North America

NOVANEWS Dear SAMMI,   It's the worst oil spill in decades. Tell President Obama, this is why we told you offshore drilling was a bad idea.   We hate to say we told you so, Mr. President, but ... well, we did. Within a week of President Obama's effort to expand offshore oil drilling, a BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico caught fire and sank, taking with it the lives of 11 men.1 Today, Oceanographer Ian MacDonald estimates that over 12 million gallons of oil have drained into the Gulf of Mexico. That's more than the historic Exxon Valdez spill and the well is still days, perhaps weeks, from being repaired. 2  New reports say that it could take up to 3 months to get the leaks all under control.3 Mr. President, we told you so. We told you offshore drill...

NOVANEWS That the American political and military elites may think Israeli behaviour is causing troubles for the Empire in the Middle East is clearly a mad idea, considered by anti-Semites or mad people: Commander of the U.S. Military’s Central Command Gen. David Petraeus phoned his Israeli counterpart, Gabi Ashkenazi, this week to deny reports that he had blamed Israeli policy for the failure in a regional solution and for endangering U.S. interests. Earlier this month, Petraeus warned the Pentagon that “America’s relationship with Israel is important, but not as important as the lives of America’s soldiers,” in a posting on the Foreign Policy Web site. In a 56-page report, the Central Command had written: “The enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbors present distinct...

NOVANEWS by Philip Weiss Dennis Ross personifies the Israel lobby. That gives him his power, that’s why Obama has him in his administration. Putting Ross in a policy job–the Iran portfolio–makes the lobby happy. And Obama has to keep the lobby happy. It would be a sign of real independence if Obama could lose this guy whom Bush I and Clinton couldn’t lose either. Here Matt Berkman reminds us that Dennis Ross wrote a book with David Makovsky just a year or so back in which he argued vehemently against an idea that is becoming a tenet of the Obama doctrine in the Middle East: linkage, the (plain as the nose on your face) idea that the Israel/Palestine conflict is linked to America’s fortunes in the Middle East. So Ross is against a key principle of the Obama administration! And he works for ...

NOVANEWS by Ian Mosley The ongoing financial collapse of states and municipality proceeds apace. Now New York is delaying state income tax refunds. WCBS-TV reports: “For hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, the check won’t be in the mail — at least not on time. New York State has stopped paying tax refunds and won’t start again until next month. The tax refund delay is part of a bigger cash crunch. Half a billion dollars’ worth of refund checks were put on hold last Friday, and state beancounters won’t start sending you your money until at least April 1. ‘I apologize that we had to do this. I hope it serves notice on the public of how serious our financial situation is,’ Gov. David Paterson said.’ ” Somehow, I doubt if taxpayers will get any slack in paying their property taxes. If you do...

NOVANEWS By Natasha Mozgavaya, Haaretz Correspondent Nearly 300 members of Congress have signed on to a declaration reaffirming their commitment to "the unbreakable bond that exists between [U.S.] and the State of Israel", in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The letter was sent in the wake of the severe recent tensions between Israel and the U.S. over the prior's decision to construct more than 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem, a project it announced during U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's visit to the region. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took advantage of his trip to the United States this week to try to mend the rift with the Obama administration, but he was greeted with cold welcome by the White House. Netanyahu also met during his visit with members of Congr...

NOVANEWS Traficant Lashes Out at Power of Israel By Michael Collins Piper Ohio Congressman Jim Traficant went into prison unbent and unbowed and—despite seven years behind bars—the outspoken Ohio populist remains unbent and unbowed. On Sept. 10—just a few days after arriving home from prison—Traficant appeared on Fox News as a guest of reporter Greta Van Susteren and demonstrated, once again, that he is the same no-holds-barred critic of special interest influence over the U.S. government that he was during the 18 years he served in Congress (1989-2002). Assessing his years of torment and imprisonment by the federal authorities Traficant summed it up as follows: I didn’t give a damn what they did to me. And from this day forward, talking with you, I don’t give a damn what anybody does to m...

NOVANEWS By Ralph Forbes While the American people are kept in the dark like mushrooms and fed bull manure, Scotland’s award-winning newspaper The Sunday Herald Scotland ran an exclusive revealing that hundreds of tons of powerful U.S. “bunker-buster” bombs and other weapons are secretly being shipped from California to the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean—strategically placed for missions to Iran—in preparation for an impending attack on the Persian nation. The Sunday Herald expos� revealed that “the U.S. government signed a contract in January to transport 10 ammunition containers to the island. According to a cargo manifest from the Navy, this included 387 ‘Blu’ bombs, used for blasting hardened or underground structures.” Superior Maritime Services of Florida has a $6...

FEMA Detention Site Plans Exposed By Mark Anderson If, God forbid, Americans are ever rounded up in large numbers during a natural or manmade disaster, where could they be detained? Well, perhaps look no further than the school building next door, the office building around the corner or the stadium downtown. And besides existing military installations, state fair grounds, horse stables, airports “and maybe even a hotel” also could be used as detention centers. That’s according to Restore the Republic’s Gary Franchi at Freedom Law School’s recent Health & Freedom Conference. Franchi was one of several speakers who gathered at the Airport Hilton in Ontario, Calif., March 12-15 to talk about cutting-edge developments in health and politics. Many vigilant Americans have become aware of some a...

NOVANEWS In a pathetic display of pandering to a foreign power, members of Congress reportedly flooded the White House with angry letters and phone calls following the White House’s recent criticism of Israel’s unbridled settlement building. The remarks came after Vice President Joe Biden was embarrassed during an official visit to Israel to discuss prospects for renewing peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Biden’s plane had barely touched down in Tel Aviv when the Israelis announced plans to build 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem. It is part of an Israeli effort to colonize East Jerusalem and drive out Palestinians so Israelis can claim the entire city as their new capital. In a letter dated March 17, 10 members of Congress whined to the president: “Remarks made by you...

NOVANEW The US gives written consent to generously boost the Israeli military despite Washington's alleged dissatisfaction with Israeli settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories. Upon agreeing on a relevant deal, the United States agreed to hand over roughly 250-million-dollars worth of Hercules C-130J aircraft to Zionist army, Haaretz newspaper said on Thursday. Later in the day, the US Defense Department is to issue a formal announcement on the deal, which is to be financed by the American foreign assistance funds. The aircraft have been custom made to suit the Zionist needs, the daily added. Washington is rated as Tel Aviv's biggest arms supplier and has been reportedly injecting 2-billion-dollars worth of armaments into the Zio=Nazi's defense industry annually. The ...