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David DeGraw appeared on the Keiser Report to discuss his new book, "The Economic Elite Vs. The People of the USA." DeGraw: "The American public needs to understand that we have been attacked. We are in an economic war right now and all economic indicators say that things are going to get worse...."

These are the core common-ground issues that we must urgently rally around and support. Unless we organize and take decisive action on all these issues, we will all suffer the consequences of our collective inaction.

The entire bailout is strategically designed to eliminate the US middle class. Every time you hear the word "bailout," you should think "coup d’état."

AmpedStatus Report: It's time for 99% of Americans to mobilize and aggressively move on common sense political reforms. This is the first part of a six-part report. Introduction & Part I: Casualties of Economic Terrorism, Surveying the Damage.

AmpedStatus Report: The economic elite have escalated their attack on the U.S. public by surging military operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

You may have missed it in the mainstream news media, but statistical societal indicators are reading red across the board. The economic elite have launched an attack on the U.S. public and society is unraveling at an increased rate.

AmpedStatus founder and editor David DeGraw was recently interviewed on the Peter B. Collins show. They discuss the economic coup and the devastating consequences for the US public, Obama's failure to deliver on campaign promises, and what we can do to fight for economic justice.

The deadly trade in cluster bombs is funded by the world's biggest banks who have loaned or arranged finance worth $20 billion to firms producing the controversial weapons, despite growing international efforts to ban them.

The amount of poverty and suffering required for the emergence of a Goldman Sachs, and the amount of depravity that the accumulation of a fortune of such a magnitude entails is left out of the mainstream media, and it is not always possible to make the people in general see this.

Under Saddam Hussein, women in government got a year's maternity leave; that is now cut to six months. Under the Personal Status Law in force since Jul. 14, 1958, when Iraqis overthrew the British-installed monarchy, Iraqi women had most of the rights that Western women do. Now they have Article 2 of the Constitution: "Islam is the official religion of the state and is a basic source of legislation." Sub-head A says "No law can be passed that contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam." Under this Article the interpretation of women's rights is left to religious leaders – and many of them are under Iranian influence. "The U.S. occupation has decided to let go of women's rights," Yanar Mohammed who campaigns for women's rights in Iraq says. "Political Islamic groups have taken southern Iraq, are fully in power there, and are using the financial support of Iran to recruit troops and allies. The financial and political support from Iran is why the Iraqis in the south accept this, not because the Iraqi people want Islamic law." " Tags: Iraq Sexism Posted by: ampedstatus

"Even the most radical conservative can agree with Noam Chomsky on at least one thing. “No one in their right mind wants Iran to develop nuclear weapons.” But to Chomsky, nonproliferation requires reciprocal action, rather than international condemnation. Chomsky's reputation as a prolific author of books on subjects including linguistics, philosophy, cognitive science, political science, and media might lead one to believe that his views stem from esoteric theoretical arguments, but Chomsky takes a pragmatic view of international relations. His conclusion is that Iran is developing nuclear weapons out of a rational fear for its national safety because of the systematically threatening posture of the United States and Israel." Tags: nuclear weapons Iran Posted by: ampedstatus

The Obama administration’s approval of a $US6.4 billion arms sale to Taiwan in January has only deepened the political dilemmas facing the island’s ruling elites. Washington’s tougher stance toward China since the beginning of the year makes it more difficult for Taipei to manoeuvre between its strategic dependence on the US and its growing economic ties with China. The arms sale to Taiwan is part of broader US moves that have heightened tensions with China including over Tibet, Internet censorship and trade. China is particularly sensitive on the issue of Taiwan, which it regards as a renegade province, and has threatened to take military action if Taipei were to declare full independence. China responded to the announced arms sale by threatening to impose sanctions on US corporations, such as Boeing, involved in the deal." Tags: Weapons Sales Posted by: ampedstatus

The event on the House floor Wednesday afternoon was monumental — the first major congressional debate about U.S. military operations in Afghanistan since lawmakers authorized the invasion of that country in autumn 2001. But, as Rep. Patrick Kennedy noted with disgust on Wednesday, the House press gallery was nearly empty. He aptly concluded: “It’s despicable, the national press corps right now.” Sure enough, the Thursday edition of the New York Times had no room for the historic debate on its front page, which did have room for a large Starbucks ad across the bottom. Despite the news media and the lopsided pro-war tilt on Capitol Hill (reflected in the 356-65 vote Wednesday against invoking the War Powers Act), antiwar organizing has a lot of hospitable terrain at the grassroots. National polling shows widespread opposition to the Afghanistan war effort — a far cry from the dominant lockstep conformity in Congress." Tags: af-pak Media Bias Congress Posted by: ampedstatus

As Iraqis went to the polls on 7 March to select 325 members of parliament, Human Rights Watch urged all political groups to make freedom of expression central to their platform to be sure the next government respects press freedom and minority rights. Meanwhile, countless journalists in Iraq Kurdistan faced brutal attacks leading up to and on election-day, because of political rivalry, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF). In the second general election since Saddam Hussein's fall in 2003, 25 people were killed in a series of bombings and mortar attacks, say news reports. In Baghdad, "loudspeakers in mosques exhorted people to turn out to vote like 'arrows to the enemy's chest,'" reports "The Guardian". " Tags: Iraq Censorship Posted by: ampedstatus

Today in classrooms, as in the streets, there is too much silence. It has never been easy to integrate “current events” into the curriculum. In many high school history classes, the current world doesn’t show up until the last few weeks of the year, if it makes it at all. In elementary and middle schools, social studies has been squeezed out of classrooms by the NCLB-fostered obsession with testing. Too many of us face increasingly tense and restricted teaching situations with escalating pressure on standardized tests and scripted curricula, rising class sizes, and an explosion of discipline problems as outlets for creative and physical expression are eliminated. Soaring levels of unemployment, foreclosure, homelessness, and incarceration affect the school environment in many parts of the country. Figuring out how to have your class read a whole book or sneaking in a field trip are enormous feats. In this context, teaching kids about the ever-expanding landscape of war from Africa through Asia seems too much to ask. " Tags: Student af-pak Iraq Peace movement Posted by: ampedstatus

The House on Wednesday soundly rejected an effort by anti-war lawmakers to force a withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year. The outcome of the vote, 356-65 against the resolution, was never in doubt. (click here for the roll call) But the 3 1/2 hours of debate did give those who oppose President Barack Obama's war policies a platform to vent their frustrations. Opposing the resolution was easy for almost all Republicans, who have been solidly behind Obama's decision to increase U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan from 70,000 to 100,000. Only five Republicans supported the measure. Tags: af-pak Congress Posted by: ampedstatus

A former head of Britain's domestic spy agency has accused the US of concealing its abuse of terror suspects, stepping up an MI5 fightback over accusations that it colluded in torture. Eliza Manningham-Buller said Tuesday she had not understood why alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had been willing to talk to American interrogators. She said she only discovered he had been waterboarded when she read about it after her retirement in 2007. Tags: torture UK war crimes Posted by: ampedstatus

Many law enforcement officers called up to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan are finding it difficult to readjust to their jobs once home, bringing back heightened survival instincts that may make them quicker to use force and showing less patience toward the people they serve. In interviews with The Associated Press and in dozens of anecdotes compiled in a survey by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance, officers described feeling compelled to use tactics they employed in war zones after they returned to work in the U.S. One officer said he felt compelled to fire his gun in the air to disperse an unruly crowd in California. Others said they felt wary about being flanked when working crowd control. And others said after seeing the hardships ordinary Afghans and Iraqis lived with, it's hard to care about complaints over pet droppings." Tags: US Soldiers Posted by: ampedstatus

Heavy fighting between Somali insurgents and pro-government troops has killed at least 43 people over two days, as African Union peacekeepers used tanks to help the beleaguered government beat back an insurgent attack, officials said Thursday. Militants attacking from the north on Wednesday reached to within a mile (2 kilometers) of the presidential place in the heart of the capital, Mogadishu, before African Union peacekeepers in tanks reinforced government troops, residents said. Tags: Somalia Africa Posted by: ampedstatus

Hubris? We’re bigger than that! We’ve now been at war with, or in, Iraq for almost 20 years, and intermittently at war in Afghanistan for 30 years. Think of it as nearly half a century of experience, all bad. And what is it that Washington seems to have concluded? In Afghanistan, where one disaster after another has occurred, that we Americans can finally do more of the same, somewhat differently calibrated, and so much better. In Iraq, where we had, it seemed, decided that enough was enough and we should simply depart, the calls from a familiar crew for us to stay are growing louder by the week. The Iraqis, so the argument goes, need us. After all, who would leave them alone, trusting them not to do what they’ve done best in recent years: cut one another’s throats? " Tags: Iraq Posted by: ampedstatus

The anti-war movement in the US is in a deep funk. To date, even news of a surge in troops to Afghanistan has not really awakened it. The new book The Bases of Empire may help to clarify what we are trying to do. Many suggest that the problem with the anti-war movement today is that it does not break with the Democratic Party, but this argument is somewhat ahistorical. When the movement was stronger in the sixties (against the Vietnam war) and the eighties (against intervention in Central America) painful debates raged on about the relationship of the movement to the Democrats. There were similar voices–sometimes the same people!–on each side. What was different was not that the movement had a great deal of clarity about this (I’m not sure that is possible in a non-revolutionary time in a two party state) but that the movement was larger and livelier. What was different was that a sense of purpose animated the movements then that is lacking now. " Tags: af-pak Peace movement Military Bases Posted by: ampedstatus

House Democratic leaders Wednesday banned the practice of doling out no-bid contracts to private contractors, a move that will shake up the lobbying industry that has come to rely on securing these so-called earmarks for their corporate clients. At a meeting of the Democratic caucus, leaders unveiled the new rule that forbids private contractors from receiving earmarks, part of the party's effort to reclaim the reform mantle it used successfully in its 2006 midterm campaign to regain the majority. House Appropriations Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., whose panel issues thousands of these line-item grants each year, estimated the fiscal 2010 budget included more than 1,000 earmarks, worth billions of dollars, to private companies. Most were culled from the Pentagon's annual budget. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Bremerton, on Tuesday officially assumed the chairmanship of the defense-appropriations subcommittee, responsible for Pentagon spending." Tags: private military lobbying Congress Posted by: ampedstatus

What a shame that the one movie about the Iraq war that has a chance of being viewed by a large worldwide audience should be so disappointing. According to press reports, members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences finally found a movie about the Iraq war they liked because it is “apolitical.” Actually, “The Hurt Locker” is just the opposite; it’s an endorsement of the politically chauvinistic view that the world is a stage upon which Americans get to deal with their demons no matter the consequence for others. It is imperial hubris turned into an art form in which the Iraqi people appear as numbed bystanders when they are not deranged extras. It is a perverse tribute to the film’s accuracy in portraying the insanity of the U.S. invasion—while ignoring its root causes—that the Iraqis are at no point treated as though they are important. Tags: Movies Posted by: ampedstatus

It's been a long winter for the peace movement. Waiting for Obama has proved fruitless. The Great Recession has strengthened Wall Street and diverted attention from the wars. The debate over healthcare still won't go away and has demoralized progressive advocates. Given a chance to exit from Afghanistan when the Karzai election proved to be stolen, President Obama escalated anyway, but also promised to "begin" exiting almost before an opposition could mobilize at home. Representative Dennis Kucinich will step into the crosswinds this week and force the House of Representatives to wake up, pay attention, and vote up or down on the Afghanistan war. The Kucinich initiative at least will reveal where Congress stands. Whether it will energize the peace movement for upcoming March protests or beyond is unpredictable. Kucinich, interviewed along with other members of Congress by The Nation last week, is introducing a so-called privileged resolution requiring the House to hold a three-hour debate this coming Wednesday, followed by a vote on the Afghanistan war. The vote is expected to authorize the war, but passage of Kucinich's initiative would require a withdrawal in thirty days. If the president rejected such a decision, the withdrawal would be delayed until the end of 2010, nine months from now. Tags: af-pak Iraq Posted by: ampedstatus

Congressional investigators late Tuesday requested detailed documents from Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and a private contractor that was involved in the testing and cleanup of contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, N.C., over the past two decades. More letters to the Environmental Protection Agency and a second private contractor are expected this week. Among investigators' questions: why a federal agency charged with understanding the health impacts of the contamination didn't realize until recently that benzene — a fuel solvent known to cause cancer in humans — was among the substances found in drinking water at Camp Lejeune. Tags: US Soldiers private military Congress Posted by: ampedstatus

Liberals in the House, who have spent much of the past year complaining that other congressional Democrats and the White House are insufficiently progressive, will get a chance this week to vent about one of their biggest concerns: the war in Afghanistan. House leaders will allow three hours of formal debate, probably Wednesday, on an antiwar resolution written by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio), one of the leading antiwar voices in Congress. The resolution, which has 16 co-sponsors, calls for the United States to remove all of its troops from Afghanistan in 30 days -- or by the end of the year, if it is determined that trying to do so in a month would be too dangerous. The resolution will invoke the 1973 War Powers Act, which Congress passed in protest of the escalation of the Vietnam War by a series of presidents without formal congressional authorization. It requires congressional approval for a president to put troops in a military conflict for more than 90 days. Congress passed a resolution authorizing military force in Afghanistan in 2001, after the Sept. 11 attacks, and some congressional scholars doubt Congress can invoke the act now to force changes to President Obama's war policy. " Tags: af-pak Congress Posted by: ampedstatus

By July, it was clear what the targets of the hijackers were and the time-frame they would be hit. On the 10th, Tenet, Black, and Blee got into a CIA SUV, and visited National Security Advisor Condi Rice, and had a tense meeting with her about al-Qaeda. According to Tenet, she seemed to understand the threat, but was ambivalent in her response. Finally, in mid August, Tenet got on a CIA jet and visited President Bush in Crawford, where the President had been deposited for safe-keeping since returning in early July from Genoa, where ground-to-air missiles were installed to protect him from suspected al-Qaeda attack by aircraft. Tenet went on to perjure himself before the 9/11 Commission, falsely claiming he had had no communication with Bush during the 60 days before 9/11. In fact, records showed they had talked on at least a dozen occasions, including the face-to-face on either August 15 or 21, the latter date being the day the FBI finally got alerted and some of the details about the entry of al-Hazmi and al-Midhar 19 months earlier. Black resigned from the CIA in April 2002, after interrogation of Abu Zubaydeh revealed the names of leading Saudi and Pakistani figures who had bankrolled the operation, and after the apparently willful failure of Jawbreaker, the CIA-run operation to capture bin Laden in Afghanistan the previous December. Apparently willful is the watchword for the Bush-Cheney management of this element of the CIA, which went on to run a division of Blackwater, and in the actions of these individuals in failing to prevent the 9/11 attacks and failure to capture top terrorist leaders thereafter. Tags: Blackwater 9_11 CIA private military Posted by: ampedstatus

A California-based reservist recently died in Afghanistan, the Defense Department announced Friday. Lance Cpl. Nigel K. Olsen, 21, of Orem, Utah, was killed March 4 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, a volatile area where Marines continue to battle against Taliban fighters for control of Marjah. Olsen was assigned to the 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion from Camp Pendleton. Another reservist with 4th LAR — Lance Cpl. Carlos A. Aragon, 19 — was killed March 1. Aragon was also from Orem, Utah. Tags: US Soldiers af-pak Posted by: ampedstatus

Utah's Hill Air Force Base has hired a psychologist and others to deal with a rash of suicides, mostly among civilians complaining of harsh working conditions. Ogden Air Logistics Center commander Maj. Gen. Andrew Busch says two civilians and an airman have committed suicide this year. A Hill spokesman says that brings to at least 25 confirmed suicides since 2006 that were mostly committed off the base. Bonnie Carroll, a military widow who founded the advocacy group Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, says suicides also have been a problem at Fort Campbell, an Army base in Kentucky and Tennessee. " Tags: US Soldiers Posted by: ampedstatus