Researchers funded by the federal government want to shut down the internet and start over, citing the fact that at the moment there are loopholes in the system whereby users cannot be tracked and traced all the time.

Time magazine has reported that several foundations and universities including Rutgers, Stanford, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are pursuing individual projects, along with the Defense Department, in order to wipe out the current internet and replace it with a new network which will satisfy big business and government:

One challenge in any reconstruction, though, will be balancing the interests of various constituencies. The first time around, researchers were able to toil away in their labs quietly. Industry is playing a bigger role this time, and law enforcement is bound to make its needs for wiretapping known.
There's no evidence they are meddling yet, but once any research looks promising, "a number of people (will) want to be in the drawing room," said Jonathan Zittrain, a law professor affiliated with Oxford and Harvard universities. "They'll be wearing coats and ties and spilling out of the venue."

The projects echo moves we have previously reported on to clamp down on internet neutrality and even to designate a new form of the internet known as Internet 2.

This would be a faster, more streamlined elite equivalent of the internet available to users who were willing to pay more for a much improved service. providers may only allow streaming audio and video on your websites if you were eligible for Internet 2.

Of course, Internet 2 would be greatly regulated and only "appropriate content" would be accepted by an FCC or government bureau. Everything else would be relegated to the "slow lane" internet, the junkyard as it were. Our techie rulers are all too keen to make us believe that the internet as we know it is ";already dead".

Google is just one of the major companies preparing for internet 2 by setting up hundreds of "server farms" through which eventually all our personal data - emails, documents, photographs, music, movies - will pass and reside.

However, experts state that the "clean slate" projects currently being undertaken go even further beyond projects like Internet2 and National LambdaRail, both of which focus primarily on next-generation needs for speed.

In tandem with broad data retention legislation currently being introduced worldwide, such "clean slate" projects may represent a considerable threat to the freedom of the internet as we know it. EU directives and US proposals for data retention may mean that any normal website or blog would have to fall into line with such new rules and suddenly total web regulation would become a reality.

FREE PRESS ENDANGERED:

Not surprisingly, the new postage rate scheme was drafted by Time Warner, the largest magazine publisher in the nation....The corruption and sleaziness of this process is difficult to exaggerate.

by Robert McChesney

What the Post Office is now proposing goes directly against 215 years of postal policy.Everyone who visits the Common Dreams site is reading articles that were first published or commissioned by print publications. Without these print publications, there would be a lot less material for all of us to read, and some of our most important reporters and thinkers wouldn’t get paid to write.

Yet the independent magazines and small publications that contribute to Common Dreams are under attack by government bureaucrats and media conglomerates. Unless we take action now, the wide variety of voices and viewpoints available on sites like this one will become considerably diminished.

This crisis which could have devastating effect on new media revolves around America's very first and arguably most visionary and progressive media policy: postal rates for periodicals.

The death last Sunday of six Canadian soldiers in southern Afghanistan reminds us of Santayana’s famous maxim that those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it.

The soldiers were killed near Maiwand, a name meaning nothing to most westerners. But there, on 27 July, 1880, during the bloody Second Afghan War, the British Empire suffered one of the worst defeats in its colonial history.

Two years earlier the Raj (Britain’s Indian Empire) had invaded Afghanistan for a second time. The British put Afghan puppet rulers into power in Kabul and Kandahar.

Ayub Khan, son of Afghanistan’s former emir, rallied 12,000 Pashtun (or Pathan) tribal warriors to fight an advancing British force whose mission, was, in London’s words, to "liberate" Afghan tribes and bring them "the light of Christian civilization." Today, the slogan is "promoting democracy."

The complete text of the War Crimes Report against Israel, submitted to the Secretary of the Army (acting on behalf of the Secretary of Defense) by the USS Liberty survivors, may be accessed by clicking here.

BATR readers will especially note the findings of the Moorer Commission, which among other things, concluded the following:

That there is compelling evidence that Israel's attack was a deliberate attempt to destroy an American ship and kill her entire crew; evidence of such intent is supported by statements from Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Undersecretary of State George Ball, former CIA director Richard Helms, former NSA directors Lieutenant General William Odom, USA (Ret.), Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, USN (Ret.), and Marshal Carter; former NSA deputy directors Oliver Kirby and Major General John Morrison, USAF (Ret.); and former Ambassador Dwight Porter, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon in 1967;

That in attacking USS Liberty, Israel committed acts of murder against American servicemen and an act of war against the United States.

"Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz plans to appoint a major general to investigate the use of cluster bombs — some of which were fired against his order — during the Lebanon war. Halutz ordered the IDF to use cluster bombs with extreme caution and not to fire them into populated areas. Nonetheless, it did so anyway, primarily using artillery batteries and the Multiple Launch System (MRLS). IDF artillery, MLRS and aircraft are thought to have delivered thousands of cluster bombs, containing a total of some 4 million bomblets during the war."

— Ha'aretz (Israeli daily newspaper), November 20, 2006

On my ten-day trip to Lebanon, I learned that the "very high price" that Israel imposed on Lebanon is still being paid. Lebanese civilians, many of them children, continue to be killed and maimed by unexploded Israeli cluster bomblets — a million of them — which Israel fired during the summer war with Hezbollah. Here is some of what I learned on my trip:

Unexploded Ordnance Left by Israel: Where is the Accountability?

In the summer war Israel dropped an estimated 1.2 to 4 million cluster "bomblets" on Lebanon from rockets, artillery, and airplanes. The UN estimates that Israel fired 90 percent of those munitions in the last 72 hours of the conflict, when Israel knew that a ceasefire (UN Security Council Resolution 1701) was imminent.

The United Nations estimates a 30% to 40% actual failure rate for cluster bomblets in Lebanon, leaving them to kill and maim innocent Lebanese. According to officials I spoke to at the Mine Action Coordination Centre of South Lebanon (MACC-SL), the UN agency responsible for removing unexploded ordnance in Lebanon, 23 people have been killed and another 136 injured from unexploded ordnance in Lebanon since August 14, when hostilities ended.

Sign the American Task Force for Lebanon Petition Against Cluster Bombs by clicking here .

See the complete American Task Force for Lebanon report on Cluster Bombs by Dr. George Cody by clicking here.

For more photos of Israeli-inflicted Cluster Bomb casualties in South Lebanon, posted by the Mine Action Coordination Center for South Lebanon,click here.

Ted Pike of the National Prayer Network has chronicled the pivotal role of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai Brith in pushing for Federal Hate Crimes Legislation. What is the ideological agenda behind the legislation? Will it criminalize legitimate free speech in America on topics like Zionism and the gay rights movement?

See the ADL 14 page report on "Hate Crimes" Legislation by clicking here.

For Ted Pike's online 80 minute video on "Hate Crimes," click here.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican 2008 presidential hopeful John McCain crooned the words "Bomb Iran" to a Beach Boys' tune in joking response to a question about any possible U.S. attack over Tehran's suspected nuclear weapons program.

"That old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran ... bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb," the Vietnam War veteran warbled softly to the band's "Barbara Ann" when he was asked when the United States would send an "airmail message" to Iran.

The singing performance during a campaign stop on Wednesday in South Carolina drew chuckles from the audience and has already been viewed almost 11,000 times on the Internet video sharing site YouTube after being posted on Thursday.

Campaign spokesman Matt David said the question was asked somewhat in jest and that the Arizona senator was adding some levity to the discussion.

KUWAIT CITY, April 20, 2007 (AFP) - US ally Kuwait is to form an emergency team to draw up contingency plans for any conflict between the United States and Iran, a senior minister said in comments published Friday.

"The team ... will devise a comprehensive contingency plan to deal with risks that may result in case a war breaks out in the Gulf on the back of the rising US military escalation towards Iran," State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Faisal al-Hajji told the Al-Watan daily.

The cabinet will form the team at its weekly meeting on Sunday, drawing on officials from the defence, interior, oil and health ministries as well as the fire and civil defence departments, Hajji said.

The team is then due to hold its first meeting on Monday.

The Kuwaiti parliament is scheduled to hold a special debate on May 1 on the government's readiness for any military confrontation between the United States and Iran.
Washington has said that it would prefer to address its concerns about Tehran's nuclear programme diplomatically but has refused to rule out the option of military action.

It has beefed up its military presence in the Gulf and currently has a second aircraft carrier there for the first time since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Kuwait served as the launchpad for that invasion and remains the main staging point for US-led troops in Iraq.

Around 15,000 US troops are stationed at a series of bases in the emirate, the largest of them at Arifjan, south of Kuwait City near the border with Saudi Arabia.

Dahlia S. Wasfi, M.D.

Dr. Dahlia Wasfi put her medical career on hold after the U.S. invasion of her father’s homeland, Iraq, and is now a speaker and activist for Global Exchange.

Born in the United States to an American Jewish mother and an Iraqi Muslim father, Dr. Wasfi spent the early part of her childhood in Sadam Hussein’s Iraq while her father taught at Basrah University. She returned to the U.S. at age 5 and spent her formative years in New York. She graduated from Swarthmore College with a biology degree, and went on to earn a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997.

Dr. Wasfi has made two trips to Iraq since the 2003 "Shock and Awe" invasion to visit her extended family. She returned from a three month stay in Basrah in March, 2006. On April 27 of this year, she testified at a Congressional Forum to provide her eyewitness account of life in Iraq. Based on her experiences, Dr. Wasfi is speaking out on the negative impact of the U.S. invasion and the need to end the occupation.

Excerpt from Congressional Forum testimony, April 27, 2006:

"I speak to you today on behalf of relatives on my mother’s side—Ashkenazi Jews who fled their homeland of Austria during Hitler’s Anschluss. It is for them that we say 'Never again.' I speak to you today on behalf of relatives on my father’s side, who are not living, but dying, under the occupation of this administration’s deadly foray in Iraq. From the lack of security to the lack of basic supplies to the lack of electricity to the lack of potable water to the lack of jobs to the lack of recon-struction to the lack of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, they are much worse off now than before we invaded. 'Never again' should apply to them, too..."

For 6 Minute Video of Dr. Dahlia Wasfi Congressional testimony, click here.

Frosty Wooldridge was Mark Dankof's guest in the first hour of the latter's show on April 18th for the Republic Broadcasting Network.

Wooldridge, along with Wanda Piety of Los Angeles, is the national organizer of the upcoming "Truck Out" protest on April 23rd, 24th, and 25th. On those dates, American truckers will surround every state legislature/capitol building in the continental United States, and will move enmasse on Washington, D. C.

Why?--to protest Mr. Bush's destruction of the American trucking industry and the safety of the American highway system at the behest of the North American Union and Mexican trucking interests. For more information on supporting Frosty Wooldridge and Wanda Piety--and the interest of every American citizen--click here.

Father John Martinez joined Mark Dankof in the last two hours of the broadcast, to discuss his new DVD, "An Unjust Attack on Iran." To learn more about the DVD, contact the Republic Broadcasting Network by clicking here, or calling 1-800-724-2719.

Mark Glenn of the American Free Press will soon publish an article on Father John Martinez. Information on subscribing to AFP can be obtained by clicking here, or calling 1-888-699-NEWS.

The U.S. government has no way of knowing for certain whether Mexican truck drivers applying for participation in a Department of Transportation program giving access to U.S. highways have criminal histories or traffic convictions.

The problem is Mexico maintains no reliable national criminal database or driving history database to check its drivers, who as WND reported, would be eligible to participate in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Free and Secure Trade system, or FAST.

FAST would enable Mexican trucks carrying loads of consumer goods into the United States to cross the border in as little as 15 seconds, according to government officials setting up the procedures.

Washington - New details are emerging about a secret 2003 briefing that could play a key role in the defense of two pro-Israel advocates charged with passing classified information.

Until now, the identities of the participants were not publicly known, except for one of the defendants, Steve Rosen, then policy director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. In recent weeks, however, the Forward has confirmed that the meeting featured a briefing delivered by top Middle East peace envoy Anthony Zinni and was attended by Jess Hordes, head of the Washington office of the Anti-Defamation League, and Dan Mariaschin, executive vice president of B’nai B’rith International.

Defense lawyers have sought the testimony of those in attendance to demonstrate to the jury that meetings between administration officials and Jewish representatives were common practice, and that intelligence was frequently shared during these powwows without the participants knowing the information was classified. But, as first reported in the Forward last month, the Jewish representatives who attended the meeting are refusing to cooperate with the defense team.

The tragic murders of Virginia Tech students, apparently by an insane person, will prompt new attempts to ban private ownership of guns. Once guns are banned, crime will explode. Households and vulnerable members of society will lose the ability to defend, which will invite more intrusions and attacks. Knife crimes will rise as they have in Great Britain.

Gun prohibition will create a new industry for criminals – gun running and black market sales. Police will conduct stings by posing as black market gun dealers and entrap innocent citizens driven by fear and threat to secure means of personal protection.

A large industry of family businesses dedicated to meeting the needs of shooters, who would never shoot at anything but a paper or clay target, will be wiped out. Gun clubs will close their doors. Collectors of valuable Winchesters and Colts, beautiful pieces of Americana, will have to give them up or be at risk of prison sentences.

American truckers plan to circle the White House and state capitals in a "rolling blockade" to protest a federal government plan to allow Mexican long-haul rigs to operate throughout the U.S.

Drivers who participate in "Truck-Out" also are being asked to run their rigs at the minimum speed permitted by law.

The protest is scheduled for April 23-25 to coordinate with the "Hold Their Feet to the Fire" rally and radio talk show marathon in Washington planned by the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

"American truckers are going to have their jobs undercut or vanish into the hands of Mexican truck drivers as this Department of Transportation pilot project gains permanency," said Frosty Wooldridge, a writer and talk-show host who drove 18-wheelers for two decades.

Today, Wooldridge is a professional writer who specializes in non-fiction adventure books. He writes two columns a week on the Internet and hosts a radio show on the Republic Broadcasting Network twice a week.

Rageh Omaar embarks on a unique journey inside what he describes as one of the most misunderstood countries in the world, looking at the ... all » country through the eyes of people rarely heard - ordinary Iranians.

It took a year of wrangling to get permission to film inside Iran but the result is an amazing portrayal of an energetic and vibrant country that is completely different to the usual images seen in the media

One hour, 30 minutes in duration.

Click here.

There is a common theme to these cases. Secrecy is not invoked to protect military or legitimate state security confidences. It is invoked for nakedly political reasons, or darker and still more likely, to obscure crimes and avoid the creation of court records which would document them.

On Friday the 13th of April, 2007, Mordechai Vanunu was informed that the Israeli government has renewed all the restrictions against him, for the fourth time.

Although 'freed' from 18 years in jail on April 21, 2004 for telling the world Israel had gone nuclear, Vanunu has been forbidden to leave Israel, forbidden to speak to media and to foreigners under the draconian restrictions of the Emergency Defense Regulations which were implemented first by Britain against Palestinians and Jews after World War II.

After WWII, a leading Jewish attorney, Yaccov Shapiro, who became Israel's Minister of Justice described the EDR as "unparalleled in any civilized country: there were no such laws in Nazi Germany." [Ateek, Justice and only Justice, pg. 35]

On January 25, 2006, Vanunu's freedom of speech trial began which brought charges against him for giving interviews to foreign journalists twenty one times, conducting chat room conversations with other foreigners, and attempting to travel to Bethlehem on Christmas Eve, 2004.

On April 30, 2007 Vanunu will learn if he will return to jail for expressing his thoughts.

Brothers Michael and Peter Dimond of the Most Holy Family Monastery were guests on "Mark Dankof's America" on the Republic Broadcasting Network on April 16th. The two traditional, orthodox Catholic priests were interviewed for the last two (2) hours of the show.

The Most Holy Family Monastery believes that with the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, encroaching apostasy began to engulf the Church with the successors to Pius, who include John XXIII (1958-1963); Paul VI (1963-1978); John Paul I (33 days in 1978); John Paul II (1978-2005); and Benedict XVI (2005 to the present). Issues of Freemasonry, Zionism, Universalism, and the moral/cultural climate since Vatican II were discussed in this context.

The web site of The Most Holy Family Monastery may be accessed by clicking here.

Despite an upcoming appearance by George H.W. Bush at the newspaper's 25th anniversary celebration, a 20+-year former Washington Times reporter says that the newspaper's survival is threatened

On May 17, former president George H. W. Bush will deliver the keynote address at the 25th anniversary celebration of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon-owned Washington Times newspaper at the National Building Museum. According to Fishbowl DC, a letter from the newspaper's President Thomas McDevitt pointed out that "The evening includes a special reception; the inaugural Founding Spirit Awards; dinner; and a Founder's Address from ... [Moon], whose commitment to the need for diverse viewpoints in the nation's capital during the Cold War era led to the launch of the Washington Times on May 17, 1982."

"You would think Bush would be given pause by a long record of behavior such as: Moon's claim to be Jesus Christ's replacement; his reputation among the Southern Baptists as a 'wolf in sheep's clothing," John Gorenfeld, an investigative reporter and a longtime chronicler of Moon's activities, recently reported in a post at the blog Talk To Action. "But it turns out, their decades-long association has withstood many such bumps in the road."

USS Liberty survivors need your help.

Please call the Office of the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General at (202) 685-5493 to request that they provide a speaker to address the crew of the USS Liberty during their June 2007 reunion. Call the members of your Congressional Delegation and ask that they contact the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General to request that the latter provide the speaker the USS Liberty survivors are requesting. Invite your Congressional Delegation and their staff members to attend that presentation. Then e-mail Joe Meadors at joe@ussliberty.com so he can coordinate a follow-up.

For more information, or to read the War Crimes Report, visit the USS Liberty Web site by clicking here:

Please don’t let the U.S. government abandon the USS Liberty again.

In a timely decision, Azerbaijan recently (mid-March) granted NATO the permission to use two of its military bases and an airport to "back up its peace-keeping operation in Afghanistan" including support for NATO's "supply route to Afghanistan". NATO's special envoy Robert Simmons insists that the agreement has nothing to do with US plans to wage aerial bombardments on Iran.

Media sources in Baku have intimated that this timely agreement is directly related to ongoing US-Israeli-NATO war plans. Its timing coincides with US naval deployments and war games in the Persian Gulf.

The airport and two military bases are slated to be "modernized to meet NATO standards". Washington has confirmed in this regard that it would "support the modernization of a military airport in the framework of the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) signed between Azerbaijan and NATO.

John Hrankowski of Rochester, New York is yet another survivor of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967. He joined Mark Dankof on the latter's show for the Republic Broadcasting Network on April 12th, 2007, for the last 2 hours of the broadcast.

Hrankowski is the 4th member of the USS Liberty crew to appear on "Mark Dankof's America" on the Republic Broadcasting Network, a list which includes Gary Brummett, Commander Dave Lewis, and Phil Tourney.

For the USS Liberty survivors web site, click here.

Terrell ("Terry") E. Arnold joined Mark Dankof's Republic Broadcasting Network radio show for April 11th. Mr. Arnold was on for the show's final two hours.

Mr. Arnold is the author of the recently published work, A World Less Safe, now available on Amazon, and is a regular columnist on rense.com. He is a retired Senior Foreign Service Officer of the US Department of State, whose immediate pre-retirement positions were as Chairman of the Department of International Studies of the National War College, and as Deputy Director of the State Office of Counter-Terrorism and Emergency Planning.

For Terrell E. Arnold's archive at Jeff Rense's site, click here.

For Terrell E. Arnold's "What Cheney's Energy Task Force Talked About," click here.

For Terrell E. Arnold's "Zionism and the Birth of Middle East Terrorism," click here.

Christian writer and eschatological guru Texe Marrs joined Mark Dankof for the last hour of the latter's show for the Republic Broadcasting Network on April 10th. Marrs' publishing company, RiverCrest Publishing of Austin, Texas, has just released The Synagogue of Satan, authored by UK writer Andrew Carrington Hitchcock. Mr. Marrs and Mark Dankof discussed the book's contents, with special reference to the deceptive alliance of leaders of the American Christian Right with the Zionist lobby--an alliance which ignores the implications of Revelation, chapter 2, verse 9 and the statement of Jesus Christ to the Church at Smyrna contained therein:

"I know thy works, and tribulation and poverty (but thou art rich), and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the Synagogue of Satan." [take heed, followers of John Hagee and Christians United for Israel. . . .]

For the web site of Andrew Carrington Hitchcock, click here.

For the web site of Texe Marrs, click here.

Roozbeh Farahnipour of Marze Por Gohar joined Mark Dankof on the latter's show for the Republic Broadcasting Network on April 9th. Farahnipour discussed Iran and the need for a regime change in that country involving a new government based neither on monarchy or Islamic theocracy, but one rooted in principles of secularism and constitutional republicanism. The Farahnipour interview comprised the last two hours of "Mark Dankof's America."

For the Marze Por Gohar web site, click here.

‘So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them ‘Which one shall I release to you, Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?’ For he knew that it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him. While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife came to him and said ‘Have nothing to do with the death of that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him’. But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. ‘Which of the two shall I release?’ asked the governor…‘Barabbas,’ they answered. ‘What shall I do then with Jesus who is called Christ?’ Pilate asked. They all answered ‘Crucify him!’ ‘Why? What crime has he committed?’ asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder ‘Crucify him!’ When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere and that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood’ he said ‘It is your responsibility’. All the Jews answered ‘Let his blood be upon us and upon our children!’ Then Pilate released Barabbas and handed him over to the Jews to be crucified.’

Book of Matthew, Ch 27 ’The Passion of Jesus Christ’

Neturei Karta (NK), a group of orthodox Jews well-known to readers of American Free Press for their staunch opposition to the state of Israel and Zionism, suffered the loss of its Monsey, N.Y., synagogue March 31 to a fire that has been ruled “suspicious” by authorities.

In addition to the synagogue, the residence of an NK member who occupied the top floor of the building was destroyed as well. The building was empty and as a result no one was injured.

The reason the fire has been ruled suspicious by the authorities is due to the group’s outspoken political positions that have attracted world-wide attention in recent years, and particularly after the recent Holocaust conference in Iran attended by members of NK.

Since the time of that conference, organized Jewish groups—including the dangerous and fanatical Jewish Defense League (JDL), which is listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government, and the Jewish Defense Organization (JDO) have mounted campaigns to destroy the NK group.

Chuck Carlson of We Hold These Truths, was Mark Dankof's Republic Broadcasting Network radio guest for Thursday, April 5th, in the show's final two hours. Carlson has been a one-man Truth Movement in the fight against the Israeli Lobby and Christian Zionism.

For the We Hold These Truths web site, click here.

Chuck Carlson has a new post entitled, "Pat Tillman: Killed by Friendly Fire or Killed By His Own Government?" Click here.

Robin Wright's April 4th story for The Washington Post on the ominous disappearance of Robert A. Levinson of Coral Cables, Florida is duly noted by Iran Focus in a re-post of the original which states:

A former FBI agent missing in Iran since early last month has been identified as Robert A. Levinson of Coral Springs, Fla., according to U.S. officials and a former colleague. Levinson was a 28-year veteran of both the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI, according to a biography on the Web site of Business Integrity International, a consulting firm where he worked until two years ago.

What is Business Integrity International? Click here for their web page.

The April 5 issue of Rolling Stone features the deathbed confession of CIA operative and key Bay of Pigs/Watergate/Nixon administration figure E. Howard Hunt, ;">The Last Confession of E. Howard Hunt by Erik Hedegaard. This piece is significant not only for its exploration of Hunt, but for breakthrough information that appears to thoroughly corroborate the work of key John F. Kennedy assassination researchers and historians.

Who killed JFK?

According to Hunt’s confession, which was taken by his son, St. John (“Saint”) Hunt, over the course of many personal and carefully planned father-son meetings, the following individuals were among the key participants:

The federal government has obtained an indictment against Cipriano Ortiz-Hernandez for drugs found in his safe-house in October 2005, but still has failed to pursue action against Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, the drug smuggler in the Ramos-Compean case, who reportedly delivered those drugs to the safe-house, according to documents WND has obtained

No, I don't mean its arrest of fifteen British low-rank military people who were taking a boat ride in long-disputed waters dividing Iraq and Iran. That was just a bit of old- fashioned tail-twisting of the British lion, which has been close to toothless ever since 1945. I mean this:

Iran is planning to stop using the U.S. dollar to price oil, with less than half of its oil income now paid in the U.S. currency, Iran's central bank governor said.

This March 28th Associated Press story belonged in every American newspaper, if not on the front page, then at least the front page of the business section. But you probably missed it. The only American mainstream media outlet that bothered to run this story was The International Herald Tribune, which is owned by The New York Times. The story appeared in the Trib's business section (March 28).

Leading the contributions this year was Israeli-American media mogul Haim Saban who pledged $3.2m. Guests at the event included Executive Vice President of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations Malcolm Hoenlein, AIPAC President Howard Friedman, President and CEO of Israel Bonds Yehoshua Matza, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel, renowned Israeli performer Dudu Fisher, and American businessman Donald Trump who contributed $250,000. Israel's Consul General in New York Arye Mekel as well as Israel's defense attache to the US Major General Dan Harel were among representatives of the Israeli government at the affair.

Cairo, Egypt (AHN) - The person convicted of the assassination of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Nabil Bakr, was released from prison recently, local Egyptian newspapers reported. Bakr, a member of Islamic Jihad, was sentenced to life in prison by a military tribunal in 1982 for his participation in planning the attack on Sadat.

Under Egyptian law, a life prison term is 15 years, but Bakr was kept in jail ten years longer because the Egyptian government said he was too dangerous to be released.

The group's leader, Aboud El Zomor, who is also a former ex-intelligence officer, over and over contested the legality of keeping Bakr in prison. El Zomor is believed to be the mastermind behind the Sadat assassination, according to the Egyptian security authorities.

According to reports, Bakr and four other members of the Jihad group were released.

William Fisher conducts an exclusive Truthout interview with Bruce Fein, who served as associate deputy attorney general under President Ronald Reagan and is a founder of a conservative movement known as the Liberty Coalition. The Coalition has launched a new initiative, known as the American Freedom Agenda,in which leading voices in the conservative movement are demanding that the Democrat-controlled Congress restore checks and balances within the government and rein in the power of President George W. Bush.

Dr. Dennis Cuddy was Mark Dankof's radio guest on the Republic Broadcasting Network for the final hour of the broadcast (9-10 am Central) on Wednesday, April 4th.

Dr. Cuddy received a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (major in American History, minor in political science). He has taught at the university level, has been a political and economic risk analyst for an international consulting firm, and a Senior Associate with the U.S. Department of Education.

For Dr. Cuddy's "The Iraq War, Oil, and World Government," click here.

For the Dr. Dennis Cuddy archives at News and Views, click here.