the legal status of controversial new political party ADN.According to the electoral authority, the party violated regulations when it transformed existing party Colombia Viva into the National Democratic Alliance.ADN was heavily criticized by the press and political opponents of the Uribista party for its ties to "dirty" politicians and its alleged financing by drug gangs.

CIP Analysts Look at Obama's First Year http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6669

Adam Isacson, director of the CIP Colombia Program, puts it bluntly: "In both personnel and policy, the Obama administration closely resembled the Bush administration on Colombia last year."Head of the Cuba Program, Wayne Smith, concurs. "We'd hoped for a new approach. We haven't got it. Obama lifted restrictions on Cuban-American travel and remittances and has allowed a few more Cuban officials and cultural figures to come to the United States, but that is about it. The same attitudes that drove the Bush administration regarding Cuba seem to be present in Obama."

Moving to the U.S.-Mexico border, Tom Barry, director of our Transborder Project, calls the Obama policies to date "politically opportunistic, financially wasteful, and predictably ineffective.""Border security programs at the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice are largely comprised of pork-barrel projects for local law enforcement, Border Patrol, and other federal law enforcement that continue the failed drug war, crime war, and anti-immigrant campaigns."On immigration, Barry recognizes some differences from the Bush era, but gives the Obama administration a failing grade in its first year.

"Immigration policy has seen some marginal improvements over some crude Bush enforcement practices, but reflected overall institutionalization and increased funding of immigrant crackdown and imprisonment."From Mexico, Laura Carlsen notes that campaign promises have fallen by the wayside on issues crucial to the U.S.-Mexico relationship. "Candidate Obama promised a major restructuring of relations in the region, including a renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and a less militarized approach. Instead NAFTA has not been reviewed, despite the crushing economic crisis in Mexico and widespread unemployment in the United States and demands from civil society organizations."

"In the failed drug war, the Obama administration even one-upped the Bush administration by asking for and receiving supplemental appropriations for military equipment to the Mexican Armed Forces. The United States' relationship with one of its closest and most strategic allies is now nearly 100% defense-driven."

comment-there are some statements in this report,wich i am not in agreement with,mainly this>Isacson notes that "the administration did differ with the Bush approach in a few respects. The executive branch stopped pushing Congress to ratify a free trade agreement signed in 2006. President Uribe, to whom Bush awarded the Medal of Freedom in January 2009, was not as warmly praised by Obama. During Uribe's visit to the White House in June, Obama mentioned human rights concerns and pointedly indicated discomfort with Uribe's effort to seek a third term. That would not have happened under Bush."

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A War Against Human Rights and the Environment Obama's War for Oil in Colombia http://www.counterpunch.org/kovalik01272010.html

This past summer, President Obama announced that he had signed an agreement with Colombia to grant the U.S. military access to 7 military bases in Colombia. As the Guardian explained, this announcement caused outrage in neighboring Latin American nations and “damaged Barack Obama's attempt to mend relations with the region.”This announcement also angered human and labor rights advocates in both the U.S. and Colombia as the U.S. was now solidifying a cozier military alliance with by far the worst labor and human rights abuser in the Western Hemisphere. The human rights nightmare in Colombia, fueled by billions of dollars of U.S. military assistance, includes the forced internal displacement of nearly 4 million civilians 

As for the extra-judicial killings by the Colombian military, these were carried out as part of the “false positive” scandal – a controversy involving the military murdering civilians and then dressing them up to look like guerillas in order to increase their body count numbers, thereby guaranteeing further U.S. aid. That scandal deepened earlier this month when 31 Colombian soldiers awaiting trial for their role in the killings were released from prison because of the Colombian government’s failure to indict them in a timely fashion.While the U.S. has claimed for years that it is fighting a drug war in Colombia, though having to sheepishly admit year after year that its ostensible efforts have not yielded any decrease whatsoever in the amount of coca grown in Colombia or cocaine exported to the U.S., the real reason for the war has always been the control of Colombia’s rich oil resources.

Indeed, at a Congressional hearing in 2000, entitled “Drugs and Social Policy in Colombia” – a hearing to debate the relative merits of Clinton’s new Plan Colombia, pursuant to which the U.S. has sent billions of dollars of military assistance to Colombia – one of the key witnesses invited to testify in support of this policy was none other than Lawrence Meriage, the Vice-President of Occidental Petroleum. Not surprisingly, Mr. Meriage had nothing to say about drugs or social policy in Colombia, but a lot to say about the need for military assistance to protect his oil pipelines.Now, according to a January 19, 2010 Bloomberg article, “The Export-Import Bank of the United States [a U.S. government agency] announced Jan. 19 its approval of a $1 billion preliminary commitment to help finance the sale of goods and services from various U.S. exporters to Ecopetrol S.A., Colombia’s national oil company.” It should be noted that Ecopetrol is a business partner with L.A.-based Occidental Petroleum.

Citing an industry expert, the Bloomberg article goes on to explain that “Ecopetrol is being aggressive in exploration and production,” and that, with the help of the financing from the Export-Import Bank, “Ecopetrol will almost double to 1 million barrels daily by 2015 as the company drills more wells in Colombia and neighboring South American nations.” As a November 12, 2009 press release from the human rights group Amazon Watch explained, Ecopetrol is currently engaged in oil exploration on the sacred land of the U’wa indigenous peoples and against their wishes. A spokesperson for the U’Wa explained that, as is invariably the case, with Ecopetrol’s exploration and drilling comes the Colombian military, as well as paramilitaries, to protect Ecopetrol’s operations. 

As Ecopetrol’s own website indicates, it is also involved in oil exploration in Peru and Brazil. As for Peru, Survival International, a UK-based human rights group advocating for the rights of threatened indigenous tribes, warned last year that Ecopetrol’s exploration of the Peruvian Amazon jungle threatens hitherto uncontacted indigenous tribes whose very existence will be jeopardized by these operations. As Survival International explained, these uncontacted tribes are “exceedingly vulnerable to any contact with outsiders because of their lack of immunity to disease.” Prior contacts between companies and uncontacted tribes have resulted in the mortality of 50% of the tribe.While the current U.S. Administration seems bent on deepening its fatal ties to Colombia in the interest of oil, there is still an opportunity to derail this policy. Pursuant to the statute which created and regulates the U.S. Export-Import Bank, the President of the U.S.

(who, by a 1979 Executive Order, delegated such authority to the Secretary of State) may, after consultation with the House and Senate Committees on Banking, determine that an application for credit should be denied by the Bank if the extension of credit "clearly and importantly" impacts U.S. "policy in such areas as international terrorism, nuclear proliferation, environmental protection and human rights." 12 U.S.C. Sec. 635(2)(b)(1)(B). Clearly, the prelimimary decision to extend credit to Ecopetrol adversely impacts human rights and the environment and should be overturned as a result. A movement to halt this extension of credit on these grounds would be a worthy effort for the U.S. peace and solidarity groups. Similarly, there is still a chance to impede the U.S.’s decision to access 7 new military bases in Colombia. With the Administration reeling from the election results in Massachusetts last week, now is the time to try to shame it into reversing course on its predictably devastating policy in Colombia and the rest of Latin America.

comment-now consider what you just read above now read this below ...

US to strengthen commercial relations with Colombia: Obama http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/economy/7890-us-to-strengthen-commercial-relations-with-colombia-obama.html

United States President Barack Obama said in his State of the Union speech on Wednesday that his administration seeks to "strengthen trade relations" with Colombia, without explicitly mentioning a free trade pact."We have to seek new markets aggressively, just as our competitors are. If America sits on the sidelines while other nations sign trade deals, we will lose the chance to create jobs on our shores. But realizing those benefits also means enforcing those agreements so our trading partners play by the rules.

And that's why we'll continue to shape a Doha trade agreement that opens global markets, and why we will strengthen our trade relations in Asia and with key partners like South Korea and Panama and Colombia," Obama said in a State of the Union speech focused mostly on the U.S. economy.Colombia is waiting for the U.S. Congress to ratify a free trade pact as agreed by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and former U.S. President George W. Bush.Earlier this month, Carolina Branco, Colombia's ambassador to Washington, expressed she hoped this pact will be ratified this year, but the U.S. ambassador to Bogota, William Brownfield, then said this is unlikely.

comment-the US gov is not only cumplicit in the human rigths disaster in colombia but it attempts to maintain the relationship even in the face of overwhelming opposition and evidence implicating it.The push to claim it seeks good trade relations beteen colombia is an afront to the hundreds of human rigth organization,thousands of indigenous communities displaced,ngo's who are intimidatd,thousands of trade union eladers assasinated,and the whole wolrd who is well too awrae of this monstruous relationship between both countries.also see...URIBEWARCRIMINAL http://uribewarcriminal.blogspot.com/?zx=c4955564e7b834d

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2.4 million Colombians displaced under Uribe presidencyhttp://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/7882-24-million-colombians-displaced-under-uribe-presidency.html

Of the 4.9 million Colombians that have been forcefully displaced in the last 25 years, 2.4 million were displaced under the presidency of Alvaro Uribe and his "Democratic Security" policy, according to a recently published report.

The report, published by Codhes, a non-governmental organization dedicated to the study of Colombia's armed conflict, was released on Wednesday at a press conference aimed at analyzing Uribe's "Democratic Security" policy, which has been a focal point of his presidency.At the press conference, the director of Codhes, Jorge Enrique Rojas, claimed that in 2009 alone, "about 286,389 people were displaced," reported Colombian newspaper El Espectador.

Nariño, the report went on to explain, has seen the worst of it, "registering 56% of the total amount of mass displacement events."The department of Nariño is located on the boarder with Ecuador, and is home to the majority of Colombia's indigenous communities. It is the area most affected by Colombia's internal conflict, and has been the host to constant battles between the Colombian military and the FARC rebels.

comment-see...Army Suspected in Colombia Massacre http://us.oneworld.net/article/366368-army-suspected-colombia-massacreUnited States’ Policies in Columbia Support Mass Murder http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/3-united-states-policies-in-columbia-support-mass-murder/

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Report: Bush order allowing murder of US citizens abroad still in effect  http://current.com/http://rawstory.com/2010/01/report-bushs-order-allowing-murder-citizens-effect/

If a United States citizen was determined to have joined a foreign terrorist group, that person could be legally murdered under orders given by President George W. Bush after the 9/11 attacks.In spite of an administration change in Washington, D.C., that allowance is still in effect, according to a late-breaking report in The Washington Post on Tuesday.

comment-change,you can believe in...

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beloved_revo_sweetheart_malita Socialism for dummies: http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2010/01/26/socialism-for-dummies/

A quick rundown of America's misleading politic-economic labels and an excellent definition of the most maligned, and possible best, option we have for keeping some shred of the American Dream.

A community and national philosophy, a commonly shared and not necessarily politicized way of life wherein the first priority is the fundamental well-being of the people (also known as “the masses,” a term you have probably been programmed to wrinkle your brow in ominous suspicion of.) “Fundamental well-being” means that everyone eats well, enjoys safe and adequate homes and a common standard of good health. It means that children are educated to do more than just the rote tasks that serve corporate empires. It means the man actually doing the work man negotiates the value of his labor.

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Indigenous Peoples in El Salvador Commemorate 1932 Massacrehttp://upsidedownworld.org/main/el-salvador-archives-74/2338-indigenous-peoples-in-el-salvador-commemorate-1932-massacre-

Indigenous peoples in the western Salvadoran town of Izalco commemorated the 78th anniversary of the slaughter of 30 thousand indigenous people and peasants, killed during the popular uprising of 1932. During the dictatorship of General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, the dissatisfaction with the unfair distribution of wealth caused a social uprising. The dictatorship struck back, with one of the worst massacres of the continent on occurring on January 22,1932.

The killing, led by former President General Maximiliano, left almost thirty thousand dead, "the majority of whom were indigenous -who probably did not know [that the government considered them] communists- thus destroying much of a culture that now demands justice and recognition," says Montoya.

"After this massacre, the Indian community was greatly reduced in the country, many of them changed their habits for fear of being killed and many customs gradually waned into oblivion" recounted the spiritual guide "Tata" Juan.  78 years later, in a place known as "El Llanito" where many victims of the slaughter are buried, an indigenous ceremony was held to "pay tribute to all the fallen who died innocently." “Naja nusan matiguagua su 1932 matachiwa,” [We will never forget the martyrs of 1932] exclaimed indigenous priests in Nahuatl.

comment-guess who was backing maximiliano?thats rigth us government!!! see..General of El Salvadorhttp://wais.stanford.edu/USA/us_supportforladictators8303.html"It is a greater crime to kill an ant than a man," said General Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez, a firm believer in the occult "for when a man dies he becomes reincamated, while an ant dies forever." The official records of Hernandez Martinez's anti-communist purge of 1932 were removed from EI Salvador's National Library, but the massacres, which left 40,000 peasants dead and wiped out the country's Indian culture, remain etched on the nation's collective memory.A failed uprising organized by EI Salvador's Communist Party founder, Farabundo Marti, six weeks after Hernandez Martinez had seized power in a 1931 coup, sparked the General's crackdown on "communists." "Roadways and drainage ditches were littered with bodies," writes Raymond Bonner. "Hotels were raided; individuals with blond hair were dragged out and killed as suspected Russians. Men were tied thumb to thumb, then executed, tumbling into mass graves they had first been forced to dig." U.S. warships were stationed off-shore, ready to send in Marines to aid the General in case he ran into serious opposition.Hernandez Martinez was run out of the country in 1944, but his memory was celebrated as recently as 1980, when the Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez Brigade carried out a series of death-squad assassinations of prominent Salvadoran leftists. Farabundo Marti, killed during the purge, has also left a legacy: the rebels currently fighting the U.S. backed government of El Salvador call themselves the FMLN, the Farabundo Marti Liberation Front.

VIDEO-MUST SEE-part 1-OBAMA’S HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD http://www.youtube.com/user/TheRealNews

Obama's human rights record Pt.2http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=4748

Michael Ratner is President of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in New York. He has taught at Yale Law School, lectured at Columbia Law School, and was President of the National Lawyers Guild.

BASES, MISSILES, WARS U.S. CONSOLIDATES GLOBAL MILITARY NETWORK  http://fromthewilderness.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/bases-missiles-wars-u-s-consolidates-global-military-network/

Afghanistan is occupying center stage at the moment, but in the wings are complementary maneuvers to expand a string of new military bases and missile shield facilities throughout Eurasia and the Middle East. In the vacuum left in much of the world by the demise of the Cold War and the former bipolar world, the U.S. rushed in to insert its military in various parts of the world that had been off limits to it before. And this while Washington cannot even credibly pretend that it is threatened by any other nation on earth.

It has employed a series of tactics to accomplish its objective of unchallenged international armed superiority, using an expanding NATO to build military partnerships not only throughout Europe but in the Caucasus, the Middle East, North and West Africa, Asia and Oceania as well as employing numerous bilateral and regional arrangements.

Human Rights Advocates Given Maximum Federal Prison Sentences of Six Months for Direct Action Opposing the School of the Americas (SOA/WHINSEC) http://www.soaw.org/pressrelease.php?id=147

Judge Finds SOA Watch Activists Guilty for Carrying Protest against the SOA/WHINSEC onto Fort Benning, Issues Arrest Warrant for Michael Walli for Refusing to Appear for the Trial.On Monday, January 25, 2010, U.S. Magistrate G. Mallon Faircloth sentenced three human rights advocates to six months in federal prison for carrying a protest against the School of the Americas onto the Fort Benning military base in Georgia. This school, re-named the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, is a controversial U.S. Army training school for Latin American soldiers. 

Father Roy Bourgeois, a Roman Catholic priest and the founder of SOA Watch, the organization that works to close the School of the Americas said "Judge Faircloth has sentenced our sister and brothers to 6 months in federal prison for speaking the truth about the SOA/WHINSEC. We are saddened by the court's continued blindness and hardness of heart, but we are stronger than ever in solidarity. These sentences are symbolic of our nation's misdirection, but they are also great steps forward for our resistance movement. It is truer today, than ever before, that although they jail the resisters they have not, and cannot, jail the resistance!"

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BOLIVIA: Unprecedented Gender Parity in Cabinet http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50123 

"My great dream has come true: half of the members of my cabinet are women, and half are men," said a visibly moved Morales when he presented his new team of ministers Saturday, the day after he was sworn in to a second term.  "This was an impressive surprise," Jimena Leonardo, one of the heads of the Bartolina Sisa federation of peasant women of La Paz, told IPS.  Three of the 10 female members of the cabinet are indigenous social activists. 

The 50-year-old Morales, the first indigenous president in this country where Amerindians make up over 60 percent of the population, said that since his days as a rural trade union leader, he had stressed the need for women's participation in top posts to be "chacha-warmi", which means roughly fifty-fifty in Aymara, his mother tongue. Bolivia has thus become the second country in Latin America, after Chile, to have a cabinet with gender parity, said Mónica Novillo, head of advocacy and lobbying for the Coordinadora de la Mujer, a Bolivian umbrella organisation of more than 200 women's groups.

State Dept. Briefing – HAITI: Foreign Criticism of US – Spokesman Never Had A Chancehttp://hcvanalysis.wordpress.com/2010/01/26/state-dept-briefing-haiti-foreign-criticism-of-us-spokesman-never-had-a-chance/

Death threat to Colombian mothers  http://prensarural.org/spip/spip.php?article3533

The Mothers of Soacha and ombudsman himself of that suburb of Bogota, which have been coordinated to expose the crimes of the Colombian military called "false positives", yesterday denounced a campaign of terror against them for seeking the still missing children.Many suffer death threats through phone calls and flyers placed in mailboxes at their homes, demanding that they abandon their claim for clarification of the deaths of their children. 

Some 30 young unemployed (unemployed, note APR) from the town of Soacha were misled by brokers from the army to work on farms in the remote region of Santander. Their bodies were buried in mass graves then being shown by the military as guerrillas killed in combat "with the hope that the distance from his place of origin and their rapid burial as" NN "(No Nominees, ie not identified) would leave the crime unpunished. Through some evidence and his own, some families moved into the region of Santander and managed to identify their loved ones in a common grave. 

The discovery of this grave and, above all, the one discovered in La Macarena (Meta region), where it is estimated that there could be up to 2,000 "NN" in Colombia has revived the scandal over the disappearance of victims of conflict, most killed by the army and paramilitaries, buried in hundreds of clandestine graves scattered around the country, as acknowledged by the General Oscar Naranjo, chief of police and one of the figures overtures from the government of Álvaro Uribe. 

Practice "systematic"  Colombian human rights organizations and international and UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Philip Alston, have denounced the phenomenon. Alston said in his report that "the problem of false positives killing of civilians to pretend fighters were responsible is a systematic practice in the army." 

The cases of clandestine burials emerge every day. Iván Cepeda, spokesman for the Victims of Crimes of State, has denounced the existence of the remains of at least 1,500 people in various pits and municipalities like Puerto Santander Ocaña, victims of 42 massacres until 2004 by army-backed paramilitaries. 

Meanwhile, the 46 soldiers suspected of the killings, which rest on their garrisons, after being released without trial because the time limit prescribed for holding them without trial, had received during the weekend  a tribute "civil-military festival "that included" counseling, clowns and lunch with suckling pig, "reported El Tiempo newspaper yesterday. The feast was prepared by the Human Rights Department of the Armed Forces.

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US troops on medical mission in former FARC territory http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/7851-us-troops-offer-medical-assistance-in-south-colombia.html

U.S. troops on Monday began a medicaState Dept. Briefing – HAITI: Foreign Criticism of US – Spokesman Never Had A Chancel mission to San Vicente del Caguan, a city in the guerrilla-dominated Caqueta department in southern Colombia. According to newspaper La Nacion, the humanitarian mission, backed by the United States' Southern Command, is dubbed "Compromiso Colombia 2010," and is intended to help some 3,500 people in need of medical assistance in San Vicente del Caguan and La Macarena, Meta, just north of Caqueta.The mission offers free health care services to inhabitants of the region, which until recently had been FARC territory for decades.

comment-what a joke...US military sent in to give free healthcare in farc territory..lol for those who, like me have been keeping up with the situation down in colombia,know that us gov upgraded its yearly aid from around 600 million a year,to around 800 million this year,even with the numerous scandals,atrocities,genocide,displacement policies,false positives,illegal wiretapping,and gross human rigth violations that have made colombia the israel of south america,yet Uribe has not even built a hospital with this money.About a month ago he was begging us congress send american job corps down there to build them hospitals for FREE!!!Guess  this is how us can manage to mantain the relationship amidst the gross human rigth violations,by sending troops under humanitarian guise.

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State must pay $75,000 damages in 'false positive' case http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/7860-state-must-pay-75000-damages-in-qfalse-positiveq-case.html

The Colombian military on Tuesday was found guilty of another “false positive” murder, and the state must pay $75,000 in damages to the victim’s family.There are currently 1,900 "false positives" cases awaiting investigation in Colombia. Recently, the army's extrajudicial killing of eleven young men from Soacha, a working class neighborhood in Bogota, caused an outcry in Colombia. To date 38 soldiers facing trial for the Soacha murders have been released because of lapsed trial deadlines, angering the victims' families.

comment-keep in mind the false positive scandal literally involves thousands of such cases,where uribes army and its allies rigthwing paramilitaries killed thousands of innocent people then blamed them on farc and epl.Most of these peoples families will never receive justice nor any payments.

7 former DAS officials called to trial over illegal wiretaps  http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/7868-7-former-das-officials-called-to-trial-over-illegal-wiretaps.html

Colombia's Prosecutor General's Office on Tuesday called seven formed State intelligence officials to trial for their alleged responsibility in the illegal wiretapping of government opponents and human rights organizations.According to the PG's Office, the DAS officials "organized the G3 unit that dedicated to commit crimes against human rights organizations and their directors, journalists and political leaders" after the founding of the special unit in 2004.

UNESCO: Venezuela surpassed millennium goals in educational matters http://www.abn.info.ve/go_news5.php?articulo=217408&lee=17

Venezuela sends fifth shipment with 10 tons of food and water to Haiti http://www.abn.info.ve/go_news5.php?articulo=217364&lee=17

KASAB FRAMED BY ISRAELIS? http://aangirfan.blogspot.com/2010/01/kasab-framed-by-israelis.html

Mumbai suspect Ajmal Kasab claims he was framed by Israelis. And by India's secret service (RAW).Ajmal Kasab alleges that the TV footage recorded by a Pakistani channel GeoTV (which was shown in the special court) "was made at the behest of RAW and Israeli officials."Kasab said he learnt this from some crime branch officials. (Kasab now claims RAW accused him of spying )On 25 December 2010, The Washington Post reports that Mumbai suspect Ajmal Kasab "told the judge he came to Mumbai as a tourist and was arrested 20 days before the siege began.

"On the day the attacks started, Kasab said police took him from his cell because he resembled one of the gunmen."They then shot him to make it look as if he had been involved in the attacks and re-arrested him..." (Mumbai gunman demands trial by international court )Ajmal Kasab claims that the the Indian secret service, RAW, took him into custody on 6 November 2008, and later handed him over to the Mumbai police.

UK Government Classifies Eco Activists as 'Extremists' Alongside Al Qaeda http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/01/uk-government-classifies-eco-activists-extremists-al-qaeda.php

Some disturbing news has just surfaced in the UK--it appears that its Ministry of Justice has taken to listing environmental protesters and activists alongside al Qaeda terrorists in its system for classifying 'extremists'. The British newspaper the Guardian made the unsettling discovery when it gained access to some internal documents from the government.

This 'guidance' evidently highlights "environmental extremists" as belonging to the same group as dissident Irish republicans, loyalist paramilitaries, and al-Qaeda-inspired extremists.

VIDEO-The Value Of Nothing - Raj Patel http://www.commondreams.org/video/2010/01/26-0

"Opening with Oscar Wilde’s observation that “nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing,” Patel shows how our faith in prices as a way of valuing the world is misplaced. He reveals the hidden ecological and social costs of a hamburger (as much as $200), and asks how we came to have markets in the first place. Both the corporate capture of government and our current financial crisis, Patel argues, are a result of our democratically bankrupt political system."

Elected Officials give themselves a raise, in this economy! http://jasontcpa.blogspot.com/2009/01/elected-officials-give-themselves-raise.html

From his office, the only bills signed in the first two weeks include: Senate Bill 001 – Act 1 (Senators' Expense Funding) House Bill 1001 – Act 2 (Representatives' Expense Funding) House Concurrent Resolution 1 (Adopting this year’s Rules) House & Senate Concurrent Resolution 2 (Giving the legislature a four day weekend for their first weekend on the job) House Bill 1061 - Act 3 (Next year’s pay raises for Constitutional Officers).