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Fortunately, OEN had, six month earlier, taken steps that mitigated the damage, and OEN's exposure was far less than other sites. Still, we're in a recovery situation now and your donation can make a big difference. Click here to donate to support us. Well, it's happened. McPherson Park, home of Occupy DC, one of the last remaining major Occupied territories, has been attacked by police, in spite of a judicial order preventing the police from evicting the occupiers. Read more here: rob kall Support Opednews. Make a tax deductible donation to make OEN Strong. 
 Daily Headlines
By Gareth Porter
Obama to Israel: No US War on Iran  President Obama is caught in a dilemma, how to dissuade Israel from going to war with Iran without alienating pro-Israeli voters in November. So, the Obama administration has told Israel that the U.S. won't support an attack on Iran but has done so quietly. By Danny Schechter
Iran Critiques Hollywood  Defense Secretary Leon Panetta sees a growing chance that Israel will attack Iran's nuclear sites this spring -- despite resistance from the Obama administration. By William Pastille
Acting like a politician
American conservatism is dissolving because its adherents have become so desensitized to its antisocial convictions. For a generation, conservatives have spoken in code about beliefs that run contrary to the values of decent people. Now, however, even attempts to establish such codes are breaking down, because it take too much energy to retain a hypocritical stage act every minute of every day. By Dennis Loo
Aggressive War: The Supreme War Crime  According to international law, attacking a country that has not attacked you is the supreme war crime. This is what the US did to Iraq and what it and Israel are now doing to Iran. By Adnan Al-Daini
The Arab Spring - Fears and Hopes  The optimism generated by the Arab spring is now giving way to anxieties about where these changes are taking Arab societies. The idealism of the young in their millions for a dignified life where human rights are respected, where the rulers serve the people instead of enslaving them, is being sorely tested by the emergence of destructive sectarianism and ethnic tensions. I am not as pessimistic as many commentators are... Bait And Switch: GOP Leaders Renege On Debt Limit Deal Defense Cuts
GOP bails on promise to activate cross-the-board spending cuts required when Super Committee failed to strike a deal. Boehner is pressuring the White House to let Republicans off the hook for the piece of the deficit enforcement mechanism that was designed to make them negotiate in good faith. And Democrats are furious. U.S. Corporate Tax Rate Plunges To 40 Year Low Of 12.1%
n recent decades, corporate tax revenue has plunged, falling from about 6 percent of gross domestic product in the 1950 � �s to less than 2 percent today, due to a proliferation of corporate tax breaks and the use of offshore tax havens. According to the Congressional Budget Office, in fact, corporate tax receipts as a share of corporate profits have hit their lowest point in 40 years: 18-Mile Crack Seen by NASA in Antarctic Glacier  Antarctica is so vast that the pictures give you no sense of scale. The pencil-thin line across the satellite image of Pine Island Glacier (above) is actually more than 18 miles long, 800 feet across in places, and 180 feet deep. Lasers shine light on galactic magnetic fields  By reproducing conditions found in developing galaxies, physicists have shown that shock waves can generate tiny "seed" magnetic fields, which might eventually grow into the large-scale magnetic fields we observe today. The research is described in this Nature today. "Observations indicate that magnetic fields are ubiquitous in galaxy clusters, galaxies, and even in voids," said Gianluca Gregori, lead author of the study from the University of Oxford in England. "To explain this large-scale magnetization, magnetic fields must have existed for a long time. But where have these magnetic seeds come from?...One of the proposed methods for creating seeds is via shock waves generated by collapsing matter in developing 'protogalaxies.'" Science decodes 'internal voices'  Researchers have demonstrated a striking method to reconstruct words, based on the brain waves of patients thinking of those words. The technique reported in PLoS Biology relies on gathering electrical signals directly from patients' brains. Soaking the Poor, State by State  The Corporation for Enterprise Development recently released a scorecard for all 50 states. That includes overall tax rates, where data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows that in the median state (Mississippi, as it turns out) the poorest 20 percent pay twice the tax rate of the top 1 percent. In the worst states, the poorest 20 percent pay five to six times the rate of the richest 1 percent. By Robert Bullard
Black History Month: Wrong Complexion for Protection When Disasters Strike
The new book, "Wrong Complexion for Protection: How the Government Response to Disaster Endangers African Americans," places the government response to natural and man-made disasters in historical context over the past eight decades, from the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Making disaster response equitable is a human rights issue. Ranking Member Waxman Requests Information on Indiana Lobbying Efforts on Keystone XL Pipeline Project
Today Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman sent a letter to Mrs. Deborah Hohlt, who, according to lobbying disclosure documents filed with the U.S. Senate, was retained by the State of Indiana to lobby regarding the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. Komen Foundation reverses funding decision of Planned Parenthood  Faced with a deluge of opposition that included pressure from lawmakers and internal dissent, one of America's leading breast cancer advocacy groups on Friday reversed itself on a decision that would have cut off funding to some Planned Parenthood projects. Petitions Delivered to AG Target O'Keefe, Voter Fraud
A coalition of organizations is urging the state Attorney General to investigate right-wing activist James O'Keefe, saying his undercover footage shot during the January Primary at various polling sites violates state and federal election law. Swiss Bank Charged By U.S. For Helping Americans Hide $1.2B
The U.S. Justice Department says it has indicted Switzerland's oldest private bank, claiming it conspired with Americans and others to hide more than $1.2 billion in client assets from the Internal Revenue Service. Goldman Sachs Faces Mortgage Debt Class-Action Lawsuit Over Misleading Investors  Goldman Sachs Group Inc was ordered by a federal judge to face a securities class-action lawsuit accusing it of misleading investors about a 2006 offering of securities backed by risky mortgage loans from a now-defunct lender. By Stephen Lendman
Security Council Showdown on Syria
Slowly things are coming to a head. America, Israel, rogue NATO partners, and regional despot allies are itching for a fight with Syria. Russia and China stand firmly opposed. By Dave Lefcourt
An Ominous Foreboding, Israel vs Iran, Part 2  The war of words with Israel and Iran got ramped up a notch w/ Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak declaring, "Time is running out for stopping Iran's nuclear advance, whoever says later may find that later is too late." Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei responded if a military strike is carried out Iran "has its own tools" it would use "if necessary" in retaliation. Israel attacking Iran remains an ominous foreboding. Latest Articles
The End of Days in Palestine
Warning: The video embedded here is a dramatization, but it is graphic and shocking. Please watch knowing it is not real. Now imagine the threat is not a tidal wave, rushing floodwaters, a violent tornado or some other natural disaster, and something that can wipe out life as we know it for years to come, destroying not just property, but everyone and everything in its wake. Here's looking at you, Newt
By Bob Gaydos Floridians proved to be smarter than South Carolinians, but Republicans still have a mess on their hands. Obesity and the Dopamine Fallacy  That comedic genius, Flip Wilson, used to get a laugh with the line, "The Devil made me do it!" Now scientists are telling obese people, "The Dopamine makes you do it!" We should all be laughing hilariously. Say No to War
Wolfgang Borchert : German, author, playwright, poet. His experience under Hitler and Wehrmacht service changed his life. Walid Hanatsheh: Palestinian Prisoner of Conscience
The Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association calls Hanatsheh "a human rights defender who is currently in administrative detention." Who's really to blame for illegal immigation?
Let's stop blaming the immigrants! Clueless about Capitalism  The recent "attack" on the free market by Newt Gingrich has shown that most Americans are virtually clueless about the real nature of capitalism. They don't understand that capitalism is essentially immoral, and must be restrained if it is not to do terrific damage to society. Only understanding this fact will help Americans elect leaders who restrain capitalism's injustice and make it create prosperity for all. Taxing Days On The Campaign Trail  While there may not be much difference between the politicians in each Party, there's a big difference between the world views of the voters, and for a progressive independent like me, that warrants a Democratic vote this fall. Federal Taxes Don't Pay For Anything  The gold standard monetary system is dead. Yet, all of our erstwhile leaders continue to make policy based on these outmoded rubrics. They don't know that we can't go broke, and that federal taxes don't pay for anything. A sovereign currency nation is not constrained by revenue to spend. Taxes are stabilizers for aggregate demand, not revenue. Same for borrowing. Nothing is bought with those funds. Ex-pat Iranian Dissidents Show Their True Colours
Events at an anti-war demonstration outside US embassy in London on 28th Jan. Agitation from Iranian ex-pats whose main goal seemed to be disruption and to get across message that Iran needs to be 'freed' - like Iraq I suppose. Police cordoned them off, after a struggle but this demonstrates the danger caused by ex-pats living outside their homeland who wish to see regime change there and agitate for this. Spencer Ackerman Says Pakistan is "Schizophrenic About Terrorism." So is America.
After a decade into the criminally conceived and destructive war on terror, relations between America and Pakistan have come to a dead end.  Best News Links from the Web
Space Pictures This Week: Hubble Galaxy, Poet Nebula, More  The star-forming region known as NGC 3324 glows red in a newly released picture from the European Southern Observatory in Chile. Intense radiation from hot young stars inside the nebula not only causes surrounding the gas to glow but has also carved out a distinctive hollow in the giant space cloud. Due to the cavity's resemblance to a human face in profile, one nickname for the NGC 3324 region is the Gabriela Mistral Nebula, after the Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet. Black Americans Given 60% Longer Sentences than White Americans for Same Crimes
A new academic study of 58,000 federal criminal cases has found significant disparities in sentencing for blacks and whites arrested for the same crimes. The research led to the conclusion that African-Americans' jail time was almost 60% longer than white sentences... The report concludes that sentence disparities "can be almost completely explained by three factors: the original arrest offense, the defendant's criminal history, and the prosecutor's initial choice of charges." Charles M. Blow: Romney, the Rich and the Rest  Mitt Romney is the same multimillionaire who joked that he was "unemployed" while he was "earning" more in one day than most Americans earn in a year and paying a lower rate on those earnings than most Americans do. Romney is not only cold and clumsy, he's disastrously out of touch, and when talking about real people, out of sorts. If only he had a heart, and if only that heart was connected to his brain. David Ignatius: Is Israel preparing to attack Iran?  U.S. officials don't think that Netanyahu has made a final decision to attack, and they note that top Israeli intelligence officials remain skeptical of the project. But senior Americans doubt that the Israelis are bluffing. They're worrying about the guns of spring -- and the unintended consequences. Barry Lando: Iran: Only Half the Story  One of the most overlooked ironies today is that Israel is threatening military action to prevent Iran from continuing the same clandestine route to nuclear weapons that Israel took, just as Israeli planes destroyed nuclear reactors in Syria and Iraq to prevent those countries from following Israel's lead. British Parliament launches inquiry into private investigators after phone hacking scandal
Parliament has launched an inquiry into private investigators, after intense scrutiny of the industry during the Leveson inquiry into press ethics. The Commons home affairs select committee will question senior Metropolitan police officers and the information commissioner next week about the controversial sector. Keith Vaz, chairman of the home affair select committee, said: "Recent high profile events, such as the phone-hacking scandal, have thrown light on the sometimes shady world of private investigators. Despite this the industry still remains entirely unregulated." Europe tries to shield homeless from deep freeze
Russia and Ukraine took extra precautions on Friday to protect homeless people during a brutal cold snap, ordering new facilities and medical care after scores of people have frozen to death on the streets of Europe. As the death toll from the past week rose to at least 175 on Friday, Russian Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered the creation of facilities nationwide to feed and provide medical assistance to the homeless. The weeklong freeze -- Eastern Europe's worst in decades -- is causing power outages, frozen water pipes and widespread closure of schools, nurseries, airports and bus routes. Other parts of Europe experienced frigid temperatures unseen in years. A roundup... Robert Fisk: We've been here before -- and it suits Israel that we never forget 'Nuclear Iran'  Some vital background information on Iran and the bomb. But who wants to be reminded of the boring facts, when the convenient lies are so much more fascinating ?... How the GOP Is Resegregating the South
Ari Berman posts an intelligent and comprehensive article on the GOPs success gerrymandering the South with the use of "bleaching" and "packing" following the 2010 Census effectively isolating African-American voters in heavily majority-black districts, reducing or eliminating their influence in majority-white districts. Tar Sands Main - Dirty Fuels - Sierra Club  The Keystone Pipeline is our next big ecological disaster; view this Sierra Club video to understand why. There is virtually no talk of growing Olive biodiesel, bioethanol and biomethanol. Olive trees live for six human generations, were "invented" long before polluting tar sands... Virginia's Republican Controlled Senate Committee Rejects Restrictive Abortion Bill | ThinkProgress
The Republican controlled Virginia Senate committee has voted down legislation that would have forbidden women from having abortions after the fetus has reached 20-weeks gestational age. "The proposed 20-week limit was predicated on the assumption that fetuses can feel pain beyond 20 weeks, but other citations suggest that does not occur until at least 24 weeks, or roughly the beginning of the third trimester." Initially, the committee was deadlocked on the bill, the vote stalling at 7-7, but were in the end swayed after hearing testimony from a woman who had decided to have a late-term abortion after the proposed 20-week cutoff upon learning her child would be born with a myriad of health issues that would have ultimately bankrupted her family. Just two weeks ago, however, Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) introduced similar legislation in Congress. Leon Panetta's explicitly authoritarian decree
The DoD chief says clearly: once the president accuses a citizen of terrorism, execution without trial is permitted
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