The Bush agenda comes into focus
It is only now, nearly five years after Sept. 11, that the full picture of the Bush administration's response to the terror attacks is becoming clear. Much of it, we can see now, had far less to do with fighting Osama bin Laden than with expanding presidential power.

Right-wing media divided: Is U.S. now in World War III, IV, or V?

Condi says Iraq has nothing to do with the instability in the Middle East: That’s Gross

US 'could be going bankrupt'
A ballooning budget deficit and a pensions and welfare timebomb could send the economic superpower into insolvency, according to research by Professor Laurence Kotlikoff for the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis, a leading constituent of the US Federal Reserve.

A Beautiful Friendship?
Thanks to the work of the lobby and its allies, Israel gets more direct foreign aid -- about $3 billion a year -- than any other nation. There's a file cabinet somewhere in the State Department full of memoranda of understanding on military, diplomatic and economic affairs. Israel gets treated like a NATO member when it comes to military matters and like Canada or Mexico when it comes to free trade. There's an annual calendar full of meetings of joint strategic task forces and other collaborative sessions. And there's a presidential pledge, re-avowed by Bush in the East Room, that the United States will come to Israel's aid in the event of attack.

Another Stab at the Truth
Polls show that a majority of Americans believe President Bush and his associates intentionally misled the public in making their case for war. It's a terribly serious charge, if true. In fact, it's hard to imagine a more serious charge against a president.

Putin Tells Bush Russia Doesn't Need a Democracy Like Iraq's
Bush held up Iraq today as a model of democracy for Russia to follow. Russian President Vladimir Putin was quick to say he wasn't interested.

• U.S. Retail sales were down 0.1% in June, more than expected. Excluding autos, sales were up 0.3%.
  

• U.S. business sales were up 1.4% in May and up 8.8% YoY
  

• The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index fell from 84.9 to 83.0 in July, morer than expected.
  

• Japan's central bank raised interest rates for the first time in six years on Friday, lifting its key rate to 0.25 percent from zero and affirming the end of a long era of deflation and economic stagnation.
  

• Canada's manufacturing shipments were up 0.3% in May.
  

• The National Association of Oilseed Processors said the U.S. crushed 131.3 million bushels of soybeans in June, more than expected.
  

• Canada confirmed its seventh case of mad cow disease.
  

• Sao Paulo's industry association reduced the estimate of Brazil's sugar crop to 370 million tons.

Most Americans plan to vote for Democrats
..the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that Americans by an almost 3-to-1 margin hold the GOP-controlled Congress in low regard and profess a desire to see Democrats wrest control after a dozen years of Republican rule.

Despite Hezbollah's Ties to Iran and Syria, It Also Acts Alone
The Bush administration was quick to pin responsibility on Iran and Syria when Hezbollah militants captured two Israeli soldiers this week. Yet those countries may not have specifically planned and ordered the raid that has brought the Middle East to the edge of war, U.S. officials and terrorism experts say.

Updates will resume July 14th.

Quick Overview

• The U.S. Labor Department reported the unemployment rate unchanged at 4.6% in June with an increase in non-farm payrolls of 121,000, less than expected.
  

• Canada's unemployment rate remained at 6.1% in June.

• Japan's increased its estimate of 2006-2007 GDP growth from 1.9% to 2.1%. Industrial production was up 1.5% in May, more than expected.
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that underground supplies of natural gas were up 73 billion cubic feet to 2.615 trillion cubic feet.
  

Noron with Cindy Sheehan

The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human: Aldous Huxley

Quick Overview

• Initial jobless claims slipped by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 313,000 in the week ending July 1, the Labor Department said.
  
  

• The National Association of Realtors reported its May index for pending sales of existing homes rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.3% to 113.4 from April's 111.9.
  
  

• The Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing index was 57.0 down from 60.1 in May (50 and above point to expanding activity)
  
  

• New Zealand's unemployment rate was 3.9% in the first quarter of 2006.
  

• The Bank of Indonesia cut its key interest rate from 12.50% to 12.25%.
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that:
  Supplies of crude oil were down 2.4 million barrels to 341.3 million barrels.
  Supplies of unleaded gasoline were up 700,000 barrels
  Supplies of heating oil supplies were up 600,000 barrels.
  Over the past four weeks, gasoline demand is up 1.4% YoY
  

Bush told Cheney to discredit diplomat critical of Iraq policy
No instruction to out CIA agent, says president

Effect of climate change on oceans gaining attention Two decades ago, when Dr. Richard Feely at the Seattle laboratories of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported his concerns about atmospheric carbon dioxide significantly altering the chemistry of the oceans, his findings were largely ignored.

The War in Afghanistan Is Only the Beginning Afghans know one day Americans and other foreigners will go home, just as did the Russians, British and Alexander’s Greeks.

To Be or Not To Be a State? There is, however, another way out for Hamas. It can call and raise Washington’s and Tel Aviv's bets. How? By voting to dissolve the Palestinian Authority. Ending the PA would dump the Palestinian territories and their inhabitants right back in Israel’s lap. Under international law, as the occupying power, Israel would be responsible for everything in the territories: security, human services, utilities and infrastructure, the economy, the whole megillah (oy!). Israel could try to restore the PA in cooperation with Fatah, but if Fatah joined Israel in doing so, it would destroy what legitimacy it has left. Hamas could meanwhile return to a 4GW war against Israel, unencumbered with the dubious assets of a state, and with lots more targets as Israel attempted to run the Palestinian Territories itself.

Historic India-China link to open China and India are due to open a historic trade route on Thursday that has been closed for 44 years.

Cheaper US housing overshadows world economy: Soros
Last year, he said, such activity in the U.S. real estate market provided a stimulus of around $450 billion to the economy, but the housing boom is slowing.

Quick Overview

• U.S. Consumer confidence rose in the latest week, bolstered by moderating gasoline prices, ABC News and the Washington Post said on Wednesday.
  

• U.S. Factory orders were up 0.7% in May, more than expected. Excluding transport, factory orders were up 1.2%.
  

• YoY retail sales in the Euro zone increased 0.8% in May.
  

• YoY Chile's economy grew 6.1 percent in May.
  

• Canada confirmed it's sixth case of mad cow disease.
  

Trade Deal Looks More Like a Distant Dream

Bank of Japan said to raise interest rate
The Bank of Japan will raise a key interest rate to 0.25 percent from zero next week, a news report said Tuesday, amid conflicting signals from government officials over the wisdom of such a move.

Not Enough Fish in the Sea
This shouldn’t surprise us. During the Palaeolithic, human beings ate roughly the same amount of omega-3 fatty acids as omega-6s(10). Today we eat 17 times as much omega-6 as omega-3. Omega-6s are found in vegetable oils, while most of the omega-3s we eat come from fish. ..
However … we probably do not have a sustainable supply of long chain omega 3 fats.”(14) Our brain food is disappearing.

Quick Overview

• Institute of Supply Management's index of U.S. manufacturing dropped from 54.4 to 53.8 in June
  

• Inflation worries took their toll on parts of the U.S. Midwest and south-central region. An index of June business conditions took its biggest one-month tumble in more than six years, according to a nine-state survey released by Creighton University on Monday.
  

• The Commerce Department said that construction spending was at $1.21 billion in May, down 0.4% from April's rate.
  

• Japans Tankan survey increased from +20 in May to +21 in June.
  The unemployment rate in the Euro zone improved from 8.0% to 7.9% in May. In the EU-25.
  

• Manufacturing in the Euro zone increased from 57.0 to 57.7 in June, the highest score in six years.
  

• Manufacturing for the U.K. increased from 53.5 to 55.1 in June, the highest in almost two years.
  

• Retail sales in Australia were down 0.3% in May.
  

• China has squeaked by Britain by the tiniest of margins to become the world's fourth-largest economy, according to the World Bank's latest calculations.
  

• The USDA said there were 60.9 million hogs and pigs in inventory on June 1st, up 0.3% YoY.
  

• The U.S. and Canada tentatively agreed to a seven-year trade agreement for softwood lumber.
  

• The U.S. spring wheat crop is suffering from dry conditions in the Dakotas and northern Minnesota.
  

• Long-range weather outlooks are forecasting hotter and drier conditions for the Midwest.

Bush's Assault on Freedom: What's To Stop Him?
Americans are going to have to decide which is the greater threat: terrorists, or the Republican Party's determination to shred American civil liberties and the separation of powers in the name of executive power and the "war on terror."

Did Bush commit war crimes?
But here's where the rubber really hits the road. Under federal criminal law, anyone who "commits a war crime … shall be fined … or imprisoned for life or any term of years, or both, and if death results to the victim, shall also be subject to the penalty of death." And a war crime is defined as "any conduct … which constitutes a violation of Common Article 3 of the international conventions signed at Geneva." In other words, with the Hamdan decision, U.S. officials found to be responsible for subjecting war on terror detainees to torture, cruel treatment or other "outrages upon personal dignity" could face prison or even the death penalty.

Quick Overview

• U.S. personal incomes were up 0.4% in May and consumer spending was up 0.4%.
  

• The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index increased from 79.1 to 84.9 in June, more than expected.
  

• The National Association of Purchasing Managers' index of Chicago business activity dropped from 61.5 to 56.5 in June.
  

• The unemployment rate in Japan improved from 4.1% to 4.0% in May, the lowest in eight years. YoY Japan's consumer prices were up 0.6% in May.
  

• YoY GDP growth in the U.K. was revised from an increase of 2.2.% to 2.3% in the first quarter
  

• Germany's retail sales were down 2.2% in May, but up 1.9% YoY.
  

• The USDA estimated U.S. planted acres this spring:
  79.4 million acres of corn, down 3% from a year ago, but up 2% from the March estimate.
  74.9 million acres of soybeans, up 4% from a year ago, but down 3% from the March estimate.
  57.9 million acres of (all) wheat, up 1% from a year ago and up 1% from the March estimate.
  15.3 million acres of cotton, up 7% from a year ago and up 5% from the March estimate.
  

• The USDA reported U.S. grains stocks as of June 1st:
  4.36 billion bushels of corn, up 1% from a year ago.
  990 million bushels of soybeans, up 42% from a year ago.
  568 million bushels of all wheat, up 5% from a year ago.
  

The High Price of American Gullibility
Many Americans have turned a blind eye to the administration’s illegal and unconstitutional spying on the grounds that, as they themselves are doing nothing wrong, they have nothing to fear. If this is the case, why did our Founding Fathers bother to write the Constitution? If the executive branch can be trusted not to abuse power, why did Congress pass legislation establishing a panel of federal judges (ignored by the Bush administration) to oversee surveillance? If President Bush can decide that he can ignore statutory law, how does he differ from a dictator? If Bush can determine law, what is the role of Congress and the courts? If "national security" is a justification for elevating the power of the executive, where is his incentive to find peaceful solutions?

Supreme Court Blocks Guantánamo Tribunals The Supreme Court today delivered a sweeping rebuke to the Bush administration, ruling that it exceeded its authority by creating tribunals for terror suspects that fell short of the legal protections that Congress has traditionally required in military courts.

Israeli missiles pound Gaza into new Dark Age in 'collective punishment'

Quick Overview

• The Federal Reserve raised the benchmark federal funds rate to 5.25 percent from 5.00 percent on Thursday, the central bank's 17th consecutive interest rate hike since it began tightening monetary policy in June 2004
  
  

• The U.S. Department of Commerce said that U.S. GDP was up at the rate of 5.6% in the first quarter of 2006. YoY, GDP was up 3.7%. YoY the core rate of personal consumption expenditures was up 2.0%.
  

• The U.S. Labor Department said that jobless claims were up 4,000 last week to 313,000.
  
  
  

• The. DOE said that underground supplies of natural gas were up 66 billion cubic feet to 2.542 trillion cubic feet. Supplies are now up 20% from a year ago
  
  

• Canada's GDP was up 0.1% in April and 3.1% YoY
  

• Japan's industrial production was down 1% in May and up 4.2% YoY
  

• Taiwan's Central Bank raised interest rates from 2.375% to 2.50%.
  
  

• Japan plans to fight global warming and surging oil prices by requiring all vehicles to be able to run on an environment-friendly mix of ethanol and regular gasoline by 2030, an official said Thursday. "The main goal is to counter global warming," Sekiya said. "Adopting the new technology is not that difficult."
  

Complaint filed in 32 countries against U.S. bank data mining
A civil liberties group on Wednesday asked 32 national governments to block the release of confidential financial records to U.S. authorities as part of American anti-terrorist probes.
London-based watchdog Privacy International demanded a halt to the "completely unacceptable" monitoring of millions of transactions as part of a CIA-U.S. Treasury program

GOP bill targets NY Times

House Republican leaders are expected to introduce a resolution today condemning The New York Times for publishing a story last week that exposed government monitoring of banking records.


Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost: Thomas Jefferson

Quick Overview

• U.S. Mortgage applications dropped from 567.6 to 529.6 last week, hurt by the recent rise in mortgage rates.
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that:
  Supplies of crude oil were down 3.4 million barrels last week to 343.7 million barrels.
  Supplies of unleaded gasoline were down 1.0 million barrels
  Supplies of heating oil were up 1.2 million barrels.
  Over the past four weeks gasoline demand was up 0.9% YoY.
  

• YoY Retail sales in Japan were up 0.1% in May
  

• Mexican retail sales rose a lower-than-expected 3.3 percent in February even as a broader economic recovery picked up speed.
  
  

• Peru’s Congress overwhelmingly voted to approve a free trade pact with the United States early Wednesday, rejecting claims the treaty will hurt Peru's farmers by flooding the Andean nation with subsidized cotton, rice, corn and potatoes.

Quick Overview

• U.S. Consumer confidence rose in the latest week as gasoline price hikes moderated, regaining its highest level since April, ABC News and the Washington Post said on Tuesday.
  

• The United States needs to preserve a welcome investment climate to ward off the risk of an abrupt adjustment in the current account that harms the economy, a top White House economic adviser said on Tuesday.
  

• The Conference Board's index of U.S. consumer confidence increased from 104.7 to 105.7 in June, stronger than expected.
  

• U.S. existing home sales were at an annual rate of 6.67 million units in May, down 1.2% from April's pace,
  

• Business confidence in Germany increased from 105.7 to 106.8 in June, the highest reading in 15 years.
  

• The average national price of retail diesel fuel fell 4.8 cents to $2.867 a gallon, the biggest decline this year, the Department of Energy reported.
  
  

• The International Copper Study Group said that world copper production exceeded demand in the first quarter of 2006 by 64,000 tons, up from an 89,000 ton deficit in the first quarter of 2005. Production was up 4.8% YoY while usage was up 1%.
  

Many U.S. Iraq War vets return to homelessnessThe reasons that contribute to the new wave of homelessness are many: some are unable to cope with life after daily encounters with insurgent attacks and roadside bombs; some can't navigate government red tape; others simply don't have enough money to afford a house or apartment

Buyers in more markets find housing out of reach
San Diego could be a poster child for the affordability crisis. Home prices here have risen 142% since the start of 2000. Only 9% of residents could afford the median home if they had to put down 20% of the purchase price. Even so, a dizzying array of high-risk adjustable-rate mortgages has sustained the market by helping more people qualify.

Failure to deliver on G8 pledges has left millions to die, says charity report
World leaders agreed to cut subsidies and open their markets to the poorest countries, who cannot compete in world markets. But the report found that the US and the EU are still spending more than $100bn a year on subsidy payments to their own farmers, while continuing to dump cheap exports in developing countries so local producers cannot sell their goods in their own markets

Quick Overview

• U.S. New home sales were up 4.6% from April's pace and more than expected. For 2006, new home sales are down 11% YoY.
  
  

• Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Economics forecast World sugar production next fiscal year at 152.5 million tons, up from 149.7 million tons this fiscal year, and Global consumption at 151.2 million tons up from 150.6 million tons this year.
  

Resist the tobacco Taliban
There is within some people a deep-seated need to victimise those they consider racially, socially, sexually or ideologically aberrant. Smokers are a convenient and politically correct target for those who wish to take out their inchoate anger but are sharp enough to realise that, these days, you can’t vent it on Jews or homosexuals.

Jim Rogers Says China Equities, Commodities Will Boom Rogers said if he looks for new opportunities in commodities today, he would start with agriculture. ``I think there will be fortunes made in agriculture in the next decade.'' He is looking at cotton, coffee, wheat, soybeans and sugar. ...``Agricultural prices are historically very, very low,'' Rogers said. ``Inventories are the lowest in 34 years. We haven't even had a major worldwide drought in many years.''

Britain's first olive grove is a sign of our hotter times
In one of the most remarkable signs yet of the advance of global warming, Britain's first olive grove has been planted in Devon.

Who Will Hold Them Accountable?
Now the House has once again, in effect, abandoned its role in any future decision about the need for and the wisdom of initiating war in the name of the people they represent

Quick Overview

• The U.S. Commerce Department said that durable goods were down 0.3% in May, weaker than expected.
  

• Mexico's central bank left the country's benchmark overnight interest rate unchanged.
  
  

• New Zealand's GDP was up 0.7% in the first quarter of 2006 and up 2.2% YoY
  

• The Florida Department of Citrus Processors said there were 100 million gallons of frozen orange juice concentrate in inventory on June 17th, down 30% YoY.
  

• Panama's Congress will debate next week whether to push ahead with an ambitious and costly plan to expand its canal.

Bush is the most protectionist president since Herbert Hoover
The Wall Street Journal worried that Bush’s direction on steel was weakening his ability to influence other countries on a variety of issues. “The policy mattered less than the abandonment of principle,” it editorialized. “It signaled to the world that Mr. Bush was not the president he had seemed after September 11; his moral and strategic clarity could be compromised for a price.”

Heaven or hell?

Nanotechnology, genetics and cybernetics will mean that we will become faster, stronger and more beautiful; we will live longer and banish disease; we will be more intelligent and quicker-witted with photographic memories and the ability to go days without sleep.

(how about just a wee bit more morals?)

Tom Ridge: War on Terror to Last Decades


Ridge, speaking at the opening of a new RAND Corp. office, said the war on terror is likely to last for decades, much like the Cold War.

Lawmakers' Profits Are ScrutinizedHouse Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) made a $2 million profit last year on the sale of land 5 1/2 miles from a highway project that he helped to finance with targeted federal funds.

AT&T revises privacy policy, says owns customer dataAT&T Inc. said on Wednesday it was revising its privacy policy, explaining to customers that it owns their phone records and can hand them over....