You've heard this shocking "fact" before -- on TV and radio, in newspapers, on the Internet and from the highest politicians in the land: 90 percent of the weapons used to commit crimes in Mexico come from the United States.

-- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it to reporters on a flight to Mexico City.

-- CBS newsman Bob Schieffer referred to it while interviewing President Obama.

-- California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said at a Senate hearing: "It is unacceptable to have 90 percent of the guns that are picked up in Mexico and used to shoot judges, police officers and mayors ... come from the United States."

BBC - Pakistani Taleban leader Baitullah Mehsud called the BBC in Islamabad to claim responsibility for the attack.
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[This is the only line in the story referencing this claim]

Texas Republican Ron Paul, along with ten co-sponsors, is seeking once again to allow for the commercial farming of industrial hemp.

Points out the many similarities and parallels between what the British experienced after they invaded Iraq in 1917 and what the US experiences in Iraq today.

Dr. Shiva asks why regulate natural seeds that have evolved for thousands of years and which cause no harm. "Since it has no harm, it has no need for state regulation." What should be regulated are the genetically modified seeds which do cause harm, including genetic contamination.

She likens the seed wars to India's salt wars when the British empire tried to regulate salt. "Seed doesn't belong to the humans; it belongs to all the species that are nourished by it." And she asserts on behalf of all farmers:

"We will not obey a law that makes it illegal for us to perform our highest ecological duty on earth, which is to save seeds for the future."

Direct link to video:
http://vodpod.com/watch/1474602-vandana-shiva-the-future-of-food-and-s...

Gordon Brown has unveiled a $1.1 trillion rescue fund for the global economy at the end of the G20 summit in London. Here’s the text of the final statement.

We now know the form with these events: British PM pays deferential homage to the American president, who repays the compliment with warm words for the special ties the US feels for Britain. The dynamic is usually clear: the Brit is grateful simply to be standing next to the most powerful man in the world. He is yapping spaniel; the American is top dog.

Wednesday's joint press conference of Gordon Brown and Barack Obama had no such dynamic at work:

"This might be one of the most eventful global economic summits since the breakdown of the original Bretton Woods system in the early 1970s. The Europeans and others are in no mood to take orders from the U.S. to print more money or incur more debt to "stimulate" their economies, for at least three reasons:

Government Decides Who Protests At G20: Violent anarchists allowed to smash up buildings despite announcing target in advance, yet anti-poverty group barred from protesting.

Mexico has a United States problem.

The Obama administration has confirmed the hiring of mercenary firm Triple Canopy to take over Blackwaters contract to protect US diplomats in Iraq. Part of the firms job will be to protect the monstrous US embassy in Baghdad. We speak to independent journalist Jeremy Scahill, who has also just revealed that the administration is using Triple Canopy to protect US diplomats in Israel.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board is meeting on today to discuss proposals to give banks more flexibility in valuing toxic legacy assets in illiquid markets.

We explored what this would mean a few months ago. It sounds like it is time to bring back our illustration, with a couple of adjustments to reflect recent developments

What went wrong at AIG? Since the uproar over the firm's bonuses, it's become fashionable to distinguish between the masters of the universe at AIG Financial Products, the subsidiary that nearly torched the global economy, and the working stiffs at the rest of the company. So compelling is this dichotomy, in fact, that even the AIG basher-in-chief has invoked it. "You've got a company, AIG, which used to be just a regular old insurance company," President Obama explained during his recent "Tonight Show" appearance. "Then they decided--some smart person decided--let's put a hedge fund on top of the insurance company and let's sell these derivative products to banks all around the world."

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has criticized NATO's eastward expansion and the failure by Western powers to keep their promise not to deploy military bases near Russia's borders.

Gorbachev said in an interview with Germany's Bild newspaper

The Group of 20 (G20) is making a big show of getting together to come to grips with the global economic crisis. But here's the problem with the upcoming summit in London on April 2: It's all show. What the show masks is a very deep worry and fear among the global elite that it really doesn't know the direction in which the world economy is heading and the measures needed to stabilize it.

The latest statistics are exceeding even the gloomiest projections made earlier. Establishment analysts are beginning to mention the dreaded "D" word and there is a spreading sense that a tidal wave just now gathering momentum will simply overwhelm the trillions of dollars allocated for stimulus spending.

LAW enforcement agencies are seeking scientists to develop an artificial nose that can detect the smell of fear as terrorists pass through security at airports.

The US Department of Homeland Security is advertising for specialists to devise airport scanners that will sniff out “deceptive individuals”.

The technology builds on recent breakthroughs in finding human scent-prints which, many researchers believe, may be as unique to individuals as fingerprints.

The New York Times - S. Saulny and K. A. Cullotta - People in Need Are Filling and Taxing Libraries ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. — The public library here had just closed its doors one evening in December when two homeless men who had been using the stacks as shelter from the cold got into a fight on the outside steps.

What began as bickering took a violent turn when one of the men pulled out a knife and stabbed the other six times, leaving him bleeding beside the book drop.

8. Miss Universe says Guantanamo Bay is a "relaxing place, so calm and beautiful", after a five-day trip there. Dayana Mendoza, a model from Venezuela, visited the US base in Cuba as a morale-booster for troops and blogged about the experience.

8. Miss Universe says Guantanamo Bay is a "relaxing place, so calm and beautiful", after a five-day trip there. Dayana Mendoza, a model from Venezuela, visited the US base in Cuba as a morale-booster for troops and blogged about the experience.

What do you suppose the total price tag is for this failed war on drugs? One senior Harvard economist estimates we spend $44 billion a year fighting the war on drugs. He says if they were legal, governments would realize about $33 billion a year in tax revenue. Net swing of $77 billion. Could we use that money today for something else? You bet your ass we could. Plus the cartels would be out of business. Instantly. Goodbye crime and violence.

If drugs were legalized, we could empty out a lot of our prison cells. People will use this stuff whether it's legal or not. Just like they do booze. And you could make the argument that in some cases alcohol is just as dangerous as some drugs.

The US will run for a seat in the UN Human Rights Council in order to "change" it. Translation=No more criticizing of Israel will be allowed.

Well, this really makes me sick. here comes the USA to defend Israel once again. So much for "hope and change" And notice how it comes after the Gaza genocide? I wonder if this move is so that when the human rights abuses being to come hard and fast at Israel, the US will deflect them for Israel. What a disgrace this move is and totally transparent.

This morning leading neoconservatives such as William Kristol and Robert Kagan held a meeting at the Mayflower Hotel -- in support of President Obama's Afghanistan policy. Kristol and Kagan, as Foreign Policy's Laura Rozen has reported, have formed a successor organization to the Project for the New American Century, which came into disrepute for its advocacy of the Iraq War. The new one is called the Foreign Policy Initiative. Its contention is that America remains, in the words of Madeleine Albright, the "indispensable nation"and, furthermore, that neocons can play a valuable role in coming years in ensuring that it remains one.

At the Mayflower, the neocon pilgrims huddled around John McCain and other conservative stalwarts who spoke at the conference. But California congressman Jane Harman was also a speaker. It's clear that that neoconservatives are staking out a new course and want to retain an influential voice in foreign policy. Their latest strategy is to move closer to Obama. Kagan has already expressed his admiration for what he sees as Obama's determination to ensure that America remains No. 1 around the globe.

Merrill Lynch's bonuses were 22 times larger than the $165 million bonuses AIG paid its executives"...In contrast to the bonuses awarded by AIG, the Merrill bonuses constituted a significant proportion of allocated TARP funds, which were not locked into place by preexisting contract and were performance, not retention, in nature," Kucinich said in the letter which mentioned the House Oversight subcommittee he chairs is probing the issue.

The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. One of the most alarming, says a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, is that the finance industry has effectively captured our government—a state of affairs that more typically describes emerging markets, and is at the center of many emerging-market crises. If the IMF’s staff could speak freely about the U.S., it would tell us what it tells all countries in this situation: recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform. And if we are to prevent a true depression, we’re running out of time.

Do as I say, not as I do? Seems like former Vice-President Al Gore may be embracing that motto as evidenced Saturday night by his failure to turn off the lights of his Nashville home for “Earth Hour.”

Drew Johnson, president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research —the same organization that also found Gore's home consumes 20 times more electricity than the average household — told Yeas & Nays that Gore’s Belle Meade-section mansion did not go dark during the global campaign’s designated hour between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

Imagine my shock.

Despite mounting evidence of the link from Canada and Europe, U.S. public-health officials had never formally studied the issue, even though MRSA kills something close to 20,000 Americans every year -- more than AIDS*.(*and the 9/11 terrorist attacks)

The New York Times - Susan Saulny - City officials and housing advocates here and in cities as varied as Buffalo, Kansas City, Mo., and Jacksonville, Fla., say they are seeing an unsettling development: Banks are quietly declining to take possession of properties at the end of the foreclosure process, most often because the cost of the ordeal — from legal fees to maintenance — [and elevated property taxes] exceeds the diminishing value of the real estate.

BBC News Police apology over suicide rope Police have apologised to a widow for giving her the rope her husband had used to kill himself.

BBC News Spanish judges have agreed to consider charging six former US officials with providing legal justification for alleged torture at Guantanamo Bay.

Yahoo! Finance - The Wall Street Journal - Douglas Belkin - More Vehicles Burned, Ditched in Apparent Schemes by Owners to Get Insurance Payout Years of no-money-down car loans followed by sinking home values and rising unemployment has made many people desperate over car payments they can no longer afford. For some, the answer is to ditch the car, report it stolen and collect the insurance money to pay it off without hurting their credit.

To stop the banks, Americans are planning creative actions all over the country for April 11. Spread the word. Actions are announced in:

Phoenix, AZ at AIG Building, 24th Street and Camelback Road

los angeles, CA at Griffith Park

San Diego, CA at Embarcadero

Hartford, CT at Courthouse, BOA, Dodd Office

Washington , DC at Lafayette Park

Chicago, IL at 231 LaSalle Street, 230 S. Dearborn
Boston, MA at Boston Common

Augusta, ME at State House

Detroit, MI at City County Building

Marquette , MI at UP Post Office 12 Noon

Saint Louis, MO at Under the Arch

Raleigh, NC at Bicentennial Plaza

Albuquerque, NM at First Plaza Galeria

New York, NY at Citigroup Headquarters more

Columbus, OH at Ohio Statehouse more

Obama's Thursday "town hall" featuring questions submitted online produced some interesting comments from our president.

The state, Mexican authorities and their US propaganda arm, known in most circles as the Mainstream Media, have recently embarked on a huge disinformation campaign to demonize the American gun owner as the supplier of weapons to the Mexican drug cartels. Everyone in the media, with the possible exception of Lou Dobbs, has joined in the campaign of lies.

Shown here, on a CBS special, is video proof of the lies and disinformation by CBS, US and Mexican authorities. Anderson Cooper and Janet Napolitano are either ignorant or complicit in the myth that M-203s, RPGs and hand grenades are readily available to the American gun consumer. Most intelligent folks, and those without a state sponsored agenda, realize these weapons are usually only available to the military.

I now pay $6000 a year in premiums and get nothing paid until I pay $6000 out of pocket.

Obama: "The problem is, is that we have what's called a legacy, a set of institutions that aren't that easily transformed....And so what evolved in America was an employer-based system. It may not be the best system if we were designing it from scratch. But that's what everybody is accustomed to. That's what everybody is used to. It works for a lot of Americans."

Would save $400 billion on bureaucracy, enough to cover all 46 million uninsured Americans

"We are confident that Sen. Sanders' bill will accelerate the national drive for the only reform that we know will work," Young said. "A majority of physicians endorse such an approach. Fifty-nine percent of U.S. physicians support national health insurance. Two-thirds of the public also supports such a remedy. We remember well that President Obama once acknowledged that single-payer national health insurance was the best way to go. It still is."

Dallas police chief apologizes for conduct of officer who drew gun on NFL player

05:38 PM CDT on Thursday, March 26, 2009
By STEVE THOMPSON and TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News

Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle stood in front of a dozen news cameras this afternoon at police headquarters to apologize for the behavior of an officer who stopped a family outside a hospital emergency room.

Kunkle said Officer Robert Powell has been placed on paid administrative leave in connection with an incident last week in which he stopped a family rushing to visit a dying mother, detaining them for 13 minutes to write a traffic ticket.

A careless driver is facing charges after nearly driving his BMW off a cliff at the behest of his satnav.

According to reports in the Halifax Evening Courier, Robert Jones was on his way to visit friends in Yorkshire on a Sunday morning.

His satnav directed him up a "steep, narrow footpath" which led to a fence, beyond which lay a cliff and a 100ft drop.

Oops.

Last Wednesday afternoon, after the FOMC announcement, the price of gold (in dollars) went up. On Thursday gold ETF GLD (GLD) closed at its highest level since February 25th. But what actually happened? The FOMC announced that it would begin buying U.S. treasuries on the open market, this at the same time that U.S. treasury auctions are tripling and quadrupling their bond sales in order to pay for the massive increase in the U.S. budget deficit.

"I'm here to find gold," said Kevin Brown. "I'm a studio lighting technician in Hollywood, between the writers strike that happened last year, and the Screen Actors Guild, whatever they want to call it. Lately I've had to turn to having to do it for extra cash."

Geologists estimate that during the gold rush of 1849 in California, about 80 percent of the gold was never found. Today, with the price of gold soaring and the economy falling, the idea of panning, digging or diving for precious metal has become serious business.

"There's definitely gold nuggets down in the bottom here," Brown said. "Just a matter of getting 30 feet down lower than any old timer or modern prospector has

“According to a Deputy Sheriff, ammunition will no longer be supplied to retail outlets for the public. What outlets have on the shelves and in stock now, is all they will be getting. Ammunition will be directed to the Military and Police Forces, ONLY.

The Christian Science Monitor - Robert Marquand - 2,300 years later, 'Alexander-mania' grips Macedonia SKOPJE, Macedonia - As part of a stunning new homegrown ideology of history and identity based on Alexander the Great, this capital city's main square may soon boast a huge new statue of the ancient conqueror.

Alexander is considered one of the greatest military leaders of all time. Born in the Greek city of Pella in 356 BC, his conquests extended to most of his known world by the time of his death at age 32. He opened up Greek civilization from the Mediterranean to India, and is regarded as the first to link Europe, Asia, and Africa.