It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. Robert F. Kennedy US Attorney General 1961-64, assassinated in Los Angeles while campaigning
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Individualism, as a definition of holding to personal ideals, is classed as obstinacy and anti-social. Inevitably we run point blank into the evils of compromise. When compromise enters our moral fibre, it spreads like a cancerous growth. We think we plan adequate safeguards around areas in which we contemplate yielding our standards, but once we lower the fence and break our strong will to do right, come what may, we expose ourselves to forces that spread beyond control. Compromise always starts on some rather insignificant principle. The dangers of yielding seem negligible and we usually risk those things first where observation and detection by others is difficult. We thus seek to avoid censure and discipline. In a short time we find ourselves trading our principles for false values and doing it in the black market of human relationships. . . Ralph W. Hardy
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If it were proved to me that in making war, my ideal had a chance of being realized, I would still say "No" to war. For one does not create human society on mounds of corpses. Louis Lecoin - French pacifist leader
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Click here to read this newsletter online
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
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Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq "1,284,105"
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html
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Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America'sWar On Iraq 4,201
http://icasualties.org/oif/
The War And Occupation Of Iraq Costs
$572,821,296,205
See the cost in your community
http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182
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Robert Gates: As Bad as Rumsfeld?
What can Barack Obama be thinking?
By Ray McGovern
The little-understood story behind Bush's decision to catapult Robert Gates into his Pentagon perch was the astonishing fact that Donald Rumsfeld, of all people, was pulling a Robert McNamara; that is, he was going wobbly on a war based largely on his own hubris-laden, misguided advice.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21275.htm
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This Is Change?
20 Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama's White House
By Jeremy Scahill
Obama has a momentous opportunity to do what he repeatedly promised over the course of his campaign: bring actual change. But the more we learn about who Obama is considering for top positions in his administration, the more his inner circle resembles a staff reunion of President Bill Clinton's White House.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21279.htm
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Obama and the Great Depression
By Mickey Z.
No, I don't mean that Great Depression. I'm talking about the inevitable moment-maybe next week, maybe next year-when the Kool Aid wears off and the Obamatrons wake up to realize their hero offers nothing even approximating hope or change.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21284.
htm
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Once More Fear Stalks The Streets Of Kandahar
By Robert Fisk
Better to be a Martian than a Westerner in a city which in all but name has fallen to the Taliban.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21276.htm
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Who Will Stop The Settlers?
Noise but no action from US over family's eviction
By Jonathan Cook
The middle-of-the-night eviction last week of an elderly Palestinian couple from their home in East Jerusalem to make way for Jewish settlers is a demonstration of Israeli intent towards a future peace deal with the Palestinians.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21283.htm
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Long live Haiti!
Famine in Haiti Made In The U.S.A
By G. Dunkel
In Baie d'Orange, a community of 20,000 associated with the municipality of Belle-Anse in southeast Haiti, 16 children and two adults died from hunger in the last week of October. Pierre Antoine Diléné, a doctor working in Belle-Anse, confirmed the deaths and emphasized that many were also suffering from dysentery, fevers and skin diseases.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21277.htm
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How Bush Tried to Bring Down Evo Morales
Orchestrating a Civic Coup in Bolivia
By ROGER BURBACH
Observers of U.S.-Latin American policy tend to view the crisis in U.S.-Bolivian relations as due to a policy of neglect and ineptness toward Latin America because of U.S. involvement in the wars in the Middle East and Central Asia. In fact, the Bolivia coup attempt was a conscious policy rooted in U.S. hostility toward Morales, his political party the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) and the social movements that are aligned with him.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21278.htm
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Secrets Of The CIA
Video
These are the stories of former agents who dared to break away from the CIA.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21282.htm
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Moderation in the Pursuit of Justice Is No Virtue
By Joseph L. Galloway
With two months still to go before his inauguration as the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama and his transition team are already getting off on the wrong foot, signaling that they have no intention of investigating anyone in the Bush administration for possible war crimes.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21286.htm
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More than 50 killed in Pakistan attacks:
More than 50 people were killed in a suspected suicide bombing, shelling by army jets and artillery at positions of Islamic militants, in north-western Pakistan, security officials and media reports said on Thursday
http://ti
nyurl.com/56eoqx
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Pakistan summons U.S. envoy over strikes:
Pakistan summoned the U.S. ambassador Thursday to protest a suspected American missile strike deep inside its territory as militants threatened revenge attacks unless the cross-border raids stop.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27817855/
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Pakistani Prime Minister Says US Strikes Will Stop Once Obama Takes Office:
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday denied Islamabad has a secret deal with America allowing the attacks, as some analysts have speculated, and said he expected them to stop when President-elect Barack Obama takes over in January.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/20/pakistani-prime-minister-_n_145153.html
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US 'dark side' raised in Pakistani scientist case:
The 'dark side' of US counter-terrorism took center stage Wednesday in the case of a mentally ill Pakistani woman accused of attacking US officers in Afghanistan.
http://tinyurl.com/5cavvz
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Suicide bomber kills 9 in Afghanistan: -
A suicide car-bomber killed nine people and wounded 16, including two U.S. soldiers, in an attack on Thursday on a government compound in eastern Afghanistan, a government official said.
http://tinyurl.com/5nyosq
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Taliban Regains Power, Influence in Afghanistan:
The Taliban have regained control in these pockets despite seven years of American attacks and the presence of more than 50,000 U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops. There are thousands of U.S. and British troops in southern Afghanistan, but American commanders say they don't have enough forces to prevent the Taliban from controlling territory there.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122713845685342447.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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"Defense contractor" charged in US with murder over killing of Afghan civilian :
Documents say that after learning the contractor had suffered serious burns, Ayala shot and killed Salam, who was handcuffed.
http://tinyurl.com/6beghb
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Iraq: At leat 17 killed in another bloody day of US occupation:
KUT - Gunmen stormed a house and killed five members of the same family, including two children
http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=460770
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UK troops to withdraw from Iraq in New Year:
Exclusive: British combat troops will start withdrawing from Iraq shortly after key local elections held at the end of January, the UK commander in Basra has signalled.
http://tinyurl.com/6nyfak
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Iraqi PM: Timeline for U.S. withdrawal could be moved up: .
According to the AP, the parliament
completed a second reading of the proposal, the last step prior to the opening of debate on the security pact ahead of the Nov. 24 vote
http://www.albawaba.com/en/news/237943
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US-Iraq security pact may be in violation, Congress is told:
Passage of the US-Iraq security pact under the terms both countries' leaders have advocated could violate the constitutions of both countries, specialists told a congressional subcommittee yesterday. - They instead pressed for an extension of the United Nations mandate authorizing US troop involvement in Iraq, which expires Dec. 31.
http://tinyurl.com/5djgbb
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Army shreds documents on friendly fire deaths:
In late 2006, two American soldiers from Fort Carson died in Iraq. The army said the privates were killed by enemy action. But in October of this year, Salon revealed that the two men had in fact been killed by friendly tank fire.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Army_shreds_documents_on_friend_fire_1120.html
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Manufacturing Consent For An Attack On Iran? :
Military analysts: Iran 'has enough material for atomic bomb':
An analysis of the latest monitoring report on the country's nuclear programme concluded Iran had amassed 630kg of low enriched uranium, enough for a single weapon.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21277.htm
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Israel displays airpower it could use against Iran:
"We are prepared and ready to do whatever Israel needs us to do and if this is the mission we're given then we are ready," said Colonel Amon, who commands the Negev Squadron of F-16I "Sufas" -- multi-role strike aircraft designed to both bomb and fight other air forces over long periods and distances.
http://tinyurl.com/6e36qk
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Bush, Olmert to hold final meeting in White House:
President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, two leaders with just weeks left in office, will discuss a range of issues at the White House on Monday, including Iran's nuclear program
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/20/america/NA-US-Israel.php
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Gazans despair over blockade:
"People queue for two or three hours for bread, but sometimes there's no cooking gas or flour, so no bread. "People wait in line for UN food handouts, but sometimes there aren't any. The suffering is reaching every aspect of life."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7739063.stm
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Israelis won't ease Gaza blockade:
Gaza's largest flour mill halted operations yesterday, saying it had run out of wheat, and the U.N. said it was being forced to suspend cash grants to 98,000 of Gaza's poorest people because of a shortage of Israeli currency.
http://tinyurl.com/5ld73q
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Israel 'using food and medicines as weapons': Christian Aid.:
For almost one and a half years, 1.5 million Palestinians ha
ve endured collective punishment as a result of Israel's tight closure of Gaza.
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/8011
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Top media executives protest Israel's ban on journalists' entry to Gaza:
Leaders of the world's biggest media organizations filed a protest with Israel's prime minister Wednesday criticizing the government's decision to ban journalists from entering the Gaza Strip for the last two weeks.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1039255.html
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Nobel laureate Maguire: UN should suspend Israel membership:
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire said Israel should be punished for ignoring a series of United Nations resolutions over the years.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1039394.html
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Israeli leaders make secret journey to Jordan:
Israeli leaders made a secret journey to neighboring Jordan earlier this week, listening to pleas from King Abdullah II to avert a large-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip, Israeli and Jordan officials confirmed Thursday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081120/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_jordan
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Colombian U'wa Indigenous Leaders Visit US, Urging Investors and US Congress to Respect Human Rights:
More than 15,000 indigenous march on Bogota in Opposition to the US Colombia Free Trade Agreement
http://tinyurl.com/6gx4xh
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Judge orders Guantanamo releases:
A US judge has ruled that five Algerians held in the US prison facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for almost seven years had been illegally detained and must be freed.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/11/2008112017273323533.html
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US seeks 300 billion dlrs from Gulf states: report:
The United States has asked four oil-rich Gulf states for close to 300 billion dollars to help it curb the global financial meltdown, Kuwait's daily Al-Seyassah reported Thursday.
http://tinyurl.com/63dawb
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Jobless claims jump unexpectedly to 16-year high:
The four-week average of claims, which smooths out fluctuations, was even worse: it rose to 506,500, the highest in more than 25 years.
http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=111&sid=577993
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GM Tumbles to Lowest Since '30s, Ford Falls as Aid Plan Falters:
General Motors Corp. fell toward its lowest since the 1930s after U.S. lawmakers deadlocked on an auto-industry bailout, raising the prospect it could run out of cash before a new Congress can come to the rescue next year. Ford Motor Co. tumbled to a 28-year low.
http://tinyurl.com/56tgsn
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Chinese Automakers may buy GM and Chrysler:
Chinese carmakers SAIC and Dongfeng have plans to acquire GM and Chrysler, China's 21st Century Business Herald reports
http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/home/Frontpage/2008/11/19/02867.html
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Treasury Yields Drop to Record Lows:
Treasury yields declined to record lows, with two-year notes dropping below 1 percent for the first time, as global stocks slumped and a deepening recession drove investors to the safest assets.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aucejNR4YWu4&refer=news
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