Despite the fact that al-Qaeda recently endorsed John McCain, the Bush administration is warning that (deep from within Cheney's bunker) bin Laden is about to release a pre-election tape.  

'Magine that! Who saw this coming?  

The swindle of American taxpayers is proceeding more or less in broad daylight, as the unwitting voters are preoccupied with the national election.  

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson agreed to invest $125 billion in the nine largest banks, including $10 billion for Goldman Sachs, his old firm.  

Throw your mind back to September 10, 2001. The price of gas: $1.40 per gallon. 

The national debt: $5 trillion dollars, sizeable but only about half of what it is today. 

America had over 3 million more manufacturing jobs.  

As the stock market plummets and house prices slump, Tony Blair, the man who as Prime Minister championed the "light touch" system of financial regulation blamed by many for the current crisis, is enjoying an unprecedented boom in his fortunes.  

Wars, bases, and money. The three are inextricably tied together.  

In the 1980s, for example, American support for jihadis like Osama bin Laden waging war on (Soviet) infidels who invaded and constructed bases in Afghanistan, a Muslim land, led to rage by many of the same jihadis at the bases (U.S.) infidels built in the Muslim holy land of Saudi Arabia in the 1990s.  

Is Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, a pocket dictator? Is there no drop of liberalism in her veins, no concept of personal freedom, no fear of a repressive state? Or is she just another home secretary?  

This month she apparently felt obliged by dark forces beyond her control to add another weapon to the armoury of illiberal power.

Noam Chomsky lashed out at western media reports saying Tehran was "defying the world" over its nuclear program. 

"That's a funny definition of the 'world'. The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), for example which is the majority of countries, endorses Iran's right to enrich uranium," said Chomsky. 

The U.S. military has warned Iraq that it will shut down military operations and other vital services throughout the country on Jan. 1 if the Iraqi government doesn't agree to a new agreement on the status of U.S. forces or a renewed United Nations mandate for the American mission in Iraq.

Many Iraqi politicians view the move as akin to political blackmail, a top Iraqi official told McClatchy Sunday.

It began as a dirty open secret and is now Chicago lore: From the 1970s into the 1990s, African American men in the city of Chicago were routinely arrested, taken into police custody, and tortured, during interrogations lasting hours on end.  

An estimated 150 black men endured abuse that included savage beatings, suffocation with bags and typewriter covers, and in many instances, electrical shocks applied to their genitals.  

The Federal Government is attempting to silence critics of its controversial plan to censor the internet, which experts say will break the internet while doing little to stop people from accessing illegal material such as child pornography. 

US President George W. Bush assured Georgia and Ukraine of US support for both former Soviet states to join the NATO alliance despite Russia's fierce opposition. 

"Other nations seek a path to NATO membership, and they have the full support of the United States government," Bush said Friday as he signed NATO accession protocols for Albania and Croatia, bringing them one step closer to membership. 

The NSW Government will take a chainsaw to its own advertising, ordering a 25percent cut in spending at next week's mini-budget. 

In a bid to save about $31million and reinforce his "no spin" message, Premier Nathan Rees has told government departments to get smart about the way they inform the community about big events and law changes and issue public safety and health warnings. 

The money raised and spent to elect a new US president and members of Congress is likely to pass $US5.3billion ($8.3billion) next week, shattering previous records, with Wall Street firms dominating the donor list of the most expensive White House race in history. 

from Crikey ….. 

Acquittal of Thomas another blow for the war on terror