By Kevin MacDonald | Occidental Observer | June 19, 2013

By Ron Paul | June 23, 2013

Last week the Taliban opened an office in Doha, Qatar with the US government’s blessing. They raised the Taliban flag at the opening ceremony and referred to Afghanistan as the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”—the name they used when they were in charge before the US attack in 2001.

"When we allow science to become political then we are lost. We will enter the Internet version of the Dark Ages, an era of stifling fears and wild prejudices, transmitted to people who don’t know any better." (Michael Crichton)

"When we allow science to become political then we are lost. We will enter the Internet version of the Dark Ages, an era of stifling fears and wild prejudices, transmitted to people who don’t know any better." (Michael Crichton)

Tomorrow, Jim DeMint's radical right Senate Conservative Fund will begin it's advertising campaign against Senate Minority Leader Mitch ("Miss") McConnell. No, they're not trying to help Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes or community leader Ed Marksberry, both Democrats, beat McConnell. And they're not just trying to throw a noisy tantrum. What they are trying to do is to get McConnell to change his already horrible behavior.

It is now Sunday, and it is time again for my weekly rant...Yes, I have been semi- "Missing In Action" the last while.... I have been spending more time lately taking care of personal and family business, and working at getting myself into better shape..  I have long been a proponent of the idea that a "Healthy body makes for a healthy mind"... With that, this blog has fallen a bit by the wayside, and there have been fewer articles lately... But like I have said before, I am not quitting...

This news caught my eye. Leaving out the spin because I don't want CBS telling me how to think about this situation.

Welcome back to The Asia-Pacific Perspective, that monthly show where James Corbett of corbettreport.com and Broc West of apperspective.net break down all the latest news and headlines from the Asia-Pacific region. This month:

By now we are all familiar with the concept of ‘surveillance.’ In the Orwellian tyranny of the new normal, we are all gradually being made aware that we are living in a panoptic society where everything we do and say is being watched and recorded. So what is the answer to this constant surveillance? Why not use the surveillance technology to keep tabs on what the government is doing? Welcome to the world of sousveillance. Join us today on The Corbett Report as we explore this concept and the grassroots revolution in citizen media that it has made possible.

RIA Novosti | June 22, 2013

MOSCOW – Moscow made a new attempt to dodge a $4-billion lawsuit from Tehran over a failed deal to supply S-300 missile systems by offering another type of air defense system to Iran, Kommersant daily said Saturday.

RT | June 23, 2013

US government has been hacking Chinese mobile operator networks to intercept millions of text messages, as well as the operator of region’s fibre optic cable network, South China Morning Post writes citing Edward Snowden.
More information on National Security Agency activity in China and Hong Kong has been revealed by SCMP on Sunday, shedding light on statements Snowden made in an interview on June 12.

Not the New Dem who called me... but it could have beenA congressman who I used to talk to a few years ago-- before he was a congressman-- called me Friday. He said he felt badly because of the stuff I've been writing about him. I haven't really been writing about him much-- just reporting (usually without comment and never with any pejorative language) his ghastly votes. He said he felt bad because he likes me. I told him I felt bad because I like him.

By Dennis J Bernstein | Consortium News | June 21, 2013

In early 2003, as the U.S. and British governments were seeking international acquiescence to their aggressive war on Iraq, an unexpected cog thrown into the propaganda machine was the disclosure that the National Security Agency was spying on UN Security Council members in search of blackmail material.

By Katitza Rodriguez | EFF | June 21, 2013

By Greg Felton | June 23, 2013

In the wee hours of June 17, 1972, a security guard at the Watergate Hotel found some door latches taped over to prevent them from locking. He removed the tape but later found it had been replaced. He called Washington D.C. police, who proceeded to catch five “burglars” conducting an illegal surveillance operation inside the office of the Democratic National Committee. As it happened, the name of President Richard Nixon’s White House security consultant E. Howard Hunt was in the address book of two of the burglars.

Michael Hastings was killed on Tuesday by the US government. His death puts the lie to the claim that spending 80 billion dollars a year on National Security makes us safe. Maybe he would have lived longer if the NSA did not have a copy of all our phone calls and emails.

Tony takes care of business in "College" (Season 1, Episode 5).by KenIt so happens that a couple of nights before word reached us that James Gandolfini had died of a heart attack in Rome at 51, I watched most of a Sopranos episode that I happened to notice on one of the HBO channels.

At least 55 people were killed and 69 more were wounded across the country. Two Syrian militants were killed during a border clash with Iraqi security forces. Most of the attacks against civilians and local police occurred north of Baghdad, while clashes that killed gunmen and military forces took place to the east and west.

There's almost no topic I can't somehow turn into a tirade against some corrupt conservative-- if not Boehner, Cantor, Bachmann Ted Cruz or Miss McConnell then Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Rahm Emanuel, John Barrow or Steve Israel. But we're not going to even try tonight. This post is too important on its own for that; it's about where we spend our money. After I stopped living in my vehicle-- VW camper vans-- I always bought used Mercury Comets and Ford Fairlanes. Awesome cars.

RIA Novosti | June 22, 2013

MOSCOW – Any upcoming treaties on nuclear arms reductions will have to involve all countries that have atomic weapons at their disposal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday.

RT | June 22, 2013

A tank containing highly radioactive waste may be leaking into the soil at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation (the US’s most contaminated nuclear site) in Washington state, employees have told media.
State and federal officials are investigating reports that workers detected elevated radioactivity levels under tank AY-102 during a routine inspection on Thursday.

Lets be brutally honest here... The US Barry Soetoro administration are LIARS, plain and simple.. They are still continuing to harp about the absolutely false claim that the Syrian government under Assad has used chemical weapons on its people, when all of the evidence shows that it has been the US/Israeli bought and paid for mercenary "rebels" that have used US produced chemical weapons on Syrian civilians!

Webster G. Tarpley Ph.D. TARPLEY.net – World Crisis Radio June 22, 2013 [download audio]

Roland's visiting the ancestral homeland this week, Maine. He just called me and told me Democratic Rep. Mike Michaud might as well move into Blaine House now because no one in Maine wants another minute of the state being embarrassed by their accidental governor, Paul LePage.

By Saed Bannoura | IMEMC | June 22, 2013

The Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Kufur Qaddoum village, near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia, reported Friday that dozens of Israeli soldiers attacked the weekly nonviolent protest, wounding four residents, and kidnapped reporters of the official Palestine TV.

Press TV – June 22, 2013

The US special representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan has arrived in Qatari capital city of Doha to hold controversial peace talks with the Taliban militants.
James Dobbins, the US envoy in charge of nascent dialogue with the group, arrived in Doha on Saturday after the militants opened an office in the Persian Gulf Arab monarchy.

Eric sits down with filmmaker, author, and visual artist Antonino D’Ambrosio to discuss his new film Let Fury Have the Hour – an amazing film that examines the relationship between art, politics, and the fight to own the future.  Antonino discusses his formative political experiences and his journey to filmmaking and art, explaining how punk music, hip hop, skateboarding, and a host of other “subversive” forms of expression helped shaped his own world-view.

Hezbollah’s Palestinian problem………and vice versa

Franklin Lamb  – intifada-palestine.com
 

AFP – June 22, 2013

TEL AVIV — A new Israel-based 24-hour TV news channel broadcasting in English, French and Arabic is to go on air on July 1, its CEO says. [...]
With 150 journalists on its staff, i24 news aims “to decode the world news from the heart of the Middle East,” he said. [...]
Finance will come mainly from Franco-Israeli businessman and telecoms tycoon Patrick Drahi.

Sam Nunn (L), Michelle Nunn (R)Virginia Republicans who weren't paying close enough attention are still wondering how their party got saddled with such radical extremists at the top of their ticket. Neo-fascist Ken Cuccinelli and certifiably insane sociopath E.W. Jackson are not going to attract any of the independent swing voters Virginia Republicans need to win statewide, not even against a Democratic candidate as patently unattractive as Terry McAuliffe.

Al-Akhbar | June 22, 2013

Qatar’s prime minister said on Saturday the only way to resolve the civil war in Syria was to arm rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad.
“Force is necessary to achieve justice. And the provision of weapons is the only way to achieve peace in Syria’s case,” Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani told ministers from Western and Arab states who support the Islamist rebels determined to overthrow the Syrian government.

Ministry of Defence of Georgia
June 22, 2013
Course closing ceremony

The Basic Mountain Training Summer Course has officially finished at the Sachkhere Mountain Training School today.
A solemn closing ceremony of the course was held at the drill ground of the Sachkhere School. Trainings and Military Education Commander LTC Shalva Bajelidze and U.S diplomats attended the ceremony.

Russian Information Agency Novosti
June 22, 2012
US Boosts Military Presence in Jordan after Exercises

WASHINGTON: Along with US with missiles and fighter jets, about 700 US troops will remain in Jordan after training exercises which ended this week, US President Barack Obama said in his letter to the Congress.

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Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
Louis Aragon: Children scattering flowers will some day scatter deadly flowers, grenades

By Kurt Opsahl and Mark Rumold | EFF | June 21, 2013

Boehnerland, the community of revolving door K Street lobbyists who run the House Republican caucus through their man John, is very troubled this week. The unexpected defeat of the Farm Bill has shaken up the lobbyist community to its core.

Al-Akhbar | June 22, 2013

At least 12 rockets fired from Syria struck a Lebanese border village Saturday, hitting some homes but causing no injuries in the latest attack on Lebanon by suspected rebels, state news reported.
Lebanon’s National News Agency said rockets struck the homes Mohammed Kouja, Walid Kouja, and Taj Eddeine in the northern Akkar village of Dababiyeh.

RT | June 21, 2013

President Barack Obama announced Friday afternoon that he’s selected James Comey to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Comey, 52, worked as the deputy attorney general for the United States under President George W. Bush and will replace outgoing FBI Director Robert Mueller when he steps down later this year after he is confirmed by the Senate.

Al-Manar | June 22, 2013

US President Barack Obama said the United States left around 700 combat-ready troops in Jordan after a training exercise in the country.soldiers in Jordan

Press TV – June 21, 2013

UN experts say they do not confirm the claims by the United States, France and Britain that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against the militants.
“We are not able to say who has used chemical agents or chemical weapons,” said Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the United Nations human rights investigation committee on Syria, on Friday.

RT | June 21, 2013

The British spy agency GCHQ has access to the global network of communications, storing calls, Facebook posts and internet histories – and shares this data with the NSA, Edward Snowden has revealed to the Guardian in a new leak.
GCHQ’s network of cables is able to process massive quantities of information from both specific targets and completely innocent people, including recording phone calls and reading email messages, it was revealed on Friday.

Hassan Rouhani, a moderate cleric, was elected Iran’s president in a landslide on June 14, 2013. Much has been said about him and his past, and what his election means for Iran, its nuclear program and the standoff with the West over the program, and the future of the Middle East. The War party in [...]

CLARE DALY IRISH PARLIAMENT SLAMS OBAMA WAR CRIMES

Irish politician Clare Daly slammed President Barack Obama as a “war criminal” and “hypocrite of the century” in a blistering speech before Parliament Wednesday, following the conclusion of the G8 summit in Northern Ireland.

At least 14 Iraqis were killed and 34 more were wounded in the lastest violence.

Tiny Maury County, Tennessee seems like a strange place to go looking for terrorism, but that’s where we find ourselves focusing today.
There’s just something in the water in Maury County – or not depending on who you ask. Residents have been complaining about it for awhile though, insisting that children are getting sick drinking the tap water. The tap water is officially clean, according to Tennessee officials, and that’s where the terrorism comes in.

By now we are all familiar with the concept of ‘surveillance.’ In the Orwellian tyranny of the new normal, we are all gradually being made aware that we are living in a panoptic society where everything we do and say is being watched and recorded. So what is the answer to this constant surveillance? Why not use the surveillance technology to keep tabs on what the government is doing? Welcome to the world of sousveillance. Join us today on The Corbett Report as we explore this concept and the grassroots revolution in citizen media that it has made possible.

Earlier today, Antiwar.com Editorial Director Justin Raimondo published this letter:
Dear Friend of Antiwar.com,
When darkness begins to fall, some curse the shadows – and others turn on the lights.
One man, a 29-year-old former spook and apparent libertarian, has stepped forward to reveal the truth about what our government is doing – and rescue our liberties from the warlords of Washington. One man had the courage to step forward and speak truth to power: in some dictionaries, that’s called “narcissism.” In mine, it’s called bravery.

by KenSome time ago signs suddenly appeared in one of my frequently used subway stations, the Rector Street station of the no. 1 train, informing riders that, as part of a campaign to reduce litter in the subway, all the trash receptacles were going to be removed from the station. Um, wait a sec, removed? Yes, removed. The thinking (for want of a better word) was that if people saw that they had no option but to carry their trash with them to . . .