While intervening ineptly in the Middle East, the US has failed to uphold the fundamental principle of its foreign policy: the Monroe Doctrine, reserving South America as its own sphere of influence.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11434.htm

NORTH Korea is working to restart a reactor that would produce enough plutonium to make 10 atomic bombs a year, a leading US nuclear scientist has warned.

http://tinyurl.com/brzdu


From Information Clearing House

Washington Times
by Lawrence Kudlow

12/30/05

If the Republican majority in the Senate and House can somehow stave off a newly energized Democratic assault in the midterm polls next November and preserve their governing status, they may well have Indiana Rep. Mike Pence to thank. Mr. Pence and his roughly 100 colleagues in the House Republican Study Committee (RSC) have almost single-handedly stopped the chronic Republican overspending of the past five years and forced the first full-fledged budget-cutting bill since 1997. In doing so, Mr. Pence and his dedicated band of House members -- people like Jeff Flake, Jeb Hensarling, John Shadegg, and Marsha Blackburn -- have begun to force the GOP back to the first principles of lower taxes, limited government, a strong defense, and a fierce dedication to moral authority...

http://tinyurl.com/8b6rf


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

A diary of 2005

CounterPunch
by Alexander Cockburn

01/01/06

Who are we to complain? It was a bad year for the Empire and not just in Iraq. A half century after Fidel Castro stayed in Harlem, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela came to the Bronx and promised cheap home heating oil from Citgo so the poor could keep warm this winter. He kept his promise. A month later Evo Morales swept to victory in Bolivia. From London the world heard Harold Pinter, Nobel Laureate, broadcast the most savage denunciation of Empire heard since the words Tacitus put in the mouth of Calgacus . It was a bad year for George Bush, humiliated in Buenos Aires, scorned at home, It was a bad year for Tony Blair, his terror laws put to flight. It was a bad year for the Democrats, with only a handful, like Murtha, McKinney, Serrano, and a few others to salvage the party's honor in Congress. It was a bad year too for the corporate press. The New York Times saw Judy Miller turn from martyr to millstone...

http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn12312005.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

TruthOut
by Marc Ash

01/01/06

Dr. King had it right -- he rang the bell of freedom, struck the hammer of justice, and sang about love between his brothers and his sisters all over the land. We growing up in that time watched and learned and hoped for the day that we might in some small way, some day, answer the calling. I say 'we' because I'm not the only one. I think one cannot be both silent and free...

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/010106Z.shtml


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Unknown News
by Helen & Harry Highwater

12/30/05

How furious would your average American be, to discover that everything we the people had been told, everything we'd thought we'd known all our lives, was a mountain of lies, half-lies, three-quarter-lies, 'national security' lies, lies we knew were lies, lies we suspected, lies we'd swallowed, lies we'd told ourselves, and lies we'd told each other?

http://www.unknownnews.org/051230a-hh.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Excerpt

AlterNet
by Kristina Borjesson and John Walcott

01/02/06

More often than any other journalist or news organization, Knight Ridder was mentioned by those in 'Feet to the Fire' as the best source for post-9/11 reporting. The person most responsible for setting this platinum standard of journalism is John Walcott. Long after the Twin Towers had collapsed, Walcott and his crack team of reporters were virtually alone in their pursuit of what the real intelligence analysts were saying about the White House's case against Saddam. Cumulatively, Knight Ridder's reporting damns the Bush administration in devastating detail. The thing is, for now, Knight Ridder isn't on the radar where Team Walcott's work would really count: Washington and New York. Nonetheless, Walcott persists...

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/29920/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Price of Liberty
by SARTRE

01/02/06

Since 2006 is an election year, it can be safely predicted that the mainstream news will have a focus on covering meaningless political races. The press will preach how important all these faceless campaigns will be, but in the end, very little ever changes. What makes this Congressional season different from other cycles is that the undercurrent will be who will emerge to succeed George W. Bush. In fact the game that will be covered has the hidden agenda of priming the pump for the next emperor to be crowned in 2008. This is the sad state of affairs of United States national elections. The politics of substance will be concealed for the appearance of a democratic changing of the guard...

http://www.thepriceofliberty.org/06/01/02/sartre.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo
01/02/06

With Patrick J. Fitzgerald working full-time to bring the corruption at the heart of the Bush presidency to light, and other investigations into the dark heart of this administration making substantial progress, the prognosis for 2006 may seem unnaturally bright -- especially if, like me, you've been following every twist and turn of Fitzgerald's probe. However, it wouldn't hurt to take a walk on the dark side, if only to tamp our expectations down to a more realistic level. This means conducting a threat assessment: that is, listing and analyzing the major factors threatening the peace of the world, looming darkly just over the horizon ...

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=8333


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Medical Freedom Channel
by Steve Trinward

01/01/06

"It seems like a good time to catch our readers up on the so-called 'bird flu threat.' The truth is, although the actuality of the 'pandemic' appears to be vastly exaggerated, this is turning out to be such a blatant example of how governments and bureaucracies can create a problem, while purporting to solve one that really wasn't there before, it's instructive just to follow the trails it's left in its wake. First off, the reader is referred to a few links (the first is blurbed in Monday's MFC edition), which taken together are a very good starting point for your own due diligence:

(1) No cause for Tamiflu terror, by Michael Fumento;
http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20051231-095711-8519r.htm

(2) Mystery: Bird Flu Fails To Migrate As Expected
http://rense.com/general69/mysterybirdflufails.htm

and

Autumn waterbird migration ends WITHOUT spread Of H5N1
http://rense.com/general69/autumnwaterbird.htm

both by Patricia Doyle, PhD;

and (3) More unbelievable avian flu updates, by Scott Johnson.
http://fmnn.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=4471

The gist of what is now coming to light is this ...

http://www.isil.org/channels/archives/1553


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp