"The general public are viewed as no more than ignorant and meddlesome outsiders, a bewildered herd. And it's the responsible men who have to make decisions and to protect society from the trampling and rage of the bewildered herd. Now since it's a democracy they - the herd, that is - are permitted occasionally to lend their weight to one or another member of the responsible class. That's called an election." - Noam Chomsky

"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."  - Samuel Beckett (1906-04-13 - 1989-12-22) was an Irish playwright, novelist, poet and winner of the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature  

Republican or Democrat: Not A Dime's Worth Of Difference

By Alan Nassar

It is clearer to more Americans than ever that the entire political establishment is unprepared and unwilling to manage the economy and the State in the interests of working people.  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29729.htm

Presidential Timber: Kindling. Sawdust. Charcoal.
What the hell is the American Dream?

By Fred Reed

All indicators point downward, I tell you. On the lobotomy box the other night I stumbled on what seemed to be sock puppets standing behind rostrums and hypnotically intoning "The American People, the American People, the American People."  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29740.htm

Romney and Obama Battle it out for the Israel Lobby

By Philip Weiss

Are we witnessing a primary between Romney and Obama right now, for the support of the Israel lobby?    

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29738.htm

Israel's Useful Idiot
Michele Bachmann: Stage Set for Worldwide Nuclear War Against Israel

By Associated Press

Bachmann Thinks The World is Ending and the Pope is the Antichrist.  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29736.htm

How an Idiot Could Still End Up in the White House

By Archie Bland

There is, of course, nothing to stop total idiots trying to be leader of the free world, but you'd think there'd be some sort of winnowing process that would stop them reaching the last six.  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29730.htm

Credit Storm Batters Europe

By Mike Whitney

So, how bad will the EU credit crunch get?    

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29739.htm

Is the US Getting Domestic Indefinite Military Detention for Thanksgiving?

By Adam Serwer

The wording, which is part of a must-pass bill to fund the military, also appears to allow the indefinite military detention of citizens and legal permanent residents.  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29737.htm

Occupiers Occupied:
The Hijacking of the First Amendment

By Robert Reich

According to the Supreme Court, money is now speech and corporations are now people. But when real people without money assemble to express their dissatisfaction with the political consequences of this, they're treated as public nuisances and evicted. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29732.htm

Why Occupy Wall Street needs Michael Bloomberg

Keith Olbermann Special Comment

In a Special Comment, Keith contextualizes Mayor Bloomberg's actions against Occupy Wall Street at Zuccotti Park and how they have - unintentionally - vaulted the movement from a local nuisance to a global platform for the disenfranchised.    

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29735.htm

This Is What Revolution Looks Like

By Chris Hedges

Despotic regimes in the end collapse internally. Once the foot soldiers who are ordered to carry out acts of repression, such as the clearing of parks or arresting or even shooting demonstrators, no longer obey orders, the old regime swiftly crumbles.   

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29731.htm

Occupy A Private Prison:
Shut Down Stewart Detention Center

By Robert Greenwald

Correction Corporation of America's Stewart facility in Lumpkin, Georgia - currently profits close to $50 million a year. - CCA charges inmates close to $5 a minute to make a phone call. To pay for this, inmates work in the facility and earn a whopping $1 a day. Five days of hard work gives them just enough time for a one minute phone call.    

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29733.htm

Social Opposition In Age Of Internet:
Desktop 'Militants' And Public Intellectuals

By James Petras

Desktop "militancy" is an act of verbal inaction, of inconsequential "activism", a make-believe revolution of the mind.    

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29734.htm

NATO kills 27 Afghan "insurgents":
"Coalition aircraft killed 27 insurgents this morning in the Nazyan district of Nangarhar province," said a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Force (ISAF) in eastern Afghanistan.   

http://bit.ly/tgPobm

British Occupation Forcen Soldier Killed in Afghan Blast:   The soldier was serving with the 1st Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment as a part of Combined Force Nahr-e Saraj North when he was killed by an improvised explosive device.   

http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16111688

Two Nato Occupation Force Troops Killed in Blast in Southern Afghanistan:   Two Nato soldiers died on Wednesday following an improvised explosive device attack in southern Afghanistan, Isaf said in a statement.   

http://bit.ly/uQidzp

Karzai to U.S.: End night raids before Afghan deal:   Afghanistan wants the United States and NATO to agree to stop carrying out night raids on Afghan homes as a pre-condition to Kabul signing a strategic partnership with Washington, President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday.   

http://bit.ly/tIVSud

20 "militants" killed in Pakistan:   At least 20 militants were killed in clashes with security forces Wednesday in Pakistan's northwest tribal region bordering Afghanistan, a media report said.   

http://www.newkerala.com/news/2011/worldnews-107931.html

US Kills 18 People in Pakistan: -   Suspected U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal region killed 18 alleged militants Tuesday night   

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/16/world/asia/pakistan-drone-attacks/index.html?hpt=ias_c2

Six pro-government tribesmen killed in Pakistan:   At least six pro-government tribesmen were killed in a bomb explosion in a Pakistani tribal agency on Wednesday, said sources.   

http://bit.ly/vPOZiK

Syrian army deserters kill eight soldiers: -   Syrian army defectors attacked military and intelligence bases near the capital and an army checkpoint Wednesday during a spate of assaults, killing at least eight soldiers and security forces, activists said.   

http://www.hutchnews.com/World/Activists--Syrian-army-defectors-kill-eight-soldiers

Syrian Army Deserters Attack Assad's Military Base near Damascus:   The rebel "Free Syrian Army" issued a statement saying it had launched a series of attacks, including one on a compound run by air force intelligence in the Damascus suburb of Harasta, in the early hours.   

http://bit.ly/uSbaAi

Gulf states oppose Arab summit on Syria:   The six Gulf Cooperation Council states said on Tuesday that they oppose a Syrian request for an emergency Arab summit on the bloody crisis in the country.   

http://bit.ly/udxFzL

Assad's exit in Syria "inevitable": Saudi prince:   Prince Turki al-Faisal, the former chief of Saudi intelligence services, said Assad had made his position clear by failing to live up to commitments made under an Arab League initiative to stop the bloodshed and start political dialogue.   

http://news.yahoo.com/assads-exit-syria-inevitable-saudi-prince-195110228.html

Robert Fisk: Assad will only go if his own tanks turn against him:   Predictions of Syrian leader's imminent demise are hopelessly optimistic   

http://ind.pn/vQmDA1

Iran raps any UN resolution on US ploy:   Iran warns against any UN draft resolution to condemn a US-fabricated assassination plot attributed to Tehran, saying the US is trying to use the UN General Assembly for its own objectives.  

http://presstv.com/detail/210391.html

Report: U.S. Air Force receives new 15-ton bunker buster bombs:   U.S. Air Force started receiving the massive bombs in September, Bloomberg news agency reports; the bombs are capable of destroying underground targets, such as Iran's nuclear sites.   

http://bit.ly/vy2Eu2

U.S. spends $32 million to make eight 30,000-pound bombs:   The United States, which suspects Iran and North Korea have built nuclear facilities deep underground to thwart any possible air raids, has been developing the MOP bomb since about 2007.   

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/11/15/weighing-in-at-30000-pounds-u-s-unveils-new-bomb/

Gulf arms sales vital for U.S. companies: -   The Pentagon's reported plan to sell the United Arab Emirates nearly 5,000 bunker-buster bombs to counter Iran is part of a move to strengthen Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf as the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq nears completion.   

http://bit.ly/uTPgz5

Yemen troops kill seven suspected Qaeda militants:   The army launched a barrage of "artillery shells and Katyusha rockets" late Tuesday on suspected Al-Qaeda positions in the provincial capital Zinjibar and the adjacent town of Al-Kud, one official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.   

http://bit.ly/umnu4Y

Yemen's Saleh refuses to sign GCC deal without implementation mechanism: ,   Mohamed Salim Basindwa, chairman of the opposition National Council, who is visiting Gulf countries to seek support for ousting Saleh, told the opposition media that "they will not sign the proposed mechanism until Saleh signs the GCC initiative first."   

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90777/7646808.html

Libyan forces regroup to resist puppet regime:   An effort is underway to formally organize opposition to the neocolonial plans for Libya. It is largely based in the southwest of the country. In the region known as the Sahel, former officials, operatives and supporters of the Gadhafi government are meeting on a daily basis to chart the next phase of the struggle to reclaim their nation.   

http://www.workers.org/2011/world/libya_1117/

Bachmann Endorser Grant Says "It Is Dominion We Are After. World Conquest":   World conquest. That's what Christ has commissioned us to accomplish. We must win the world with the power of the Gospel. And we must never settle for anything less.   

http://bit.ly/sAr9dJ

Wikileaks: Julian Assange to appeal against extradition in UK Supreme Court:
He will be asking senior judges on December 5 to certify that his case raises a question of general public importance and should be considered by the highest court in the land.   

http://bit.ly/u9aBEG

Germany will leave the euro unless the ECB is reformed :
Prof. Markus C. Kerber, Professor at TU Berlin, and James Turk, Director of the GoldMoney Foundation, talk about the lack of accountability of the ECB and how it compares to the Bundesbank.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I_NRhLo7CA&feature=player_embedded

1984: Outrage at UK plan to put audio recorders in taxis:   Officials in Oxford say that starting next year its 600-plus cabs will carry audio-equipped cameras that run whenever the vehicle is in use, "leading the way" in ensuring the safety of passengers and drivers.   

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/11/14/2270786/outrage-at-uk-plan-to-put-audio.html

Europe Bans X-Ray Body Scanners Used at U.S. Airports:   The European Commission, which enforces common policies of the EU's 27 member countries, adopted the rule "in order not to risk jeopardizing citizens' health and safety." As a ProPublica/PBS NewsHour investigation detailed earlier this month, X-ray body scanners use ionizing radiation, a form of energy that has been shown to damage DNA and cause cancer.   

http://www.propublica.org/article/europe-bans-x-ray-body-scanners-used-at-u.s.-airports

Secret Service says bullet hit White House:   The Secret Service says a bullet hit an exterior window of the White House and was stopped by ballistic glass. An additional round of ammunition was also found on the exterior of the White House.  

 http://wapo.st/u1fM3u

Sen. Feinstein Loaded up on Biotech Stock Just Before Company Received $24 Million Gov't Grant:   Sen. Feinstein and her husband invested $1 million into Amyris Biotechnologies, a "green" company focused on plant-based renewable fuels and chemicals. The Feinsteins' million-dollar investment was their only stock transaction for the entire year.   

http://bit.ly/vRnovW

Most Members of Congress Enjoy Robust Financial Status, Despite Nation's Sluggish Economic Recovery:   These days, being a millionaire typically qualifies you as part of the one percent. But in Congress, it only makes you average.   

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2011/11/congress-enjoys-robust-financial-status.html

Hard times forcing desperate measures :
Private security company to patrol streets: cities have supplemented traditional police with contracted officers, said John Firman, director of research for the International Association of Chiefs of Police.   

http://bit.ly/sDfBtD

Homeland Security Coordinated 18-City Police Crackdown on Occupy Protest:   This is a more serious development that one might imagine.   

http://bit.ly/tvi76u

Video of Unprovoked assault by police Pepper sprayed in the face by police at #OccupySeattle   

http://bit.ly/ucOvD0

NYPD Assaults Man & Punches Woman in Face at OWS / Liberty Plaza :   Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxR8VHFvsl8&feature=player_embedded

Police pepper spray Occupy Seattle protesters: Nov. 16:   Chaos erupted in downtown Seattle Tuesday night as police pepper sprayed "Occupy" protesters who overtook a major city intersection. A pregnant teen and an 84-year-old woman were among those sprayed. KING-TV's Natasha Ryan reports.   

http://binged.it/siakJf

"Occupy" protesters rebuild UC Berkeley camp:   Anti-Wall Street activists began rebuilding their tent encampment on the steps of the University of California, Berkeley student plaza and cheered wildly when former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich implored them to take a moral stand against the very rich owning so much of America's wealth.   

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57325649/occupy-protesters-rebuild-uc-berkeley-camp/