Friday, 07 September 2012 06:01
'For several decades, protection of whistleblowers has been a core political value for Democrats, at least for progressives. Daniel Ellsberg has long been viewed by liberals as an American hero for his disclosure of the top secret Pentagon Papers. In 2008, candidate Obama hailed whistleblowing as "acts of courage and patriotism", which "should be encouraged rather than stifled as they have been during the Bush administration".
President Obama, however, has waged the most aggressive and vindictive assault on whistleblowers of any president in American history, as even political magazines generally supportive of him have recognized and condemned. One might think that, as the party's faithful gather to celebrate the greatness of this leader, this fact would be a minor problem, a source of some tension between Obama and his hardest-core supporters, perhaps even some embarrassment. One would be wrong.'
Friday, 07 September 2012 05:54
'The terrorist Free Syrian Army has threatened to shoot down any civilian airliners flying over the country from next week. The group announced on Thursday that any civilian plane flying out of Damascus and Aleppo airports will be considered as a “legitimate military target.” Several international airlines say they are withdrawing from Damascus airport, but 14 will remain.'
Friday, 07 September 2012 05:35
'France has embarked on providing direct financial and arms aid to insurgent-held areas of Syria and is even supplying anti-aircraft weapons to terrorists fighting Syrian Army forces.
A diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Wednesday that France has increased its contacts with Syrian armed groups over the past few weeks as it intensifies efforts to weaken President Bashar al-Assad’s government, Russia Today news network reported. He further noted that France is working to develop links between Syria's political opposition, defectors and insurgents.'
Thursday, 06 September 2012 08:46
'Overseen by the US Department of Defense (DoD) under the Transformational Medical Technologies program (TMT) of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have spent millions of dollars conducting scientific research into the Ebola virus, its potential for being turned into a bio-weapon and certain vaccine efforts through two drug corporations, Massachusetts-based Sarepta Therapeutics and Tekmira Pharmaceuticals of Canada . Then the funding was abruptly cut.
The TMT creates relationships with private sector biotech firms, pharmaceutical corporations and academic institutions, as well as other government agencies to advance biological warfare, research viral and biological weapons and estimate threat levels of all biological agents based on ability to infect and effectiveness of devastation.'
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