Monday 31st December 2007: -

• WISHING ALL OUR VISITORS A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR AND ALL THE BEST FOR 2008 - WE WILL BE WORKING MUCH HARDER NEXT YEAR TO BRING YOU THE RELEVANT NEWS THAT THE MAINSTREAM SEEKS TO BURY!!!

• The other side of post-9-11 security: Americans kept from entering Canada - Another side-effect of the post-Sept. 11 security mindset: Americans who used to enter Canada with a wave and a few friendly questions are finding themselves stopped cold by sometimes even youthful indiscretions. For some time, a drunken driving conviction was enough to deem a foreigner "inadmissible" because the crime is a felony in Canada. But until recently, experts say border agents were less likely to find out about a foreigner's drunken driving record, either because they didn't ask or because they didn't have extensive criminal history databases to check. It's affected people like Bob Hohman, a 54-year-old computer network security analyst from Roseville, Minn..

• Video: 'The most conclusive evidence' Bhutto was shot - On Sunday, UK's Channel 4 news broadcasted a new video of the Bhutto assassination which they say "provides the most conclusive evidence yet that Benazir Bhutto was shot." Although the Pakistani government officially claims that Bhutto died from hitting her head on the sunroof as she ducked into her car, evidence in the video drastically contradicts that account. The video shows a large crowd swarming around Bhutto's car. A clean-shaven man in sunglasses is visibly watching, concealing a gun; behind him stands the suspected suicide bomber dressed in white. As the video rolls, the man in sunglasses moves closer to Bhutto's car and fires three shots. Directly after, the suicide bomber detonates his device and chaos ensues.

• Privacy rights 'fragile' in 2007 - Threats to personal privacy got more severe in 2007, a report has claimed. Compiled by Privacy International and the Electronic Privacy Information Center the report details global trends in privacy protection and surveillance. It found that in 2007 more nations than ever ranked as places where surveillance had become "endemic".

Sunday 30th December 2007: -

• Britons lose jobs to EU newcomers - The number of Britons in jobs has fallen by half a million since the UK opened its labour market to eastern European workers, official figures have revealed. The disclosure has prompted criticism of Gordon Brown's pledge to provide "British jobs for British workers." In 2003, there were 24,473,000 British-born UK residents in recognised employment. In 2004, Britain granted unlimited access to workers from 10 new European Union states.

• Creeping Fascism: From Nazi Germany to Post 9/11 America, By Ray McGovern: Americans today are seeing the same sheepish submissiveness that characterized Germany after the burning of the Reichstag - "There are few things as odd as the calm, superior indifference with which I and those like me watched the beginnings of the Nazi revolution in Germany, as if from a box at the theater...Perhaps the only comparably odd thing is the way that now, years later...." These are the words of Sebastian Haffner (pen name for Raimund Pretzel), who as a young lawyer in Berlin during the 1930s experienced the Nazi takeover and wrote a first-hand account. His children found the manuscript when he died in 1999 and published it the following year as "Geschichte eines Deutschen" (The Story of a German). The book became an immediate bestseller and has been translated into 20 languages -- in English as "Defying Hitler."

• MORE POST 9/11 GRANDSTANDING FROM GIULIANI: Rudy Ad reminds of 9/11 attacks - THE man known as the US's Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, has finally unveiled a presidential campaign advertisement highlighting his leadership after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. The emotive one-minute TV ad entitled Freedom is being played in the key electoral battlegrounds of Florida and New Hampshire, and airing nationally on the FOX network. Mr Giuliani's trump card - his tested leadership during crisis - comes as candidates enter the home stretch of the nominating race.

• Convenient Assassination: Kill The Liberal Pakistani Ms. Bhutto and then roll out the wonks - Well, a little time has passed and a clearer picture is beginning to emerge about the motives for the murder of Bhutto. All the usual media wonks and candidates are now weighing in on this so called WAR ON TERROR. These reports all serve to validate the 9/11 story and the never ending threat of this Al Queda. Gosh, I'm now listening to Ann Curry tell me that it's the passports. We need better Passports and less freedom in general. It's the security, all that's been done so far is just not enough. C'mon Americans, wake up, cooperate!!!. Trust your Government. Stop calling for independent investigations of 9/11 and get with the program, there may be terrorists hiding under your bed. YOU ARE IN DANGER! The murder of Ms. Bhutto is typical of empire. Does anyone truly believe in their heart the official 9/11 story. I know you're supposed to and all, but do you really believe it? This latest story doesn't even make sense. Why kill Bhutto at all? It would have been easy enough to simply steal the election. I mean what good is sending Pakistan what, too many Billions and for that we can't even buy an election? Of course the Nuclear arsenal in Pakistan is safe, my pentagon told me so, I do believe that. I mean the Pentagon knows what's going on, well, just that couple of Nukes that got loaded on a plane a few months ago shouldn't be cause for alarm, I mean, they found it.

• FORM OVER SUBSTANCE: Showdown for Hillary in John Wayne country - He was arguably the greatest hero in the history of American cinema, a leader of men who beat the bad guys and symbolised patriotic values. But here in the birthplace of John Wayne, in the snowy wilds of an Iowa winter, the US is picking another leader - a president to command the respect of modern America and deal with the world's villains, who have swapped Stetsons and Colt 45s for suicide bomb belts. On Thursday the world's most important - and protracted - democratic process gets underway, when voters in this mid-West corn belt state become the first to pick their presidential candidates. The result of the Iowa caucuses, a series of town hall votes, will help answer the question now gripping the nation: is America, the land of John Wayne machismo, finally ready to elect Hillary Clinton its first women president.

• Huckabee Exposed as New World Order Puppet - Mike Huckabee recently named Richard Haas (the President of the CFR) as his advisor on foreign policy. CNN's WOLF BLITZER asked "Who are your principal foreign policy advisers, Governor?" Mike Huckabee responded: "Well, I have a number of people from whom I get policy. I'm talking to Frank Gaffney, I talk to Richard Haas" So what does Richard Haas believe in? Here's an article below which was written by Haas for the Tapei Times. It basically states the Bill of Rights and Constitution should be given up in favor of a cooperative world body run by elite consensus. Who needs individual rights in the techno-futuristic world police state? And you thought liberty was in jeopardy now? Just wait till you see what your children will have to deal with. Get activated folks, These police state freaks want to shape your future into a control grid enforced through the fear based reaction to state sponsored false flag terror.

• Mexico to Microchip Central American Migrants - As an omen of things to come, in March the National Immigration Institute of Mexico will demand Central Americans workers and visitors carry ID cards with electronic chips. The ID cards “will record every arrival and departure of so-called temporary workers and visitors, mostly from Guatemala,” reports KGBT 4 out of Harlingen, Texas. “Officials say the purpose is to guarantee security for workers and visitors.” Of course, the real purpose has nothing to do with the well-being or security of workers and visitors, but is part and parcel of the emerging control grid to be implemented by the NAU at the behest of world government.

• The Great Human Papilloma Virus Vaccine Hoax Exposed - For the last several years, HPV vaccines have been marketed to the public and mandated in compulsory injections for young girls in several states based on the idea that they prevent cervical cancer. Now, NewsTarget has obtained documents from the FDA and other sources (see below) which reveal that the FDA has been well aware for several years that Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) has no direct link to cervical cancer. NewsTarget has also learned that HPV vaccines have been proven to be flatly worthless in clearing the HPV virus from women who have already been exposed to HPV (which includes most sexually active women), calling into question the scientific justification of mandatory “vaccinate everyone” policies.

Thursday 27th December 2007: -

• BHUTTO ASSASSINATION: Main suspects are warlords and security forces - The main suspects in the assassination are the foreign and Pakistani Islamist militants who saw Ms Bhutto as a Westernised heretic and an American stooge, and had repeatedly threatened to kill her. But fingers will also be pointed at the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, (ISI) which has had close ties to the Islamists since the 1970s and has been used by successive Pakistani leaders to suppress political opposition. Ms Bhutto narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in October, when a suicide bomber struck at a rally in Karachi to welcome her back from exile. Earlier that month two Pakistani militant warlords based in the country’s northwestern areas had threatened to kill her. One was Baitullah Mehsud, a top militant commander fighting the Pakistani Army in South Waziristan, who has ties to al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taleban. The other was Haji Omar, the leader of the Pakistani Taleban, who is also from South Waziristan and fought with the Afghan Mujahidin against the Soviets in Afghanistan.

• Who killed Benazir Bhutto?: The main suspects - The main suspects in Benazir Bhutto’s assassination are the Pakistani and foreign Islamist militants who regarded her as a heretic and an American stooge and had repeatedly threatened to kill her. But fingers will also be pointed at Inter-Services Intelligence, the agency that has had close ties to the Islamists since the 1970s and has been used by successive Pakistani leaders to suppress political opposition. Ms Bhutto narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in October, when a suicide bomber killed about 140 people at a rally in the port city of Karachi to welcome her back from eight years in exile. That month, two militant warlords based in the lawless northwestern areas of Pakistan, near the border with Afghanistan, had threatened to kill her on her return.

• Many suspects, few clues: Benazir Bhutto had many enemies and the full story behind her killing is unlikely to be discovered, writes Rory McCarthy - There were death threats even before Benazir Bhutto returned home to Pakistan just two months ago, after years in self-imposed exile abroad. But who was behind her assassination today? The list of those who may be implicated is long and, in the end, the truth may never emerge.

• Biden raises security questions - If there's a safe space between politics and policy, Biden stayed in it until the last question of the day. A somber Biden appeared this morning at a hastily assembled press conference to address the assassination of Pakistani political figure Benazir Bhutto. Calling her death "a genuine tragedy," the senator called for a transparent investigation into the attack and said that he had twice asked Pakistan's president to provide better protection to the slain Bhutto. "This fall," he told reporters, "I twice urged President Musharraf to provide her with better security." He added, “The failure to protect Mrs. Bhutto raises a lot of hard questions for the government and the security services that have to be answered.”

Christmas Day 25th December 2007: -

• Clear Channel, FBI team up to display digital 'wanted' posters - Clear Channel Outdoor has formed a partnership with the FBI, agreeing to display "wanted" messages on the company's digital billboard networks nationwide. Clear Channel Outdoor President and Chief Operating Officer Paul Meyer made the announcement Monday morning during a broadcast of NBC's "Today" Show. The world's largest outdoor advertising company made the decision to display "wanted" messages on its digital billboards following the successful capture of three fugitives in the Philadelphia area. Clear Channel Outdoor officials say this capture was a direct result of information posted on the company's digital billboards.

• Hollywood to frame Iran for Lockerbie - Hollywood and Israel join hands to blame Iran for masterminding the Lockerbie disaster in a new cinematic adaptation of the event. The film will be based on a book by Juval Aviv, the former Israeli secret agent and a top investigator for Pan American during the Lockerbie inquiry. According to the Scotland on Sunday website, Flight 103 which will hit the market on Jan. 24th, 2008, accuses the Iranian and American secret services of involvement in the incident.

• Legal analyst: In wrong hands, FBI biometric info 'can follow you forever' - A newly announced FBI plan to catalog precise physical characteristics of individuals around the world -- a vast $1 billion dollar project that makes the bureau's fingerprint database look quaint by comparison -- is raising eyebrows among critics who worry about how the data may be used. Taking advantage of the science of biometrics, which relies on precise body measurements unique to every human being, the FBI hopes to be able to identify criminal and terrorist suspects by face-shape, scars and even iris patterns. But the idea raises some red flags for CNN legal analyst Sonny Hostin. "The goal to have a comprehensive data base to track terror suspects, criminals, that sort of thing. I think it's a wonderful goal," said Hostin. "But you have to be very careful, because what if the wrong person is in that database? That is something that can follow you forever."

• Taser probe a whitewash: victim's wife: Officer was wrong to shock man, but only because the senior was in his car - The wife of a B.C. senior Tasered by RCMP last month after double parking in downtown Kelowna has denounced the Mounties' internal investigation of the incident, calling their version of events "totally false." John Peters was shocked twice with the weapon by a Mountie after driving away from two officers in the process of citing him for a parking infraction. On Friday, Kelowna RCMP Supt. William McKinnon released the results of his administrative review. The officer, McKinnon said, was wrong to Taser Peters, but only because the 68-year-old stroke victim and paper-delivery man was still in his car when the officer shocked him. McKinnon said Peters displayed "combative behaviour" and the officer was "unable to successfully control" him using other techniques. Under those circumstances, RCMP use-of-force rules allowed him to deploy his Taser. But that version of events doesn't jibe with Ann Peters. John Peters' wife was in the car when the confrontation occurred. She told CanWest News Service she and her husband were "absolutely shocked" when they read McKinnon's explanation in the paper and went on to call the investigation a "total whitewash."

• Ukraine Synagogue Goes Cashless With Addition of ATM-Like Charity Box - In Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, the Golden Rose synagogue’s newest addition is an ATM-like machine that allows congregants and visitors to donate to the institution with the swipe of a charge card. Responding to the evolution of a cashless society, a Chabad-Lubavitch synagogue in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, has installed an ATM machine-of-sorts that allows congregants to donate to the institution with the swipe of a charge card. The new device at the Lubavitch Golden Rose synagogue – deemed by officials to be the first such terminal that dispenses money to Jewish causes in this fashion – also allows users to deposit Ukrainian currency and direct the funds to the program or fund of their choice.   (RELATED: See our Cashless Society Control Grid archive)

• Biometric ATM facility inaugurated in India - Union Minister of State for Finance Pawan Kumar Bansal inaugurated Canara Bank’s biometric ATM facility at Neyyatinkara on Sunday. Cardholders of this biometric ATM would be able to withdraw cash through the ATM by pressing their forefinger at a specified point on the ATM monitor. The transaction will be guided by a voice system in Malayalam. The biometrically-aided ATM registers the fingerprint of illiterate customers either at the branch or at their house and stores it in the biometric server. An illiterate customer can do balance enquiry and withdrawal transaction from his/her account at the ATM by pressing the button of appropriate colour, guided by the pre-recorded voice system.

WEST YORKSHIRE TRUTH CAMPAIGN EVENT COMING SOON: -

Christmas Eve 24th December 2007: -

• Coaches Group Offers Kids' ID Kit - Your kid goes missing, are you prepared? The American Football Coaches Association is among the latest groups to offer help. ``Over 54,000 stranger abductions are reported every year," said Kenny Hansmire of the association. ``That turns into one about every 40 seconds." Overall, 800,000 kids end up missing every year -- either runaways or taken by a non-custodial parent. The association has created a National Child Identification Program. ``It is a tool, it's not going to be the end-all, be-all. What it does is provide law enforcement with some information they need," Hansmire said. The program features an ID kit. ``There's a DNA swab with a DNA envelope. There's a fingerprint kit. The information in the ID kit contains about 80 percent of what law enforcement may ask you at the time your child is missing," Hansmire said.

• Giuliani: It was 'impossible' for the 9/11 firefighters to have working radios - Former New York City mayor and Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani talks to George Stephanopoulos about accusations that firefighters died on 9/11 due to radios that Giuliani himself knew weren't suitable for use. Giuliani has been personally blamed for the deaths of firefighters on September 11, 2001, including by NYFD Deputy Fire Chief James Riches, whose son, also a firefighter, died at Ground Zero. Giuliani is not only accused of providing faulty equipment, but also of ending the search for survivors too early.

• Former Italian President: 9/11 Op Run by CIA and Mossad - Former Italian President Francesco Cossiga, who revealed the existence of Operation Gladio, has told Italy’s oldest and most widely read newspaper that the 9-11 terrorist attacks were run by the CIA and Mossad, and that this was common knowledge among global intelligence agencies. In what translates awkwardly into English, Cossiga told the newspaper Corriere della Sera: “All the [intelligence services] of America and Europe…know well that the disastrous attack has been planned and realized from the Mossad, with the aid of the Zionist world in order to put under accusation the Arabic countries and in order to induce the western powers to take part … in Iraq [and] Afghanistan.”

• Gun owners 'get stabbed in back': 'Veterans Disarmament Act on way to president' - Congress has given gun owners in America a Christmas gift: a blade in the back, according to officials with Gun Owners of America. The organization said the plan supported by Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and others, and known as the Veterans Disarmament Act by opponents, is being forwarded now to President Bush. While other gun groups have endorsed H.R. 2640, a comprehensive plan to expand the powers of the Brady Bill gun restriction plan, Gun Owners of America has opposed it vigorously, and described its provisions for banning individuals, especially veterans, from owning guns as unreasonable.

• It's all about $$$ at the NRA - Much of the public debate over gun rights and gun control is disingenuous. Gun owners of every stripe -- liberal, moderate, conservative -- and non-owners alike can and do agree that violent criminals, juveniles, terrorists and mental incompetents have no right to firearms. Federal and state laws, despite poor enforcement by the courts, underscore that. Further, there's no significant debate -- nor should there be -- over private ownership of guns for lawful purposes such as target shooting, hunting, self-protection and collecting. What we do have, though, is an organization whose senior leadership is dedicated to keeping the gun debate alive and burning in the American consciousness, for its own self-serving and self-preserving reasons. That organization is the National Rifle Association. Unfortunately for American gun owners, the nation and the NRA itself, this major lobbying group has become intoxicated with money and privilege. The leadership has lost sight of its mission. Safeguarding the rights of gun owners has become secondary to keeping the fundraising machinery well greased and the group's senior staff handsomely compensated.

Sunday 23rd December 2007: -

• FBI aims to amass huge database of people's physical characteristics - The FBI is embarking on a $1 billion effort to build the world's largest computer database of people's physical characteristics, a project that would give the government unprecedented abilities to identify individuals in the United States and abroad. Digital images of faces, fingerprints and palm patterns are flowing into FBI systems in a climate-controlled, secure basement in Clarksburg. Next month, the FBI intends to award a 10-year contract that would significantly expand the amount and kinds of biometric information it receives. In coming years, law-enforcement authorities around the world may be able to use iris patterns, face-shape data, scars and perhaps the unique ways people walk and talk to solve crimes and identify criminals and terrorists.

• New York’s Total Snoop Grid Moving Forward - NY1 News reports: “New York City police are moving forward on a multimillion-dollar counter-terrorism initiative, installing more than a hundred license plate readers and eventually thousands of cameras in Lower Manhattan.” Cameras will be mounted atop cop cars, photographing license plates, and the results will be sent to a database “to see, for example, if the car is stolen.” It seems irrational, spending $106 million to catch car thieves. But then the “initiative” is billed as an adventure in “counter-terrorism,” not one to counter car thieves. Of course, there are precious few terrorists of the Osama bin Laden type on Manhattan, or anywhere else outside of the Middle East, but this matters not, as the point is to monitor the masses, not catch mythical terrorists as they exit strip clubs.

• Ministry of Homeland Security Developing X-Ray Snoop Device - It’s not enough they vacuum up your phone calls and emails, they know your medical history and financial transactions, now they want to look through your walls, right into the most private aspects of your life conducted behind closed doors. “The lobster is at the forefront of the next new weapon in the war on terror: a handheld device that could help Homeland Security agents see through wood, concrete and steel,” reports Fox News. “Technology based on the crustacean’s uncanny ability to see through dark, cloudy, deep sea water is guiding scientists funded by the government in the early stages of developing a ray that one day could be used by border agents, airport screeners and the Coast Guard.”

• Exposed: The Diana inquiry cop who was on £1,000 a day - Britain's former top policeman Lord Stevens was paid £1,000 a day for taking charge of the inquiry into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Documents released exclusively to The Mail on Sunday under the Freedom of Information Act reveal he was being paid double what he would have earned in his former role as Met Police Commissioner. The payments, for his part-time role in charge of Operation Paget, are among a number of lucrative deals that Porsche-driving Lord Stevens has secured since he retired two years ago. Critics have asked why a senior detective, already employed by the force, could not have overseen the inquiry. While he was at the Yard from 2000 to 2005, Lord Stevens was paid £150,000 a year, the daily equivalent of approximately £420 – less than half the fees for his two-and-a-half years' work on the Diana probe.

• Blair converts to Catholicism: And so it came to pass...the former PM has, finally and formally, joined his family in their Roman Catholic faith - Tony Blair was proved right yesterday, when the news that he had finally been received into the Roman Catholic Church was hailed by political opponents as a chance for him to "commune with the bloke upstairs" and change his views on abortion, embryo research and Sunday trading. Mr Blair was received into the church by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster and head of the Roman Catholic Church in England, in the chapel of the Archbishop's House in Westminster on Friday night. His wife, Cherie, a Catholic, was his sponsor, and his four children, who have been brought up Catholics, are believed to have been present.   (COMMENTARY: So... Blair converts to Catholicism. But from what? Luciferianism? Good luck to him if that's what he is into, but let's have some perspective: Blair made political decisions based on new age reading of a hidden force called 'The Light' / Blair visited Aztec pyramid, took part in 'rebirthing' ritual with his wife. (See the fifth paragraph) / Blair 'prayed to God' over Iraq)

• J. Edgar Hoover’s Plan to Detain 12,000 “Disloyal” Americans - It’s a revelation that is almost ho-hum, mundane, especially within the current context. “A newly declassified document shows that J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had a plan to suspend habeas corpus and imprison some 12,000 Americans he suspected of disloyalty,” reports the New York Times. “Hoover wanted President Harry S. Truman to proclaim the mass arrests necessary to ‘protect the country against treason, espionage and sabotage.’ The F.B.I would ‘apprehend all individuals potentially dangerous’ to national security, Hoover’s proposal said. The arrests would be carried out under ‘a master warrant attached to a list of names’ provided by the bureau.”

• Big Brother Britain: How much do you earn? Are you gay? Town Hall chiefs have been ordered to find out - Every town hall has been ordered to send out surveys demanding local residents' personal information and opinions. The forms will ask householders to give details of their children, mortgage, ethnic background, religion and sexual orientation. Civil rights campaigners yesterday called the survey 'intrusive and very sinister', pointing out that any information handed over will not be kept confidential. Ministers have even given instructions that local councils must try to disguise their involvement in the survey to avoid attracting criticism.

• Woman TASED At Best Buy - Video has surfaced of a Daytona Beach police officer using a TASER on a woman in a store. According to our partners at the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Elizabeth Beeland was shopping at a Best Buy in Daytona Beach last month. Before she checked out, she got an upsetting phone call about her child and stepped outside to take the call. According to the police report, the clerk said Beeland was suspicious and flagged down Daytona Beach police officer Claudia Wright, who was in the store. When Officer Wright confronted Beeland, she yelled at her. When they came back in the store, Wright repeatedly asked her to calm down and threatened to arrest and TASER her if she didn't. As the video shows, Beeland continued to back away as the officer moved closer. Beeland was then TASED and arrested.

• PROJECTCENSORED.ORG - Top 25 Censored news stories of 2007 - A must read, check it out! 

• Blair 'fears' on Saudi arms probe - Tony Blair raised fears about an investigation into a Saudi arms deal days before it was dropped last year, a newly-disclosed document has shown. The then PM had said the decision to stop the probe into the BAE deal was taken because of national security and was not linked to commercial interests. But in a letter released during a legal case, Mr Blair refers to "concern" over ongoing business negotiations. Downing Street has refused to comment on the letter to his attorney general.

Friday 21st December 2007: -

CREMATIONOFCARE.COM - THREE YEARS ONLINE TODAY!

• IPCC Menezes decision a 'scandal' - No-one is to be punished for police failings that led to an innocent man being shot dead on a Tube train. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said four senior officers, including Deputy Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick, should not face disciplinary action over the shooting of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes. But the 27-year-old electrician's family branded the decision - which brings a series of police watchdog reviews into the tragedy to a close - a "scandal". Campaigners criticised the IPCC's decision to conclude the case before an inquest - expected to take place next year - and accused the watchdog of trying to bury bad news. But Scotland Yard said the decision was a "move forward" which would finally end uncertainty hanging over the four officers and their families.

NOT A GOOD DAY FOR JUSTICE...

• No end to the anguish: Omagh: 29 murders, nine years of praying for justice, a £16m detective bill ... and not a single conviction - There is no end in sight to the grief of the families devastated by the Omagh bomb. Yesterday, almost a decade after Northern Ireland's worst terrorist atrocity, their hopes of justice were dashed once again. Crown Court judge Mr Justice Weir was scathing of the police as he cleared Sean Hoey of being responsible for a Real IRA bombing campaign, which included the Omagh massacre in 1998 which claimed 29 lives. Amid emotional scenes outside court, families of the dead were left stunned and angry but pledged to press ahead with a High Court civil action.   (FLASHBACK: MI5 'failed to pass on Omagh bombing intelligence')

• 2008: The year of the nanny state for Canada - We are already living in a nanny state where governments at all levels take great delight in forcing people to live the way they want them to live; for their own good, you understand. As one of only three countries in the world where it is illegal to pay for most medical services (Cuba and North Korea being the other two), it is easy to justify more and more laws regarding health. Using the rationalization of keeping the costs of tax and spend governments down, governments feel justified in passing more and more legislation that takes away what little freedom Canadians have left. A couple of recent events tend to show that converting the country into a full blown nanny state will accelerate during the next year. Recently, Wolfville Nova Scotia passed one of the toughest smoking bylaws in the country. The law that came into effect last month makes it illegal to smoke in a vehicle while children under the age of 18 are present. Now several provinces are considering introducing the law that would make vehicles smoke free.

• Keep Your Chip Out of My Arm - In another cabal of corporate and governmental officials, there’s been a steady push during the past few years to authorize and market microchip devices to be implanted into humans. An outfit named VeriChip Corporation is the chief pusher, asserting that implanting one of its radio frequency ID chips into your upper arm can be a medical boon to you. These electronic capsules transmit a unique code, says VeriChip, and if something happens to you, hospital staff can run a scanner over your chip, get your code, and activate a database containing your medical history. Where were our so-called regulatory watchdogs? Too busy cheering on the chippers to ask tough questions about side effects. Tommy Thompson, the Bush appointee who oversaw the agency that approved VeriChip for use in humans, has been a vigorous promoter of such electronic medical technologies. Five months after Thompson resigned his cabinet position in 2005, guess where he went? Right – onto the board of directors of both VeriChip and its parent corporation, where he was paid $40,000 a year and given about a million dollars worth of stock.

• Clegg: 'scrap' ID card scheme: Lib-Dem leader says latest data loss shows the Government can't be trusted with people's data - MPs have called on the Government to “scrap” its ID card plans, saying a year of disastrous data breaches shows it cannot be trusted to handle the public's personal information. Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: “The time has come for ministers to admit that this scheme is doomed to be an expensive failure, they should scrap the ID card scheme now. " The Conservative Party has also pointed out that the Government would find it hard to gain the public’s trust when it came to ID Cards.

• Inspector General Says IRS Wasted $3.5 Million on ID-Card Program - The Internal Revenue Service paid a contractor $188,000 to provide one person to do clerical work over 11 months. The contract was one example of financial waste contained in a government report on the tax agency's involvement in a program ordered by President Bush in 2004 to develop more-secure identification cards for federal workers. The Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration also said the IRS needlessly spent almost $2 million on a computer security system that the tax agency doesn't plan to use. The IRS was responsible for developing and implementing the program to provide identification cards to about 150,000 employees at the Treasury Department. The projected cost of the program was $421 million over 14 years.

• System flawed, raises civil-liberty issues - When any new surveillance technology is proposed, there are several questions that should be answered. First, what is the goal of implementation? Second, is the technology effective? Third, do the benefits of the technology outweigh the costs? The goal of using face-recognition camera surveillance systems in Nashville schools is "providing safety for our students and teachers," Ralph Thompson, assistant superintendent for student services, told USA Today last month. His hope is that the face-recognition surveillance systems will pluck undesirables out of school crowds. To answer the question of whether this goal can be achieved, we must first look at the technology. Face-recognition systems use computer algorithms to automatically detect and identify human faces.

• Britons Insist on Referendum on EU Treaty - The vast majority of people in Britain believe the government of Gordon Brown should call a referendum on whether to ratify a revised common European Union (EU) treaty, according to a poll by YouGov. 62 per cent of respondents support holding a nationwide vote on this issue, while 17 per cent want Parliament to decide. If a referendum were to take place, 44 per cent of respondents would vote against Britain adhering to the treaty, while 17 per cent would vote in favour of the proposed body of law. 40 per cent of respondents are undecided. The heads of state of the EU officially signed the European Constitution on Oct. 29, 2004. The project for a continental body of law was practically abandoned in 2005, after voters in France and the Netherlands rejected the proposed document in two plebiscites.

• Channel 4 fined £1.5m over unfair phone-in competitions - Channel 4 was yesterday fined £1.5m for causing "serious consumer harm" after viewers wasted millions entering competitions on Richard and Judy and Deal or No Deal that they had no chance of winning or which were unfairly conducted. The broadcaster was fined £1m by Ofcom over the You Say We Pay phone-in on Richard and Judy and £500,000 for an unfair competition on the Noel Edmonds gameshow. Channel 4, which has now axed all premium phone line programming, also promised to donate an additional £600,000 to charity on top of the £300,000 it had already pledged, taking its total bill to almost £2.5m.

Wednesday 19th December 2007: -

• US warrantless wiretapping predates 9/11 - Fresh evidence has emerged that the US government's warrantless wiretapping program predates the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Secret surveillance operations that enabled the National Security Agency (NSA) to access telecommunications traffic data have been in place since the 1990s, according to the New York Times. In an attempt to gain intelligence on narcotics traffickingThe NSA forged an uneasy alliance with telcos to gather data on phone calls and emails from the US to Latin America.

• Moray Council deploys covert CCTV cameras - As part of a £250,000 investment in CCTV, Moray Council has purchased hi-tech mobile radio cameras which can be hidden in fake rocks and plants. The cameras will be deployed at troublespots in order to help prevent anti-social behaviour and fly-tippers, and to help catch offenders. Moray Council is the second local authority in Scotland to buy covert surveillance cameras, which are already used by Falkirk Council. The decision to use covert CCTV has been criticised as an invasion of privacy. However, according to CCTV working party chairman, Councillor Douglas Ross, a warrant from a court is required before footage from the cameras can be used as evidence.

• Fingerprint Background Checks Will Soon Be Mandatory For School Employees - For many of us, driving the kids to school each morning, dropping them off, and trusting that we've left them in good hands. "You want to know who's teaching your kids," said Valicia Jones, a parent. Others parents like Stephen Davis said along with who, they want to know what is being taught, and how their children are being taken care of. It's a consensus among most parents which has prompted Texas state legislators to take action.

• SNP's random rail search concerns - Scotland's justice secretary has expressed deep concern at the number of people and vehicles searched by British Transport Police in Scotland. More than 14,000 have been stopped and searched at train stations since July. Kenny MacAskill told BBC Scotland he had anecdotal evidence that people going about their business had been "pulled aside and interrogated". The authorities said the searches were carried out to make an attack on the railways as difficult as possible. The stop and search powers had rarely been used before the terrorist attack on Glasgow Airport in June and, of those stopped at railway stations, 12% were from ethnic minorities. But the transport police, who are the responsibility of the UK government, said all searches were random. Transport officers stopped 9,994 people and searched 4,636 vehicles at train stations across Scotland between 1 July and 14 December, according to the official figures.

• 'My husband is planning an accident in my car': Diana's sensational letter is revealed in full - A handwritten letter from Princess Diana claiming Prince Charles was plotting to kill her so he could marry royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke has been dramatically revealed. In the note, sent to her royal butler Paul Burrell, Diana suggests that her husband was "planning an accident in my car". She also made the astonishing suggestion that Charles wanted to marry their sons' nanny - and that Camilla Parker Bowles was just a 'decoy'. A copy of the uncensored original of the letter was made public for the first time yesterday after being read to the London inquest into the princess's death.

Tuesday 18th December 2007: -

UPDATE: THANK YOU FOR BEARING WITH US OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKS - WE ARE CURRENTLY COMING TO THE CONCLUSION OF A RATHER INCONVENIENT ADMINISTRATIVE 'RE-SHUFFLE' - NOTHING TOO DRAMATIC, BUT HENCE PERIODS OF INACTIVITY ON THE WEBSITE.  FREQUENT UPDATES TO RESUME VERY SOON!!!.

• Police accused of firing Taser into head of innocent man - Police fired a 50,000-volt Taser into the head of a 45-year-old company director who later proved to be unarmed and innocent. Daniel Sylvester, the owner of an east London security firm employing 65 staff to guard council offices, pubs and nightclubs, was driving home on October 20 when he was stopped by armed police because of "firearms related intelligence". According to Sylvester, he got out of his car and was surrounded by officers, at least two of whom were carrying automatic weapons. Without warning, one officer fired a Taser into the back of his head which made him drop to his knees, he said. A second shock caused him to fall on his face, breaking a front tooth. A further six shocks made him wet himself and left him lying in the road in pain while the officers and sniffer dogs searched the car and found nothing.

• LATEST LOOSE CHANGE CIRCULAR: 18TH DEC 2007: -

LC Supporter,

Are you going to be in the Rochester, NY area tonight? Be sure to come to Cinema Theater (http://www.cinemarochester.com/) at 7:00 PM for a screening of Loose Change Final Cut. The Louder Than Words crew will be there to answer questions and take feedback after the film. You can find the Cinema Theater at 957 S Cinton Ave in Rochester (tel: 585.271.1785).

Also, remember, today is the last day for shipping on Christmas presents via Priority US Mail. They may make it if you order later, but there's no guarantee without going Express. Visit our store to order now: http://lc911.com.


-The LC Crew

• 'UK friendly fire' killed troops - Two Danish soldiers killed in Afghanistan died as a result of "friendly fire" from British troops, a Danish government investigation says. Privates Mikkel Keil Sorensen and Thorbjorn Ole Reese died in the Upper Gereshk Valley on 26 September 2007. The Danish report said they were killed when British strikes were aimed by "a tragic mistake" at a Danish compound. The Ministry of Defence said it could not comment on what had happened until its own investigations were completed.

• Knesset okays establishment of 'Big Brother' database for police - The Knesset on Monday approved a law allowing the police to establish a huge database or search engine based on citizens' telephone numbers, including unlisted ones, as well as other communication data. It would be the broadest such database created by any Western police force. The Knesset voted 35 to 5 to approve the bill on its second and third readings. The new law will allow the police to request a judge's order to obtain such communications data on citizens, enabling the police to track a person's movements and all telephone calls. The database will include: telephone numbers, including unlisted ones; names of mobile phone subscribers; serial numbers of mobile phones; and maps of antenna locations. The Knesset rejected a request to let the police receive lists of all Internet addresses in Israel.

• 165,000 asylum seekers to get 'amnesty' because of Home Office blunder over files - As many as 165,000 asylum seekers are to be granted an "amnesty" to live in Britain, it was revealed. The vast bulk of the migrants are failed refugees whose files were left lying in boxes by bungling Home Office staff. They have now been living here so long that officials have ruled that it would be a breach of their human rights to kick them out. Ministers admitted that the first 19,000 have already been granted leave to remain under what the Tories described as a "stealth amnesty".

• Being shy is NOT an illness - so why are we treating it with drugs? - When she was six, Christopher Lane's mother would often pretend to be a horse, galloping around, rather than talking to strangers. When her parents sent her to boarding school to escape wartime London, the anxiety of the separation caused her behaviour to became odder. She'd gallop around outside for hours, only going indoors to play the piano alone. She was shy and a little eccentric. Her parents put it down to a vivid imagination and waited for her to change. Which she did, eventually becoming a music therapist for children with learning difficulties. The point of the story, says Lane, an English professor at Northwestern University in Chicago, is that nobody tried to diagnose her as mentally ill or dish out pills to make her better.

• BBC staff rewrote Wikipedia pages to water down criticism - BBC officials repeatedly altered the Wikipedia internet encyclopaedia to water down attacks on the corporation, The Independent on Sunday can disclose. The changes are among tens of thousands of edits made by staff in public authorities, including local councils, police forces, government departments and MPs' offices. Many more were made from computers registered to UK-based companies, charities and even the official residence of the Prince of Wales. An investigation of "anonymous" edits on the site has revealed that the broadcaster's staff rewrote parts of a page entitled "Criticism of the BBC" to defuse press attacks on "political correctness". Also included in more than 7,000 Wikipedia edits by BBC workers are unflattering references to rival broadcasters – and even the corporation's biggest names.

Sunday 16th December 2007: -

• Rudy evokes 9/11 to recharge campaign - With perhaps the most perilous phase of his candidacy just three weeks away, Rudy Giuliani Saturday hit the reset button, hoping to remind Republican voters why they liked him in the first place and to right a campaign that is on the defensive. Saying he's the one man who can "get it done" for the American people, Giuliani returned to the issue that made him a front-runner for most of the year: his image as a leader and the memory of the 9/11 attacks.

• MORE DIVERSION AS THE DIANA INQUEST AND THE MAIN STREAM PRESS THAT REPORTS ON IT OBSESSES OVER SIDE ISSUES:  Drama as inquest sees Diana letters - "Diana was deeply and blissfully in love with Dodi". This could have been a headline in a gossip magazine. In fact it was uttered in a court of law. The speaker was Raine, Countess Spencer, who was dressed in black from head to toe. She lifted her veil before entering the witness box. She had been transformed, during Diana's life, from wicked stepmother to close confidante.   (RELATED: See our popular Diana Assassination archive.)

• Fingerprint first for new stadium - Two sports venues in Fife have become the first in the UK to use fingerprint recognition systems on their doors. The Carnegie Leisure Centre and Pitreavie Stadium in Dunfermline have both been installed with hi-tech bio-metric security ID scanners. Staff will have their fingerprints scanned into a computer which should recognise them on subsequent visits. Managers believe the system, developed in Glasgow, will be more secure than conventional keys or Pin-coded doors.

• Fairfax police roll out high-tech fingerprint system - New technology will allow Fairfax County police to identify someone on the street within a matter of seconds with a set of new tools they will share with departments elsewhere in northern Virginia. A $14 million federal homeland security grant in 2005 allowed Fairfax police to purchase 50 units of a new portable Automated Fingerprint Identification System. The tool can scan two index fingers and search for a match among the approximately 1 million fingerprints on file in northern Virginia and the District of Columbia, Fairfax Lt. John V. Byrd said. A match will come back in about 30 seconds, often with a photograph, if a person's fingerprints are on file. "This has the possibility to be the most effective tool for police since the two-way radio," Byrd said.

Tuesday 11th December 2007: -

• Elite Depopulation Agenda Gains Ground - Another prominent scientist has thrown his weight behind the long term agenda to implement measures to stem the population of the planet, a view that is gaining ground with increased pressure on governments to act over climate change as the justification. The Medical Journal of Australia has published a report by a professor who suggests that couples with more than two children should be charged a lifelong tax to offset their extra offspring’s carbon dioxide emissions. The report in an Australian medical journal called for parents to be charged $5000 a head for every child after their second, and an annual tax of up to $800, reports the AAP.

• AUSTRALIA: Nine who gang raped girl, 10, escape jail - A judge in Australia was facing calls to step down yesterday after she failed to jail nine males who admitted gang-raping a 10-year-old girl in an Aboriginal community in 2005, saying the victim "probably agreed" to have sex with them. Sarah Bradley, a Cairns-based district court judge, gave suspended sentences and probation orders to three adults, aged 17 to 26, one of whom was a repeat sex offender, and six juveniles, aged 14 to 16.

• Christie Whitman lied about Ground Zero air quality, 9/11 victims' lawyers say - Christie Whitman lied about air quality after the 9/11 attacks and should have to pay for medical monitoring and a cleanup, lawyers for lower Manhattan residents told an appeals court Monday. The lawyers urged a three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a lower court decision declaring the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency can be held personally responsible for her deceptive comments.

• 9/11 Truth on London Underground!!! - "I was travelling on the tube today and came across this poster. It really asks a lot of good questions and will be seen by thousands of commuters every day. Well done to whoever managed to organise this, great work!!"   (RELATED: See our 9/11 archive and our affiliated site 911truthskipton.com)

• UK: First-time buyers squeezed again - Mortgage affordability worsened again in October because of higher interest rates and rising house prices, the Council of Mortgage Lenders has said. The CML said that interest repayments swallowed up 20.6% of first-time buyers' monthly incomes. That was up from 20.4% in September and the highest level since 1991.

MEANWHILE...

• Camilla follows in Queen's footsteps with luxury liner launch - In a signal honour usually reserved for the Queen, the Duchess of Cornwall presided over the unveiling of shipping giant Cunard's newest ₤300-million liner Queen Victoria on Monday. Elegant in a pale blue coat dress and striking hat Camilla was all smiles as she arrived at the Southampton docks, clearly mindful of having been tasked with a very special role. Watched by her husband Charles and a 2000-strong VIP audience, the royal went on push to a button sending a bottle of Veuve Clicquot against the flank of the spectacular 16-deck cruiser.

• Diana and Dodi 'planning engagement' - A top jeweller says Dodi Fayed told him he and Diana, Princess of Wales, were getting engaged weeks before their deaths. Alberto Repossi also says American spies would have known about the imminent announcement because they were bugging Dodi's calls. Repossi, who has a shop opposite the Ritz Hotel in Paris owned by Dodi's father Mohamed Al Fayed, says Dodi made the revelation in a telephone call to discuss resizing a ring he had ordered.

Thursday 06th December 2007: -

• Another Shooter With A History Of Anti-depressant Use: Killer is latest in long line of young men with history of psychiatric drugs treatment for depression and ADHD - Robert Hawkins, the 19 year old who killed himself and eight other people with an assault rifle last night in Omaha, Nebraska had a history of treatment with psychiatric drugs for depression and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and was on prozac according to press reports. Of course the headlines will once again focus on how evil and dangerous guns are, how the second amendment should be reevaluated and will once again ignore the fact that this young man was subject to dangerous brain altering chemicals for a number of years prior to this tragic incident. Hawkins is the latest in a long line of shooters all of which were on prescribed antidepressants before they suddenly snapped and decided to kill as many people as they could before taking their own lives.

• LATEST LOOSE CHANGE CIRCULAR: -

LC Supporter,
In case you didn't know yet, we're now shipping Loose Change Final Cut to the United Kingdom. Due to some business negotiations, we weren't able to sell to the UK initially. However, everything has been worked out, and we were able to maintain rights to sell the DVD in the UK. So, if you haven't already ordered Loose Change Final Cut on DVD, here's the link: http://lc911.com/lc911/catalog/Loose-Change-Final-Cut-DVD-p-44.html 

Thanks as always for your support.

-The LC Crew

Tuesday 04th December 2007: -

• Real spooks with new role after 9/11 - In a two-part programme on Radio 4, BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera looks into the shadowy world of Britain's security services, forced into radical change after 9/11. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, only one plane was allowed to fly from Britain to the US. On board were Britain's top spy chiefs, including Eliza Manningham-Buller, then number two at MI5, and soon to be become the director general. They dined for an hour-and-a-half with a handful of American counterparts at CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia, and offered their unqualified support. Their long journey was appreciated by their American counterparts. "They didn't have to do that. They could have called," remembers one of the CIA officials present. The Americans revealed that they were already sure al-Qaeda was responsible, having recognised names off the passenger lists for the flights that had crashed.   (RELATED: See our Problem > Reaction > Solution archive.)

• Anti-terror police chief resigns - Britain's top anti-terror policeman is to retire from the Metropolitan Police just days after it was revealed that he was facing an investigation into his expenses claims, it was announced today. Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman said the "time was right" to leave the high-profile job, after facing "hurtful" accusations. He said in a statement: "Recent weeks have seen a series of leaks and unfounded accusations about me, which I have and will continue to refute strongly."

Monday 03rd December 2007: -

• 9/11 Responders Protest ME's Stand on Ground Zero Deaths - First responders gathered in front of the NYC Medical Examiner's office to protest how the ME has classified deaths seemingly related to Ground Zero illnesses. State Senator Eric Adams said he would introduce legislation making sure first responders who worked at Ground Zero will "get the same line-of-duty benefits" as September 11 victims. Recently, the ME's office has not named two rescuers, who worked at the World Trade Center site after September 11 and later died from complications of illnesses (seemingly caused by the toxic dust), as victims of the September 11 attacks. In fact, a letter ME Dr. Charles Hirsch sent to one of the families narrowed the definition of a 9/11 death: "All persons killed at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, and others who died later from complications of injury or exposure directly caused by the collapse of the twin towers on that day are homicide victims."

• Handcuffed Woman Tased in Police Station - It should be obvious by now that cops and tasers do not go together. It appears far too many cops use the devices to electrocute people simply because they refuse to cooperate, not because they pose a threat to the officers. For instance, a woman was tased in a Sheffield Lake, Ohio, police station not because she threatened officers — in fact, she was restrained in handcuffs — but rather because she refused to “cooperate,” as the video at the left demonstrates. “Last November, [Kristina Fretter] was stunned with a Taser while in handcuffs in the Sheffield Police Department booking room after being picked up for drunken driving. The officer who fired the Taser, Edward Long, resigned, and charges were dropped against Fretter in exchange for her promise not to sue the village,” the Chronicle-Telegram reports.

• China: End Child Labor in State Schools - The Chinese government should abolish the use of income-generating child labor schemes in middle and junior high schools because of their chronic abuses, Human Rights Watch said today. Many programs interfere with children's education, lack basic health and safety guarantees, and involve long hours and dangerous work. "China claims that it is fighting child labor, and repeatedly cites its legal prohibition against the practice as proof," said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "But the government actively violates its own prohibitions by running large programs through the school system that use child labor, lack sufficient health and safety guarantees, and exploit loopholes in domestic labor laws."

Saturday 01st December 2007: -

• Britons Reject ID Cards After Missing Data Scandal - A growing scandal over the government’s loss of the personal data of 25 million British people last week could carry unexpected consequences, according to a poll by Populus published in The Times. 55 per cent of respondents think the incident proves the government would be unable to handle the introduction of smart identification cards and should abandon plans to do so. In June, Gordon Brown officially became Labour leader and prime minister, replacing Tony Blair. Brown had worked as chancellor of the exchequer. Blair served as Britain’s prime minister since May 1997, winning majority mandates in the 1997, 2001 and 2005 elections to the House of Commons.

• Child ID clinic at Wal-Mart on Monday - When a child goes missing, seconds count, says Brockville police community safety officer Sergeant Doug Locke. In those frantic early moments, Locke said it's critical that parents can provide police investigators with as much information about a child as possible. That's why he's encouraging parents to attend a child identification clinic on Monday from 5-9 p.m. at Wal-Mart. The laminated ID cards include a photograph of the child that will be taken that night, as well as a thumb-print and other details such as date of birth, eye and hair colour.

• MI5 warns firms over China's internet 'spying' - The Government has accused China of carrying out an internet spying campaign against vital parts of the economy, it has been reported. The head of the MI5 sent a letter to more than 300 senior executives at banks, accountants and legal firms earlier this week warning them of a web-based attack from Chinese state organisations. The letter warns that British firms doing business in China are being targeted by the Chinese army, which is using the internet to steal confidential information to benefit Chinese companies.

• US Roman Catholic Bishop: 9/11 was inside job - Bishop Richard Williamson, seemingly the most outspoken and controversial bishop of the Society of St. Pius X, asserted in a recent talk that the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were committed "to get the American public to accept the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq," according to a news item by Jack Kenny in the Nov. 15, 2007 issue of The Wanderer. Bishop Williamson, whose talk was held Nov. 4, 2007 in Bedford, Mass., is quoted as saying: "Without 9-11, it would have been impossible to attack Afghanistan or Iraq. The forces inside the United States government and driving the United States government absolutely wanted to attack and destroy Iraq. The destruction wrought upon Iraq is unspeakable. And now the same forces want to do the same thing to Iran . . . They may well be plotting another 9-11."

• Mohamed Fayed 'instantly feared Princess Diana crash was a plot' - Mohamed Fayed appeared convinced that the crash that killed his son Dodi and Diana, Princess of Wales was "a plot or assassination" from the moment he heard about it, the inquest into their deaths has been told. When Franz Klein, the president of the Ritz hotel in Paris, broke the news of the accident to Mr Fayed, the Harrods owner replied: "I know more than you know, more than you think."   (COMMENTARY: This is an example of how Mohamed Fayed is being used - intentionally or not - to discredit the very notion that the cause of Dodi and Diana's death was murder.  It may very well be that Fayed's belief primarily comes from an emotional reaction, based on whatever he 'knew'.  However by making this an issue in the press it makes our case (i.e. that it WAS murder) look like we are simply guessing 'I think that that was what it was!'.)

• School bans home-made mince pies - A school has banned pupils from taking home-made cakes and biscuits such as mince pies to its Christmas fair. Mynydd Cynffig junior school in Kenfig Hill, Bridgend, is reported to have acted on health and safety grounds. Head teacher Neil Davies told a local newspaper there was a danger of illness and he had received no complaints. But Pete Foley, the councillor in charge of education in the area, called it an over-reaction and children should be urged to eat home-made food.

• Mexican Flag Hung Over U.S. Flag After Perpetrators Scale Huge Radio Tower: Outrage in Montana after oldest radio station in America received death threats from Reconquista supporters - There is a growing sense of outrage in Kalispell Montana after a Mexican flag was erected in front of a U.S. flag 200 feet up a huge tower that belongs to the oldest radio station in America - KGEZ. Station owner John Stokes said that he was getting calls from angry supporters of the extremist La Reconquista movement, a separatist group that advocates the violent overthrow of the southern and western U.S. states, before also receiving death threats.

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