New Financial Regulation Law Exempt From Public Disclosure

July 29, 2010

FOX Business

By: Dunstan Prial

So much for transparency.

Under a little-noticed provision of the recently passed financial-reform legislation, the Securities and Exchange Commission no longer has to comply with virtually all requests for information releases from the public, including those filed under the Freedom of Information Act.

The law, signed last week by President Obama, exempts the SEC from disclosing records or information derived from “surveillance, risk assessments, or other regulatory and oversight activities.” Given that the SEC is a regulatory body, the provision covers almost every action by the agency, lawyers say. Congress and federal agencies can request information, but the public cannot.

That argument comes despite the President saying that one of the cornerstones of the sweeping new legislation was more transparent financial markets. Indeed, in touting the new law, Obama specifically said it would “increase transparency in financial dealings.”

The SEC cited the new law Tuesday in a FOIA action brought by FOX Business Network. Steven Mintz, founding partner of law firm Mintz & Gold LLC in New York, lamented what he described as “the backroom deal that was cut between Congress and the SEC to keep the  SEC’s failures secret. The only losers here are the American public.”

If the SEC’s interpretation stands, Mintz, who represents FOX Business Network, predicted “the next time there is a Bernie Madoff failure the American public will not be able to obtain the SEC documents that describe the failure,” referring to the shamed broker whose Ponzi scheme cost investors billions.

“The new provision applies to information obtained through examinations or derived from that information,” said SEC spokesman John Nester. “We are expanding our examination program’s surveillance and risk assessment efforts in order to provide more sophisticated and effective Wall Street oversight. The success of these efforts depends on our ability to obtain documents and other information from brokers, investment advisers and other registrants. The new legislation makes certain that we can obtain documents from registrants for risk assessment and surveillance under similar conditions that already exist by law for our examinations. Because registrants insist on confidential treatment of their documents, this new provision also removes an opportunity for brokers, investment advisers and other registrants to refuse to cooperate with our examination document requests.”

Criticism of the provision has been swift. “It allows the SEC to block the public’s access to virtually all SEC records,” said Gary Aguirre, a former SEC staff attorney-turned-whistleblower who had accused the agency of thwarting an investigation into hedge fund Pequot Asset Management in 2005. “It permits the SEC to promulgate its own rules and regulations regarding the disclosure of records without getting the approval of the Office of Management and Budget, which typically applies to all federal agencies.”

Aguirre used FOIA requests in his own lawsuit against the SEC, which the SEC settled this year by paying him $755,000. Aguirre, who was fired in September 2005, argued that supervisors at the SEC stymied an investigation of Pequot – a charge that prompted an investigation by the Senate Judiciary and Finance committees.

The SEC closed the case in 2006, but would re-open it three years later. This year, Pequot and its founder, Arthur Samberg, were forced to pay $28 million to settle insider-trading charges related to shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT). The settlement with Aguirre came shortly later.

“From November 2008 through January 2009, I relied heavily on records obtained from the SEC through FOIA in communications to the FBI, Senate investigators, and the SEC in arguing the SEC had botched its initial investigation of Pequot’s trading in Microsoft securities and thus the SEC should reopen it, which it did,” Aguirre said. “The new legislation closes access to such records, even when the investigation is closed.

“It is hard to imagine how the bill could be more counterproductive,” Aguirre added.

FOX Business Network sued the SEC in March 2009 over its failure to produce documents related to its failed investigations into alleged investment frauds being perpetrated by Madoff and R. Allen Stanford. Following the Madoff and Stanford arrests it, was revealed that the SEC conducted investigations into both men prior to their arrests but failed to uncover their alleged frauds.

FOX Business made its initial request to the SEC in February 2009 seeking any information related to the agency’s response to complaints, tips and inquiries or any potential violations of the securities law or wrongdoing by Stanford.

FOX Business has also filed lawsuits against the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve over their failure to respond to FOIA requests regarding use of the bailout funds and the Fed’s extended loan facilities. In February, the Federal Court in New York sided with FOX Business and ordered the Treasury to comply with its requests.

Last year, the network won a legal victory to force the release of documents related to New York University’s lawsuit against Madoff feeder Ezra Merkin.

FOX Business’ FOIA requests have so far led the SEC to release several important and damaging documents:

•FOX Business used the FOIA to obtain a 2005 survey that the SEC in Fort Worth was sending to Stanford investors. The survey showed that the SEC had suspicions about Stanford several years prior to the collapse of his $7 billion empire.

•FOX Business used the FOIA to obtain copies of emails between Federal Reserve lawyers, AIG and staff at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in which it was revealed the Fed staffers knew that bailing out AIG would result in bonuses being paid.

Recently, TARP Congressional Oversight Panel chair Elizabeth Warren told FOX Business that the network’s Freedom of Information Act efforts played a “very important part” of the panel’s investigation into AIG.

Warren told the network the government “crossed a line” with the AIG bailout.

“FOX News and the congressional oversight panel has pushed, pushed, pushed, for transparency, give us the documents, let us look at everything. Your Freedom of Information Act suit, which ultimately produced 250,000 pages of documentation, was a very important part of our report. We were able to rely on the documents that you pried out for a significant part of our being able to put this report together,” Warren said.

The SEC first made its intention to block further FOIA requests known on Tuesday. FOX Business was preparing for another round of “skirmishes” with the SEC, according to Mintz, when the agency called and said it intended to use Section 929I of the 2000-page legislation to refuse FBN’s ongoing requests for information.

Mintz said the network will challenge the SEC’s interpretation of the law.

“I believe this is subject to challenge,” he said. “The contours will have to be figured out by a court.”

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2017: The Year America Dissolved

July 29, 2010

InfoWars

By: Paul Craig Roberts

It was 2017. Clans were governing America.

The first clans organized around local police forces. The conservatives’ war on crime during the late 20th century and the Bush/Obama war on terror during the first decade of the 21st century had resulted in the police becoming militarized and unaccountable.

As society broke down, the police became warlords. The state police broke apart, and the officers were subsumed into the local forces of their communities. The newly formed tribes expanded to encompass the relatives and friends of the police.

The dollar had collapsed as world reserve currency in 2012 when the worsening economic depression made it clear to Washington’s creditors that the federal budget deficit was too large to be financed except by the printing of money.

With the dollar’s demise, import prices skyrocketed. As Americans were unable to afford foreign-made goods, the transnational corporations that were producing offshore for US markets were bankrupted, further eroding the government’s revenue base.

The government was forced to print money in order to pay its bills, causing domestic prices to rise rapidly. Faced with hyperinflation, Washington took recourse in terminating Social Security and Medicare and followed up by confiscating the remnants of private pensions. This provided a one-year respite, but with no more resources to confiscate, money creation and hyperinflation resumed.

Organized food deliveries broke down when the government fought hyperinflation with fixed prices and the mandate that all purchases and sales had to be in US paper currency. Unwilling to trade appreciating goods for depreciating paper, goods disappeared from stores.

Washington responded as Lenin had done during the “war communism” period of Soviet history. The government sent troops to confiscate goods for distribution in kind to the population. This was a temporary stop-gap until existing stocks were depleted, as future production was discouraged. Much of the confiscated stocks became the property of the troops who seized the goods.

Goods reappeared in markets under the protection of local warlords. Transactions were conducted in barter and in gold, silver, and copper coins.

Other clans organized around families and individuals who possessed stocks of food, bullion, guns and ammunition. Uneasy alliances formed to balance differences in clan strengths. Betrayals quickly made loyalty a necessary trait for survival.

Large scale food and other production broke down as local militias taxed distribution as goods moved across local territories. Washington seized domestic oil production and refineries, but much of the government’s gasoline was paid for safe passage across clan territories.

Most of the troops in Washington’s overseas bases were abandoned. As their resource stocks were drawn down, the abandoned soldiers were forced into alliances with those with whom they had been fighting.

Washington found it increasingly difficult to maintain itself. As it lost control over the country, Washington was less able to secure supplies from abroad as tribute from those Washington threatened with nuclear attack. Gradually other nuclear powers realized that the only target in America was Washington. The more astute saw the writing on the wall and slipped away from the former capital city.

When Rome began her empire, Rome’s currency consisted of gold and silver coinage. Rome was well organized with efficient institutions and the ability to supply troops in the field so that campaigns could continue indefinitely, a monopoly in the world of Rome’s time.

When hubris sent America in pursuit of overseas empire, the venture coincided with the offshoring of American manufacturing, industrial, and professional service jobs and the corresponding erosion of the government’s tax base, with the advent of massive budget and trade deficits, with the erosion of the fiat paper currency’s value, and with America’s dependence on foreign creditors and puppet rulers.

The Roman Empire lasted for centuries. The American one collapsed overnight. Rome’s corruption became the strength of her enemies, and the Western Empire was overrun. America’s collapse occurred when government ceased to represent the people and became the instrument of a private oligarchy. Decisions were made in behalf of short-term profits for the few at the expense of unmanageable liabilities for the many. Overwhelmed by liabilities, the government collapsed.

Globalism had run its course. Life reformed on a local basis.

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The Kevin Trudeau Show: 7-28-10

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Hormone Gel Could Regrow Teeth Cavities

July 28, 2010

Mail Online

By: Pat Hagan

A gel that can help decayed teeth grow back in just weeks may mean an end to fillings.

The gel, which is being developed by scientists in France, works by prompting cells in teeth to start multiplying. They then form healthy new tooth tissue that gradually replaces what has been lost to decay.

Researchers say in lab studies it took just four weeks to restore teeth back to their original healthy state. The gel contains melanocyte-stimulating hormone, or MSH.

We produce this in the pituitary gland, a pea-sized gland just behind the bridge of the nose.

MSH is already known to play an important part in determining skin colour – the more you have, the darker your flesh tone.

But recent studies suggest MSH may also play a crucial role in stimulating bone regeneration.

As bone and teeth are very similar in their structure, a team of scientists at the National Institute for Health and Medical Research in Paris tested if the hormone could stimulate tooth growth.

Their findings, published in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano, could signal hurtnot just an end to fillings, but the dreaded dentist drill as well. Tooth decay is a major public health problem in Britain. Around £45m a year is spent treating decayed teeth and by the age of 15, teenagers have had an average of 2.5 teeth filled or removed.

Decay is caused by bacteria, called streptococcus mutans, that live in the mouth and feed on sugar in the diet. Once the bacteria stick to the enamel, they trigger a process called demineralisation – they turn sugar in the diet into a harmful acid that starts to create holes in the teeth.

For decades, the main treatment for cavities has been to ‘drill and fill’. However, an estimated one in five Britons suffers from dental phobia, a fear of dentists which means some would rather endure pain and suffering than face the prospect of having their teeth drilled.

The new treatment is painless. And although fillings halt decay, they can come loose and sometimes need refilling.

Experts believe new tooth cells would be stronger and a permanent solution.

The French team mixed MSH with a chemical called poly-L-glutamic acid. This is a substance often used to transport drugs inside the body because it can survive the harsh environments, such as the stomach, that might destroy medicines before they get a chance to work.

The mixture was then turned into a gel and rubbed on to cells, called dental pulp fibroblasts, taken from extracted human teeth. These cells are the kind that help new tooth tissue to grow.

But until now there has been no way of ‘switching’ them back on once they have been destroyed by dental decay. The researchers found the gel triggered the growth of new cells and also helped with adhesion – the process by which new dental cells ‘lock’ together.

This is important because it produces strong tooth pulp and enamel which could make the decayed tooth as good as new.

In a separate experiment, the French scientists applied the gel to the teeth of mice with dental cavities. In just one month, the cavities had disappeared. The gel is still undergoing testing but could be available for use within three to five years.

Professor Damien Walmsley, the British Dental Association’s scientific adviser, said the gel could be an interesting new development, but stressed it is unlikely to be able to repair teeth that have been extensively damaged by decay.

‘There are a lot of exciting developments in this field, of which this is one,’ he said. ‘It looks promising, but we will have to wait for the results to come back from clinical trials and its use will be restricted to treating small areas of dental decay.’

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Johnson & Johnson Loses Over Criminal Promotion Of Topomax

July 28, 2010

Natural News

By: Ethan A. Huff

As if the children’s Tylenol scandal is not enough, Johnson & Johnson is now facing additional criminal charges over another drug scandal involving the epilepsy drug Topamax. Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical LLC and Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, both divisions of Johnson & Johnson, recently pleaded guilty to civil and criminal charges over misbranding and illegally marketing the anticonvulsant drug.

According to the U.S. Justice Department, the Johnson & Johnson company as a whole will end up forking over more than $81 million to settle the cases. McNeil Pharmaceutical LLC, the same company that was producing the tainted children’s Tylenol products, will pay $6.41 million for misbranding Topamax, and Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals will pay $75.37 million for illegally marketing it.

According to reports, these Johnson & Johnson companies hired doctors to accompany drug sales representatives during various doctor visits. These paid physicians proceeded to consult with other doctors, recommending uses and dosages for the drugs that were not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

According to the terms, the federal government will receive more than $50 million from the settlement, Medicaid will receive almost $25 million, and the remaining $9 million will be split by the three whistleblowers who brought the issue to light.

According to the False Claims Act, which was law used by plaintiffs to initiate the lawsuits back in 2003 and 2004, citizens who know about fraud can sue on behalf of the federal government and share in the settlement. According to a BusinessWeek article, about $3 billion has been recovered since January 2009.

While it is great that a pharmaceutical company was actually held responsible for fraud, it is questionable why the vast majority of the settlement money ends up in the hands of the federal government. After all, is it not the people against whom the crime was committed that deserve the money?

Unfortunately, it seems as though the same federal government that usually lets Big Pharma slide because of monetary kickbacks, is the same entity that hits the jackpot by prosecuting them. So either way, it is a win-win situation for the corrupt federal agencies that are the enemies of health freedom.

In a fair world, drug company lawsuit settlements would be evenly distributed back to the public, rather than merely be shifted from one corrupt organization to another.

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Vitamin D Prevents Heart Disease

July 28, 2010

Natural News

By: David Gutierrez

An increase in blood levels of vitamin D can significantly reduce a person’s risk of heart disease, according to a study conducted by researchers from Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City and presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Atlanta.

Researchers reviewed the health records of more than 9,000 people who had been diagnosed with vitamin D insufficiency and who had also undergone vitamin D testing at a later date. They found that approximately 50 percent of all patients had achieved healthy vitamin D levels of at least 30 nanograms per milliliter by the second test. Rates of heart disease were significantly lower in this group than among patients who were still deficient in the vitamin.

Prior studies have shown a correlation between low levels of vitamin D and a higher risk of heart disease. Yet researchers have been unable to determine whether there is any direct connection between the two factors, since low vitamin D levels might also correlate with a number of other cardiovascular risk factors such as general poor health, poor diet or lack of exercise.

The only way to firmly establish a connection would be to conduct an experiment where only half a group of vitamin D-deficient participants is supplemented while the rest receive a placebo. Because vitamin D deficiency has been proven to increase the risk of other diseases, such a study would not be ethical and cannot be conducted.

“What we did was observational and not definitive, but we think it adds significantly to the story,” said lead author J. Brent Muhlestein. “It’s at least a reasonable piece of evidence to add to the hypothesis that low vitamin D is causative of cardiovascular risk and treatment can reduce cardiovascular disease risk.”

The body synthesizes vitamin D naturally upon exposure to sunlight. Low levels of the vitamin have been linked to weakened bones and higher risks of infection, cancer and autoimmune diseases.

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Socially Active Environment Can Cause Tumors To Disappear

July 28, 2010

Natural News

By: S.L. Baker

If you or someone you know ever receives a cancer diagnosis, especially one that is labeled “incurable” or fatal, take heart in the fact spontaneous regression (remission) has been reported in the medical literature numerous times for virtually all cancers. Spontaneous regression has been documented most often in neuroblastoma, renal cell carcinoma, lymphoma and malignant melanoma. And, as NaturalNews has previous reported, scientists have also discovered recently that some invasive breast cancers appear to simply go away on their own (http://www.naturalnews.com/024901.html). Now comes research from Ohio State University that could help explain what triggers spontaneous remissions.

The new study, published in the July 9th issues of the journal Cell found that when mice with cancer were given enriched living conditions and a boost in their social life, their tumors shrank — and some of their cancers disappeared completely. That’s powerful evidence, the scientists say, that social connections and an individual’s mental state, play an important role in the way the body responds to malignancies. “Animals’ interaction with the environment has a profound influence on the growth of cancer — more than we knew was possible,” Matthew During, who headed the study, said in a statement to the press.

The lab rodents were originally housed in groups of about five, given all the food they wanted and allowed to play all day. However, for the research project, mice with cancer were placed in an even better, enriched environment. They had bigger living groups with 15 to 20 other animals to interact with. They also had more space and extra toys, hiding places and running wheels.

During and his colleague, Lei Cao, found that malignant tumors in animals living in this enriched environment started to shrink. In fact, tumors decreased by an impressive 77 percent in mass and decreased in volume by 43 percent, the researchers report. Moreover, five percent of mice with cancer showed no evidence of the disease at all after just three weeks of living in their new home. That seemingly spontaneous cancer cure never happened in control animals kept in standard housing.

So what specifically is going on here that impacts cancer? Animals in a regular mice environment in the lab who exercised more didn’t experience improvements in their cancer, so the scientists say more exercise isn’t the total explanation. Instead, they think the complex social dimension in the new living arrangement was apparently the key.

The enriched living environment appears to have sparked more, but apparently cancer-fighting, stress in the cancer-stricken mice. The animals showed higher levels of stress hormones called glucocorticoids. What this means, the researchers said in statement to the media, is that low levels of stress, or certain kinds of stress, are probably beneficial.

“A lot of people think stress is bad, but our data show the animals aren’t just happy. Antidepressants won’t give you the same effect,” the scientists said in the press statement. “The goal isn’t to minimize stress, but to live a richer life, socially and physically. You want to be challenged.”

In addition, the rodents had lower levels of a hormone produced by fat called leptin, indicative of a significant shift in metabolism. Their immune systems also appeared to be “ramped up a bit,” During said.

During and his colleague pinned down an increase in a growth factor expressed in the hypothalamus called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the mice living in the improved mouse environment. Further study revealed that manipulations designed to increase BDNF levels also reduced tumor burden. If animals lacked BDNF, the benefits of an enriched environment were not apparent.

The findings could ultimately lead to advances in the way cancer and other diseases are treated — perhaps through environmental modifications that offer mental and social stimulation. “We’re really showing that you can’t look at a disease like cancer in isolation,” During said in the media statement. “For too long, physicians and others have stuck to what they know — surgery, chemo, radiotherapy. Traditionally working on the area of lifestyle and the brain has been a ‘soft area’. This paper really suggests if we look at people more in terms of their perceptions of disease, their social interactions and environment, we could realize a profound influence on cancer…”

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Mass. Legislature Approves Plan To Bypass Electoral College

July 28, 2010

Boston.com

By: Martin Finucane

The Massachusetts Legislature has approved a new law intended to bypass the Electoral College system and ensure that the winner of the presidential election is determined by the national popular vote.

“What we are submitting is the idea that the president should be selected by the majority of people in the United States of America,” Senator James B. Eldridge, an Acton Democrat, said before the Senate voted to enact the bill.

Under the new bill, he said, “Every vote will be of the same weight across the country.”

Illegals: ‘Free To Leave’

July 28, 2010

Fox News

An anti-illegal immigration group is calling on the Obama administration to ensure a smooth exit for illegal immigrants who are trying to leave the U.S. due to the weak economy and Arizona’s strict new immigration law.

Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC) is urging U.S. citizens to pressure the White House and the Homeland Security Department to establish “safe departure” border checkpoints along the U.S. border for illegal immigrants so they can leave without fear of being detained or prosecuted for immigration crimes.

“The peaceful and gradual exodus of illegals from Arizona shows there is no need for comprehensive immigration reform amnesty,” William Gheen, president of the group, said in a written statement. “Comprehensive immigration enforcement works and has the desired effect without mass deportations.”

Gheen said the safe passage would ensure that illegals “leave in an orderly fashion, instead of trying risky desert crossings, paying money to the cartels for passage south, or fleeing to other states.”

“This is about the only situation we would ever advocate that our immigration laws be waived,” Gheen said. “We want to encourage the illegals to leave America on their own and thus we ask Obama to provide them safe passage out of America.”

Neither the White House nor Homeland Security responded to e-mails seeking comment.

The call comes as the Obama administration seeks an injunction in federal court to block Arizona’s immigration law, set to take effect on Thursday, that would make illegal immigration a state crime and require police to check the residency status of anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant. A ruling on the case is expected Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

An estimated 100,000 illegal immigrants have left Arizona in the past two years as it cracked down on illegal immigration and its economy was hard hit by the recession. A Department of Homeland Security report on illegal immigrants estimates Arizona’s illegal immigrant population peaked in 2008 at 560,000, and a year later dipped to 460,000.

It is not clear how many have left since the new law passed in April. Some are leaving the U.S. and others are heading to neighboring states.

A pro-immigrant group called the safe passage proposal “a little suspicious.”

“I think it’s clearly part of the attrition strategy. Make things so horrible for immigrants that they will self deport,” said Sarahi Uribe, a regional organizer for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. “But while it’s true some people are leaving Arizona, a great deal of people are staying.”

Uribe dismissed Gheen’s idea as a “thinly disguised” strategy to “drive people out of the state of Arizona.”

“It’s kind of sick they would paint this as humanitarian relief when Arizona’s immigration law has created a humanitarian crisis.”

Gheen told FoxNews.com that he would not want safe passage for illegal immigrants accused of serious criminal offenses, such as murder or rape.

“The main thing is, we just want them to leave,” Gheen said, adding that if all immigration laws were enforced, the number of illegals would be reduced to less than 1 million in 10 years.

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Obama Is In Love With Drones

July 28, 2010

WorldNet Daily

By: Nat Hentoff

When I broke into news reporting during the 1950s, the advice from veteran journalists was: “Kid, if a story is important, stay with it, even if few other reporters do.” Since news of our pilotless killer drones hurling more Hellfire missiles abroad has largely vanished from our press, here is more evidence of President Obama’s fixation on this dark side of our war on terrorism.

An impressive exception to the inattention to Obama’s favorite weapon is investigative reporter Adam Entous of Reuters. In “How the White House learned to love the drone” (May 18), he quotes two administration officials (who, of course, refused to be named) saying that killing wanted terrorists is simply “easier than capturing them.”

In a previous column, I quoted another U.S. intelligence officer in Yemen saying the same thing. Particularly revealing is Entous’ conversation with another intelligence official who confidently pointed out that this long-distance way of avoiding American combat deaths is “politically foolproof” for Obama because political campaigners of both parties compete “on who can kill more” of the jihadists.

Fearing no reprisals from American public opinion, Entous reports that, contrary to the administration’s claim that only high-level terrorists researched are targeted, “the CIA has killed around 12 times more low-level fighters than mid-to-high-level al-Qaida and Taliban leaders since the drone strikes intensified in the summer of 2008.”

Another of his sources, who was involved in our robotic warfare and has since left the service, added that the CIA’s targeting low-level foot soldiers worries him because “If it becomes a more generalized ‘kill anybody’ (approach), it degrades the notion we’re going after serious threats to the United States.

“It’s a slippery slope.”

The slope can be so steep that it does serious injury to our standing in the world, not only among our allies but also by becoming a boon to terrorism recruiters. On Scott Simon’s always-illuminating Weekend Edition program on National Public Radio, Mary Ellen O’Connell, a research professor at the University of Notre Dame said:

“I am not at all against the use of technology that protects our soldiers, and I’m with the American public on that entirely. But I do think a lot about not only the legal but the moral ramifications of the drone, the ability to kill from thousands of miles away, not just a mile or two away. And what is that doing to us a nation?

“Are we really thinking through our leadership obligations to think, since we’re the first ones to have this technology and to use it regularly, are we really setting the pattern for the rest of the world? Are we really setting the legal and moral norms that should be governing their use only in situations of real necessity?” (“Drones Add Dangerous Silence to War,” NPR, July 17.)

Also troubled, as Reuters noted, are certain American military officers who are very much aware that the most murderous of the drone planes are run by the CIA.

“This is a proud military,” Adam Entous writes, “and many hate the drone program because it is a constant reminder that they’re not in control,” a former U.S. intelligence officer said. The CIA has sometimes been a law unto itself.

But, Entous adds, other American intelligence officers “proudly tout the drone campaign as the most precise and possibly humane targeted killing program in the ‘history of warfare.’”

President Obama, please tell us how you define “precise” and “humane.”

Adds Jeffrey Addicott, a former legal adviser to Army Special Operations Forces, as he asks Entous: “Are we creating more enemies than we’re killing or capturing by our activities? Unfortunately, I think the answer is yes. These families have 10 sons each. You kill one son and you create 9 more enemies. You’re not winning over the population.”

Last year, another ever-vigilant reporter, Walter Pincus of the Washington Post, did tell us how enamored of the drones President Obama already was. He reported (Aug. 11, 2009): “The Air Force will train more pilots to fly unmanned aerial systems from ground operations centers (thousands of miles away) than pilots to fly fighter or bomber aircraft, Gen. Stephen R. Lorenz, the commander of Air Education and Training Command, told an audience.”

And this year, as more drones hover in the skies of Pakistan, a New York Times editorial reported that Obama diplomacy in Pakistan nonetheless pressed forward: “The State Department has committed to spend $107 million over two years to help Pakistanis better understand the United States. Plans include bringing 2,500 Pakistani academics and others on exchange visits and expanding after-school English classes in Pakistan.”

The Times adds: “There also are proposals to bring more American academics to Pakistan and to reopen cultural centers” (May 29).

“They should move ahead,” the New York Times urged the State Department.

Do you suppose that any of our visiting academics in Pakistan – in order to also learn more about the culture of sizable parts of the population that may scorn taking our English classes – will find the time to visit some of the Pakistan families continuing to mourn the loss of their loved ones who have been torn apart by Hellfire from our drones?

And back in our homeland, the Nation (June 24) reports: “Thanks to newly announced federal contracts, Wisconsin National Guard is planning to build a new $8 million base for unmanned drones. Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri is to be a drone base control. Rapid City’s nearby Ellsworth Air Force Base also recently ‘won’ a drone contract.

“In none of these places was there much of anything but joy at the news.” Maybe the State Department will bring visiting Pakistani academics there as well as to Whiteman.

Will there be anything but joy in Congress and the White House?

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