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If anybody is interested in the type of news that has appeared on this blog, the websites below may be useful.

Guerrilla News Network
Centre for Research on Globalization
Unexplained Mysteries
Info Wars
David Icke Headlines
The Black Packet
Independent Media Center
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There are also other websites that can be found under the “Links” section on the right side of this blog.

Numbered for Life

The Times - Every child in school numbered for life

All 14-year-old children in England will have their personal details and exam results placed on an electronic database for life under a plan to be announced tomorrow.

Colleges and prospective employers will be able to access students’ records online to check on their qualifications. Under the terms of the scheme all children will keep their individual number throughout their adult lives, The Times has learnt. The database will include details of exclusions and expulsions.

U.S. Mortgage Crisis Spreads past Subprime Loans

International Herald Tribune - U.S. mortgage crisis spreads past subprime loans

The credit crisis is no longer just a subprime mortgage problem.

As U.S. home prices fall and banks tighten lending standards, people with good, or prime, credit histories are falling behind on their payments for home loans, auto loans and credit cards at a quickening pace, according to industry data and economists.

Related posts can be seen here.

Ridiculous Diebold Voting Machine Security

The BRAD BLOG - DIEBOLD VOTING MACHINE KEY COPIED FROM PHOTO AT COMPANY'S OWN ONLINE STORE!

It was revealed in the course of last summer's landmark virus hack of a Diebold touch-screen voting system at Princeton University that, incredibly, the company uses the same key to open every machine. It's also an easy key to buy at any office supply store since it's used for filing cabinets and hotel mini-bars! That is, if you're not a poll worker who already has one from the last time you worked on an election (anybody listening down there in San Diego?).

The Princeton Diebold Virus Hack, if you've been living in a cave, found that a single person with 60 seconds of unsupervised access to the system, who either picked the lock (easy in 10 seconds) or had a key, could slip a vote-swapping virus onto a single machine which could then undetectably affect every other machine in the county to steal an entire election.

But the folks at Princeton who discovered the hack (after our own organization, VelvetRevolution.us, gave them the Diebold touch-screen machine on which to perform their tests) had resisted showing exactly what the key looked like in order to hold on to some semblance of security for Diebold's Disposable Touch-Screen Voting Systems.

But guess what? Diebold didn't bother to even have that much common sense.

This idiotic company has had a photograph of the stupid key sitting on their own website's online store! (Screenshot at end of this article.)

Of course, they'll only sell such keys to "Diebold account holders" apparently --- or so they claim --- but that's hardly a problem. J. Alex Halderman, one of the folks who worked on the Princeton Hack and tried to keep the design of the key secret for obvious reasons, revealed Tuesday that a friend of his had found the photo of the key on Diebold's website and discovered that was all he needed to create a working copy!

Other posts related to Diebold can be seen here.

Veterans not Entitled to Mental Health Care

San Francisco Chronicle - Veterans not entitled to mental health care, U.S. lawyers argue

Veterans have no legal right to specific types of medical care, the Bush administration argues in a lawsuit accusing the government of illegally denying mental health treatment to some troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

A Million Dead Iraqis

Reuters - Iraq conflict has killed a million Iraqis: survey

More than one million Iraqis have died as a result of the conflict in their country since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, according to research conducted by one of Britain's leading polling groups.

The survey, conducted by Opinion Research Business (ORB) with 2,414 adults in face-to-face interviews, found that 20 percent of people had had at least one death in their household as a result of the conflict, rather than natural causes.

U.S. Mortgage Crisis Creates Ghost Town

AFP - US mortgage crisis creates ghost town

The streets are empty. Trash rustles down the road past rusted barbecues, abandoned furniture, sagging homes and gardens turned to weed.

This is Mount Pleasant, a neighborhood in southeastern Cleveland ravaged by the subprime mortgage crisis roiling the United States.

Faded "for sale" signs sit in front of deserted houses. The residents are gone, most after being evicted for missing their mortgage payments.

Related posts can be seen here.

72 000 Casualties

The Herald - 72,000 American casualties: toll of war on terror

The US has suffered more than 72,000 battlefield casualties since the start of the war on terror in 2001, a Freedom of Information request has revealed.

The query by the campaigning Veterans for Common Sense organisation shows that 4372 American soldiers have died and another 67,671 have been wounded in action, injured in accidents or succumbed to illness in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The veterans' group had to force the US Defence Department to release the figures by persuading judges to uphold their FoI rights.

A second request to the Veterans' Administration, the government-funded body responsible for taking care of ex-servicemen and women, showed 263,909 soldiers with experience of the two 21st-century wars have so far received treatment for everything from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to the aftermath of amputated limbs.

It also showed 52,375 veterans had been diagnosed with PTSD and 34,138 have received approval for disability claims for the psychological disorder. As of October 31 last year, 1.6 million Americans have been deployed overseas since 2001.

Harvard University estimates the cost of caring for Iraq and Afghan veterans over the next 40 years will amount to between £125bn and £350bn, depending on the long-term effects of trauma.

More than 240,000 of those deployed have received some form of counselling at veterans' centres.

British military losses in the two conflicts are 261 dead and more than 600 wounded in action. Another 3000 have been hospitalised as a result of road accidents or disease.

In central Afghanistan yesterday, nine Afghan policemen, including a district police chief, were killed in an anti-Taliban operation by US-led coalition troops, officials said. Several insurgents also died.

Also yesterday, a Nato soldier was killed and two others wounded when an explosion struck their patrol in the south of the country. The nationalities of the soldiers and the exact location of the blast were not given.

New Hampshire Recount Disparities

The BRAD BLOG - NH CONTEST: DIEBOLD MISCOUNTS REPORTED ACROSS MANY CANDIDATES, WARDS, IN FIRST DAY OF ELECTION CONTEST HAND COUNTS

Disparities being found during hand-counts of ballots, in many wards, many candidates. Diebold op-scan memory cards unaccounted for at the moment, Secretary of State (SoS) doesn't track them after elections, doesn't track error reports during elections. LHS Associates (see below) handles all of it instead, according to reports on the ground. Public records request reveals hundreds of ballots in one area scanned as blank due to incorrect ink used on ballots, and other problems on LHS problem report forms.

The BRAD BLOG - Huge New Diebold Disparities Found in Manchester, Ward 5 During NH Hand Counts

Previous posts can be seen here.

Doctors Saw Entry and Exit Bullet Wounds on Bhutto's Head

The Times of India - 'Doctors saw entry and exit bullet wounds on Bhutto's head'

The husband of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto has claimed that doctors who tried to revive her after a suicide attack "clearly stated" that they saw the entry and exit wounds of a bullet on her head, contradicting Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who said there was a wound only on one side.

"The doctors who first tried to revive her (Bhutto) had clearly stated that they saw bullet wounds entry and exit. The doctors were then threatened and hushed up. The authorities have all along been trying to cover up and changed their versions," Asif Ali Zardari said in an interview to The Washington Times.

Musharraf had earlier said in an interview that there is "no bullet wound other than on the right side......A bullet wound is a small hole, and if the bullet goes through it makes a big hole on the other side".

Zardari slammed Musharraf, saying that the president "has shown that he does not respect the constitution and considers his own word above that of the law", adding that the upcoming general election "cannot be free and fair."

"The electoral rolls are flawed. The election commission is far from independent. The media and judiciary are not free. The district governments and intelligence agencies are openly engaged in electoral fraud," Zardari said.

The PPP co-chairman, however, would not say if his party would seek the impeachment of Musharraf if opposition parties get a majority in the elections.

"This question is hypothetical. For now, we are focused on the elections," he said.

The last article in my older post seen here says there were no bullet wounds.

All my previous posts about this assassination can be seen here.

Digg.com Censoring Ron Paul

Prison Planet - Digg Caught Red-Handed Censoring Ron Paul Stories

UPDATE: After just one bury, this article too was deleted from Digg's upcoming category.

The self-proclaimed 'digital democracy' Digg.com has been caught red-handed artificially suppressing and censoring Ron Paul stories by expunging them from the website with just one bury, despite the fact that thousands of other Digg users are voting the stories up.

Digg allows users to vote stories up (digg them) or vote them down (bury them). The content of Digg's main page, which receives millions of readers a day, is decided upon this apparently democratic system.

For months allegations have been flying around concerning how stories about Ron Paul, which routinely receive well over a thousand diggs, rarely make it to the main page on Digg as a "popular" item.

A previous post: Digg Censors HD-DVD Key

Ex-congressman Charged in Terror Conspiracy

AP - Ex-lawmaker charged in terror conspiracy

A former congressman and delegate to the United Nations was indicted Wednesday on charges of working for an alleged terrorist fundraising ring that sent more than $130,000 to an al-Qaida supporter who has threatened U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan.

Mark Deli Siljander, a Michigan Republican when he was in the House, was charged with money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for allegedly lying about being hired to lobby senators on behalf of an Islamic charity that authorities said was secretly sending funds to terrorists.

New Hampshire Recount Funds Frozen by PayPal

Prison Planet - Paypal Freezes New Hampshire Recount Funds

Paypal has frozen the fundraising account of the Granny Warriors, a Ron Paul supporters group who had been pushing for a recount in New Hampshire, causing a 3pm Tuesday deadline to be missed and the application rejected for lack of payment.

The Granny Warriors had raised the necessary $55,600 deposit for the recount but at the last minute before it was transferred to the New Hampshire Secretary of State, Paypal blocked access to the funds.

No explanation has been forthcoming from Paypal as to why the corporation froze the account.

"Emergency efforts by our folks on the scene in New Hampshire to push the recount through the Secretary’s office were not successful and a lot of frustration has been expressed on both sides as a result," writes a recount volunteer on the RonPaulWarRoom website.

"The problem was not with the Secretary of State for New Hampshire, it was with PayPal. I understand that the matter may remain unresolved and a recount may still be possible. I am hoping for additional information early Wednesday, January 16th."

However, The strict 3pm deadline for funds to be transferred imposed by Secretary of State William M. Gardner doesn't seem to be in accordance with the law, as Dennis Kucinich's Attorney Manny Krasner pointed out, only a written guarantee of payment is required to secure a recount.

On the Democrat side, Kucinich did transfer the funds in time for a recount and this will start today.

Volunteers are encouraging people to contact Paypal via https://investor.shareholder.com/paypal/contactus.cfm and voice their grievances.

Other posts about the New Hampshire 2008 primary can be seen here.

Germany Pardons Marinus van der Lubbe for Reichstag Fire

AFP - Germany pardons Dutchman beheaded for Reichstag fire

Seventy-five years since the Reichstag building in Berlin was gutted by fire, the Dutchman executed by the Nazis for starting the blaze has been posthumously pardoned by the German state, federal justice officials said yesterday.

Marinus van der Lubbe, a member of the Communist party, was cleared under a law introduced in 1998 to lift unjust verdicts dating from the Nazi era.

The Reichstag, the imposing stone building that housed the Nazi-controlled parliament, was gutted by fire on Feb. 27, 1933 -- one month after Adolf Hitler rose to power.

A Nazi court found Van der Lubbe guilty of arson and high treason and he was beheaded in 1934.

The verdict remains a source of controversy.

Some historians say the Dutchman admitted burning down the Reichstag alone in an attempt to rouse Germans to rise up against the Nazis.

Others believe he was made a scapegoat for a fire that the Nazis started themselves.

Japanese Politician Questions 9/11

Centre for Research on Globalization - Main Japanese Opposition Party Questions 9/11 in Parliament

Yukihisa Fujita of the Japan Democratic Party, made a 20 minute long statement at the House of Councillors, the upper house of the Diet (parliament) of Japan, ahead of the voting

He questioned the official version of 9/11 presented to the Japanese government and the public by the US administration in a session of the defence commission.

U.S. Needed in Iraq Until 2018

Reuters - Iraqi sees need for U.S. military until 2018: report

Iraq's defense minister said on Monday his country would need foreign military help to defend its borders for another 10 years and would not be able to maintain internal security until 2012.

Abdul Qadir's remarks, in an interview with The New York Times posted on the newspaper's Internet site, could become an issue in the U.S. presidential campaign.

"According to our calculations and our timelines, we think that from the first quarter of 2009 until 2012 we will be able to take full control of the internal affairs of the country," Qadir said.

"In regard to the borders, regarding protection from any external threats, our calculation appears that we are not going to be able to answer to any external threats until 2018 to 2020," he said.

President George W. Bush has said U.S. troops may have to stay in Iraq for years but most presidential candidates, especially Democrats, would like them to withdraw much faster.

Qadir is currently visiting the United States. On his agenda is weapons acquisitions for the new, U.S.-trained Iraqi army. According to the Times, these included ground vehicles, helicopters, tanks, artillery and armored personnel carriers.

The United States disbanded the country's previous armed forces built by Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi president who was executed in December 2006.

The United States and Iraq have said they would negotiate a formal agreement governing the legal status of American military forces in Iraq but talks have not yet formally begun.

New Hampshire Recount

Previous post: Vote Fraud in New Hampshire

Wired - New Hampshire to Recount Ballots in Light of Controversy

Both Republican and Democratic candidates have asked the state of New Hampshire to conduct a hand recount of all primary ballots statewide, citing internet rumors about vote discrepancies and voting machine fraud in the primary results.

Ellen Dube, elections assistant at the New Hampshire Secretary of State's office, told me that the Republican recount will begin next Wednesday (January 16). She said her office had not yet received a formal request from Kucinich. She said the recounts would likely take at least two weeks to complete and would cost several thousand dollars each, since the state will have to pay all workers involved in the recount, including state troopers who will transport the ballots.

3000+ Marines for Afghanistan?

AP - US to Send 3,000 Marines to Afghanistan

The Pentagon is preparing to send at least 3,000 Marines to Afghanistan in April to bolster efforts to hold off another expected Taliban offensive in the spring, military officials said Wednesday.

The move represents a shift in Pentagon thinking that has been slowly developing after months of repeated insistence that the U.S. was not inclined to fill the need for as many as 7,500 more troops that commanders have asked for there. Instead, Defense Secretary Robert Gates pressed NATO allies to contribute the extra forces.

Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said Wednesday that a proposal will go before Gates on Friday that would send a ground and air Marine contingent as well as a Marine battalion - together totaling more than 3,000 forces - to southern Afghanistan for a ``one-time, seven-month deployment.''

Previous post: More U.S. Troops to Afghanistan

Diana Thought She Would be killed over Campaign against Landmines

Telegraph - Diana 'believed she would be bumped off'

Diana, Princess of Wales believed she was going to be "bumped off" by MI6 because of her high profile campaign against landmines, the inquest into her death has been told.

Previous posts about the inquest can be seen here.

Poland Signals a Shift on U.S. Missile Shield

IHT - Poland signals a shift on U.S. missile shield

Signaling a tougher position in negotiations with the United States on a European anti-ballistic missile shield, Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski says the new Warsaw government is not prepared to accept U.S. plans to deploy part of the shield in Poland until all costs and risks are considered.

Previous posts about the missile shield can be seen here.