News Briefs

OCCUPY PORTLAND: A crime infested cesspool?

Of all of the Occupy camps around the country, Occupy Portland seems to be nothing more than one big crime infested cesspool. The Portland Police Department reports they have seen an 81% spike in crime compared to the two weeks prior to the Occupy Portland protest beginning... Read the rest

Justice Dept. Proposes Lying on Records Under New FOIA Rule:

A proposed revision to Freedom of Information Act rules would allow federal agencies to lie to citizens and reporters seeking certain records, telling them the records don’t exist.The Justice Department has proposed the change as part of a large revision of FOIA rules for federal agencies. Specifically, the rule would direct government agencies who are denying a request under an established FOIA exemption to “respond to the request as if the excluded records did not exist,” rather than citing the relevant exemption.

The proposed rule has alarmed government transparency advocates across the political spectrum, who’ve called it “Orwellian” and say it will “twist” public access to government...

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Upon taking office, President Obama released a memorandum declaring his administration was “committed to operating with an unprecedented level of openness. Specifically, he pledged to bolster the strength of the FOIA act, calling it “the most prominent expression of a profound national commitment to ensuring an open government.”

Heh... Read the full article

Will Libya Become a new haven for Al Qaeda?

The "most problematic" fallout from Gaddafi's death, says Ed Husain at the Council on Foreign Relations, is "the emergence of Islamist extremist from within the ranks of the Libyan rebels." Islamist groups have been the biggest winner elsewhere in the Arab uprisings, and they may not welcome a secular government.

Add to that the west and their propensity to turn a blind eye with regards to backing unsavory elements in the short term in order to establish whatever greater goal of the removal of Gaddafi.

There has never been a clear understanding of who the leaders of the rebel movement are and/or whether some of the so-called freedom fighters actually had allegiances with Al-Qaeda and other extremists...

Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

More reports raise concens about the character of the rebels. CBS News recently quoted former CIA officer Bruce Riedel as saying the following:

"There is no question that al Qaeda's Libyan franchise, Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, is a part of the opposition. It has always been Qaddafi's biggest enemy and its stronghold is Benghazi. What is unclear is how much of the opposition is al Qaeda/Libyan Islamic Fighting Group..."

It appears the U.S. Middle East policy has a schizophrenic nature to it, filled with blatant contradictions. Why are we on the side of al-Qaeda in Libya but against them in Iraq and Afghanistan?...

Greasing The Axis Of Evil:

A decade after 9/11, both our wars against two terror regimes are ending without resolution. Did thousands of our troops die so the Taliban could help rule Afghanistan, and Iran dominate Iraq?

Imagine the U.S. and the other Allied powers allowing the remnants of the Nazi party to help run a post-World War II West Germany. That, in effect, is our policy in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared that "there has to be outreach to see whether or not there is an opportunity for resolution with some parts of the Taliban, or with all of the Taliban."...

As Secretary Clinton and the president apparently view it, more than 1,700 U.S. soldiers and Marines died in Afghanistan not to annihilate these global jihadists, but to give them some kind of parliamentary "loyal opposition" role...

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